Citizens can shape diplomacy, not just governments. Yung Lin investigates how people in Taiwan and Southeast Asia build trust, negotiate identity, and communicate across cultures in an era of increasing cultural diversity and identity-based conflict.
Yung Lin's research explores how ordinary citizens contribute to diplomatic practice alongside the government. By analysing Taiwan's policies and interviewing Taiwanese expatriates, her work shows how public diplomacy has shifted from a top-down model toward a citizen-centred approach, reflecting broader transformations in state-society relations.
Taiwan's approach to identity-based conflict
Between 2000 and 2020, tensions in East Asia were closely tied to identity. Yung Lin examined how public diplomacy practices help approach, manage, or alleviate identity-based conflict. Her analysis of Taiwan's diplomatic policies highlights the increasing involvement of citizens in diplomatic processes, moving beyond government-only initiatives.
Between 2022 and 2023, Yung Lin conducted semi-structured interviews with Taiwanese expatriates in Southeast Asia and China. These respondents navigate daily multilingual, multi-religious, and culturally diverse environments. Despite challenges, they consistently built meaningful relationships with local communities, emphasising mutual respect, transparency, and trust. They learned local languages, engaged with local education systems, and used social media to maintain open, two-way dialogue. These interactions strengthened Taiwan's international image while promoting understanding of local cultures.
How citizens shape public diplomacy in Taiwan
The findings from the policy analysis and interviews reveal clear ways in which citizens are contributing to Taiwan's public diplomacy. The research identifies four key ways in which citizens contribute:
- Citizens increasingly perform public diplomacy: Taiwan's strategy shifted from simply informing citizens to actively involving them.
- Digital literacy enables trust-building: Social media has become a platform for transparent and reciprocal communication.
- Expats act as cultural connectors: Immersion in local contexts deepens cross-cultural empathy.
- Effects reverberate back home: Experiences abroad enhance domestic awareness of diversity, particularly regarding Taiwan's Southeast Asian immigrant communities.
From these insights, Yung Lin proposes the concept of Civic-embedded Public Diplomacy (CEPD), highlighting that public diplomacy is not only statecraft, but a partnership between government and society.
Shaping Taiwan's future through citizen participation
CEPD demonstrates that diplomacy can be shaped by citizens as much as by the state, with effects that extend across multiple areas of society. In education, values such as cultural empathy, cross-cultural communication, and global citizenship are becoming increasingly important at all levels. Taiwan's large Southeast Asian migrant population contributes socially, culturally, and economically, underscoring that inclusivity is a security as well as social imperative. CEPD also supports democratic resilience: openness, transparency, and trust enhance Taiwan's visibility in a contested geopolitical environment.
Looking ahead, this research lays the groundwork for a comparative agenda focused on de facto sovereignty, human security, and democratic resilience. CEPD shows how civic engagement can mitigate identity-based tensions, strengthen societal trust, and reinforce democratic resilience in contexts where sovereignty is contested or evolving.
PhD Defence
Yung Lin's PhD defence will take place on 2 December at 11.30 hrs. in the Academy Building at Leiden University. She will give a lay talk prior to the defence, which can also be watched online.
