Political Ecumenism of China and Taiwan: Legal Transplant of the European Common Market Model to the Cross-Strait Polity

This article examines whether the European model of integration can be adopted by, or be a lesson for, China and Taiwan in achieving cross-Strait political ecumenism for the common good. The cross-Strait’s goal is to maintain peace, promote harmony and avoid engulfing ideological differences and contradictions. The European model, and in particular the common market model, has been discussed by policymakers and scholars in cross-Strait relations as a possible model for integration. However, there has been no systematic discussion of how such a model can fit into cross-Strait polity against various economic, social and legal conditions. This article uses the theoretical framework of legal transplant, which has previously been a successful technique in establishing one country’s legal structures in another. Hence, the article treats the European model as a legal model and examines how such a model can be transplanted into cross-strait polity, taking into account the respective legal doctrines, legal systems and legal traditions in China and Taiwan against the Pan-European legal tradition upon which the European model is built. In conclusion, this article proffers policy suggestions with regard to how the model should be modified without changing its spirit and objectives, and how other legal doctrines can be implanted to enhance the efficacy of the model.