Unknown and Undetected: Taiwan's Policy in the Middle East

In spite of its peculiar international standing and regardless of its geographical distance as well as politico-cultural differences with the Middle East, Taiwan has surprisingly managed to forge rather manifold connections to the region for close to seven decades. Taiwan has built amicable and symbiotic politico-diplomatic ties with key Mideast countries, developing continuous partnership with them without the privilege of having those instrumental types of attachment. As a result, Taipei occupies a unique position in the international relations of the region. Still, this phenomenon has largely escaped the attention of both academic and policy circles around the world, as major developments in Taiwan's interactions with the Middle East over past decades were hardly recorded or scrutinized. This study probes Taiwan's atypical foreign policy orientation toward the Middle East by looking into critical milestones in Taipei's connections with the region.