ABSTRACT
This chapter will focus on the competing nation-building projects that have been promoted by Taiwan’s political elites before and after democratization. The key changing trends on national identity will be introduced along with the competing methods of measuring identity. The debate over whether elites follow the public on national identity questions or, instead, can still impose their nation building projects on voters is discussed. I will also examine the impacts of democracy and the rise of China on national identity at the mass and elite levels, as well as the validity of claims that there was an effective anti-Chinese desinification campaign under the DPP after 2000 or deTaiwanization effort between 2008 and 2016. The concluding section addresses the future prospects for Taiwan’s competing nation-building projects.
