DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT – NEAL E ROBBINS
Why I made Taiwan Undaunted
I have observed Taiwan’s evolution over 50 years: first as a student of Chinese in the 1970s, then over the decades as a foreign correspondent in Asia and, lately, as a visiting scholar. In that time Taiwan has been transformed from poor backwater to economic miracle, to democratic exemplar, to a high-tech champion. But, seen from afar, Taiwan is mainly tinder for a threatened global conflagration with China.
To connect to what Taiwan really is, who its people are and what they face by living in the shadow of their gigantic neighbor, I felt it was time to take a closer look into those things that matter to Taiwan: its dark legacies, the evolving Taiwanese identity, and how people’s hopes and dreams bind Taiwan and China together in contrary ways, even as China threatens violence if Taiwan continues to reject its demands.
To glimpse the world through Taiwan’s eyes and to see into its hearts and minds, I criss-crossed the island over six months, interviewing people of all kinds: a man who made the forest into a museum, a heavy metal rock star turned politician, a painter of mountains, along with authorities, observers and park bench pundits. Taiwan Undaunted and the eponymous book are the fruits of this exploration, of my longer experiences in Taiwan and, not least, of a wider appreciation of the world today.