Those of you expecting a missile strike on the new “soft power” Cabinet courtesy of yours truly will have to wait, though I do confess to loitering around the Executive Yuan in the last few days collecting gossip and rummaging through trash cans, the latter mostly for “high-class biandang” leftovers for my mutt Punkspleen.
But I did strike gold. Passing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs one evening after a long day’s investigative voyeurism, a smelly little blue truck whooshed out from the ministry’s driveway and lost some of its load as it took a bend.
It was mostly boxes of shredded documents, but two items managed to survive that indignity: (1) a box of complimentary 2009 diaries with junked foreign minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) grinning on the cover, and (2) a draft speech by honorary KMT thingamajiggy Lien Chan (連戰) for this Thursday at University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of East Asian Studies.
The latter is an interesting read, though I can’t say how much of it will be in the final version. You’ll have to attend to find out.
“Sixty Years of Cross-Straits Relations: From Conflict to Conciliation.”
By Former Vice President and Kuomintang Chairman Emeritus Dr Lien Chan
[DRAFT]
Madame Director and Professor Wen-hsin Yeh (葉文心), Chair and Professor Andrew Jones, members of the executive committee, faculty members, esteemed conference paper presenters, students, ladies and gentlemen:
It is a tremendous honor to deliver the keynote address at this august institution. Having had to attend to matters of state among other responsibilities over the decades, it has been some time since I have worked exclusively in an academic setting. But I am always delighted to have the chance to return to an environment in which formidable knowledge, eloquence and taste are the rule, not the exception.
Let me start with an anecdote. Recently my wife and I were privileged to attend the opening ceremony of the 21st Deaflympics in Taipei in the company of the President of the Republic of China, the Speaker of the Legislative Yuan, the Mayor of Taipei, the Chairman of the People First Party and other dignitaries.
It was an entertaining and moving spectacle. People from all over the world watched as young people from all over Greater Taipei danced and sang in performances that welcomed our auditorially challenged friends of a sporting persuasion.
I was particularly moved by the performance of a dance troupe from China, all of whom I understand are a bit hard of hearing, but who nonetheless dazzled us with a display of hand and arm coordination in brilliant yellow that made it seem as if the thousand-armed Bodhisattva Guanyin herself had arrived to bless us and our athletic enterprise.
At one point, Mr Jet Li (李連杰) offered a prayer for the victims of a spate of weather that I understand caused us some problems a few weeks ago, and he was joined by four swarthy young gentlemen who belong to our indigenous communities down there. What fine speaking voices they had! What strapping physiques! If they hadn’t been clambering through forest to help their fellow mountain compatriots reach civilisation after a few bridges were downed, I’m sure they would have served as splendid competitors in the Games. And if they’d been deaf.
But seeing Mr Li, that most splendid actor and philanthropist from the Mainland, express such heartfelt concern for those of lesser means and worse luck in the remotest part of Taiwan’s hinterland, got me thinking.
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