Taiwan uses indie pop for diplomacy

By Philip Iglauer

In history the small and smart rarely beat out the large and strong, as they do in art. The fox doesn’t escape the hound and the hare rarely out wits the hunter.

But Taiwan may prove that life imitates art as it vies to escape international isolation in leveraging what political theorists call “soft power” by promoting its indigenous indie pop music in a series of international concerts.

As part of this effort, Taiwan's female indie pop idol Waa Wei was in Seoul for outdoor performances on Nami Island, Nov. 4-5.

“By promoting Taiwan’s culture especially music, our international isolation is decreased,” said Liu Ming-liang, director of the information division at the Taipei Mission in Korea.

Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion and arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture and ideals, according to American political theorist Joseph Nye.

Liu sees promoting Taiwan’s culture as a way of increasing his country’s soft power and slipping out from under the international isolation imposed by China.

“You know we have been isolated in the international community because of China’s pursuit of its One China Policy,” Liu said. “China insists that Taiwan is a part of China and pursues a policy of isolating Taiwan diplomatically.”

Taiwan does not have embassy-level diplomatic relations with Korea though its mission in Seoul is larger than some rich European countries here.

Waa was chosen by the government to be the “Voice of Taiwan,” as her three-nation tour was billed at a press briefing in Seoul, Nov. 2. She performed concerts in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, the last leg of her tour.

“We hope we can do it, but it won’t be easy,” Liu said, referring to escaping diplomatic isolation by promoting Taiwanese pop music. “We have our own culture, our own films, our own music and, yes, our own politics, too,” Liu said. “Taiwan is very different from China. Taiwan is a democratic country. Human rights and gender equality, for example, are very advanced in Taiwan.”

“Taiwan’s filmmakers are honored at [Busan International Film Festival] every year, and we are very proud of that,” he added.

Waa Wei came to Korea with the aboriginal ensemble Am Family, a group of four musicians from different tribes who are noted improvisers and play a wide range of traditional and contemporary instruments.

“Pop music in Taiwan is characterized by a kind of freedom born of musicians’ best efforts to rise above the constraints imposed by the music industry and society,” the 28-year-old Wei said at a press conference in Hong Kong during the first leg of her tour.

Taiwan last year launched a project to promote Taiwanese pop music to a broader audience in the international community.

Other uniquely Taiwanese sounds are on concert tours as part of Taipei’s effort to increase its “soft power” and escape international isolation. Samingad and her band AM Family have performed in a number of countries.

Last year aboriginal band Matzka and jazz band Sizhukong performed in Central and South America as part of the Taiwanese government’s prolicy promoting Taiwanese pop internationally. And Samingad and Am Family did a tour in July performing in Australia, Malaysia and Thailand.