Abstract
This chapter introduces the book by explaining why and how Taiwan is important to China. It starts off by explaining how significant Taiwan is in the calculation and strategic interest of the Chinese Communist Party, which has a monopoly of power in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It examines how Taiwan contributed to the economic success of the PRC but posits that Taiwan exerts an even stronger impact in areas that political scientists often overlook. It shows that much as political and economic factors matter, it is in the cultural and day-to-day living realm that Taiwan’s impact on the Mainland Chinese is at its greatest. This ranges from popular songs and novels to the Taiwanese approach to civility. It stresses that Taiwan’s impact on China rests ultimately on the effectiveness of its “soft power.”
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Notes
- 1.
The National People’s Congress of PRC, Constitution of PRC.
- 2.
Callahan, China: The Pessoptimist Nation, 33.
- 3.
Li, “First island chain.”
- 4.
MacArthur to C.A. Lewis, Cold War’s Odd Couple, 16.
- 5.
You, China’s Military Transformation, 184.
- 6.
For a detailed analysis of the geostrategic importance of Taiwan to the PRC, see Wachman, Why Taiwan, 118–52.
- 7.
Wang, “China’s Search Grand Strategy,” 68, 71.
- 8.
For the reaffirmation of the consultative Leninist nature of the Chinese regime under Xi, see Tsang, “Consolidating political governance strength,” page 17–40.
- 9.
For the original exposition of the consultative Leninist nature of the post-Mao political system in the PRC, see Tsang, “Consultative Leninism,” 865–80.
- 10.
Li, “Confucian Value Democratic Value,” 186–9.
- 11.
Han, “Sheishi zuida minzhu guojia.”
- 12.
Zhang, Gaige kexingxing baogao, 209.
- 13.
Mishkin, “Chinese Tourists.”
- 14.
BBC, “Taiwan.”
- 15.
MacKinnon, “Beijing Limits Democracy Tourists.”
- 16.
Tsoi, “New History Curriculum.”
- 17.
Tsang, Cold War’s Odd Couple, 83–110.
- 18.
Tsang, “Contextualizing China Dream,” 14.
- 19.
Tsang, “Forces Behind Taiwan,” 1.
- 20.
The term was used in the Maoist era. Guillain, The Blue Ants.
- 21.
Tsang, “Consultative Leninism,” 86580.
- 22.
Chan, “Falun Gong in China,” 666.
- 23.
The term was used by Karl Marx, in his “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” (1844).
- 24.
Global Times, “Good Samaritan’s Dilemma”; Lu, “Unbearable Coldness of Being.”
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Tsang, S. (2017). The Importance of Taiwan to China. In: Tsang, S. (eds) Taiwan's Impact on China. The Nottingham China Policy Institute Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33750-0_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33750-0_1
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