The Meaning of "One China" Discourse: Semantic Networks in Leader Speeches

• In Event: Innovations and Applications in Qualitative Content Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the changing meaning of the “One China” concept. To understand the impact of international political factors on the meaning of “One China” between the United States, China, and Taiwan, this paper uses grounded theory and Gephi social network analysis methods, with the research tool as " Nvivo Qualitative Analysis ", to interpret the speeches of the leaders through the text of their speeches.
This paper divides the literature on the meaning of “One China” into three categories：“One China” is a matter of interpretation；“One China” means that Taiwan must be unified with China；“One China” means that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can coexist peacefully.
Based on these three categories, this paper finds that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait's discourse on “One China” is influenced by three factors：1.International economic factors；2.Geopolitical factors；3.Personal ideological factors.
To clarify the differences in the interpretations of “One China” , this paper uses the speech texts of the leaders of the United States, China, and Taiwan from 2015 to 2023 to conduct semantic analysis. The paper uses grounded theory(GT), semantic analysis, and social network analysis(SNA) to identify the policy implications of the changes in the “One China” discourse in the texts of leader dialogues.
The results of this paper are as follows：
First, at different time points, the discourse of “One China” by different leaders is indeed affected by geopolitical, international political-economic situation, and personal style, and has different semantic structures, among which the relationship of geopolitical situation is the most obvious.
Second, in the interpretation of the meaning of “One China” in the speeches of each leader, there is no breakthrough in following their own past positions and attitudes.
Third, through the grounded theory of semantic analysis, this thesis found the interpretation and interpretation of the three major U.S.-China joint communiqués, such as the Shanghai Communiqué, in the change of the meaning of “One China” in the speeches of leaders cannot be separated.

Author

• Fang Min Tsai