Monday recap
We started off Monday visiting with Dr. Chen-Yuan Tung, Vice Chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council in the Executive Yuan. I brought my video camera not knowing whether I'd be able to get any footage of the meetings over here, and I'm surprised at the response -- Taiwanese take pride in having one of the most open democracies in the world. Cameras and videocameras seem to be allowed everywhere.
The most important issue here in Taiwan is by far its relationship with China. Here's a video of Dr. Tung describing the challenges and strategies of Taiwan's policy with China:
We spent the afternoon visiting with officials at the Government Information Office learning about the political landscape of Taiwan's five branches of government. Here's a video describing the make-up of the legislature and the concerted effort it takes by various members from different parties to work together in order to reach a majority on any issue:
We had a few minutes to visit the World Trade Center here in Taipei late Monday afternoon. It hosts over a hundred events each year and is one of the busiest venues for international trade shows. 12 U.S. states have offices in the center (Arkansas is not among them).
We spent the evening meeting with business leaders from a wide range of industries. Most Taiwan businesses are very diverse. For instance, the China Synthetic Rubber Corporation is far from a synthetic rubber company (even though they list Cooper Tire as one of their 10 largest customers for carbon black, a nanomaterial produced by the incomplete combustion of petroleum products). CSRC is also into pharmaceutical research and manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries. It has launched a research and development program with Duke University Medical Center to develop new medicines to be applied to the treatment of "Pompe" disease.
The common theme discussed by each of the business leaders is that Taiwan is a small country with limited room for growth. In the past, they couldn't very well expand into China, and so they have enjoyed and relied heavily on the United States for growth, trade, and partnerships to expand their businesses. The economic boom in China is changing that.
I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be able to pick up as much Chinese as I had originally hoped -- especially in writing. I have been able to learn my name in mandarin characters, which thankfully usually appears on most of the place settings just below my name in English so I'll know where to sit.
The most important issue here in Taiwan is by far its relationship with China. Here's a video of Dr. Tung describing the challenges and strategies of Taiwan's policy with China:
We spent the afternoon visiting with officials at the Government Information Office learning about the political landscape of Taiwan's five branches of government. Here's a video describing the make-up of the legislature and the concerted effort it takes by various members from different parties to work together in order to reach a majority on any issue:
We had a few minutes to visit the World Trade Center here in Taipei late Monday afternoon. It hosts over a hundred events each year and is one of the busiest venues for international trade shows. 12 U.S. states have offices in the center (Arkansas is not among them).We spent the evening meeting with business leaders from a wide range of industries. Most Taiwan businesses are very diverse. For instance, the China Synthetic Rubber Corporation is far from a synthetic rubber company (even though they list Cooper Tire as one of their 10 largest customers for carbon black, a nanomaterial produced by the incomplete combustion of petroleum products). CSRC is also into pharmaceutical research and manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries. It has launched a research and development program with Duke University Medical Center to develop new medicines to be applied to the treatment of "Pompe" disease.
The common theme discussed by each of the business leaders is that Taiwan is a small country with limited room for growth. In the past, they couldn't very well expand into China, and so they have enjoyed and relied heavily on the United States for growth, trade, and partnerships to expand their businesses. The economic boom in China is changing that.
I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be able to pick up as much Chinese as I had originally hoped -- especially in writing. I have been able to learn my name in mandarin characters, which thankfully usually appears on most of the place settings just below my name in English so I'll know where to sit.
posted by Steve Harrelson @ 7/09/2007 04:10:00 PM | Permalink |
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