First, and most importantly, look around you. Beerlao is making an export push in Taiwan. Beer-freakin'-lao. I found some today in a volume retailer in Fengyuan of all places. Hope it catches on, though I talked to the Beerlao girl at the beer display, and she said locals find it "bitter." I stocked up, who knows how long it will be available. My friend Greg, a veteran of that part of the world, found it in bottles at the supermarket in the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Taipei by the train station.A university in the UK will be opening a blog dedicated to the 2012 election here on The Beautiful Island. The blog, with postings every day from an academic expert on Taiwan, will feature commentary from academics, commentators, and observers, and perhaps a few words from myself -- someone has to provide the right level of scruffiness so it sounds authentic to its readers -- and think how much smarter everyone else will look if I post there! It is scheduled to come online Nov 1. Stay tuned.
Also, Danielle Sleeper of the TAADC writes: I thought you and some of your readers might be interested in learning a bit about our new organization, the Taiwan Alumni Association of Greater Washington DC (TAADC).
TAADC was founded earlier this year as a way to maintain a connection to Taiwan after having studied abroad there and to assist prospective students planning to go to Taiwan. While we are an independent organization, we do receive funding from TECRO. So far, we have held various working sessions discussing our experiences in Taiwan and a re-orientation event for those who recently returned. In the future, we plan to host professional development sessions, lectures and other networking outings in DC and possibly events for DC students while they are in Taiwan (our president, Austin Yoder, plans to be there for a year beginning in December and will be facilitating). Members include students, graduates and professionals in the Washington, DC area with a significant interest in Taiwan.
One program we have just started is the TECRO Fellows program. Two students who are currently studying in Taiwan will be selected to blog weekly about their experiences there. At the end of the semester, they will receive a stipend and certificate of completion (and a plug to put on their resume).
Feel free to check out our website: http://www.taadc.com/
We are still in the process of developing the content, so please bear with us.
There is also a roundtable on Oct 18 at CSIS entitled "Should the US abandon Taiwan?" 12:00-2:00. Discussants: Nancy Berghof Tucker, Bonnie Glaser, Charles Glaser, Michael Swaine. RSVP to FreemanChair@csis.org
MEDIA NOTE:
AP on the ROC at 100: An excellent piece for the most part, but.... "Ma denies that, but he has been vague about the end goal of his China policy, prompting speculation that he has accepted that union with the mainland may be inevitable at some point." When has Ma ever been vague about the end goal of his China policy? He's often stated it: annexation in the form of "reunification."
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Daily Links:
- Julian Baum's letter to the Washington Post about the Post's running Chinese state propaganda advertorials
- The Diplomat on asymmetric warfare as the antidote to China's increasing edge in conventional warfare. Just as China wants to do the same to the US.
- Also in The Diplomat (which is damned good and you should be reading it) is James Holmes on whether the US is a reliable ally.
- House hearing video from Oct 4
- Tsai to remain in Tainan for Double Ten Day
- OzSoapbox on the disgusting behavior of an English teacher/stripper, an out of hand tale making the rounds in the foreign community.
- Bicycle repair class offered in Taichung
- Taiwan seals deals for US grain. Big deals. And important with so many small businesses depending on stable grain prices and imports.
- Hey remember how US arms sales stimulated moderates in China and how the KMT moved in a deliberate, rational, step by step manner toward democracy? Yeah, I don't either.
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.
What is Beerlao?
ReplyDeleteI looked at the TAADC website. I couldn't find anything about how to join or what the specific membership requirements are.
The AP article seemed pretty good except that they should have stated more clearly a reason Taiwanese would be ambivalent about the "100 years" of the ROC - the fact that Taiwan wan't part of the ROC 100 years ago and didn't come under ROC control until 34 years later. That seems to me very relevant to the subject of the article and would have fit very nicely after the sentence about "...they also don't see the events of 100 years ago as particularly relevant to their future." I would imagine they don't see those events as very relevant to their past either. It also wouldn't have hurt to mention why the ROC takeover of Taiwan isn't well-regarded by many Taiwanese. They at least quote some guy saying the ROC was forced on Taiwan in 1949, but they don't say why that's bad.
But still, the article was better than most. An improvement for AP.
The Diplomat may be good when it comes to Taiwan, but when it comes to Japan, it often --- and let's not put too fine a point on it --- sucks. The people they have writing on Japan for that site have so little knowledge of the country (from the articles I've read) they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a website other than The Gawker.
ReplyDeleteReadin says: "They at least quote some guy saying the ROC was forced on Taiwan in 1949, but they don't say why that's bad."
ReplyDeleteWe could make an interesting historical comparison that most people don't know about: After the Americans won their war against the British and the Loyalists in 1775, the American Loyalists had to flee for their lives from the new USA. Many fled (or were forced to flee) north to Nova Scotia, which was subsequently overwhelmed by refugees. The tragic story of what happened in a small place like NS is a nearly forgotten chapter of the American Revolutionary War, simply mainstream historians chose to leave it out. That's the way history is told--not by inclusion, but emphasizing the good bits through exclusion.
Ahh, Beerlao. Good stuff indeed.
ReplyDeleteFound the distributor through some legwork and got one of the first cases offloaded into Taiwan in the spring from their first container. 640cc bottles.
Don't think you can find those in the stores yet, only the 330cc ones. And at a very competitive price versus the higher-end 600cc beer bottles that TTL puts out.
-betelnutdigest.blogspot.com
Hi Readin! Thanks for your interest in signing up for TAADC. There should be a 'Contact' tab at the top of the page where you can send us a message to sign up OR just email me direct: danielleslpr AT gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteThere are no stringent membership requirements--just that you have either studied, lived or worked in Taiwan OR are interested in studying abroad in Taiwan. Membership is currently free.
Thanks again for the shout-out Michael!
@Marc:
ReplyDeleteWhy would that comparison be intersting? Is there a group of Americans ruling Nova Scotia and pretending to be the legitimate rulers of the USA? Is the USA trying to annex Nova Scotia? Or is someone writing articles about holidays in Nova Scotia and ignoring the history of Nova Scotia in favor of American history?
thanks for the shout-out Michael.
ReplyDeleteJon
@Readin - for the sake of collegial discourse, you could have asked me to explain how I made such a comparison. But you seem to enjoy being snarky to people, so I won't bother to respond any further.
ReplyDelete