POPULISM, NATIONALISM, AND HEGEMONIC STRUGGLES OVER TRADE AND ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION IN TAIWAN by SZU-YUN HSU B.Sc., National Cheng-Kung University, 2000 M.Sc., National Taiwan University, 2004 M.Sc., London School of Economics and Political Science, 2008 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) March 2019 © Szu-Yun Hsu, 2019 The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Populism, Nationalism, and Hegemonic Struggles over Trade and Economic Liberalization in Taiwan submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements by Szu-Yun Hsu for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Examining Committee: Jim Glassman, Geography, UBC Supervisor Merje Kuus, Geography, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Luke Bergmann, Geography, UBC University Examiner John Roosa, History, UBC University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Abidin Kusno, Environmental Studies, York University Supervisory Committee Member ii Abstract This research examines trade and economic liberalization in Taiwan in relation to crisis and hegemonic restructuring. Drawing on Gramscian scholarship, postcolonial theory, and critical geopolitics, the analysis expounds on the multiple crises facing Taiwan since the 1980s, documents the trade-related social and political struggles, and illustrates their profound implications to neoliberalization. The first half of the dissertation tackles emerging populist politics along with democratization, the challenges it presented to state control of trade and capital flow, and the rise of economic deterritorialization as a consequence. It then explains how the state transformed itself into a populist authoritarian regime by articulating a deterritorialized national economy, which consisted of a neoliberal regionalist initiative and a series of geoeconomic maneuvers that variously invoked the people and the nation to regain leadership and legitimacy. The second half of the dissertation illustrates the ways in which the neoliberalist agenda has advanced since the 2000s, a non-hegemonic era marked by unfettered outward investment, polarized party politics, and broiling nationalist disputes. The prevalence of financial nationalism and the subsequent turn to embracing cross-Strait economic liberalization after 2008 are the foci of analysis. My dissertation concludes with a note on the 2014 Sunflower Movement, a populist frenzy opposing cross-Strait service trade liberalization. The study investigates the re-articulation of “the nation- people” through the movement and discusses its potentials and limits of challenging the trend of neoliberalization. Eventually, the analysis unravels the dialectical relationship between political democratization and economic liberalization, highlights the centrality of trade and economic liberalization in the hegemonic struggles, and indicates the fundamental role of nationalism and populism in shaping and conditioning the path to neoliberalization in Taiwan. My research contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the usefulness of conjunctural analysis and its theoretical implications. It demonstrates that neoliberalism neither presents a strong discourse nor a consistent policy regime. Rather, it is contingent and speculative in nature, articulating with different forms of populist and nationalist politics at particular historical conjunctures and advancing through the moments of crisis along the course of hegemonic restructuring. iii Lay Summary This research examines trade and economic liberalization in Taiwan in relation to political transformation since its democratization to date. The analysis expounds on the multiple crises facing Taiwan since the 1980s, documents the trade-related social and political disputes, and illustrates their profound implications to the long course of economic neoliberalization. They include early tariff and foreign exchange control-focused trade and economic liberalization, the pursuit of regionalism, the proposal of multiple waves of geoeconomic maneuvers, liberalization of cross-Strait investment, and ultimately, financialization. It unravels the dialectical relationship between political democratization and economic liberalization, highlights the centrality of trade and economic liberalization in the democratization era, and indicates the fundamental role of nationalism and populism in shaping and conditioning the path to neoliberalization in Taiwan. iv Preface This dissertation is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Szu-Yun Hsu. v Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................... iv Preface ............................................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ x Glossary of Chinese Names ......................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Rethinking Trade and Economic Liberalization in Taiwan ......................................................................1 II. Theoretical Orientation ............................................................................................................................3 III. Research Agenda ...................................................................................................................................16 IV. Methodology ..........................................................................................................................................23 V. Organization of the Chapters .................................................................................................................28 Chapter 2 Democratization, Populism, and Taiwan’s Early Trade and Economic Liberalization ...... 31 I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................31 II. Liberalization of Trade and Foreign Economic Policies in Taiwan: the Statist Approach and Its Critique ...................................................................................................................................................32 III. Early Trade and Economic Liberalization: A Paradigm Shift ...............................................................36 IV. The Joys and Dilemmas of National Wealth .........................................................................................39 V. Politicization of Foreign-Exchange Control ..........................................................................................45 VI. Outward Investment Deregulation in the Name of the “People” ..........................................................54 Chapter 3 Twist and Turns to Trade Liberalization: Populism, Nationalism, and Embracing Free Trade ............................................................................................................................................ 62 vi I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................62 II. Taiwan’s Trade Liberalization under US Hegemony: Popular Explanations and Beyond ....................63 III. A Paradigm Shift and the Populist Origin of Trade Liberalization .......................................................68 IV. The Bilateral Trade Agreement Between the US and ROC (Taiwan) ...................................................78 V. Currency Dispute and the Nationalist Embracement of Free Trade Regime .........................................85 Chapter 4 Re-articulating the Nation-People Nexus in the Outward Economy I: Populist Authoritarianism and Neoliberal Regionalism ........................................................................ 92 I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................92 II. Theoretical Recalibration: Nationalism, Populism, and Neoliberalism .................................................93 III. Nationalism and Trade Politics in Taiwan: A Critical Review ..............................................................97 IV. Reconstructing the Nation-state through Neoliberal Regionalism ......................................................104 V. APROC and Populist Authoritarianism ...............................................................................................111