Lately, there’ve been proposals to allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan. Seems to me that this would ease the way for a decapitation strike – I recall reading long ago that the Russians sent a planeful of Spetsnaz troops disguised as tourists as part of their initial invasion of Afghanistan.
But if it happens, The Taipei Times printed a "Top Ten Things Not to Say to a Chinese Tourist." Here’s a few of my favorites:
7. Five thousand years of Chinese history, and all you have to offer us are a couple of pandas?
6. Welcome to Taiwan. Please don’t spit.
5. Simplified characters are for simple people.
4. Mr. Hu, tear down that wall!
1. We DID want to "retake the motherland" – until we visited the place.
This is both funny and scarry at the same time. As a foreigner there in Taiwan, what do you tell your friends there about how they can change the way it is there in Taiwan or is it hopeless for the young generations?
Actually, I kind of tiptoe around the subject around Taiwanese folks. I don’t really feel that it’s my place as an outsider to come to their country and start telling them they should be doing.
Of course, I do have my own opinions, and that’s what this blog is for. As for specific recommendations, I’ve listed a few here:
http://foreignerinformosa.typepad.com/the_foreigner_in_formosa/2005/11/the_edges_of_th.html#comment-11389834
I really believe people in Taiwan are taking the freedom stuff all in vague and all for granted. Do they know what democracy or freedom really is?
Democracy does not come cheap. Let your opinion heard outside of this blog.