The Intellectual Basis for Reunification with Taiwan

This article sheds light on mainland Chinese political-theoretical perspectives on reunification with Taiwan—perspectives that, particularly in their idealism, tend to remain hidden from Western observers. Explaining these perspectives in their basic contours should not be mistaken for endorsing them. Further, the analysis does not seek to detract from the heartfelt idealism that informs Taiwanese and Western commitments to Taiwanese self-determination and liberal-democratic governance. However, even the most elementary form of strategic intelligence requires some understanding of the ideas on “the other side.”
Chinese intellectuals and political leaders have developed an extensive arsenal of political conceptions—including elevated philosophical frameworks and even millenarian visions—that serve to legitimise a future reunification with Taiwan. According to Party doctrine, reunification would enable China to liberate the international political order from America’s hegemonic spirit and to elevate international politics to a “community of common destiny.” Meanwhile, in the most lofty philosophical renditions, international power politics must ultimately give way to a new tianxia, an “all-under-heaven” global harmony.
Such conceptions tie the very well-being of humanity to the incorporation of Taiwan into the People’s Republic of China (PRC). These ideas form a script (or set of scripts) ready to be deployed polemically should the PRC take concrete steps towards reunification.