With the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) budget rising to NT$41.53 billion (US$1.35 billion) next year, experts say Taiwan should increase aid to other nations, invest in countries with similar security interests and use official visits to break out of diplomatic isolation.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has increased its spending every year, rising from 57.47 billion yuan (US$8.07 billion) in 2021 to 58.58 billion yuan last year, according to the Chinese State Council.
This year, that budget has risen about 600 million yuan, or 8.4 percent, to 64.5 billion yuan in just one year.
Photo: Reuters
MOFA’s budget for next year is NT$41.53 billion, an increase of about NT$10.92 billion from this year.
With a significant gap between China’s and Taiwan’s foreign affairs budgets, MOFA proposed an asymmetrical diplomatic strategy, combining public and private resources.
It said that without enhancing Taiwan’s diplomatic resources and capabilities, it might struggle to counter China’s efforts to isolate it.
Taiwan’s priorities should be to uphold its diplomatic sovereignty, secure meaningful international participation and make use of allied nations’ opposition to China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758, while resisting Beijing’s extensive propaganda and legal warfare, political analysts said.
Taiwan needs to break free from focusing on its number of diplomatic allies and stigma against financial aid diplomacy, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.
Giving back to the international community is a fundamental value that helps build diplomacy, but Taiwan’s overseas development assistance is only 0.04 percent of its GDP, far below the UN-recommended standard of 0.5 percent, Su said.
Chen Shih-min (陳世民), an associate professor of political science at National Taiwan University, said that Taiwan needs to continue to strengthen its connection with like-minded countries such as the US, Japan, Australia, Canada and European states that could help Taiwan in the case of a conflict in the Strait.
The Philippines has resisted China’s security pressures, making it a country Taiwan should actively engage with, Chen said.
The Philippines is not only crucial to Taiwan’s national security, but there are also 200,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan, he said.
Chen mentioned that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in August that if a conflict breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, the Philippines cannot remain uninvolved.
In a 2015 paper, Su said that Taiwan should focus on smart, high-impact uses of its limited resources and combine diplomacy with military strategy.
The security of Taiwan plays a crucial role in the security of the Indo-Pacific region, so Taipei can leverage this unmatched “security value” in its diplomatic affairs, he said.
Strengthening military defense should be the top priority, as Taiwan must be strong enough to have a voice in international affairs, Su said.
Defense could be combined with diplomacy by using part of the defense budget to assist other countries by providing them with refurbished military equipment, he said.
Opposition parties believe Taiwan only needs to manage cross-strait relations and need not bother with diplomacy, Chen said.
MOFA must present strong arguments to gain public support, similar to how opposition parties have shifted their stance on the defense budget in the past few years, he said.
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