Trust the Australians to lure tourists back Down Under in their latest campaign with a tried-and-true formula of good food, superb weather, beautiful beaches, Aborigines and a bikini-clad Lolita inoffensively chirping "So where the bloody hell are you?"
Compared with the humdrum efforts that Taiwan comes up with targeting the international market, such splendid advertising can only lead those who want growth in Taiwanese tourism to shake their heads in despair.
The frustrating thing for those who want to see more visitors here is that Taiwan, for its size, has a lot to offer the intrepid tourist, or even those who prefer to dine at McDonald's every night.
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Many more people overseas have, however, heard of the Taipei 101 skyscraper. But relying on this daytime eyesore to pump up tourist numbers is ill-advised. It has a dildo-like ribbed concrete spire atop what appears to be a series of inverted plastic stools, it radiates juvenile wealth-accumulation symbolism, and it features a washed-out "jade" hue that apes the 1960s Western modernism so ably parodied by Jacques Tati in films like Mon Oncle and Playtime. Taipei 101 cannot compete on any aesthetic level with modern structures like the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House. Build it and they will come, so it has been said, but Taipei 101 will not lure the overseas dollar because its only drawcard is that it's tall.
The "Taiwan, touch your heart" campaign of the last year has been a reasonable attempt to graft Taiwan's cultural attractions and welcoming population to its natural beauty, but as with so many official forays into the English language, the slogan doesn't quite make sense. Fittingly, overseas tourists are still forced to endure erratic or non-existent English and Japanese-language service after they arrive.
Recently, pan-blue camp legislators suggested that director Ang Lee (李安) make a film about the assassination attempt on the president and vice president. This was a stupid suggestion, unless the legislators are prepared to fund the film out of their pockets and give total creative control to Lee. But what cannot be disputed is that Lee and other Taiwanese filmmakers would be excellent choices for making a series of big-budget, wide-screen commercials for overseas markets. The idea is so obvious that it should be no surprise that the government's tourism authorities apparently haven't thought of it -- or, at least, are repelled by the amount of money that would be required.
One idea the Tourism Bureau has been toying with recently is inviting young Australians and New Zealanders to Taiwan to train as temporary tour guides for English speakers. This seems an interesting initiative -- until the fine print emerges. They would be paid a paltry NT$25,000 (US$770) per month. As if that weren't insult enough, regulations require them to have US$4,000 in savings, which even bureau officials have acknowledged is something of a disincentive.
If the Tourism Bureau wants to implement programs developing professional tourism services, then why does it treat -- and pay -- budding participants like rank amateurs?
During the Cultural Revolution, one of the more obnoxious expressions that became quite popular was "Better red than expert," that is to say, faith in Mao Zedong Thought was considered superior to bourgeois excellence in scientific and technical disciplines. The equivalent of this expression for the Tourism Bureau and other agencies that refuse to aim for world-class standards of self-promotion seems to be less ideological, but equally applicable: "Better brain-dead than expert."
The cancelation this week of President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visit to Eswatini, after the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius revoked overflight permits under Chinese pressure, is one more measure of Taiwan’s shrinking executive diplomatic space. Another channel that deserves attention keeps growing while the first contracts. For several years now, Taipei has been one of Europe’s busiest legislative destinations. Where presidents and foreign ministers cannot land, parliamentarians do — and they do it in rising numbers. The Italian parliament opened the year with its largest bipartisan delegation to Taiwan to date: six Italian deputies and one senator, drawn from six
When Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) sits down with US President Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday next week, Xi is unlikely to demand a dramatic public betrayal of Taiwan. He does not need to. Beijing’s preferred victory is smaller, quieter and in some ways far more dangerous: a subtle shift in American wording that appears technical, but carries major strategic meaning. The ask is simple: replace the longstanding US formulation that Washington “does not support Taiwan independence” with a harder one — that Washington “opposes” Taiwan independence. One word changes; a deterrence structure built over decades begins to shift.
Recently, Taipei’s streets have been plagued by the bizarre sight of rats running rampant and the city government’s countermeasures have devolved into an anti-intellectual farce. The Taipei Parks and Street Lights Office has attempted to eradicate rats by filling their burrows with polyurethane foam, seeming to believe that rats could not simply dig another path out. Meanwhile, as the nation’s capital slowly deteriorates into a rat hive, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection has proudly pointed to the increase in the number of poisoned rats reported in February and March as a sign of success. When confronted with public concerns over young
China has long given assurances that it would not interfere in free access to the global commons. As one Ministry of Defense spokesperson put it in 2024, “the Chinese side always respects the freedom of navigation and overflight entitled to countries under international law.” Although these reassurances have always been disingenuous, China’s recent actions display a blatant disregard for these principles. Countries that care about civilian air safety should take note. In April, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) canceled a planned trip to Eswatini for the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s coronation and the 58th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic
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