Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan)

How can it be that Taiwan is among the top twenty largest economic zones and the most vibrant democracies in Asia, and yet its government is officially prohibited from travelling to Europe? What does diplomatic recognition mean for an island that is in danger of being ground down between geopolitical power blocs in the East and West? How can the theatre as a subjective machinery of representation be turned into a stage of global politics?

Geologically, Taiwan is part of the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a seismically particularly active zone on the edge of the Pacific, where huge tectonic plates collide, leading to frequent major earthquakes. The island’s political stability is similarly fragile and it is in danger of being crushed between power blocs and agitation.  

In 1945, Taiwan became a founding member of the United Nations and a full member of the Security Council as “Republic of China”. In 1971, however, Richard Nixon re-established relations between the US and mainland China, and the “Republic of China” had to leave the UN. Ever since, Taiwan has struggled to find diplomatic recognition. Only a dozen of its diplomatic missions around the globe have embassy status. Although Taiwan has many international friends and trading partners, no nation can afford to break with China as an industrial power, and so Taiwan is not recognised by Germany or any other European country except the Vatican. In other words, Taiwan is just the most visible representative of this global dilemma.

In the theatre, we are used to pretending. How might a diplomatic representation of Taiwan work on stage? Which flag, which anthem and which ritual might fit our times?

Along with Taiwanese artists, Stefan Kaegi conducted research during a seven-week residency at the Taipei National Theatre, talking to diplomats, geologists, technicians from the semi-conductor industry, politicians and business people. Three of them will be on stage in “Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan)”: a retired ambassador, a digital activist, and a musician and heiress of a bubble tea empire.

Together, these three experts will use images and music on stage to simulate the opening of an embassy that would be impossible in the real world – protected by the freedom of the arts. A mobile sample of a country is created, a transformable architectural model that the three experts use as a miniature film set for their own biographies and that of their country. The audience becomes both guests and participants of a precarious mission which at its core deals not least with Germany’s relationship to China.