This project aims to investigate and theorise China's ‘sharp power’ in contemporary China and Taiwan. ‘Sharp power’ is the power to shape the public opinion and ideology of other countries. This research will explore how the ‘sharp power’ derives from pluralistically imagined ‘Chineseness’ and how Taiwan responds to this ‘sharp power’ through recreated ‘Chineseness’. The main hypothesis of this study is that the interactive relationship between China and Taiwan depends on pluralistically imagined ‘Chineseness’ and that this relationship provides a platform to develop some form of fluidity, promotes the spread of China’s ‘sharp power’, and determines Taiwan’s response. This study will conduct quantitative research based on a corpus of Chinese diplomatic discourse. It aims to chart the emergence of Confucian and Buddhist discourses in China’s diplomatic discourses. Meanwhile, this research plans to utilise qualitative studies on some Chinese and Taiwanese Confucians and Buddhist institutions to explore their perceptions of ‘Chineseness’