On January 9, 2016, Museum docents from Southeast Asia led a guided tour for former President Ma Ying-Jeou of the KMT during his visit to the National Taiwan Museum in the center of Taipei. It was the

early dawn of the museum sector in Taiwan that engaged with Southeast Asian migrants and immigrants.Later that same year, in September, the New Southbound Policy emerged under the presidency of Tsai

Ing-wen of the DPP, intensifying this engagement.This talk examines how museums in Taiwan have become a key site for negotiating migration, identity,and soft power under the New Southbound Policy. It explores how the politics of recognition—through national and local museums' exhibitions, activities, and cultural diplomacy—has reshaped public understanding of Southeast Asian (im)migrants and Taiwan's regional positioning.

Nevertheless, recognition alone does not guarantee social inclusion or equality. Drawing on Nancy Fraser's critique of recognition and the debates of other scholars on cultural citizenship and cultural

democracy, the talk argues that museum practices reveal both the possibilities and limits of multicultural representation. It also asks how the museum sector can move beyond the practices of precarious

recognition and inclusion. At its core, the talk offers insight into the evolving role of the museum as a cultural institution in shaping civic belonging in contemporary Taiwan, characterized by the condition of

“super diversity.”