15-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
The Taiwan papers: academics suggest how mainland China might rule the island
As tensions between Beijing and Taipei rise, academia and the education sector reveal how each side is changing to adapt to – or shape – the new environment. In the first of a two-part series, we survey the vast research by mainland academics studying potential paths and models for governing the island.
For decades, Beijing has talked about peaceful reunification with Taiwan and possibly governing it under the arrangement of 'one country, two systems', a term that means the island could have a different political system than the mainland.
The idea was first proposed by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and written into the constitution as a legal foundation for future governance of Taiwan in 1982.
Generations of Chinese leaders have shared their broad vision of how post-reunification governance would look for the island, including its military and political parties.
Yet it was only under President Xi Jinping – or more specifically since Xi made a key speech on the matter of Taiwan in January 2019 – that detailed discussion of the issue picked up in public, including from policy advisers and academics.
The growth in the discussion took place as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in Taiwan continued to push the island towards pro-independence, and Washington kept up its support for Taiwan amid competition with Beijing.
