Fewsmith in Bloomberg: Impact of Xi-Ma Summit
Joseph Fewsmith, Professor of International Relations and Political Science at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said that the upcoming conference between Xi Jinping of China and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou would have drastic ramifications for China’s dream of reuniting the two nations.
Fewsmith made the argument in a Nov. 4 article in Bloomberg Business entitled “Historic Xi-Ma Summit Advances China’s Long Game for Taiwan.”
From the text of the article:
Xi and Ma “would like to try to lock in the status quo, securing a legacy for Ma and making a DPP presidency less threatening for Xi,” said Joseph Fewsmith, a political science professor at Boston University who specializes in China’s elite politics.
Yet China, if anything, has proven itself both patient and determined over decades when it comes to Taiwan. Reunification is a key part of Xi’s vision of “the Chinese dream” — the grand rejuvenation of the Chinese state, culture and civilization.
You can read the entire article here.
Fewsmith was also quoted in another article on the same topic in Bloomberg Business on Nov. 9, “With Handshake, China’s Xi Seeks to Get Grip on Taiwan Election:”
Both leaders Saturday reaffirmed the one-China principle and the 1992 consensus as the foundation for developing ties. After the meeting, Tsai criticized Ma for failing to emphasize the importance of democracy and for creating a “political framework limiting the choices of Taiwan people.”
“She will have to walk a tight rope,” said Joseph Fewsmith, a political science professor at Boston University who studies China’s elite politics. “This meeting will force the DPP to have conversations they seem to have been avoiding. And it raises the costs of any effort to repudiate the one-China framework.”
You can read the entire article here.
Fewsmith travels to China regularly and is active in the Association for Asian Studies and the American Political Science Association. His articles have appeared in such journals as Asian Survey, Comparative Studies in Society and History, The China Journal, The China Quarterly, Current History, The Journal of Contemporary China, Problems of Communism, and Modern China. Learn more about him here.