Assessing political agency across the Taiwan Strait: The case of the taishang
Assessing political agency across the Taiwan Strait: The case of the taishang
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评估台湾海峡两岸的政治机构：台商案
DOI：
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
G. Schubert
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
G. Schubert
台湾人向大陆的迁移是海峡两岸互动和融合不断深化的最显著特征之一。在这些新来者中，台商(台商)长期以来一直被视为一个重要的“联结群体”，对两岸关系的动态产生了深远的影响。但是，他们可以在多大程度上以及在多大程度上在两岸关系中发挥政治作用？基于最近的文献，以及2006年至2009年在台湾、珠江三角洲(东莞)和昆山-上海大都市区进行的实地调查，本文首先分析了台上人的政治心态，最显著的是他们对自己作为政治参与者的理解。然后考察了中国和台湾台商行使的政治机构的不同维度。由于对他们在政治上维护特定群体利益的战略知之甚少，这里提出的调查结果和评估只能是初步的。然而，本文有助于更好地理解联结共同体的概念，并为进一步研究台商在塑造两岸关系中的政治角色提供了有益的基础。
The migration of Taiwanese to the Chinese mainland is one of the most striking features of the deepening interaction and integration across the Taiwan Strait. Among these newcomers, Taiwanese businesspeople (taishang) have long since been considered an important ‘linkage community’ that profoundly affects the dynamics of cross-Strait relations. However, to what extent can and do they exert political agency in cross-Strait relations? Drawing on recent literature, as well as fieldwork conducted between 2006 and 2009 in Taiwan, the Pearl River Delta (Dongguan), and the Kunshan–Shanghai metropolitan area, this article begins by analysing the political mindset of the taishang, most notably with respect to their understanding of themselves as political actors. It then looks at different dimensions of political agency exercised by the taishang in both China and Taiwan. Since little is known about their strategies to politically safeguard their group-specific interests, the findings and assessments presented here can only be preliminary. Nevertheless, the article contributes to a better understanding of the concept of linkage community and provides a useful foundation for further investigations of the taishang’s political role in shaping cross-Strait relations.