This study asks about Taiwan’s non-traditional diplomatic actors’ contribution to the performance of sovereignty within the international system's constraints, where its limited recognition presents significant challenges. It focuses on paradiplomacy - external contacts of subnational governments. It conceptualises the state as an idea to draw attention to various processes, particularly diplomacy, as one of the processes through which the concept of the state is reproduced.
It argues that paradiplomatic practices reinforce Taiwan’s claims to sovereignty by enabling the accumulation and strategic deployment of social and symbolic capital within transnational paradiplomatic fields, thereby increasing its legitimacy in the eyes of relevant international actors. By strengthening Taiwan’s global presence, paradiplomacy not only responds to the changing international order but also challenges its boundaries in discursive productions. At the same time, it points to the limits of paradiplomacy within (still) the Westphalian system. This study's findings provide insights into how non-recognised entities can manoeuvre within the international system and the potential for these innovative practices to prompt evolution within the system itself.
