“Chinese Taipei, What Kind of Martial Art Is That?”

When my teammates and I participated in the figure skating test event for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, we were ecstatic to be representing Taiwan. Sporting national team jackets, we had “Chinese Taipei” branded across our backs. One day we were casually looking at the merchandise in the Olympic store when a man approached us and asked the most remarkable question: “Chinese Taipei—what kind of martial art is that?”The above anecdote illustrates the ambiguous status of Taiwan in international affairs. Taiwan is known as “Chinese Taipei” in international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and in sporting events such as the Olympics. This phenomenon can be attributed to China’s pressure on maintaining the “One China” principle, which does not allow for the existence of two Chinas or of one China and one Taiwan.The same conundrum emerges when one looks at Taiwan’s international representation in international organizations. Taiwan currently has membership in 38 intergovernmental organizations and observer status in 19 others. Most importantly, Taiwan does not have a seat in the United Nations. Since most international organizations require members to possess statehood, Taiwan has failed to gain membership by missing the fourth criterion: international recognition.In light of Taiwan’s special status in the international system, soft power and public diplomacy are especially important tools for establishing Taiwan’s identity abroad. With a few caveats, Taiwan has maximized the potential of its soft power abroad and improved its representation in the international community.Taiwan’s soft power stems from its culture, domestic politics, and foreign policy. Many in the world enjoy Taiwan’s delicious beef noodle soup, are awed by Taiwan’s democratic achievements, and appreciate Taiwan’s friendliness in providing aid to countries that have recently experienced disaster and turmoil. The Taiwanese government has been actively utilizing its soft power to brand a positive image abroad. Moreover, Taiwan’s public diplomacy initiatives have evolved to work not just through the government but also through religious and humanitarian organizations, nongovernmental organizations, student societies, and other forms of activity extending to Taiwan’s civil society. However, successful public diplomacy only occurs when all soft power resources are successfully mobilized.Provocative policies during Chen Shui-bian’s administration left cross-strait relations tense and hostile from 2000-2008. President Chen Shui-bian continued his predecessor’s pursuit of defining cross-strait relations as “state to state” relations and adopted a political approach to public diplomacy. President Chen’s public diplomacy was heavily based off of the desinicization process, emphasizing a distinct Taiwanese identity during his tenure by combining early Western influences and aboriginal culture to separate Taiwanese culture from Mainland Chinese culture.A major figure in the Chen administration’s public diplomacy campaign was the Vice President and World Peace Prize winner Lu Hsiu-lien. She leveraged her success by representing Taiwan’s soft power of democracy, human rights, peace, love, and high technology to the world to improve Taiwan’s international standing. One of her most notable accomplishments was the formation of the Democratic Pacific Union (DPU), a major component of the administration’s public diplomacy campaign. The DPU is based on the soft power of democracy, peace, and prosperity, and attracted 28 democratic countries around the Pacific region to participate during its inauguration year. Since then, the DPU has held external conferences and established the Pacific Congressional Caucus, which consists of lawmakers from 30 countries who champion democracy and the rule of law, furthering the branding of Taiwan’s democratic values overseas.The current Ma administration’s approach is more conciliatory than that of his predecessors. President Ma Ying-jeou called for a diplomatic truce, which set the stage for improved cross-strait relations. In contrast to President Chen, while President Ma pursued an agenda more heavily weighted toward cultural issues, despite his continued belief in Taiwanese democracy as a critical component of its soft power. Ma’s public diplomacy primarily focused on promoting Taiwan’s traditional Chinese culture.One of the most notable components in Ma’s public diplomacy toolkit was his establishment of the Taiwan Academies. Created to counter China’s soft power and Confucius Institutes, Taiwan Academies are a branch of Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture that uses films and photography exhibitions to showcase vibrant Taiwanese culture. In addition to promoting Chinese culture, President Ma also emphasized strategic communications and public relations, establishing the Foreign Press Liaison Office to promptly convey the Taiwanese government’s position and response to pressing international issues. The Ma administration has also sought opportunities for interviews with important international media outlets—Euronews, The Washington Post, Mainichi Shimbun—to help publicize Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and APEC.The Foreign Affairs Ministry has also commissioned a private company to produce the short film “Invest in Taiwan: Way to Gold” to promote Taiwan’s important investment and trade policies, with the hopes of broadcasting it via international financial media channels. Finally, the Ministry has also established a task force to push for youth participation in international affairs and has launched several programs toward that goal. These programs include the Youth Ambassadors Taiwan ROC, Taiwan Culture and Study Tours, Teen Diplomacy Envoys, NGO International Talents Training Course, and websites such as Taiwan’s Youth Engage the World. These programs largely emphasize Chinese culture, thus directly competing with China, which also promotes Chinese culture abroad.To understand whether Taiwan’s soft power has produced a strong identity abroad, it would be best to look at Taiwan in world affairs. While Ma’s cultural public diplomacy campaign has attracted a high number of foreign students and maintains an impressive 38 language centers devoted to educating foreigners, this does nothing to help Taiwan’s case abroad. First, Taiwan has remained stateless for four decades, at least in the eyes of the United Nations. Moreover, it has few memberships and observerships in intergovernmental organizations, as mentioned earlier. Secondly, it uses the name “Chinese Taipei,”—which creates confusion over Taiwan’s status—in the Asian Development Bank, APEC, the World Trade Organization, the Extended Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Steel Committee, the World Health Assembly, and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. Finally, Taiwan has only 22 official diplomatic relations, mostly with smaller states.In sum, Taiwan’s soft power resources are immense. As the first democratic country of Chinese culture, it embodies universal values of freedom and human rights that are very appealing to the global audience, especially in comparison to China’s authoritarian regime. However, the current Taiwanese government’s public diplomacy has an extremely cultural-based agenda compared to President Chen’s political agenda, and thus is less aggressive in promoting Taiwan’s brand. This must be changed to break through the external constraints posed by China. Currently, the limitations are too great to overcome for the Taiwanese government, as Taiwan still lacks membership in many important international organizations. Therefore, Taiwan’s soft power has not been wholly effective in increasing its international space, particularly when the government gets in the way of attracting support from abroad. To improve its soft power efficacy, the government should pursue an all-inclusive public diplomacy—one that emphasizes not only culture and foreign aid, but also political values. Yet not all policy fixes are so daunting. Simply amending the name “Chinese Taipei” would be a good start.