Pushing the UK to improve ties

Originally published by the Taipei Times on 16/02/2022.

Many European nations have been flexing their pro-Taiwan credentials over the past few years. In return, among other gestures of gratitude, the sky over Kaohsiung was adorned with the flags of the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia. This year’s Lantern Festival light show is the city’s way of thanking those countries for their donations of COVID-19 vaccines.

Most of these countries had much more to be thanked for. Prague made headlines when it signed a sister-city agreement with Taipei, while Czech politicians have been at the forefront of parliamentary visits to the country. In 2020, Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil proclaimed to the Legislative Yuan and the international media: “I am Taiwanese.” In a similar vein, Lithuania defied precedent when it opted to call Taiwan’s new de facto embassy in Vilnius the Taiwanese Representative Office. Now, after government and business visits, Taiwan and Slovakia are also looking to set up new trade offices in each other’s countries. Whether “Taiwanese” is used again or the more Beijing-friendly “Taipei,” this is a positive move for Taiwan. Aside from the economic wins, such interactions have significant symbolic value, as each one of these actions help ease the country’s diplomatic isolation.

It is a shame that there are not more European countries that can be congratulated for taking head-on Beijing’s campaign to marginalize Asia’s finest democracy. Why should the rest of Europe, full of far more powerful liberal democracies, leave this responsibility to a few east European countries? Why was the Union Jack not sparkling across the Kaohsiung skyline?

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Review: Challenging Beijing’s Mandate of Heaven

Originally published by The International Journal of Taiwan Studies on 01/02/2022.

‘We Have to Save Our Own Nation Ourselves’ (自己國家自己救) emerged as a memorable slogan from Taiwan’s Sunflower occupation in early 2014. So memorable in fact that a few months later Umbrella activists would proclaim, ‘We Have to Save Our Hong Kong Ourselves’ (自己香港自己救). This is just one striking similarity which makes comparing these social movements so tempting. This is exactly what Ming-Sho Ho, professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, has done in Challenging Beijing’s Mandate of Heaven (2019).

Here we have two movements emerging in the same year with a similar student base, tactics, and with particular appeal among young people. Moreover, both movements directed their fury at leaders who they saw as increasingly accommodating towards Beijing. For the Sunflowers the fear of greater economic integration with China drove their occupation of the Legislative Yuan. While Hongkongers took to the streets in an effort to complete the process of democratisation despite pushback from the mainland.

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Report: Developing a progressive Taiwan policy

 Originally published by the New Diplomacy Project on 24/01/2022.

Beijing has attempted to squeeze Taiwan’s international space by poaching its few remaining diplomatic allies and blocking the country’s participation in international organisations. It has also used coercive economic tools to punish the government in Taipei. Such measures are designed to demoralise the Taiwanese people and impress on them the supposed inevitability of unification.

Taiwan matters to the UK. It is a fellow liberal democracy which has much to offer and teach the rest of the world, with its response to Covid-19 being a case in point. Its location in the first island chain makes it critical to the future order in the Indo-Pacific. Likewise, as a leading producer of semiconductors an armed conflict over Taiwan could cause severe disruption to the global economy.

Calculating the risks of war is incredibly difficult. The balance of military power across the Strait has unquestionably shifted in China’s favour. The Chinese military is also developing the capabilities to launch an amphibious landing of the main island.

However, a decision to annex Taiwan will be a political one and as such an assessment of Xi Jinping’s language and priorities is needed. The risk of armed conflict should not be overplayed, attention should instead be directed to supporting Taiwan with the problems it faces now.

The Labour Party should treat Taiwan as a partner by stepping up engagement with government officials and Taiwanese civil society. It should also push the UK government harder to support efforts to allow Taiwan to meaningfully participate in international organisations and support efforts to enhance Taiwan’s economic resilience.

READ FULL BRIEFING HERE.