It is easy to be overwhelmed by defeatism when fixating on setbacks and forgetting to appreciate the small victories, especially when it comes to Taiwan’s diplomatic predicament. Given the nation’s unusual international status, it is time to challenge the traditional notion of what constitutes success.
If the diplomatic achievements of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration are evaluated by traditional standards, one could conclude that little has been achieved, while much has been lost.
Since Tsai’s inauguration in May 2016, Taiwan has lost five diplomatic allies to China, bringing its already small number of allies to 17. Unless the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) returns to power, the trend is likely to continue.
As for international participation, Taiwan has been excluded from more major organizations, including the WHO, Interpol and the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Sometimes the exclusion is done in a particularly degrading manner, such as a WHO-organized vaccines conference in Beijing on Feb. 21 sending Taiwan an invitation just a few hours before the event began.
If the nation had jumped at the opportunity and rushed a delegation to China, it would have sent a dangerous message to the world that Taiwan would accept whatever treatment it receives, regardless of how belittling it is.
Then there is also the issue of forced name changes. If someone wants to book a plane ticket with Emirates airline or shop at Zara’s online store, for example, they would have to tolerate seeing Taiwan listed under China. This is thanks to Beijing’s relentless efforts to reduce the chance of Taiwan being seen as a single, independent entity.
It is true that these incidents do not paint a successful image for the Tsai administration, but, unfortunately for Taiwan, events such as these would become the norm unless Taiwan becomes unified with China or the Chinese Communist Party collapses.
So what else can be done?
Rather than focusing on whether Taiwan is able to sit in the World Health Assembly (WHA) conference hall, exhausting its resources to stop China from stealing allies or forcing companies to change how they refer to the nation, Taiwan should pay more attention to efforts that have a substantial effect.
This is not to say that Taiwan should give up and stop fighting for its place at the table, but there is more than one way to be a member of the global community.
An essential and important way would be to continue its substantive contributions to global health and humanitarian assistance, as well as advocacy of universal values, showing other nations that Taiwan is willing and able to contribute.
The government has been doing this for a long time, and quite successfully, but such efforts have been under-appreciated by the public. These efforts might not get Taiwan the formal recognition it wants, but they would help it make real friends that share similar values.
Once Taiwan stops letting its number of diplomatic allies and years barred from the WHA define its success, it would give China less leverage. This will enable the nation and its people to come together to find a viable way out of the destructive diplomatic game it has been forced to play for so long.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry