A Study of Cultural Diplomacy Between Korea and Taiwan

A Study of‘Cultural Diplomacy’between Korea and Taiwan

Han, Inhee

(Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, Daejin University,Korea)

Historically Korea and Taiwan have maintained a good relation for a long time. However, after the diplomatic relations between the two sides were severed on August 24 in 1992, their political relationship was at its worst. Since then, 19 years have passed. During this period, the political and diplomatic relations of both countries reduced dramatically. Taiwan lambasted Korea’s act of cutting off the relations as ‘betrayal.’ In comparison, Korean government made an excuse that they had to accept ‘one-China’ principle, which is favorable condition imposed by mainland China for establishing diplomatic ties.

At that time, Korea decided to choose diplomatic relations based on ‘national interest’ for the sake of stabilizing peace and security on the Korean peninsula and bringing economic profit. However, many Koreans are fully aware of Taiwan’s difficult situation. It is to be deplored that both have to accept the grim reality that “there is no everlasting friend or enemy in the international politics”. It is fully understandable that Taiwanese government is discontented with Korean government because of diplomatic severance. Taiwan citizens got offended and Korean government has to admit that their follow-up measures were inadequate after the severance of diplomatic relations.

It’s been a long time after the severance of diplomatic relations. Recently, the relationship between the both sides has newly become closer. Taiwan is already the fifth-largest trading partner for Korea. Over the past year Taiwan imported 3,271 Korean TV programs, which has reached to 13.2%. Taiwan has played an important role of spreading Korean cultural contents in East Asian region. Now is the time when both countries need to cooperate and understand each other more deeply. In order to do so, it is time to solve the political and diplomatic barriers through ‘cultural diplomacy’.

Both sides share the long-time historical origin and they have a bright future. Hence, both countries should face up reality of international society on the one hand, and should make an effort to ‘win-win’ in order to promote mutual national interest on the other hand.

The rise of public diplomacy begins with the awareness that we cannot uphold the national interests only by the traditional international politics that are characterized as hard power or security competition. The reason is that the success of one country’s diplomatic policy depends on favorable national image, the credibility for the national brand, etc. Cultural diplomacy is a subordinate concept of public diplomacy, but it covers all the activities to enhance the soft power such as promotion of mutual understanding, enhancement of its national image, etc. through the governmental organizations or agencies authorized by the government by the means of art, knowledge, information, language, and institutions for foreign government and the people.

In other words, cultural diplomacy can be defined as a diplomatic activity, which aims to enhance foreigners' sense of intimacies toward one's native country. Furthermore, the purpose of cultural diplomacy is to increase the nation's influence such as the improvement of one's national brand power in the other country. Therefore, if Korea and Taiwan concentrate on cultural diplomacy, they will be able to overcome the political and diplomatic limitations. It will eventually lead them to a much more meaningful reciprocal relationship.

As a result, this paper will first examine the overall meaning and importance of cultural diplomacy. Moreover, it will elaborate on how cultural diplomacy is enacted in major countries including the United States, focusing on the implementations in Korea and Taiwan. Furthermore, it will cover the enactment of cultural diplomacy in Taiwan, and analyze Taiwan's cultural diplomacy towards Korea. The purpose of this paper is to provide policy alternatives for Korea and Taiwan with regard to the success of cultural diplomacy based on these analysis.