共和中國的理念：由美中關係裡的臺灣視角所展開的公民哲學論述

The Idea of Republican China: A Civic and Philosophical Discourse Through Taiwan’s Lens in the Context of US-China Relations

本文參酌羅爾斯的《萬民法》，由全球脈絡美中關係裡臺灣的位置為起點，嘗試去建立一種由公民哲學論述中國的理論模式。本文把過去以兩岸格局為本的論述，改為以美中格局為本，並由此檢討自由主義在中國的困境。如此展開分析，使我們得以適度評估一種為求化解困境所展開來的回歸古典中國以重建古典君子共和理想的政治想像。此政治想像展示了非民主的善治國度如何內含改變美國主導的世界秩序的要求。萬民法應正視這種要求，應更嚴格一致地區隔民主國度和非民主國度，而古典君子共和應該將自覺的自由當作一種基本權利，並走向現代君子共和。

Using Rawls’s The Law of Peoples as a preliminary theoretical framework, and positioning Taiwan in a global context and in the midst of US-China relations, this study aims to construct a theoretical model for civic and philosophical discourse on China. The case is made for a shift in perspective, from cross-strait relations, to US-China relations, in order to examine the predicament of liberalism in China. Taking the law of peoples as a starting point for analysis enables an imaginative political thought experiment and its evaluation: a return to classical China and reconstruction of a classical junzi republic. This thought experiment illustrates how non-democratic but decent peoples might demand changes to the US-led world order. An analysis based on The Law of Peoples should acknowledge and address this demand by more strictly and consistently distinguishing between democratic and non-democratic peoples, while the classical junzi republic should embrace the right to freedom of self-cultivation and evolve into a modern junzi republic.