ABSTRACT
Covering significant events in the early 1990s, Professor Ijiri describes Taiwan’s efforts to gain international recognition as “pragmatic diplomacy.” Ijiri shows that, despite mainland China’s opposition, Taiwan has made substantive progress in increasing its international political exposure through expanding its informal networks of interdependence around the world. These experiences point toward a future Taiwan with an increasingly active role in international affairs.
The most dramatic evidence of the effect of Taiwan’s pragmatic diplomacy has been the changing relations with the mainland. Not only has the growth of private-level interaction been encouraged, but Beijing has softened its public stance toward relations as well. Professor Ijiri argues that these events indicate Beijing’s increasing need to recognize Taiwan’s significance as an international political entity.
Similarly, countries such as Japan cannot ignore Taiwan’s presence as democratization continues and economic ties expand. Professor Ijiri concludes that not only will a continuation of this policy be beneficial for Taiwan, but the “Taiwan experience” vis-à-vis international diplomacy is something the world should notice; Taiwan’s pragmatic diplomacy models the type of institutional-balance interdependence-building mechanisms that could support the foundations of a stable new world order.
