Sun, May 24, 2026 page8

• Taiwanese culture reaches Europe

  • By Andrzej Pawluszek
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  Taiwan is increasingly positioning itself on the international stage not only as a technological powerhouse but also as a mature democracy that has endured dictatorship, censorship and a difficult political transformation. For Poland, this story carries a surprisingly familiar resonance.

  I understood the unique perception of Taiwan’s Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) even before my meeting in Taipei in May. When I mentioned to my Uber driver who I was going to meet, his face lit up with admiration. “He is a good man. He is not like a typical politician,” he said.

  Li — better known by his literary pen name Hsiao Yeh (小野) — is indeed an unusual figure in politics. A writer, screenwriter and one of the key figures of Taiwan’s New Cinema movement in the 1980s, he contributed screenplays to several landmark films of the movement.

  In the face of growing pressure from Beijing, culture has become an important element of Taiwan’s national resilience. Diplomatic isolation has forced Taipei to seek alternative channels of communication. This is the thinking behind Taiwan Culture Europe 2026, a major cultural diplomacy initiative that aims to present Taiwan’s identity to European audiences through film, literature, human rights discussions and historical memory. Events have already begun in the Czech Republic and are scheduled to reach Poland this autumn.

  The choice of Warsaw and Prague is deliberate. Lee talks less like a bureaucrat and more like an artist deeply familiar with Polish culture. He mentions Polish film director and screenwriter Krzysztof Kieslowski and Polish poet, essayist, translator and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature Wislawa Szymborska, recognizing in them the same themes of moral anxiety, censorship and the struggle for freedom that shaped Taiwan’s own past.

  “In the 1980s, I worked in a state film studio during the period of martial law and the White Terror,” he said. Like Poland, Taiwan experienced authoritarian control over culture, yet filmmakers found subtle ways to express dissent — using local languages and embedding social criticism in their work.

  Taiwan’s democratic transition was relatively peaceful, yet questions of historical memory and the White Terror remain sensitive and continue to shape public debate. For Li, managing Taiwan’s own narrative has become a strategic necessity in today’s information environment — an essential part of national resilience alongside military deterrence and economic strength.

  The parallel with Poland is striking. Both nations have long struggled against narratives imposed by larger powers. Just as Poland was often viewed through the lens of Moscow or Berlin, Taiwan is still too frequently seen only through Beijing’s or Washington’s perspective. Cultural diplomacy aims to change that.

  Culture does not replace hard power. The military provides deterrence, and semiconductors give Taiwan critical importance in global supply chains.

  However, it is culture that explains to the world why Taiwan’s democratic experience and self-determination truly matter.

  During my visit to Taipei, this multidimensional interest was clearly visible. While I spoke with Li about cinema and memory, Rajmund Andrzejczak, Poland’s former chief of the general staff of the armed forces and one of the country’s most prominent voices on security policy, was meeting Taiwan’s defense officials nearby.

  Separately, Polish journalist Igor Zalewski was in Taipei recording material for Kanal Zero, one of Poland’s largest independent online media platforms, with the explicit aim of introducing Taiwan to a broader domestic audience.

  These parallel threads — culture, security and public diplomacy — show that Poland’s engagement with Taiwan is no longer limited to technology or geopolitical speculation. It is expanding into history, collective memory and shared democratic values.

  Taiwan Culture Europe 2026 should therefore not be seen in Poland as merely another cultural festival. It is an invitation to a deeper conversation about issues close to both societies: the legacy of authoritarianism, the challenges of democratization, disputes over historical memory and how medium-sized nations can defend their own narrative against more powerful actors.

  The Uber driver was right: Li is not a typical politician. Perhaps that is exactly why he understands that a nation needs more than military strength, economic power and alliances. It also needs ownership of its own story — before others write it on its behalf.

  Andrzej Pawluszek is a journalist publishing in Poland and the Netherlands, and a former secretary to former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
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