台灣正在進步但沒有達到應有的速度 | 這個問題是國家安全問題｜外國人眼中的台灣｜外國人在台灣｜Foreigners in Taiwan | Living in Taiwan

That doesn't mean that they will be very open. But if others are different, they can accept it. Taiwan is a bit special like this. Unlike mainland China, if you are not like the general public in China, they will be a little suspicious of you. When I came and I asked about things like 228, which was the February 28th massacre, and then the following years of what they call white terror oppression, 白色恐怖, And in those days, I was hushed. People would say, we don't talk about that. And there would be the sort of local gangsters, we call them 流氓 or 兄弟. And it would be like, 干什么干? You don't hear about Republic of China so much anymore. When I first came, you didn't hear about Taiwan or 台湾人 very much. And when Taiwanese people were trying to explain the differences between them and foreigners, they would always start by saying, 我们中国人是这样, 你们外国人是这样, Taiwan is a much better place now than when I first got here. So Taiwanese are very famous right now. My name is Anthony Van Dyke. I come from Canada originally, and I work in renewable energy. Why do you choose to come to Taiwan? First of all, I guess I've been here a long time. I first came in 1989. And that was, I guess, the result of having already backpacked a fair bit around the world when I was 19 years old. And that sort of gave me a love for exploring the world. This time around, though, I had a goal that I was going to live somewhere and maybe learn something, learn the language, learn the culture. It seemed like a lot of expats, North American English speakers were going to Japan to teach English. And I wanted to do something different. I think Taiwan was in the news a lot in 1988. They had lifted martial law. At that point, Taiwan had the longest period of martial law in modern history of any country in the world. And they had just lifted it. So that was a huge change politically for Taiwan. They also had just lost their president, Chiang Ching-kuo, who was the last Chinese born president. He was the son of Chiang Kai-shek, who was a dictator. And Chiang Ching-kuo was, I guess, also because nobody voted for him. And when he died, the Kuomintang, which was the party, the ruling party, they appointed Lee Teng-hui to become the new president. And Lee Teng-hui was, I guess, a bit of a surprise choice because he was a local, he was a Taiwanese born politician. And so for these three reasons, Taiwan was really in the news. And I had the sense that it was on the cusp of change. So I had no idea that Taiwan would become my future place to live. I just thought this would be an interesting place to spend a year. And after I'd spent maybe about eight or nine months, I was living in Chiayi in central Taiwan. Towards the end of the first year, I met the son of a politician. And I got involved with that family a little bit, working for this politician. And that was incredibly interesting because it gave me a close view or a close experience with Taiwanese politics, with Taiwanese culture that maybe I wouldn't have had otherwise. I ended up staying four years the first time. So from January of 89, right until the end of 1992, at which point I decided I'd better go home and finish my university degree or it would never get done. And that's what I did then in all of 93, 94 and then 95. I graduated from university. The minute I was done school, I flew right back to Taiwan. So I've been now in Taipei uninterrupted since 1995. Being here this long, are you a Taiwanese now? No, I'm not Taiwanese. I'll make the joke, you know, people will joke that I'm Taiwanese. And I always say, well, I am a Taiwanese. Which means I'm Taiwanese in my heart. And to some extent, maybe that's true. But I think mostly I have a good understanding and appreciation of being Taiwanese. I don't feel I am one though, because Taiwanese is not just a nationality. It's also an ethnic descriptor. And if I call myself Taiwanese, people will sort of smile and they think the thought is amusing. But nobody really thinks a foreigner can be Taiwanese. It's a strange thought. When you first came to Taiwan, did you think you'd be in Taiwan for so long? No, at first I thought I just wanted to come here to learn a little Chinese, learn a little Chinese kung fu. And then I didn't think too much. But then when I returned to Canada, and I graduated from university, I kept thinking, Taiwan is a really interesting place. So I thought, I don't know what I want to do But I know where I want to be, and that's Taiwan. So what are some of the things that really kept you here? Can you pinpoint maybe one or two things? Taiwanese are very easy-going, very open-minded. It's not that they're very open, but if other people are different, they can accept it. And I think Taiwan is a little special. It's not like mainland China. As long as you're not like the general public in China, they'll be a little suspicious of you. But in Taiwan, if you're a Christian, it's okay. If you're a Falun Gong practitioner, it's okay. If you're a believer or not, it doesn't matter. And it's the same with politics. If you're a KMT, okay, whatever. If you're a Democrat, okay, whatever. No one really cares. And recently, there was the issue of marriage equality. They have the same attitude towards homosexuality. They just think, well, I'll go my way, you go your way. Everyone's happy. No problem. No problem, yeah. I think this kind of attitude is very special. And I just think it suits me very well. You talked about the politics. Has anything changed in the politics before and now? Is there any significant difference? People's willingness to talk about politics has changed a lot. When I first came, although martial law had been lifted, the vestiges of martial law, the shadow of martial law still loomed large to the extent that when I came and I asked about things like Er Er Ba, which was the February 28th massacre, and then the following years of what they call white terror oppression, Bai Zi Guang Bu. And in those days, I was hushed. People would say, we don't talk about that. And this was already after martial law was lifted in 89, 90, 91, 92. And they distrusted anybody who had too many political ideas or wanted to talk about politics. It was considered to be a little bit rude. Now, people wear their political thoughts on their sleeve much more easily and they don't worry about it so much. So in that sense, it's changed. I mean, this is more maybe a cultural identity than a political one. But you don't hear about Republic of China so much anymore. When I first came, you didn't hear about Taiwan or Taiwan very much. And when Taiwanese people were trying to explain the differences between them and foreigners, they would always start by saying, oh, we Chinese are like this, you foreigners are like this. Now it's, we are Taiwanese, you are foreigners. So the way they identify as Chinese versus Taiwanese, that's changed. And even referring to the Republic of China in the past, everything was Republic of China this, Republic of China that, and Taiwan was sort of an afterthought. So we live in the Republic of China and then in parentheses, Taiwan. Now it's, we live in Taiwan. And then if people go, and, oh yeah, parentheses, Republic of China. Now it's Republic of China that's the afterthought. And it's the part that has become sort of irrelevant to the national identity. This is just my opinion, of course. But now the Republic of China is just kind of baggage from the past that people still have. And it's like, oh yeah, it's a cute artifact from history. But it's not really relevant today. Very interesting. If you are to change anything in Taiwan, what would it be? Oh boy, that's tough because there's, first of all, there's always the little things, which just the little daily things that get on your nerve. And then there's maybe some more major things. I'm the father of two daughters, two children, and they've grown up in the school system here. I think the school system serves a very small proportion of students well. And it serves most students maybe not so well, especially past the junior high level. At that point, I've said this before, I always believe that the Taiwanese education system past junior high school is more designed to identify the top 15% than to educate the 100% of students. If the top 15% get identified, great. Then we know what schools to put them into. And maybe the next 25% as well, they're also in that game. But then the bottom 60%, it's like, well, thank you for playing. Whether or not you learned anything, maybe it doesn't matter so much. And if I compare the junior high school or high school experience that Westerners would grow up with, I'm familiar with the United States and Canada because that's what I grew up with. They're looking more at creating a well-rounded student who has more opportunities to do more things. So in Taiwan, the really the best schools never have good sports teams because the students are there because they got good marks, because they're going to go to good university. So sports, music, art, it's almost an afterthought. It's like, well, that's what you do sort of for fun, but we shouldn't let that get in the way of your studies. And in the West, all of these things are seen as being important parts of being a student. So I think maybe the education system needs an overhaul. Other things, I don't know, Taiwan does so many things well that I usually focus on those. I think traffic education can still be improved. Taiwanese people aren't very considerate drivers. There's so many people that will drive the speed limit or lower in the fast lane. And all it does is clog up traffic and it makes it hard for anybody to get anywhere. And this is just a courtesy thing. In the West, we're taught if you're in the fast lane, you're there to pass. And if you see somebody coming up behind you and you're in the fast lane, it's your job to move over and let them pass. But there are people in Taiwan that will stubbornly drive 80 kilometers an hour on in the fast lane on the expressway. And you have to then pass them on the right. And then you're weaving in and out of traffic. And that's just not... It's not safe driving. It's not good driving. You are in the field of renewable energy. Sure. How is Taiwan compared to other countries in this field? And that's a good question because Taiwan was an early adopter. But... And Taiwan, I guess, will still be leading in East Asia in their adoption of wind energy. The question now is, are they doing enough to continue to develop it? Because what I see happening, especially now after the third round of auctions for offshore wind projects, is that there has been too much emphasis on localization. And the whole idea about localization is to support local industries, make them globally competitive, allow for more technology transfer between foreign companies and Taiwan companies. And I get all this. But instead, what it's done is it has fostered Taiwanese companies and supported them, but they're not becoming globally competitive. All they're doing is making it difficult for other companies to do business in Taiwan. And it's actually making Taiwan's offshore wind market stagnate. And I think Taiwan is still moving ahead. Taiwan is still progressing, just not as quickly as they could be. And that's too bad because Taiwan right now does have an energy crunch. A lot of people don't realize how serious it is. But Taiwan is using more and more energy every year. And now Taiwan is becoming even more tech dependent when it comes to companies like TSMC. Now I know that Google is opening some AI centers and AI is a very energy-thirsty industry as well. They need to figure out where all these additional power sources are going to come from. And they're also shutting down nuclear power plants at the same time. If Taiwan is only relying on renewable energy and green energy sources and importing carbon fuel like LNG, liquid natural gas or coal, it's not going to be enough. If there's an energy crisis, and certainly if there's any crisis across the strait with China, that will also give us an energy crisis. If for some reason we can't get shipments of liquid natural gas or coal, we only have like a two-week supply, a two-week reserve supply. So Taiwan's energy security is not just energy security, it's national security as well. And I worry that Taiwan hasn't thought it through. But maybe there are people that know more than I do about it and we're not in as much danger as we are. But I kind of think we're in a bit of trouble. Okay, if you know anything about this and you have a second thought, leave a comment in the description. Please do, yes. Do you have anything else to tell Taiwanese people? Keep doing what you're doing. Taiwan is a much better place now than when I first got here. Taiwan is beautiful, you can tell. I mean, we are in a really beautiful park right now. But Taiwan is beautiful. When I first got here, it was grimier. The architecture was less beautiful. The infrastructure was less polished. Everything is getting better. And society has become much kinder. So Taiwanese are very famous right now for being polite, for being kind, for being honest. It's almost a running joke or a source of amusement for foreigners that will leave their iPad on the MRT or they lose their wallet somewhere. They almost always get it back. And that's so great. But Taiwan wasn't always like this. I remember when car accidents led to people fighting and it happened often. I remember when you'd go to a bar or a pub and there would be the sort of local gangsters. We call them liu mang or xiong di. And it would be like, what are you looking at? And now there's none of that vibe at all. Taiwanese people are just so friendly and not just to foreigners, but to each other. So I think Taiwan is doing a great job. That's why I'm happy to continue living here. Although I'm not Taiwanese, I do believe that Taiwan is my home. And I'm very happy and grateful that Taiwanese let me make my home here. I think that's really great. Okay, thank you very much for sharing this wonderful insight with us. And thank you. Hope you continue to prosper here in Taiwan. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Thank you.