Taiwan pulls out of WTO event | WTO host Cameroon’s designation of Taiwan as a ‘province of China’ seriously undermines the nation’s status and rights as a WTO member

I’m posting this less as a one-off event and more showing the latest in a long line of Taiwan being more hawkish in their foreign policy to win recognition. Recent actions by the DPP-controlled foreign ministry include:

[Taiwan’s Ministry Threatens to Review Ties Over Korea’s ‘China (Taiwan)’ Label](https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/1pkzr6k/taiwans_ministry_threatens_to_review_ties_over/’)

[Taiwan changes ‘Korea’ to ‘S. Korea’ in immigration system in protest over Seoul’s labeling of it as China](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20260318/taiwan-changes-korea-to-s-korea-in-immigration-system-in-protest-over-seouls-labeling-of-it-as-china)

Lai Ching-te and the foreign ministry have also made hawkish rhetorical strides towards aligning with the PRC’s rivals:

[Booming Taiwan can well afford more military spending, president says](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/booming-taiwan-can-well-afford-more-military-spending-president-says-2026-03-14) – It should be noted this speech was very controversial. In the speech, [he claimed Japanese rule as part of the Co-prosperity Sphere was better than KMT rule.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH9kwUJ5ij0)

>日本殖民台灣是為了推動大東亞共榮圈, 國民黨來台是把台灣當作反攻大陸的基地，心不在台灣。國民黨對待台灣甚至比日本殖民時期還要更差

>Japan colonized Taiwan in order to promote the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Kuomintang came to Taiwan and treated it as a base for retaking the mainland—their focus was not on Taiwan. The Kuomintang treated Taiwan even worse than during the period of Japanese colonial rule.

Now the thing is most of these rivals aren’t able to do anything, or have actually retracted support after pressure from China. Japan has not seriously retaliated against the economic sanctions China has placed on them. Recently, Lithuania is openly declared that staring down China (after they got support from no one else, not even the EU) was like “jumping in front of a train and losing”. Several countries like Canada, Germany, and Britain have also all gone to repair ties with China, showing a mismatch between Taiwan’s foreign policy and how the rest of the world is interacting with the PRC.

I don’t think it’s a good idea for Taiwan to be taking a hawkish stance on their recognition at this time, especially with how turbulent and unreliable the backing of the US has gotten. The experiences of Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands show that expecting US backing for a hawkish stance on China will only have you holding the bag. Instead, they should probably lay low and adopt a more pragmatic stance at this time, similar to Korea’s Lee Jae-Myung.