Stability with Chinese characteristics: Hu Jintao`s Taiwan policy

Abstract

Even as Xi Jinping begins to make his personal imprint on Cross-Strait relations, he has to contend with his predecessor, Hu Jintao`s policy towards Taiwan that generated a modus vivendi, acting as a precursor to a slew of trade related agreements between the two sides leading to the ECFA in 2010. On Taiwan, the `status quo` aspect of Cross-Strait relations has assumed overwhelming consensus with calls for deeper economic engagement with the mainland. Broadly, a template with its own characteristics emerges of a selective reconciling of differences with certain accommodations of interests making the Cross-Strait relations a unique model. This article situates Cross-Strait relations during Hu Jintao`s term from 2002-2012, and advances the proposition that the mechanics of an eventual integration are underway with deeper economic cooperation being the first phase of a comprehensive framework under construction. To Beijing, its behaviour on Cross-Strait issues is intrinsic to its announced process of `peaceful development`. However, the `relative` success of the on-going process of economic integration does not have to be interpreted as an overwhelming endorsement of the methodology adopted, since closer relations with the mainland is a deeply divisive and politically charged issue in Taiwan. © 2013 SAGE Publications.