Description: Our Family Adventures in Taipei
Important men with big sideburns, wide lapels and fat-knotted polyester ties swaggered through the frosty February air in 1972 America. Harry Nilsson’s #1 hit “Without You” trumpeted from radios across the country as the not yet disgraced Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and entourage boarded a flight to Beijing for Tricky Dick’s self-proclaimed “week that changed the world.”
In Nilsson’s paean to ultimate, life-ending loss he cries, “I can’t live, if living is without you. I can’t live, I can’t give anymore.” As the success of Nixon’s mission necessarily portended the failure of Formosa’s marriage to America, many may have thought Harry was singing Taiwan’s swan song. But determined members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) were crooning a different tune, Al Green’s then #4, “Leeeeeet’s, let’s stay together….”
AmCham was founded in 1951 with a mission to improve the business environment while serving as a vital bridge between the U.S. and Taiwan and has since grown to more than approximately 1,000 members representing over 500 companies across a diverse array of sectors. When Taiwan was “Free China” and Beijing was “Red China,” that mission was a much simpler task. As the only girl at the dance, Taiwan had Washington’s undivided attention for the first 20+ years of AmCham’s efforts. Then came Nixon and Mao signin