Dr. Phil. Stefan Fleischauer, born in Schwäbisch-Gmuend, earned his M.A. of Sinology and Political Science in 2001 at the University of Tübingen. He received his Ph.D. with a study on "The Dream of the Own Nation: The Taiwan Independence Movement Past and Present" (summa cum laude) in 2008 from the University of Tübingen. Ever since entering university, Dr. Fleischauer has visited Taiwan frequently also for longer periods of time. E.g. he spent two years as Visiting Scholar at the Academia Sinica while doing research on his Ph.D. project.

Dr. Fleischauer is working on a postdoc research project on "Non-state Negotiations between China and Taiwan - on the road to European-style integration?". It aims at offering an in depth-analysis of cross-strait integration on the one hand and European integration on the other in form of an actor-based multi-level analysis. Through a comparative evaluation focusing on the issues of historical background, culture and policy, public opinion, political versus economic interests, and the stabilizing impact of integration, Dr. Fleischauer explores to what extent the intensified exchange across the Taiwan Strait has furthered (and is pushing ahead) political integration as in the European model, and to what extent the European experience can serve as a paradigm for past and future cross-Strait exchange and interaction.