Jasper Roctus

Verified

Jasper verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

Verified

Jasper verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

• Master of Arts
• PhD Student at Ghent University

The 110 years between the start of the first Opium War in 1839 and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 are commonly identified as the ‘Century of (National) Humiliation’. Despite the removal before and after 1949 of the humiliations that had been suffered, the narrative of this century of trauma has undergone a revival in China s...

Through a concise biography of the number “400 million” (si wan wan) as used by Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), the first provisional president of the Republic of China in 1912, this paper clarifies how and why Sun used the widespread image of a stagnating “400 million Chinese” despite the lack of evidence for this alleged population number. The article e...

This study provides an overview of the major evolutions in the European Union’s (EU) policy toward cross-Strait relations since 1975. Recent developments signify a major shift in the EU’s policy, which historically has been characterized by diplomatic impassivity, anxiety about jeopardizing relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and s...

This policy brief discusses the prospects for EU-China relations in the wake of the June 2024 European Elections.

Confusion reigns not only in Europe toward Taiwan, but also in Taiwan toward Europe. Especially the cross-Strait position of the EU, which does not recognize Taiwan due to ‘its “one China” policy’ but has over the last two decades increased the scope of engagement with Taiwan, is little understood. As exchanges between Brussels and Taipei intensify...

This commentary revisits a rare moment of bipartisanship in Taiwan two decades ago, when the DPP’s incumbent president Chen Shui-bian met with the PFP leader James Soong in 2005. The meeting offers insights into the possibilities and limitations of political reconciliation in Taiwan, an especially relevant topic in light of Taiwan's enduring 'Blue-...

The commentary explores recent developments involving Vietnam and China, the US, as well as the EU.

This article discusses China's economic woes and asks the question "who is standing in the shadow of whom?" concerning its domestic issues and (re)engagement abroad. The authors argue that reviving EU-China relations remains a possibility, but geoeconomic dynamics and the conviction that diversification of dependencies is necessary have become part...

This concise article discusses the implications of the 2024 Taiwan General Elections

The article discusses the prospects of Taiwan's upcoming 2024 general elections after last month's puzzling momentary cooperation agreement between Ko Wen-je and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), the first provisional President of the Republic of China in 1912, spent most of his formative years in what Marie-Claire Bergère called ”coastal Blue China” – a dichotomic concept she put in opposition to ”continental Yellow China.” Bergère’s Blue China consisted of the treaty ports in (mainland) China where Western forces...

Double book review of "Taiwan during the First Administration of Tsai Ing-wen: Navigating in Stormy Waters," edited by Gunter Schubert and Lee Chun Yi; and "Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen: Changes and Challenges," edited by June Teufel Dreyer and Jacques deLisle.

The article discusses ongoing debates on China policy within the EU and elaborates the potential remonstrative power of Chinese officials over economic policy.

After its victory in the 2022 local elections over the pan-Green coalition led by the Democratic Progressive Party (民主進步黨, DPP) of incumbent Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, the Chinese Nationalist Party (中國國民黨, KMT), which heads the opposition pan-Blue coalition, started its preparations for Taiwan’s general (legislative and presidential) electio...

The 20th National CCP Congress of October 2022 suggested that ideology had prevailed over economy – a development that can be traced back to the 18th National Party Congress of 2012 when Hu Jintao (Youth League) was replaced by Xi Jinping (Princelings) as General Secretary of the CCP. The abrupt change in the PRC’s Covid policy in early December 20...

After achieving a resounding victory in the local elections of November 2022 over the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of incumbent Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) started its preparations for Taiwan’s general (legislative and presidential) elections scheduled for January 2024 in earnest. Chances that the KMT...

A devastating fire in Urumqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang autonomous region in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on 24 November 2022, caused the first large-scale nation-wide protests since the 1989 Democracy Movement. Demonstrators, many of whom were convinced that the deaths and injuries could have been entirely prevented had there not be...

Since the 1990s, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has been one of Asia’s most vibrant and competitive democracies. The People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan’s antagonistic neighbor on the western side of the Taiwan Strait has, however, been an inescapable factor in most of the island’s democratic elections. Still, during the 2022 local elections i...

The chief political philosophy of Sun Yat-sen 孫逸仙 (1866-1925), the famed San Min doctrine (三民主義, lit. the Three Principles of the People), has over the years been subject to ample academic speculation on its true connotations. Sun's views on the question of labour, communism, Marxism, Leninism, etc., disseminated through the minsheng (民生) constitue...

The 2,340 odd teacups have been rearranged in their cupboards, and sobriety has returned to the Great Hall of the People. What is the national and international impact of the 20th CCP Congress that was concluded on Saturday, 22 October 2022? Stability is the key word.

De perceptie van een machtsevenwicht in de wereld dat stilaan naar Azië lijkt te verschuiven enerzijds, en het besef dat actuele problemen zoals de klimaatwijziging en de covidpandemie een internationale aanpak vereisen anderzijds, confronteren de Europese beleidsmakers met de vraag hoe de Europese Unie (EU) zich in die wijzigende verhoudingen in d...

Up until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s and China’s worsening relations with the European Union and the United States meant that the world order was at risk of falling apart into two rival blocs, as during the Cold War: Europeans and Americans against Russians and Chinese. Since 24 February 2022, that is not so clear anymore. The more Ru...

Book review of Mariah Thornton, Robert F. Ash, and Dafydd Fell (eds) (2021) Taiwan's Economic and Diplomatic Challenges and Opportunities

This dissertation elaborates how the starkly different outcomes of the democratization processes in the People’s Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan) during the late 20th century came into being. To this purpose, the question is asked as to why the Kuomintang (KMT) succeeded in its democratic reforms, while the Chinese Communist Party (...

China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been subject to ample scrutiny since its inception in 2013. Practical results could be said to be severely lacking in contrast to the project’s ambitious plans. Chinese engagement abroad has irrefutably intensified since Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, but whether this can be classified as...