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The soft power of Taiwan
China’s shadow
YOUNGSTOWN
Much of the international attention on Taiwan focuses on the island country’s complicated relationship with its neighbor across the Taiwan Strait.
China considers Taiwan (officially named the Republic of China) to be part of its territory; Taiwan disagrees. Taiwan’s relationships with other countries are often defined by this conflict.
Due to its unique status, Taiwan must find creative ways to assert itself and connect with the world. It does this not only through its economic might, but by using soft power – for example, showing off what the country has to offer, and collaborating with Southeast Asian countries on issues such as health and industrial innovation.
Although this fraught dynamic was one of the most-discussed topics in meetings between foreign reporters and Taiwanese officialdom on a recent reporting trip there, I found there was much more to see and learn about this country of 23 million people.
STATEHOOD CHALLENGES
Chinese intervention in Taiwan – whether through conventional warfare or other means – is undoubtedly a threat that looms large. The country also faces the challenge that most of the world does not officially recognize its statehood, putting the Taiwanese government in the position of having to exert its power on the global stage in unconventional ways.
But Taiwan is also a free, democratic country that has enjoyed strong economic growth over the past few decades.
It has large, vibrant cities, as well as picturesque mountains and beaches.
It has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the world.
VALLEY NATIVE
These are among the characteristics that have kept Marcus Maurice, a Warren native, living in Taiwan for the past 20 years.
I caught up with him down the road from Taipei’s city center. I flew into Taipei on Dec. 2 and spent the week meeting with government officials and leaders of think tanks and nonprofits.
I also experienced Taiwan’s cuisine, which was quite the culinary adventure for someone who is not the biggest lover of seafood. Most of our meals were multicourse affairs featuring dishes such as shrimp salad, seafood soup in pumpkin broth, scallops and vegetables, fried rice with salmon or shrimp, pea sprouts (one of my personal favorites) and dessert of fruit and cake. Oolong tea was a staple of most meals, as was the popular domestic beer Taiwan Beer (which I found in flavors of grape, pineapple and mango in one market). Some of the more unique dishes I tried were a sweet “white fungus” soup, papaya stuffed with cream sauce and scallops, and a platter of marinated goose.
Other highlights included exploring the city’s open-air markets; traveling by high-speed train to cities on other parts of the island; learning about the country’s history and culture through museum visits and insights from our guides; and basking in the island’s mild climate.
The trip for about a dozen foreign journalists was sponsored and guided by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Maurice, 44, grew up in Warren and graduated from Warren G. Harding High School in 1992. He found himself in Taipei a year after graduating from Ohio State University, and he’s been living in the region ever since.
Maurice’s initial decision to come to Taipei was inspired by an uncle who lived there at the time; he’s stayed all this time because he loves the life he has there.
“My happiness scale is off the charts,” Maurice tells me, as we sip beers in a small neighborhood bar. “It’s a great place to live. You can go, here, to a waterfall; here, to a beach.”
Maurice has made a living for himself there in a variety of ways. He earned permanent resident status through an English-language teaching job; wrote a weekly column for Taiwan’s English-language newspaper, the Taipei Times; and worked for a publishing company.
These days, you can find him at his home in a small town in the mountains outside of Taipei working on freelance projects by day; at night, you can find him at Triangle, a nightclub he helps run in Taipei.
“The nightlife here is very vibrant,” Maurice says. His club – where he promotes events and works as a DJ – has carved out a space for itself with club patrons looking for less electronic dance music, and more hip-hop, funk, soul and other genres.
Over the past 20 years, Maurice has made friends with many other foreigners living in Taiwan. He’s also witnessed Taipei evolve into a metropolis that is increasingly influenced by other cultures, a trend noted more than once during our trip.
Maurice says he can get just about any type of food in Taipei – the only thing he’s missing is chili cheese dogs from the Hot Dog Shoppe in Warren.
OPEN SOCIETY
Government officials and other experts painted a picture of a society that has opened up in numerous ways.
Much of the country’s economic growth over the past few decades was driven by the opening of Taiwan’s markets. Recently, facing challenges other developed countries are experiencing, such as an aging population and skills gaps, Taiwan has found itself in need of more workers. The country has expanded its visas available to foreign workers.
On the economic front, Taiwan is also closely watching the trade war between the U.S. and China, as Taiwan’s economy is strongly tied to China – officials said they hope to reduce that dependence in the coming years and believe Taiwanese businesses will begin investing more heavily in other markets, including in the U.S.
At the same time, Taiwan has sought to deepen its international relationships, most notably with its New Southbound Policy (NSP). Introduced in 2016, NSP is an initiative of President Tsai Ing-wen’s government that aims to deepen ties with Southeast Asian countries in ways that go beyond trade or economic investments.
Officials at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, which is tasked with implementing the nongovernmental aspects of NSP, described the policy as “people-centered.” It includes collaborations among Taiwanese and Southeast Asian hospitals and universities, for example, and aims to increase tourism and study abroad opportunities between Taiwan and its neighbors in the South.
They insisted NSP is not a response to China and the ways it has asserted itself on the world stage, but rather Taiwan’s regional strategy for Asia.
The country also has been heartened recently by the greater level of recognition and commitment it has received from the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump, then president-elect, called Tsai in December 2016; it was the first time a U.S. president or president-elect had spoken directly with Taiwan’s president since 1979.
In our meeting with the deputy director of the Mainland Affairs Council, which is responsible for implementing Taiwan’s policies related to China, the official called the recent U.S. attitude toward Taiwan a “paradigm shift.” Officials there and with other organizations seemed to take Trump’s approach to Taiwan in stride, however.
They don’t want to provoke China. As one expert in military affairs put it: “There is a saying that President Trump is unpredictable.”
FRIENDLY PEOPLE
In terms of interactions with foreign visitors to Taiwan, I was told again and again – and experienced firsthand – that the Taiwanese have a reputation for being incredibly hospitable and friendly.
As for its ever-complex relationship with China, the officials with whom we met struck a pragmatic tone. They spoke of not wanting to provoke their cross-strait neighbor and the country being largely satisfied with what they call the “status quo” – that is, not being officially recognized, but using its soft power to exist outside of China’s long shadow.
Taiwan’s population is largely content with the status quo, as well. The Mainland Affairs Council says that nearly 85 percent of the public wants to maintain the status quo. Some, however, would rather Taiwan assert its sovereignty; others, such as a small group of protesters we encountered in Taipei, advocate for reunification with mainland China.
“Soft power” is a term I heard more than once during my week in Taiwan – which took me to Taipei, as well as northern city Hsinchu, and Kaohsiung, a large city in the South.
TOURING TAIWAN
After two days of official meetings in Taipei – as well as several multicourse meals and a visit to one of Taipei’s famous night markets – we traveled by train (which can travel upwards of 180 miles per hour) to Hsinchu for a tour of a factory that processes most of the country’s recycled glass. Next, we took the train to Kaohsiung, where we visited the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, an expansive building designed to look like a spaceship; dined on the 77th floor of our high-rise hotel, where our guides enthusiastically led us in a round of karaoke; visited Kaohsiung’s public library; and rode in a flight simulator that gave us an exhilarating aerial tour of the city and surrounding mountains.
From there, it was back to Taipei, where we rode an elevator that reaches a top speed of more than 3,300-feet per minute to the top of Taipei 101, which, at more than 1,600 feet high, was the tallest building in the world in 2004 and is now a popular tourist attraction. We had my favorite meal of the week at Din Tai Fung Dumpling House, a popular chain with locations around the world, where you can watch the restaurant staff rolling out and filling spicy pork, shrimp and veggie dumplings, to name just a few of the restaurant’s delicious dishes.
The following day, we paid a visit to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, which has a permanent collection of hundreds of thousands of ancient Chinese artifacts, many of which were evacuated from mainland China to Taiwan under Chiang Kai-shek. The impressive building is framed by mountains and palm trees. There, our tour guide showed us collections of jade, ivory and painted ceramics. She explained to us that the Chinese government regards the artifacts as stolen – hence, the National Palace Museum can’t loan anything to Chinese museums, because it likely wouldn’t get the pieces back.
All of this is to say that these Taiwanese treasures – and spotlighting them to foreign journalists – are part of the country’s soft-power approach to interacting with the rest of the world.
As Maurice put it: “Taiwan doesn’t have a big voice in the world, and so the soft power of being friendly, having lots of great hiking” is a way for the country to express itself.
From my experience in Taiwan, I can say I heard the message loud and clear.