Public Diplomacy as a contributing factor to managing identity-based conflict: Taiwan repositions its identity and security status (2000 – 2020)
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
11:00 am to 12:00 pm
- Venue
- Brunei Gallery SOAS
- Room
- B301
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
The Centre of Taiwan Studies is delighted to welcome Dr Yung Lin to examine whether public diplomacy can contribute to resolving the identity-based conflict between China and Taiwan regarding Taiwan’s political status.
Focusing on the period from 2000 to 2020, Lin will argue that Taiwan has strategically developed a distinctive form of civic-embedded public diplomacy (CEPD) that leverages both state and societal actors to manage cross-Strait tensions, strengthen international visibility, and reinforce national security. Rather than treating public diplomacy only as a tool of external communication, this talk will demonstrate that Taiwan has used it as an instrument of domestic identity formation and international persuasion simultaneously.
This talk will show that Taiwan’s public diplomacy has evolved toward deeper societal participation, notably through educational exchanges, youth mobility programs, and civil-society partnerships. This shift facilitated mutual understanding with international communities, enhanced Taiwan’s resilience in identity-based conflict with China, and informed a security approach grounded in transparency, reciprocity, and civic engagement.
By conceptualizing CEPD and demonstrating its relevance to identity-based conflict and security politics, this talk will engage with debates in international relations on soft power, public diplomacy, and state–society relations. Taiwan’s experience is a valuable case for understanding how diplomatically constrained states can mobilize public diplomacy to navigate geopolitical challenges and reshape regional security narratives.
For SOAS Students Only
Please kindly note that this event is for SOAS students only.
About the speaker
Dr Yung Lin
Yung Lin has been researching on the dynamics of soft power and public diplomacy in East Asia since obtaining her Master in International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS, University of London. Her master dissertation “How have Taiwan’s Social Movements in the Past Ten Years Impacted on its Public Diplomacy?” argues that Taiwan has plenty of soft power resources but was not well strategized, which was published on The News Lens International. After finishing the master degree, she worked in London for investment firms and risk analysis consultancies covering Asia market.
Yung Lin is a TQUK certified teacher promoting classic literature studies. She has a BA in Foreign Languages and Literature at National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. She believes that the literature studies are important for young students to develop the skills of critical thinking and independent analysis. She is currently a tutorial lecturer at Faculty of Humanities for the BA International Studies program.
Image credit: Timo Volz via Unsplash
