Indigenous Diplomacy – Taiwan’s Cultural Bridge to the Pacific

Damian Shahfazli | Indo Pacific Fellow

Image sourced from HaeB via Wikimedia Commons.

As of 2025, only 12 countries officially recognise Taiwan as the sovereign Republic of China (ROC). Since 2019, Pacific states have increasingly shifted toward recognising Beijing over Taipei. Taiwan’s isolation calls for alternative engagement strategies beyond official diplomatic relations that oppose the One China Policy. Indigenous diplomacy presents a unique avenue, drawing upon Taiwan’s Austronesian heritage to foster connections with Indigenous communities across the Indo-Pacific. However, its effectiveness is dependent on domestic and international concerns.

Taiwan must see its Indigenous diplomacy as not performative and backed by genuine reconciliatory efforts. Further, engaging in Indigenous diplomacy raises a potentially controversial discourse on Taiwan’s history of settler colonialism. Finally, any Indigenising movements that present a unique Taiwanese identity risks provoking Beijing. If Taiwan effectively navigates these complexities, it could serve as a model for other states to integrate Indigenous perspectives into foreign policy.

Indigenous Diplomacy: Pitfalls of the Austronesian Route

The Out of Taiwan theory posits that Austronesian-speaking people originated from seafaring peoples Indigenous to Taiwan and spread across Southeast Asia and the Pacific through waves of migration across thousands of years. This connection continues to shape Taiwan’s diplomatic outreach where on 30 November 2024, ROC President Lai embarked on a diplomatic tour to Taiwan’s three remaining Pacific allies—Tuvalu, Palau, and the Marshall Islands—as well as U.S. overseas territories of Guam and Hawaii. Under the theme Smart and Sustainable Development for a Prosperous Austronesian Region, Lai invoked Indigenous Taiwan’s shared roots to the Pacific which—in his words— “makes us like family”.

While the tour attempted to reinforce Taiwan’s Indigenous ties, Lai’s visit to Guam and Hawaii were perceived by some as solely reaffirming security interests with the US. Further, visiting US territories where Austronesian peoples live under US authority seemed contradictory to achieving a ‘prosperous Austronesian region’ rooted in self-determination. This questions the sincerity of Taiwan’s Indigenous narrative as mere geopolitical virtue signalling.

Moreover, in Taiwan, poor policy frameworks for land rights has resulted in privately owned Indigenous Reserves becoming targets for developments and stricter regulation. Restrictions on hunting have also increased, brought upon under the auspices of species protection. For Taiwan’s Indigenous diplomacy abroad to hold credibility, there must be greater domestic reconciliation through land reforms, recognition of sovereignty over natural resources, and policies that safeguard cultural traditions rather than regulate them out of existence.

Settler-colonial States and Cultural Diplomacy

Indigenous communities in Taiwan have begun forging their own diplomatic ties through cultural exchange. This year’s Asia-Pacific triennial of Performing Arts funded by the Australian government featured Gapu Ŋupan, a collaboration between Yolŋu people from Northeast Arnhem and Taiwan’s Paiwan and Truku tribes. Here, song and dance featured as mediums of storytelling and shared connection. Similarly, Indigenous diplomacy has been reproduced through New Zealand’s economic cooperation agreement with Taiwan, ANZTEC. Celebrating its 2024 anniversary, Taiwanese Indigenous artists collaborated with Māori artists, emphasising diplomacy through cultural exchange and art rather than traditional statecraft.

These Indigenous-led collaborations offer a more organic form of diplomacy compared with Lai’s initiatives. However, they also reveal unresolved discourses around coloniality. Taiwan’s history of successive waves of colonisation by the Dutch, Qing, and Japanese, followed by martial law under the Kuomintang (KMT), means different groups have defined postcoloniality distinctly. Some mark it in 1945 with Japan’s withdrawal—others in 1987 with the lifting of the KMT’s martial law. But for Indigenous Taiwanese, postcoloniality remains unrealised. Han Taiwanese, despite their own colonial past, exist in a settler space adjacent to Indigenous Taiwanese. As shared histories rooted in settler-colonialism form the crux of these recent connections established with Indigenous communities in Australia and New Zealand, treading this path of Indigenous diplomacy resurfaces confronting realities about Taiwan’s history that are often denied.

Cross-Strait Relations

Despite the different approaches to Indigenous diplomacy, one constant remains—movements toward Indigenising Taiwan’s identity risks provoking China. Lai’s recent Austronesian tour drew Beijing’s ire by reinforcing Taiwan’s presence in the Pacific—a region China has been actively attempting to expand its influence in. Beijing interpreted this tour as not only challenging its own Pacific ambitions, but also an act of provocation. Visiting US overseas territories was perceived as an attempt to pursue Taiwan’s independence through US support.

Purporting the uniqueness of an Austronesian Taiwanese identity by leveraging Indigenous voices has risked unsettling the long-standing One China understanding ruled by the 1992 Consensus. If Taiwan’s Indigenous diplomacy is framed as a broader assertion of a separate Taiwanese identity, it could further antagonise Beijing, which sees any departure from Chinese cultural and historical narratives as a step towards formal independence. Taiwan must walk a fine line in its Indigenous diplomacy, ensuring that its initiatives do not inadvertently challenge the existing status quo.

A Model for the Future

Combining these factors, Taiwan has a lot of careful considerations in executing Indigenous diplomacy. Domestically, greater efforts towards reconciliation must be given to underline its legitimacy. Looking domestically also requires reframing of historical narratives of Taiwan’s experiences with colonialism. Externally, Taiwan must carefully frame its Indigenous diplomacy where emphasising a distinct Austronesian identity is not perceived by Beijing as a move towards sovereignty. Currently, there’s signs of promise through recent forging of cultural connections in Australia and New Zealand. If Taiwan can successfully balance this complexity of factors, it could become a model for other states in proving that Indigenous diplomacy is a meaningful strategic approach to international engagement.

Damian Shahfazli is the Indo Pacific Fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs. He recently completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of International Studies majoring in International Relations, Chinese Studies, and minoring in Politics at Macquarie University. Through his studies Damian had the opportunity to study abroad in Taiwan in 2023 for 6 months as a New Colombo Plan Mobility Grant recipient which drew his interest deeper into the Indo-Pacific.