Fluid Population, Fixed Territory: Fantasizing a Non-solution to the US-China-Taiwan Status Quo

Abstract

The US-China rivalry over Taiwan reveals the security issue’s ontological
nature. If Taiwan were to become an independent sovereign nation, no
immediate change in the balance of global power need occur. However, it
would destroy the regime legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party and
strengthen the US’ reputation as the protector of liberal democracy. Against
this background of deadlock, the idea of singular sovereignty has been an
obstacle to any solution. This essay aims to provoke consideration of a nonsolution that targets the population’s identity rather than the territory, where the Taiwanese population substitute two concurrent passports, one from the People’s Republic of China and the other from the US, for its present Taiwan passport. This essay argues that under this paradigm, unification with China would cease to allude negatively to security and the US-China rivalry would turn into coexistence. The discussion has policy implications for disputes of
territorial jurisdiction elsewhere.