奧布陳仔的大聲公

The Summary of the Speech of the Chief of the AIT in Taiwan Kaohsiung

Chris Castro was born in Massachusetts where the American Revolutionary War began, and it is also the birthplace of the Boston Red Sox. Castro always wanted to study in an international, political, social university when he was young, so he decided to go into Georgetown University to read up Foreign Service. He has been in Taiwan to study in the National Chengchi University as an exchange student for a year in 1987, and then joined the United States Department of State to become an American diplomat in 1988.

When he was studying in Taiwan, he found that the CKS (蔣介石)’s portrait was everywhere, and all the news that was not favorable to KMT (國民黨)’s autocratic governance was banned.

After twenty years, he came back to Taiwan to take up his duties as the Chief of the American Institute in Taiwan Kaohsiung Branch Office in 2008. He was very surprised to see the improvement of human rights in Taiwan, and he thinks that Lee Teng-hui(李登輝) was an important symbol of Taiwan’s democracy.

According to the speech, Castro seems to adore his duties as a diplomat and the country he served very much. This is why I am so surprised and confused to see a Taiwan’s diplomat Kuo Kuan-Ying(郭冠英) insults his own country, and discriminates the other race in the Taiwan’s society. The most serious problem is that he actually hopes the China government can send army to eliminate those who hope that Taiwan can become a normal country.

Both Chris Castro and Kuo Kuan-Ying are diplomat, but how can these two public servants be so different? I think this is the most bewildering question for me.

by Brian Chen