Fri, Apr 07, 2000 page12

• The press is the key in Washington

  • By Brian Shea
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  Several years ago when conducting interviews on Capitol Hill, I asked a staff member involved with China policy which word came to mind when he thought of the Taiwan lobby. He said, "smooth, smooth and very professional."

  For many years, the Taiwan lobby has been walking the halls of Congress in a pitched public relations battle with China over the congressional and public image of Taiwan in the US. Its case has been argued over dinners and careful relationships with political figures in Washington have been cultivated all to generate some support for democratic Taiwan in the face of Chinese efforts to remain dominant in Washington thinking.

  Despite Taiwan's still slighted position abroad, its focus on Capitol Hill was not wasted. As many observers have noted, the road to success in Taiwan's ongoing battle for legitimacy goes through Washington. But, conditions resulting from the end of the Cold War demand that Taiwan pay more attention to another corner of Washington that could very well be the key to its future: the Washington press corps.

  This may seem an obvious prescription for Taiwan to win the hearts and minds of the international community, but historically its relationship with the western press has been poorly managed under the KMT.

  During World War II, the Communist Party regularly hosted western journalists to promote not only its war against Japan, but its political programs as well. It tightly controlled what the correspondents saw, of course, but these men would return to the west with generally positive impressions of the young, Communist movement in China.

  For many years, these journalists would be the only source of information available to the public on China and they were quite influential in shaping its view. Chiang Kai-Shek's (蔣介石) Nationalists, however, didn't even have a press office. Even with the intense anti-communist ethos that would develop later with the Cold War, the Nationalists never succeeded in crafting an appealing face to present to the world.

  Even when it initiated democratic reforms in Taiwan, the KMT bungled what still remains the easiest PR campaign in political history. Taiwan, a democratic, economically vibrant, politically and socially stable country facing brutish threats from a repressive, communist regime should have little trouble winning the sympathy and attention of the West. But, journalists visiting Taiwan often have trouble getting even basic information from the government. Even worse, lower-level officials have often treated foreign journalists with suspicion, seeing them as interfering in government affairs.

  The post-Cold War world holds many opportunities for Taiwan to boost its profile, a trend that has converged with a new administration under Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Power in foreign policy was much more concentrated in the White House in the past, as the country rallied behind its leader in the crisis environment of facing the Soviet threat. But, power became much more diffuse with the collapse of the USSR and a heightened number of interest groups are now much more able to exert their influence than in the past.

  This is especially true of public opinion. From Somalia to Clinton blinking in the face of Congressional pressure to allow Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to visit the US, the US president must now consider a wider range of interests when formulating policy.

  The media, and its role in shaping public opinion, has a new urgency for Taiwan in this new environment. Moreover, the Congress is much more reflective of popular sentiment, especially the House of Representatives. Increased efforts to raise Taiwan's profile in the western press will work hand in hand with its established relationships on Capitol Hill.

  There are many means by which Taiwan elevate its position in the fluid geopolitical world in which it now finds itself. In the long term, it should provide generous financial incentives for students to study journalism in the US. By gradually cultivating a generation of Taiwanese journalists educated in the west, classmates will become colleagues and form an information network leading all the way back to Taipei.

  Taiwan took a similar approach to its economic development by sending engineers and other high-tech students to the west for higher education. With journalists, however, Taiwan would not have to worry about a brain-drain problem , or students deciding not to return to Taiwan. Indeed, this would enhance the effort.

  In the shorter term, the new Chen administration needs to alter the circumstances in which Taiwan usually finds itself in the limelight. That is, military crises with China, provocative moves like Lee's state-to-state relations announcement and members of the Legislative Yuan throwing chairs at each other. Taiwan reaches the American public consciousness perhaps twice a year and the above scenarios are the unfortunate norm.

  President-elect Chen can start with his own administration. An intense effort to profile his future efforts to reform Taiwan's rampant political corruption, clean its environment and maintain its economic stability would all help to contrast the island with China in the minds of western observers.

  Only when these images are the first to come to mind when hearing the word "Taiwan" will the people of the west even consider supporting an effort to defend it in a Chinese attack.

  In the post Cold War world, popular support for US military adventures is already a crucial consideration, in part explaining the focus on air power and precision weapons in conflicts like Kosovo and Iraq. With fewer risks to sons and brothers, Joe Public is more agreeable to military force. A war with China, however, would be no quick, surgical airstrike.

  Even with the self-promotion campaign outlined above, generating long-term support for an isolationist, largely uninformed American public would be a tremendous challenge. Without it, it would be almost hopeless.

  Brian Shea is a freelance writer based in Taipei.
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