Table Of ContentTaiwan During the First
Administration of Tsai Ing-wen
This book offers a substantive assessment of the first Tsai Ing-wen admin-
istration, investigating different policy fields and issues from 2016 to 2020,
prior to Tsai’s election for a second term.
Providing a balanced account of government performance under Tsai’s
Ing-wen’s reign, chapters in this edited volume combine theory and exten-
sive empirical data to highlight both achievements and shortfalls of her
administration. Chapters range comprehensively from topics of the imple-
mentation of same-sex marriage, curriculum reform, ‘transitional justice’,
industrial policy and pension reform, which have been celebrated by domes-
tic Tsai Ing-wen supporters, but have also met with considerable opposi-
tion from within Taiwanese society. Externally, cross-Strait relations, the
New Southbound Policy and the triangular relationship with China and
the USA, which produced major challenges for Tsai’s first administration,
are also analysed as key reference points throughout.
Featuring contributions from twenty six internationally renowned
Taiwan scholars, Taiwan During the First Administration of Tsai Ing-wen is
an essential resource for students and scholars of Taiwanese politics and
society, cross-Strait relations and international relations.
Gunter Schubert is Chair Professor of Greater China Studies and director of
the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT) at the
University of Tübingen. He specialises in local governance and state -business
relations in the PRC, cross-Strait political economy, Taiwanese politics and
the changing global order under the impact of China’s rise.
Chun-yi Lee is Associate Professor at the school of Politics and International
Relations, University of Nottingham. She is also the Director of the Taiwan
Studies Programme at University of Nottingham. Chun-yi’s research inter-
est is in cross-strait relationships, and on China’s impact on global political
economy.
Routledge Research on Taiwan Series
The Routledge Research on Taiwan Series seeks to publish quality research
on all aspects of Taiwan studies. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the
books will cover topics such as politics, economic development, culture,
society, anthropology and history.
This new book series will include the best possible scholarship from the
social sciences and the humanities and welcomes submissions from estab-
lished authors in the field as well as from younger authors. In addition to
research monographs and edited volumes general works or textbooks with a
broader appeal will be considered.
The Series is advised by an international Editorial Board and edited by
Dafydd Fell of the Centre of Taiwan Studies at the School of Oriental and
African Studies.
1 Taiwan’s Economic and Diplomatic Challenges and Opportunities
Mariah Thornton, Robert Ash and Dafydd Fell
2 Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen
Changes and Challenges
Edited by June Teufel Dreyer and Jacques deLisle
3 Taiwan’s Contemporary Indigenous Peoples
Edited by Dafydd Fell, Daniel Davies, Chia-yuan Huang
4 Resounding Taiwan
Musical Reverberations Across a Vital Island
Edited by Nancy Guy
5 Taiwan During the First Administration of Tsai Ing-wen
Navigating in Stormy Waters
Edited by Gunter Schubert and Chun-yi Lee
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Research-on-Taiwan-Series/book-series/RRTAIWAN
Taiwan During the First
Administration of Tsai Ing-wen
Navigating in Stormy Waters
Edited by
Gunter Schubert and Chun-yi Lee
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Gunter Schubert and Chun-yi
Lee; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Gunter Schubert and Chun-yi Lee to be identified as
the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-07280-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-07282-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-20632-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003206323
Typeset in Times NR MT Pro
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Contributors ix
1 Introduction 1
GUNTER SCHUBERT AND CHUN-YI LEE
2 Situating Tsai Ing-wen’s first term: Three decades of presidential
discourse in Taiwan 16
JONATHAN SULLIVAN AND DON S. LEE
3 Tsai Ing-wen, the sandwich president 47
SHELLEY RIGGER
4 Liang’an vs. kua’an: The two dimensions of Taiwan-China
relations during the first Tsai administration 70
GUNTER SCHUBERT, RUIHUA LIN AND TSENG, JEAN YU-CHEN
5 Decoding the cyber strait: Taiwan’s responses to the Chinese
cyber threat under Tsai Ing-wen 98
CHRISTOPHER ANDRÄ-HAMPF
6 The increasing irrelevance of industrial policy in Taiwan, 2016–2020 128
DOUGLAS B. FULLER
7 The war of referenda in 2018: Analysing the interaction
between social movements and political parties 142
MING-SHO HO AND CHUN-HAO HUANG
8 The rough-and-tumble of Taiwan’s pension reform in the
first administration of Tsai Ing-wen, 2016–2020 167
DON-YUN CHEN, CHUNG-AN CHEN, ZHOU-PENG LIAO,
HSIANG-KAI DONG, AND HUNG-CHEN KUEI
vi Contents
9 The reorientation of history teaching in Taiwan’s
12-year Basic Education 180
MAU-KUEI CHANG, SHIH-CH’I CHIN, AND HSIU-CHIN YANG
10 A noble dream undelivered: The quest for transitional
justice during Tsai Ing-wen’s first term 209
CHENG-YI HUANG
11 ‘It’s not marriage!’: Framing and mobilising in the
anti-same-sex marriage movement 234
YU-CHIN TSENG
12 Productivity, cohesion and dignity: The contestation of
migration policy under the first Tsai Ing-wen administration 254
ISABELLE CHENG
13 Assessing the first years of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy:
The case of Vietnam 283
CHUN-YI LEE
14 Stronger than ever?: US-Taiwan relations during the first
Tsai administration 303
SCOTT L. KASTNER
15 Taiwan, Japan and the European Union under the Tsai
administration’s New Southbound Policy: Viable alternatives?
Republic of China 328
KERRY BROWN
16 Trilateral humanitarian aid: Continuities and changes in
Taiwan’s aid policy before and during the first administration
of Tsai Ing-wen 347
SHIUH-SHEN CHIEN AND YI-CHEN WU
Index 373
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Frequency of mentioning an indicator across the four speech
categories (a–d). 26
2.2 Proportion of text addressing the four speech categories (a–d). 28
2.3 (a) Frequency of mentions of Taiwan identity. (b) Proportion
of speeches addressing Taiwan identity. 31
2.4 (a) Frequency of mentions of ‘southbound policies’.
(b) Proportion of speeches addressing ‘southbound policies’. 33
2.5 Mentions of six policy sectors in speeches addressing
‘Going South’. 34
2.6 Mentions of six policy sectors in speeches addressing China. 35
2.7 Frequency of soft and hard approaches associated with
‘Going South’. 36
2.8 Frequency of soft and hard approaches associated with China. 37
3.1 Independence/unification preference 2016. 48
6.1 Taiwan’s fixed capital investment, 1994 Q4–2019 Q3. 132
6.2 Taiwan’s current account surplus to GDP, 1980–2018. 134
8.1 Pension payment amounts and ratios, 1996–2017. 170
8.2 The confidence about receiving the pension in the future. 175
14.1 Major approved US arm sales to Taiwan over time. Notes:
Data since 2014 come from the Defense Security Cooperation
Agency, Major Arms Sales: https://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-
sales; earlier data are from Shirley A. Kan, “Taiwan: Major
US arm sales since 1990,” CRS Report, 29 August 2014:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL30957.pdf. The author
summed total approved arms sales to Taiwan in each year,
and then adjusted to constant 2012 dollars based on the
US Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP deflator as reported
by the St. Louis Federal Reserve: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
series/GDPDEF#0. 306
16.1 Taiwan flag along with mask donation news appearing on the
European Commission’s official website. 348
viii Illustrations
16.2 Taiwan’s flag listed in an ISIS video. 349
16.3 Taiwan’s national flag shown alongside other donors at the
Zaatari refugee camps in Jordan. 359
Tables
7.1 Ten referenda and their outcomes 143
7.2 Referendum signatures and votes 151
8.1 The pension according to rank before and after the pension
reform (NT-Dollars) 171
8.2 Opinions towards pension reform (general public vs. civil
servants) 172
8.3 Reasons for opposing the pension reform 174
8.4 The confidence about receiving the pension in the future 175
14.1 Approved US arm sales to Taiwan during the Tsai Ing-wen
administration 305
14.2 Tsai Ing-wen stopover visits to the United States 308
16.1 Budgets for TaiwanICDF trilateral cooperation with INGOs
from 2010 to 2018 (Unit: US$ 1,000) 356
16.2 Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) humanitarian
cooperation with Taiwanese and foreign pivots from
2006 to 2017 356
Contributors
Christopher Andrä-Hampf holds a M.A. in Political Science and East Asian
Studies with a focus on Chinese military modernisation. His research
interests include regional security policies and the evolution of regional
military strategic thinking. He is currently working as a research assistant
at the German Armed Force’s Command & Staff College.
Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China
Institute at King’s College, London. He is an Associate of the Asia Pacific
Programme at Chatham House, London, an adjunct of the Australia
New Zealand School of Government in Melbourne, and the co-editor
of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, run from the German Institute
for Global Affairs in Hamburg. He is the author of over 20 books on
modern Chinese politics, and has written for every major international
news outlet, and been interviewed by every major news channel on issues
relating to contemporary China.
Mau-kuei Chang has adjunct affiliations at the Institute of Sociology,
Academia Sinica, and the Center for Teacher Education, National Taiwan
University. He was the President of the Center for College Entrance
Examination (2019–2020), and acted as the Convener of the Study and
Research Group for Curriculum Guidelines for the Social Studies
Domain in the 12-Year Basic Education of Taiwan (2016–2018). He has
played a leading role in constructing citizenship education in Taiwan
since 2002. As a sociologist, his research interests focus on politics and
society, social movements, ethnic relations, and multiculturalism. He
initiated the China Impact Study at the Institute of Sociology, Academia
Sinica. His recent publications include China Impact: Public Perceptions
from Taiwan and Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Asian-
Pacific Studies, 2018), co-edited with S.P. Won, C.J. Chen, and W.T.
Zheng.
Chung-an Chen is Associate Professor of Public Administration at the
School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore. His research focuses on public personnel management and
