Illuzzi's China Connection

Republican State Sen. Vince Illuzzi (Essex-Orleans) returns to Vermont today from a week-long diplomatic trade mission to the Republic of China, a.k.a. Taiwan. Illuzzi chairs the Senate Economic Development Committee. After Canada, Taiwan is Vermont  No. 2 trading partner.

Ol' Vincenzo, first elected to the Vermont Senate in 1980 at the age of 27, was Vermont's rep on a New England delegation that included Rhode Island's lieutenant governor and legislative leaders from Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

"You come to a country like Taiwan with certain preconceived notions," said Illuzzi in a phone interview from Taipei on Thursday night. "When I was a kid you’d get these cheap little toys with a sticker that said 'Made in Taiwan.' So I’d thought I’d come here and find a Third World-like country," he told Freyne Land, "and it’s really anything but that."

He was surprised, he told us, to find that "the standard of living here is almost equal to the United States." Plus, "they all speak English, which says something about society here. They’re all bilingual.

"In fact we’ve been joking today that in the next 20-25 years Chinese should be our first language in America.  That’s the way things seem to be developing."

The U.S. does not recognize Taiwan as a soverign nation. That is why, explained Vince, the U.S. rep there [we don't have an ambassador] "skipped town during their Independence Day celebration" the other day. "There were representatives here from the countries that do recognize Taiwan as an independent and sovereign nation, and not a renegade province as does the People's Republic of China (mainland China).

Vermont's King of the Northeast Kingdom told Freyne Land he was interviewed by two television stations in Taipei about the obvious slight by the Bush Administration.

"As I recall it, said Vince, "I basically said that I think most Americans know that the Taiwanese people are hard working and industrious, and that Vermonters appreciate Taiwanese companies because those companies purchase many of the chips produced at IBM Essex, Vermont's largest private employer."

"Made in Taiwan" no longer means what it did 35 years ago, said Illuzzi. "This country has transformed itself into a high technology R & D nation and it is moving fast forward to take the lead in the area of biotechnology development and manufacture, which they consider the next frontier."

And, yes, said Vince, they have heard of Vermont.

"Most are familiar with the changing seasons in Vermont and some have actually attended schools in Boston of New York and they have skied or at least visited Vermont," he said.

Have they heard, we asked, of our distinguished senators, Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders?

"Sanders' name has come up a couple of times," said Illuzzi. "They’ve heard of Sanders and find it intriguing that a person who’s declared himself a socialist at some point is in the United States Congress, and they ask questions."

How's your Chinese, eh?

Comments

[RealityChecker]

I wouldn't laugh off learning Chinese. If the Chinese decide to start collecting on the truckload of loans made to the U.S., we're going down the drain quickly. It's another sad case of Americans turning a blind eye to reality, which we're good at, until the crap hits the fan, then we start pointing fingers or talking about Britney Spears of Paris Hilton.