The Best of Taiwan yet to come

The Best of Taiwan yet to come – blog from Steve Hwang

Recently, as I talked to my wife, family, friends and colleagues of Taiwan current affairs – from economy, education, social value, political conflict, and many others, I feel confused and sad, as you might, of what Taiwan has become as a country to have 5-6% unemployment rate, highest suicide rate, lowest birth rate, lowest economic growth rate among 4 Asian Tigers, and one of worst social, political environment and education system.

Taiwan once had been regarded as an economical, educational and political miracle reflecting how well all of the functions and people work together and shared standards of hardworking, dedication, commitment and excellence for the incredible success.

Someone recently mentioned to me that Taiwan has done poorly economically and politically for the past 10 years because of its lack of focus and inability to work well as a cohesive, cross-political parties team.

But will Taiwan continue the same course, dip further into the hole and lower the performance bar even more? Or Will Taiwan unhappy with the situation, reinvent itself and accelerate performance to next level, like the years when we were achieving Taiwan miracles.

Here are some thoughts of mine on this topic and I would like to have your comments:

1) In 1987, my wife and I arrived in Salt Lake City to attend University of Utah and pursue my doctoral degree. During the time of my graduated studies, students from China, India, Korea (Graduated students from Taiwan, China, India and Korea made up ~ 80-90% of total with most from Taiwan and China then.

Now there is close to none graduated students from Taiwan in major universities) and professors gave Taiwanese graduated students high praise for excellent academic and research achievements.

Many leaders in the universities, research institutes and industrial management looked for and eagerly wanted to hire Taiwan students when we graduated from master or doctoral programs and decided that we will stay in USA for professional career.

Following the professional career in USA, excellent comments continued to come in from the leaders and management team. They commended that Taiwanese students and employees are intelligent, well educated, dedicated, and accountable.

Once, Taiwan had education system for producing best students, employees and citizens, why Taiwan can’t now?

2) Following my career at Seagate Technology, I was assigned to an off shore high volume production transfer task in Singapore in 1996.

During two years of my assignment in Singapore, Singaporeans were impressed with the political and democratic progress happening in Taiwan. People in Taiwan cast the vote and chose the President for the 1st time in Chinese history and the presidential election went smoothly without any turmoil and contention. No any other country, not even Singapore, reached such memorable milestone in the political system.

After 1996’s president election, Taiwan remains committed to the challenges ahead and continued to focus on improving democratic and political progress. They know that the democracy is a long and challenged road and that one misstep could switch back to autocratic state.

They were highly motivated and proud to maintain such democratic progress. Eventually, they made happen for a different political party in power after ~ 50 years in power from Kuomintang.

Once, Taiwan was an example of democracy miracle and admired by many leaders, including Deng Xiao-Ping, Lee Kung-Yiao, why Taiwan can’t now?

3) Traveling through the Far East from 1996 – 1999 to now, I’d experienced a drastic change (That is not a good change for Taiwan).

In the summer and fall of 1997 during the period of Asian economic turmoil, I traveled to Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, and Taiwan and experienced the 1st hand of economic impact of Asian economic.

Korean was in deep recession when many major corporate, including Hyundai, Kai and many others, were being bought out or shut the doors. Malaysia was in such bad economic shape with corrupting banking system when you can’t see many people in the airports and resorts with many factories shutting the door and laying off massive employees. Singapore was in relatively good shape as compared to Korea and Malaysia, but the job loss and currency depreciation was significant and most of Singaporean felt the impact of economic recession.

In contrast to these Asian neighbors, Taiwan was still growing strong, showing little impact in economic activity, and had a relatively healthy banking system. When I transited in different airports, I experienced that Chiang Kai- Shih airport, once a leading airport in terms of passengers, accommodations and size in early 80 and 90, becomes an outdated and deserted place as compared to airports in China, Singapore, Korea or even Malaysia.

Once, Taiwan was called the head of 4- Asian Tigers in economic development and was considered a economic miracle, why Taiwan can’t now?


From my experience seeing the Taiwan miracles, the people I’ve talked to and from the inputs I’ve received during many Taiwan trips, the dedication, hardworking, value of family and education, competitiveness and desire to be succeed remain the same as when I was in Taiwan 23 years ago.

We, who call Taiwan as our home country, should feel confident in the future of this wonderful island. We should proud of that Taiwan had accomplished many milestones. We value the land, beauty and will help and respect each other. I believe that the current challenges facing Taiwan is just the road bumps of a wonderful and successful journey. We should be anticipating the greater achievement, better tomorrow and Taiwan to come.

So, if anyone asks you what the future of Taiwan looks like? The answer is “ the best is yet to come”

What do you think? Pease voice yours so people can hear yours. Either Chinese or English writing are welcome.


Steve ( Kuo-Hsing) Hwang 2/16/2010