Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T20:06:38.363Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

No Need to Beg China? Taiwan's Membership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation as a Contested State*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2016

Ming-chin Monique Chu
Ming-chin Monique Chu*
Affiliation:
University of Southampton. Email: M.M.Chu@soton.ac.uk.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the process, causes and repercussions of the accession of Taiwan, as a contested state, together with China, to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 1991, the first intergovernmental organization that Taipei has joined since 1971. Based on an analysis of elite interviews, primary and secondary data, the paper traces the under-explored diplomatic history of the accession. It argues that changes in Taiwan's domestic and external environments, as well as changes in the diplomatic process, account for Taipei's admission, rather than the China factor alone. The paper examines four positive effects of accession on Taiwan's international space and the implications for Taiwan's continuous survival as a contested state. By undertaking a nuanced analysis of an important yet little explored milestone in the contested state's struggle to mitigate its international isolation, the article sheds light on Taiwan's external ties against the backdrop of the sovereignty dispute between Taipei and Beijing.

摘要

本文探讨台湾身为一个受争议国家, 在 1991 年与中国大陆同时加入亚太经济合作会议的过程, 成因及影响。亚太经济合作会议是台北自 1971 年以来加入的第一个政府间国际组织。本文藉由分析精英访谈, 第一手以及第二手资料, 追溯此段未被充分探索的外交史。本文主张, 台北之所以能够成为该组织的会员, 主要是因为台湾内外环境的变化及外交折冲过程中的变因, 而非唯独凭藉中国因素。文章进而分析该会籍对于开拓台湾国际空间的四大正面效益, 以及对于台湾身为受争议国家的生存之道的启示。本文细緻入微地解析此一受争议国家在降低国际孤立的历程裡, 一个重要却受忽视的里程碑, 有助读者了解在台北与北京的主权争议下, 该国的对外关係。

Keywords

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperationcontested stateTaiwan and China sovereignty disputeconvergence of interests亚太经济合作会议受争议国家台湾与中国的主权争议利益趋同
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 225 , March 2016 , pp. 169 - 189
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I owe special thanks to the Centre for International Studies, University of Cambridge, as well as the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (RG-005-U-13), for generous research travel support. I very much appreciate the useful comments on earlier drafts of the paper by Yu-shan Wu, Andrew Scobell, Scott L. Kastner, Dennis V. Hickey, Gerald Chan, as well as three anonymous reviewers.

References

Ahn, Byung-Joon. 1991. “South Korean–Soviet Relations.” Asian Survey 31(9), 816–825.Google Scholar
APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). 1990a. “Summary conclusions of the first APEC senior official meeting,” Singapore, 7–8 March.Google Scholar
APEC. 1990b. “Summary conclusions of the second APEC senior official meeting,” Singapore, 21–22 May.Google Scholar
APEC. 1990c. “Joint statement of the APEC ministerial meeting,” Singapore, 29–31 July.Google Scholar
APEC. 1991. “Summary conclusions of the third APEC senior ministerial meeting,” Kyongju, Korea, 27–29 August.Google Scholar
Australian Background. 1989. Australian Prime Minister's Regional Economic Co-operation Initiative. Washington, DC: Australian Overseas Information Service, Embassy of Australia.Google Scholar
Baker, James. 1989. “Address at the ASEAN post ministerial meeting (PMC) press conference.” Department of State Bulletin 89(2150), 62.Google Scholar
Berg, Eiki, and Toomla, Raul. 2009. “Forms of normalisation in the quest for de facto statehood.” The International Spectator 44(4), 27–46.Google Scholar
Bonnor, Jenelle. 1990. “The Politics of Asia-Pacific Economic Co-Operation.” MA diss., Australian National University.Google Scholar
Chan, Gerald. 1985. “The ‘two-Chinas’ problem and the Olympic formula.” Pacific Affairs 58(3), 473–490.Google Scholar
Chan, Gerald. 2013. “‘Diplomatic truce’ in cross-strait relations: limits and prospects.” In Hu, Weixing (ed.), New Dynamics in Cross-Taiwan Strait Relations. Abingdon: Routledge, 97–114.Google Scholar
Chang, Jaw-Ling Joanne. 2010. “Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization: the US ‘facilitator’ role.” American Foreign Policy Interests: The Journal of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy 32(3), 131–146.Google Scholar
Chang, John. 1991. “Woguo chuxi disanjie yatai jingji hezuo buzhang jihuiyi jingguo” (Report on the ROC's participation in the third APEC ministerial meeting). Committee Record, Legislative Yuan Bulletin 80(96), 300–344.Google Scholar
Cheng, Chu-Yuan. 1992. “The ROC's role in the world economy.” Issues & Studies 28(11), 30–48.Google Scholar
Cho, Hui-Wan. 2005. “China–Taiwan tug of war in the WTO.” Asian Survey 45(5), 736–755.Google Scholar
Clifford, Mark. 1988. “A slow boat to China.” Far Eastern Economic Review 141(37), 82–83.Google Scholar
Deng, Yong. 1997. Promoting Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation: Perspectives from East Asia. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Ding, Mao-Shih. 1992. “Zuijin ZhongMei guanxi” (Report on recent US–ROC relations). Committee Record, Legislative Yuan Bulletin 81(25), 507–536.Google Scholar
Evans, Gareth. 1989. “Australia's regional economic co-operation initiative: an idea whose time has come.” Address at the opening of the 12th Australia–ASEAN forum, Perth, 15 May 1989.Google Scholar
Evans, Gareth, and Grant, Bruce. 1991. Australia's Foreign Relations in the World of the 1990s. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Fell, Dafydd. 2012. Government and Politics in Taiwan. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Funabashi, Yoichi. 1995. Asia Pacific Fusion: Japan's Role in APEC. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Geldenhuys, Deon. 2009. Contested States in World Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
George, Alexander L., and Bennett, Andrew. 2005. Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gerring, John. 2004. “What is a case study and what is it good for?” American Political Science Review 98(2), 341–354.Google Scholar
Habeeb, William. 1988. Power and Tactics in International Negotiation. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Hartland-Thunberg, Penelope. 1990. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the World Trading System. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hawke, Robert James. 1989. “Regional co-operation: challenges for Korea and Australia.” Speech by the Australian prime minister to luncheon of Korean Business Associations, Seoul, 31 January 1989.Google Scholar
Hawke, Robert James. 1994. The Hawke Memoirs. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Hickey, Dennis V. 2007. Foreign Policy Making in Taiwan: From Principle to Pragmatism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hoon, S.J. 1991. “Growing-up pains: formalization of APEC grouping to loom large at talks.” Far Eastern Economic Review 154(46), 27.Google Scholar
Hsieh, Samuel. 1994. “Yuguohua weihu Zhonghua minguo yayin huiji de gongxian” (Yu Kuo-Hwa's contribution to maintaining the ROC's membership of Asian Development Bank). In Chiu, H.C. (ed.), Zhengzhijian de fengfan (The Elegant Demeanour of a Politician). Taipei: Yu Kuo-Hwa Cultural and Educational Foundation, 89–97.Google Scholar
Ignatiev, Vitaliy. 2012. “Doklad zamestitelja ministra inostrannyh del PMR V.V. Ignat'eva na zasedanii rasshirennoĭ Kollegii Ministerstva inostrannyh del PMR” (Report of deputy minister of foreign affairs of the PMR V. Ignatiev at the meeting of the enhanced board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR), http://vestnik.mfa-pmr.org/engine/print.php?newsid=70. Accessed 25 March 2014.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O., and Nye, Joseph S.. 1977. Power and Independence: World Politics in Transition. Boston: Little Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Ker-Lindsay, James. 2012. The Foreign Policy of Counter Secession: Preventing the Recognition of Contested States. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Samuel S. 1995. “China's Pacific policy: reconciling the irreconcilable.” International Journal 50(3), 461–487.Google Scholar
Klintworth, Gary. 1995. New Taiwan, New China: Taiwan's Changing Role in the Asia-Pacific Region. Melbourne: Longman.Google Scholar
Koo, C.F. 1989. “Taiping yang jingji hezuo buzhanghuiyi guancha baogao” (Observation report on APEC ministerial meeting). Confidential report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taipei, November.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1999. Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. (ed.). 2001. Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lardy, Nicholas R. 1994. China in the World Economy. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Lee, Ming. 1990. “ROC's relations with the two Koreas: past, present, and future.” Issues & Studies 26(10), 84–98.Google Scholar
Shirk, Susan L. 1996. “Internationalization and China's economic reforms.” In Keohane, Robert O. and Milner, Helen. M. (eds.), Internationalization and Domestic Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 186–206.Google Scholar
Solomon, Richard H. 1990a. “Statement at the joint APEC press conference, Singapore, 31 July, 1990.” In Lin, C.Y. (ed.), Reports on US–ROC Relations. Taipei: Academia Sinica, 211.Google Scholar
Solomon, Richard H. 1990b. “Asian security in the 1990s: integration in economics, diversity in defense.” Department of State Dispatch 1(10), 243–248.Google Scholar
Solomon, Richard H. 1991. “Review of the presidential discussion.” Department of State Dispatch 2(27), 486.Google Scholar
Tansey, Oisin. 2007. “Process tracing and elite interviewing: a case for non-probability sampling.” PS: Political Science & Politics 40(4), 765–772.Google Scholar
US Department of State. 1991. “Fact Sheet: APEC.” Department of State Dispatch 2(31), 565.Google Scholar
Wang, T.Y. 2006. “Taiwan's bid for UN membership.” In Friedman, Edward (ed.), China's Rise, Taiwan's Dilemmas and International Peace. London: Routledge, 174–192.Google Scholar
Wang, T.Y., Lee, Wei-Chin and Yu, Ching-Hsin. 2011. “Taiwan's expansion of international space: opportunities and challenges.” Journal of Contemporary China 20(69), 249–267.Google Scholar
Wei, Hung-chin. 1992. “Opening doors to international organizations.” Sinorama 17(85), 83–91.Google Scholar
Woods, Lawrence T. 1993. Asia-Pacific Diplomacy: Nongovernmental Organizations and International Relations. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Woolcott, Richard. 1994. “Diplomatic ping-pong paid off,” The Australian, 14 November.Google Scholar
Yahuda, Michael. 1996. “The international standing of the Republic of China on Taiwan.” The China Quarterly 148, 1319–39.Google Scholar
Yin, Nai-jing. 1991. “Wo cengfu Han cuoshang” (Taiwan went to Korea for negotiations), Zhongguo shibao, 29 August.Google Scholar
Yin, Robert K. 1994. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Youngblood, Ruth. 1990. “Asian-Pacific group can't agree on ‘three Chinas’,” United Press International, 31 July.Google Scholar
Zhongguo shibao. 1991. “Mingcheng sheji zhuquan? Butong de quanshi” (Title involved sovereignty? Different interpretations), 12 November.Google Scholar