| In this thesis, the object of the study - Xinhua News Agency (XNA)'s reports on Taiwan is a very unique area among many types of reports of Xinhua News Agency. The definition of the XNA's reports on Taiwan is first given in the very beginning of the thesis. The historical transformation of the organizations in XNA that responsible for the reports on Taiwan are divided into three stages: the military branch phase (1949-1979), a subordinate phase (1979-1999) and the independent functioning phase (1999-2009). The release mechanism, staffing and such areas are also included to describe the origins and mechanisms of the XNA's reports on Taiwan.Secondly, this thesis reviews the developments of the government's policy on Taiwan, the changes of Taiwan's political system, as well as the changes of the cross-strait public opinion. The author argues that since 1979, based on the principle of peaceful reunification, our government has timely made appropriate adjustments in the policy on Taiwan. In the past three decades, Taiwan has experienced a transition from the authoritarian regime to democratic politics and other great changes in politics, economy, and culture. In this context, public opinion on both sides have changed inevitably. Mainland has established a variety of media channels to open up news and information resources, which made a dramatic progress on domestic and international publicity; Taiwan's media experienced a shift from the party-owned media to a business-oriented media system after the "Ban on opposition party" and the "Ban on journalism" were lifted. The replacement of the ruling parties in Taiwan and the support for Taiwan independence make the cross-strait relations extremely complex. In history, Taiwan has been in Japanese colonial rule for fifty years and also under a strong influence by the United States, therefore, Taiwan's public opinion have more special and complex features. The Changes in public opinion of both Taiwan and mainland have great impact on the XNA's reports on Taiwan.In such a political background, and the context of public opinion, this article carries out a detailed analysis on XNA's reports on Taiwan. The reports on Taiwan is divided into four phases: a one-way propaganda phase (1979 - 1987), the initial contacts and the exchange phase (1987-1994), Propaganda of the condemnation on Denghui Li and anti-independence of Taiwan phase (1995-2000) and inter-communication, anti-independence and reunification phase (2001-present). The author also outlines the characteristics of each stage. Second, the paper highlights the analysis on the XNA's reports on major events of cross-strait relations since 1979 and the characteristics of each report. Third, the article also analyzes the XNA's reports on the elections of the four leaders in Taiwan. Finally, based on the XNA's reports, the author portrays the image of Taiwan in the XNA's reports. Through the text analysis of XNA's reports on Taiwan, the authors points out that the function of the XNA's reports on Taiwan followed the guiding ideology of propaganda of reunification and military protection before 1979, that is, in addition to military, in the ideological struggle, the XNA undertakes the responsibility to support the unification of Taiwan and mainland, to condemn Taiwan independence and to win the supports for Chinese government's policy on Taiwan from people on both sides. Xinhua commentary is a part of Chinese government's policy on Taiwan. It is a clear-cut stand to safeguard the reunification of the motherland, and condemn the speech and behavior that split the motherland. The reports and commentary of XNA are the weapons to condemn Taiwan independence; XNA's reports on Taiwan have become a benchmark for other mainland media's reports on Taiwan and the reports themselves were greatly influenced by cross-strait relations. After the Taiwan office of XNA was set up and journalists were sent to work in Taiwan, the reporting strategies have been adjusted. The final part of this article analyzes the effect of XNA's reports on Taiwan and the response of Taiwan towards the propaganda of mainland. The author believes that the strategies which were in line with the law of mass media should be carried out for the XNA's reports on Taiwan; the agency's basic functions should be strengthened, the image of the national spokesman should be weakened for a more equanimous coverage of Taiwan news. Furthermore, The XNA should take full advantage of the opportunities of the continuous development of cross-strait exchanges to report on the media forefront; take the strategy of the localization of Taiwan reports to develop Taiwan's local users; use local resources and news editing power to include Taiwan reports into the daily coverage; improve the news reporting practices to spread the process of cross-strait integration with vivid facts and lively language.The methodology of this study is historical research and text analysis. The XNA's reports on Taiwan (1979-2008) were explored through the variety of literature review and material analysis. The Author analyzes the transformation of the Taiwan reports in the historical background of the opening up of cross-strait relations after the reform , the gradual exchange, and the pursuit of a cross-strait harmony to promote the peaceful reunification, that is, the reports experienced stages from one-way propaganda in the civil war between KMT and CPC, to gradual exchange after the reform, and then to move towards effective communication in order to pursue cross-strait harmony and to promote the peaceful reunification. From the perspective of journalisms and communication, the thesis reveals the regular transformation of the development of Chinese journalism; explores the role of news reports as an ideology and an important part of the superstructure, and how the news reports correspond with the social development and the historical process; and last but not least, makes suggestions for the XNA's reports on Taiwan on how to play a better role to promote the cross-strait harmony in the future.
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