Taiwan and China: Fitful Embrace

by Lowell Dittmer (editor)

A free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. China’s relation to Taiwan has been in constant contention since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949 and the creation of the defeated Kuomintang (KMT) exile regime on the island two months later. The island’s autonomous sovereignty has continually been challenged, initially because of the KMT’s insistence that it continue to represent not just Taiwan but all of China—and later because Taiwan refused to cede sovereignty to the then-dominant power that had arisen on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. One thing that makes Taiwan so politically difficult and yet so intellectually fascinating is that it ­­is not merely a security problem, but a ganglion of interrelated puzzles. The optimistic hope of the Ma Ying-jeou administration for a new era of peace and cooperation foundered on a landslide victory by the Democratic Progressive Party, which has made clear its intent to distance Taiwan from China’s political embrace. The Taiwanese are now waiting with bated breath as the relationship tautens. Why did détente fail, and what chance does Taiwan have without it? Contributors to this volume focus on three aspects of the evolving nationalistic identity, social economy, and political strategy.

Genres: China, Politics, History

322 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 3, 2017

About the author

Lowell Dittmer was an author and professor at University of California, Berkeley, where he was a member of the Political Science Department from 1978 until his retirement in 2022. He served as faculty chair of the Center for Chinese Studies (CSS) under the Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS) from 1979 to 1983, and editor for Asian Survey between the years of 1990 and 2019.

Reviews

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inclusive analysis regarding the history, narrative, and economic linkages regarding the turn away from reunification.

Very interesting to see that the second united front is romanticized in order to foster a common historical memory, despite it being a more of a truce than a common front and how they reframe it as a Chinese struggle against the invading Japanese. While this is of course true, it shifts the attention away from the fact that it was the KMT leading the war of resistance (which according to Stilwell, was not all that glorious with both sides allegedly hoarding supplies for the eventual war with one another). Even as the Japanese surrendered, Mao Zedong knew that this would be a victory for Chiang Kai-shek, so it is interesting to see how the CCP reinterprets this piece of history to further their own interests, mainly by shifting the narrative and mentioning specific facts e.g. that the united front was initiated by the ccp.

What I found even more notable is the writers mentioning a third united front, as the KMT and CCP are now working together to maintain the one China principle against the DPP despite wanting to destroy each other for the better part of the 20th century. All in all a very well thought out book on current day China-Taiwan relations

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Academic style papers edited by Lowell Dittmer. The tone and prose were very academic. Learned a few interesting facts about Taiwan, China and the relationship between the two. As someone who has a fair knowledge of Taiwan I felt that the level of detail and content of the papers were understandable to me.

When I first started reading I thought that there was a bias towards Chinese views but I felt the book was fairly balanced.

I would recommend the book for people that want to learn more about Taiwan and China but already have some background on the topic.