ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a brief overview of official cross-Strait relations (liang'an) since Tsai Ing-wen became the seventh President of the ROC in May 2016. It then turns to China's recent Taiwan policy of ‘completely opening up’ to Taiwan and summarises the different preferential policies the Chinese government has introduced in recent years. By drawing on fieldwork data gathered in Fujian and Taiwan since 2017, an analysis of Taiwanese responses to such measures and policies helps gauge their significance in the evolution of sub-official cross-Strait relations (kua'an). It concludes with a brief assessment of the first Tsai administration's impact on cross-Strait relations and the extent to which these can be shaped at both the official and sub-official level in the future. From a kua’an perspective, cross-Strait relations have become ‘normal’ behind a shield of ideological play-acting that enables the Chinese and Taiwanese to encounter one another as normal human beings and, arguably, strengthen mutual understanding of their similarities and differences. It is also an ongoing process that suggests the fomentation of an alternative cross-Strait relationship – one that is characterised by a cross-Strait ‘linkage community’ that operates under the radar screen of official politics.
