Exploring Atypical Citizenship Deprivation and Spillover Effects in the Contested Taiwanese Citizenship

Abstract

Taiwan, an island nation with an ambiguous international status, has one of the most contested citizenship regimes in the world. This paper explores the perspectives of Taiwanese people on their precarious citizenship: a topic previously underexplored. The central argument posits that mis-recognition of Taiwanese citizenship by foreign authorities amounts to a denial of citizenship: a form of atypical citizenship deprivation that lacks human rights safeguards. Two recent European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’) cases illustrate these points: Liu and Others v Norway, and Liu v Poland. In exploring these cases, this paper discusses the spillover effect of how issues of citizenship and sovereignty become crucial in international legal disputes, even when not explicitly related to the primary legal issues of the case in question. These reflections on liminal Taiwanese citizenship illuminate broader concerns of contested citizenship in the contemporary international community.

ACKNOWLEGEMENT

The author would like to express their special thanks to Prof. Jo Shaw and Dr Dawoon Jung for their valuable feedback on the draft of this paper, to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and thoughtful comments, and to Dr Kasey McCall Smith and Dr Elisenda Castanas Adam for their insights during the Global Justice Academy roundtable. This paper was finalised during their fellowship at the Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) in the summer of 2025, with gratitude for the support provided by the GTI.