It seems Taiwan is reducing the ally-count by 1 once again. Today, the Taiwan's MOFA announced Burkina Faso is breaking up diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
This news follows the recent breakup Taiwan went through- with Dominican Republic.
Am I surprised? Absolutely not. Taiwanese government forms a lot of alliances based on donations- unfortunately, never in the direction of Taiwan. Now, is this what a relationship should be about? I've been told relationships work two ways, and are about trust, assurance, safety, and support. So Taiwan has been in toxic relationships, similar to (unfortunately) many actual Taiwanese marriages: the man (Taiwan) pays, and the woman (the ally) uses it. However, if richer man appears, she'll abandon her husband, and tie herself with the new, richer man.* There is a richer man on the horizon- China. Taiwan bases it's diplomacy on donations, on giving, but it will never be able to give as much as China. China will not only offer more, but the donations are quite often unconditional. Only condition: abandon Taiwan. There have been cases of countries that owe so much to Taiwan, for example the vast majority of infrastructure, and still abandoned Taiwan as soon as bigger check was waved in their faces (Yes Sao Tome, I'm talking about you). The biggest hospital in Sao Tome was before named "Taiwanese Hospital", but the name was changed to "Chinese hospital". Taiwan will never beat China with regard to how much it can offer. Simply. China has more money, more deals, more business, better schools to send students to.
Now, does Taiwan really need relationships like this? If you ask me, completely no. It's only a cost. An investment should bring return. So far, this investments, the diplomatic relations, are bringing only costs. So what's the benefit?
The form of "exchange" between Taiwan and its allies that I am most familiar with is university scholarships. Let's look at that.
Taiwan is bringing in students from all the diplomatic countries on very attractive terms. The monthly stipend sometimes reaches as much as around 30,000 TWD. For 4 years of education, that's 1,440,000 TWD, or a very nice sports car. The cost of tuition is around 60,000 TWD per semester, so around 5,000 per month. Renting an apartment can be easily closed down within 10,000 TWD (in Tamsui, for that price, you get totally-not-student-quality apartment, much more than a student needs). Daily food spending, in case of eating outside in the vicinity of a university can be closed down within 200, giving around 6,000 TWD per month. Everything else, is additional. What should be covered if Taiwan was feeling generous, would be equivalent of 21,000. But that is still unnecessary cost. In my opinion, Scholarship students should be given an option to live in the school dormitory at no cost, or pay from their own pocket. Reasonable monthly stipend, that would in that case fully cover the expense of actually studying, would then be around 15,000 TWD. That would include already 4,000 TWD of extra expenses. But the students are receiving twice as much. Question: for what? Given such an amount of money encourages everything but studying. Scholarship students are rarely the best students, opposite to the whole world. That's another point: Scholarships are not based on merit, rather simply by diplomatic relation. It's safe to say, scholarship students in Taiwan live luxurious life.
So why does Taiwan need this cost? An argument can be that there is an invaluable cultural exchange happening, enriching Taiwanese society. It's worth the investment. That would be the case indeed, if not for the fact that the students who receive the scholarship rarely use the opportunity to mingle with the local population. Most of the time, actually, quite the opposite, staying only within their own group. What about the merit the students bring to Taiwan then? Well, the retention requirements are ridiculously low. Taiwan does not check where the money goes and what it is getting in return. Scholarships quite often become partyships. That over 1,000,000 TWD sum per person (and how many students are brought here every year?) is, sorry to say, quite often wasted. It's simply wrong allocation of resources. Now, I realize, this is a big, hurtful generalization. I myself know many many scholarship students who do an outstanding jobs at academia. But it really makes me burn inside when I see the scholarship money being spent on parties, summer vacations, and expensive dinners and apartments, rather than foreign conferences, research, saving up or investing. I say, give the scholarship, but only for what is necessary: pay for the tuition, provide space in dormitory, and give 8,000 allowance for food and other expenses per month. If the student wants more, their work permit can be given any moment.
So does losing the ally mean anything bad to Taiwanese academia? Not in most cases, in my opinion. Taiwanese students do not go to countries that send students here for university. There is no exchange, simply cost. I say, if you want to help, help with what is necessary. 30,000 TWD per month is way more than necessary. Unless the student really is outstanding, like many are, then award him or her. But make sure that's the case. Check on them and make sure how the money is spend. Subsidize what adds to their education, rather than transfer money to the account. Foreign conference? Sponsor it. Tuition? Pay for it. Small food allowance? Give it. Work permit? Give it. Transfer money? Don't. just don't.
Now, the money that Taiwan retains from lost scholarships can be actually reallocated smartly, into higher quality professors, scholarships for the outstanding local and foreign students (Taiwanese have no chance to receive scholarships as high as foreign ones), or mentioned subsidies. And do not limit the scholarship recipients to diplomatic allies. There is often nothing in exchange.
I feel really bad for my friends who will be losing scholarships soon- on personal level. The came here under assumption they will be receiving this money, and otherwise they wouldn't. It's changing rules of the game in the middle of it. But quite honestly, from academic or economic point of view, I don't think it's a huge loss.
I really, however, regret hearing the news about Burkina Faso. The students from there that I know are very hardworking, active, and you just see the money being spent the right way, most of the time. Quite a few stay in Taiwan or later retain some sort of relation with Taiwan, so the money is actually invested, not simply spent.
So what should Taiwan do, now that its allies are cutting ties one after another. Observe, and be smart about your diplomacy. Stop giving. Start exchanging. See where there can be trade deals, which nation's students come here and really make positive impact, see where Taiwan's trade partners could benefit from for example removing a double taxation to encourage exchange of information through entrepreneurial migrations. Make the relationship work for you. One country that keeps popping up in my mind whenever I talk about this topic is India. Why? First of all, the Indian students I know in Taiwan are the most curious, hard working, and ambitious people in many universities. India is also a booming economy, with a lot of business that could truly benefit from cooperation with Taiwan. What's more, there is already a visible migration between the countries, so making it more beneficial for the partners would alleviate many problems of the migrants. India also does not seem to care that much about retaining partnership with China, duh, quite often they're shown as China's opponent.
Giving hasn't worked in the past. Taiwan will never be able to give as much as China. I say, losing this allies is hurtful at the moment, but long term, may be a good thing. Taiwan may be forced to look for new, more meaningful partnerships, and that will prove beneficial in the long term.
Let me know what's your opinion on the topic!
Cheers,
Szymon
* I know, women can be rich too, that's not all the cases, there are perfect realtionships... However, Taiwan is still pretty conservative and traditional with regard to the role of a man and a woman in the family, in my opinion, and unfortunately, cases of disloyalty based simply on insufficient bank account balance happened, and I witnessed some first-hand.
This news follows the recent breakup Taiwan went through- with Dominican Republic.
Am I surprised? Absolutely not. Taiwanese government forms a lot of alliances based on donations- unfortunately, never in the direction of Taiwan. Now, is this what a relationship should be about? I've been told relationships work two ways, and are about trust, assurance, safety, and support. So Taiwan has been in toxic relationships, similar to (unfortunately) many actual Taiwanese marriages: the man (Taiwan) pays, and the woman (the ally) uses it. However, if richer man appears, she'll abandon her husband, and tie herself with the new, richer man.* There is a richer man on the horizon- China. Taiwan bases it's diplomacy on donations, on giving, but it will never be able to give as much as China. China will not only offer more, but the donations are quite often unconditional. Only condition: abandon Taiwan. There have been cases of countries that owe so much to Taiwan, for example the vast majority of infrastructure, and still abandoned Taiwan as soon as bigger check was waved in their faces (Yes Sao Tome, I'm talking about you). The biggest hospital in Sao Tome was before named "Taiwanese Hospital", but the name was changed to "Chinese hospital". Taiwan will never beat China with regard to how much it can offer. Simply. China has more money, more deals, more business, better schools to send students to.
Now, does Taiwan really need relationships like this? If you ask me, completely no. It's only a cost. An investment should bring return. So far, this investments, the diplomatic relations, are bringing only costs. So what's the benefit?
The form of "exchange" between Taiwan and its allies that I am most familiar with is university scholarships. Let's look at that.
Taiwan is bringing in students from all the diplomatic countries on very attractive terms. The monthly stipend sometimes reaches as much as around 30,000 TWD. For 4 years of education, that's 1,440,000 TWD, or a very nice sports car. The cost of tuition is around 60,000 TWD per semester, so around 5,000 per month. Renting an apartment can be easily closed down within 10,000 TWD (in Tamsui, for that price, you get totally-not-student-quality apartment, much more than a student needs). Daily food spending, in case of eating outside in the vicinity of a university can be closed down within 200, giving around 6,000 TWD per month. Everything else, is additional. What should be covered if Taiwan was feeling generous, would be equivalent of 21,000. But that is still unnecessary cost. In my opinion, Scholarship students should be given an option to live in the school dormitory at no cost, or pay from their own pocket. Reasonable monthly stipend, that would in that case fully cover the expense of actually studying, would then be around 15,000 TWD. That would include already 4,000 TWD of extra expenses. But the students are receiving twice as much. Question: for what? Given such an amount of money encourages everything but studying. Scholarship students are rarely the best students, opposite to the whole world. That's another point: Scholarships are not based on merit, rather simply by diplomatic relation. It's safe to say, scholarship students in Taiwan live luxurious life.
So why does Taiwan need this cost? An argument can be that there is an invaluable cultural exchange happening, enriching Taiwanese society. It's worth the investment. That would be the case indeed, if not for the fact that the students who receive the scholarship rarely use the opportunity to mingle with the local population. Most of the time, actually, quite the opposite, staying only within their own group. What about the merit the students bring to Taiwan then? Well, the retention requirements are ridiculously low. Taiwan does not check where the money goes and what it is getting in return. Scholarships quite often become partyships. That over 1,000,000 TWD sum per person (and how many students are brought here every year?) is, sorry to say, quite often wasted. It's simply wrong allocation of resources. Now, I realize, this is a big, hurtful generalization. I myself know many many scholarship students who do an outstanding jobs at academia. But it really makes me burn inside when I see the scholarship money being spent on parties, summer vacations, and expensive dinners and apartments, rather than foreign conferences, research, saving up or investing. I say, give the scholarship, but only for what is necessary: pay for the tuition, provide space in dormitory, and give 8,000 allowance for food and other expenses per month. If the student wants more, their work permit can be given any moment.
So does losing the ally mean anything bad to Taiwanese academia? Not in most cases, in my opinion. Taiwanese students do not go to countries that send students here for university. There is no exchange, simply cost. I say, if you want to help, help with what is necessary. 30,000 TWD per month is way more than necessary. Unless the student really is outstanding, like many are, then award him or her. But make sure that's the case. Check on them and make sure how the money is spend. Subsidize what adds to their education, rather than transfer money to the account. Foreign conference? Sponsor it. Tuition? Pay for it. Small food allowance? Give it. Work permit? Give it. Transfer money? Don't. just don't.
Now, the money that Taiwan retains from lost scholarships can be actually reallocated smartly, into higher quality professors, scholarships for the outstanding local and foreign students (Taiwanese have no chance to receive scholarships as high as foreign ones), or mentioned subsidies. And do not limit the scholarship recipients to diplomatic allies. There is often nothing in exchange.
I feel really bad for my friends who will be losing scholarships soon- on personal level. The came here under assumption they will be receiving this money, and otherwise they wouldn't. It's changing rules of the game in the middle of it. But quite honestly, from academic or economic point of view, I don't think it's a huge loss.
I really, however, regret hearing the news about Burkina Faso. The students from there that I know are very hardworking, active, and you just see the money being spent the right way, most of the time. Quite a few stay in Taiwan or later retain some sort of relation with Taiwan, so the money is actually invested, not simply spent.
So what should Taiwan do, now that its allies are cutting ties one after another. Observe, and be smart about your diplomacy. Stop giving. Start exchanging. See where there can be trade deals, which nation's students come here and really make positive impact, see where Taiwan's trade partners could benefit from for example removing a double taxation to encourage exchange of information through entrepreneurial migrations. Make the relationship work for you. One country that keeps popping up in my mind whenever I talk about this topic is India. Why? First of all, the Indian students I know in Taiwan are the most curious, hard working, and ambitious people in many universities. India is also a booming economy, with a lot of business that could truly benefit from cooperation with Taiwan. What's more, there is already a visible migration between the countries, so making it more beneficial for the partners would alleviate many problems of the migrants. India also does not seem to care that much about retaining partnership with China, duh, quite often they're shown as China's opponent.
Giving hasn't worked in the past. Taiwan will never be able to give as much as China. I say, losing this allies is hurtful at the moment, but long term, may be a good thing. Taiwan may be forced to look for new, more meaningful partnerships, and that will prove beneficial in the long term.
Let me know what's your opinion on the topic!
Cheers,
Szymon
* I know, women can be rich too, that's not all the cases, there are perfect realtionships... However, Taiwan is still pretty conservative and traditional with regard to the role of a man and a woman in the family, in my opinion, and unfortunately, cases of disloyalty based simply on insufficient bank account balance happened, and I witnessed some first-hand.
I definitely agree with you that we need these relationships to be more like Exchanges. At the very least, I'd like to see these nations host Taiwanese students (for example, a tour) so that they can better understand the culture and how their education can be used to collaborate with these nations in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhat most people, especially Taiwanese, don't understand is that these alliances are with the Republic of China and not "Taiwan" per se. These alliances have historically been unsustainable and both sides have not done enough to enhance these relationships. As a result, you have this awful dollar-diplomacy that fosters alliance imbalance. The reality is, China is working harder to isolate Taiwan diplomatically more than ever before. Taiwan needs to develop responses to these tactics and improve its relations with the United States, the EU, Japan, India, and other nations which Taiwan already has significant engagements with. The current allies of the ROC should be engaged with, but as Philip said, exchanges like people-to-people exchanges, students, entrepreneurial development, and healthcare professional development will work more for Taiwan because the people who participate in these exchanges are more likely to fell empathetic towards Taiwan in the long-run. Unfortunately, this isn't what is discussed by many in Taiwan as these lost allies turn into political capital in Taiwan's domestic politics.
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