Approaches to soft power and public diplomacy in China and Taiwan
2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13216597.2012.695744
ISSN2162-7177
Autores Tópico(s)International Relations and Foreign Policy
ResumoAbstract Abstract This paper compares the soft power capital and public diplomacy strategies of Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. The premise is that Taiwan's international status and the absence of formal diplomatic recognition by major powers are a serious constraint on Taiwan's ability engage in meaningful outreach with the global community. The focus of the discussion is a paradox: Taiwan should be more successful at soft power since it is the personification of political values which should make it attractive to the liberal-democratic world; and yet the People's Republic of China – an authoritarian regime – is attracting far more attention and seems to possess and exercise far more soft power capital than Taiwan. This suggests that measurements of hard power and the models advanced by traditional approaches to international relations are more convincing ways to understand Taiwan's present predicament and its soft power. However, current strategies – operationalised by both Taiwan and the PRC – enjoy limited success for different reasons. Keywords: public diplomacysoft powerChinaTaiwancultural diplomacy Notes 1. 'With its high growth rate, sectoral transformation and rise to the top echelon of global trading entities beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, Taiwan emerged as a paragon of successful development and an exemplar of the East Asian model of rapid industrialization' (deLisle, 2010 deLisle, J. 2010. Soft power in a hard place: China, Taiwan, Cross-Strait Relations and US policy. Orbis, 54(3): 493–524. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p.20). 2. These conclusions are based on a range of interviews with government-level officials in Taipei in 2011 in Taipei. 3. 'Location' refers to the location of references in the Kindle edition of sources. 4. In 2008, Nye did address these concerns: 'Some critics think that I believe the American way of life is so attractive that others are predisposed to follow Washington's lead … On the contrary, much of my writing has been to warn American policy makers that they cannot take American attraction as given, and that they are squandering soft power' (Nye, 2008 Nye , J. 2008 'Forward' , in Y. Watanabe & D.L. McConnell Soft power superpowers: Cultural and national assets of Japan and the United States , Armonk , NY : M.E. Sharpe , pp. ix – xiv . [Google Scholar], p.x). 5. At the same time, the Chinese called President George Bush's Global Communications Office 'Propaganda Office' (xuanchuan bangongshi), thus suggesting that 'they' – 'foreigners' – also do propaganda. I am grateful to Mandy Tao for pointing this out to me. 6. The first direct presidential election occurred in 1996 and was won by the Kuomintang's (KMT) Lee Teng-hui. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian, the candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency, thus bringing to an end the KMT's fifty years' monopoly on power. The KMT's Ma Ying-jeou won back the presidency in 2008 and he was re-elected to serve a second term in 2012. 7. This is how the individuals and government agencies involved in public diplomacy referred to Taiwan's identity in interviews conducted in Taipei in 2011. 8. Interviews conducted at the Government Information Office, the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (August/September 2011). 9. Lee (2011, p.22) offers a further interesting thought: 'A target may find a sender's promotion of cultural and political values (such as democracy) to be an act of coercion, not persuasion. A sender's cultural and political values themselves may be interpreted by a target state to be the potential source of threat to society.' 10. Interview at the Council for Cultural Affairs, Taipei, 28 August 2011. 11. Details of the Say Taiwan!! Programme are available at http://taiwanroc100.tw/100homestay_en/default.aspx. An appraisal of the programme by the author is available at http://wwwpdic.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html. 12. 'The deals [between CCTV 9 and American satellite/cable distributors] are largely meaningless from a short-term economic point of view … they give several cities one more cable channel to choose from. … The significance of the deals lay in Beijing's decision to grant the transnationals limited access to China's huge domestic market … in exchange for overseas distribution of CCTV-9' (Jirik, 2004 Jirik , J. 2004 'China's new media and the case of CCTV-9' , in C. Paterson & A. Sreberny International news in the twenty-first century , Eastleigh : John Libbey , pp. 127 – 46 . [Google Scholar], p.133).
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