moral high ground, but also its senses. In the following days, the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) embarked on a propaganda campaign with ads and Web pages endeavoring to depict the Philippines as cold-blooded murderers. Through a number of discussions, this author has also learned that MOFA approached a number of foreign journalists and academics, in Taiwan and abroad, with requests that they write op-eds using language that supported Taiwan’s case in the dispute. MOFA then proceeded to post those articles on its official Web site, while officials in the administration lambasted media outlets that did not embrace its version of events. In a few cases, MOFA officials either implicitly threatened consequences for failing to accept the request (e.g., loss of access), or made very clumsy approaches, which ultimately succeeded in insulting the foreign academic or journalist and undermined its image and reputation. This was not isolated: MOFA has behaved in a similar fashion by strongly—and repeatedly—encouraging visiting scholars to support and write positively about President Ma’s East Taiwan’s Liao Liao-yi, right, shakes hands with Japan’s Mitsuo Ohashi after signing a fisheries agreement in Taipei on April 10, 2013.
China Sea Peace Initiative, which puts individuals in an awkward position vis-à-vis officials with the ability to grant favors, access, and funding. In the end, Taipei will probably get most of what it sought from the Philippines following the incident. However, its inability to stick to its initially well-balanced policy ultimately undermined Taiwan’s international image and created unnecessary difficulties in conflict resolution. The following are some modest policy proposals that can help avoid similar mishaps in the future.
Policy proposals First, policy, treaties and agreements must be preventive, not reactive: Taiwan’s fisheries agreement with Japan, signed earlier this year, has been hailed as a great success. But that agreement occurred after years of skirmishes with Japanese Coast Guard and fishing vessels, which could have led to escalation and damaged bilateral ties. Given that Taiwan is involved in a number of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, every effort should be made to implement agreements before clashes occur and lives are lost. If possible, such agreements should also be multilateral,
photo: VOA
32 Strategic Vision Maritime Disputes