| Publication |
June 2004.
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| Summary/Abstract |
It is widely believed that China is rigid in diplomacy concerning state sovereignty and national reunification, and the Taiwan issue is certainly prominent of such kind on which leaders in Beijing cannot make concessions but only struggle to gain in managing Sino-American relations. With the examination of the origins of then Chinese President Jiang Zemin's eight-points proposal that guided PRC's Taiwan policy in the past decade, this article suggests that domestic political legitimacy of an individual leader is a vital factor that affects Chinese foreign policy in general and Beijing's stance on sovereignty in particular. As this case has shown, this logic often works in the way that soften Chinese leaders' attitudes toward Taipei and Washington in the 'new' new world order because, without democratic institutions, Chinese leaders are weak in terms of internal legitimacy. The diplomatic reputation they gain from Washington can substantially help them in this regard.
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