Chinese Marriage Migrants in Beijing’s Cross-Strait Diplomacy

Abstract

The role of Chinese communities abroad has become increasingly significant in Beijing's public diplomacy strategy. This is not only the case of Overseas Chinese communities, but also for people who migrate between China and Taiwan. This paper will explore how a group of Chinese migrant women, the mothers, wives and daughters-in-law of Taiwanese citizens, have become a target of Beijing in its cross-Strait diplomacy and how they have responded to Beijing's initiatives. This paper gives a timely account of Beijing's non-traditional diplomacy in the context of cross-Strait relations, as a constructed and gendered process.