Amb. Hsiao is Taiwan’s diplomatic representative to the United States.

Bi-khim is a decorated Taiwanese politician, having served twice in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (Taiwan’s lower house) as an elective representative of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). She is a passionate advocate for a peaceful and open Indo-Pacific as well as a defender of democracy at home and abroad.

Misha Zelinsky caught up with Bi-Khim for a chinwag about the history of Taiwan and its relationship with the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan’s flourishing and highly performing democracy, the relentless grey zone and political warfare efforts that the Taiwanese people are enduring from the CCP, the threat of CCP military invasion, why we must not allow Taiwan to be erased from global discussions, the importance of human rights globally, how the world can maintain peace and avoid war, and most critically what the Taiwanese people want for themselves and from the world. 

Be sure to follow Bi-khim on Twitter! @bikhim

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Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @mishazelinsky @diplomates.show

 

TRANSCRIPT

Misha Zelinsky:

Ambassador, welcome to Diplomates. Thank you so much for joining us.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Thank you for the invitation. It’s a pleasure to join you today.

Misha Zelinsky:

Now, lots of things to discuss in sort of present day geopolitics, but a thought for our listeners, it might be a really handy way to begin the conversation. If you might just sort of take us back in time a little bit into the history of Taiwan and maybe give us a quick descriptor of how Taiwan was initially founded and it’s relationship with the mainland, et cetera.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Yes. Well, to put a long history short, let me first start by saying that I do believe many native Taiwanese could be distant relatives of native Australians. In prehistoric days, of course Taiwan was mostly indigenous peoples and of the Austronesian ethnic groups and their relatives extend away as far as the Maori people of Indonesia and across the Pacific islands. And in the 17th century, that’s when history was recorded in language and that was the initial colonialization by the Dutch. The Spanish briefly colonized Northern Taiwan, but they were also driven out by the Dutch and later on, the Ming Dynasty of China and towards the end of the 19th century, the Japanese started to occupy Taiwan since 1895, 50 years of Japanese colonial government and that was followed by Chinese Nationalist government in Taiwan starting after 1945 and here’s where the complications begin.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Like Australia, Taiwan, besides indigenous people, most of the people of Taiwan come from different parts throughout our colonial history, including from different parts of China. But essentially Taiwan was made up of people seeking to find a new life to reestablish themselves. So we see ourselves also as an immigrant society in many ways in our recent history. And in 1949, the Nationalist Party lost the civil war in China and established their government in Taiwan with the intention of one day retaking China but that didn’t happen. Throughout the Cold War, in the ’70s the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek were replaced in the United Nations by the representatives of the People’s Republic of China or the Communist Party and Taiwan has since been in a very challenging and unique situation in which most of the countries in the world recognize the Communist Party and their government in mainland China while Taiwan has been left to stand for ourselves despite international marginalization.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

But I must say that during the Nationalist government of Taiwan, we survived 37 years of martial law and that was a one-party rule. These were very difficult years for the people of Taiwan. Martial law was lifted in 1987 and it wasn’t until the ’90s when we started to have our general elections and it was ’96 that we for the first time in history had the right to elect our own president. And so democracy arrived in Taiwan just about 30 years ago and as the people of Taiwan have the right to elect our own government, we also expect to be respected internationally as a modern democracy, especially as a society that has overcome many odds to finally be masters of our own destiny. And I think that’s a very important aspect considering the evolution of Taiwan and the series of governments coming from the outside. And finally, we are now governed by people elected solely by the people of Taiwan and that is what we represent today in terms of modern democracy.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so, I’m curious about Taiwan’s democracy. Maybe you could quickly describe the type of system that’s operated in Taiwan and also maybe just a bit how it’s performing. It’s a very young Asian democracy but it’s very highly rated by Freedom House in terms of its overall performance stacked up against much older democracies.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Yes. Well, first in terms of our political system, we have made a number of amendments to the original constitution that was placed in Taiwan in the 1940s to better reflect the needs of the modern Taiwanese, a political system and we continue to try to refine that including the next reform, we are trying to lower the voting age from age 20 to age 18 so that the young people would feel more, having a greater stake in our society and in public policy. But I think it’s important to recognize and acknowledge that though we had 37 years of martial law and one-party rule, today Taiwan is an open multiparty democracy and a very competitive democracy. And we have had a number of changes of government through elections, you just mentioned Freedom House’s rankings and observations on our political system and our basic freedoms indeed human rights, basic rights, basic political rights are part of the modern Taiwanese political identity.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

But I also want to say though, in addition to those institutionalized rights protected under the constitution, our society has also become a very open and liberal society respecting diversity, differences of opinion, freedom of speech. We also became the first country in East Asia to legalize same-sex marriage and I think that reflects the nature of our society and that is respectful of different lifestyles and religious freedom is also a very important value that we cherish in Taiwan. So these are the characteristics of the modern Taiwanese society and that is extremely different from what we are seeing in China today where, well, I must say a first for Hong Kong that the backsliding of basic rights, a deprivation of the rights that had been committed between the Chinese and the British years ago and that is a very tragic situation but a very important lesson for the people of Taiwan.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

It has actually had the impact of strengthening our will and determination to protect our democracy. And of course our modern democracy also contrasts the Chinese narrative that democracy is not suitable for Asian people. I think Taiwan proves that narrative wrong along with other democracies in the region, Japan, South Korea and others, Australia, I think it’s important that we continue to fight for the basic rights and the democracy that’s so important for human progress in our region.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so maybe just very quick before we sort of shift into some of the more contemporaneous issues, but you had an election not too long ago and not all listeners might know, but Taiwan has a female president, a woman president, President Tsai, and maybe you might just quickly touch on the issues that were contested at that election and how the Taiwanese people sort of interacted with that election and its determination.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Yes. Well, we elected for the first time a woman president in 1996 and she was reelected in the year 2000. This election was a landslide but I must admit that it was a contentious struggle, a very competitive political landscape in the process of getting her reelected. Mainland China policy is always a very important political issue in all of our elections. What type of economic relationships should we have with them? What type of political positions should we have? All of these are always contentious issues in our society. But in addition to China policy, I must point out that in the years leading up to my president’s election and reelection, she did confront some very challenging domestic policy reforms, including labor rights, including the issue I just raised, legalizing same-sex marriage and these in any society could be rather contentious.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

But we also implemented some pension reforms that were essential to ensuring the sustainability of our pension system, all these are very domestic however, they are always challenging for modern democracy and we are very proud that we’ve overcome many of the challenges and that our society is on a steady path of continuing to strengthen our democracy and to demonstrate our resilience.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so, talking about resilience-

Misha Zelinsky:

Sorry. So talking about resilience, Taiwan’s been in the news quite a bit in recent times in relation to its relationship with the mainland China and the Chinese Communist Party, in Australia, Australia’s been subject to a lot of gray zone, so called gray zone interference, political warfare interference from the Chinese Communist Party, probably best exemplified by the trade sanctions against Australia in place at the moment on a number of exports to China, but in a Taiwanese context, what are the sort of behaviors that you are seeing and the Taiwanese people are seeing in that sort of gray zone intimidation space?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Thank you. Well, before I respond to this very important issue of gray zone coercion, let me correct myself. Previously in talking about my president’s election, she was first selected in 2016 and I think I said 1996-

Misha Zelinsky:

I wondered that myself. I didn’t think she was so old but I wasn’t going to-

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Yeah. No, she hasn’t been in power for so long. But she was first elected in 2016 and then reelected in 2020. And I had misspoken thinking about the original first ever presidential election. But on the gray zone area, China has been trying to coerce our society in multiple domains. The economic coercion and I know Australia has been going through a tough time also facing similar attempts to use economic leverage to pressure your society. We are also facing that. In fact, we’ve been facing this for a long time. They have used economic leverage to try to pressure our business leaders, our companies and our society, our media in so many ways. A second major area involves cyber security and this is something I know that Australia is also facing. A third general area involves political interference.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

In addition to the economic coercion, the Chinese have tried to use disinformation to propagate their narrative, but also to sow divisions within our society, to sow distrust over our democratic system and that has been a very challenging process for us. Another area that we are facing uniquely is the military coercion. The near daily flight intrusions into our air defense identification zone and also the maritime circling of China’s Naval presence. I think all of these … but the way we see it, there are multiple purposes and including the purpose to coerce the people of Taiwan, to threaten the people of Taiwan into accepting Chinese political positions.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And this is something that has been ongoing since the missile crisis during our first presidential election in ’96, but it has intensified in many ways. And so we are in a situation where coercion is a hybrid threat and that does require hybrid solutions and I think we are in a position to share these, how we respond, some effective or not effective experiences with some other democracies that are increasingly also facing this type of bullying and coercion from the PRC.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so this gray zone interference is sort of designed to sort of wear down the psychology of society from within, but even just the … CCP has gone through an enormous modernization of its military, it’s tradition in the military and Xi Jinping, there’s a timetable for reunification 2049 from Taiwan to the mainland, but how concerned is China’s traditional military buildup in the context of everything you’ve just said?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

We look at Chinese military buildup in kind of two perspectives. One is the intention part and the other is the capacity part. In terms of intentions, the Chinese have been very clear in terms of refusing to renounce the use of force against Taiwan and this has been a continuing position that they have held for decades and that has certainly intensified by the second part and that is building up their capacity and attempting to operationalize those threats. And what does concern us is not only the demonstration of their will to actually use force against Taiwan, but also building up certain capabilities to deny access to third parties who also share an interest in the peace and stability of the region. And so I think the threats against Taiwan have now expanded to actually become threats against the freedom of navigation and the stability of the region. And so threats against Taiwan are not only threats against Taiwan, they are threats against all those stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific region who share an interest and the freedom of navigation in the free and open Indo-Pacific.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so, I’m not asking you to speak for the entire Taiwanese people, but you are the ambassador. How is this perceived at home in Taiwan and how hard is it to live under the threat of this constant intimidation, be it military or all the types of coercion you’ve just mentioned? In Australia, it’s at the forefront of our minds but the distance between the PRC and Australia is far greater than the distance between Taiwan and mainland China. So maybe you could just talk about the perceptions of Taiwanese people and how that plays out in the society and I suppose in the political debate.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, as I said, these threats have been ongoing for decades although they have been intensified in recent months. The people of Taiwan have been forced to live under these continuous threats but we have no choice but to carry on and go on with our lives. So we cannot forsake our daily routine or trying to improve our democracy and also pursue prosperity of our country because of these threats. And so despite the threats, Taiwan has continued to develop and evolve I think in a very positive way. But at the same time, we cannot take these threats lightly and so our society is also supportive of the government establishing and strengthening our own defenses. Our defenses are now aimed at what we call an asymmetrical warfare strategy. We are in no position to engage in an arms race with the PRC but what we intend to do is to be strong enough to deter the operationalization of their threats.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And the capabilities that the Chinese possess and what we possess, it’s a dynamic process and we have to continuously respond to China’s growing capacities. And therefore our partnership with the United States is extremely important. And I must also say that the intensification of the threats against Taiwan also comes in the context of growing United States support for Taiwan. And this is bipartisan, it has crossed administrations, we also appreciate that other stakeholders in the region and around the world have also highlighted and underscored the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and in some cases have also indicated and demonstrated that concern with some action including freedom of navigation operations. I think all of these plays into the important strategy that we have and that is ultimately deterring the PRC from the actual operationalization of their threats.

Misha Zelinsky:

And I suppose in that context, what do the people of Taiwan and what does the Taiwanese democracy want from the Chinese Communist Party? The Chinese Communist Party’s demands are relatively clear, but what is it that Taiwan is seeking out of this relationship?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

In our relationship with China, it’s a very complicated relationship. There are historical, cultural, business, economic, political, military issues, multiple issues involved in this. But in short, what I want to say is, the people of Taiwan, what we want is the survival. We want to defend our democracy and our basic rights, these rights that we fought so hard to achieve. And I started this conversation in the very beginning by talking about how for centuries we’ve been governed and ruled by outsiders and we have finally won the right to determine our own future, and that’s what we want to defend. But at the same time, we want to do this in a peaceful context. We are not trying to provoke China, we want to live with dignity with our basic rights protected, but we also seek a peaceful coexistence.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And so I think successive administrations in Taiwan have indicated a willingness to engage in dialogue with the leaders of the PRC. The problem that we face now in terms of engaging in dialogue is the PRC is setting unreasonable political preconditions to that. And as long as they are willing to engage in peaceful dialogue with us, that’s a concept we are open to, but the political precondition in which the Chinese claim that Taiwan is part of China and in which they seek to govern Taiwan in the way Hong Kong has evolved, that one country two systems formula is not something that the people of Taiwan will accept. So this is the current status of Taiwan and according to polls, most of the people support the status quo. The different stakeholders may have a different interpretation of what the status quo is.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

We see Taiwan as a defacto, independent and sovereign country and we have a democracy that we intend to defend while the Chinese of course have a different interpretation. But we believe that shouldn’t prevent us from engaging in dialogue. Unfortunately, the unreasonable political conditions set forth by the government in Beijing makes it very difficult to engage in such peaceful discussions. On the economic side, there are greater complications. I just talked about the political side but on the economic side, a lot of our private sector like in Australia have a presence in China and right now we are trying to help our business diversify so that we are not as vulnerable to the economic coercion that the Chinese have become so skillful at using. We want to engage with our multiple trade partners in ways that are conducive to our long-term economic resilience.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Part of our economic diversification involves Taiwan’s application to the CPTPP and we certainly hope that other democracies like Australia will be supportive of Taiwan’s participation in the CPTPP. And that would help us, it would help prevent Taiwan from further marginalization as China continues to block our access to international organizations and to engaging with the rest of the world. I think our economic resilience is essential to sustaining our political system and our democratic process as well. And so, well, some businesses do engage in China from an economic perspective, but I think we also want to emphasize the importance of diversification so that we are all less vulnerable as democracies to the use of economic leverage and economic tools to interfere and to suppress our right to decide our own future.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so you’ve talked a lot about peaceful resolution to this and I think the entire world is invested in that and a peace for Indo-Pacific is absolutely critical to everyone’s prosperity and war is a disaster. So how do we avoid conflict in the Taiwanese Strait between Taiwan and the CCP and how do we avoid more broadly conflict in the Indo-Pacific because any student of history knows that war is a disaster for everyone who’s involved in it, victors or losers?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, our view is that we will not bow to pressure but neither will we provoke a conflict. At the moment, our policy is to sustain and maintain the status quo and the PRC, the Chinese leadership are attempting to change that status quo by coercion and also military threats. And it’s a very, very complicated process, but I think what’s important is we maintain the ability to deter any unilateral change to the status quo, especially with the use of force. And our position is ultimately the future of Taiwan has to be decided by the people of Taiwan. And in terms of our deterrence, I just spoke about the military aspects and our asymmetrical strategy but I think it’s also important that the international community continues to make clear to the PRC that the use of force is unacceptable and that everyone has a stake in the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.

Misha Zelinsky:

So let’s just unpack that a little because some people will say, “Well, this effectively …” Going back to the historic places is a resolution of a civil war and ultimately these are matters for people of Taiwan and the people of the People’s Republic of China to sort out. Is that a fair characterization or you are sort of saying all democracies ultimately are invested in Taiwan’s fight? So how do democracies become more invested in that outcome?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, I have to say that over the past century, Taiwan and China were integrated for only four years, and those were very painful and brutal years for the people of Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China has never governed Taiwan, not even for a single day and that is the reality, that’s a historical fact. And so I think characterizing this as a civil war doesn’t really do justice to this historical fact of what has transpired over the past century. And also, I think it’s important to acknowledge that Taiwan through decades of hard work and really building our political system, we have evolved into a modern democracy in which the people want to have a say in their future just like the people in Australia and in other countries. But at the same time, we want to do this in a peaceful context.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And so we will do what we can to prevent a war, building up our own defenses is part of that deterrent strategy to ensure that we can continue to survive as a modern democracy. And I think it’s, again, if we look beyond the immediate Indo-Pacific region and even in a global context, historically appeasing bullies just doesn’t work. I think there was perhaps a point in history where many Western democracies thought that engaging with China or doing business with them would lead them to become a rule abiding, responsible global citizen, supporting their accession to the WTO may also lead to the Chinese abiding by global trade practices.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

But the reality is, they are not as a global power, they are not using that power in a responsible way. They are breaking the rules, they are disrespecting the global status quo and I think it’s something that we can only deal with in a collective way. And that’s why it’s important that democracies work together on this. And again, the challenge is so immense that it is a multi-domain, hybrid challenge in which we need to have security on solutions, economic solutions and political solutions at the same time.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so we talked a little about human rights at the beginning. I want to unpack this a little bit more, but obviously there’s a very big attention at the moment on Peng Shuai who’s a famous Chinese tennis player who effectively made a claim of sexual assault against a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, essentially the ruling committee, one of the top seven people in China. And it’s almost like effectively China’s moment but the difference of course is that Peng Shuai is effectively being disappeared. Issues like these arbitrary detention of people, disappearing of people, the control of information, how concerning is that firstly for Taiwan but secondly more generally for the way the world seeks to hold China to account for its human rights violations, Uyghurs, et cetera. How do we deal with that challenge?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, it’s not just Peng Shuai, and her disappearance has certainly gotten the attention of many Taiwanese people. But that is one out of many cases including other high profile cases like Jack Ma and the two Canadians and others. And there have also been individual Taiwanese who have tragically and unfortunately faced arbitrary detention and imprisonment as well. And I think as we look at these cases, but also Hong Kong and the Uyghurs, we’re looking at a serious deterioration of rights in China and I think any advocacy of appeasement is just a thing of the past. And I think there have been governments that believe that by being silent or quietly engaging China, China might change, but apparently that has been tried for decades and it hasn’t worked. And I think it’s time that we work together as democracies to call out these violations that are increasing and also to come up with some joint action plans whether they be economic or political or through strengthening the effectiveness of international organizations to hold China accountable. I think there’s a lot that has to be done.

Misha Zelinsky:

And you’re right in the sense that this is much bigger than one tennis player, but I think it has sort of captured the attention of the world, but there’s been a lot of attention on the detention of Uyghurs. You’ve had upwards of one to perhaps three million Uyghurs being held in so-called labor camps, others will call them essentially prisons and so where all sorts of atrocities have been alleged. You’ve talked a bit about how Taiwan has recently legalized same-sex marriage and the sort of rights for people of the old GBTIQ community but what’s the contrast with people’s ability to express their religious freedoms or their sexual freedoms on mainland China because I think that’s an area that gets less discussed than perhaps Uyghurs or the arbitrary detention of high profile, be it the athletes or tech billionaires, et cetera?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, there’s certainly a contrast there. And in addition to the contract on that the contrast in the way basic rights and diversity and differences are respected in our societies, I think it’s also important to highlight an area that is technology and how technology is used and applied. I think in our society, in Taiwan, we share the belief that with Australia, the United States and other democracies, that technology fundamentally is there to advance freedom to advance human progress. And that also contrasts fundamentally to the way the Chinese government is using technology and that is to exert control and surveillance of their people.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And I think fundamentally this is an area that is evolving, it could be a defining aspect in a global competition of values and also in the effectiveness of responding to many of the human rights challenges that we’ve just mentioned. And I think it’s an area that again we need to take seriously. We’ve noticed that through QUAD, Australia, India, Japan, you’ve identified emerging technologies and AI as potential areas of cooperation and our hope is that we can expand on this particular area to involve other technologically advancing societies that are also democracies to work together in terms of not only, it’s not just about protecting IPR, but it’s about creating technology that truly advances freedom.

Misha Zelinsky:

Should businesses be more, one of the things that’s been discussed a lot is businesses not really looking at how they’re investing capital into essentially CCP, technological companies that are then being used for this type of surveillance that you are describing or oppression of particular groups be they religious or particular ethnicities within autocracy such as the CCP. Should that be more at the forefront of discussion and policy making?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, certainly. Yeah, we have been engaging here in Washington on the issue of export controls. The United States certainly has a broader capacity to examine on a global level those companies that could potentially violate or support violations of basic human rights and Taiwan has, we have complied with those export controls and I think it’s important that we work together internationally to ensure that these are enforceable, but also investment screening is an important area. The way Chinese capital comes into our democracies and has an impact in a way that doesn’t meet our goal of advancing freedom and human progress but instead become tools of economic coercion. I think we need to examine that too. And so I think investment screening, export controls or more international discussions on those export controls and entity lists and countering China’s economic coercion, I think all of these are areas that do need a lot more work.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so just shifting into sort of more regional, global diplomacy relating to the CCP, we talked about human rights violation, holding the regime to account, but then also how it uses economic leverage. You saw good examples where the Houston Rockets coach spoke about Uyghurs and was basically stomped on by the NBA because the CCP said, “We’re going to ban NBA games.” So mainly in China and it’s a huge amount of loss there, but we’ve seen the Women’s Tennis Association make a stand saying that unless Peng Shuai essentially they are satisfied that she’s safe, they’re no longer going to have women’s tennis tournaments within mainland China.

Misha Zelinsky:

And then we’ve also now started to see nations talk about a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing winter Olympics. Are these good opportunities to sort of press the regime in a high profile way and how do we coordinate that to make sure you get maximum impact because the method that CCP loves to use is one-on-one bullying on a bilateral basis, be it nation to nation, big nation versus smaller nation, Australia is experiencing that or organization versus the regime and market access. So how do we actually sort of thread that needle?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, you mentioned the NBA and China’s, again, use of their market leverage to pressure sports organizations or even entertainers and other sectors. This is not just unique here, they’ve been doing this to Taiwanese entertainers and artists as well for a long time and forcing them to actually take or advocate political positions or otherwise be completely silent about any position that the Chinese would find offensive. And I have to say too that their anger threshold has been lowering in recent years and so they are easily offended. It’s actually pretty hard not to offend them nowadays for anyone who want to speak their own mind. So this is becoming an increasing problem, but I think you laid out a keyword and that is, they’ve been good at this one-on-one bullying.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

They pick people out and pressure them, whether they are a business or an entertainer or a sports star, they will bully them, they will bully an industry like they have bullied your wine and other sectors, but this is a divide and conquer, a very typical divide and conquer tactic. And the only way to respond to that is collective action. And that’s why these dialogues and discussions like the one we are having today and other discussions across democracies and open societies in terms of raising awareness and working together as broader sectors and democracies, and even consumer movements to support each other, support countries that are being bullied. I think that’s fundamentally what humanity has to do if we really care about basic rights, if we really want to counter such bullying and outright violations of basic rights, it’s something that governments, civil society, consumers and others have to work out together.

Misha Zelinsky:

And so, one of the areas where there’s been enormous amount of bullying and frankly some pretty diabolical acquiescence has been essentially the Hollywood, the entertainment industry essentially is very nervous about doing anything that offends the CCP because the market access is very lucrative, increasingly driven by movie goers in mainland China. One of the areas that the CCP is very focused on is sort of seeming to want to erase Taiwan from discourse or people’s minds, the example that comes to mind for me, and it seems petty but Tom Cruise’s Top Gun jacket, then one in the ’80s, one of my favorite all movies, anyone listening to this will not be shocked. There was a flag on his jacket relating to Taiwan that’s now been replaced in the second Top Gun movie that’s being released next year.

Misha Zelinsky:

And that’s just one example where you’ll see airlines being sort of bullied to get rid of having Taiwan as a separate destination on the map or even school children being called out for discussing Taiwan as being its own nation. Why firstly is the CCP doing that and what’s the impact of that? Because the way it appears to me is, if no one’s discussing Taiwan and makes the objectives that we discussed earlier from CCP, bullying or CCP seeking to reunify under any means necessary, easier to achieve. So I’m kind of curious if you can unpack that a little.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, you’ve raised a number of examples of what China is doing to further marginalize Taiwan’s international presence. And in addition to all these examples that you have also raised, one thing they’ve been doing is threatening political leaders that even talk about Taiwan or dare to visit Taiwan. And this pressure again has increased in recent period of time, for example, for decades, we’ve been able to welcome members of Congress visiting Taiwan, and now China is responding to these delegations visiting with more fighter jet incursions and military threats. And they are reacting in a way that is not acceptable in terms of international norms and practices and it’s certainly problematic. But I think on the optimistic side, the good thing is that their threatening behavior has also generated a tremendous backlash.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

They have sanctioned for example members of the European parliament but by their own sanctions, for those who have been not only talking about Taiwan, but advocating for the rights of the Uyghurs and Hong Kong and others, and by attempting to censor them or to suppress these views, they are actually generating a greater backlash among other democratic societies. And I think the open societies are our last defense, when the people want to support their political leaders that have principled position instead of appeasing to bullies, I think that is our most important defense and that will continue to, hopefully that will continue to forge the direction in which democratic governments will choose to take when it comes to dealing with China.

Misha Zelinsky:

Would you like to see Hollywood and other entertainment industries talk more about Taiwan and its people and its stories and support Taiwanese efforts in that way?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, we certainly hope to have a greater presence and awareness internationally and it’s unfortunate that self-censorship has really had a negative impact on many sectors. But if we look at the recent evolution of events in Hong Kong and the recent unfortunate arrest of Jimmy Lai, a media tycoon, we will notice that before things went down this way, extreme, tragic way, there was about a decade or two of self-censorship in which a lot of Hong Kong media would kind of refrain from reporting content that the Chinese might find offensive. And we see this now in many other democracies. And so I think it’s important that the citizens speak up and open societies have an impact and maybe the development of new social media platforms and the participation of citizens in the process of information, distribution and dissemination that would help to democratize the global media environment and the messaging environment so that there would be more room for public messaging that helps to highlight our plight and the successes of our democracy, but also the challenges that we face together.

Misha Zelinsky:

And another area where you’re seeing a sort of contest playing out, and a lot of people wouldn’t be aware of it, but it’s around diplomatic recognition. You mentioned that in the ’70s a lot of nations shifted their recognition of the capital and the government of China from Taiwan, Taipei, to Beijing and PRC, but there are still some nations that tend to be smaller but a lot of them in the Pacific where there’s an enormous contest at play in terms of trying to … Beijing is seeking, the CCP is seeking to have those nations shift their democratic recognition away from Taiwan and to the PRC. But also you’re seeing these sorts of things playing out in Eastern Europe where the Eastern Europeans are now sticking up for small nations, like Lithuania sticking up for Taiwan’s rights. How do you see that contest playing out in small nations? We’ve talked about bigger nations like the United States and Europe and even Australia is much bigger than some of these nations we’re describing.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, we want to work to maintain the partners that we have, the 14 countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and four of them are in the Pacific and Taiwan continues to maintain these ties in a way that is sustainable. We try to support areas in the medical field, in the agriculture, developmental, climate and multiple issues. And we want to be a force for good in the region as well as in the world. So we welcome any support from the United States and Australia and others in sustaining those partnerships that we have at the moment. At the same time, we are building new partnerships with other countries and you mentioned Eastern Europe and Central Europe, and although they don’t recognize Taiwan diplomatically, they are engaging with Taiwan in ways that helps to deepen our relations in so many ways.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Unfortunately, China is threatening sanctions against some of these countries and most notably Lithuania recently. And so it is our hope that other democracies will support Lithuania as they are the new victim of bullying. I think it’s especially important that other countries who have been through this bullying, who have also been victims of bullying stick together and support each other so that we can all be stronger and better withstand all types of coercion and economic and political threats that the PRC exerts against our democracies.

Misha Zelinsky:

Well, Lithuania has had all trade to China cut off. So Australia had some specific sanctions on specific goods. So Lithuania is really feeling like the world should definitely help them out given that they are now feeling the full wrath of the CCP now, you talked about this a little bit at the beginning, but I want to unpack it a little bit. You talked about Taiwan seeking to join the CPTPP, which is an evolved version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership which is a trade agreement originally championed by the Obama administration then of course Donald Trump withdrew from that and then became the CPTPP, which was the nation’s remaining a lot of the, Pacific nations without the United States of course, they’re welcome back. Why is it important for Taiwan to join an organization like that? And also this talk of Taiwan seeking entry into the WHO, the World Health Organization and other multilateral bodies, why is that important and also why is the CCP resisting that?

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, first on the CPTPP, Taiwan is heavily dependent on trade for our economic development and we have been for decades and we certainly want to continue to expand our trade relations. And there are a number of regional trade regimes, not just CPTPP but also RCP that have been set up and we are concerned that the exclusion of Taiwan or the marginalization of Taiwan will negatively impact our competitiveness as well as our trade and access to other regional economies. Furthermore, as I said in our earlier discussion, we seek to diversify our economic partnerships with other major economies in the region. So that is essentially why we submitted our application for the CPTPP. Now, does Taiwan have the right to legally and politically? Yeah. We are a member of APEC.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

We are also a part of the WTO as a customs territory. Taiwan on has had bilateral trade agreements with countries that don’t necessarily recognize us politically, but as a trading entity, as an economic entity, we have a bilateral trade agreement with New Zealand, we also have one with Singapore. And so with these precedents and with our membership in the WTO as a customs territory, there’s nothing institutional that prevents us from engaging with other trade agreements and joining international multilateral trade arrangements. So I think we are pretty solid in terms of our intention, our application and our right to be part of these international trade organizations. The problem of course is China’s attempt to again block us and it’s clear that their efforts to block us are part of the broader campaign to marginalize Taiwan, to wipe us off from the face of the earth in terms of having our own identity, their attempt to absorb Taiwan is also part of this broader intention.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

So we are in a very challenging situation and certainly hope that other like-minded democracies would be more supportive, especially those economies, those other partners in the CPTPP could be more supportive of Taiwan’s accession. We are a trading partner to many in the region and we certainly hope to continue that as a law abiding rules-following economy and responsible stakeholder in the region. Now, on other organizations like the World Health Organization, I think it’s clear that China’s marginalization of Taiwan has been a loss to the world. In the outset of the COVID 19 pandemic, Taiwan was one of the earliest societies and governments to alert the WHO of the evolving situation in China. We started to quarantine against travelers from Wuhan in December 2019 before any other country in the world took the pandemic seriously.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And if Taiwan could be integrated into the global health network, I think we could contribute to that. We have expertise. We have handled COVID 19 relatively successful. I can’t say not without some challenges but we certainly want to work with others for the benefit of global health. We are also seeking to be part of Interpol, the global effort to fight transnational crime. We seek to be part of ICAO, which is the International Civil Aviation Organization for the sake of civil aviation and the safety of all the flights that fly around Taiwan, our airspace on a daily basis. It’s good for the world for Taiwan to be incorporated, it allows us to share our expertise, it also allows Taiwan to learn from best practices of others around the world.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And so I think it’s also important, and I do want to say here, I want to express our gratitude to Australia, the people and government of Australia for supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations and this has been reiterated on a number of occasions and we are truly grateful for that. I think another platform for which we are grateful is the GCTF, it’s called the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, that initiated as a bilateral Taiwan/US platform for supporting Taiwan’s engagement on a global level on multiple policy issue areas. Japan joined as a formal partner and recently Australia has also become a partner in this. It’s a platform in which we can work together on a wide range of issue from climate to women’s empowerment, indigenous people’s rights and economic empowerment, small businesses, a wide range of issues where Taiwan has the expertise to offer but also where the world can benefit from Taiwan’s participation.

Misha Zelinsky:

Well, we could talk all day, and we didn’t even get to the fact that Taiwan’s pretty much the world’s engine room for semiconductors which is basically central to every piece of technology, including what we’re using right now to have this conversation. So it’s a critical economic engine room for the world and a very highly technical and sophisticated economy with a very high per capita income, et cetera. Now, I’m going to get in trouble because you need to get going, but I can’t let you go without asking my notoriously bad question. And you’ve talked a lot about Australia, but as a foreign guest on our show, you have to nominate three Australians to be at a barbecue with the ambassador. Now that could be at your residence in the United States in DC, or it could be in Taiwan. I’m open to either, but I’m very curious to get your answer before we let you go and I can already imagine your staff are getting irritated with me.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Yes, well, I have to say like many Taiwanese people, we grew up with some Australian icons and entertainers that are very well known in Taiwan, like Olivia Newton-John and others, Crocodile Dundee and others. But that’s very much prominent in our popular culture and certainly I’m one of those that have … I grew up in that environment. But I do want to say though that now that with my strong political interest and passion in working with other democracies, and I say this at a risk of, again, irritating China, but I would be honored and love to have a conversation with your current government leaders of course on how we can work together to strengthen our democracies. And I think another area is, if I could choose to have a barbecue with, maybe not an individual, but a category of friends, maybe the red wine industry to see what we can do in terms of countering economic coercion.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

And I think it’s important that consumers support each other and for months, my office has been buying Australian wine for our own entertainment purposes, also as a stance. I think it’s important to support freedom and markets abiding by the rules. And so if there’s a third category in addition to the political leadership and the wine, the vineyards, I would say I’m very interested in learning more about the indigenous people of Australia. And as I said in the beginning, we are related perhaps thousands of years ago, but the indigenous people of Taiwan and the Austronesian peoples have a long cultural relationship and we do want to explore opportunities to further highlight that and to share those experiences.

Misha Zelinsky:

Well, it’s a very big barbecue in that you’re going to have [crosstalk 01:02:18] cabinet, you’ve got the red wine and white wine industry, you’ve got a number of our indigenous leaders and community members and then of course crocodile Dundee and Olivia Newton-John, but you can have a lot, this is your barbecue so I’m happy for you to have the lot. And thank you so much for coming on the show and being so generous with your time. I think when I describe the challenges in Taiwan, I talk about an island of democracy of nearly 25 million people being bullied by the Chinese Communist Party and it should sound very familiar to anyone in Taiwan and very familiar to anyone in Australia. So thank you so much ambassador and good luck and have a great Christmas. I’ll see you soon.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Well, thank you, Misha. And again, thanks for this interest in Taiwan. I think Taiwan and Australia have a lot in common and I look forward to working together with our Australian friends.

Misha Zelinsky:

Thank you. Take care.

Amb. Bi-khim Hsaio:

Thank you.

Misha Zelinsky:

Good day Diplomates fans. Thanks so much for listening. Huge big, thank you once again, to Bi-khim for coming on the show. I think you can also see what an outstanding advocate she is for the Taiwanese people but also for democracy and freedom more generally. Now, I brought a question. Now, a few of you have written asking actually about the Beijing boycott given that the government has now essentially said that it’s going to support the diplomatic boycott and a number of other countries are now doing it. Obviously, I think that’s a good thing, but I sort of won’t dig into that too much because we’re already kind of past that. I actually have a random one here from Alan. Alan has asked, is there a summer read you recommend on foreign policy? Well, Alan, let me tell you, there are so many. So many, but if you’re looking for something on China, I would really recommend Peter Hatch’s Red Zone.

Misha Zelinsky:

It’s a kind of an extended version of his quarterly essay, Red Flag. It’s a really great sort of … it’s an easy read, but it’s really well-researched, really well articulated piece relating to the Australian relationship with China, but the world’s relationship more generally and he breaks it all down and I think you’ll find a lot out of it if you … after an interesting one, Garside recently wrote a book called China Coup and it’s just kind of a hypothetical look at what a coup against Xi Jinping might look like, but he actually names real people and real actors and sort of plays it out and then he also says, “Look, here’s my underpinning assumptions of why I believe this could happen, feel free to challenge me.” So that’s an interesting one. If you’re after a kind of a more political, like a US politics book, Lucky is a really good read about the US.

Misha Zelinsky:

It’s kind of behind-the-scenes take on the US election with the Biden team but also everyone sort of running in the primaries, et cetera. So it is a really good read in the way that if you’re ever a game changer or doubled down, or those types of behind-the-scenes books. Another one, slightly a bit wrist slashy but Peril by Bob Woodward is absolutely outstanding. Meticulously well researched, and really it digs into some of the troubling things that we saw unfolding under the last days of the Trump presidency leading to the January 6th insurrection. So that’s also good. So a number of there to chose from and if you do read any of them, let me know how you go, otherwise, thanks so much for listening and I’ll see you next time. Bye for now.

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