台美安全與經濟關係中的等級制：從2000至2023年

Abstract

既存的國際關係理論，無論現實主義、自由主義和建構主義普遍認可「無政府狀態」(anarchy)的基本原則。而過去研究台美關係的文獻，則多立足於新現實主義，從美中台的戰略三角互動進行討論。本文則試圖從國際關係等級制(hierarchy)理論的視角關注台美關係。 國家之間的互動，自傳統以來，各種國際關係理論均立足於「無政府狀態」下「主權平等」的框架之中。主權對外獨立自主，對內則至高無上。然而，David Lake提出的等級制理論則認為，雖然普遍而言國家均肯認「主權平等」的重要性，實際互動當中，卻發現國家間其實也可能存在權威。易言之，國家的主權對外不見得完全「獨立自主」，對內亦不見得「至高無上」。附屬國的主權受到主導國的干預，進而對國內的安全或經濟事務實行權威。 戰後以來，中華民國政府與美國政府的互動隨著國際局勢的改變而有所變化。本文回顧歷史的發展及重要事件，藉以驗證是否有權威的現象存在於美國和台灣的安全與經濟互動關係中。本文並將考察2000年至2023年之間的若干指標：安全等級部分，著眼觀察安全事務機關派員赴美受訓情形、美國國會議員訪台人數、美國國會台灣連線議員數量、中華民國總統過境美國情形；經濟等級部分，則考察台灣和美國的貿易互動數據，以及經濟貿易互動的演變狀態。 綜合歷史回顧與上述次及資料的分析，本文發現台灣和美國無論在安全或是經濟事務方面的互動，皆呈現更加緊密的趨勢。然而，台灣和美國之間更加深入的互動連結，經由分析論證顯示，美國對台灣在安全與經濟政策方面，存在等級關係；並且這種等級關係在近年來呈現強化趨勢。如此便反映於台灣對美國的依附，意即美國對台灣在安全與經濟政策的關係型權威逐漸升高。本文基於上述分析，以等級制理論的視角補充既有國際關係文獻對於台美關係的討論。

The existing international relations theories including realism, liberalism and constructivism emphasized the basic principle of anarchy. Previous researches referring to US-Taiwan relations mostly conducted their analysis from the perspective of strategical triangle theory which is based on neo-realism. This thesis aims to focus on the existence and trend of hierarchy within the interactions between US and Taiwan on security and economic affairs. For a long period of time, international relations theories have viewed the interactions between countries under the framework of “equivalent sovereignty” based on anarchy. Sovereignty stands autonomously to the external while it owns supremacy to the internal. However, the hierarchy theory presented by David Lake discovered the existence of authority within countries despite the importance of “equivalent sovereignty” being recognized widely among countries. In other words, sovereignty seemed not to be necessarily autonomous to the external while also seemed not to be necessarily owning the supremacy to the internal. The sovereignty of a subordinate state is interfered by the dominant state, and that allows the authority to be practiced upon security or economic affairs. After WWII, the interactions between the ROC. and the US government have varied with the international circumstances. This thesis reviewed the history and the significant incidents among to verify whether there is authority existing in the security and economic relations between the US and Taiwan. The thesis focused on several indicators from 2000 to 2023. In terms of the security hierarchy, this thesis reviewed: the numbers of personnel sent to the U.S to be trained from Taiwanese agencies or forces related to security affairs, the numbers of US Senates or Congressman visiting Taiwan every year, the numbers of US Senates or Congressman joining the Taiwan caucus and the status of the transits by Taiwan presidents in the US. In terms of the economic hierarchy, this thesis reviewed the statistics of trade interactions between Taiwan and the US, and the development of the economic and trade relations between the two countries during the period. Upon the analysis through the review of history and secondary data, this thesis discovered that the US and Taiwan enable a trend of closer interactions on either security or economic affairs. However, analysis showed the existence and a growing of hierarchy within the US-Taiwan relations on security and economic policies. This indicates the dependence from Taiwan to the US, which is also the relational authority the US owns to Taiwan, has increased. Based on the analysis above, the thesis intends to provide the perspective of hierarchy in complement to the existing researches on US-Taiwan relations.