Taiwan Day Two
Day Two was the first official day of the 2007 Freedom Forum. That’s an annual event (which I named!) for the International Young Democrat Union. I’ve attended all three – Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, Ronald Reagan Ranch in California and this one in Taiwan. They tend to be focused on democracy, free markets and free trade.
Our transport for two days were their two luxurious tour buses with lovely purple curtains.
We started off with a visit to the HQ of Asus. Now despite owning an old Asus laptop, I knew nothing about this company which has 100,000 staff and projected earnings for this year of US$23 billion. They manufacture a huge array of devices, and convergence is their focus for the future.
The Mona Lisa made out of 2000 motherboards.
We met with the Group Chairman and CEO, Jonney Shih,plus a couple of his senior staff. It was a fascinating discussion with the actual head of a multinational as to what their opportunities and challenges are. Despite the political differences between China and Taiwan, this rarely affects business and they have 80% of their staff in China, at a campus the size of 260 football fields which is slightly bigger than Monaco.
After Asus we went to a major Taiwan charity which also runs a TV studio. A big Buddha tapestry takes centre stage.
Six of the volunteers welcoming us.
The group in front of Buddha.
We then went to City Hall where we had lunch with the Mayor Lung-Bin Hau. A very energetic and charismatic man. One of his staff explained that Taipei residents expect their Mayor to attend everything and he normally is attending work or functions from 7 am to 10 pm seven days a week with no holidays. So we were very lucky to have him. The Mayor is a former Director of Taiwan Red Cross so I mentioned my former job with NZ Red Cross.
The lunch was a killer. We had half a dozen dishes out on each table of ten and shared them amongst us. Then the Mayor spoke to us, and after his speech we realized that the food we had all demolished was just the appetizers. Then out came not one, not two, not three but twelve main courses. Groan.
After lunch we were then taken to the National Palace Museum where they have artifacts showing China’s history, some jade and bronze implements as much as 7,000 years old. The Museum is a bone of contention between the two Chinas. China regards the treasures as stolen from the mainland while Taiwan believes if they had not taken them, they would have been destroyed during the cultural revolution. Despite the political disagreement the two Museums in China and Taiwan do swap artefacts for displays.
What we saw on display was just the current rotation. They rotate them every three months and it takes 20 years to display everything.
Then in the evening we swapped to formal clothes for a cocktail function with the KMT Presidential Candidate and former National Chairman, Ma Ying-jeou. He is also very charismatic and served as Mayor of Taipei for eight years. The current President cannot stand again and Ma is well ahead in current polls, albeit with a narrowing lead due to some scandals.
Politics in Taiwan is very passionate. Not only in the infamous brawls in the Legislative Yuan, but amongst the supporters generally. The KMT supporters are convinced (and may well be right) that the current President arranged his own shooting to win an election he was behind in (he claimed mainland China tried to assassinate him) and they all talk of the dirty tricks they have to endure. One MP told me how if he is campaigning down south (which is very hostile to the KMT whose support is in the north) he wears a bullet proof vest.
Considering how amazingly friendly every person you meet is (very very different to mainland China I found) it is a bit surprising how heated the politics are, but it is almost expected of them now it seems. Was good to meet the probable future President of Taiwan.