{"title":"The PLA and Taiwan Policy under Xi Jinping: One Joint Actor without Its Own Agenda","authors":"Arthur S. Ding","doi":"10.1142/S1013251117500035","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"After the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress was held in the fall of 2012, frequently asked questions were: Is Xi Jinping able to rein in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and what is the state of Chinese party-military relations? What are the implications of this status for the PLA in China’s Taiwan policy-making? What is the potential impact of Taiwan’s leadership transition on China’s Taiwan policy and on the PLA’s role? This author argues that through a stick and carrot approach, Xi has become the leader of China, and has been able to rein in the PLA. His proactive and assertive approach in the context of China’s growing capabilities has empowered him to control the discourse of Taiwan policy. In these circumstances, the PLA will continue to be one joint actor within the relevant apparatus executing Taiwan policy without its own agenda. Uncertainty as a result of the ruling party rotation in Taiwan is unlikely to change the PLA’s role.","PeriodicalId":53213,"journal":{"name":"ISSUES & STUDIES","volume":"16 1","pages":"1750003"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2017-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ISSUES & STUDIES","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1142/S1013251117500035","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"AREA STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
After the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress was held in the fall of 2012, frequently asked questions were: Is Xi Jinping able to rein in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and what is the state of Chinese party-military relations? What are the implications of this status for the PLA in China’s Taiwan policy-making? What is the potential impact of Taiwan’s leadership transition on China’s Taiwan policy and on the PLA’s role? This author argues that through a stick and carrot approach, Xi has become the leader of China, and has been able to rein in the PLA. His proactive and assertive approach in the context of China’s growing capabilities has empowered him to control the discourse of Taiwan policy. In these circumstances, the PLA will continue to be one joint actor within the relevant apparatus executing Taiwan policy without its own agenda. Uncertainty as a result of the ruling party rotation in Taiwan is unlikely to change the PLA’s role.
期刊介绍:
ISSUES & STUDIES (ISSN 1013-2511) is published quarterly by the Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University, Taipei. IS is an internationally peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing quality social science research on issues ¨C mainly of a political nature ¨C related to the domestic and international affairs of contemporary China, Taiwan, and East Asia, as well as other closely related topics. The editors particularly welcome manuscripts related to China and Taiwan.