Search

Based on a project on Chinese Malaysians' educational mobility across the Chinese-speaking world, this paper highlights their reasons for attending university in Taiwan while examining their subjective formations as ethnic Chinese vis-à-vis transnational processes. Resulting from ethnographic and interview-based research conducted in 2019–2021, the findings demonstrate that the students' choices for higher education are, to a great extent, culturally driven and historically contingent. Thus they provide an alternative view to the dominant paradigm of international student mobility that emphasises economic and future career incentives. By focusing on three factors—state racism, historical connections, and Sinophone cultural consumption—that motivated them to leave Malaysia and go to Taiwan, this paper moreover draws attention to the transnational infrastructures (e.g. policy, media, interpersonal networks) that have continually reproduced and transformed a long-existing migration pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass formal education is a feature of modern societies all too often taken for granted or overlooked in mainstream sociological analysis. In this respect, the field of Taiwan studies is no exception. This introductory essay sets the three papers of this topical section in historical and comparative perspective, particularly in relation to East Asia. The papers show how education policy in contemporary Taiwan has evolved in a context of vibrant democracy, economic transition, demographic squeeze, and, looming over all, the threat from the Chinese mainland. Our focus falls especially on higher education and language instruction, and their involvement in debates over economic prosperity, security, identity, and Taiwan's place in the world. A central theme of this introductory essay is the way in which educational debate in Taiwan is conditioned by awareness of insecurity—at individual, familial and societal levels. The intensely competitive, human capital-oriented approach to education that predominates there is bound up in complex ways with the insecurities of life on this island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a historical anthropological approach to charting the intricate relationships between the industry of peiyin (dubbing, voice-over), the state institutions, and the public in shaping Taiwan's sociolinguistic soundscape since 1945. Grounded in multi-year ethnographic research with the peiyin industry and archival sources, this paper discerns three stages—industrialisation, popularisation, and diversification—through which the industry not only facilitated the state in establishing the Mandarin monopoly, but also contributed to the disestablishment of that very monopoly by introducing Sinitic polypoly to the public over time. In so doing, this article contributes to the anthropological and sociolinguistic literature on Mandarin in Taiwan with a dynamic account of peiyin both as a sociolinguistic practice and a social force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys developments in language politics and policy in Taiwan under Tsai Ing-wen's presidency (2016–present). Drawing on historical-institutionalist premises, it shows that recent language policy developments were path-dependent and built upon initiatives proposed under Chen Shui-bian's presidency (2000–2008). The paper argues that the comparative success of Tsai's initiatives owed not only to her party forming a legislative majority, but also to a broad sociopolitical consensus on transitional and historical justice, and to an incrementalist strategy that consisted in legislating on minority languages before laying out a comprehensive multilingual legal framework. Although recent language developments do fall within the purview of identity politics, these factors have enabled the Tsai administration to justify and legitimise measures towards language recognition and revitalisation as intrinsic to Taiwan's democratic consolidation, rather than as tools for identity building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are we to understand China's decades-long sovereignty claim over Taiwan? One assumption upheld by many international relations scholars is that state behaviour will change according to a variance of polarity in the international system. Yet while China can flexibly manage its territorial issues elsewhere, its goal of unification with Taiwan has not changed despite multiple structural changes in the international system over the decades. This paper argues that historical and nationalist approaches alone do not explain China's unswaying obsession with this island. Geopolitics plays a far more prominent role in the minds of Chinese leaders than scholars have previously acknowledged. Since 1949, China has viewed Taiwan as a geopolitical buffer protecting the security of Chinese coastal areas. China's buffer thinking towards Taiwan was a significant factor in China's decisions to launch military action against Taiwan in 1954, 1958, and 1996. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan was one of the places most affected by SARS in 2003—but one of the least affected by COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic. Taiwan deployed a centralised approach and has been able to effectively eliminate the threat of the spread of COVID-19 through swift decisions and effective action. This paper compares and evaluates the Taiwanese government's emergency responses to two health crises: SARS in 2003 and COVID-19 in 2020. The policy responses to both are mapped out on easily comprehensible timelines. The study also explores how one crisis governance influences another—how the mishandling of the SARS outbreak influenced early governmental responses to COVID-19. These are described in more detail, divided into thematic sections, and accompanied by illustrative images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do Taiwanese officials view democracy and culture and how do they plan to utilise these two soft power resources as part of advancing the island's international position? Based primarily on interviews conducted with state officials in Taiwan, this paper analyses Taiwan's soft power repositioning in the regional and global soft power competition and examines its advantages and disadvantages. It discusses the institutional and geopolitical constraints Taiwan faces when trying to implement its soft power policy and addresses the internal disagreements over utilising its cultural and democratic achievements. It concludes that despite the utility of soft power in pursuing its foreign policy agenda, Taiwan faces a few major institutional and conceptual obstacles, keeping Taiwanese diplomacy in a transitional period from old thinking about culture and diplomacy while hesitantly evaluating its soft power resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article combines the study of Taiwan's New Southbound Policy with a case study of Taiwan–Myanmar relations from a perspective of political relations, economic cooperation, and Taiwan's (un)recognisability in Myanmar—i.e. Taiwan's soft power in Myanmar. The first part of the paper introduces the policy and compares it with the previous ones, and sheds light on Taiwan's motivation to engage with Myanmar. It considers the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, due to which investment relocation from China is expected to sharply increase. The second part of the paper provides an insight into the relationship between Taiwan and Myanmar after Myanmar's state-led political transformation from military rule and economic liberalisation since approximately 2010. It explains the main aspects and determinants of the relationship between two countries that share a neighbouring potential hegemon which they both wish to balance against. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the argument that the practice of modern theatre constitutes a crucial method for reorienting the particular traumas of the Chinese diaspora in contemporary Taiwan. In particular, it offers a close reading of Far Away from Home (西出陽關, Xichu yangguan , 1988) by Taiwanese playwright Lee Kuohsiu (李國修, 1955‒2013) and its performance archive of 2004. Lee deploys theatre as a negotiating space in which to reflect the social formations, identities, and history of Taiwan in the late 1980s—a period that saw Taiwan's complicated relationship with China become the subject of intense scrutiny as the Cold War came to an end and the pressures of rapid globalisation mounted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted research communities and agendas worldwide, including Taiwan studies. Consequently, the largest conferences for Taiwan studies in both North America and Europe were cancelled in 2020. In response, the North American Taiwan Studies Association, the European Association of Taiwan Studies, the Japan Association for Taiwan Studies, and the International Journal of Taiwan Studies jointly organised a series of online forums that aimed to encompass transnational and interdisciplinary approaches to Taiwan studies in the context of envisioning a post-COVID world. This report summarises the first event, on 'COVID and Governance: Global and Social Solidarity', which speaks directly to a moment of chaos, frustration, and yet hopefulness for Taiwan. It presents the papers of three discussants—Drs Ya-Wen Yang, Harry Yi-Jui Wu, and Wen Liu—who identified and explored the theoretical potential and limits of different 'keywords' popularised during the pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, many of Taiwan's New Southbound Policy reports show that Taiwan's primary motivations are to cooperate with Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific, and South Asia to decrease their dependence on mainland China. Taiwan's government aims to leverage Taiwan's assets to enhance regional integration with these countries. However, there is still a lack of research on the purpose behind the policy. Why is Taiwan now seemingly using a policy of confrontation instead of avoidance? This paper argues that the policy intent behind the New Southbound Policy is not to directly confront mainland China, despite Beijing's pressure on Taiwan. This hypothesis will be explored by analysing and comparing the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the New Southbound Policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the utility of membership in international organisations for states with specific status within the international community, focusing on Taiwan's surprisingly neglected involvement in the World Organisation for Animal Health or OIE (Office International des Épizooties). The paper shows that in addition to its contribution to the legitimisation of Taiwan's identities, such participation has also enabled Taiwan to shape international norms in the field of animal health, increase international cooperation opportunities, strengthen domestic and global health security, and facilitate the trade of animal health-related products. Additionally, it has contributed to the domestic implementation of international animal health norms and helped increase the accountability of Taiwanese authorities in the domain of animal health management. Despite tremendous challenges, Taiwan still has plenty of opportunities to enhance its participation in global health governance through its membership in OIE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Articulating and implementing national development plans (NDP s) has been a popular approach taken by most governments in the world in response to the opportunities and challenges occurring in domestic and international spheres. Since the 2000s the Taiwanese government has launched a series of NDP s with different goals, foci, and tactical approaches. This paper adopts a retrospective lens to examine how English language education has been strategically situated in the NDP s of Taiwan and reflects on both the alignments and misalignments between the unveiled goals of the NDP s and the policies pertaining to English language education of the nation over the last two decades. In the pursuit of the goals of the contemporary NDP of the nation, strategic remodelling of teacher education programmes is needed through: (1) expanding bilingual/all-English programmes within departments; (2) advocating departmental interaction within/across teacher training institutes; and (3) optimising training and teaching opportunities for foreign students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how Taiwan is studied in the research of US-based speech communication and journalism. Specifically, Taiwan-related journal articles published by major US-based communication and journalism associations are selected and analysed in terms of their numbers, authorship, and themes. The results indicate that Taiwan studies is a marginalised subject in speech communication and journalism. However, there has been an increasing research interest in Taiwan in the last two decades. These journal articles also record the role of Taiwan in Cold War history, the legacy of 'Free China', and the establishment of two Chinese communication associations in the United States. They explain why the representation of Taiwan is often ambivalent in a 'cultural China' framework in speech communication and journalism. This investigation aims to begin a conversation about how speech communication and journalism research can be more engaged in Taiwan studies, and how research on Taiwan can be more integrated into these two disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report highlights and offers reflections on three unique features of the fourth World Congress of Taiwan Studies (WCTS4) held in Seattle in June 2022. First, following the COVID-19 pandemic, WCTS4 was one of the first large-scale conferences in the field of Taiwan studies to be held in hybrid mode. Second, although three previous editions have taken place since 2012, WCTS4 was the first to be held in the United States. Third, it is the first Congress to launch a major new publication, the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies. Most media coverage of WCTS4 has emphasised only that it was held in the United States. This report goes further, focusing on why it was held in the US, and why Seattle in particular, and on the Congress's importance more generally to the global field of Taiwan studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reviews the influential work of a group of Leftist 'sex liberation' scholars who pioneered queer sexuality studies in Taiwan in the 1990s. In doing so, it focuses on their post-2000 political rift with the mainstream Taiwanese LGBT (tongzhi) rights movement. What ostensibly began as a split over views of same-sex marriage has developed into a contentious politics of Chinese versus Taiwanese national identity and what I call ' tongzhi sovereignty'. In bringing together both national identity and sexual politics in Taiwan as increasingly intertwined sites of contestation, I argue that the two must be theorised in tandem. As a fertile site for unpacking this contentious divergence, I examine and problematise the way that cultural theorist Jasbir Puar's popular concept of homonationalism has circulated in scholarship of cultural/sexuality studies about Taiwan as a slanted and largely unchecked analytic to criticise LGBT sociolegal progress and, for some scholars, obscures a pro-unification agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report collects all the keywords that have appeared in the International Journal of Taiwan Studies since its first issue in February 2018. The authors use these keywords and resulting word clouds to reflect on the current state of Taiwan-related research. We find that publications are still heavily dominated by cross-Strait-related topics and that, despite the aspiration of putting Taiwan in a comparative perspective, the results have so far been relatively limited. We suggest including more topical sections in future issues as one way to diversify the interdisciplinary and comparative scope of the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Northern Institute of Taiwan Studies (NorITS) was launched in 2018 and relies on the hard work of a team of five experts in the field. In this report we discuss the accomplishments our colleagues have achieved in these three years and the contributions that NorITS has made to Taiwan studies, with the aim to start a conversation on how to frame Taiwan studies against contemporary challenges and opportunities of academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyses the significance of an invention introduced in Taiwan—the 'findom' (finger condom)—by focusing on heterosexual couples in terms of heteronormativity, gender norms, and power dynamics. The data are obtained from advertising texts and interviews with seven participants who discuss their use of the findom in relationships. The study argues that heteronormative scripts are reinforced when advertisements suggest that the findom will increase erotic pleasure. Heteronormativity is revealed in the interviews, indicating that heterosexual hegemony regulates sexual behaviour and autonomy through gendered roles. Regulatory heterosexuality is dominant, as six of the interviewees used the findom in conventional sexuality. However, the findom enables the subversion of heterosexual regulatory norms and the rearticulation of gender dynamics via unconventional sexual practices. The findings suggest it is possible to consider the findom a challenge to normative heterosexuality and that the materiality of sexuality can be reversed through its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social marketing aims to improve social welfare by changing individuals' behaviours, and deepening democracy should not be an exception. We can use social marketing to enhance civic awareness and public engagement by turning citizens who do not care about these issues into active participants in our society. However, current research has not explored how we can apply social marketing to achieve this goal. This research examines Formosa Salon from the perspectives of exchange theory, the theory of hierarchy of effects, and the framework of the social marketing mix. By gathering and analysing data from archival data, semi-structured interviews, and researchers' engagement, this study views increasing civic awareness and promoting public engagement in social issues as a product sold by Formosa Salon. The price of this product is the knowledge barrier. The organisers of Formosa Salon have marketed their product on the internet and through higher education institutions in London. The contributions of this study and key recommendations are also identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What influences Taiwanese public opinion on immigration? Taiwan faces the same immigration challenges as many other developed nations, where the demand for immigrant workers produces a domestic backlash. Our study addresses to what extent public opinions on immigration are influenced by two factors: the skills of immigrants and their place of origin. Our results show, besides the preference for skilled labour, that public opinion on the three Southeast Asian immigrant groups varies considerably, with the strongest negative reaction to Indonesian migrants. As Taiwan prides its progress on human rights among East Asian democracies, the results suggest the need for targeted policy efforts to overcome public biases towards Southeast Asian immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I examine performances of Indigeneity in encounters between Indigenous people and the Taiwan legal system. Studying displays of Indigenous identities reveals the processes through which individuals and communities draw upon histories and practices to fashion themselves as Indigenous and engage with wider publics through performances and performative acts. Focusing on three encounters between Indigenous people and the Taiwan legal system, displays of Indigeneity in these encounters were multivalent and involved a repertoire of creative performative acts as Indigenous actors used court spaces, like the new ad hoc Chamber of Indigenous Courts, to perform identities that confounded essentialist conceptions of Indigeneity, introduced alternative ontological parameters, and assumed state governance responsibilities. These performances suggest a contextually situated engagement with the postcolonial state where Indigenous identities are anchored in the past and forward-looking, reinforce or challenge the category of Indigeneity, and themselves operate as techniques of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olic is one of the only members of her generation to be raised speaking Pangcah (Amis) as her first language. Through an exploration of how one family is fighting to save this endangered Austronesian language, we analyse the challenges facing Indigenous language revitalisation in Taiwan. Particular attention is paid to the child's transition from the home to formal—Mandarin-medium—schooling. In doing so, we draw on recent work that emphasises the agency of children in shaping family language policy (also referred to as 'family language planning'). How do children's experiences at school shape their—and other family members'—linguistic behaviour at home? After comparing Taiwan's current family language policy to similar efforts elsewhere, we conclude by arguing that taking children's agency seriously means that family language policy must be combined with changes in formal schooling as well—changes that are best implemented by the Indigenous communities themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains why some countries recognise Taiwan despite attempts by the People's Republic of China to pressure some to switch recognition? We argue for moving beyond 'dollar diplomacy' claims to unpack additional economic influences that might help explain why some states favour Taiwan. Using cross-national evidence from all countries (1950–2016), we find multiple economic factors influencing recognition and conclude that Taiwan's comparative success in certain regions cannot be explained by broad structural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the extent to which language shift occurred in the Minnan and Hakka areas of Hsinchu, Taiwan, by comparing Marinus van den Berg's findings (1986) with our own more recent observations. In 1978, van den Berg found that customers in the Minnan area used Taiwan Mandarin more than customers in the Hakka area during business transactions. Our observations in 2015 had the opposite results, with Taiwan Mandarin being spoken more in the Hakka area than in the Minnan area. The reason for this change is seen to be the expansion of people's living environment, reducing the opportunities for Hakka people to speak their own language when encountering people of other ethnicities. Additionally, as a minority, the Hakka people were more sensitive towards language use, that is, were likely to use high-level languages or standard languages that were more valued by society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reports on a Taiwan studies conference that did not take place in April 2020 in Europe. Recalling what has replaced this disrupted conference, this report provides a sketch of how the Taiwan studies community responded to the unprecedented challenges of the global pandemic by organising online events. It concludes by calling for comparative research where the experiences of Taiwan can be juxtaposed with underlying issues that have deepened the divide between those who have and those who have not during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also calls for solidarity among academics within and beyond the Taiwan studies community and for a more sustainable academic infrastructure constituted by universities, research institutions, funding agencies, and academics themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ecolinguistic system, like a biological ecosystem, is self-regulating, yet it cannot be entirely self-contained, because words, like living species and the non-living substrates upon which they depend, are border-crossing. As a result, any 'language' is to some extent 'creolised', lexically or syntactically. Creolisation, however, may be perceived as a threat to an endangered language. The Seediq language is endangered, and, like any language, to some extent creolised. Though much less creolised than Ilan Creole, Seediq contains numerous Japanese and Chinese loanwords. Yet many of these loanwords have Seediq analogues. It may be that the Seediq language community has responded to the influx of loanwords by coining new terms based on Seediq roots. If so, their response combines linguistic purism with cultural cosmopolitanism: the loanword is a threat, the concept is not. Regardless, the coexistence of indigenous words with loanwords is part of an ongoing linguistic adaptation to modernity. I try to understand this adaptation in terms of 'language ecology'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statehood and sovereignty have been mutually implicating in the Westphalian international order. The spatially characteristic tenet of sovereignty has not been questioned, which collaterally fortifies the one-nation/one-state formula prescribed in modern sovereignty. However, fissures inhered in this nation-state formula are discernible, particularly when the conventional statist sovereignty has remained indefinite and inchoate. Taiwan's statist sovereignty has been overshadowed by its undetermined statehood and indefinite territorial domain. Intriguingly, once the rigidity of statist sovereignty is lifted, the development of national sovereignty becomes irrepressible. Reinvention of national sovereignty is informed by both universal values and case-specific particularity. For the former, individualism, multiculturalism, and self-determination serve exemplary cases. For the latter, the particularity is mostly presented in the wrestling between statist and national sovereignty. Taiwan's constitutional jurisprudence serves to verify the universal, as well as the particular development of Taiwan's national sovereignty. However, dangers loom large, in that identity reconfiguration has been cultivated collaterally, which brings about not only a sophisticated Taiwanese consciousness, but also a more uncertain outlook for cross-Strait relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains Taiwan's vacillating support for same-sex marriage? Despite earlier favourable public opinion and a Constitutional Court decision in 2017 in favour of legalisation, anti-LGBT referendums in 2018 found overwhelming support. We argue that the framing of same-sex marriage as undermining traditional family structures allowed opponents to shift the national discussion on legalisation. Our results suggest that supporters and the Tsai administration may have overestimated the extent to which opinions on legalisation were firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, Taiwan has achieved an impressive democratisation that has made it one of the most vibrant democratic societies in Asia. Most of the existing research about Taiwan's foreign policy and cross-strait relations neglects how Taiwan's identity and role as a democratic and pluralistic state influences the island's external relations. This article analyses how Taiwan's achievements in the field of democracy and human rights affect Taiwan's foreign policy and its identity in world politics, and why democracy and human rights are important for it and its external relations. The analysis uses role theory and the three roles of normative power, civilian power, and Global Good Samaritan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democracy in Taiwan today appears consolidated and of high quality. Much writing on Taiwan's democratisation explains this outcome by pointing to aspects of its modernisation, but an underappreciated cause is its well-institutionalised party system, which in comparison to most other Third Wave democracies is a model of competitiveness, consistency, and stability. The sources of party system institutionalisation (PSI) in Taiwan can be traced back to two factors: the legacies of the martial-law-era KMT regime, and the emergence of the China question as a fundamental, polarising divide in Taiwanese politics. High PSI has ensured a credible alternative to incumbents in each election, enhanced the responsiveness of governments to citizen demands, and encouraged the greater provision of public goods and development of broad, programmatic policies rather than narrowly targeted, clientelist ones. Thus, Taiwan's democracy is consolidated because of, rather than despite, the legacies of the pre-democratic era and the China factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]