The cross-Strait relationship will no longer be a bipolar game, but a multi-polar setting.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/01/02
By: Chun-Yi Lee

2017 has been a quiet year for cross-Strait relations between China and Taiwan. The

photo credit: Reuters/達志影像

constant silence between Beijing and Taipei since the election of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2016 remained throughout the whole year.

The number of mainland visitors to Taiwan and amount of mainland direct investment in Taiwan reduced in 2017, with official dialogue between semi-governmental institutes like Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in Taiwan and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) in China hitting almost zero in 2017.

However, can we say both sides completely ignored each other because there is no obvious interaction between them? The answer is no. On the side of China, Taiwan is a perpetually unsolvable issue; for the Taiwanese government, the “China Factor” has been overwhelming throughout different presidencies, be it under Kuomintang (KMT) or DPP governments.    [FULL  STORY]