When Formosa meets Iberia
當福爾摩沙遇上伊比利 (I)
TAIWAN NEWS(英文台灣日報)2004.06.07~08
第十一版 EU-PAGE連載
馬德里人
In March 2004, people in Madrid took to the streets with the black ribbon on their chest. They protested the recent bombing incident of the transportation system. With anti-terrorism as their primary pursuit, they were shouting “no more terrorism!” On the other side of earth, people in Taipei also took to the streets. They protested against the unfavorable results of the presidential election and what they suspected as a staged assassination attempt on the president and vice president. These two incidents took up the front-page coverage in Spain’s leading newspaper “El País”. After reading the coverage, many Spanish started to wonder, “Where is Taiwan exactly?”
三月份的馬德里，身繫黑絲帶的群眾為了抗議恐怖份子的炸彈攻擊威脅走上街頭，一聲聲地喊出「別再有恐怖主義行動」；在地球另一端的台北，揮舞著國旗的群眾則為了心中對於選舉結果的不滿，以及懷疑正副元首遭到武器攻擊受傷另有隱情，在街頭吶喊。在西班牙第一大報「國家報」的頭版，可以看到馬德里「三一一事件」的新聞與台灣正副總統站在吉普車上掃街拜票的斗大照片，各自佔據了半個版面；許多西班牙人開始問起這個問題：「台灣這個國家到底在哪裡？」
An Unfamiliar “Taiwan”, but a Familiar “Formosa”.
陌生的台灣˙熟悉的福爾摩沙
In general, the location and the name of Taiwan are less likely to be recognized for the most of Spanish. Often in time, people in Spain asked me where I came from, “oh! I see… Thailand…” was frequently replied even after I gave my best effort of trying to articulate the word “Taiwan.” Situation like this repeatedly appeared and I felt humorous but also discouraging. Many Taiwanese living in Europe might have the same experience like mine. Nevertheless, for those elder Spanish, the name “Isla Formosa” elicits a different response. They are even more impressed when I told them the vestiges of the “Castillo de Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo Castle)” which was built in 1629 by the Spanish rulers still remain in the suburbs of the Capital Taipei. It appears to bring Taiwan and the Iberian Peninsula closer and seems to arouse Spanish memory of the golden era regarding the “Invincible Armadas.”
在一般西班牙人的普遍認知當中，並不存在「台灣的地方（或是國家）；每每有西班牙人問起筆者來自哪裡，就算再怎麼刻意地讓口齒清晰、尾音拉長、速度放慢地把「Taiwán」說清楚，還是會有許多人表情一副恍然大悟般地回答「喔！Thailandia（西班牙文的泰國）」，相信這樣令人哭笑不得的回答，許多在歐洲的台灣人應該都有過與筆者相同的經驗。但是若是與一些稍有年紀的人提起「福爾摩沙島」這個字眼，很多人就會很快地知道這個地方的所在。若是再更近一步告訴西班牙人，在台灣首都台北近郊，迄今仍然有座公元1629年由西班牙統治者所建、故名「聖多明哥城」的遺跡，這段歷史更會讓他們嘖嘖稱奇，似乎把伊比利半島以及福爾摩沙島的距離拉近了一點點，也喚醒了這個以「無敵艦隊」聞名的國家和子民，那段曾經風光一時的昔日黃金歲月。
However, Taiwan is still unfamiliar to most Spanish. Why? It is simply because no one ever told them where Taiwan is. Spain, a country that has twice the population of Taiwan and is fourteen times larger in territory, Taiwan placed only one official in Spain as news dispatcher (although they sent another official until this year). This personnel allotment not only displays the passive diplomacy position of Taiwan, but also generates less or no impressions to Spain and other European countries. Taiwan relies strongly on the power of public opinion to encourage and promote the relationships between European countries and Taiwan. Unfortunately, neither KMT nor DPP governments in Taiwan have seriously considered and evaluate the importance of these promotional tasks. A Spanish Taiwanese immigrant that has lived in Madrid for more than 20 years sighed while he saw numerous China Tourism Bureau tourism promotion posters on the platform of the Madrid metro. “If most Spanish do not even know the name of Taiwan, how can we expect their governments to look more favorably upon us?” He just pointed out the crux of the problem.
然而，對於西班牙人來說，台灣仍然是個陌生的名字；究竟陌生的原因何在，簡單的來說就是：沒有人告訴他們「台灣在哪裡」。在這樣一個人口是台灣的兩倍、面積是十四個台灣大的國家，台灣卻只派了一名新聞局官員（直到今年始增派了一名）在專司國際宣傳的工作，這樣的人力配置，除了看出主管單位的消極態度，其所能發揮的效果更是不用說也知道。台灣每每希望能夠藉由輿論民意，促使歐盟各國政府階層能夠在對台態度上有所改變，拉近歐盟各國以及台灣的關係；然而從西班牙的例子當中，可以說明在過去的這些年，無論新舊政府的做法都充分反映出對於這項工作的忽視，「連台灣的名號都沒幾個西班牙百姓知道，還有什麼好期待人家政府對台灣的態度能夠改善的？」一位旅居當地二十餘年的台僑，看著馬德里地鐵內由中國國家旅遊局出資張貼的中國形象旅遊廣告看板，感慨之餘一針見血地指出了問題癥結。
Similar to cultural events, tourism is a common approach for opening the door to the world and bringing closer relationships among countries. Taiwanese officials propose to increase the volume of tourism and continuously developing themes such as “Visit Taiwan Year” and “Tourists Multiplication Project.” Contradictorily, Taiwanese officials have never sent any representative for tourism affairs to Madrid and neglect the fact that the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization is in the heart of Madrid. Disappointing explanations were given to interrogators by Taiwanese officials stated that budgetary restrictions or invisible importance were often the excuses.
Every January, Madrid hosts an international tourism exhibition, the “FERIA INTERNATIONAL DE TURISMO (FITUR)”, which is a major event of the European travel industry. The Madrid World Trade Center (IFEMA) houses ten large-scale exhibition halls for this weeklong event that is attended from five continents and 170 countries compose total of 100,000 participants. An event that play a decisive role in tourism, Taiwan’s exhibition booth had failed to display the ambitions of promoting Taiwan and hospitality in comparison with other Asia countries, such as China, Thailand, and Macao. Apparently, we showed our lack of preparation and desire to publicize Taiwan’s tourism. The booth only provided a few explanatory flyers and pamphlets; most of them are in English only. The Information Division of Taiwan’s representative office in Madrid (the “Oficina Económica y Cultural de Taipei”) also gave away some souvenirs. Unfortunately, none of Taiwanese tourist professionals participated in the FITUR. A local ticket sales agent of China Airlines in Madrid was the only representative among other major airlines from Taiwan. On the other side of the Asian Hall in the FITUR, Thailand’s National Tourism Bureau organized 20 plus stalls for its domestic tours representatives to extend their travel business, while China and Macao had set up traditional arts and crafts hand-made demostration as primary attractions. Walking along the Asian corridor here, Taiwan’s booth stands out like a sore thumb, as there is almost no effort put into making itself competitive with other Asian destinations.
與文化活動一樣，觀光旅遊往往是一個國家對外工作當中，最容易讓外國人親近的一種方式。馬德里正好就是「世界觀光組織」總部的所在地，然而口口聲聲高喊「觀光客倍增計畫」、「台灣觀光年」的台灣觀光主管單位，在馬德里卻連個連絡單位或人員都看不到，理由總不外乎「經費不足」、「重要性不夠」。每年一月份在馬德里固定舉行的「國際旅遊展」，可以說是歐洲旅遊業的一大年度盛事，來自五大洲一百七十國的旅遊主管單位以及相關業者，把擁有十個大型展覽館的馬德里世貿展覽場塞滿，一個展期下來參觀的專業人士總是有十萬人；然而，台灣的攤位相較於同樣位於亞洲館的中國、泰國、澳門等觀光事業的競爭對象，明顯地看出缺乏準備和推廣的企圖心；除了準備些許解說折頁（多數還僅有英文版），以及駐西代表處新聞組提供的一些文宣品贈送以外，看不到任何台灣旅行業者參與或推出任何產品，台灣兩大航空業者也只有華航由馬德里票務代理業者出面虛幌兩天。看著泰國由觀光局整合一字排開擺出二三十個專供旅遊業者洽商的攤位，以及和中國、澳門大張旗鼓地特別安排從國內帶來傳統民俗技藝的現場表演，走在亞洲館裡面，從台灣的攤位當中，實在看不出所謂「拼觀光、拼經濟」的競爭力，到底在哪裡。
To be continued
待續
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