Wed, Nov 17, 2010 page8

• Flora expo doesn’t meet world-class standards

  • By Lin Cho-shui 林濁水
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  To strike back at opposition criticism, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) recently cited praise by International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) president Doeke Faber, who said that the opening of the Taipei International Flora Expo on Nov. 6 was fantastic. Ignoring the public’s disappointment with the fireworks show, which was partly obscured by heavy smoke, Hau chose only to hear Faber’s polite compliment when claiming that the flora expo is a world-class event.

  Taipei’s self-content mayor is behaving like President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who has called the expo a floral Olympics. Both feel good about themselves, but know nothing about international custom. No wonder they do not understand why their support js waning.

  If the flora expo really were a flower Olympics, it should of course be given an A1 rating. The rating for the expo, however, is only an A2B1 event and could at most be described as a World Games.

  According to the categories given at the official AIPH Web site, A1 and A2-level events are international; while B1 and B2-level events are domestic. A1 and B1 events are long-term events and A2 and B2 events are short-term events. Since the flora expo is categorized as an A2B1 event, the nature of the event is quite clear: It is a second-level international and a top-level domestic event. In other words, it is a domestic event boosted by international assistance.

  This is also why the government has budgeted just more than US$1 million for international promotion, but as much as NT$130 million (US$4.3 million) for domestic promotion. The plan is to attract 8 million visitors to the event, including 500,000 foreigners — just a bit more than 10 percent of the 4 million foreigners who visit Taiwan annually.

  That also means that if the event turns out to be profitable, it will have earned money from the Taiwanese public, not from foreign visitors. Thus, the government is using the idea of an international event to spend astronomical sums on domestic marketing. Although it has hurried to adjust its approach after Taipei City councilors uncovered this fact, the effect seems to be limited.

  Since Taipei wants to promote itself in the international community, it should pick a suitable season. Let’s take a look at when other “normal” countries arrange their flower expos. A document on the AIPH Web site shows that next year, Italy and Switzerland will hold events in April and May, Germany and China from April to October, and Thailand from September to February. In 2012, the Netherlands will hold an event between April and October, while in 2013, South Korea, Spain and China will hold events between April and October.

  Spring is the season of blossoming flowers and future flora expos will be held in spring, with the exception of Thailand — a tropical country where winter is as hot as spring.

  The weather in Taipei is closer to a temperate or subtropical zone, with winters like a temperate zone, but tropical summers. Surprisingly, Hau chose to hold the flora expo during the season of strong northeastern seasonal winds, inviting the public to appreciate the flowers in the middle of the windy, rainy winter.

  Although this might conveniently help Hau build momentum for the Nov. 27 Taipei mayoral election, the whole situation is a bit odd: First he chose to hold the expo during winter and then he complains that the weather gods are not cooperating. In the end, the gods may well turn out to spoil more than the opening of the expo.

  Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.

  TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHA
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