Taiwan’s International Environmental Policy: Balancing Trade and the Environment

　

Wen-chen Shih

　

Abstract

　

        In Chapter 8, Wen-chen Shih analyses Taiwan’s international environmental policies, particularly its efforts during the 1990s to balance trade with environmental protection. Taiwan is in a strange position by international standards. It is subject to international criticism for its environmental conduct, yet it is unable to participate in most international forums that deal with environmental issues (because mainland China will not permit this to happen). Shih argues that Taiwan now has a policy of voluntary compliance with multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), although he shows that the underlying reason for this policy is the protection of Taiwan’s economic and trade interests – not environmental protection per se. This policy followed threats of trade restrictions and sanctions during the early 1990s from some MEAs to which Taiwan is not a party. This puts Taiwan in a very difficult position in the international debate over the compatibility between free trade and MEAs. In undertaking his analysis of Taiwan, Shih highlights some of the important forces and actors shaping the environmental foreign policy of an important actor in East Asia.