Taiwan in Comparative Perspective, Vol. 4, December 2012, pp. 34–64 ISSN 1752-7732 © Taiwan Research Programme, London School of Economics The Liminality of Taiwan: A Case-Study in Geopolitics Stéphane Corcuff University of Lyon Institute of Political Studies & Institute of East Asia Abstract This article tries to adapt the anthropological concept of ‘liminality’ to three fields of research: China–Taiwan relations; the ontology of Taiwan Studies; and the conceptual development of geopolitics. Liminality, as translated into these fields, refers here to a spatial/temporal position of 'geopolitical threshold', rather than to an in-between, transitional period of time. The concept is used here as a substitute for, or nuanced alternative to, ‘marginality’, with reference to the growing debate over the significance of Taiwan as a geopolitical entity in the face of a China experiencing global renaissance. Beyond this, the paper is also an attempt to reflect upon the historical significance of the emergence of Taiwan since the early seventeenth century, first as a geopolitical object of appropriation or control, and later on as a geopolitical subject of its own, to help reassess Taiwan’s global significance. Finally, this is a contribution to the better understanding of the geopolitics of asymmetrical interdependence between a major state and a minor, neighbouring one, within the wider frame of a geopolitics of values. Introduction Since the spring of 2011, a debate has agitated American scholars, observers, and policy-makers about the extent to which Taiwan matters with regard to the national interest of the United States of America. A new perception of Taiwan as an increasingly marginal geopolitical entity in the face of China emerging as a global superpower raises the question of how relevant it is today either to defend or to study Taiwan. At the same time, and since the 2000s at least, there has been an introspective movement among Taiwan specialists about how to define their field with regard to Chinese studies. 1 The convergence of these two issues has produced interesting debates in recent symposia and their preparatory meetings, such as the First World Congress of Taiwan Studies (held in Taipei in April 2012) 1 For how Taiwan has been misinterpreted as a local example of Chinese culture see Hong and Murray (2005); for what can be said about the ontological relations between Chinese studies and the study of Taiwan, see Corcuff (2010a, 2010b); for how to connect the study of Taiwan, with its specificities, to wider Chinese studies see Lupke (2012).