The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) last week unveiled an array of the type of Taiwan-themed gifts it regularly gives to visiting foreign dignitaries, which the ministry said are designed to leave overseas guests with a lasting impression of the country.
Department of General Affairs head Bruce Hung (洪振榮), who is in charge of preparing the giveaways, showed off the gifts on Tuesday last week and explained why they were selected.
The ministry usually picks light, handy and easy-to-pack gifts that can fit easily into the luggage of visiting dignitaries, who might have to travel to other destinations after Taiwan before returning home, Hung said.
Photo: Yang Yao-ju, Taipei Times
In the past few years, the ministry has favored gifts with Taiwanese motifs, including endangered indigenous animals or flora, to promote Taiwanese arts and culture and the environment, to try to leave guests with a positive lasting impression of the country, he said.
Some of the most popular gifts include a Hakka tung blossom tea cup and plate set, and traditional Taiwanese decorative tiles with images of Formosan black bears, Formosan blue magpies and Taiwan’s leopard cats, he said.
Traditional Hakka indigo-dyed products, and paperweights shaped like the figures in late Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming’s (朱銘) widely acclaimed Taichi series are also popular and well-liked by foreign guests, the official said.
Taiwan’s famous Alishan Jinsyuan oolong tea and Taitung Luye red oolong tea are also great gifts for visiting dignitaries who are tea lovers, Hung said.
However, the ministry seeks to avoid some gift-giving blunders, such as not factoring in the maximum value some countries set for a gift to government officials or the need of some dignitaries to publicly report their gifts, he said.
Another consideration are zodiac animals, which are frequently featured on the ministry’s gifts.
Two of the 12 animals — the pig and the dog — are considered unclean or impure in Muslim cultures and should not be included in gifts to guests from certain countries, such as Malaysia, Hung said.
Hung, a former envoy to Australia posted in Brisbane, said that officials from Australia and New Zealand are extremely interested in gifts related to Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, as the countries also have rich indigenous cultures.
“Every time I see gifts given by MOFA in the office of a foreign guest when I travel overseas, I know we’re doing a good job promoting Taiwan,” he said.
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