Chinese Minister of Culture Cai Wu (蔡武) yesterday proposed institutionalizing cultural exchanges between Taiwan and China, suggesting that both sides hold visits by high-level cultural officials and sign an agreement on the matter.
Cai, who arrived in Taiwan on Thursday for a seven-day visit, told a Cross-Strait Cultural Forum in Taipei that it took more than the economy to sustain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
“The economy is no doubt important, but it is no substitute for cultural exchanges and the sharing of ideas,” he said. “After the two sides signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement [ECFA], it is time to begin talks on cultural exchanges to create a situation that is mutually beneficial and will make both sides understand each other better.”
“[A cross-strait cultural agreement would] help bring together both sides’ resources, funding and creativity,” he said.
Cai said he hoped China would push for cultural change, meet the needs of the market, help upgrade his country’s cultural tastes and resist culture that was mediocre, hollow and vulgar.
Speaking for Taiwan, Council for Cultural Affairs Minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) said culture was not a zero-sum game, but an exchange of values and ideas.
Saying that both sides came from the same roots, Sheng urged the two sides to tolerate and respect each other, adding that the biggest obstacle to cultural exchanges was forcing individual values on other people.
“Only by conducting exchanges with an open heart can we renew the great Chinese civilization,” he said. “Politics, no matter how strong they are, will eventually disappear, but culture will be handed down from generation to generation. The purpose of cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait is to let the people on both sides of the strait better understand and respect each other.”
“Both sides of the Taiwan Strait should try to be in each other’s shoes, understand each other’s differences and respect each other,” he said.
Sheng said Taiwan did not rule out establishing an official cultural affairs office in China and allowing a Chinese counterpart to be set up in Taiwan, adding that both sides could do so in a “systematic and transparent” manner.
“We hope both sides can push relevant exchanges step-by-step under the precondition of reciprocity and mutual respect and create a win-win situation for people across the Taiwan Strait,” Sheng said.
This was the first time Sheng has confirmed that the Council for Cultural Affairs was seeking to establish an official office in China.
When the issue was brought into the spotlight last November, Sheng said the council would like to establish a semi-official office or private organization.
Fang Jy-shiuh (方芷絮), director of the council’s First Department, proposed that China gradually relax its regulations on market access to its cultural and creative industries so Taiwanese firms could cooperate with their Chinese counterparts.
This could be achieved by relaxing regulations on investment projects, capital ratio, capital threshold limits, import quotas, ISBN issues, version numbers and issuers, as well as other issues, Fang said.
Cross-strait city exchanges for cultural and creative industries, in which Taiwanese firms and their products in pilot projects in China could enjoy preferential treatment and policies, were other measures that were being considered, Fang said.
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