Tsai needs proactive foreign policy: experts

OPPORTUNITY: The president’s low-key approach is not working, former officials said, as they urged her to seek allies among nations fearful of Chinese expansionism

By Peng Wan-hsin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer





President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should not fear angering China and should take advantage of the threat of China’s expansionist activities to seek new diplomatic allies, a former official said, adding that the administration has failed over the past year to be proactive in its foreign affairs policies.

Former representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (許世楷) on Saturday said that China’s obstruction of the nation’s participation in international organizations such as the Interpol, the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization is likely to worsen, citing comments from Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) that an invitation to this year’s WHA — the WHO’s highest decisionmaking body — is very unlikely.

Tsai is not making much progress in foreign affairs, despite high expectations from the public, Koh said, adding that Japan is on alert due to China’s expansionism and is consequently more willing to provide assistance to Taiwan.

“If the nation fails to express its identity and more positively respond to opportunities created by policy adjustments in the US and Japan, then this golden opportunity will soon be lost,” Koh said.

“We are a little worried,” he said.

Another former foreign affairs policymaker who declined to be named agreed that the administration is too afraid of angering China.

Progress in foreign affairs cannot be made under this mindset, and the government should show the public it is working hard to overcome pressure from China, the former official said.

Taipei-based Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance executive director Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said the nation’s attempts at joining this year’s WHA meeting have not become easier, despite protests lodged by the government last year.

If a soft, low-profile approach to joining international organizations is not working, then the government should devise a new strategy, Lin said.

A former representative to Geneva who declined to be named echoed Lin’s statements, saying the mild approach to foreign affairs used by the Tsai government last year is not working, and a stronger approach is needed.

Any breakthrough in the current situation would necessitate a new foreign affairs plan, the former officials said.

“Otherwise, I’m afraid progress will be difficult,” they added.