The most valuable thing Taiwan will get from the recently passed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement will be the ability to move more freely on the international stage and to strike free-trade agreements.
To echo the view of the Economist, Taiwan will not unify with China simply to take advantage of a few tariff breaks, nor will there be a permanent peace across the Taiwan Strait, especially as China has failed to reduce the number of missiles it aims at Taiwan.
Achieving trade agreements with Southeast Asian nations and beyond is crucial to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign. Therefore, if China pressures them not to sign, Ma’s electoral hopes will be dealt a serious blow. However, such an outcome is not in Beijing’s interest. China is comfortable with Ma and feels that it can trust him. Its worst nightmare is the return to power of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Between now and the 2012 presidential election, Taiwan has a window of opportunity to promote itself on the international stage and to better economically connect with other countries. This will strengthen Taiwan’s own identity and sovereignty.
However, in order to make the most of this, Taiwan must seriously improve the promotion of its international image.
Expensive government advertisements placed in upscale US magazines have a limited effect when it comes to creating a clear image of Taiwan. Unfortunately, mentioning Taiwan to many in the US elicits the response that the shopping in Bangkok (Thailand) is fantastic.
The challenge is here and now. The Taiwan lobby in the US Congress was weakened under former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Now that China is successfully copying many of the lobby’s techniques, the growth in influence of the pro-China business lobby only adds to the urgency of the matter.
While China aggressively expands the number of its Confucius Institutes, of which there are already 316 operating in 94 countries, serving as instruments of soft power through promoting the study of Chinese language and culture, I have yet to see or hear of any of the promised “Taiwan Academies” being established.
As China prepares to shape world opinion with its expanded information campaign, Taiwan ought to follow the example of Japan or Germany. Japan’s NHK World is an English-language TV program that is broadcast in the US and focuses on Japanese affairs. Germany enhances its global image through the Deutsche Welle, which broadcasts TV shows, in several languages, about all aspects of contemporary Germany. Other examples can be found in the UK’s BBC World and France 24. Clearly, China sees the benefit of such TV programs as it will soon start its own English-language TV programming with global reach.
During a recent visit to the East-West Center in Hawaii, eminent US-China scholar Jerome Cohen said it all: “It [Taiwan] is certainly free and certainly impressive. Taiwan is a great product for soft power. It has something to sell,” but hasn’t made enough effort to get its story out there.
It is the story of an agrarian-based former colony that bore the brunt of authoritarianism under the boot of martial law, transformed itself into a key link in the global supply chain of computer parts and established a vibrant participatory democracy based on the rule of law. Many nations would like to enjoy the standard of living and freedom that Taiwan has achieved.
Unfortunately, Taiwan’s priorities are confused. After a dismal showing at the 2008 Olympics, Taiwan is reported to be investing significant sums to do better in 2012. In contrast, it seems far less sure of what to do when it comes to improving international communications.
Bill Sharp is a faculty member of Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
RSS