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From the available literature on economic diplomacy it is thus possible to understand how actor states engage in economic diplomacy. Rather few of the works, however, elaborate on the perspective of the target states. For the purpose of this thesis‟ research it was of particular relevance to incorporate the approach towards economic diplomacy of a target state as well. Despite the contribution of Tubilewicz's books on Taiwan's diplomatic activities in Central Europe, the information on the case of Taiwan‟s economic diplomacy adopted on Slovakia still remains rather limited.
This major gap in the literature could be perhaps explained as a result of an insufficient awareness about Taiwan in the Slovak society. The following chapters of this thesis therefore aim to address this flaw and contribute to the academic debate on the topic.
2.4 Analytical Framework
In order to answer this thesis research questions (How did Slovakia respond to the Taiwanese economic inducements in Central Europe in the 1990s? and What were the specific reasons that led Slovakia to be the last Central-European country to establish the representative office with Taiwan?), this thesis adopts the perspective of economic diplomacy and the framework suggested by Czeslaw Tubilewicz on the case of Taiwan's relation with Central and Eastern European countries (Tubilewicz, 2007). Tubilewicz's research explains Taiwan's diplomatic accomplishments or failures from the perspective of asymmetrical interdependent relationship between Taiwan as a potentially dominant state and the recipients of Taiwan's economic favors. The asymmetrical interdependence can be established by means of trade volume, foreign direct investments or foreign aid that puts the dominant state in a position that it has the power of influencing the dependent state's policies so that these become consistent with the policy preferences of the dominant state. The framework thus evaluates whether Taipei attempted to form, or successfully formed an asymmetrical interdependence with the target states and is therefore helpful to evaluate the Slovak-Taiwanese relations in the 1990s.
Following Tubilewicz‟s definition, we could assume that the asymmetrical interdependence between Taiwan and Slovakia would result from Taiwan‟s capacity to form a relationship with Slovakia that is characterized by some degree of Slovakia‟s economic vulnerability with regards to Taiwan, whether in terms of trade,
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aid or investment. In this relationship, Taiwan is in a position to influence Slovakia's policies to the extent that these become consistent with Taiwan's policy preferences.
The study assumes that, without Taiwan's influence efforts, Slovakia would think preferable political relations with China rather than with Taiwan (Tubilewicz, 2007).
In Tubilewicz‟s study on Taiwan‟s economic diplomacy in Central Europe, the analytical framework incorporates concepts such as dependent relationship, generosity, disbursements, economic effectiveness of assistance, economic cooperation, domestic politics, feasibility of diplomatic objectives, and the China factor (Tubilewicz, 2007). Some key changes in the proposed analytical framework include the decision of limiting the factors resulting in asymmetrical interdependent relationship on the economic sphere, i.e. as mentioned above the trade volume, foreign direct investments and foreign aid. For this purpose, trade volume and foreign direct investments will be categorized as “economic cooperation”. In a similar fashion, this thesis chooses to categorize “generosity”, “disbursement” and “economic effectiveness of assistance” as sub-categories of the concept “economic assistance”
for practical reasons.
Other changes include removing the concept “feasibility of diplomatic objectives”. This is because the researcher believes the opening of the representative offices between Taiwan and Slovakia can be considered a feasible diplomatic objective of Taiwan‟s foreign policy. Especially given the diplomatic missions already present in the neighboring central European countries and their obvious character of unofficial representation.
Finally, this study proposes to include to the analytical framework the concept of “the EU membership”. This is because the researcher assumes that the EU membership played the role of a leading force for Slovakia‟s economic reforms and promotion of favorable conditions for the opening of the mutual offices with Taiwan.
The asymmetrical interdependence in the framework adopted for this thesis will be measured on the degree of mutual economic cooperation between Taiwan and Slovakia and the level of economic assistance provided from Taiwan to Slovakia.
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It is assumed that the success of Taiwan‟s economic diplomacy being translated into political ends further depends on conditions such as 1) the target‟s state domestic politics, 2) if located in Europe its EU membership, and 3) the China factor.
• Economic cooperation
Taiwanese transnational companies and business communities play an important role in Taiwan's economic diplomacy. For instance, export of capital is a way how to strengthen Taiwan's ties with countries receiving its capital investments.
The export of capital has been one of the successful ways Taiwan elevates bilateral relations to a higher footing. As Timothy Ka-Ying Wong points out, with the growing bilateral economic and trade relations both the Taiwan's government and the government engaged in economic activities with Taiwan gradually agree on mutual conveniences that often result in the establishment of representative offices or granting of certain rights and privileges that only formal diplomats are given (Wong, 1999). However, in order to establish a certain level of interdependence, it is important to keep in mind that dependence on Taiwan as an export market, rather than an import market, brings higher chances of conformity with Taiwanese foreign policy objectives. Even if the target state‟s export is not dependent on the Taiwanese market, its trade surplus with Taiwan should make it susceptible to meet at least some of Taiwan‟s political demands (Tubilewicz, 2007).
• Economic assistance
Tubilewicz (2007) assumes that “greater generosity is more likely to achieve policy goals.” Therefore, in order to establish and maintain relations by means of asymmetrical interdependence, it would be in Taiwan‟s interest to offer the target state generous economic incentives and/or rewards. However, it is assumed that negotiable grants or soft loans are more likely to stimulate target state‟s interest rather than aid conditional on Taiwanese exports or granted for specific reasons (Tubilewicz, 2007).
• Domestic politics
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From the perspective of the political environment, it is assumed in Tubilewicz‟s study (2007), that “states with governing parties leaning to the left would be more likely to treasure friendship with communist China than states where the ruling elites are oriented towards the right of center in the ideological spectrum.”
Thus while the leftist leaders would prioritize a smooth dialogue assuring China's diplomatic support and accessing to its growing market, by analogy, state leaders with human rights and democratic values on their main agendas would be expected to show support to Taiwan (Tubilewicz, 2007).
• EU membership
The prospect of the EU membership for the Central-European post-communist countries is believed to have played a major role in propelling the governments to adopt market reforms and open up their economies in order to catch up with and adjust to international standards. As a consequence, the willingness to accept Taiwan‟s economic incentives would be more likely higher from governments wishing to attract foreign investors and business partners. The already existent economic cooperation between the EU and Taiwan could have had especially facilitated otherwise cautious approach of the target states in official relations with China.
While the aspiration for the EU membership could have had positive impact on the perception of Taiwan as an attractive economic partner, it indeed added to the target state‟s value as well. Expanding its market in the EU represented substantial advantage for Taiwan. Especially attractive was the ideal location, a solid industrial base, low wage costs and a skilled labor force (我國設立駐斯洛伐克代表處記者會 紀 要 , 2003). Therefore, Taiwan would presumably offer generous incentives to countries whose membership in the EU was secured.
From the political aspect, the EU membership is believed to be providing constant direct pressure for an acceding state to introduce and adopt democratic rules and procedures, civil and other rights and lead thus to its transformation into a highly developed country when it comes to economic development, institutions and the quality of governance (Javorcik, Kaminski, 2004). In this sense, adhering to the EU
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fundamental values, such as the promotion of democracy and human rights, could have provided foundations for cooperation with a likeminded country such as Taiwan.
• The China factor
There is no doubt that cross-Strait relations are of significant importance to Taiwan‟s economic relations with foreign partners. Whether countries are willing to engage in negotiations on economic agreements with Taiwan depends to a high extent on the existence of similar agreements between Beijing and Taipei. The activities of Taiwan‟s economic diplomacy are thus largely restricted by China (Okano-Heijimans, Wit, van der Putten, 2015). Moreover, as a result of China‟s diplomatic and economic pressure, often the cost of political and economic partnership with Taiwan might result to third parties as too high to be balanced by economic cooperation with the island. As result, it might be not easy for Taiwan to create an authentic asymmetrical interdependence, as the cost of its own interest makes it dependent upon the target and therefore makes equal that relationship (Tubilewicz, 2007).
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