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摘要
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This study explores how local governments employ paradiplomacy to recalibrate national-level Austronesian narratives. Taiwan, as the origin of the Austronesian peoples, serves as the core source of legitimacy for the country's promotion of "Austronesian diplomacy." However, the current official narrative faces two major challenges: First, the geographical focus is overly tilted towards the South Pacific region, leading to a discrepancy between the discourse and the academic definition of the entire Austronesian distribution map. Second, it overlooks the "asymmetry of status" in identity politics: domestically, Taiwanese Indigenous peoples are socioeconomically disadvantaged, yet externally, they must engage with "minorities" in settler colonial states like New Zealand or citizens of "sovereign states" like Palau and the Marshall Islands. If the official narrative only uses Indigenous identity as a diplomatic tool while ignoring this political status asymmetry, it can lead to cognitive confusion among stakeholders regarding the "Austronesian" label.
This study uses the recent overseas visits by the Hualien County Government, spanning two oceans, as a case study to analyze how they geographically complete the Austronesian domain by connecting Madagascar (west), Easter Island (east), Tahiti (center), Hawaii (north), and New Zealand (south). The findings reveal that Hualien County's paradiplomacy has a significant "narrative recalibration" function: the local government, through more relatable Indigenous agency, effectively softens the asymmetrical awkwardness faced by the national level when dealing with "minorities versus sovereigns." This " recalibration-oriented paradiplomacy" shifts Taiwan's Austronesian narrative from a regional political label to a globally recognized cultural entity with academic legitimacy, providing a practical path for constructing a coherent Austronesian network. |
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