From Overseas Press

Taiwan's existence can only be defined in relation to the mainland

(The China Post)
Updated: 2010-06-18 13:45

It seems Taiwan cannot exist without the Chinese mainland these days, as the island is increasingly dependent on the mainland economically. In fact, Taiwan's existence is defined in relation to the mainland.

Whenever we talk about Taiwan, we compare it to the mainland. Here's an example. In a recent letter to the editor, a reader of a Taiwan-based Chinese-language newspaper lamented how Taiwanese companies are lagging behind Korean and even the mainland firms in marketing efforts.

The reader backed his argument by citing an eye-catching advertising campaign by a mainland company—Yingli Solar—in the ongoing World Cup in South Africa.

Football lovers must have also seen the Yingli ads on large LED displays surrounding the soccer fields.

The reader said that the mainland companies are starting to aggressively promote themselves with aims to become global brands.

He asked when we can see Acer or HTC—the Taiwan-based PC and mobile phone brands respectively—become sponsors of the most important football event.

Public exposure is of course important to companies that are running brand-name businesses. Actually, Acer has been a sponsor of the F1 car race. Hannspree—an LCD TV and monitor brand of Taiwan-based LCD-panel maker HannStar Display—is also a sponsor of the X Games in the United States.

All companies have different marketing strategies; and their absence from the World Cup does not mean that they are not marketing themselves.

We are seeing a lot of Sony ads at this Word Cup. But there is no Samsung. There is Coca Cola, but there is no Pepsi.

There are many different reasons why a certain brand is absent from a sporting event. But it is not the focus of the present discussion.

What we are trying to point out is that the reader's response to the Yingli ad campaign reflects the way people are looking at Taiwan and its relations with the mainland.