Report urges Taiwan to lean more on city diplomacy to deepen European ties, describes local partnerships as key to expand Taiwan presence in Europe

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10908953

Taiwan should pursue more ‘paradiplomacy’ to deepen its ties with Europe, according to a Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) report.

The Slovakia-based think tank defines paradiplomacy as “the international activities of sub-state actors that may operate alongside, complement, or at times even diverge from central government foreign policy.”

Taiwan currently has 33 partnerships in Europe, including in Poland, Germany, France, Latvia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, and Italy, CEIAS said. These local-level ties give Taiwan another way to connect internationally, especially since its formal diplomatic options are limited, it said.

The report's key takeaways:

Taiwan’s network of paradiplomatic partnerships with European cities and regions is quickly growing. With seven city-to-city partnerships, Poland is currently the most active player in exploring the subnational dimension in building ties with Taiwan.

Nevertheless, paradiplomacy is still an underused tool in Taiwan-Europe relations, which is complicated by fears of China’s retribution and a relatively small Taiwanese diaspora in Europe, which could act as a driver of subnational interactions.

To overcome the political and structural constraints, Taiwanese cities should focus more on outreach via established multilateral platforms and fora aimed at sharing practical experiences and tools for improving municipal governance, such as Pact of Free Cities, or Smart City Expo. At the same time, Taiwan should focus not only on creating new partnerships, but also on better maintaining and operationalizing existing ones.

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similideano

piefed.social

Interesting map from the report:

I hope they manage to deepen and to leverage more those partnerships.

And it warms my heart to hear about local governments reaching out to cooperate internationally on progressive policies, despite their backwards central governments. Even though I understand the real-world impact of those partnerships can be limited.

The Pact was established in 2019 by four Central European capitals—Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw—to share best practices in urban development and municipal governance, as well as to resist illiberal and populist practices of their respective central governments. Since then, the regional platform has expanded to cover municipalities across Europe, such as Berlin, Paris, Riga, and Vienna, and across North America, including Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, and Chicago. It currently boasts 45 members. In 2021, the Taiwanese cities of Taipei and Taoyuan became the Pact’s first, and so far only, members from East Asia.