Changing Guards and Changing Policies Toward China: Taiwanese and American Perspectives‪.‬

ABSTRACT This paper tries to examine recent changes in political leaderships and subsequent policy shifts toward China in Taiwan and the United States. The primary focus will be on the historic democratic transition and the resulting changes of Taiwan's China policy in the March 18, 2000 presidential election, in which the 55-year rule of the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), was peacefully replaced by the opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). More precisely, the focus will be sharpened to look at the policy shift the new president, Chen Shui-bian, was forced to make to depart from his predecessor, Lee Teng-hui. The policy contrast between the two presidents says a lot about not only the statesmanship of the two leaders but also Taiwan's predicament in dealing with the complex cross-Taiwan-Strait relations. In addition, it shows the difficulty the new Chen administration faces in running a minority government in the newly democratized polity.