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Tackles a variety of issues concerning national reunification and territorial integrity of China over Taiwan in 1949. History of China's administrative authority in Taiwan; Efforts of the Chinese government to protect Taiwan from foreign invasions and occupation; Origin of the issue concerning China's jurisdiction over Taiwan.

The growth in commercial transactions with Mainland China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Taiwan region (Taiwan) as well as the economic integration in the entire area have lead to an increase in disputes. Considering the importance of arbitration as a mechanism for resolving commercial disputes in the area, the paper discusses whether a substantial "clash" between their legal frameworks for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards can be observed. After a critical analysis, the paper concludes that these frameworks are either subject to or modelled on the New York Convention. Yet, each has a distinct approach to the implementation, and dissimilarities arise. Furthermore, the specific legal framework for the recognition and enforcement of Mainland China awards in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and vice versa, still raises some concerns and is not fully reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why does Ma Ying-jeou pursue a China-tilting policy when US-PRC relations become more competitive after 2010? Indeed, the president's mainland policy has gone far beyond the strategic requirements to satisfy international pressures for a stable cross-strait relationship. According to neoclassical realism, domestic politics acts as 'intervening variables' through which systemic imperatives are translated into a state's foreign policy response. Based, in part, on this author's interviews in Taiwan, this paper contends that due to Taiwan's internal political divisions on the 'one China' issue, elected leaders strive for their own nation-building projects, which, in turn, generate policies that undermine Taiwan's national security. Since 2008, the KMT tries to reshape Taiwan's identity through the rehabilitation of the ROC as the legitimate 'one China'. Though Ma's rapprochement with Beijing on the basis of the '1992 consensus' has contributed to cross-strait stability, his embrace of a China-centric national identity has also placed the administration increasingly at odds with Taiwan's public which gave the KMT a resounding electoral defeat in Taiwan's local elections of November 2014. As Taipei becomes more aligned to the PRC, its security ties with America and Japan could be compromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has become Taiwan's most important export and investment destination. This phenomenon is puzzling to realism as concerns for security externalities should discourage commerce between adversaries. Liberalism also has difficulty in accounting for this phenomenon because an absence of facilitative institutions should discourage commerce across the Taiwan Strait. This paper applies recent theoretical development on credible communication to this seemingly baffling situation. Whereas it has been suggested that commercial ties enable states to signal resolve short of military demonstration, I argue that these ties can also be used to credibly communicate reassurance and commitment to peaceful cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In its relations with Taiwan and China, Washington has begun to implement separate dual strategies in order to simultaneously deter unilateral action while balancing out the rival political and military forces of each side. A simple standard strategy just is not sufficient to maintain the status quo. The way to maintain peace is for Washington to keep its role as a moderator between the two sides while preventing both from taking unilateral steps toward goals that would naturally provoke the other. US policy has to mirror the duality of the cross-strait arena by implementing dual balancing and deterrent strategies. It is also imperative that policymakers realize the complexity of the situation so as not to unwittingly provoke either side. This paper is an analysis of the emerging US strategy of deterring both sides of the Taiwan Strait from taking unilateral action while maintaining a balance of military and political forces, and gives some suggestions as to the further development of this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been one of the popular strategies for health promotion. Traditional East Asian medicine (TEAM) is one of the most popular CAM practices in the world and there are suggestions that its holistic utilization is important for users to gain its effects for health promotion. In this context, this study investigates the extent to which TEAM users in East Asian countries utilize various modalities of TEAM holistically. It provides a model that explains cross-national differences in the extent of the holistic use of TEAM between China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Using the 2010 East Asian Social Survey, regression models specify the relationship between the holistic use of TEAM and the geographical location (country). The presence of TEAM doctors who hold the comprehensive and exclusive practice rights over TEAM is found to be conducive to the holistic utilization of various TEAM modalities. Thus, Taiwanese and Koreans use TEAM more holistically than Chinese and even more so than Japanese. The result suggests that the manner in which TEAM is institutionalized affect the extent to which TEAM users utilize various TEAM modalities together and potentially the health promotion effects of TEAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article tackles a conceptual topic of postcolonial feminism—self-feminization. Specifically, the article explores the femininity of Taiwanese professionals' bridging role between the head and branch offices of multinational firms in Taiwan, as well as between an allegedly universal ethos in science, market, and the globalization on the one hand and the humanist concerns for emotion, relation, and nuance on the other. The femininity of financial office as well as other local capacities demonstrates how they can improvise relationships for mutually estranging actors. Then, the article extends the discussion to allude to international relations, divided by an allegedly universal (usually conversional) and indigenous (usually resistant) force in terms of value, institution, relation, or identity. I use the local branch office qua the indigenous, the head office qua the universal, and the professionals who bridge between them as metaphors for China, the West or the global forces, and Taiwan, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Abelia (Caprifoliaceae) is a small genus with five species, including one artificial hybrid and several natural hybrids. The genus has a discontinuous distribution in Mainland China, Taiwan Island and the Ryukyu Islands, providing a model system to explore the mechanisms of species dispersal in the East Asian flora. However, the current phylogenetic relationships within Abelia remain uncertain. Methods We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships within Abelia using nuclear loci generated by target enrichment and plastomes from genome skimming. Divergence time estimation, ancestral area reconstruction and ecological niche modelling (ENM) were used to examine the diversification history of Abelia. Key Results We found extensive cytonuclear discordance across the genus. By integrating lines of evidence from molecular phylogenies, divergence times and morphology, we propose to merge Abelia macrotera var. zabelioides into A. uniflora. Network analyses suggested that there have been multiple widespread hybridization events among Abelia species. These hybridization events may have contributed to the speciation mechanism and resulted in the high observed morphological diversity. The diversification of Abelia began in the early Eocene, followed by A. chinensis var. ionandra colonizing Taiwan Island during the Middle Miocene. The ENM results suggested an expansion of climatically suitable areas during the Last Glacial Maximum and range contraction during the Last Interglacial. Disjunction between the Himalayan–Hengduan Mountain region and Taiwan Island is probably the consequence of topographical isolation and postglacial contraction. Conclusions We used genomic data to reconstruct the phylogeny of Abelia and found a clear pattern of reticulate evolution in the group. In addition, our results suggest that shrinkage of postglacial range and the heterogeneity of the terrain have led to the disjunction between Mainland China and Taiwan Island. This study provides important new insights into the speciation process and taxonomy of Abelia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to conduct a preliminary comparative study on different models of citizens' participation in Chinese societies. In examining citizen policing in Chinese societies, this article covers the major geographical locations in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. By using thematic analysis, this article has identified three main themes to assess volunteer policing in three Chinese societies, which all connect to the concepts of institutions and social capital: institutional development, institutional impact, and Guanxi as a common socio-cultural challenge. The role of citizens in law enforcement work is contextualized in the different forms of governments in these three societies. In China, there is a lack of legislature at the central level to regulate auxiliary police forces. The local governments developed various forms of auxiliary police systems monitored by public security authorities. Hong Kong, due to its former status as a British colony, has developed a well-established model of the modern auxiliary police system. In Taiwan, the auxiliary police system was influenced by both Chinese institutional development and the Japanese colony; however, a lack of detailed legislature at the local level is found, which has impacted the implementation of volunteer policing. Despite the difference, three of them all have faced the common challenges affected by Guanxi, which is the rudimentary dynamic in personalized social networks of power and is a crucial system of beliefs in Chinese culture. The author concludes that the institutional factors and Guanxi are important determinants of successful implementation of volunteer policing in three Chinese societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article previews the June 1, 2006 issue of "Sociology of Religion." The issue focuses on the conversion of the Chinese people to Christianity, and contains a series of articles dedicated to that topic. The conversion of the Chinese people to Christianity has been handled very differently than the conversion of other peoples to Christianity, and the articles in the issue discuss those methods. Chinese-American college students are discussed in light of their exposure to Christianity, as well as the conversion of citizens of Taiwan. Also examined are the impact of various Protestant churches in China.

Higher education institutions around the world have striven to recruit 'the world's best and brightest' faculty to enhance their scientific leadership and innovation, and American colleges and universities recognize their responsibilities to promote international intellectual exchange and encourage the free flow of ideas, knowledge, and people of all nations.While there is a growing body of literature on foreign-born academics, very little is known about foreign-born women in the US higher educational institutes, despite the fact that an increasing number of women exist in all academic disciplines, especially in STEM fields. By exploring Chinese and Taiwanese immigrant women faculty's stories, this study aims to partially address the gap in the literature concerning foreign-born women faculty's workplace experiences in US universities and colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies revisit the debate over whether tourism promotes peace via intergroup contacts. In this article, we examine the case of China-Taiwan confrontation and argue that the increase of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan contributes to peace across the Taiwan Strait. Specifically, the touristic experiences and interactions with Taiwanese improve Chinese people's understanding of Taiwan, fostering a patient and peaceful attitude toward the prospect of cross-Strait relations. With the survey data collected during July and September 2013, we find that Chinese people who were visiting Taiwan for the first time were less likely to support a rapid pace to the unification between China and Taiwan or unification by force than those who had never visited Taiwan. Additionally, the attitude is stronger among independent tourists than those who came in escorted tour groups. Our findings suggest that contacts between tourists and locals are effective in alleviating political tension across the Taiwan Strait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an intersectional approach, this study examines Chinese immigrant mothers' negotiation between career and family and the role of social support. Based on eight individual interviews with Chinese immigrant mothers in Toronto, we found that their employment opportunities were highly limited by the intersection of immigration status and gender. A model is proposed to explain the effect of various factors on the mothers' career decisions. Three core factors—employment difficulties, child-care responsibility and financial need—had a major influence on the mothers' cost-and-benefit analyses when they made their career decisions. Furthermore, the adequacy and effectiveness of the mothers' social and community support were affected by their immigration status. Class differences and the association between career decisions and integration are also discussed. The findings suggest that immigrant mothers experience a unique situation because of the intersectionality of their multiple identities. Researchers and community organisations should recognise the distinct circumstances and needs of this group in order to achieve comprehensive understanding and provide appropriate services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article tries to adopt data envelopment analysis window analysis to evaluate the technological innovation efficiencies of seven types of China's industrial enterprises during 2006–15. However, different window widths will lead to very different results. We designate the ideal window width through the scientific method rather than subjective judgments and obtain the efficiencies closer to reality. We also measure the efficiencies under the worst width opposite to the ideal window width to highlight differences. The results indicate that the efficiencies under the ideal width are more reasonable. During 2006–15, the efficiency of medium-sized enterprises was higher than that of large enterprises, that of private enterprises was higher than that of state-owned and state-holding enterprises, and that of foreign-funded enterprises was higher than that of enterprises with funds from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan and that of domestic-funded enterprises. Moreover, the efficiencies of various types of enterprises all maintained upward trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health literacy tests in the Chinese-speaking parts of the world have been mainly developed in traditional Chinese to be used in Hong Kong or Taiwan. So far no validated tool in simplified Chinese to assess functional health literacy in Mainland China has been developed. The aim of the study was to validate the simplified Chinese version of the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA). The traditional Chinese version was translated into simplified Chinese and 150 interviews in an outpatient department of a public hospital in Mainland China were conducted. Predictive validity was assessed by known predictors for health literacy and convergent validity by three health literacy screening questions. The Cronbach's a for the reading comprehension part was 0.94 and 0.90 for the numeracy items. Participants with lower education and men had significantly lower levels of health literacy. The reading comprehension part was significantly correlated with two of the health literacy screening questions. Our results indicate that the simplified Chinese version of the S-TOFHLA is a reliable measure of health literacy to be used in Mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines China's and Taiwan's humanitarian assistance to Haiti, as well as the extent to which China and Taiwan – as non-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors – adhered to the DAC-established humanitarian assistance architecture. It argues that China's and Taiwan's emergency aid was comparable with the DAC donorship in terms of its declaratory commitment to altruism and the pursuit of strategic objectives. Both Beijing and Taipei considered cross-Strait relations and domestic and international public opinion when strategizing emergency aid. The primacy of politics determined a divided China's modalities of aid, funding levels, and institutional framework. The article concludes that strategic considerations – including cross-Strait politics, a suspension of cross-Strait diplomatic rivalry notwithstanding – are at least as significant as altruism in driving China's and Taiwan's humanitarian assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Writings on the design history and design studies of the Greater China region (the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan and Hong Kong) have not emerged at this stage. This article summarizes existing works on Chinese design history and study, giving a brief overview of the literature written and published in English and notable publications in Chinese. The brief review of each key publication serves as introductory text for the subject matter. This review takes a pragmatic approach, using the term ‘sheji’ as a currently agreed-upon translation for the English word ‘design’ in the region. Historically, in the Chinese context, ‘gongyi’ was used to refer to the skills (techniques and technology) and art (aesthetic and philosophy) of making crafts to satisfy the needs of everyday life, including the hereditary upper class and ordinary folks. Recently, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China further removed the component ‘yishu’ (art), with only the term ‘sheji’ (design) remaining, and made ‘yishu’ a new discipline in the Directory of Degree-granting and Personnel Training Disciplines (Xuewei Shouyu he Rencai Peiyang Xueke Mulu) announced in March 2011. This recent announcement signifies a new era of design education and unifies the various different terms used in the region to refer to the English word ‘design’. Owing to the complexity of the terminology referring to ‘design’ in the Chinese context, various Chinese terms may appear in this article, along with reviewed literature, to provide further background for the definitions of the term in the current Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a comparison of religious activity in China and Taiwan. It contrasts the burgeoning revival of Christianity in mainland China to Christianity's fortunes in Taiwan, where it has lost favor compared to local Taoist and folk religions, such as a ritual called An-Tai-Sui. Christianity enjoyed great popularity in Taiwan in the mid-20th century. Relevant data is analyzed from the Taiwan Social Change Survey, an annual survey conducted since the 1980s, and compared to data from the Spiritual Life Study of Chinese Residents, a survey conducted for the first time in 2007.

Mainstream approaches perpetuate the Taiwan–China ‘crisis’. They do so by following Cold-War concepts and prescriptions, despite the rise of new realities and new visions for cross-strait relations. We draw on Hirschman's identification of ‘loyalty’ and ‘voice’ to describe the mainstream discourse on cross-strait relations in Taiwan, mostly directed by the United States. But a third option is now emerging. It offers the possibility of a paradigmatic breakthrough or ‘exit’ based on articulations of a postcolonial subjectivity for Taiwan and its relations with China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article traces the membership and representation of China in the International Civil Aviation Organization. It examines which of the two governments claiming to represent China, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) or the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), has, at any one time, been regarded as competent to exercise China's membership rights under the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention). In particular, the article asks which government can today validly designate "customs airports" in China, including Taiwan, and exercise the various other rights in respect of non-scheduled and scheduled flights referred to in Articles 5 and 6 of tile Chicago Convention. It explains why airlines can operate direct international air services to non designated airports in Taiwan without the special permission or other authorization of the Government of the PRC, despite the latter being regarded as having complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called "Kokaryo Case", popularly called the "Guanghualiao An" in Chinese, is the case filed by the Republic of China in Japan that attracted much attention and dispute since delicate issues such as the recognition of the Chinese government and the juridical status of the Taiwan authorities were involved. This note briefly overviews the 27 March 2007 Japanese Supreme Court judgment in this case and provides some tentative comments on its nature and implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new wave of nationalistic fervor in China is believed to have further complicated cross-strait relations. Ordinary Chinese are not willing to see Taiwan moving towards independence. Yet such a nationalistic belief that the mainland has a rightful claim over Taiwan does not seem to accord with the feelings of a rising number of Taiwanese who tend to regard their separateness from the mainland as a unique feature that deserves safeguarding. While the potential for conflict is there, the situation is not all gloomy. The Beijing leadership has so far been able to keep the new nationalism in check by adopting a calibrated response to perceived independence moves by Taiwan. While more conciliatory in its gestures towards Taiwan, China can be firm if the need arises. Also, the United States appears to be tilting in favor of China in terms of maintaining cross-strait stability. Depending on the situation, the Chinese leadership retains the political initiative to break the deadlock at some point in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories about the sect-to-church transition focus on changes in the social characteristics of members, or changes in the size and prosperity of the organization, to account for the transition. However, the state may also affect the likelihood of a sect-to-church transition. Under conditions of state repression, sects are likely to be more schismatic. State repression can also strengthen sectarianism by preventing the orderly succession of leaders and the emergence of professionalized and educated priesthood. We illustrate with the case of Yiguan Dao in China. This sect exhibited sectarian features under state repression, and the late 1980s when the sect was legalized in Taiwan. Thereafter, the various branches of the sect have introduced a series of changes designed to reduce schisms, formalize the succession of leadership, professionalize sectarian leaders and elaborate doctrines. These developments cannot be comprehended theoretically without some revisions to theories of sect-to-church changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the extent of normative commitment to democracy among the public in East Asia. The authors discuss to what extent do citizens in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong support democracy as a system of government as measured by overtly favorable orientations toward democracy. It indicates that except for South Korea and Japan most East Asian democratic countries do not enjoy a deep legitimization. The authors observed that authoritarianism remains a rough competitor to democracy in the region.

This article considers the operational utility of computer-based information warfare across the Taiwan Strait. It reviews the capacity of both the People's Republic of China and Taiwan to wage offensive and defensive information warfare, and acknowledges that both sides have invested and continue to invest considerable amounts of resources into developing their information warfare ability, both have taken part in the Revolution in Military Affairs process that has redefined military strategy in an age of high-technology warfare, and computer-based information warfare will serve as part of a broader military strategy that revolves principally around conventional methods of attack and deterrence. However, using a critical security approach the article suggests that the capacity to wage computer-based information warfare is currently limited, and plays more of a psychological role in the propaganda offensive that continues across the Taiwan Strait. Hence, computer-based information warfare is ‘old wine in new bottles’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the consequences of the launch of a normalization initiative with China by U.S. President Richard Nixon and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger. President Nixon and Kissinger succeeded in redirecting U.S. foreign policy. They had also been right to continue normalization relations with China. The consequence for this is their betrayal of an ally in the form of Taiwan. The U.S. not only forfeited the right to Taiwan's people to self-determination but their ability to avoid Communist rule. They failed to see that other U.S. citizens would be determined to help Taiwan defend itself and the country's capability of having its own political reform. Such shortsightedness misled everyone. It has a big impact on U.S. integrity, diplomacy and democracy.

Selected teleseismic data observed at temporary and permanent broad-band stations have been analysed using the receiver function method in order to investigate the very complex crustal structure in Taiwan region. Very significant azimuthal variations of radial and transverse receiver function responses from broad-band stations could be attributed to, among other things, the sampling of incoming seismic waves across the nearby subduction zone, a subsurface dipping interface, or a localized anisotropic region. A mid-crust discontinuity, interpreted as the Conrad discontinuity, can be identified at 18–20 km depth beneath TATO and TPUB stations in the Western Foothills, but is absent beneath the two nearby stations SSLB and TDCB in the Central Mountain Range. The separation of upper and lower crust beneath the Western Foothills and the steady increase in crustal velocity as a function of depth across the entire thicker crust beneath the Central Mountain Range suggest that the tectonic evolution of the crust may be significantly different for these two adjacent regions. Although a‘thin-skinned’ model may be associated with the tectonic evolution of the upper crust of the Western Foothills and Western Coastal Plain, a‘thick-skinned’ or‘lithospheric deformation’ model can probably be applied to explain the crustal evolution of the Central Mountain Range. A trend of crustal thinning from east (50–52 km) to west (28–32 km) is in very good agreement with the results from two east–west-trending deep seismic profiles obtained using airgun sources. The thinner crust (20–30 km) beneath TWB1 station in northeastern Taiwan can be associated with the high-heat-flow backarc opening at the western terminus of the Okinawa trough behind the subduction of the Philippine Sea plate. The relatively simple crustal structure beneath KMNB station, offshore southeastern China, depicts typical continental crust, with the Moho depth at 28–32 km. An apparent offset of the thickest Moho beneath NACB station from the topographic high in the central Central Mountain Range suggests that the Taiwan orogeny has probably not reached its isostatic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which examined the hypothesis that monitoring costs increase with physical distance, thus direct investments located further from the base of foreign investors should be formed as joint ventures. Assessment of Taiwanese direct investments in China between 1987 to 1991; Modes of foreign investments; Discussion on the investment environment in China for the given period.