BBC - Around the World - Ariel's 'Foreign Bureau' - 20 April 2004

Isn’t it hard for you to live in Taiwan?’ asked my neighbour across the hall, shortly after I had moved into my flat. She seemed incredulous when I told her it wasn’t.

True, I don’t speak or read Mandarin; it was one reason I came here, wanting to learn the language. But in the capital at least English is widely spoken and I can easily record vox pops without needing a translator.

Moving here from Seoul, where I spent three and a half years as the BBC’s correspondent, was a real eye-opener. Things that I found next to impossible to buy in South Korea are easily obtainable here – and affordable, without excessively steep import duties.

As a non-meat eater, I’ve found Taipei a welcoming city with Buddhist vegetarian restaurants in virtually every neighbourhood.

Although I’d enjoyed the raucous, noisy Seoul – one of the world’s megacities with 12 million or so residents – it was a frenetic, non-stop, in-your-face kind of place. Taipei, by comparison, is smaller, more relaxed and easy going. But the real joy is its people. Unpretentious and welcoming, they are unbelievably friendly, going the unnecessary extra mile to help out. ‘Is it because I’m a foreigner?’ I asked a friend. The answer: no, that’s just the Taiwanese way.

China insists that Taiwan is part of its territory that eventually should be reunited with the mainland – by force if necessary – and that its diplomatic partners adhere to the ‘One China’ principle. So Taiwan finds itself excluded from the United Nations and other international bodies. In part, that makes working here easy. People are unfazed by journalists with mics and cameras. There are almost a dozen cable news channels broadcasting around the clock – an enormous number given the population of around 23 million.

As a foreign reporter, doors open to you; people want to talk to make you understand how they feel. They want their voice to be heard in the outside world.

That growing sense of the Taiwanese identity was a hot political issue during the recent presidential elections. These were narrowly won by incumbent president Chen Shui-bian, unashamedly playing the nationalist card.

The opposition parties have called foul and held protests, calling for a recount, a fresh poll, and an investigation into the circumstances of the shooting and wounding of President Chen one day before the election which, they say, won him an unfair sympathy vote.

Those protests have become the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with here. I live just a street away from the Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall, the new temporary venue for the protestors, who were moved away by riot police from their previous grounds outside the presidential office. Day and night, loudspeakers blare out speeches, denunciations and songs. My sleep, to say the least, has been broken.

Taiwan’s image as a model democracy in the Chinese world and in Asia may have taken a bit of a battering but democracy in Taiwan –while noisy – is very much alive and kicking.