Figure 1 - uploaded by Boyu Chen
Content may be subject to copyright.
yin-yang diagram. Source: Wikipedia public domain image.
Source publication
For many, relations across the Taiwan Strait appears to be an unresolvable sovereignty-cum-security impasse in the Westphalian world. Drawing analogies and metaphors from East Asian medicine (EAM), we reconceive this apparent zero-sum impasse as an inner imbalance of the China–Taiwan ‘body’ and investigate the possible healing effects of some Taiwa...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... can we make sense of the observation of 'cold politics, hot economy' in cross-Strait relations? It is helpful to begin with the Daoist image of yin and yang as two polar opposites-cum-complements. As seen in Figure 1, they join together to form a circle in which yin (black) and yang (white) seem to contradict each other, but a black dot in the white zone and a white dot in the black mean that yang contains yin and yin contains yang -neither is complete without the other. The yin-yang diagram is intended to show that all things are parts of a whole; things exist not because they possess a certain essence but because they are in relations with others, containing within themselves the possibility of opposition and change (Kaptchuk 2000). ...
Context 2
... so doing, these activities help to nourish yin across various levels of sites, 'innovating at the interstices of ideas and institutions, society and state, today and yesterday' ( Ling 2016, 16-17). 18 (Hsing Yun 2013b). The latter often urges top leaders of both sides to be compassionate and generous, and not to be concerned with gain and loss to achieve non-self. ...
Context 3
... The support for Tzu Chi can be seen in the amount of donations it received. In 2019, Tzu Chi in China received 124 million RMB in donations (Tzu Chi Foundation 2019b, 10). Its approach to local community-building is also worthy of note. ...
Context 4
... can we make sense of the observation of 'cold politics, hot economy' in cross-Strait relations? It is helpful to begin with the Daoist image of yin and yang as two polar opposites-cum-complements. As seen in Figure 1, they join together to form a circle in which yin (black) and yang (white) seem to contradict each other, but a black dot in the white zone and a white dot in the black mean that yang contains yin and yin contains yang -neither is complete without the other. The yin-yang diagram is intended to show that all things are parts of a whole; things exist not because they possess a certain essence but because they are in relations with others, containing within themselves the possibility of opposition and change (Kaptchuk 2000). ...
Context 5
... so doing, these activities help to nourish yin across various levels of sites, 'innovating at the interstices of ideas and institutions, society and state, today and yesterday' ( Ling 2016, 16-17). 18 (Hsing Yun 2013b). The latter often urges top leaders of both sides to be compassionate and generous, and not to be concerned with gain and loss to achieve non-self. ...
Citations
In this article, I will first describe the extent of the influence of Buddhism in Taiwan, presenting some data on the demographic importance of this religion in terms of people who identify with it, but also in terms of associations that claim to do so. I will then introduce the positions of the main masters of this tradition relevant to four kinds of political issues relevant to Taiwan: the democratic transition process itself, the development of Taiwan’s welfare regime, cross-strait relations with China, and the contribution of Buddhist associations to the international influence of Taiwan in the context of the latter’s diplomatic isolation.
This article highlights the key differences between two approaches to Buddhism adopted worldwide, ‘Buddhism(s) for this World’ and ‘Engaged Buddhism.’ Although these two terms seem interchangeable, the article presents some differences arising from specific historical circumstances. While the former originated in a reform movement within Chinese Buddhism at the beginning of the twentieth century, the second one, which emerged later, encompasses a much wider variety of Buddhist movements. While ‘Buddhism(s) for this world’ started as a reformist movement, it has become in some cases the vehicle of nationalism. Meanwhile, ‘Engaged Buddhism,’ a somewhat more diverse movement indirectly inspired by his predecessor, has embraced many social justice causes but struggles to institutionalize. The article presents the geopolitical context of international rivalry in which these two trends seek to affirm their respective perspectives.
The opening article of this collection serves as an invitation to academics and practitioners of international relations to rethink and transform, not merely observe and contain, long-standing conflicts in East Asia and beyond. Traditionally such conflicts, and the violence that has emerged around them, have been understood through the lens of dichotomous frameworks associated with Westphalian modernity. We need alternative paradigms in East Asian political discourse to think and do differently. Here, we contribute to this effort by examining how East Asian medical thought and practice can facilitate political healing in the region. The use of medical analogies and metaphors is not uncommon in academic and policy discussions, and our approach underscores terminologies and thought processes that resonate with many in the region. East Asian medicine (EAM) is rooted in Daoist yin/yang dialectics and the concept of qi, both of which stress attention to balance, ontological parity and inter-connectedness. It offers inspiration for a creative analytical approach, metaphorical imagination and normative inspiration to diagnose ongoing confrontations. Despite apparent divisions, we propose that ongoing conflicts can be treated as ailments afflicting a shared political body.
Introducing the concept of Daoist–feminist hybridity to international relations (IR) scholars, this article makes a novel contribution to current debates over global feminism concerning the relevance and attractiveness of feminism in non-Western societies, the need to build transnational feminist solidarities, and the urgent need to decolonize feminism. Drawing upon the Daoist philosophy of Laozi’s Daodejing, which expresses an early and Indigenous form of non-Western feminism, the article constructs a model of Daoist feminist pacifist leadership as illustrated through the case of Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973), an influential women’s suffrage advocate and global peace activist who was the first elected congresswoman in the United States (US) and the only congressional representative to vote against US involvement in both World Wars I and II. As the article demonstrates, Rankin’s unwavering commitment to pacifism not only reflects core values of Daoist philosophy intermeshed with her twentieth-century feminism, but also illustrates the value of empathic engagement between Daoist thought and modern feminism, as making such connections can help to build alliances and partnerships among international feminist peace leaders today in the US, China, and elsewhere.
The fifth chapter—How Ubuntu—structurally closes the domain of the book, where the chapter’s title echo with a phenomenological (Dilthey-Heidegger Model) (We see terms like Erkennen (knowing) and Verstehen (understanding), (Van Mannen, 1977, p. 215). But we never see in these western texts, that talk about inner consciousness. To some extent, we see, Friedrich Wilhelm NietzscheNietzsche limns for inner self, breaking the tradition) stands like Van Mannen’s polemic article—a linking for ways of knowing with ways of being practical. We differed from sensing hermeneutical ways of knowing-being and coming together to make experiences. If we take Ubuntu as national, community, and regional policy, per se, as ‘Ways of knowing’ people of being global, then a person’s ways of being’ will be driven based on communal knowing. The collective individual will then act as a collaborative person—a part of the community for the community.
As we have seen or discussed in other chapters, we cannot assert or maintain that our stance in an objective interpretation of history is proper. We were on the side of man, the side of humanity. Whether this was the correct or incorrect position, I cannot say. In this lengthy debate of ours, the distant past we left behind and Covid wounds emerge. I have deduced from historical knowledge that a significant change is necessary. Our first assignment is about myself, and I want to begin considering customization. You and I start with ourselves, whatever you call it—family, community, society, country, region. This chapter focuses on very few policy recommendations.
This study examines the international relations theory (IRT) of Daoism, one of Asia’s long-standing traditions to have theorized international politics. Drawing upon Laozi’s Dao De Jing, this study elucidates two Daoist IR theories. First, Laozi provides a state-focused guo-based IRT for conducting foreign policy and managing inter-state relations with emphasis on yielding and softness to overcome violence and domination. Second, Laozi offers a Utopian and globalist tianxia-centered IRT based on following the Dao whereby inter-state rivalry is dissolved in favor of peaceful planetary governance in harmony with the natural rhythms of the cosmos. Whereas previous scholarship often concentrates on only one of these two scenarios, I argue the two visions are tightly connected with the more pragmatic first theory envisioned as a stepping stone to obtaining the second. This link demonstrates how Daoism offers a sophisticated non-Western IRT with relevance to addressing planetary challenges today.
The endurance of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute since the 1970s is indicative of the grip that the Westphalian narrative has on the political imagination of academics and practitioners alike. Both materialist and constructivist scholarship has so far struggled to explain the dispute given its limited strategic and unclear symbolic value. Yet recent work in ontological security studies (OSS) has pointed to the intrinsic connection between physical and ontological security, and highlighted how the Westphalian notion of sovereignty constructs territory as part of the state’s body, and therefore as part of its embodied self. While this explains why such tiny islets can become existentially important for states, it offers bleak prospects for solving sovereignty-related conflicts. It seems unlikely that the dispute can be mitigated within the confines of the Westphalian system. Yet the insight that the body is constructed and part of the ontological security-seeking self is still useful. Building on this insight, we draw on East Asian medicine (EAM) to propose an alternative way of constructing the body. EAM’s monist and relational cosmology helps to conceive a post-Westphalian social body shared by the claimants, making various proposed solutions ontologically possible.
There have been few efforts to overcome the binary of China versus the West. The recent global political environment, with a deepening confrontation between China and the West, strengthens this binary image. Post-Chineseness boldly challenges the essentialized notion of Chineseness in existing scholarship through the revelation of the multiplicity and complexity of the uses of Chineseness by strategically conceived insiders, outsiders, and those in-between. Combining the fields of international relations, cultural politics, and intellectual history, Chih-yu Shih investigates how the global audience perceives (and essentializes) Chineseness. Shih engages with major Chinese international relations theories, investigates the works of sinologists in Hong Kong, Singapore, Pakistan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and other academics in East Asia, and explores individual scholars' life stories and academic careers to delineate how Chineseness is constantly negotiated and reproduced. Shih's theory of the "balance of relationships" expands the concept of Chineseness and effectively challenges existing theories of realism, liberalism, and conventional constructivism in international relations. The highly original delineation of multiple layers and diverse dimensions of "Chineseness" opens an intellectual channel between the social sciences and humanities in China studies.
