Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: Liu Shu fu/Presidential Office/Flickr/CC BY 4.0
BORIS JOHNSON is the latest conservative political has-been to travel to Taiwan. In this, Johnson joins others such as Liz Truss, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton in traveling to Taiwan after the end of their political relevance.
In Taiwan, Johnson was hosted by the Ketagalan Forum-Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue, an annual regional security forum. Though most attention was on Johnson, François de Rugy, the former President of the French National Assembly, was also in attendance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, de Rugy is another controversial politician.
At the Ketagalan Forum, Johnson’s comments were mostly boilerplate. Johnson expressed support for Taiwan while lauding it as a democracy. When asked to comment on the possibility of Taiwan’s recognition as a state in comparison to Palestine, with the Starmer government in the UK possibly moving toward recognition of Palestine, Johnson commented that Taiwan’s criteria to be recognized as a nation-state were higher than those of Palestine. This is not incorrect, in that Taiwan has no occupying force on its soil; Taiwan is de facto independent, but only lacks de jure independence. It proves somewhat ironic that this is one of the few comparisons between Taiwan and Palestine on the issue of recognition that one hears in public discourse and from a highly conservative politician, at that.
Some have questioned what Taiwan has to gain from hosting politicians of little current relevance as Johnson. Indeed, Taiwan hosting Johnson reflects the DPP’s continued reliance on ties with right-wing political actors. Despite being the center-left party in Taiwanese politics, hosting individuals such as Johnson, Truss, Pompeo, and Bolton serves to demonstrate how the DPP enjoys the support of conservatives abroad when it comes to foreign policy.
This can be criticized as reflecting a failure to build ties with international progressives and liberals, instead relying on ties with conservatives who can be relied on to be hawkish on China issues, and whose support for Taiwan is an outgrowth of such hawkishness. It should also be noted that such individuals generally travel to Taiwan for security forums, showing that security is the avenue by which Taiwan’s diplomatic outreach to such individuals is conducted. Taiwan remains mostly relevant to such individuals in the frame of cross-strait relations and regional security, never mind what they say praising Taiwan’s democracy.
Still, one notes that in other circumstances, China would have a strong reaction to a former head of state visiting Taiwan. This would not necessarily be the case with individuals with as checkered political reputations as Johnson or Truss, say, who are not relevant enough to respond to with force.
To this extent, the visit to Taiwan in August 2022 by former US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi opened the Overton Window for other, lesser high-ranking politicians to travel to Taiwan without incident. But through the increased regularity of visits by individuals such as Truss or Johnson, this has made it harder for China to have pretext to react.
It is to be seen if the Taiwanese government manages to secure other, more currently relevant politicians, as well as politicians who are not just conservatives, in its outreach efforts. With Taiwan touting its plaudits as a politically progressive bastion in the Asia Pacific, outreach to only conservatives and no one else runs counter to this strategy.
Certainly, the increased regularity of such visits may help in securing visits by more important politicians, but if Taiwan is perceived as a destination for conservative political has-beens, this would decrease the likelihood of significant politicians traveling to Taiwan. Yet this does not look set to change anytime soon under the Lai administration, which already has its hands full dealing with the Trump administration, and is likely to take whoever is willing to come to Taiwan.