Do Cohorts Matter? Cohort Analysis and Value-Difference Impressions of a Rising China

Abstract

As an emerging first-tier world power, China is exerting an important influence on countries in the Asia-Pacific region, especially Taiwan, with which it has a long history of often contentious relations. This study investigates the impact of “intergenerational value change” on impressions of China in 2017 among three political birth cohorts of Taiwanese. Based on a representative survey of Taiwanese citizens, the study finds that cohort impressions can be classified according to the extent to which they relate to the economic–political and the social–environmental dimensions, suggesting that Taiwanese perceptions of China are not unidimensional and are more nuanced than they first appear. The data by and large confirm the validity of cohort differences; members of the first and oldest cohort hold more positive impressions of China with respect to social and environmental issues than members of the second and middle cohort, while the third and youngest cohort would regard China in a more positive light if their economic and political concerns were addressed. A few variables remain statistically significant, including party identification and unification versus independence preference, even after controlling for aging effects.