Taiwan’s flourishing economy together with its values, such as human rights and democracy, increase Taiwan’s international visibility and question Taiwan’s inability to join the UN, especially...Show moreTaiwan’s flourishing economy together with its values, such as human rights and democracy, increase Taiwan’s international visibility and question Taiwan’s inability to join the UN, especially since they share the same values. The PRC’s open disapproval of Taiwan’s independence as well as its power and influence hinders the UN from accepting Taiwan as a new member state. This thesis aims to research how the dynamics between the US and China within the structure of the UN affect Taiwan’s bid to become an internationally recognised state as well as how Taiwan tries to influence this process from outside the UN. Qualitative research together with a historical case study analysis and a conducted interview display that both the US and China use soft power as political strategies to gain more influence within the UN for their objectives, such as the support or opposition of Taiwan’s entry into the international community. Similarly, Taiwan also uses soft power to gain more allies and to increase its eligibility to enter the UN. Moreover, this thesis finds that divergent understandings of human rights divide the UN regarding their position on Taiwan’s official status and affect the decision-making process regarding Taiwan’s independence.Show less
The South China Sea became in a short time-span quickly heavy militarized. American and Chinese warships are increasingly active in these contested waters. While the G.W. Bush administration...Show moreThe South China Sea became in a short time-span quickly heavy militarized. American and Chinese warships are increasingly active in these contested waters. While the G.W. Bush administration focused militarily mostly on the Middle East, Obama re-shifted with the ‘pivot to Asia’ significant military attention to East Asia. This study aims to clarify to what extent Obama legitimized the military component in the pivot through securitization, as proposed by the Copenhagen School. Therefore, several American and Chinese policy documents and speeches are analyzed. The results indicate that, contrary to what the administration claimed, military policies were predominant in the pivot and ‘extraordinary measures’ compared to pre-existing policies. Furthermore, the Obama administration securitized Chinese policies regarding the South China Sea by portraying them as threatening U.S. security, and thus exceptional measures are required. In successfully securitizing the issue, the administration constructed a reality in which Beijing would have to respond, perceiving Washington uplifting the issue to a ‘top security issue’ as credible.Show less
