Multi-scalar everyday geopolitics: Policy experimentation and identity politics in cross-Strait economic integration in Fujian Province

As China rises, its relations with Taiwan have become a focal point in world politics. Yet, much of the research has focused either on military conflict or on the role of the political elite; little is known about an aspect of China’s geopolitical vision — achieving unification with Taiwan by economic means. Thus, this research aims to fill this gap through the lens of everyday geopolitics — to examine how state power is embodied at different scales through practices. This research understands China’s cross-Strait economic policy as a state project that draws Taiwanese businesspeople in to develop a closer identification with China through economic investment and integration. Case studies in Fujian, China’s southeastern coastal province, which has a geographical proximity and ethnic connections with Taiwan, unpack how China’s economic integration with Taiwan is materialised in local developments and encouraged through China’s distinctive policymaking style — policy experimentation. Fujian’s economic integration policies with Taiwan include Fujian Free Trade Zone, Pingtan Pilot Zone and policies supporting Taiwanese start-ups. Findings identify how: (a) the historical dynamics of China-Taiwan-US relations have been reflected in changes in cross-Strait polices including China’s economic integration with Taiwan; (b) China mobilises young Taiwanese and businesspeople to engage in China’s experimental economic policies through material, institutional and discursive practices; and (c) Taiwanese strategically navigate between competing national identifications and personal career ambitions. By conceptualising everyday geopolitics as assemblages of spatio-temporal, institutional, discursive and performative practices, this research critically rethinks the entangled relationship between economic globalisation, geopolitics and identity politics from a bottom-up and multi-scalar view