Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Since last month’s presidential and legislative elections concluded with the victory of Vice President William Lai (賴清德), there has been a considerable increase in Chinese People’s Liberation Army military activity around the nation. Lai is not Beijing’s preferred victor. However, his election is looking to be a sober affair, with him aiming to maintain the “status quo” in cross-strait relations.

Despite a more measured approach, China has responded forcefully through repeated intrusions into the nation’s air defense identification zone.

As tensions mount across the region, there is a need for the nation to widen its strategic horizon beyond great power politics.

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan, “Transcending 1624 — Taiwan and the World,” which opened on Feb. 1, offers a rich and evocative interpretation of Taiwanese history. It begins with the question: “How should 1624 be viewed from 2024?”

It was the year Dutch traders landed on Taiwan’s shores, marking the “integration of Taiwan into the Asian-European trade network,” the exhibition said. The 17th century was when “Taiwan became connected to the rest of the world,” the museum added.

The motif of the exhibition is trade, commerce, cultural exchange, assimilation and adoption. In a word: openness.