Four years ago, during Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 1996, Jason Hu sat down with an old Oxford classmate and friend to chat about China's missile threats.
The friend was New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman, who was looking for clever and insightful ways to explain the China-Taiwan relationship to his readers. He had come to the right man.
Friedman: "Jason, I think you're in one hell of a situation and there's no way out. You've got an 800-pound gorilla in your living room and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
Hu: "Tom, it's worse than that. Not only do I have an 800-pound gorilla in my living room, that gorilla happens to think that he's my brother!"
This is one of the captured moments from Hu's Talking, a new book by Lisa Cheng (
"It would be such a shame knowing all about Hu's witticisms, but not writing about it," said Cheng.
For example, when Hu, then the government spokesman, was having a debate with Kissinger, he was unknown to the US audience. So, in an effort to soften up the crowd -- and Kissinger -- Hu made a joke about his name when introducing himself.
"You do not know who I am, do you? I am Hu (who), Doctor Hu. When I call someone on the phone, they say, `Who is it?' I say, `This is Hu.' They say `Who?' I say, `Hu, Jason Hu.'"
The icebreaker worked, tempering the "overbearing" attitude of Kissinger and prompting the former US Secretary of State to add some humor to the debate as well.
Kissinger: "How come I have an accent as an American and you as a foreigner don't?"
Hu: "What? Do you expect me to have a `Chinese accent'?"
Su Chi (
"He is like a person with radar. He can sense small things around him and make quick, witty comments," he said.
It is this theme that reaches out again and again from the pages of Hu's Talking. In anecdote after anecdote, Cheng brings out the flavor of Hu's personality by offering snippets of backroom conversation.
Most of the stories from the book were culled from Cheng's column at the United Daily News, titled "Diplomatic Anecdotes" (
Under Hsia's encouragement, Cheng began compiling the weekly anecdotes into a book.
"They are all warm and fun stories that I am familiar with, so the writing process was very smooth," she said. "I wrote 120 pieces in less than three months."
There was ample material. Colleagues of Hu line up to shower praise on him or talk about the pithiness of his most recent one-liner.
David Lee (
Politically motivated praise? Perhaps. But Hu's numbers have proven his popularity beyond the measured praise of politicians.
As the son of a mainlander, Hu won the most votes in the 1996 National Assembly election, with more than 80 percent of his support coming from ethnic Taiwanese voters. And over the past two years as foreign minister, Hu's support rating in polls always outdistanced his fellow cabinet members.
This book should additionally boost his capital among Taiwanese since it casts him in such a favorable light.
Naturally, the current KMT campaign manager is happy to see it come out. "If this book can bring an easy and happy atmosphere to our politics, why not?" he said.
Although the timing of the release -- as the election nears -- is highly suspect as a thinly veiled attempt at political boosterism, Hu emphasizes the book has nothing to do with the March 18 election. (An assertion that some of his political opponents might have some of their own witty comments about.)
There have been other political biographies on the shelves lately, a genre that's been trendy in the run-up to election day. Encountering 100 Percent Lien Chan (
But few of these books could aptly describe a politician's personality like Hu's Talking, said Hsieh Jin-rong (謝金蓉), vice-editor-in-chief of Journalist Publishing, the firm that printed the book.
Lien and Chen's recent biographies, of course, play a part in presidential campaigning. Both books broke the Top 10 of local book charts, mostly because both camps bought at least 10,000 copies for campaigning, according to sources.
Without the backing of such political machines, some wonder if Hu's Talking will become a bestseller. Hsieh thinks it will.
"He is a people magnet and he has very good relations with the media," she said. And, more importantly, he enjoys being in the spotlight, she added.
At a book signing during last week's 8th Taipei International Book Exhibition, Hu signed more than 300 books in half an hour. Surprisingly, most of his fans were not from diplomatic circles but were young people in their 20s.
It's this kind of broad appeal, in part, that has made Hu a rising star of Taiwan's politics.
Despite Hu's constant statements that he would like to return to the diplomatic circle after the March election, he might not have such a wish fulfilled.
It has been widely speculated (in the media) that Hu might be the next premier, whether the KMT wins the election or not.
After March 18, any move Hu makes will definitely draw media attention, according to Hsieh. And this kind of free publicity might be the real force that turns Hu's Talking into a bestseller.
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