Cross-strait exchange programs and changes in regime attitudes among Taiwanese students

Cross-border exchange programs have become an increasingly important instrument of external political influence, yet their effects on regime attitudes remain poorly understood. This study examines whether exchange programs to Mainland China affect Taiwanese students’ acceptance of the Communist Party of China regime. Using an integrated four-pathway framework encompassing affective, cognitive, instrumental, and ideological dimensions, this study analyzed a 10-year panel dataset of 600 Taiwanese students. Analysis revealed a modest but statistically significant short-term increase in regime acceptance at the end of the exchange programs, associated with improved affective evaluations, reduced cognitive threat perceptions, heightened instrumental interest in development opportunities, and a strengthened authoritarian order orientation. By situating these mechanisms within broader debates on authoritarian influence and democratic resilience, this study demonstrates how structured exchanges operate as agents of political socialization. This study offers an analytically transferable framework for examining non-coercive influence and political socialization in contested geopolitical contexts.