國際台灣研究中心國際學者講座
International Taiwan Studies Center: Lecture
Speaker：Jessica Marinaccio (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
Topic：Diplomacies of Difference: Taiwan, Austronesia, and the Pacific
Date：October 21, 2019
Time：16:50-18:20
Venue：Classroom 306, Yunhe Building
Moderator：Professor Ann Heylen
BIOGRAPHY
Jess Marinaccio is a PhD Candidate in Pacific Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She received a Master’s in Chinese literature from National Taiwan University and, later, worked as a Mandarin-English interpreter for the Tuvalu Embassy in Taiwan. Jess’s research focuses on Tuvalu-Taiwan cultural diplomacy, as well as understandings of diplomacy and indigeneity in Taiwan and its Pacific allies. She has published relevant articles in Issues & Studies, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, ANU In Brief, International Journal of Taiwan Studies, and The Contemporary Pacific.
ABSTRACT
Research on Taiwan’s official diplomatic relationships tends to focus on Taiwan-China competition and overlooks how Taiwan and its diplomatic allies understand and relate to each other. In this lecture, I seek to address this deficit by analyzing the differing conceptions of diplomacy held in Taiwan and its Pacific Island allies of Tuvalu, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, and Palau, as well as the non-allied Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea (PNG). I first discuss how Taiwan’s unique situation of semi-sovereignty has negatively influenced views of official diplomacy and diplomatic allies in Taiwan. I also explain Taiwan’s Austronesian diplomacy, a diplomatic strategy aimed directly at improving relations with Pacific nations. I explore how confusion of the terms Austronesian, Pacific, and indigenous within this strategy furthers—rather than overcomes—distance in Taiwan-Pacific relations. Subsequently, I outline socio-cultural protocols that influence ideas of diplomacy in Pacific nations represented in Taiwan and consider how these protocols and ideas differ from those found in Taiwan. I also look at specific instances where Taiwanese and Pacific conceptions of diplomacy have visibly clashed and conclude by considering how differing diplomatic ideals may have impacted recent decisions by the Solomon Islands and Kiribati to break relations with Taiwan.