Should I stay or should I go? Migration trajectories of Chinese–Taiwanese couples in third countries

Abstract

This article explores the migration choices of Chinese–Taiwanese couples who have met in a third country as students and formed transnational and cross-cultural families. Being subject to three sets of regulations (those of China, Taiwan and the third country) has put these couples in a more restrictive situation in negotiating their life choices and mobility. Using qualitative data, this article elucidates the migration trajectories of these couples, the conflicts they face, how they negotiate conflict areas and the strategic use of marriage in a third country to be together. This article finds that the conjugal lives of these transnational couples cannot completely disengage from institutionalized cross-Strait relations and state ideologies which eventually push them to stay in a third country rather than return to either of their countries of origin.