Taiwan's Digital Public Diplomacy Towards Indonesia in Supporting its New Southbound Policy

Abstract

This research aims to analyze Taiwan’s digital public diplomacy to Indonesia and generally in ASEAN countries in supporting Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy. It concerns elaborating and assessing to what extent digital diplomacy can assist Taiwan in achieving its new southbound policy goals and its limitations. This paper assesses Taiwan government’s social media, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs official social media and other digital media platforms that have been used to promote and inform New Southbound Policy and the president's social media accounts. It employs digital diplomacy in International Relations as a conceptual framework that is part of public diplomacy. This research is a qualitative content analysis, that analyzed terms such as New Southbound Policy, Indonesia, and Taiwan. The study found that Taiwan’s digital public diplomacy support its New Southbound Policy towards Indonesia in term of, but is not limited to, resource sharing, people-to-people exchange, and promoting institutional links. It meets digital diplomacy efficiency and objectives. Taiwan's digital diplomacy can achieve its agenda-setting and presence expansion but limited in generating optimal convensation. Those media platforms used in Taiwan’s digital diplomacy, can meet digital diplomacy objectives that are delivery of information, consular service, and engagement and expand the network.