GCS: Research Projects

Current Projects

Coming back in times of change and trouble: The Taishang turn to Taiwan

This project ties in the foregoing one as it looks at those Taiwanese entrepreneurs who have left the Chinese mainland and returned to Taiwan over recent years with the whole or part of their businesses. It focuses on the motivations of these Taishang to resettle in Taiwan and their strategies in doing so. Obviously, these vary. Also, it is foremost the high-tech sector which sees the return of Taiwanese companies to the island whereas those companies pertaining to the “traditional” labor-intensive industries rather leave for Southeast and South Asia due to lower labor and production costs. What does the Taishang turn mean for the Taiwanese economy, and what does it mean for cross-strait economic and political relations – they are the major questions which this project investigates.

(Project duration: October 2019 -September 2023)

Taiwan as a Pioneer: Local Innovation in the Dynamics of Global Megatrends

Taiwan as a Pioneer (TAP) is an interdisciplinary and supra-regional postdoctoral joint project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to promote structural strengthening and networking of Taiwan research at German universities. The focus of the research is on Taiwan's role as an innovator in the dynamics of global megatrends. It connects the universities of Tübingen, Trier and Bochum in a concentrated effort to strengthen the study of Taiwan within German Sinology departments. The ERCCT hosts the project at the University of Tübingen, with Dr. Amélie Keyser-Verreault and Prof. Schubert responsible for the Tübingen academic input and institution-building.

(Project duration: February 2022- January 2026)

Integration by ‘Completely Opening Up’? – An Empirical Study of Xi Jinping’s New Taiwan Policy

Continuing Prof. Schubert’s research on the adaptive strategies of Taiwanese entrepreneurs on the Chinese mainland in the context of structural change in the Chinese economy, the project investigates Xi Jingping’s new Taiwan policy approach of ‘comprehensively opening-up’ in order to attract more Taiwanese – entrepreneurs, high-skilled professionals and university graduates – to China by bypassing the Taiwan government. It looks at the implementation of preferential policies put forward by local governments in Fujian and at the responses of Taiwanese who have come to these provinces recently or are contemplating migrating from Taiwan to China. This project is in cooperation with a Taiwanese partner. A project proposal has been submitted to the DFG which currently awaits a final decision.

(Project duration: October 2019 – September 2023)

Duelling spatial realities? China and Japan redefining spatial order in (East) Asia

The concept of regions – delineating global order in terms of different spaces of influence – is a notion based on predominantly Western perspectives. China’s own cognitive map and concepts of geographical as well as political spaces, including the perspectives and responses of actors that are directly affected by China’s ambitions and global outreach – first and foremost Japan – are, however, largely neglected in such discussions. This project investigates China’s politics in Asia and Eurasia. It also looks at how China’s neighbors, most notably Japan, develop alternative ideas to shape the evolving regional and global order, containing or engaging China in a peaceful way.

This project will be jumpstarted by an international workshop in October 2019. As a cooperation between the Chair of Greater Chinese Studies, the Institute of Japanese Studies and the Graduate School of East Asian Studies (GEAS) at the Freie Universität Berlin GEAS, a joint DFG proposal will be submitted in the course of 2019.

(Initial project duration: October 2020 – September 2022)