ASSESSING TAIWAN's SECOND TRANSITION OF POWER:
A turning point in Taiwan's political development?

Drawing a delicate balance—United States and Ma Ying-jeou’s cross-strait policy

Jianwei Wang
Associate Professor, University of Macau

Abstract
Ma Ying-jeou’s cross-strait policy has been widely considered one of “bright spots” in his president since 2008.  Nevertheless his mainland policy has not only constrained by domestic forces, but also external forces represented by the United States.  This paper attempts to explore how Ma has to draw a delicate balance between his domestic, mainland, and American constituencies.  It will argue that although the weight of the American factor has been on the wane after the quasi-normalization of cross-strait relations, Washington still can either facilitate or hinder the reconciliation between Beijing and Taipei particularly when cross-strait relations move from “low politics” to “high politics” to deal with more difficult political and security issues.

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