The Myth of Institutionalizing Hong Kong-Taiwan Relations: 26 Years after the Handover

Abstract

Liberal institutionalism theorists argue that institutional establishment would promote cooperation between the two political entities of the exchange in terms of strategic interests, which is facing many obstacles in the internationally anarchist system. It could function especially well during external interactions at the sub-state level. However, after Hong Kong was handed over to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the development of relations with Taiwan was full of twists and turns, approaching the opposite. Formal and bureaucratic interactions have prompted Hong Kong officials to make conservative decisions about Taiwan’s sensitive relationship, stifling the strategic ambiguity needed to utilize Hong Kong as a buffer for cross-strait tensions. Especially during the Democratic Progressive Party’s reign, the institutionalization seems to have opened a loophole and given Taiwan an “international” form to interact with Hong Kong, crossing the red line of Beijing’s “One China Principle”. Coupled with the closer connections between the civil societies of Taiwan and Hong Kong since the mid-2010s, Beijing has imposed a clampdown on institutionalized Hong Kong–Taiwan relations. The previously subtle interaction between Hong Kong and Taiwan, being leveraged during the cross-strait conflict, has been greatly weakened since the mid-2010s.

Keywords

• city diplomacy
• cross-strait relations
• institutionalization
• strategic ambiguity
• sub-state diplomacy