Guest Essay: Taiwan Can Lead
My name is Chieh-Ting Yeh, an advisor to the NTNU International Taiwan Studies Center (ITSC). Welcome to our first email newsletter.
The NTNU ITSC’s mission to advocate for Taiwan Studies internationally is an especially difficult one. Taiwan’s unique position in the world made it so; since the 1970s, Taiwan was diplomatically isolated and was considered nothing more than a quirky item within the larger scope of China affairs. Beyond what it meant for China studies, the world assumed Taiwan had no value of its own.
Meanwhile, the people of Taiwan were also starting to wonder who we are, after 50 years of being second-class citizens under the Japanese Empire, and again after 40 years of being forcefully taught to be “proper Chinese.” The authoritarian regime of the Chinese Nationalist Party would soon end, and Taiwanese society would become democratic, allowing for true debates about identity, as well as serious social and political issues.
These two conflicting trends of Taiwan rediscovering itself but ignored by the world gave rise to a deep-rooted desire for Taiwan to be “heard.” Throughout the last several decades, many people, both in Taiwan and abroad, pushed for Taiwan to have a voice. They took on the mission of making Taiwan relevant and important in its own right. They wanted to show that Taiwan’s people, culture, history, and controversies are worth the world’s attention, separate from Taiwan’s relationship to China.
As the co-founder of Ketagalan Media and the Vice Chairman of the Global Taiwan Institute, my job has been to report on the social and historical context to Taiwan’s current events, as well as facilitate more interest in Taiwan, both in Western media and US policymaking circles.
After four decades of efforts by advocates, scholars and journalists, Taiwan went from being a diplomatic problem and an intellectual niche to becoming a crucial part of geopolitics and a rich academic subject standing on its own.
We went from #TaiwanNeedsHelp, to #TaiwanCanHelp. This of course comes from the exceptional result of Taiwan’s response to the COVID19 global pandemic, but more importantly, Taiwan has provided an example of how a nation can cope with adversity and thrive–while remaining quietly confident. Today, Taiwan holds itself out as a model of liberal democracy in Asia, with 94 points out of 100 in Freedom House’s Global Freedom Score in 2021.
More foreign journalists are relocating to Taiwan, including many who were expelled or compelled to leave China last year. Interest in Taiwan Studies is growing across campuses in North America and Europe, and so are investments in those programs. Taiwanese food, branded as such, is enjoying a boom in the US and in Japan.
Taiwan has found its voice. The world is finally paying attention. Now we need to figure out what to say with that voice. That is what I envision for the next evolution in NTNU ITSC’s mission: to bring people together to figure that out.
Going forward, I believe Taiwan Studies will have a greater focus on how Taiwan sees the rest of the world. As we use our newfound voice, Taiwan will forge its own perspective on global trends and knowledge. How is the Taiwanese experience of coming to terms with our past important for marginalized peoples and heritages in other societies? How has Taiwan contributed, for good or for worse, in development, globalization, and climate change? And as China becomes an ever-more dominant and oftentimes cataclysmic force in world affairs, what is Taiwan’s role sitting at the crossroads of civilizations?
I hope NTNU ITSC will be a proactive force to inspire these conversations. Let’s go from Taiwan Can Help, to Taiwan Can Lead.