"Cross-Strait Integrated Development" has become a central axis and significant policy tool in recent years for Mainland China's approach to "peaceful reunification" and "resolving the Taiwan issue." It is an essential component of the Overall Strategy of the Party for Resolving the Taiwan Issue in the New Era. However, the implementation of Mainland China's cross-strait integration policies has been largely confined to Fujian Province and coastal regions, failing to generate substantive, direct impacts on Taiwanese individuals.
Taiwanese perceptions of cross-strait relations remain limited due to factors such as education, media influence, the political environment, and physical separation. Many Taiwanese people even harbor hostility toward Mainland China, with statistics indicating that only about one-third of Taiwanese have visited Mainland China. For Mainland China's goodwill and related policies to be broadly accepted, understood, and internalized by Taiwanese people, there must be a process of human-mediated information translation.
This study adopts the social constructivist theory as its analytical framework and employs in-depth interviews to explore the observations and perspectives of influential Taiwanese new media leaders with significant cross-strait reach and impact. These leaders, who construct a "near view" for audiences in both regions, provide insights into their perceptions of "integrated development policies" and the "final outcome of cross-strait relations." By analyzing and comparing the verbatim transcripts of their interviews, this study seeks to dissect the current dynamics and explore possible next steps for cross-strait relations.
Among cross-strait new media leaders, YeLi Media stands out as the only Taiwan-based new media channel matrix focusing on political commentary and analysis, simultaneously broadcasting across major platforms in both Taiwan and Mainland China. This study focuses on ten interviewees who have served as guest contributors to YeLi Media, collectively amassing over 50 million followers across the strait. These participants represent a significant sample within the scope of this research. The study includes verbatim transcripts of in-depth interviews to facilitate interpretation and analysis by future researchers.
