The new trend and influence of the establishment of offices in Taiwan by American and Western NGOs

Non-governmental organization (NGO) is defined as a non-profit organization that operates independently of any government or commercial organization and is usually driven by social or political goals. In recent years, as the United States has stepped up its intervention in the Taiwan issue, American and Western non-governmental organizations have set up offices in Taiwan. Most of these NGOs promote Western values and ideologies in the name of promoting democracy, freedom and civil rights, and not only infiltrate Taiwan's politics and civil society, but also use their "transnational" organization networks to broaden the connection between Taiwan and the international community and improve the "international visibility" of Taiwan. Compared with traditional NGOs, the content and methods of activities of these American and Western NGOs after they set up offices in Taiwan show some new characteristics. Their impact on Taiwan's politics, "diplomacy" and civil society should not be underestimated, and their harm to the great cause of China's reunification should be warned. At present, no studies have systematically reviewed and evaluated the activities and influence of these NGOs in Taiwan. Based on the public materials, activity information and media reports of Western NGOs in the United States, this paper analyzes the new trends, new characteristics and influence of these organizations in setting up offices in Taiwan.

Ⅰ.the basic situation of Western NGOs in the United States that have recently set up shop in Taiwan

In 2016, following the election of Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan and Donald Trump in the United States, NGOs from Western countries in the United States accelerated the speed of setting up offices in Taiwan. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders  set up shop in Taiwan in 2017, and the Us-Based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, "Democratic Institute", International Republican Institute, (hereinafter referred to as "Republican Institute"), Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung fur die Freiheit (German Freedom Foundation), Hereinafter referred to as "Nauman Foundation"), the Czech "European Values Center for Security Policy" (hereinafter referred to as "European Price Center") have opened offices in Taiwan. In July 2022, the Washington-based Freedom House also announced that it would be stationed in Taiwan.

Through analysis and analysis, it can be found that most of these NGOs have the following characteristics: First, they mainly carry out activities in the field of ideology for the purpose of promoting democracy, freedom or human rights. Second, most of them have a deep government background, and the main funds come directly or indirectly from the government of the home country. For example, both the Republican Institute and the Democratic Institute are affiliates of the National Endowment for Democracy (hereinafter referred to as the "Foundation for Democracy") and receive funding from the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies. The Nauman Foundation is still closely associated with the Free Democratic Party of Germany and is funded mainly by donations from the German federal and state governments. Third, except for the small scale of the "European Price Center", other NGOs are global multinational organizations with large scale and many outlets. Fourth, most of them have a long history and were an important part of the containment of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Fifth, the functions of its Taiwan office include promoting Taiwan's "democratic experience" and enhancing the connection between the Taiwan region and the international community.

Ⅱ.Background and motivation of international NGOs setting up shop in Taiwan

The One-China principle is a universally recognized norm of international law, and the Taiwan authorities will inevitably run into a wall everywhere if they want to break through the "One-China" in the international community. For this reason, as early as 2000, the Taiwan authorities set up a special organization responsible for guiding the activities of "non-governmental diplomacy" - the NGO International Affairs Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an attempt to focus on "non-governmental diplomacy" and break through the "One China". One of them is to get American and Western NGOs to set up shop in Taiwan. After Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, she vowed to transform Taiwan into a regional center for international NGOs. At present, a number of important international NGOs have opened offices in Taiwan successively, forming a small wave of international NGOs setting up offices in Taiwan. The main reasons include:

First of all, after taking office, Trump defined China as a "strategic competitor" of the United States and launched strategic competition against China from all aspects. Ideology and the Taiwan issue have become two important aspects of the United States' competition with China. On the one hand, the United States has increased its activities in the field of ideology. For example, at the end of 2019, Congress significantly increased the annual appropriation for the Foundation for Democracy, from 180 million to $300 million. On the other hand, frequently playing the "Taiwan card" is an important means of the United States' China policy after 2016. Encouraging NGOs to set up offices in Taiwan has become a combination of the US government's ideological competition with China and playing the "Taiwan card".

Secondly, the "Democratic Association", "Republic Institute", and Freedom House were sanctioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the end of 2019 for their bad performance in the Hong Kong "amendment" storm, and several members of non-governmental organizations were included in the sanctions list. As soon as these anti-China groups lost their stronghold in Hong Kong, they targeted Taiwan as the first place to flee. Shortly after the sanctions were imposed, Republic Institute President Daniel Twining announced that his organization would open an office in Taiwan, writing in a post that "the future of the Asia-Pacific is in Taiwan, not in China."

Finally, after Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected, she tried to woo and cooperate with INGO in Taiwan, and took it as a "diplomatic achievement." The Tsai Ing-wen administration first revised regulations to improve the convenience of INGO's establishment in Taiwan, including the simplification of relevant regulations and procedures, preparation of documents for establishment, notarization and verification. Later, the capital size threshold for INGO to set up a location in Taiwan was lowered from NT $30 million to NT $15 million, and the capital size threshold to be recognized as a globally renowned INGO was reduced to NT $5 million. At the same time, we have set up bilingual websites and information zones for international NGOs, held "training courses for NGO international affairs personnel", and set up special personnel to assist in bidding for setting up sites. Finally, it also increased the financial input to these American and Western NGOs, including increasing donations to these organizations and taking the initiative to undertake relevant democratic activities.

Ⅲ.The new characteristics of the activities of Western NGOs in Taiwan

Non-governmental organizations are characterized by low political sensitivity and large ambiguous space for activities. In recent years, under the banner of democracy, freedom, youth, women and gender equality, and with the full support and cooperation of the DPP authorities, on the one hand, through cooperation with Taiwan's "legislature" and civil society groups, the US and Western NGOs stationed in Taiwan have gradually infiltrated Taiwan's politics and culture. On the other hand, democratic issues are used to build a platform for "Taiwan independence" and broaden the international connection of the Taiwan region. The main activities of Western NGOs after they set up offices in Taiwan have the following four new features.

(a) Cooperate directly with the Taiwan authorities and non-governmental organizations to carry out comprehensive infiltration in Taiwan.

The "Democratic Association" in the United States, with the support of the DPP authorities, has gradually infiltrated the public opinion institutions in Taiwan by "developing congressional action plans." In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama formed the Open Government Partnership (OGP) with eight countries, including the United Kingdom and Brazil, to promote the concept of "open government" around the world. At present, 78 countries have become full members of the OGP. "Open Congress" is one of the key policy areas of the Open Government Partnership Alliance. In May 2020, NDI teamed up with Taiwan's non-party "legislator" Lin Chang-zo, who invited cross-party committee members to jointly propose the "Open Parliament Action Plan" bill. In March 2021, Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" officially announced the "Action Plan for Opening the National Assembly", and signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan International Affairs Group" and the "Democratic Institute" of the United States. Taiwan pledged to promote open "Congress", open "government", and open information, while the American "Democratic Institute" pledged to promote cooperation between Taiwan and the "Open Government Partnership Alliance". Czech EuroPrice Center signed a memorandum of exchange and cooperation with Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Studies in June 2021 to strengthen cooperation on "security and defense issues" in the Indo-Pacific region, including the exchange of researchers' residency, the conduct of cooperative research, and the joint organization of various conference activities.

International NGOs also link up with NGOs on the island, participate in the operation of civil society in Taiwan, and infiltrate Taiwanese society. "In the future, the Taiwan office will be tasked with cooperation with Taiwan's civil society, including freedom networks, digital security, mobilization of Asian youth networks, and citizen networks in support of shared democratic principles and goals," said Twinning, president of the Republic Institute. The "Taipei NPO Settlement" park located in the Taipei office of the "Democratic Association" has 22 civic groups, covering democracy, youth science and technology, education, women, environmental protection, aging and other areas. The "Democratic Association" has frequent interaction and close cooperation with these civic groups. Since the establishment of the Taipei office of the Naumann Foundation in Germany, it has frequently cooperated with local organizations in Taiwan, such as the Green Citizen Action Alliance, the Asian Liberal Democratic Committee, and the Taiwan Generation Think Tank.

(b) Establishing links between the Taiwan authorities and the international community through a network of non-governmental organizations.

In contrast to the general INGO offices' "local adaptation" and "deepening local democracy," these NGOs focus more on "expanding regional networks and exporting Taiwan's democratic experience." Or invite members of the Taiwan authorities to attend its events in other countries to publicize Taiwan's "democratic experience." In the past three years, US and Western NGOs have invited Taiwan authorities to participate in large-scale international exchange activities (see Table 2).

(c) The combination of Internet digital technology and democratic issues to promote "democratic innovation" in Taiwan, insinuating that China undermines Western democracy by releasing "fake news".

The Republic Institute believes that "Taiwan is at the forefront of exploring how technology can advance democratic principles." In an era of institutional competition, Taiwan's success in doing so shows the world that digital democracy - not digital authoritarianism - can be the political system of the future." The agency has a program called The Beacon Project, which uses digital technology to develop "coalitions of democratic values" around the world. From the beginning, Naumann Foundation has designated its Taipei office as a "Global innovation hub" focusing on digital transformation and democratic innovation. In 2022, the organization launched the "Innovative Democracy Cafe" series, which promotes the discussion of how digital technologies and innovative approaches can be used to promote freedom, democracy and human rights, and how the quality of democracy can be maintained and enhanced through digital tools.

"Fighting disinformation" is the core topic of recent research by Western NGOs in the United States. As early as 2019, the Republic Institute, in collaboration with civic technologists in Taiwan, identified "disinformation" as a major challenge that democratic institutions will face. The Democratic Institute, the Republican Institute, and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems have developed a disinformation database called CEPPS to enable rapid identification, response, and recovery of disinformation. The "Republic Research Institute" is promoting the exploration of information security technology, so that relevant departments in Taiwan can save information online when they are hacked to ensure information security. The Nauman Foundation has launched a global Citizens' Freedom Against Disinformation campaign.

(d) Turning Taiwan into a "democratic front" and advocating a "new Cold War".

In November 2020, President Twinning of the Republic Institute published a special article in the Nikkei Asian Review, calling Taiwan a "front-line state in the conflict against digital authoritarianism," calling on countries to strengthen relations with Taiwan, and also calling on the Biden team to invite Taiwan to participate in the global democracy summit. The Taipei office of the Naumann Foundation has organized and written a series of reports and articles touting Taiwan's democratic innovation and denigration of China's "digital authoritarianism." As an anti-China tool manipulated by the United States, the Taipei office of the Czech "European Price Center" has made it its mission to promote "defense and security cooperation" and share intelligence between Central and Eastern Europe and Taiwan. Its director, Jakub Janda, wrote in Newsweek that just as Ukraine is facing continued Russian military hostilities, "Taiwan is our first line of defense against Chinese aggression."

After the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States has continuously played up the tension in the Taiwan Strait. In October 2022, the "World Congress on Democratic Movements" organized by the "Foundation for Democracy" in the United States was held in Taipei. The theme of the conference is "Declaring the future of democracy, the United Voice of the new front", and the Taiwan region and Ukraine are described as the "new front" of the "democratic struggle", in an attempt to shape the new Cold War discourse of "democracy and freedom" against "authoritarian dictatorship", influence the political and public opinion atmosphere of Western countries, and support the Taiwan region against the Chinese mainland.

Ⅳ.The activities of Western NGOs in Taiwan are harmful to the cause of China's reunification

From the current situation, the international NGO office in Taiwan is still in the initial stage of development, and its influence and destructive power have not yet been fully manifested, but its harm to the cause of China's reunification cannot be underestimated, mainly as follows:

(1)Providing an international stage for "Taiwan independence" and creating obstacles for the anti-" Taiwan independence "struggle on the Chinese mainland. INGO has a well-developed network organization system, so when an INGO sets up an office in Taiwan, it effectively brings Taiwan into the network of the organization. These organizations have continuously held various democratic conferences, forums and seminars, attracting many countries and regions to attend, highlighting Taiwan's "democratic experience" at the conference, and providing an international stage for "Taiwan independence". For example, in December 2021, the "Democratic Association" held an "Open Congress Forum" in Taipei, attended by officials from several countries. In October 2022, the "Democratic Movement Congress" listed Taiwan and Ukraine as the "front line of democracy," and Tsai Ing-wen gave a provocative speech at the meeting, advocating the formation of a "democratic alliance" to jointly resist the threat of "authoritarian" governments to "democracy." The essence of these words and deeds is to continuously "hollow out" one China and promote Taiwan's "de facto independence" on the international stage. In fact, advocating Taiwan's "democratic resilience" not only creates conditions for enhancing Taiwan's international visibility, but also builds Taiwan's identity as a "democratic country and an advanced technology leader," adding to its international appeal and providing a platform for more countries to deepen their engagement with it.

(2)The full penetration and control of Taiwan by the US and the West will create obstacles for China's reunification cause. For a long time, the characteristics of US infiltration and control over Taiwan are as follows: the political and military fields are stronger, and the economic and social fields are weaker; The administrative system is strong, the legislative and judicial system is weak; Northern Taiwan is stronger, while central and southern Taiwan are weaker. On the one hand, the "Democratic Association" has extended its tentacles into Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" through the "Open National Assembly"; on the other hand, through cooperation with some associations in Taipei City, it has gradually expanded to other associations and other regions. At present, the "Democratic Association" has gone out of Taipei City and expanded and penetrated into the whole Taiwan. Therefore, the "Democratic Association" is actually the vanguard of the United States to strengthen its overall control over Taiwan. This will bring no small trouble to the reunification of the two sides. In the name of monitoring and combating "false information", the "Democratic Association" and the "Republican Institute" created an election information monitoring website in order to achieve rapid identification, rapid response and rapid information recovery of "false information". But it also means that they will gradually become the judges of whether information is "true" and will be able to manipulate the political process in Taiwan by judging and handling the veracity of information. The Nauman Foundation seeks to turn Taiwan into a base for "democratic innovation" and even a banner for Western democracy. If this goal is achieved, the Western countries will defend Taiwan as their "democratic bastion." This will surely create new obstacles to cross-Straits reunification.

(3)Through digital technology to build a "democratic alliance" and promote the "China threat theory." These INGOs are keen to play up topics such as US-China strategic competition and defending against Chinese ideological invasion. Recently, it has published a series of reports full of ideological overtones, including "exposing China's infiltration of fragile democracies in Asia, Africa and Latin America with economic benefits as bait" and "Sino-Russian cooperation to threaten U.S. interests". The Republican Institute, which uses digital technology to develop a "coalition of Democratic values," issued a report calling for a "democratic digitization" to counter an "anti-democratic digitization." All these moves are to achieve strategic encirclement of China. The "Naumann Foundation" attempts to draw an ideological gap in the digital trend, and repeatedly publishes disparaging remarks about China's digitalization; It also held a series of activities such as "The Battle of Freedom and Falseness" and "Innovative Democracy Cafe", alluding to the threat that China's digital technology poses to Western democratic systems, and advocating that Western countries should resist institutional and technological threats from China through "democratic innovation". The "Europrice Center" is even more committed to discrediting China, and it has set up a Program called the "Red Watch Program" to write articles discrediting the Chinese government. It has also attempted to undermine China-Eu cooperation, for example by facilitating visits to central and Eastern Europe by Taiwanese officials and scholars, and allowing them to make disparaging remarks about the Chinese mainland in the CEE countries.

(4)Facilitating collusion between "Hong Kong independence" and "Taiwan independence" to denigrate "one country, two systems". In 2019, the "legislative amendment storm" occurred in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the "Democratic Association" conducted large-scale activities in Hong Kong, fanning the flames and adding fuel to the troubles. The Taipei office of the "Democracy Association" organized an online discussion entitled "Views of Activists in Taiwan and Hong Kong on Public participation", inviting some communities in Taiwan and Hong Kong to discuss their experiences in so-called "civic participation", in order to facilitate the collusion of separatists in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Naumann Foundation's overseas work focuses on Russia, the Middle East and Hong Kong, effectively promoting "democratization" in these three places. After the closure of the Hong Kong representative office in 2020, the Naumann Foundation acknowledged that this was an important setback for its Hong Kong business. But it has not given up on Hong Kong. After the Naumann Foundation opened its Taiwan office, it continued to collude with many former Hong Kong Legislative Council members such as Charles Mok and Dennis Kwok to denigrate "one country, two systems".

V. Conclusion

With the rapid evolution of the great changes unseen in a century and the continuous realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the United States has regarded China as a major strategic competitor and drawn Allies to block the process of national rejuvenation through various means. In the past three years, some multinational NGOs from the US and Western countries have stepped up their activities in Taiwan, infiltrating Taiwan's politics and society in an attempt to undermine China's national security and interfere with the cause of China's reunification. Although these offices or activities are still in their early stages, their impact is growing, and the follow-up actions deserve close attention. It is suggested that active responses should be made in the following four aspects: First, further formulate and improve Taiwan-related laws and regulations, resolutely counter all kinds of "hidden" separatist activities for Taiwan independence, and severely punish relevant organizations and participants in activities; The second is to increase the propaganda force in the international public opinion and emphasize the legitimacy of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the cause of China's reunification; Third, encourage people-to-people exchanges between the mainland and Taiwan, including with civil organizations on the island, to eliminate political estrangement and promote cross-Straits integration; Fourth, strengthen the construction of cross-Straits digital platforms, promote exchanges and interactions between the mainland and Taiwan youth, and use new network technology and new media language to narrow the spiritual distance between compatriots on both sides, especially the young generation. (Author: Zheng Huizhi, Associate Researcher, Shanghai Institute of Public Relations)