Asymmetric Cross-Strait Negotiation

Negotiation is an important way of managing conflict among people. Negiotiation is also a process of give-and-take and an attempt of both parties to reach acceptable terms. There were many examples of commercial and political negotiations in history. After a long period of rivalry between each other, the cross- strait relationship between Taiwan and the Mainland has been defrosted since the latter half of the 1980s. In May 1986 the accidental negotiation between two airline companies opened the opportunity for direct contact and negotiation between two sides. Taiwan government allowed its people to visit their family members in the mainland in 1986, followed by a series of technical negotiations. However, due to the differences in population, size---etc., the negotiation between Taiwan and the mainland is termed as "asymmetric structural negotiation". The purpose of this thesis is to study how the weaker-Taiwan-to negotiate with the stronger-the Chinese Mainland--, in order to pursue its best interest. The thesis begins first with the analysis of negotiation strategies from both foreign and local scholars' works. Then it will discuss how the weaker gains interests by using its resources to fight against the stronger. The thesis also tries to find out how the Communist Party, the weaker at the time, defeated the Kuomintang by utilizing all kinds of negotiation strategies. The study of the historical example of negotiations between Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party can be a good rdference to us. In the end the thesis will review the cross-strait negotiations in the past ten more years, and discuss what would be our weakness and how we can make more effective use of strategies and preparations for the future.