Cross-Strait Relations Since 2016: The End of the Illusion
J. Michael Cole
Taylor & Francis: 2020
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Five years ago, in a clear sign of steadily improving relations, the heads of state of China and Taiwan met face to face for the first time. Today, all regular contact between officials of the two sides has been suspended, and Chinese intimidation of Taiwan, whether political, economic or military, has reached new heights.

What happened to bring about such a change? In Cross-Strait Relations Since 2016, J. Michael Cole leaves us in no doubt whom he considers the villain to be: Xi Jinping, whose ‘megalomania and high level of paranoia’ have ‘unleashed a new era in Chinese behaviour’ and put an end to ‘whatever ambiguity had existed in the past’.

• Tags: China, Issue 21, J. Michael Cole, Michael Reilly, Taiwan