The Influences of Democracy on Taiwan`s Foreign Policy

Abstract

Both the new Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government and its predecessor have emphasized the diplomatic significance of the country`s democratization. The Kuomintang (KMT) government went on a global image campaign to play the ”democracy card,” while making little substantive contribution to the cause of democracy in other countries. Meanwhile, democratization has released and mobilized nonconventional diplomatic forces, mainly popularly elected parliamentarians and political parties including both the KMT and the DPP. Via international exchanges, these forces made contributions to Taipei`s foreign policy objectives. Although having engaged in transnational activism in areas where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and China`s National People`s Congress (NPC) have also become active, such nonconventional diplomatic forces in Taiwan have found more room to maneuver than have formal governmental diplomats. However, democratization has also meant that the government faces the dilemma of balancing the principle of public scrutiny of diplomatic practice on the one hand, and the need for secret diplomacy and increased international aid on the other. These developments under the KMT government provide a useful perspective from which to observe the DPP government`s practice of democracy diplomacy.