ABSTRACT
Changing courses in foreign policy does not appear unusual in international politics (Hermann 1990). The Republic of China (ROC, hereafter Taiwan), after its withdrawal from the United Nations in October 1971, has had a couple of salient redirections of foreign policy. Following President Chiang Ching-Kuo’s plan of engaging in international affairs in a more flexible way, President Lee Teng-Hui emphasized the importance of envisaging the political reality and promoting “Pragmatic Diplomacy” (Wushi Waijiao) – a “more practical, more flexible, and more forward looking approach” – at the Thirteenth National Congress of the Kuomintang (KMT) in July 1988. 1 Sometimes “Pragmatic Diplomacy” was labeled as “Flexible Diplomacy” (Tanxing Waijiao).
