Shieh Jhy-wey (
"A `newsmaker,' or a `troublemaker?'" Shieh immediately asked.
Shieh then made the unlikely logical leap from his being a "newsmaker" to Taiwan's political status.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"`Newsmaker,' `troublemaker' ... the role Taiwan should play is `decision-maker' ... of its own destiny," Shieh said, responding to accusations by some that Taiwan's "troublemaking" is the cause of strained relations with China.
With his sleeves rolled up and his cellphone ringing incessantly, Shieh proceeded to conduct the rest of the interview in similar fashion, explaining his political views with wit and humor -- but no hint of compromise -- while flitting from one analogy to another.
He compared Taiwan to the eraser stub on the tip of a used, discarded pencil. He executed complex German tongue-twisters at impressive speeds. He made jokes in several languages, moving easily between Mandarin, Taiwanese, German and English. He defended the role of ideology in societal change by evoking the story of Louise Aston, a 19th century German feminist writer who was barred from Berlin for putting on pants and entering a bar against social regulations.
It was a dazzling performance.
"There's a small eraser at the end of your pencil. No matter how you use this pencil or sharpen it, as long as there is still a bit of lead left, it's still a pencil, right? But after you have just the eraser left, can you still call it a pencil? Not anymore," Shieh said.
"This is what happened to the [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime] under Chiang Kai-shek (
"We [Taiwan] were always the eraser. After you've used up the entire pencil, it's ridiculous to insist that you're still a pencil, that you're still China," he said, urging people to see Taiwan for what it is: an eraser, not a pencil.
Shieh further elaborated on his criticism of the pan-blue's stance that the Republic of China is the rightful government of China, conjuring images of a relocation of the US government to Hawaii.
"If US had a civil war, and the [George W.] Bush administration were attacked ... can you imagine if Bush took some of his people, moved to Hawaii, and called Hawaii the United States of America? This is hard to imagine, because it is but a handful of people who moved [to Hawaii]," Shieh said.
He explained the point of his analogy: a nation is deeply rooted in land, as is the case with China and Taiwan.
"Land is absolute; it's not going anywhere. People can come and go. They can change their nationality," he said. "People, territory, government and sovereignty are the necessary elements of a nation ... the government can't go to another land and say it is the rightful ROC. You can't bring the land and the people with you."
Asked whether he would put his ideas to action by changing the official name of the representative office to include "Taiwan" instead of just "Taipei," Shieh said there was a need for a coordinated effort toward cementing cultural, trade and technological ties with Germany.
"For Taiwan, establishing cultural, economic, trade, scientific ties with Germany are both means and ends at the same time. Diplomatically, Taiwan does not have a lot of bargaining chips in its hand, so we can't just push for name rectification alone. This would not be enough," Shieh said.
He said that in terms of name rectification, he would start with the basics. As an example, he cited the fact that, currently, the lease for the representative office in Germany could not be signed under the name of a group, country or foundation. The contract has to be signed by an individual each time it is renewed.
"We can only sign contracts as individuals. Why? They [Germany] don't recognize us. It's like we're secretly going about securing the office," Shieh said.
He lamented that despite this situation, recent relations with Germany were probably at their height -- which was albeit very modest -- right now.
"Right now, relations with Germany are in the best state [they have ever been in]. This is very sad situation. What is there to be happy about if someone steals $1,000 from you and returns $200? I'm not happy, but perhaps I take comfort [in the current situation]" Shieh said.
He explained, however, that the international storm that Beijing has brought into being by adopting the "Anti-Secession" Law had been the real motivating factor in improved ties with Germany, alluding to the EU's postponement of a vote on lifting the arms-sale ban on Beijing.
"To some degree, this situation really is not due to Taiwan's efforts alone," he said, adding that his efforts would not slacken as a result. He explained that with the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual summit convening next month, he would be in touch with German authorities beforehand to push for observer status for the nation.
He also took a strong stance on Taiwan's failure to apply to the UN as "Taiwan" until last year.
"This is insane. This indicates that Taiwan, in a lot of its efforts, is still going along the dead-end path set out in the past," he said.
When Shieh leaves for Germany, he said that he would be representing neither the pan-blue camp nor the pan-green camp, but Taiwan alone. He said that he would take with him his clear identification with Taiwan and work to promote bilateral ties on all levels without compromising the nation's dignity.
Hsieh believes that the substantial relation for both sides would be further strengthened if Taiwan can make useful efforts to help Germany out of its worsening economic situation.
According to Shieh, Germany's economy has been adversely affected by both its unification in 1990 and the expansion of the EU, while the high cost of German-made products has seriously compromised the country's competitiveness. Statistics suggest that, in February, the unemployment of 5.216 million German residents -- a jobless rate of 12.6 percent -- is a record since the economic crisis in the 1930s.
"At the moment, what Germany needs is abundant investment to tackle unemployment. We might end up with a win-win situation by purchasing Germany's technologies and merging declining German companies with ours, because more job opportunities will be created," Shieh said.
Currently, Germany is Taiwan's largest trading partner in Europe. For Germany, Taiwan is its fourth largest trade partner worldwide. Next year, the amount of bilateral trading was boosted by significant 12.65 percent to US$10.332 billion.
So far, there are 250 German firms operating in Taiwan and 175 Taiwanese companies doing business in Germany. Bilateral collaboration in the near future in diverse fields remains promising, Shieh said.
Taking as an example Germany's renewable energy technologies industry, which has an excellent reputation, Shieh said that Taiwan has to further promote more collaborative projects in related fields to not only seize economic opportunities but also ensure sustainable development, which contains universal values ranging from environmental protection to global warming management.
Shieh also praised Germany's energy policies, saying that the country has worked on phasing out nuclear power plants in the same spirit as its neighbor, Austria, whose residents have even had a nuclear power plant closed by holding a referendum.
"Fossil fuels are running out. Germany is now taking advantage of renewable energy, such as wind power and solar energy [to further ensure its energy security]," Shieh said.
Many of Taiwan's energy related laws being reviewed by the Legislative Yuan are more or less influenced by those in Germany, such as the Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz) passed in 2000, Shieh said.
Shieh attributed this to the influence Germany had on political dissidents of the dangwai -- or "outside the party" -- which was the status of the outlawed opposition members until they formed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986.
"Don't forget that the color picked to stand for the DPP is green," Shieh said.
When he arrived in Ruhr University in Bochum in 1982 as an overseas student and started on his path to political enlightenment, Shieh translated German materials about the Green Party into Chinese for the dangwai. Apart from environmental protection, Shieh was also influenced by the other universal values Germany has promoted, such as human rights, equity, liberty, democracy, peace and others.
At the beginning of the 21st century, a new era for global cooperation, Shieh believes that promoting concepts of sustainable development would eventually bring mutual benefits to both Taiwan and Germany.
"Taiwan has to firmly stick to universal values, which even political interference will fail to affect," Shieh said.
Shieh said that like Singapore, Taiwan is also an area influenced by Chinese culture, which has made Taiwan an ideal place for Western Sinologists to conduct their research.
"Academic exchanges will definitely spotlight Taiwan's excellent research environment. In addition, intercultural dialogue will also be one of my top priorities," Shieh said.
Currently, 27 Taiwanese universities work on academic exchanges with their counterparts in Germany, and about 1,400 Taiwanese students pursue their degrees in Germany. Shieh believes that well-designed academic and cultural exchange programs will show positive results on long-term basis.
Shieh said that Taiwan has to abandon the idea of becoming a great power. Instead, Hsieh said that Taiwan has to know its advantages, by which it can further not only strengthen diplomatic relations but also contribute to the global village.
Shieh said that Germany is one of the countries that hosts important trade fairs and that there's no need to go into detail about Taiwan's excellent performance in exhibitions about computers or machinery. However, multiple channels for the exchange of diverse professionals, including those from powerful think tanks, organizations and the media deserve to be especially promoted.
Meanwhile, Shieh believes that the relationship could be further strengthened if deeper understandings and more sincerity were available.
"It's a fact that diplomatic representatives from Germany receive formal and courteous treatment in Taiwan. But our representatives have never received similar treatment there," Shieh said.
Shieh knows the China factor in Germany well. In 2002, China surpassed Japan and became Germany's largest trading partner in Asia. Last year, the amount of trade between China and Germany reached US$69.8 billion.
Stressing Article 1 of the Basic Law, which was imposed upon Germany by the Allies after WWII, "The dignity of mankind is unassailable [unantastbar]," Shieh believes that Germany will nevertheless support the idea of solving the cross-strait controversy peacefully.
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