By Steve Thomas (Note to readers: I left the Federation on Friday, Oct. 3, at the invitation of the Government of Taiwan to visit their nation during its week leading up to Oct. 10, which is National Day. Stories about the trip will appeared on The Observer Web site during the trip and the balance of the reports will appear in the print edition of the newspaper. The style of the stories will not fit the regular style of reporting in the hope that readers will have a feel for what it’s like to travel to a country that is a major ally and supporter of the Federation ” Steve Thomas) (Addendum: This article was finished after I returned to the Federation. However, many of the blanks in my Taiwan-written draft were filled in because six days after American Airlines lost my luggage, I got it back – SRT) (Taipei, Taiwan) ” It’s past 11 o”clock Tuesday night in Taiwan Bureau of the St. Kitts-Nevis Observer, also known as Room 1037 of the Sheraton Taipei. The room is a lot less messy than one might expect. Some papers are piled up here and there, the bed is unmade because I napped in it and a room service table needs to be wheeled into the hall, but junk and clutter are not the rule. After all, this is a place for work, a journalist’s professional venue, a space for analysis, reflection and writing; it’s not some hovel dedicated to squandering the expense money provided by Taiwan’s Government Information Office, throwing parties or loaning a Sheraton robe to a female reporter. It’s none of those things. The Bureau is only a place for work and when the work is done, a place to rest. Rest is exactly what I”ve done. I got back to the room about 6:30. My plan was to sleep until 8, shower, order dinner, get on the Internet and edit Observer stories, and then go out to get a feel for the city, roam the streets, grab a drink or a cup of coffee somewhere and just look at Taipei. That’s the way to get to know a place. I didn’t work out that way. I”d hurt my knee in Miami on Friday and had spent a several hours late Tuesday afternoon walking and then riding in a van that didn’t allow my leg to stretch out. Consequently, when I got back to the bureau, my knee hurt like crazy and looked pretty scary, so I took some Advil, laid down for an hour’s nap and woke about three-and-a-half hours later. So much for my good planning. When I did get up, I cursed the clock, ordered a room service dinner and took a shower. Then I dried off, sat down and began to think through the day. Tuesday was different. At 8:40 a.m. in the Sheraton lobby, the Caribbean Contingent was culled from the crowd and taken on our way by David Chen of the Government Information Office. It was a most impressive tour. The Caribbean Contingent consisted of Dayle (newspaper reporter, St. Vincent), Shervon (radio reporter, St. Lucia) and Delroy (press officer for the prime minister, Belize) and me. On Monday I had realized that as a group we talked more, laughed more and engaged strangers in easy conversation than anyone other sub-group of our pack of journalists. I sensed some bewilderment, if not hesitation, on the part of other journalists to get into the mix with us, while at the same time our Taiwan hosts seemed very happy to have some live ones on their hands. David of the GIO was a little more reserved than some of his colleagues. At first I thought getting stuck with CaribCon was some sort of punishment duty for him. By the end of the day I was convinced that he was more amused and interested in us than anything else. He wasn’t a glad-hander; he was a total pro. The Caribbean Contingent, David and a driver took off in a van for the Hsinchu Science Park, located about an hour south of Taipei in the city of Hsinchu. Like Monday, it was cloudy and rainy as we whizzed down the highway. As we pulled out of the city, I was again surprised at the excellent condition of the highway, the few abandoned buildings and the general neatness of the place. Although a few structures looked old and grubby, most of the towns we saw were well-kept and the surrounding hills and forests were lush and green. I had no idea what to expect at the science park. When we arrived, we stopped in front of the administration building, walked through a little bit of rain and were greeted by Ms. Iris Peng. Ms. Peng showed us to an auditorium and briefed us on Hsinchu Science Park. She was very well-informed and spoke English clearly. Here are a few things that stand out from her briefing: -Hsinchu Science Park is home to nearly 400 tenants who focus on high-tech research and development as well as manufacturing. The park was opened in 1980 by the government, which covered the cost of the land and the infrastructure, plus provided tax breaks for companies. -Many of the world’s top computer and electronic manufacturers are located there. On my desk in Charlestown sits an Acer PC; there’s a good chance it or some of its components were assembled in Hsinchu Science Park. -Companies at the park attract some of the best and brightest people to work at all levels. There is a comfortable, clean upscale residential section in the park and a school that is open for the children of park employees. -The park has generated thousands of jobs and billions in revenue. It’s also worth noting that the park was a low-producing agricultural site before it was developed. After the briefing, Ms. Peng introduced us to the park’s Deputy Director” Tu Chi-Hsiang, who also answered a few questions. I was surprised at the follow-up to all this. There in the park’s administration building, part of one floor contains a small museum displaying many of the items produced at the site as well as a scale model of the park. The displays were mounted on the wall in glass cases with written descriptions posted in Chinese and English. I”ll never know whether or not this nice, relaxing old-style museum display was a deliberate effort to establish a contrast with its 21st century subjects, but I really liked it. I could easily understand what we were seeing. One of the last displays was a very, very shiny silver colored object, about the size and shape of a dinner plate. “Do you know what this is?” Ms. Peng asked. We all shook our heads. “It’s a Mercedes,” she said. Then she explained the object was a slab of processed silicon that would be turned into computer chips. In its current form, Ms. Peng said, it was equal in value to a Mercedes-Benz automobile. Each of us asked if we could take it as a souvenir. Ms. Peng laughed and smiled, ushered us away from all objects of value, then walked us downstairs and said good-bye as we got into the van. It was lunch time when we took off. David directed the van into Hsinchu and we stopped at a corner restaurant. The six of us trooped upstairs to a table in a room filled with folks who looked like they worked in the neighborhood and ate there regularly. No frills, no hotel food, just a working-class joint that, based on the way people were putting away their meals, served up some really good dishes. “They specialize in duck here,” David said. “I don’t eat duck,” Shervon said. “You don’t eat duck?” I said. “You just cost St. Lucia its aid from Taiwan next year.” Shervon, Dayle and Delroy laughed. David did not appear amused. What he did do, though, was act as an outstanding host and order beef, pork, clams, duck, steamed vegetables and noodles, which we passed around and sampled. It was the best duck I”ve ever had in my life. Everything else was good, too. (For the edification of any medical person with whom I”m acquainted and might read this, I watched my portions and did my best to stick to my diet.) Our next stop came after a about a 45-minute drive through the Taiwanese countryside. The sky remained grey and the land was flat and crossed with rice paddies and fields. There were clumps of trees in some areas and tree rows could be seen in the distance. Few houses were visible from the road. Houses I did see were grouped in pairs or trios; I didn’t notice any standing alone. We stopped at the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station. We were taken to a conference room where we
met up with a group of reporters from mostly Latin American news outlets. Our group was introduced to an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and a movie was shown, explaining the great progress Taiwan had made in food production. After the movie, the official took questions. Almost all the questions came from our Spanish-speaking colleagues, with the answers being translated into Spanish, so I had no idea what was being said. I concentrated on the tea and fruit snacks they provided. The bottom line on farming in Taiwan is pretty simple: Although the ag sector is dominated by small farmers, which reduces efficiency, the country produces enough grains, fruits, vegetables, poultry, meat and fish to feed its own population and do some exporting. Like any other country, there are foods they import. None of this came easily. It took a lot of hard work, including land terracing, irrigation and proper fertilization to make this effort successful. Throughout the cities you can see all sorts of large and small grocers with full shelves offering whatever you want to buy. From the agricultural office we went to a rice processing and storage plant. The owner, Mr. Su (I hope his name is spelled properly), gave us a detailed tour of his operation, including drying areas, packing areas and a warehouse. Working through interpreters, he answered questions from English-speaking and Spanish-speaking reporters, offering detailed answers with the grace and courtesy that seemed to be a trademark of everyone in Taiwan. The tour took over an hour, by which time my knee was really hurting. We climbed back into the van and spent another hour or so going back to Taipei. I climbed out of the van, hurting, walked into the lobby and greeted the always-charming Ms. You Ru who runs the book stall at the Sheraton. Then it was into an elevator, to the room and quickly asleep. Sleeping time is over and again, it’s almost 11:30 in the Observer Taiwan Bureau. The day was long and tiring, but that was far outweighed by what we saw and learned. After getting a Taiwan Beer (that’s the brand name and the GIO paid for it) out of the mini-bar, I sat and thought about how the day had been different for the Caribbean Contingent. The other English-speaking reporters had returned to the business conference and gone to other sites. The four of us who were taken to the industrial park and the agriculture station all came from small developing countries which receive economic aid and advice from Taiwan. I don’t think it was any attempt to show off or make us feel that our countries were in any way second-rate. Instead, I think the message was more like: If we can do this, if we can build the world’s 16th-largest economy, you can be successful, too. As a report from the World Economic Forum puts it: “With no significant natural resources, [Taiwan] has built its competitive advantage on its human capital, creating a model which other countries would do well to follow”Taiwan demonstrates the advantages that long-term strategic vision combined with adaptive management can confer.” I looked out over the lights of Taipei and sipped my beer, wondering if the leaders of the Federation could follow such a model, if they could develop a strategic vision that transcended partisan politics for the sake of advancing a better life for everyone. It would take leadership that could convince more than just a bare majority of the public that real effort would generate real and just rewards; that the gap between the wealthy and the poor would not become a chasm; and that everyone’s rewards would be protected from corruption and lawlessness. Big questions after a long day. The only thing I could do was to keep looking for answers.
