Localization of the corporate food regime and the food sovereignty movement: taiwan’s food sovereignty movement under “third regionalism”

ABSTRACT

Third regionalism explains the liberalization of trade centered around the Asia-Pacific region in the 21st century. Under regionalism, domestic agricultural markets that formerly enjoyed national food-security policies have loosened. This caused traditional domestic farmers’ organizations to become more regionally interconnected, forming a food sovereignty movement under the auspices of La Via Campesina. Localized food-production chains are promoted to mitigate the impact of regionalism on the Asia-Pacific agricultural sector. The Taiwan Rural Front (TRF) joined La Via Campesina and the food sovereignty movement in the 2010s. During the process of adopting regionalism, Taiwanese agricultural trade and technologies were protected by public agencies and state-owned enterprises. This context differs from that of Southeast Asia, where the food sovereignty movement has thrived. Therefore, the following question is raised: Why was it possible for the food sovereignty movement to originate in Taiwan? This paper describes the developmental characteristics of Taiwan’s food-security governance mechanism as a state-guided corporate food regime amid third regionalism. Further, the TRF does not advocate for localized food-production chains. Due to the formation of a state-guided corporate food regime, the food sovereignty movement has become connected with farmland protection movements that set the Taiwanese sovereignty movement apart.

KEYWORDS:

• Third regionalism
• food sovereignty
• corporate food regime
• food security
• La Via Campesina
• Taiwan

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the support from the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan through a grant: MOST 109-2628–H–004–003–MY3.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The “Global South” includes the Southern countries, especially decolonized countries after the Second World War, in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific regions; the “Global North” indicates the Northern industrialized countries in North America and continental Europe; see Gray and Gills (2016).

2. This was a finding from Interviewee-J during an interview conducted on August 18, 2021 in Taipei, Taiwan.

3. This was a finding from Interviewee-K during an interview conducted on July 31, 2020 in Taichung, Taiwan.

4. Further explanation of the Taiwan Land Act for the foreigners to invest in Taiwan’s farmlands can be found at The Ministry of the Interior, Letter No. 0970052097 dated March 28, 2008. https://www.land.moi.gov.tw/law/explainlist/105?lid=44. (Accessed: November 18, 2021).

5. This was a finding from Interviewee-L during an interview conducted on August 16, 2020 in Taipei, Taiwan.

6. This was a finding from Interviewee-C during the second interview conducted on September 11, 2021 in New Taipei, Taiwan.

7. This was a finding from Interviewee-C during the first interview conducted on October 28, 2018 in New Taipei, Taiwan.

8. This was a finding from Interviewee-C during the second interview conducted on September 11, 2021 in New Taipei, Taiwan.

9. This was a finding from Interviewee-Z during an interview conducted on August 28, 2020 in Taipei, Taiwan.

10. This was a finding from Interviewee-C during the second interview conducted on September 11, 2021 in New Taipei, Taiwan.

11. This was a finding from Interviewee-T during an interview conducted on July 25, 2020 in Miaoli, Taiwan.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan through a grant: MOST 109–2628–H-004–003–MY3.

Notes on contributors

Scott Y. Lin

Scott Y. Lin is Chair, Associate Professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies and Assistant Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University (NCCU) at Taipei, Taiwan. He is also serving as Executive Editor for Wenti Yu Yanjiu (問題與研究季刊, TSSCI, Taiwan’s highest-ranked IR journal since 1956) and Editor for the Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs. He received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University (USA) in 2012. He has contributed numerous articles to publications including Journal of Contemporary Asia; Environment, Development and Sustainability; Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics; and more. He is currently working on research exploring Asia-Pacific food security issues, especially food regimes, green regionalism, governance mechanism, farmland investments, food sovereignty movements, and approaches to environmental degradation adaptation.