National Sovereignty versus Moral Sovereignty

By a case study of the major national paper The Australian, this article analyses the Australian mainstream print media reporting on the tension between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. The article argues that in the international context of human rights and democracy discourse and "humanitarian intervention" after the end of the Cold War, there has been a shift of emphasis in international politics from the old discourse of realism of national sovereignty to a new discourse of moral sovereignty of human rights and democracy. The findings of the research demonstrate that within this context of discourse shift, the Australian media is caught between the two discourses. On the one hand the media defends Taiwan's strife for Taiwanese identity and even independence because of Australia's political and cultural values of human rights and democracy. On the other hand the Australian media is sensitive to Australia's geopolitical position in Asia. Therefore, the media is sympathetic with Taiwan in terms of moral sovereignty. However, the media, by reflecting the Australian government's position, does not go all the way to denounce China's claim of national sovereignty over Taiwan.