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Originally Posted by pierre-laurent
no taiwan's political isolation has never prevented nobody in taiwan who wish it from studying or having a trip in the so-called "civilized world" and nowadays, there is something magical, called "internet"...
i think the problem of taiwan is this society has lived in a culture of provisional since 1949. on the other hand, taiwan has become really properous since the 70's,80's, the period where the urban architecture in the west was really ...a disaster, unfortunatly, taiwan has partially copied such a model..
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political isolation prevents a lot more things than you're acknowledging though. for instance, the lack of WHO membership prevents taiwan's government healthcare agencies from collaborating with rival agencies among the international community. this goes beyond how healthcare is conducted in the national healthcare system. it probably limits the progress of healthcare education in the vast private sector (universities), or of education in general. the "internet" also doesn't help taiwan's CDC collect and analyze epidemiological data in the most effective manner available, again, because of the inability of its members to collaborate with those of rival agencies. political isolation also has indirect consequences - it means there is an absence of political pressure on taiwan's legislature to provide adequate support for public programs which most nations take for granted, programs like arts endowments or research initiatives or those which support responsible journalism.
inability to join the UN precludes taiwan of UNESCO recognition and funding. taiwan is probably the only industrialzed "country" without a single recognized world heritage site or UN language conservation initiative. taiwan might have hosted an olympics games by now had it not been for political isolation. had it not been for political isolation, it might not have been excluded from developing culturally enriching trade partnerships with countries anxious to appease a demanding China. of course we're talking about architecture here, but my point is that political engagement has multiplicative effects on the development of a country's identity, effects which go far beyond what trade surpluses and improved gdp alone can do. because of political isolation, taiwan lacks these benefits, and must rely completely on avenues such as the internet and the personal mobility of its citizenry to exchange ideas with the rest of the world.
my last point is much more holistic but ties into the above points. national identity provides a strong cultural affirmation that is difficult to quantify, but its role in the maturation of a distinctive local arts identity cannot be denied. regarding your point about western architecture, it's the urban design in the west which was a disaster in the 60s, but even then one could make a case for the originality of such modernists as mies or le corbusier, and one could not deny the tie between such modernists and their national origins. if you ask me taiwan is a failure in originality overall, especially considering its relative prosperity. thanks to the economic miracle of its plastics and computer manufacturing, taiwan has drastically improved on basic measures relating to increased gdp - hdi, newborn survival rate, life expectancy, sanitation, etc. but it has yet to become a creative, flourishing, post-industrial society with a sense of national identity and purpose - one who's businesses innovate instead of manufacture, whose artists influence instead of mimic, whose scientists discover instead of emigrate...a vibrant democracy whose citizens are allowed to become thinkers. a society with an internal frame of reference. a self-posessed society. every strong society has a cultural rallying point around which to gather, be it in the form of values, religion, or tradition. on the contrary, taiwan's business leaders continue to pursue a lowest common denominator business culture which is putting taiwan's economy and society into the grips of a plotting chinese rival. the obvious is true of its political leaders as well. this is reflected in taiwan's relatively weak value of the humanities in all levels of society. political isolation has prevented taiwan from realizing its economic miracle in full potential because it keeps taiwan's focus on the outside, especially on china.