Beyond recognition competition
Taiwan’s international position is often described through the number of states that formally recognise the Republic of China and the diplomatic competition surrounding those relationships. That remains important, but it does not capture all the ways in which Taiwan acts internationally or is treated as a political counterpart.
My research asks what becomes visible when recognition is treated as a practice rather than only a legal status. Taiwan–Somaliland relations provide a particularly useful case because both sides operate under conditions of contested or incomplete recognition, yet sustain representative offices, reciprocal diplomatic practices and forms of international cooperation.
Taiwan–Somaliland as reciprocal practice
Drawing on interviews with Taiwanese diplomats, the project examines how reciprocal practice with Somaliland allows inherited Republic of China institutions to be used in the representation of Taiwan. The point is not that formal recognition has ceased to matter. Rather, diplomatic agency can be produced through repeated practice even where conventional recognition remains unavailable.
This creates a different analytical perspective on contested sovereignty. Political entities can acquire forms of standing, representation and reciprocal obligation without resolving the larger legal and geopolitical disputes surrounding their status.
Political identity under diplomatic constraint
The project also asks how Taiwan’s political identity is expressed internationally. The institutions available to represent Taiwan carry the historical inheritance of the Republic of China, while the political community they now represent has changed substantially. Diplomacy therefore becomes a site in which inherited institutional forms are adapted, rearticulated and made to carry contemporary Taiwanese political identity.
This connects recognition to the wider research programme on identity and political order. Domestic debates about memory, legitimacy and belonging are not sealed off from international politics; they shape the terms through which Taiwan explains itself and seeks room for action.
Status of the research
This is current work rather than a mature publication programme. The Taiwan–Somaliland article is in preparation and draws on interviews with Taiwanese diplomatic practitioners. Further work develops the conceptual implications for recognition, diplomatic representation and international agency under contested sovereignty.
I therefore distinguish this project from established expertise grounded in a larger body of published work. Its value on the website is to make a genuine current research trajectory visible without presenting developing findings as settled conclusions.