For many days, the Papua New Guinea diplomacy case involving former vice premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) has been at the center of media attention. The embezzlement of funds intended for aid in exchange for diplomatic relations clearly shows the flaws in the diplomatic system and the harsh reality that huge diplomatic investment is not cost-efficient. Government officials appear content to abuse authority and revel in diplomatic games outside the official framework.
Often, the excuse that diplomatic affairs are matters of national security is enough to hoodwink the public so that huge sums can avoid legislative supervision and a select group of officials can engage in dollar diplomacy through brokers.
The US has also practiced secret diplomacy. Former president Richard Nixon sent his national security advisor Henry Kissinger on a secret trip to Beijing in July 1971 to sell out Taiwan. In order to finance contras in Nicaragua, former president Ronald Reagan sold arms to Iran without the knowledge of the US Congress, resulting in a political crisis that almost led to his resignation. The secret diplomacy of the US occurs almost entirely on the fringes of the law and those involved try to avoid congressional or media scrutiny. There are many examples of how morals are compromised when there is a lack of oversight.
With Taiwan diplomatically isolated since it left the UN in 1971, the government seems to have caught a “diplomatic isolation-phobia.” Taiwan has followed the lead of the US, and on the way it succumbed to the delusion that it has to build diplomatic relations with as many countries as possible.
Every minister of foreign affairs has been pressed to build new diplomatic relations, regardless of whether the countries are large or small, rich or poor — even tiny islands. Relations are sought by all means necessary.
Such scrambling for diplomatic allies results from the misunderstanding that if Taiwan can establish diplomatic relations, then it has foreign relations, making it an independent country. The new government of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should concentrate not on increasing the number of diplomatic allies, but on breaking through the country’s “diplomatic isolation-phobia.”
In terms of real diplomatic benefits, the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation can win a lot more international respect than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the laptop computers made in Taiwan are more famous than the country itself and Taiwan’s agriculture and its small to middle-sized businesses attract more international attention than its foreign policy.
One can’t help but ask what Taiwan has to show for its many years of dollar diplomacy. The structural limitations to the country’s space in international relations are mostly caused by the fact that China is so much stronger than Taiwan. A framework of international power sets these limitations: Even with the help of a diplomatic deus ex machina, a change in the situation would be impossible. In any case, how can we expect the two greedy brokers called on by Chiou and former minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳) to change the existing structure of international political power?
The only things that the government needs to do are change the frame of mind with which it rules the country and cure itself of its “diplomatic isolation-phobia.” Since the difficulties of Taiwan’s international relations are not easy to solve, the government should turn its attention to domestic affairs. Every minister in the past has earnestly pledged to boost foreign relations, but rarely have they said they want to improve domestic affairs.
Are issues like dredging Taiwan’s rivers, maintaining sewer systems in cities, improving the living environment, rounding up fraud gangs, putting a stop to drug abuse, supporting farming villages and the agricultural industry, developing alternative energy resources and dealing with pollution all less pressing than international relations?
Chiou’s actions await judicial investigations. The Papua New Guinea case may well turn out to be only the tip of the iceberg — who knows how many fraudulent cases of secret dollar diplomacy will be exposed in the future? I hope that Chiou’s case will not only demonstrate the greed of diplomatic “brokers” and the difficulties inherent in foreign relations, but also provide an opportunity to reform.
Ma’s new government should rethink Taiwan’s misguided ideas on boosting foreign relations. Instead of thinking about becoming a major player in international relations, Taiwan should appreciate the value of being a small country on the rise. Large funds currently used for dollar diplomacy could be used to fund national construction instead. The country can look to Singapore — with its image of clean governance, order and dignity — and work to build itself into a democratic country free of corruption, rather than pursuing diplomatic relations at any cost.
Liao Kun-jung is dean of the Department of Political Science at National Chung Cheng University.
Translated by Anna Stiggelbout
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US