'A Most Successful Service in International Public Relations'? The Yuyitung Affair and the Republic of China's Other Worlds, 1970-73

International histories of the Republic of China (ROC) from the 1950s to the 1970s largely foreground official diplomacy and US-ROC relations, to the neglect of other 'worlds' that the regime engaged with. This article departs from such scholarship by explaining the ROC's little-known global public relations campaign in response to the sentencing and detention in Taiwan of Philippine-Chinese journalists Quintin and Rizal Yuyitung. Heavily criticised for its actions, and under pressure from the International Press Institute (IPI) to release them, the ROC relied on newspaperman Wang Tih-wu to justify its treatment of the Yuyitungs to the IPI and broker a deal acceptable to both sides. Simultaneously, it sought to quell dissatisfaction from the Philippine KMT, which had engineered the deportation and was unhappy with Taipei's supposed leniency towards the Yuyitungs. By focusing on Wang, the IPI, and the Philippine KMT, the article argues for understanding the ROC in the world from the perspectives of 'private' but state-aligned individuals, international public opinion and non-governmental organisations, and overseas Chinese societies and institutions. Through courting public opinion, the ROC fashioned itself as a sovereign, legitimate, and 'free' state even though and because it did not control mainland China and was under martial law.