Diplomats from Taiwan and China keep each other at arm’s length while serving abroad, Representative to the US Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) says.
“There is no personal relationship at all,” he told a conference on Taiwan at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Shen was asked if Beijing diplomats in Washington — or London or Geneva, where Shen was previously stationed — ever offered to be friends “on a personal level.”
“No, never,” he said.
Shen said that his great-great-grandfather had served as the “top leader” in Taiwan from 1874 to 1875 and that a few years ago China published a paper about him.
He said that Chinese diplomats contacted him about the paper — “they were very polite” — and offered to send him a copy.
Shen said that he would very much like to have a copy of the paper and it arrived on Double Ten National Day.
He wrote to thank them for sending him a “National Day gift” and heard no more about it.
Shen said that as a result of Chinese objections, the nation had been “totally excluded” from some international organizations and “does not even know what it has missed.”
However, he said when an organizations shuts its door to Taiwan, the US “tries to open a window.”
A Taiwanese graduate student in the audience asked Shen what he could do — as a young person who loves his country — to preserve Taiwanese identity and culture, and traditional Chinese culture.
“What would you urge me to do?” the student asked.
“I think that is something you should ask yourself,” Shen said.
He said that the most practical thing the student could do would be to complete his degree, return to Taiwan and join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Shen said that no matter who wins the next presidential election, China would remain a major issue.
“We have to minimize the threat and maximize opportunities,” he said.
Shen said that it took a lot of courage and a lot of skill to deal with China.
“We hope that we can pave a peaceful way for your generation, to make sure that any resolution is a peaceful resolution,” he said. “It will be up to your generation to manage the relationship and it will not be easy.”
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