Dissertation
Public Diplomacy from the ground up: How citizens shape Taiwan’s inclusive future
How do public diplomacy practices help approach, manage, or alleviate identity-based conflict?
- Author
- Yung Lin
- Date
- 02 December 2025
- Links
- PhD researcher Yung Lin's defence will take place on 2 December at 11.30 in the Academy Building at Leiden University
This research investigates how citizens, not just the government, shape public diplomacy in an era of increasing cultural diversity and identity-based conflict. As Taiwan deepens its democratic development and engages more closely with Southeast Asia, understanding how people build trust, negotiate identity, and communicate across cultures has never been more vital.
I examined Taiwan’s diplomatic policies from 2000 to 2020. It shows that the evolution from a top-down model toward a citizen-centered and democratized approach aligns with broader transformations in state–society relations.
Key Findings
- Citizens increasingly perform public diplomacy. Taiwan’s strategy has shifted from informing citizens to involving them.
- Digital literacy enables trust-building. Social media has become a platform for transparent, reciprocal communication between Taiwanese and Southeast Asian communities.
- Expats act as cultural connectors. Their linguistic learning and immersion in local educational contexts deepen cross-cultural empathy.
- Effects reverberate back to Taiwan. Experiences abroad strengthen domestic awareness of cultural diversity, especially regarding Taiwan’s Southeast Asian immigrant communities.
In addition to the policy analysis, between 2022 and 2023, I carried out semi-structured interviews with Taiwanese expatriates working in various countries in Southeast Asia and China. These respondents navigate multilingual, multi-religious, and culturally diverse environments daily. Despite challenges, they consistently built meaningful relationships with local communities, emphasizing mutual respect, transparency, and trust. They learned local languages, engaged through local education systems, and used social media to create open, two-way dialogue. Their interactions helped strengthen Taiwan’s image while promoting understanding of local cultures.
From these insights, I propose the concept of Civic-embedded Public Diplomacy (CEPD). The term captures the civic dimension of公眾外交 (gong zhong wai jiao, Taiwan’s official term for public diplomacy) and highlights that public diplomacy is not only simply a statecraft but a partnership between the government and society.
Impact and Future Significance
The findings highlight an emerging future impact:
- Education: Public diplomacy values, cultural empathy, cross-cultural communication, and global citizenship are becoming important elements in all levels of education.
- Inclusive society development: In Taiwan’s case, the growing population of Southeast Asian immigrants (about 700,000 migrant workers and 250,000 care workers) is reshaping society. Their contributions in labor, family life, and cultural exchange make inclusivity a security imperative, not just a social ideal.
- Democratic resilience: CEPD strengthens the global visibility through openness, transparency, and trustworthiness, which are crucial in a contested geopolitical environment.
Future Research Agenda
Looking ahead, this research establishes a foundation for a comparative agenda centered on de facto sovereignty, human security, and democratic resilience. Regions experiencing geopolitical uncertainty increasingly require models that integrate citizen participation into diplomacy and security practices. CEPD contributes to these debates by showing how civic engagement can mitigate identity-based tensions, strengthen societal trust, and reinforce democratic resilience in contexts where sovereignty is contested or evolving.