| OK, Taiwanese society basically looks like a pretty liberal society, a pretty democratic society. So there really shouldn’t be to many issues to talk about. But because of Taiwan’s current… issues related to the political situation, its cross-strait relations are pretty delicate… its relationship with the mainland is pretty delicate. So, sometimes, when we talk about these issues, whether Taiwan should preserve its independence or unify with China, you are constantly touching on what is for many people a very sensitive nerve. Therefore, when we’re trading thoughts with a Taiwanese person on business or politics, if you avoid this sensitive unification/independence question, this so-called unification or independence issue, basically, you won’t have many problems. So when you’re talking to someone, this is something you have to be aware of. If you talk about unification, and the person you’re talking to supports unification, you’ll have an enthusiastic conversation. [But] if the other person advocates Taiwanese independence, and you talk to him about unification, he’s probably immediately going to turn hostile.
So unless you know already know his position on unification versus independence, you’d be better off not bringing up the issue. The second thing is political party [affiliation]. Most people in Taiwan are basically centrist, but there are a very small number who are extremely green or extremely blue [see Note 1]. The extreme greens lean towards Taiwanese independence. The extreme blues lean towards so-called unification. So your political parties lean towards this blue-green distinction. If you know how someone leans and say something that supports their party’s position, you’ll naturally become very good friends. But if you’re unlucky and mistake their position, and express sympathy for the other party’s position, they’ll probably be hostile towards you. So, in Taiwan, we do our best to avoid bringing up politics with colleagues [see Note 2], friends or people we’ve just met. Politics are very sensitive. It’s something you really have to be careful about. Thank you.
Note 1: In Taiwan’s politics, “green” represents the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its allies, while “blue” represents the Nationalists (KMT) and their allies.
Note 2: Tongchai can also mean “people of one’s own generation.” | Ok, 基本上呢台湾的社会啊看起来是一个蛮开放的社会. 啊，蛮民主的社会。所以应该并没有什么太多不能够谈的议题。但是呢，啊由于啊台湾啊目前的政这个政治形式关系的问题，跟两岸的关系啊蛮微妙的，跟对大陆的关系蛮微妙的。所以有些时候,我们在谈这些事情的时候，台湾到底是应该是保持独立或者统一的这个想法，一直能够触动许多人的敏感的神经。因此呢，当我们在跟一个台湾的人在这个这个商业上或者政治上面来做交换意见的时候，假如不去谈这些敏感的统独议题，所谓统一或独立议题，基本上没有太多问题。那所以啊啊在跟对方呢在交谈的时候，这个事情是要注意的。 因为谈统一，假如对方是统一，那会跟你谈得很高兴。假如你对方是主张台湾独立的人，你跟他讲这个统一的话，那他马上就可能翻脸。所以除非你已经确知对方的统一或独立的统独立场，否则你最好不要碰触这个问题。第二个是政党. 基本上台湾多数的人政党是比较中性的。但是有非常少部分的人他的极端的绿或者极端的蓝。这个绿的极端绿就偏向台湾独立，极端蓝的人偏向所谓的这个啊统一。那假如说你这个政党上的倾向有蓝跟绿的区分的时候，假如你本身啊知道他的倾向那你表示支持他那个政党的一个立场，那当然你们会成为非常好的朋友。但假如不幸你误判他的立场，而你表示同情另外一个颜色党派的立场，这个时候很可能对方跟你翻脸。所以在台湾基本上来讲，我们在同侪，朋友或者是第一次接触的时候，尽量不去碰政党的问题。谈政党是非常敏感的。这是啊非常需要去注意的地方。谢谢！
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