Shifting from "diplomatic truce" to "collaborative diplomacy"

The national flags of the countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan are displayed at the ministry of foreign affairs. (Photo/Huang Shih-chi)

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan held a review of The Gambia’s termination of diplomatic ties with Taiwan on Monday. The incident was considered a crisis of its policy of “flexible diplomacy.”

With the rising influence of China, the Chinese government has aggressively participated in political and economic activities in Africa and Latin America. Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, such as The Gambia, were not able to benefit from China’s involvement because of their diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Given this situation, even if China has not entered into talks to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, these allies may still end relations with Taiwan.

Over the past five years, Taiwan has maintained diplomatic relations with certain countries under a flexible diplomacy policy. China has not interfered with Taiwan’s political ties with powerful countries, and these ties have even improved under the peaceful relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan cannot rely on its diplomatic truce with China, however. It needs to be proactive about making a difference, especially in expanding its “substantive diplomacy.”

First, Taiwan has tried to maintain the number of its diplomatic allies at between 22 and 27, but this has not really brought any substantive benefit. Taiwan spent NT$2 billion (US$67.59 million) per year on aid to four African countries, but few people were aware of where the money ended up. The Gambia decided to cut ties with Taiwan because the West African nation had asked for US$10 million recently and Taiwan refused.

We have to prioritise developing substantive relations with major players so that Taiwan will see the most benefits, for example, Taiwan has entered into visa-free programs with 130 countries, which can be seen to be the result of substantive diplomacy. Furthermore, Taiwan is negotiating the signing of free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries such as India and Indonesia and has recently signed FTAs with New Zealand and Singapore.

More importantly, Taiwan needs to make every effort to join international and regional organisations because regional cooperation in the international community has become a global trend. For example, the United States has facilitated Trans-Pacific partnership in the Asia-Pacific region, which is the largest economic and trade organization in the region. A Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, initiated by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has also drawn participation from 16 countries.

Taiwan needs to join the two groups to improve its competitiveness.

Taiwan should work out new diplomatic strategies, including building substantive ties with other countries and proceeding with collaborative diplomacy with China.

This may be the best new direction for Taiwan’s foreign affairs, following the incident with The Gambia.

Shifting from "diplomatic truce" to "collaborative diplomacy"