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Article An Island of Fellowship, Adventures and a Cave with Barbarian Words Alsford, Niki Joseph paul Available at http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/16055/ Alsford, Niki Joseph paul (2014) An Island of Fellowship, Adventures and a Cave with Barbarian Words. EATS News (3). pp. 8-10. It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. For more information about UCLan’s research in this area go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/researchgroups/ and search for <name of research Group>. For information about Research generally at UCLan please go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/ All outputs in CLoK are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including Copyright law. Copyright, IPR and Moral Rights for the works on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/policies/ CLoK Central Lancashire online Knowledge www.clok.uclan.ac.uk EATS News The Newsletter of the European Association of Taiwan Studies http://eats-taiwan.eu/ 31 January 2014, issue 3 Publication Place: London ISSN 2053-6143 (Online) EATS News appreciates the generous support of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Communicating Taiwan’s Democracy Gary Rawnsley s the keynote speaker at From a PD perspective, such the annual conference of official discourses constitute part Athe European Association of the environment in which of Taiwan Studies (EATS) in 2013, Taiwan must operate. It is Professor T.J. Cheng of William unfortunate that China chooses to and Mary College delivered a view Taiwan in such an out-dated characteristically interesting way - the problems of corruption paper on Offshore Democracies: are now far worse in the mainland An Ideational Challenge to China. than they are in Taiwan where His intention is to there is much less electoral understand how Taiwan is perceived corruption than previously - but the question in mainland China through examining the that Taiwan must confront is how to respond official and non-official discourses there about and work within the constraints? the island's democratic institutions and procedures. Two sections of his talk provoked EATS News Issue 3 31/1/2014 a response from a soft power and public Content diplomacy (PD) perspective. First, T.J. outlined the sibau minzhu, the Communicating Taiwan Democracy p.1 'quartet of evils' that define the official view Editorial p.4 about Taiwan's democracy. Discourses about Taiwan Fellows p.6 the 'evils' are framed by key-words that focus Institutional Profiles p.11 on the more disturbing side of Taiwan's Workshop Reports p.18 political evolution - black-gold, party-splitting Brno Student Workshop Special p.22 etc. Notice Board p.29 1 Taiwan is not in a position to change the their value. Why be silent when the world is Chinese conversation, so must pay far more not listening to you anyway? For a state facing attention to its soft power capital and the Taiwan's predicament, silence means an quality of its public diplomacy strategy than absence of attention, and so the previously. The external environment frames government does not/cannot challenge the the architectures, methods, success and dominant narratives conducted in Beijing. failures of Taiwan's international Silence will not undermine a depiction of communications and determines their impact Taiwan which centres on 'the quartet of evils', on elite audiences and mass opinion. I have circulating within a tightly controlled media talked about this many times in published and education system. papers and in blogs, and this argument forms the core of the book I am now writing which T.J. is correct to commend the absence of examines the interaction of structure and hectoring and pontificating in Taiwan's agency to understand Taiwan's soft power. interactions with the PRC, but such methods of communication are neither strategic nor I felt that T.J. had inadvertently stumbled desirable as they can backfire on the source of on a set of contradictions when he claimed the message. Rather, Taiwan must strike a that 'Taiwan's democracy is like a silent movie, balance between silence - letting the story of more palatable than soundbites', and Taiwan's democracy speak for itself - and he applauded Taiwan's government for not making sure that story is heard by audiences hectoring the PRC about human rights abuses. conditioned to have a very different T.J. is right to isolate the practice of perception of reality. democracy as a particularly useful communications strategy - in Public Another speaker on the Diplomacy, actions really do speak louder Senkaku/Diayutai dispute prefaced her paper than words - and by providing a model with a reference to 'manipulation' by the Chinese democracy, Taiwan is demonstrating international media on this subject, evidence for which is provided by the fact that the media concentrate overwhelmingly on Japan and China and ignore Taiwan's claims on the islands. This sounds very similar to claims by Beijing that the international (read western) media deliberately demonise China, and that this accounts for the continuing popularity of the theory of cultural imperialism in China. As a communications scholar, I would reply that the international media know and understand China and Japan; their frames are familiar. Taiwan, however, is largely unfamiliar to (Keynote speaker T. J. Cheng, left) international media consumers who have no the fallacy of so-called Asian values: There real understanding of Taiwan or why Taiwan really is a political alternative for China. matters. The media will choose to sideline However, silence is not an option for Taiwan, Taiwan because of the competition of voices, and measured, strategic soundbites do have interests, stories and news-space, but also 2 UNDER“TANDING TAIWAN THROUGH FILM AND DOCUMENTARIE“ PROJECT CENTRE OF TAWAIN STUDIES SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON The Centre of Taiwan Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London will screen a series of (The 10th EATS Conference in Lyon, 2013) Taiwanese films and documentaries in February 2014 as a part of its Uderstadig because journalists are denied the kind of Taiwan through Film and Docuetaries structured and continuous interaction with project, fuded the Miistr of Cultures diplomats and pres s officers that may yield Spotlight Taiwan Program. The project will coverage. My research reveals that Taiwan is host nine film screenings during each passive in its acceptance of this situation - academic year, including a mixture of feature that its public diplomats and press officers sit films, short films and documentaries. The back, see a crowded market place and believe Taiwan Film Week in February 2014 is that change is impossible. Being voiceless arranged as follows: therefore becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 10 February 2014, 7-10pm, The Affair of Three Cities: The Game 台北京之比賽 These comments connect with my 11 February 2014, 7-10pm, The Chai-Wan discussion of T.J.'s paper and Matchup 我們 (with Q&A with director the consequences of accepting a 'silent movie' Chung Chuan) approach. Again, the international media are 12 February 2014, 7-10pm, Face to Face 正 not necessarily ignoring Taiwan; Taiwan is not 面迎擊 (with Q&A with director Chung getting the message out and its voice heard Chuan) because of the inadequacies of the public 13 February 2014, 7-10pm, Book launch diplomacy structure. Docuetig Taia o Fil Issues ad Methods i Ne Docuetaries & screening of Viva Tonal: The Dance Age 跳 (This article has been published in Gary 舞時代 (hosted by Sang Ze-lan, Oregan) Rawsley’s log o puli diploay: http://wwwpdic.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/sil 14 February 2014, 7-10pm, Boys from ence-is-not-always-golden.html) Fenggui 風櫃來的人 (hosted by Dr Ming- yeh Rawnsley) Gary Rawnsley is Professor of Public For more information please consult the Diplomacy, Department of International website of the Centre of Taiwan Studies, Politics, Aberystwyth University. SOAS. 3 2013 EATS annual centres were established in Editorial: conference in Lyon from the 2009. perspectives of public There was an explosion Self vs. Other diplomacy, the intellectual of Taiwan-focused or interaction has given him Taiwan-related academic Ming-Yeh T. further insight into the and cultural activities in the problems of the practice UK and Europe last year. Rawnsley and communication of The two workshop reports Taias deora. commissioned by the The evidence of the newsletter - Hard Power expansion of Taiwan Studies vs. Soft Power: Intra- as a field comes from many Regional Dynamics in East directions. We are pleased Asia i Portsouth to have two recent Taiwan (organised and reported by Fellows to share their Dr Isabelle Cheng) and experiences in this Taia i Motio at the newsletter. Dr Colin University of Edinburgh Alexander comes from the (reported by Dr Jens discipline of international Damm) – are interesting communications and visited samples of these exciting Taiwan for the first time in developments. s the EATS Board 2013, while historian Niki Moreover, many of the are busy organising Alsford is an experienced events are not simply Athe forthcoming Taiwan researcher. They isolated one-offs. As our annual conference in both obtained Taiwan special features on Bro Portsmouth, which will take Fellowships last year and Student Workshop have place between 30 April and delight us with fascinating demonstrated, some 2 May 2014, the conference personal stories and workshops can be long- thee, “elf s. Other, is reflections. We are also term with accumulative very much in our mind. proud to present two active effects and may potentially rd Hence the 3 issue of EATS institutions of Taiwan News is designed to follow a Studies from two similar idea.