For most, ‘Made in Taiwan’ is more familiar than Taiwan itself. It therefore turned out to be a journey of discovery for me during a week-long visit to the island as part of a delegation of Asian journalists.
For starters, Taiwan is called Republic of China (RoC) while what is commonly known as China is the People’s Republic of China (PRC). A series of historical developments have led to this duality. After much sparring and warring the PRC, Mainland China, and RoC alias Taiwan arrived at a rather confusing consensus in 1992: There exists only one China, but subject to distinct political identities! The mainland and island are one, but different! For convenience, we will call the former China and the latter Taiwan.
But it is the ‘One China’ policy of PRC that prevails in global consciousness. Taiwan always had to be under the dark, hovering shadow of the paranoid bully big brother across the straits. PRC uses its clout to the hilt to prevent the use or recognition of RoC or Taiwan as an independent country. So, despite its own ‘One China’ policy, Taiwan restricts its jurisdiction to areas it controls. Such ignominious inhibitions vis-a-vis core matters as name, identity, spread and sovereignty are enough to put down any ‘nation’ or keep it in perpetual agitation mode. Instead, Taiwan has turned itself into a stupendous success story under the most suffocating regional and global milieu.
In just 25 years, tiny Taiwan overcame its smallness, subjugation and shortage of natural resources to become a mighty economic and technological superpower, comparable only to the rise of Japan, post WW2. Taiwan today is the fourth highest holder of foreign reserves, a major source of FDI to many countries including mainland China, the electronic capital of the world excelling particularly in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)), a world leader in research in bio tech, nano tech, space science and has even made its own foray into the ‘God Particle’ search. Mission oriented innovation is the credo with perfect sync between officialdom, academia and corporates.
In its endeavours Taiwan chose the democratic route which still remains an anathema to Beijing. Elections are a four-year affair and polls are due early next year. The air is already thick with political rhetoric, allegations and counters and all the sundry noises that accompany democracy. No big deal that, for Indians or many other countries, but remember, we are talking of a place which is also ‘China’! Open Taiwan is a happy contrast to opaque China. Most modern concepts, whatever they are worth, like human rights, freedom of expression, independent media, mass protests, rule of law etc that are extinct in China, are extant in Taiwan. And yes, FB, twitter, Google, WhatsApp et al, that can’t breach the great firewall of China, are on fingertip access in Republic of China, er, Taiwan.
Science and Tech, economic prowess, democracy and a tactful strategy of ‘viable diplomacy’ have all earned Taiwan a recognition as a critical global power despite formal ostracisms. The core Han-Chinese character permeates all aspects of life despite the intrusion of Western and Japanese colonials for long periods in history. Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism thrive and temples co-habitate with steel and glass skyscrapers in a seamless merger of modernity and medieval. While the National Palace museum was a stroll through time with Chinese antiquities, the Chi-mei museum is a collectors’ delight with specimens of paintings, musical instruments etc from Europe. Mandarin-pop tops the charts in furthering fusion. All cities are throbbing centres of shopping, entertainment, business, night-life and culture and possess fabulous infrastructure in terms of transport, connectivity and civic facilities.
The little Island’s topography itself is a tourists’ delight though we did not get to see much. But we did have a first-hand taste of Typhoon Soudelor, a Tai-phoon really, the worst in recent world climate history, that reportedly sent even vehicles flying. Though holed up in the hotel somewhere in South Taiwan with the last day programme washed out as the whole island shut down we still witnessed the havoc en route to the railway station after the storm passed. The buildings were quake and storm proof but chandeliers swayed ominously on the fiftieth floor restaurant. The trains and the country itself, despite such disruption and devastation, however, was back on track in a jiffy, something that amply and aptly reflected the spirit of this nation.
For an Indian and a vegetarian as me, Taiwan could be a nightmare. Names and food were very tough on the tongue. English is spoken in Mandarin but I guess our most hospitable hosts felt the same about our lingo and lisp too. At the ubiquitous night markets known for street food, one can see entire aquariums and the whole of reptile kingdom sans crocodiles getting crunched, munched and swallowed with absolute relish. Those stories of live things getting roasted on order are true. Snakes were mentioned though I did not bother to wait and verify. I scooted from the place in a hurry when I thought something was crawling over me. Or was it inside me?
An ageing population combined with a low to negative birth rate is a major concern for Taiwan. Cost of living is the chief spoiler and the government is offering subsidies for bigger families and also encouraging Taiwanese to bring in foreign spouses, particularly from Asian nations. During a grandiose presentation at a science park the speaker declared: ‘You name it, we will make it’. Except enough babies, I guess. Taiwanese should take some time and mind off semi-conductors, integrated circuits and sundry next-gen tech and create a next-gen first. Now, the technology for that has not changed since the dawn of mankind, nay, all species!
(Detailed articles on various subjects alluded to above will appear as a series in News Today in the days to come. Interested readers can get the print copy or access the web at www.newstodaynet.com/Countdown/Taiwan Tales)
e-mail the writer at [email protected]