Wed, Aug 12, 2026 page8

• Diplomatic lessons in Nagasaki

  • By Bonnie Yushih Liao 廖雨詩
  • • Add TT as Preferred Source
    • 
    • 
    • 

  Three days can reveal a great deal about diplomacy.

  Representative to Japan Lee I-yang (李逸洋) on Thursday last week attended the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, seated in the area for diplomatic representatives. Three days later, he declined to attend the Nagasaki ceremony after the Taiwanese delegation was placed outside the main diplomatic section.

  Nagasaki officials said that seats in the special guest area were limited and that Taiwan had been assigned to an “overseas” section, which was not intended to downgrade Taiwan’s status.

  From Taipei’s perspective, the question was difficult to avoid: If Hiroshima could accommodate Taiwan alongside diplomatic delegations, why could Nagasaki not do the same?

  Lee’s decision to stay away was understandable. After Taiwan raised objections to a similar arrangement last year, accepting it again could gradually turn an unsatisfactory practice into precedent.

  Yet the incident deserves to be examined beyond the immediate dispute over diplomatic dignity.

  Anyone familiar with Japan knows that Tokyo is not Japan in its entirety. Japanese politics is strongly shaped by local institutions, administrative traditions and jimoto — the deeply rooted sense of local identity and community. Mayors, prefectural governors, local assemblies, bureaucracies, business organizations and civic groups have networks and political calculations of their own.

  This does not mean that local governments in Japan can act independently on national foreign policy issues. Nor should every unfriendly decision toward Taiwan be attributed to Chinese pressure.

  It does mean that stronger Taiwan-Japan relations in Tokyo do not automatically produce equally strong relations throughout Japan.

  Nagasaki illustrates the problem particularly well.

  The city has centuries of historical connections with China and has maintained a friendship-city relationship with Fuzhou since 1980. China also maintains a consulate-general in Nagasaki. Such relationships do not prove that Beijing instructed Nagasaki officials how to arrange Taiwan’s seat.

  Indeed, the more important point might be that direct instructions are not always necessary.

  Diplomatic influence accumulates through institutions, personal relationships and repeated exchanges. Officials learn which decisions create friction and which preserve established relationships. Political preferences can eventually become embedded in seemingly technical administrative choices.

  For Taiwan the lesson should not simply be to protest more forcefully. It should be to invest more seriously in Japan’s local diplomacy.

  Former representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) understood this particularly well. During his years in Japan, considerable effort went into relationships not only with national politicians in Tokyo, but also with prefectures, municipalities, local assemblies and civic networks. Taiwan-Japan exchanges among local legislators and governments expanded significantly during this period.

  Such work is rarely glamorous. A meeting with a mayor or local assembly member attracts less attention than a photograph with a prime minister. Yet diplomacy is often built precisely through these accumulated relationships.

  Taiwan needs to map Japan more carefully: Where are Taiwanese networks strong? Where has China spent decades cultivating local relationships? Which municipalities matter because of ports, technology, education, tourism, disaster relief or their proximity to Taiwan?

  Where those connections are weak, Taiwan needs to show up — repeatedly.

  Invite local politicians to Taiwan. Expand university and youth exchanges. Build partnerships in disaster relief, public health and maritime affairs. Engage chambers of commerce, civic organizations and local media.

  The objective is not to force every Japanese municipality to become “pro-Taiwan.” That would misunderstand diplomacy and Japan.

  The objective is to ensure that when local officials encounter Taiwan, they see an established partner rather than an inconvenient diplomatic exception.

  Defending dignity sometimes requires refusing a seat.

  Good diplomacy means building relationships so that, eventually, there is no need to refuse one.

  Bonnie Yushih Liao is an assistant professor in Tamkang University’s Department of Diplomacy and International Relations.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Rain, extreme heat expected as Typhoon Dolphin approaches

  • 2

    Typhoon Dolphin to be closest to Taiwan today

  • 3

    Three major storms currently out to sea

  • 4

    Agency issues a sea warning for Typhoon Dolphin

  • 5

    Air, sea transport disrupted ahead of Typhoon Dolphin