Public diplomacy has been a hot topic on the international stage over the past few years. Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the US has discovered that attempts to solve its problematic relations with the Islamic world through traditional diplomatic and military means only complicated matters and that public diplomacy was a more effective way to address the root cause of the problem.
Public diplomacy is a very broad concept that stresses the use of soft power to obtain the support of the public in another country. When the US severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, Taiwan launched an all-out public diplomacy effort directed at the US.
This strategy involved using public opinion to make the US government change its policy toward Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its agencies in the US invited various top organizations and individuals to visit Taiwan, such as congressional members and their assistants, senior Republican and Democratic officials, think tanks, media outlets, national religious groups, labor groups and state officials and representatives. This concerted strategy to promote public diplomacy gathered considerable support for Taiwan at all levels of US society.
The peak of this effort was reached when then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) visited the US in 1995. The US had given China guarantees in early 1995 that Lee would not be allowed to visit. However, strong public pressure — including critical editorials in the New York Times and the Washington Post — along with the US Senate and House of Representatives’ passage of a resolution overwhelmingly in support of Lee’s visit and various calls throughout the US in support of Taiwan finally forced the White House to allow Lee to visit. The trip was not the result of an effort by some public relations firm, but an expression of public diplomacy.
When I served on the Mainland Affairs Council, I discovered that while cross-strait relations differed from US-Taiwan relations, they required the same kind of public diplomacy to give Taiwan space and bargaining chips. The council, however, had a very small annual budget, most of which was spent on personnel and administrative costs. There was no public diplomacy or public relations program, nor was there enough resources for any such attempt.
Following the change in government in 2000, China adjusted its policy toward Taiwan and began to “pin its hopes on the Taiwanese public.” This is not mere slogan, Beijing is actively carrying out a public diplomacy campaign aimed at Taiwan. Indeed, public diplomacy is what civilized countries call it; in communist countries, it is called “united front tactic.”
China’s unification work has been intense and detailed, pervading every level of Taiwanese society and all designed to win the hearts of the Taiwanese.
After the government transition in 2008, cross-strait exchanges have heated up and China has clearly intensified its efforts toward Taiwan. Taiwan Affairs Office officials, along with an endless string of provincial-level delegations and procurement groups, have regularly traveled to southern Taiwan to foster ties with farmers and fishermen and other grassroots organizations. These visitors have extended many invitations to Taiwanese from all walks of life, and the depth and the extent of their effort are worrying. Taiwan’s officialdom and private sector, on the other hand, are only focusing on organizing commercial exhibitions and making money in China — there is no sign of any public diplomacy there.
When responding to China’s rising strength, Taiwan must make strategic use of the advantages offered by its democratic values and system and link them to cross-strait relations if it is to avoid being marginalized or absorbed by China, as well as gain effective strategic and secure maneuvering space.
Insightful Chinese believe that it will be impossible to solve China’s problems without a stable democratic and legal system, and this offers Taiwan a great opportunity to engage in public diplomacy. Cross-strait relations are very sensitive, and the governments on both sides have very little room for political compromise. Faced with China’s aggressive attempt to win the hearts of the Taiwanese public, Taiwan must fall back on public diplomacy to build a positive view of the nation among the Chinese public and create an opportunity to change Beijing’s rigid policies.
Some have said that China is not a democracy and that the government cannot be swayed by public opinion, and that public diplomacy will not be effective when it comes to dealing with Beijing. This reveals a lack of understanding of the situation in China.
In this era of globalization and the Internet, governments must listen to public opinion, no matter how authoritarian they are. Beijing highly values stability and exercises strict controls over the Internet because it knows that popular power can overturn the boat. For example, in a speech in London on June 28, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said he wanted to create the conditions required to let the public monitor and criticize the government so that the government will not dare slack off.
Taiwan can use its system and culture to win this battle of public diplomacy. So long as Taipei has secured its national security and defense, it can use public diplomacy as a way to influence the minds of the Chinese public and place its hopes on the Chinese people, thus changing Taiwan’s status as the underdog in cross-strait ties. Once Taiwan’s ability to influence China has reached a certain level, its international influence will increase accordingly.
Regardless of whether Taiwan is ruled by the pan-blue or the pan-green camp in future, public diplomacy should be an important and integral part of its foreign policy.
James Huang is a former minister of foreign affairs.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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