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Taipei's new boy on the diplomatic block

Gordon Slaven. PHOTO: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES

When the new director of the British Council Taipei requested my questions in advance of our interview, I was curious to find out if the culture, science and education chief of the famously stiff upper-lipped country was trying to avoid answering diplomatically sensitive questions.

It turned out that Gordon Slaven was just trying to be helpful and wanted to prepare information in advance. In fact, he was happy to talk openly about a range of issues and was clearly informed and keen to learn more about his new home.

He said he had been playing catch-up since he arrived in Taipei from Beijing, where he was director of education at the British Council. The SARS situation meant that he had to quarantine himself at home for two weeks before taking his seat at the office.

"SARS has been a problem, but hopefully it is receding, though there may be hiccoughs on the way," Slaven said.

The long-term expatriate spent most of his early years in Africa and his forte appears to be education, which he studied at Birmingham University, later completing a Master of Arts degree in applied linguistics at Reading. He was a teacher trainer before joining the foreign service in 1987. He has spent a total of six years, in two spells, at the British Council in Beijing -- and he does speak the language.

"I'm very suspicious of people who say they know China and believe there is such a thing as a psychological archetype," Slaven said. "But I do have experience of the Chinese environment and know some of what does work and what doesn't."

He said he had been impressed by the pace and scale of change in China. "There has been a fundamental shift in attitudes. There is an ability to discuss things now that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Rule of law is there, the fundamentals are in place."

Slaven said it was an analogous situation to Taiwan in the 1970s and early 1980s. "Taiwan has already gone through it and China is in the process."

He reiterated the official "one China" line on the Taiwan issue, but said the country was an important trading and cultural partner.

"Our role is to promote Britain to other nations and develop relationships at all levels. Because we are comparatively new here we are still building `guanxi.' We need to give them something they want. It's a reciprocal relationship, the only kind that really works."

Slaven said he would be promoting British achievements in science with an exhibition on the "discovery" of DNA by Francis Crick and James Watson, opening next week in Taichung and scheduled to travel to Kaohsiung and Taipei.

In September, there will be a British Council sponsored showcase of UK theater, featuring Bobby Baker in Box Story, Theatre Babel's Thebans and Station House Opera's Roadmetal and Sweetbread.

On the educational front the British Council will be involved in bringing over English-language teachers to support the new government initiative to increase the number of foreign teachers in the school system. The British Council also intends to set up a dedicated language institute.

"That's all in the next six months, so we've got our work cut out," Slaven said. "The idea is to promote cultural exchanges and nurture understanding. I really believe what we are doing is a force for good."

As for the list of questions? We hardly touched on them.
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