What are the
challenges and opportunities for Taiwanese public diplomacy?
Gerald Chan best described Taiwan’s situation as
“financially rich but diplomatically poor”.
While Taiwan has built a strong economic foundation, this financial
stability does not translate into soft power. The concept of soft power can be
drawn back to Joseph Nye, where “public diplomacy helps transform soft power
resources into tangible improvements in the international state” (Rockower, 110)
However, Taiwan faces several challenges, the main difficulty being the issue
of Taiwan’s legitimacy and its international recognition. Yet, Taiwan’s
democratic identity help enhance its public diplomacy efforts as a means of a
shared cultural identity with other democratic nations.
The Taiwanese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs helps conduct polylateral public diplomacy within
global civil society. (Rockower, 110) The MOFA has helped Taiwan increase its
public diplomacy efforts by facilitating people-to-people diplomacy. One of
these strategies has been through international language and cultural
exchanges. These exchanges will help the diffusion of Taiwanese cultural values
and increase people-to-people contact. Taiwanese exchange programs are also
common with those from democratic nations who
Taiwan’s investment in gastrodiplomacy is an opportunity
that will help support the establishment of Taiwanese restaurants abroad in an
effort to mimic the success of Thailand’s gastrodiplomacy strategies. Gastrodiplomacy
can help publicize Taiwanese national brands.
Taiwan biggest challenge is its lack of recognition from
the international community under that shadow of China’s economic and political
dominance. Taiwan only has formal diplomatic relations with 23 minor powers and
does not have any formal relations with any major power. (Rawnsley, 1) Taiwan
lacks the international clout demonstrated by China, but also a distinct,
unified national image to promote themselves with. Taiwan also lacks the hard power capabilities
to that of China and any public diplomacy effort that might upset China puts
Taiwan in dangerous territory.
I like the case of Taiwan because it highlights a scenario for PD that is quite pressing. But is the "challenge" you identify for Taiwan a challenge or an "objective" for PD? Rawnsley basically says that we can see if Taiwan has soft power and a successful PD if it can address this challenge. Diplomatic recognition isn't a constraint on PD so much as it is an objective for PD.
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