構建台灣的氣候身份：國際媒體論述分析

Abstract

面對氣候危機的重要性在國際政治中日益凸顯，各國因此在全球氣候治理中扮演著多元角色。這些身份認知與國際體系中的其他行為體相互構建。台灣因其模糊的國際地位，成為研究國家在氣候變遷議題上，如何以及為何試圖建構特定國家身分的一個引人注目的案例。現有文獻有力地指出，台灣的氣候承諾受到提升國際認可和擴展國際空間的驅動。氣候外交已成為台灣外交政策的重要組成部分，官方論述將台灣呈現為負責任的利益相關方、建設性的夥伴，以及被聯合國氣候制度不公正排除在外的國家。然而，台灣此種策略對國際社會如何認知其氣候角色的影響，尚未得到深入評估。本論文透過論述分析，探討2015年至2024年間國際英文媒體對台灣氣候身份的建構方式。研究範圍涵蓋來自六個國家的26家媒體共138篇文章，採用歸納式編碼的過程，識別出五種身份話語：受害者、貢獻者、被排斥者、落後者，以及能源四難困境（energy quadrilemma）。這些話語展現了以下幾點：台灣的氣候身份以多種方式被建構；國家中心的氣候變遷觀點強化了台灣的正當性；同時，台灣外交部的氣候外交策略與國際利益在不同方面影響其氣候身份的塑造，並且在許多情況下，台灣的氣候身份處於經濟與安全考量的從屬地位。本研究不僅為理解台灣氣候外交的國際影響提供了新的視角，還回應了對台灣氣候變遷社會政治面向分析的嚴重不足。未來的研究可以基於本研究的發現，進一步探討塑造台灣氣候身份媒體話語的不同行為者，例如記者與編輯，以及這些氣候身份話語如何影響國際社會對台灣的公眾輿論。

Confronting the climate crisis has gained salience in international politics, leading to states taking on a variety of roles in global climate governance. These identity conceptions - such as leader, pioneer, follower - are mutually constituted with other actors in the international system. Taiwan, due to its ambiguous international status, provides an interesting example of how and why states attempt to construct a specific international image with regards to climate change. The existing literature compellingly argues that Taiwan’s climate commitments are motivated by a desire for increased recognition and international space. Climate diplomacy has become a key strand of Taiwan’s foreign policy approach, with official discourses presenting Taiwan as a responsible stakeholder, a constructive partner, and unjustly excluded from the UN climate regime. However, the consequences of Taiwan’s approach on shaping international perceptions of its climate role have yet to be assessed. Through discourse analysis, this thesis uncovers how Taiwan’s climate identity has been constructed in international English-language news coverage in the period 2015 - 2024. 138 articles from 26 digital publications across six countries were selected for an iterative process of inductive coding, which identified five identity discourses: victimisation, contribution, exclusion, lagging, and energy quadrilemma. These discourses demonstrate: how Taiwan’s climate identity has been constructed in diverse ways; that 2021 was a turning point in the discourse; that a state-centric understanding of climate change bolsters Taiwan’s legitimacy; and that MOFA’s climate diplomacy strategy and international interests shape Taiwan’s climate identity in different ways, with Taiwan’s climate identity subordinate to economic and security concerns in many cases. This research not only adds another dimension to understandings of the international consequences of Taiwan’s climate diplomacy, but also addresses the severe lack of analysis of the socio-political dimensions of climate change in Taiwan. Future research could build on these findings by exploring the roles and motivations of different actors, such as journalists and editors, who shape media discourses of Taiwan’s climate identity, and how these climate identity discourses have influenced international public opinion of Taiwan.