Recent Changes of Taiwan's Foreign Policy

Abstract

The preliminary scope of work of this thesis, following the neo-classical realisms methodology of analyzing, we intend to find out Taiwans foreign policy trajectory. We want to know under what circumstances and domestic situation, Taiwan chooses to follow what foreign policies. Through the analysis of objective power (which includes economy, technology, military, and International relations), and with internal political situation (which is mainly focused on elites perceptionsof the country) , we hope to find out the patterns of the foreign policy and possibly contribute to future foreign policy insight. The thesis found out that due to Taiwans constitutional type which is a semi-presidential system, Taiwans foreign policies are heavily aligned with the leaders perceptions and interpretations under the unified government. The leaders view, on the other hand, is still heavily influenced by their traditional party's stands and the goals for both two parties in recent years after democratization are always seeking more visibility in international relations and reduce the threats. The different methods and approaches applied by the leaders resulted in completely different outcomes of the objective power of Taiwan and also the changes in the opinions of citizens over the years. The results could help us...