Browsing by Author "Mikkola, Santeri"

The question of reunification, or ‘the Taiwan issue’, stands as one of the paramount geopolitical conundrums of the 21st century. China asserts that Taiwan is an inalienable part its historical geo-body and socio-cultural chronicles under the unifying idea of ‘Chineseness’. Nevertheless, since Taiwan’s democratization process began to thrive in the 1990s, perceptions of national identity have diverged drastically from those in mainland China. Corollary, the appeal for reunification in Taiwan is almost non-existent, and hence achieving peaceful unification under the ‘one country, two systems’ proposal seems highly unlikely. Furthermore, the United States assumes a pivotal role in cross-strait geopolitics, intricately tangling the question of Taiwan into the broader scheme of great power politics. This thesis examines the intricate dynamics of the Taiwan issue by analyzing the practical geopolitical reasoning of the PRC intellectuals of statecraft over Taiwan. The theoretical and methodological foundations of this study draw from critical geopolitics and critical discourse analysis. The primary empirical research materials comprise the three Taiwan white papers published by the PRC. In addition, the analysis is supplemented by other official documents as well as vast array of research literature published on cross-strait geopolitics. Building upon Ó Tuathail’s theorization of practical geopolitical reasoning, the paper presents the ‘grammar of geopolitics’ of the Taiwan issue from the perspective of the PRC. Within this analytical framework, three guiding geopolitical storylines were identified: 1) Historical Sovereignty, 2) National Unity under ‘Chineseness’, and 3) Separatism and External Powers as Antagonist Forces. The results reveals that the CCP has constructed the imperative of reunification as an historically and geographically bound inevitability. Nevertheless, China's increasing geopolitical anxiety over achieving the objective of reunification with Taiwan is evidential in its discourses. This increasing geopolitical anxiety is likely to compel the CCP to adopt more coercive actions in the near and mid-term future if it deems it necessary. Given the developments in Taiwan, Sino-U.S. relations and domestically in China, it seems probable that pressure on Taiwan will continue to mount throughout the 2020s. Much of the strategic calculations and geopolitical discourses constructed regarding the Taiwan issue can be attributed to the CCP's concerns about its own legitimacy to rule. Within its geopolitical discourses, the issue of reunification is rendered to an existential question for China and arguably it constitutes a significant part of the modern CCP’s raison d'être. China’s increasing self-confidence as a superpower is continually trembling the dynamics of international affairs and the geopolitical landscape, particularly within the Indo-Pacific region. Consequently, the project of Chinese geopolitics remains an unfinished business, and warrants further contributions from researchers in the field of critical geopolitics.