Reexamining Taiwan’s South China Sea policy dilemma

Abstract

While other claimants are directly involved in maritime territorial disputes and dialogues, Taiwan has stalled its momentum and kept its distance from controversy. The government in Taiwan has quietly retreated from the most legitimate and conventional role in the South China Sea in hope of gaining diplomatic support in the region. Many have wondered why Taiwan consistently shies away from the issues. Does the government in Taiwan realize its key role in the South China Sea has been further marginalized as a result? Over the last 2 decades, following democratization, various administrations in Taiwan only managed to imply that Taiwan may have a policy guideline on the South China Sea, but not a firm policy per se. With substantially less political weight in domestic political debates and fierce power struggles in Taipei, Taiwan’s South China Sea claim has unfortunately been left far behind general issues on the policy agenda, especially when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in power. Due to their relevance to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan’s complicated relationship with it, the DPP does not want to attach its political efforts to South China Sea issues. This paper intends to review the effectiveness of political measures on South China Sea issues taken by various administrations in Taiwan and examine reasons why indecision has become mainstream in policy thinking on the territorial disputes.