VIEW THIS PAGE “The predominant impression I have of Taiwan is of a prosperous, peaceful, vibrant, inventive, friendly, cosmopolitan, and extremely interesting place. Moreover, the development of a democracy that is both recognizable to democrats all around the world, and at the same time very much a reflection of the local culture, is an important dimension of what I feel about Taiwan.”
Amit Pandya is, among many other things, a passionate enthusiast for Taiwan. He’s an international lawyer and South Asia expert currently working at Washington’s Henry L. Stimson Center, a non-profit, non-partisan institution devoted to enhancing international peace and security through analysis and outreach. He just edited a new book, Regional Voices: Transnational Challenges. Concentrating as it does on Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Africa and the Middle East, the book doesn’t specifically cover Taiwan. It’s often mentioned, however, and so I first asked Pandya how the nation fitted into the broader picture.
“First let me say what the broader picture is,” he replied. “The book sought to gain insight into how knowledgeable people from the area it covered thought about issues such as threats from environmental degradation and climate change, public health crises and pandemic diseases, maritime security and resources, food security, trade, water shortages or conflicts, demographic shifts, competition for energy and natural resources, terrorism, transnational crime, and other emerging cross-border or transnational problems.
“Our work was based on a belief that effective US policy towards particular countries and regions, and towards specific global issues, required an understanding of the perspectives, priorities and approaches of societies as well as governments in these regions.
“As for Taiwan, the Western powers and Taiwan’s neighbors, seeking to accommodate the sensitivities of the mainland Chinese government, have long made the mistake of pretending that Taiwan can be ignored, or at best marginalized in diplomacy and in the making of international policy. When we started looking at a range of transnational threats and challenges, and the prospects of international cooperation in responding to essentially international threats, it became apparent immediately that Taiwan is as essential as any other Asian nation.
“Taiwan is as much the object or victim of these challenges or threats as anywhere else. It has to be at least as much part of the necessary solutions as any other nation because to exclude from collective responses any large society that suffers from problems such as SARS, Avian Flu or marine pollution is to offer only an incomplete solution. Incomplete solutions that leave the problem partially unsolved threaten the effectiveness of solutions adopted by other nations.
“Indeed, I think that a strong case can be made that Taiwan is more important to the potential solutions to transnational threats than its size would suggest. It enjoys far higher levels of education, scientific research, technology and transparency than almost any other society in its region, on a par with Japan, Singapore and possibly South Korea. Education, scientific research, technology and transparency have been shown to be essential to the development of solutions to the technical and political challenges posed by the inter-relationship between rapid economic growth, environmental change, environmental degradation, social change and political instability.
“We might also reflect that the new types of challenges demand new types of solutions. The role of governments and of formal diplomatic cooperation (bilateral or multi-lateral) remains important. However, this is now supplemented by more creative mechanisms that are informal, quasi-governmental, or based on cooperation between governments and private sectors and civil societies. Taiwan, owing to the unfortunate circumstances of its diplomatic isolation and treatment as a society that is not a state, a nation that has a government that is not formally sovereign, has learned to inhabit this shadow space and to operate successfully in it to address real-world challenges. It can provide a useful model for the new paradigm that is emerging of governance — we might call it non-governmental governance.
“Taiwan also offers a very useful model of social and economic change and development for Asian, Middle Eastern and African societies. It went from being a predominantly agrarian and relatively poor society to being one of the powerhouses of the high-tech global economy in one generation. It also simultaneously made the transition from autocratic to democratic government. It did this in very difficult circumstances of threat from a much more powerful neighbor and of great diplomatic isolation from the global community. It did all this with significant investments and wise policy on education and workforce development, smart macro-economic policy and business investment strategies, and effective policies on population planning. The developing world could emulate Taiwan to its benefit.”
I next asked Pandya what his own impressions of Taiwan had been.
“Most interesting is the feeling of a modern sense of Chinese identity, coexisting with a proud sense of Taiwanese history and culture, and with a sense of Taiwan’s place in an increasingly inter-dependent world. Taiwan appears to have easily and effortlessly taken on the task of developing a sense of cultural identity based on its own history and tradition that is also part of the global and cosmopolitan civilization.
“Taiwan’s version of Chinese modernity also seems much more respectful of the rest of the world, and completely free of the belligerent attitude that marks the development of modern Chinese identity on the mainland. I have to say that, in this respect, Taiwan’s elaboration of a modern Chinese identity is much more congenial to non-Chinese like myself, and makes us much more curious and eager to enter into a deep study and appreciation of Chinese history and culture. Based on my own basic study of Chinese thought and history, I would say that in an important sense Taiwan has preserved the best accomplishments and standards of Chinese thought and civilization.
“There is also a sense of dynamism, of curiosity about the rest of the world here. I have the feeling that Taiwanese society and people focus on the positive aspects of life rather than the negative ones.
“As for personal experiences, I think my most vivid memories of Taiwan are of hiking in the mountains outside Taipei, walking on the beach at the southern end of the island, eating very well in Taipei (I am a vegetarian and love all types of Chinese cuisine and am always delighted to find so much wonderful Buddhist vegetarian food), of seeing some wonderful theater and art shows, and hearing some wonderful music in Taipei. I’d add to that traveling to other cities and visiting experimental farms and successful factories with the latest technology, and perhaps above all visiting temples and worshiping there and realizing how much Taiwan’s spiritual traditions resemble my own Indian Hindu-Buddhist heritage.”
Regional Voices: Transnational Challenges was published by the Henry L. Stimson Center in 2008.VIEW THIS PAGE
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