Debates about how China’s rise impacts Taiwan’s economic policy choices have largely affirmed the conventional narratives and assumptions about electoral politics and partisanship. Coalitions that view China’s rise as a strategic opportunity emphasize the benefits of economic interdependence, arguing that increasing economic interactions will bring greater gains for Taiwan. In contrast, political parties that see China’s rise as a threat to the regional balance of power underscore Taiwan’s vulnerability to economic coercion from an authoritarian regime. Missing from these debates, however, is a closer analysis of the trend lines in Taiwan’s economic statecraft. By looking at nearly two decades of trade and investment data and policy pronouncements, we find that there is a large degree of consensus and continuity in Taiwan’s economic policies that span and cut across the partisan divide. Put simply, strategic diversification in Taiwan’s economic security is an understated preference that is becoming more entrenched with time, regardless of which political party is in government.

The intensifying United States (US)-China great power rivalry often forces small states into opposing dyads, with observers hypothesizing that the small Southeast Asian states would follow a similar pattern of fragmentation. What these debates often overlook, however, is the institutional design of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which allows these states to wield collective power to withstand shifting economic and political axes. In fact, a closer look at the bloc reveals how the ‘ASEAN Way’ provides practices, norms, and mechanisms that allow for flexibility and strategic autonomy, rather than simply being price takers in international politics. Through examining discourses, coordinated trade and foreign policy, and interviews with policymakers and civil society actors, we argue that the ASEAN plays an outsized role in shaping international relations. This paper also furthers the role of actors from the margins in the Global South in shaping international norms, aside from the role-model institutionalism, such as the European Union. Specifically, large states also seek the legitimacy of smaller states to affirm their position on the global hierarchy. Consequently, the great powers are also compelled to consider and abide by the bloc's normative preferences.

This study investigates the teaching of International Relations (IR) in Taiwan, an area that has received little scholarly attention for over two decades. Against the backdrop of the Global IR agenda and calls for more diverse perspectives in the discipline, this research offers an up-to-date survey of how IR is taught at the undergraduate level in Taiwan. The research combines a survey of undergraduate-level IR students across Taiwanese universities and a systematic analysis of syllabi from introductory, theory-focused, and core courses, which will allow us to assess both students’ perception of the field and whether the course structure has an impact on their epistemology. This research will inform instructors and scholars within the field in Taiwan about the current trends and potential bias that may occur through pedagogy, whether there are efforts to reform and bring greater theoretical and empirical diversity to the classroom, and hopefully, invite reflexivity on the part of instructors and students.