US embassy cable - 04TAIPEI3707

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 003707 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO AIT/W 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2014 
TAGS: KPAO, PGOV, PREL, SOCI, TW 
SUBJECT: TAIWAN'S CULTURAL CRISIS 
 
REF: A. A. TAIPEI 02297 
 
     B. B. TAIPEI 03604 
 
Classified By: AIT DIRECTOR DOUGLAS PAAL; REASON 1.4 (B/D) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: Recent conversations with Taiwan artists and 
academics have revealed their growing concern that the ruling 
DPP's political drive to create a new national identity has 
created a battleground in the arenas of art and education. 
Artists and officials alike lament the fact that culture is 
not being viewed as a means to unite Taiwan's polarized 
public, but as yet another weapon on the political 
battleground.  Our contacts agree that the DPP's political 
agenda is, at a minimum, limiting the development of art, 
film and education.  At a maximum, they say the government is 
making cynical use of a different sense of identity between 
Taiwan's younger and older generations in order to further 
its political goal of independence.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Government Support of the Arts (or Lack Thereof) 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
2. (C) Cultural Minister Chen Chi-nan and Taiwan's Council 
for Cultural Affairs (CCA), have written a new mission 
statement to guide cultural and art policies: Taiwan is 
"facing a hard time of ethnic confrontation and national 
identification" and "hopes culture and art can be a unifying 
force."  According to contacts in the cultural and 
educational field, despite this mission statement the 
government is taking politically motivated and divisive 
actions to alter Taiwan's cultural identity.  By way of 
example, Liao Hsien-hao, Taipei City's Cultural Bureau 
Commissioner, points to the CCA's decision to withdraw 
funding from organizations which include references to 
"Republic of China" in their mission statements or names.  He 
also decries the government decision to rename 
organizations-- like the Han and Tang dance troupe-- or 
rewrite traditions-- the Dragon Boat races as a celebration 
of river gods as opposed to the original association with 
China's poet Qiu Yuan.  He believes the goal of the policy is 
to desinicize Taiwan and ultimately increase the distance 
between its people and Mainland China. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Camouflaging Taiwan's Cultural Identity 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
3. (C) While some of our contacts would argue that these 
actions are necessary in order to compensate for decades of 
KMT control and repression of non-Han culture, Liao and 
others view the DPP actions as an attempt to redefine 
Taiwan's identity for poltical purposes. In their eyes the 
DPP's efforts to define a separate Taiwan identity, which 
excludes Han Chinese culture, ignores the reality of Taiwan's 
multi-cultural society.  They view the DPP's effort to create 
a new consensus on the definition of Taiwan culture as an 
attempt to redefine what representing the people of Taiwan 
means. Under this strategy, the KMT is viewed not only as the 
historical oppressor, but also as a party representing a 
foreign culture.  The DPP, by defining culture and art in 
such narrow terms as to exclude or camouflage any Han Chinese 
content, has succeeded in alienating those artists whose 
performance or artwork is steeped in such content.  Many of 
these artists have refused to change the content or name of 
their organization because of their affinity to Han culture. 
According to many contacts the CCA's support of art and 
culture, so narrowly defined, has failed to unify Taiwan 
society and only succeeded in limiting artistic expression 
and development. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Taiwan's Foundering Film Industry: 
A Victim of Politics or Free Trade? 
----------------------------------- 
 
4. (C) Robert Chen, Director of the Graduate School of 
Applied Media arts at the National Taiwan University of the 
Arts, and a DPP supporter, points to the decline in Taiwan's 
film industry as a concern largely ignored by a government 
content to embrace "all things international." Chen and some 
aspiring young film directors we have met believe Taiwan is 
in a unique position to be a leader in cultural content in 
Asia, but has fallen behind Singapore and Mainland China, 
even though directors and producers there are subject to 
government control.  In their eyes, the DPP leadership has 
failed both to protect Taiwan,s nascent film industry from 
international competition and to recognize the potential film 
and art offer to help forge a Taiwan identity. They argue 
that Taiwan, unlike South Korea, gave up any protection for 
its film industry, under U.S. pressure, in order to join the 
WTO.  As a result Taiwan,s films are not commercially viable 
even in their own theaters while U.S., Korean, and Japanese 
films flood the market. 
 
5. (C) While there are numerous explanations for the decline 
of Taiwan's film industry, many local contacts focus on the 
damage domestic politics has done to Taiwan's cultural 
community.  Many are quick to point out that artists have 
been criticized if they try to maintain a neutral political 
position.  Hou Hsiao-hsien, a significant and important 
Taiwanese director whose previous films depicted life and 
change in Taiwan society, was accused of not "loving Taiwan 
enough" and consequently turned to Japan for funding, actors, 
and support for his next film. 
 
6. (C) Young artists and directors say that they have had to 
ask themselves over the past few years whether or not their 
subjects or the content of their films would be supported by 
the CCA.  Wu Yi-feng, a film director and founder of the Full 
Shot Communication Foundation, points to the controversy 
surrounding his latest film as an example of the 
politicization of culture.  His documentary film, "Life" 
which follows the stories of several Taiwan families 
following the massive devastation of Taiwan,s 1999 
earthquake, has generated great public interest and is 
currently touring the island.  With its success have come 
numerous requests for Wu to participate in political 
campaigns and, on the occasion of National Day, President 
Chen Shui-bian openly praised the film.  To his dismay, Wu 
believes his film has been unfairly labeled a "Pan-Green" 
film although it contains no political content.  Pan-Blue 
legislators accused the government of trying to brainwash 
bureaucrats by screening the movie in Executive Yuan (EY) 
agencies.  According to Wu, when the movie was not included 
in the Golden Horse competition, the Pan-Green media went on 
to accuse the competition's chairman of political 
partisanship and for not "loving Taiwan enough" despite prior 
knowledge that his film could not be included in the Golden 
Horse competition because it was shot with digital video as 
opposed to 35 millimeter film. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
Preservation of Indigenous Culture: Education or Commodity? 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
7. (C) The CCA has described as part of its mission, in 
collaboration with the education ministry, to support the 
development and cultural preservation of the indigenous 
peoples of Taiwan.  According to Tian Ming-sheu, a professor 
at the Graduate Institute of Compulsory Education at the 
National Hualien Teachers College and a member of the central 
government ministry of education, over 20 billion NT dollars 
has been spent to support the development of schools in areas 
which have fallen behind the national average.  Many of these 
schools are located in remote areas that are home to Taiwan's 
aboriginal peoples.  Tian believes much of this funding has 
been misspent, particularly with regard to improving the 
education of Taiwan indigenous people.  Instead of focusing 
on their history, students in these areas, regardless of 
ethnicity, are being forced from grade school on to take time 
away from studies to prepare for performances to showcase 
native aboriginal dance and dress.  School principals in 
Hualien, during a discussion of Taiwan's cultural identity, 
expressed extreme anger and frustration with the central 
government, which they describe as having done little to 
improve the lives of the indigenous people while at the same 
time exploiting their traditional dance and dress to promote 
a new Taiwanese identity.  Professor Tien Tai-wu, Director of 
the Institute of Ethnic Relations and Culture at National 
Dong Hwa University and frequent speaker on the issue of 
national identity in Taiwan, has raised the concerns of 
Taiwan's indigenous peoples to the central government with 
little success.  She says she remains pessimistic about the 
government's motives because specific educational needs are 
often ignored in favor of spending on cultural performance 
events and conferences. 
 
 
8. (C) COMMENT: Polls show that Taiwan's youth already have a 
stronger identification with Taiwan than their parents' 
generation (Ref A).  The government is clearly attempting to 
capitalize on or actively encourage the growth of this trend 
to create a uniquely Taiwanese identity in arts and 
education.  The DPP's objectives are two-fold.  Emphasizing 
Taiwan's separate identity appeals to its core support base. 
Programs that enhance the prominence of Hakka and Aboriginal 
culture are calibrated to expand that base by attracting 
ethnic groups that previously voted Blue (Ref B). Whether or 
not this effort is simply partisan politics, or one further 
step towards the larger political goal of creating a separate 
Taiwan identity different than China is a matter of debate. 
In the meantime, many artists and academics feel that while a 
new cultural policy could have been a unifying, inclusive 
force, they say in reality it is having the effect of 
politicizing and polarizing the arts and education 
communities in the way that politics has polarized Taiwan 
society as a whole. 
 
 
PAAL 
PAAL