As if Taiwan’s status and official designation were not confusing enough for those who are not familiar with its precarious situation, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) foreign policy in recent months has seen so many twists and turns as to stun even the most seasoned of policy wonks.
The root of the confusion is not, as some of his detractors would have it, that Ma is bending to Beijing’s will, but rather that he wants it all.
He wants to improve relations with China, the US, Japan and the rest of the international community, but at the same time his administration feels it must rock the boat to ensure that Taiwan is not ignored while elephants clash, and must prepare for a rainy day should the current detente in the Taiwan Strait shift in a different direction.
As a result, while Ma has proposed the widely hailed East China Sea peace initiative, Taipei has also engaged in brinkmanship of a kind never seen before, sending militaristic signals and appealing to nationalistic sentiment, while relying on the Coast Guard Administration to flex some muscles at sea over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) dispute.
Even though most people in the know agree that the front-page-earning water cannon battles between Taiwanese and Japanese coast guard vessels are for the most part orchestrated, this is nevertheless not the type of behavior usually associated with peaceful Taiwan, especially at a time when it is endeavoring to relaunch long-stalled talks on fisheries with Japan.
Ma’s efforts to improve relations with Beijing have also created the impression in some minds that Taiwan is cooperating with China, which also claims the islets, in pressuring Japan; an illusion that no amount of negation by Taipei has managed to fully dispel.
Critics argue that as part of a grand bargain to further appease China, Ma is seeking to weaken the armed forces, for which there seems to be ample evidence. Live-fire drills have become less frequent under his watch, while his administration has been wishy-washy on efforts to procure new F-16s. Its efforts to create an all-volunteer military also seem half-hearted and threaten to undermine morale. Rumors abound that intelligence agencies are pulling out of espionage in China and that in the not-so-distant-future Taiwan and China might sign a peace accord.
However, while there might be an element of truth to the above, the military has mass-produced Hsiung Feng IIE land-attack cruise missiles, is equipping its navy vessels with HF-3 supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, is seeking to extend the range of the latter and has embarked on a program to develop the Yunfeng (“Cloud Peak”), a 1,200km surface-to-surface missile capable of reaching central China, with plans to begin production as early as next year.
Ironically, while the development of offensive weapons could serve to undermine the oft-heard argument that Ma is “soft” on national defense, it also risks causing friction with Taiwan’s principal ally, the US, which has long opposed the development of missiles whose range or warhead yield go beyond those stipulated by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). Yet, when Defense News asked whether the Yunfeng program, which is a “1,000 percent violation” of MTCR, risked causing difficulties with Washington, a source in the government replied: “I don’t care what the [expletive] Americans think.”
Only an administration that wants it all could contend straight-faced that relations between Taiwan, China, Japan and the US are the best they have been in decades. Although international relations are not exactly zero-sum, countries cannot have it all, especially at a time when the divide between China and the US seems to be widening, forcing countries in the region to take sides.
Taiwan cannot have it all and the Ma administration had better improve its messaging soon, or the delicate balancing act, too rife with contradictions to be sustainable in the long run, will come crashing down.
Having lived through former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s tumultuous and scandal-ridden administration, the last place I had expected to come face-to-face with “Mr Brexit” was in a hotel ballroom in Taipei. Should I have been so surprised? Over the past few years, Taiwan has unfortunately become the destination of choice for washed-up Western politicians to turn up long after their political careers have ended, making grandiose speeches in exchange for extraordinarily large paychecks far exceeding the annual salary of all but the wealthiest of Taiwan’s business tycoons. Taiwan’s pursuit of bygone politicians with little to no influence in their home
In 2025, it is easy to believe that Taiwan has always played a central role in various assessments of global national interests. But that is a mistaken belief. Taiwan’s position in the world and the international support it presently enjoys are relatively new and remain highly vulnerable to challenges from China. In the early 2000s, the George W. Bush Administration had plans to elevate bilateral relations and to boost Taiwan’s defense. It designated Taiwan as a non-NATO ally, and in 2001 made available to Taiwan a significant package of arms to enhance the island’s defenses including the submarines it long sought.
US lobbyist Christian Whiton has published an update to his article, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” discussed on the editorial page on Sunday. His new article, titled “What Taiwan Should Do” refers to the three articles published in the Taipei Times, saying that none had offered a solution to the problems he identified. That is fair. The articles pushed back on points Whiton made that were felt partisan, misdirected or uninformed; in this response, he offers solutions of his own. While many are on point and he would find no disagreement here, the nuances of the political and historical complexities in
Taiwan faces an image challenge even among its allies, as it must constantly counter falsehoods and misrepresentations spread by its more powerful neighbor, the People’s Republic of China (PRC). While Taiwan refrains from disparaging its troublesome neighbor to other countries, the PRC is working not only to forge a narrative about itself, its intentions and value to the international community, but is also spreading lies about Taiwan. Governments, parliamentary groups and civil societies worldwide are caught in this narrative tug-of-war, each responding in their own way. National governments have the power to push back against what they know to be
RSS