With just short of 24 million people, Taiwan is an economic powerhouse in the Asian region. At anyone time they can have up to 1 million mainland Chinese business people on the island. In normal non-COVID times they have several hundred Boeing jet loads of people going to and from Taiwan every day.
Bill has been in New Zealand for 2 ½ years and is here to represent the Republic of China – also known as Taiwan – in lieu of an embassy – it’s complicated.
Taiwan is the 6th largest export market for New Zealand and has recently (post COVID) overtaken the UK. As we’ve all heard on the news, the experience that Taiwan had with SARS gave them the edge when it came to sniffing out the virus in Wuhan and taking action well before many other countries. Taiwan had no lockdown – they were quick to shut down travellers from Wuhan and then China. The masses were early adopters for masks and good hygiene with consequently very few cases and less deaths than New Zealand.
Because of the very low impact of COVID on Taiwan, they are one of the few countries in the world still able to increase their GDP for the year – it may be only a couple of percentage points but at least they aren’t going backwards like the rest of us.
Bill covered the topography of Taiwan – a large length of plains running down the western side of the island with large range of mountains down the middle and East. Their highest mountain, Yu Shan, is slightly higher than our own Aoraki Mt Cook. They have several different groups of indigenous people and they have recently recognised them as such – with their own languages and cultural nuances. There are still a few more that they are working on. They also have claim over a couple of small islands just on the coast of mainland China which they use to train the 100,000 youth for their 2-year compulsory military period. They spend megabucks on military equipment- they are the 17th largest spender in this space in the world – I guess you need to when you’re feeling a little nervous about your neighbours.
Taiwan’s history is complex, with the Nationalist government setting up shop in Taiwan etc – best we leave this topic with Wikipedia in case I disappear for a while.
New Zealand and Taiwan enjoy a very healthy relationship with both countries party to several international trading agreements and organisations – APEC etc. They are keen to be part of the recently signed regional trade agreement – CPTPP - The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Taiwan sounds like a great place to travel to and live (cost of living is lower than NZ). Once the world opens up, they would love for us to head over there and visit them – thanks for the informative talk Bill.
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