The EU’s image in Asia: an analysis of the Taiwanese media reports on the EU between 2018 and 2021

Abstract

In its Indo-Pacific Strategy adopted in 2021, the EU reconfirmed the importance of “the voices of civil society, the private sector, social partners, and other key stakeholders count” in the region, highlighting the role of Asian civil society in the EU-Asia inter-regionalism. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate Taiwanese people’s perception of the EU between January 2018 and May 2021 and analyze the key factors shaping the EU’s image in the region. At the same time, in terms of methodology, it also tries to establish an innovative and more efficient approach in this transnational survey of Asian people’s perception of the EU with the help of data sciences, which may contribute to the cognitive dimension of the EU study. Lastly, this paper aims to compare different theoretical doctrines on enhancing the visibility and support of the EU among Asians to indicate the optimal strategy for the EU to promote its image among Asians and its theoretical implications.