For many years, the so-called "Taiwan problem" has seriously complicated the development of relations between the PRC and the Republic of China (Taiwan). At the same time, the two main political parties of Taiwan (the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party – DPP) see its solution differently: the Kuomintang seeks to revive the Republic of China, while the DPP – to create an independent Republic of Taiwan. To succeed in this rivalry, they seek to change the macropolitical identity of the island’s inhabitants in accordance with their party preferences. In this work the authors studied the transcripts of speeches given by Kuomintang representative Ma Ying-jeou during his presidency (2008–2016) in order to assess the nature and effectiveness of the discursive policy pursued by him for this purpose. Based on the results of the research, it is concluded that during this period the attempts made by the leadership of the Kuomintang party to change the macropolitical identity of the inhabitants of Taiwan in the direction of "Sinicization" were not very effective.
Taiwan, China, macropolitical identity, discourse, cross-strait relations
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