Amid the controversy over government plans to impose a carbon tax, little attention has been paid to the news that some small island countries are in danger of being submerged beneath rising seas, creating a wave of “climate refugees.”
As early as 2001, the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu —one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — announced to the world that its people would eventually have to abandon its gradually disappearing national territory and evacuate en masse to New Zealand.
Tuvalu and other small island countries have never received much attention in international politics, but their continued existence is closely connected with Taiwan’s national security.
The global ecological crisis has forced countries around the world to reconsider the traditional way of thinking that puts national sovereignty above everything else. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a trend toward globalism, with sovereign countries collaborating and consulting to formulate international treaties and monitor their implementation.
Nations today seek multilateral solutions to global problems. However, before small nations have even had a chance to catch up with the tide of globalism, the most essential prerequisite for their existence as sovereign nations — their national territory — is already starting to sink beneath the surging waves.
In response, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) was formed in 1990, and 43 countries and territories have joined as members and observers. However, the key problems they face — ecology, sovereignty, migration, science and technology — are not something these countries, which lack resources and mostly lag behind in development, can hope to solve on their own. Hope can only lie with the technologically advanced and economically developed powers, most of which are big, continental countries.
However, the US’ continued refusal to be a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, low expectations on reaching a global pact at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December and Australia’s strict immigration policies that effectively deny entry to climate refugees from Tuvalu and other places show that developed states are still the ultimate arbiters in determining the distribution of global economic resources, and that globalism still takes second place to national interests.
While big countries on the European, American and Asian continents may be apathetic, Taiwan, as a small island country, cannot afford to ignore this issue. The predicament faced by Tuvalu and other island countries as the ocean threatens to submerge their territories will probably be the fate of Taiwan’s offshore islands and coastal areas within a few decades.
That being the case, we need to do more research on climate change, rising sea levels and related issues. We can also make the National Science Council’s Sustainable Taiwan Evaluation System a focus of flexible diplomacy.
Taiwan is a small island country in both political and geographical terms, so doing something about rising sea levels and related problems is an urgent matter. Most of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies are developing island or coastal nations. Taiwan being perhaps the biggest and strongest among these small island nations, the government would be wise to help friendly countries find a solution, for their benefit and for our ours.
We need to strengthen our ability to monitor environmental changes in Taiwan and surrounding waters and work with friendly countries in drawing up a plan of action for the environmental security of island nations. We could facilitate technology transfers to friendly island countries and help them build up disaster response capabilities that are similar to our own. This would not just help our allies resolve practical problems, but would also establish a sense of belonging to a community with a common destiny and thus cement our friendship with our allies in a meaningful way.
In addition to seeking to join the UN Framework on Climate Change, the government should apply for membership in the AOSIS, making the alliance a platform for Taiwan to provide other island countries with technical assistance and expand its environmental diplomacy.
More than half the member countries of the AOSIS have at some time had diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and nine of them still do. Besides, participation in the AOSIS is not only open to sovereign states, and China does not qualify to join it, so China would find it hard to justify obstructing Taiwan’s membership.
After joining this multilateral alliance of mostly developing island countries, Taiwan could use its scientific, technological and economic strengths to raise the organization’s profile. Based on the AOSIS framework, Taiwan could join forces with fellow members and become a spokesman for small island countries on issues of environmental security and sustainable development, rather than being a pawn in the rivalry between different powers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Only if Taiwan’s geopolitical orientation and diplomatic strategy are adjusted can it overcome obstacles and succeed in its flexible diplomacy. The government would do well to take the opportunity of future visits by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to diplomatic partners in the South Pacific to propose a completely new model of environmental and economic assistance to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
If, on the other hand, we cling to the attitudes of a continental country and ignore the plight of small island countries whose land is threatened, then the international status of Taiwan, which relies on diplomatic relations for its survival, will sink out of sight along with its small island allies.
Bernard Chou is an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and Graduate Institute of Political Economy at National Cheng Kung University.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
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