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Home > Open Access Journals > JSS > Vol. 18 > No. 3 (2025)

 

Author Biography

Dr. Chen received her PhD degree in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego. She is currently Assistant Research Fellow in the Division of Chinese Politics, Military and Warfighting Concepts at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) in Taiwan, and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Center for General Education at Tunghai University in Taiwan. Her research interests include politics, political economy, state-society relations in China; and Taiwanese public opinion regarding military and security policies. Her research has appeared in referred journals such as Taiwanese Political Science Review and Journal of Taiwan Politics. She is also co-author of Evolutionary Governance in China: State–Society Relations under Authoritarianism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2021).

Dr. Chen holds a BA in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Pacific International Affairs (MPIA) degree from the University of California, San Diego.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.18.3.2397

Subject Area Keywords

China, East Asia, Threat assessment

Abstract

The rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait, driven by China’s growing aggression, have prompted Taiwan to explore ways to bolster its defense and deterrence capabilities. Given that successful deterrence requires the involvement of both military and civilian sectors, the Taiwanese public’s threat perception—specifically, how they view China as a security threat—becomes crucial. This article examines changes in Taiwan’s public threat perception of China. It finds that while Taiwan’s public threat perception has increased since the late 2010s, this shift is more nuanced. External events likely contributed to an overall rise in threat perception, but Chinese coercive actions were associated with a reduced sense of imminent war. Additionally, individual factors, such as partisanship, also played a role in shaping threat perception. The increased perception of threat has been linked to greater public support for distancing from China and strengthening defense. These findings have significant implications for Taiwan’s military policy and reforms, as well as for the international community’s policy regarding the Taiwan Strait.

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