People to People Contacts as a Bridge between U.S.-Taiwan Relations: A quantitative presentation

1
People to People Contacts as a Bridge between
U.S.-Taiwan Relations A quantitative presentation

• Dr. Wen-hui Tsai, Indiana University-Purdue
  University at Fort Wayne
• Dr. Walter Kiang, Head, Out of Home Care
  Development State Hearings, Los Angeles County
• Presented at the 50th Annual Conference of
  American Association for Chinese Studies at the
  California State University Fullerton, October
  17-19, 2008

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Introduction

• Unquestionably, the US and Taiwans relations are
  decided by both sides of the governments. Under
  current situations, the relations are mainly
  dominated by the US Government, and what the
  Taiwan Government can do to influence the
  relations is quite limited.
• The U.S. is a democratic nation. Although
  peoples willingness can not influence government
  policies directly, especially on foreign
  policies, the government has to take its peoples
  willingness into consideration therefore, one
  feasible way to promote U.S. and Taiwans
  relations is to influence the publics opinions
  in the U.S.
• The focus of this paper is on informal relations
  between two people groups (data from Taiwans
  Bureau of Entry and Exit), the quantity and
  quality of U.S. educated students from Taiwan,
  the quantity and quality of cultural exchange,
  and International Sister Cities activities to
  discuss improvements on the U.S. and Taiwan
  relations

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Americans image on Taiwan

• During this 21st century mass media oriented
  times, it is not only very important to use the
  mass media for our every days life, but it is
  also essential as a tool for international
  politics. The positive created national image
  through the use of the mass media will not only
  promote tourist industries and international
  trades, but also influence public opinions and
  national interests.
• In the 1960s and 1970s, most Americans still
  had limited understanding of Taiwan. They
  thought that Taiwan was only a small island
  controlled by Chiang Kai-sheks dictatorship and
  Made-in-Taiwan meant the cheaper price and poor
  quality products. The mass media belittled
  Made-in-Taiwan products. In the 1980s, the
  negative image began to change.
• Generally speaking most Americans image on
  Taiwan is positive. A most recent Gallup poll
  found that 62 of Americans are positive towards
  Taiwan 22 are negative while 16 have no
  opinion.
• Not long ago one survey by a special topic group
  showed that the information of American people
  did not receive the information regarding either
  Taiwan or China from the U.S. Government. They
  got the information mainly from the American mass
  media. They do not pay attention to the mass
  media of other countries. The image of Americans
  towards Taiwan is mainly from both their
  interaction with Chinese Americans and their
  visitation experiences as tourists in both Taiwan
  and China. Therefore, there are three kinds of
  Taiwan image makers (1) Taiwan immigrants (2)
  Students from Taiwan studying in the U.S., and
  both Taiwanese tourists in the U.S. and U.S.
  tourists in Taiwan.

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Immigrants from Taiwan

• It is very difficult to calculate the number of
  immigrants from Taiwan in U.S. according to U.S.
  Bureau of Census and other surveys since they do
  not categorize the immigrants from Taiwan.
  Therefore, we used the data from the Overseas
  Chinese Affairs Commission of the Executive Yuan
  in Taiwan.
• From 1949 to 2000, the first generation
  immigrants from Taiwan to U.S. were about 391,000
  persons, and among them there are about 344,000
  persons still alive. The second generation
  Taiwanese Americans were about 185,000 persons.
  Therefore, currently there are totally 529,000
  immigrants from Taiwan in US. At the beginning
  of the Taiwanese Government there were only a
  limited number of people who were able to go
  abroad and most of them were students. From 1960
  to 1979 there were about 50,000 students going
  abroad to study in US.
• The large scale international migration started
  after the late nineteenth century. In 1982
  American Government increased the visas of
  Chinese immigrants separate annual limitation of
  20,000 visas were established for Taiwan and
  Mainland China, effective January 1, 1982 which
  allowed for 20,000 immigrants respectively
  (before both together having 20,000 immigrants).
  Therefore, from 1980 to 1990, the Taiwanese
  immigrants to U.S. increased rapidly. During
  these ten years, the immigrants from Taiwan to
  the U.S. increased from 178,000 persons to
  363,000 persons the number of increase was
  185,000 persons. The rate of growth rate during
  these ten years was about 100. After 1990 the
  increase slowed down. Until 2000, it increased
  166,000 persons. During the last ten years, the
  grow rate decreased to 45.8 (see figure 1).

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• Source Chinese Population Estimation Method
  among Taiwan, Mainland, and Hong Kong Theory
  Construction and Empirical Exploration using U.S.
  as an Example, the Statistical Office of the
  Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC),
  Republic of China, 2002

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From Figure 2, the first generation immigrants
from Taiwan are still the majority. This is
because the immigration from Taiwan to U.S. was
rather late. The middle age immigrants are the
majority.

• Source Chinese Population Estimation Method
  among Taiwan, Mainland, and Hong Kong Theory
  Construction and Empirical Exploration using U.S.
  as an Example, the Statistical Office of the
  Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC),
  Republic of China, 2002

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Source Chinese Population Estimation Method
among Taiwan, Mainland, and Hong Kong Theory
Construction and Empirical Exploration using U.S.
as an Example, the Statistical Office of the
Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC),
Republic of China, 2002

• Inter-racial marriage is the best way for
  immigrants to have a good cultural adaptation to
  the mainstream society, but inter-racial
  marriages of the first generation Taiwanese
  American immigrants are very limited. The
  inter-racial marriages of the second generation
  are increasing, and the Third generation is more.
  But the persons with mixed race due to the
  inter-racial marriages are not high, always only
  around 10

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Source Chinese Population Estimation Method
among Taiwan, Mainland, and Hong Kong Theory
Construction and Empirical Exploration using U.S.
as an Example, the Statistical Office of the
Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC),
Republic of China, 2002

• There are 63,246 persons with mixed race among
  Taiwanese immigrants in U.S. in 2000. The persons
  with mixed race are about 12.0. Among them, the
  second generation has 38,881 persons. It is
  about 27.6 the percentage of the persons with
  mixed race among third generation is 54.0 (see
  figure 4). The younger the persons with mixed
  race, the higher the percentage of the persons
  with mixed race. The persons with mixed race,
  who are younger than age 15, the percentage is
  about 35.

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Americans have a stereotype to regard Taiwanese
American

• Generally speaking, Americans have a stereotype
  to regard Taiwanese American as being not
  sociable and uncooperative.
• Parents with high degrees and high incomes try
  very hard to send their children to prestigious
  universities.
• They own houses and luxury cars.
• This stereotype is not completely correct, but it
  is not completely incorrect either.
• Many Taiwanese Immigrants conform to this
  stereotype. For example, according to data from
  Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, during past
  ten years, the skill level of Taiwanese
  Immigrants has increased. The percentage of the
  higher position including professional and
  managerial positions is increasing year by year.
  Especially for the professional, it increased
  from 35 to 50. The average is about 40.68
  during the past ten years.
• If the managerial is added which is about 28,
  the percentage of the position including the
  professional and managerial among the all persons
  who work is about two third. The managerial
  supportive personnel is about 10 during the past
  ten years.

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Taiwanese students going abroad to study in U.S.

• Taiwanese students going abroad to study in the
  U.S. is another source to create the Taiwanese
  image upon Americans. The targets of the
  interaction with Taiwanese students going abroad
  to study in U.S. are (1) professors and students
  in the universities, and (2) neighbors of the
  residence and colleagues of the working place.
  Therefore, the Taiwanese students going aboard to
  the US play a brokers role. On one hand they
  introduce the specialists in the universities to
  join Taiwans economic and socio-political
  construction and on the other hand they create
  good public relations for Taiwan.
• It began in 1950 that Taiwanese students went
  aboard to study in U.S. During the late period
  of 1960 the tendency was increasing and continued
  until now. It used to be that mainly adults
  studied abroad, but more recently there are more
  children going abroad to study in the U.S.,
  especially in Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and
  San Francisco.
• There are two kinds of Taiwanese students going
  abroad to study in the U.S. the self- supported
  and the government sponsored.
• The government sponsored students are handled by
  the Ministry of Education according to the need
  of the country a definite quota and a
  centralized examination. During 1960 to 70 the
  economic development was continuing and during
  1970 and 1980 per capita income of Taiwanese was
  higher and higher, therefore, self-supported
  Taiwanese students going aboard to study in U.S.
  were increasing.

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Benefits of Taiwanese students going abroad to
study in U.S.

• After Taiwanese students completing their
  studies, some went back to Taiwan and became the
  elites in their fields some continued to stay in
  U.S. in the academic fields or in the enterprises
  to become the elites too.
• Nowadays in all fields of Taiwan, those who have
  the experiences studying abroad, have made lots
  of contribution to Taiwans socio-economic
  development.
• In a well-known Hsin-tsu Industrial Zone Area, in
  2000 there were 4,108 persons that were foreign
  educated they created 113 companies in the
  Industrial Zone Area. They had lots of
  contribution and brought new scientific
  technologies and managerial ideas back to Taiwan.
  In this way, they promoted the high- tech
  industry development in Taiwan. They not only
  had a contribution in the field of economic and
  technological fields, but also they kept
  important positions in the government and led the
  political reforms and democratization movement in
  Taiwan.

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The Tendency of Taiwanese Students Going Abroad
to Study in the United States during 1955-2005

• During 1980, Taiwanese students going abroad to
  study in U.S. is the number 1 in terms of the
  student number among all countries. The students
  number from Taiwan was highest during 1993-1994,
  please see table I below. There were 37, 580
  Taiwanese students studying in U.S. Since 1994
  the Taiwanese students in U.S. began to decrease
  there were only 26, 178 Taiwanese students in
  U.S.

Sourcehttp//English.moe.gov.tw
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There are five main reasons leading to the
decrease of Taiwanese Students in U.S.

• In order to decentralize the students studying
  abroad to avoid over-concentrating in US, Taiwan
  Government increased the quota to study in Europe
  at the government sponsored examination to study
  abroad.
• Recently the United Kingdom, several countries in
  Europe, New Zealand, and Australia came to Taiwan
  to recruit students very aggressively.
  Therefore, students going abroad to study no
  longer concentrate in U.S.
• Taiwan economic development allowed families send
  their children to study abroad, even in European
  countries and United Kingdom with higher tuition
  fees.
• The recruitment number of graduated studies in
  the Taiwanese universities is increasing rapidly
  therefore, Taiwanese students do not need to go
  abroad for the advanced studies.
• The more the social differentiation in Taiwan the
  easier for people to succeed in different fields
  they are no longer need to study abroad to be
  successful

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Americans as tourists in Taiwan

• Besides Taiwanese immigrants and Taiwanese
  students in US to speak for Taiwan as Taiwans
  mini diplomats, Americans as tourists/businessmen
  in Taiwan and Taiwanese as tourists/businessmen
  in US are also the image makers for Taiwan.
  Their impression on Taiwan is very important and
  can not be ignored.
• According to data from the Bureau of Tourism in
  2004 there were 18.21 of the foreign tourists
  from America, among them 15.65 from the U.S.
  The reasons to come to Taiwan are mainly for
  recreation purpose, which stand about 35.0
  second was for the business (31.2). Since 2000
  the number of visitors from the US has generally
  speaking been increasing. But during 2005-2006,
  the percentage decreased. Please see Table II
  which has detailed tables.

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U.S. Visitors to Taiwan during 2000-2006
Source Bureau of Tourism, Republic of
China U.S. Visitors do not including Chinese
those who live in United States
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Taiwanese as tourists in U.S.

• Another group of tourists from Taiwan to go
  abroad are for tourism and business. According
  to data from Bureau of Tourism, there were 8.21
  million people going abroad. Among them 10.8
  went to the U.S. Their behavior in foreign
  countries will impact the evaluation of
  foreigners on Taiwan. Two tourists going abroad
  stated on the front page of the website as
  follows
• Taiwans image has improved during recent few
  years. About 5 years ago I heard Made in
  Taiwan products which were inexpensive goods
  now I hear more about IT products from Taiwan.
  This is a good product to create a good Taiwan
  image. Going abroad, to do a good people
  diplomacy, is the best way to make a good image
  for Taiwan.
• I went abroad to chat with foreigners (or in
  Taiwan to teach children) always proudly inform
  them of the beauty of Taiwanese mountains and
  oceans sometimes I did mention what improvements
  were needed in Taiwan such as the environmental
  protection. But, small Taiwan is so beautiful,
  and diversified. When we go abroad, the behavior
  and expression of the Taiwanese visitors in the
  foreign countries will create a positive image of
  Taiwan upon foreigners.

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International Sister Cities Association

• Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Sister Cities
  International is an international membership
  association responsible for recognizing and
  supporting sister cities relationships between
  U.S. communities and their international
  counterparts. The U.S. sister cities movement
  was developed in 1956 during a White House Summit
  on citizen diplomacy, initiated by President
  Dwight D. Eisenhower. The partnerships were
  initially seen as a means to promote world peace
  and diminish the tensions of World War II. Since
  that time, they have grown to encompass all sorts
  of cultural, economic and development-oriented
  activities.
• Sister city programs are locally based and focus
  on the international interests and values that
  emerge from a local governments collaboration
  with citizen volunteers. This occurs through an
  organizational structure officially approved by
  the local government governing body.
• Taiwan currently has 56 sister cities in United
  States. In order to safeguard the national
  interests and the well being of the people of
  Taiwan, the people of Taiwan will continue to
  fight for its rightful status and space for
  maneuver in the international community through
  all kinds of cultural educational, economic
  exchange programs of sister city organizations
  between Taiwan and U.S.

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Conclusion

• Diplomatic work can not only depend on the
  Government, and we cant neglect the strength
  from the people in Taiwan. Taiwans people
  diplomatic efforts are very important. Taiwanese
  immigrants in U.S. have to try to create good
  Taiwan image on Americans. Earlier US educated
  Taiwanese students have played an important role
  to import U.S. technology and science to advance
  Taiwans economic industrialization and political
  democratization. The American tourists in Taiwan
  and Taiwanese tourists in U.S. have played an
  important role in strengthening Taiwan-U.S.
  relations.
• Taiwan Government recently has tried to
  participate in NGOs activities, but the progress
  is not successful. China has used its increasing
  economic power to pressure and attack Taiwan.
  International diplomacy depends on the interests,
  not on justice. American Governments diplomatic
  policy certainly is based on its interests.
  Although until today American image on Taiwan is
  better than on China, the gap between them are
  getting closer according to either 100 Persons
  Association or the Gallup Survey. These changes
  will eventually influence the American Government
  policy towards Taiwan
• Therefore, having informal contacts as a bridge
  to improve U.S.-Taiwan relations is a must. For
  example, Chiang Chin-Kuo Foundation has done a
  wonderful task to strengthen Taiwan U.S.
  relations through providing research grants to
  scholars in American universities China Airline
  participates yearly in the parade with the car
  decorated with flowers at the Rose Bowl.
• Taiwan Government should encourage the Taiwanese
  Americans, who live in every corner of the United
  States, to hold as many activities as possible to
  promote Taiwan and encourage them to participate
  in the community activities to have more people
  to people contacts.