Zoom ID: https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/63984687265

Is Taiwan the most dangerous place on earth? Domestic perceptions of Taiwan’s geopolitical predicament

Taiwan has been named the most dangerous place on earth by The Economist in 2021 when Chinese intrusions into Taiwanese airspace had increased substantially over months, sending a message to the Taiwan government that Beijing would not tolerate its continuous resistance to unification and insinuated to prepare for a military solution. Xi Jinping, for his part, has reiterated over recent years, with increasing tremor, that China would not hesitate to do what it takes to take Taiwan back, if necessary, by force. The Ukrainian crisis has seemingly given new urgency to the “Taiwan question” as scholars and the media around the globe now speculate if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would or would not encourage the Chinese government to do the same to the island republic. No matter what, Taiwan has certainly become one the of most hotly debated place on earth. But how do the Taiwanese think on these issues? How has the domestic discourse on China has changed over recent years, as much among policy-makers and the citizens? This lecture highlights the public debate in Taiwan on the ongoing geopolitical turmoil and Taiwan’s political predication. It particularly asks to what extent the well-known political polarization on the island concerning cross-strait relations has been changing vis-à-vis China’s threats and the intensifying securitization of the Taiwan Strait.

Gunter Schubert is Chair Professor of Greater China Studies at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies and Director of the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT), Tübingen University.

Spotlight Taiwan 2022