“One China“ or “One China, one Taiwan“? The KMT and DPP’s Mainland Policy Approaches between Unification and Sovereignty

Abstract

Since the inauguration of the first DPP-administration in May 2000, cross-strait relations have not seen much de- terioration, though they have not relaxed neither. The new government of Chen Shuibian started rather cau- tiously vis-ä-vis Beijing and evoked the impression of genuinely being interested in achieving a Sino-Taiwanese rapprochement. However, as the presidency went on, it became clear that neither Chen nor his party would com- promise on the ’one China’-principle which was finally re- jected as a basic consensus to be shared by both sides of the Taiwan strait. In August 2002, Chen implicitly confirmed Li Denghui’s 1999-formula of “special state-to- state“ relations when he declared that Taiwan and the mainland are “two countries on each side“ (yibian yiguo).