The China Complex in Taiwan: The Tug of War Between Identity and Interest

Over the past decade, Taiwan has witnessed a rising Taiwanese consciousness pulling it apart from a Chinese identity. However, economic development across the Taiwan Strait unfolds in the opposite direction, drawing Taiwanese people into closer interactions with and dependence on China. As Taiwanese find it more and more difficult to disentangle their complicated feelings toward China, this study sets out to demonstrate and explain the multifaceted nature of the Taiwanese people's conflicting views toward China. In particular, this study examines whether the support for closer economic integration will increase the support for unification against the rising tide of Taiwanese identity in recent decades. By applying the “Taiwan Social Change Survey: National Identity Module 2013” dataset, the empirical analysis shows that, for Taiwanese people, identity and interest did work in rather opposite directions in terms of pulling them away from and drawing them closer to China. The models further show that even though there is a rising trend of Taiwanese identity, economic interests have revealed some potency in moving people's perceptions toward unification with China in order to reap the economic benefits. The political implications entailed in the economic interactions explain Taiwanese hesitations between welcoming and resisting further integration across the Strait.