The State of Taiwan

This has been (obviously) a very political week. We celebrated Obama's election victory on Wednesday with a large Yilan Fulbright gathering over pizza. Many Taiwanese have followed the election and were also as happy as we were with the results. Most conversations go: "Obama, yeah? He is your party? You like him? You vote? You return to America to vote?" They are surprised to learn that we can vote from here by absentee ballot. (In Taiwan you have to return here to vote in person.)

One of the conversations turned, almost immediately, from the joy of the election results to Obama's policy towards Taiwan. Obama, I later found out, supports greater communication between Taiwan and China; McCain, on the other hand, supports arming Taiwan so it can defend itself against China. He is more pro-independence than Obama, so some Taiwanese were disappointed with the results of the election. And while I explained that I like Obama's position on so many other issues that he was the better choice, it is interesting that an election which I had previously hailed as placing us in a better position internationally is actually not always viewed as such by some people in Taiwan, whose issues I am now so surrounded by.

In Taiwan, meanwhile, the highest ranking Chinese envoy to ever visit Taiwan met with President Ma this week. He did not call President Ma by his title, thus not recognizing Taiwan's government as a sovereign entity. However, the fact that he did visit seems to be a softening of Chinese policy towards Taiwan.

In Taipei, the visit was met with huge protests outside of the envoy's hotel. Police in riot gear had to disperse a crowd so that the envoy could exit a building. These are definitely historical times, not just in America, but also in Taiwan. Read more about it in this Washington Post article.