Economic Diplomacy, Soft Power, and Taiwan’s Relations with Indonesia

This paper seeks to discuss the recent developments of Taiwan-Indonesia relations. It especially aims to identify the diverse efforts that Taiwan has made to secure an improved position in its relation with Indonesia, amid an increasingly cordial relation between Indonesia and China. Among the efforts that Taiwan has conducted is using the attractiveness of its economic resources to achieve a better recognition from Indonesia. However, this practice of “economic diplomacy” has been combined with an attempt to invest soft power through various means. They include, among others, promoting Taiwanese education attraction among middle-class Indonesians, particularly Chinese Indonesians, attracting Indonesian students to pursue a higher degree in Taiwan through various scholarship programs, and establishing a network between the Taiwanese and Indonesian scholars. While the above efforts have arguably enabled Taiwan to have a better recognition among certain segments of the Indonesian public and government, it still faces a number of challenges