Since The Chinese Communist Party And The 1978 Cross-strait Relations,

The third plenary session of the 11th congress of the CPC in 1978 pioneered the new phase of Taiwan-related affairs. A systematical survey of the history of the CPC's efforts on the development of cross-strait relations since 1978 would be very significant in abstracting experience and lessons from the work of Taiwan affairs and hence be of great reference to the current practice in this area. This dissertation initiates an approach of diachronically four-stage analysis of the cross-strait relations history since 1978 based on the exploration of the vast literature in this field. And on the solid foundation of historical analysis, policy suggestions are also given in the text.Chapter one. The third plenary session of the 11th congress of the CPC established the principle of 'to liberate minds and to seek truth from facts'. Under the guiding of this principle the CPC initiated a series of new thinking and new policy designs in Taiwan-related affairs and took a lead in the cross-strait relations. The cross-strait relation was turned from military confrontation to peaceful confrontation. The CPC set the basic guideline of 'peaceful reunification, one country, two systems' on the basis of 1979 Letter to Taiwan Compatriots and 1981 Ye Jianying's nine principles. The CPC also made the peaceful reunification as one of the three major tasks of the 1980s. Taiwan authority at first initiated a policy of 'Three Nos' and adhered to the policy of 'reunite China with Sanmin Doctrine ' as the core of its mainland policy. But with the development of situation, Taiwan authority loosened its mainland policy and began to open doors for allowing Taiwan compatriots to visit relatives in mainland. But this loosening happened in the condition of the policy of 'Three Nos' being still adhered to. During this period, the U.S. promised to 'sever' diplomatic relation with Taiwan, 'abolish' the mutual defense treaty, and 'withdraw' its troops from Taiwan and established diplomatic relation with PRC and made August 17th Communique with PRC concerning the issue of U.S. arms sale to Taiwan. But the U.S. passed the Taiwan Relations Act in which six commitments to Taiwan was made in order for U.S. to continue their interference in the Taiwan question.Chapter two. Taiwan compatriots' visits to mainland drove the growth of cross-strait civilian exchanges. And the CPC showed remarkable sincerity and credibility in peaceful reunification by putting the policies into effect, establishing organizations responsible for Taiwan-related affairs, bettering the regulations and policies toward Taiwan-related issues. Wang-Gu Meeting was possible on the basis of the above work and this was a significant event during this period. At the same time, the CPC was also firm in the struggle against Taiwan authority's speeches and actions in departure from 'one China' principle. Taiwan authority also established organizations of cross-strait relations and issued some regulations and policies to regulate the civilian exchanges. Taiwan authority began to retreat from its previous adherence to 'one China' principle and published ideas such as 'one country, two governments' and 'one country, two bodies' and began to strengthen their efforts in 'practical diplomacy'. With the end of the Cold War, the strategic significance of China in U.S. strategic designing was in decline and the U.S. began to re-orient their Taiwan policy by upgrading the U.S.-Taiwan level of contact, supporting Taiwan in joining some concerned international organizations, and increasing the arms sale to Taiwan.Chapter three. The CPC initiated the Eight Propositions in developing cross-strait relations and these propositions greatly enriched and furthered the idea of 'peaceful reunification, one country, two systems'. The CPC launched vigorous struggle against Li Denghui's visit to U.S. and this was a significant blow to Taiwan authority's 'practical diplomacy'. The struggle against Li Denghui's idea of 'one nation, two states' was also powerful and convincing. Gu Zhenfu's visit to...