In the 1970s, Taiwan's export trade often relied on lone salesmen carrying samples and catalogues around in James Bond-like suitcases. These salesmen left their footprints in every corner of the world, from the Middle East to Africa. To enter a country that denied visas to Taiwan passport holders, they often traveled around two or three other countries. More often than not, they had to do so because of China's suppression of Taiwan's diplomatic activities.
Braving these exhausting, time-consuming sales trips, Taiwanese businessmen proved their enormous vitality and created an economic miracle. Taiwan's performance has also highlighted China's "backwardness" after 50 years of competition in development.
Looking at citizen Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) UK trip from a salesman's angle, we feel like both sighing and cheering. The speech Lee was to give at the Joseph A. Schumpeter Academic Forum in Manchester was in a way like a product catalogue. What he wanted to sell was Taiwan's experience of successful democratization and prosperity. However, the pressure from the other side of the Taiwan Strait had robbed the trip of its pomp and forced Lee to maintain a low profile. Interestingly however, Taiwan has gained even more international attention as a result.
The Beijing authorities do not seem to have learned the basics of interaction between politics and the media. Like the KMT government hunting down and banning "tangwai" (黨外) literature in the old days, the harder they tried to ban it, the higher sales soared. A most recent example has been Taiwan's pop diva Chang Hui-mei (A-mei, 張惠妹), who invoked Beijing's wrath by singing the ROC national anthem at President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration. China's blackout on A-mei made her the object of international media attention, including CNN and Time magazine. The interviews brought her even more fame, not the least of which came from her fans in China.
Lee's UK trip would not have attracted so much international attention if China had not been so cantankerous about it nor tried so heavy-handedly to suppress it. In fact, much of the media publicity generated during the trip can be attributed to Beijing's nagging.
Lee returned to Taiwan last night, looking undisturbed by China's verbal barrage. Lee said he had to change his itinerary "somewhat," but that his trip still went "rather smoothly." He plans to visit the Czech Republic in November, and has not ruled out visiting the US and Japan. Beijing will certainly try to apply pressure on these countries over Lee's visits. But the Taiwanese have long developed skills at snaking their way on scooters through seas of traffic jams. Lee will surely operate this "scooter diplomacy" to the fullest and nimbly twist his way through China's blockades.
Of course, Lee is now an ordinary citizen and Taiwan would not have seen his UK visit as a diplomatic breakthrough. But China's diplomatic siege has brought Taiwanese a sense of victory over his visit. We should all applaud this travel-worn salesman promoting Taiwan.
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