Embassies for sale: The purchase of Diplomatic recognition by West Germany, Taiwan and South Korea

This article examines the efforts of three relatively wealthy countries to win diplomatic recognition by using economic aid. West Germany, South Korea, and Taiwan all have utilized this method of “purchasing” recognition. Until 1969, West Germany used economic aid to support the so-called Hallstein Doctrine, which demanded that other countries deny diplomatic recognition to East Germany. Both South Korea and Taiwan continue today to use their wealth to induce other states to recognize them and not their Communist counterparts, North Korea and the People’s Republic of China. These three case studies help to demonstrate the importance of positive economic linkage in international affairs, even in very militarized and ideologically polarized situations. If countries are willing to “sell” diplomatic recognition, one of the most basic attributes of state sovereignty in the Westphalian model, then the potential power of this type of economic leverage becomes clear.