Primordialism, Instrumentalism, Constructivism: Factors Influencing Taiwanese People’s Regime Acceptance of Mainland China’s Government

Abstract

As of 2005, the mainland Chinese government has implemented ‘favor-granting policies’, the purpose of which is to offer economic benefits in exchange for Taiwanese people’s recognition of their political identity. In 2015, this strategy reached its 10th anniversary. Questions that arise are whether such recognition has increased significantly among Taiwanese people during this time, and what factors have influenced Taiwanese people’s regime acceptance of mainland China. In order to address these questions, this study analyzed data from the ‘Taiwan National Security Studies Surveys’ on the basis of social identity, rational choice, social contact and political socialization theories. The findings indicate that the level of regime acceptance of Taiwanese people towards mainland China averaged 3.77 (standard deviation of 2.46) in 2005, and 3.95 (2.22) in 2015, reflecting an increase of 0.18. This study reveals five factors that influence Taiwanese people’s regime acceptance of mainland China, namely ethnic identity, going to China for employment, experiences of going to China, sentiments on peace and war, and party identification. The regression model constructed in this study can explain 26.26% of the variance in Taiwanese people’s regime acceptance level.