Taiwan as a norm entrepreneur : advocating people-centred values in Southeast Asia

Abstract

This research looks at the relations between Taiwan and Southeast Asia under President Tsai Ing-wen's first term (2016-2020) as her administration launched the people-centred New Southbound policy by analysing Taiwan's political discourse and interviewing shareholders in the policy projects. It argues that Taiwan acts as a norm entrepreneur framing its initiative and persuading targeted countries to join hands in development matters for people's well-being in the region. In turn, the people-centred rebranding is expected to justify and normalise cooperation at non- and semi-governmental levels with Taiwan without violating the one-China policy since the policy mainly aims to forge socio-economic partnerships. However, the interview data showed that the policy contributes to Taiwan's positive image, visibility and presence in the region but still faces limitations in spilling over the cooperative relations to the governmental level, confirming China's dominance in Southeast Asia. Given this situation, this research further suggests that the Tsai administration needs to recalibrate the New Southbound policy's people-centred agendas, making Taiwan more relevant in the region.