Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Although it is too early to tell whether a telephone threat to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential campaign office yesterday was the real deal, there are already indications that fear and intimidation could become an important ingredient in the January presidential election.

An unidentified man, who called twice, allegedly threatened to set Tsai’s office in Banciao (板橋), New Taipei City (新北市), ablaze. Tsai’s staff, who immediately called police, said it was the first time the office had received threatening calls.

Taiwan has a surface area of 36,000km2, on which 23 million people live. Difficult, perhaps, to imagine then that this modestly sized country incorporates two very different worlds. One is a world of leisure and enjoyment, the other a world of poverty and want.

Living in the first, one can enjoy a huge fireworks display to mark the centenary of the Republic of China (ROC) not so long after wandering around the Taipei International Flora Expo, and then from the fireworks display to the Dreamers (夢想家) extravaganza, and the inspirational, visual feast that was. And the cost? No need to worry about that. The NT$13.6 billion (US$449.67 million) spent on the expo, the NT$100 million up in smoke in one 20-minute fireworks show, the NT$215 million spent on four hours’ worth of performances spread over two nights for Dreamers, all came out of the public’s pocket. It was courtesy of the taxpayer. Were private individuals even asked to cough up?