The Whole Taiwan Thing

So, I'm not going to say whether I'm for or against Taiwan joining the UN, because I really don't have an opinion one way or another, and even if I did have an opinion, I'm not going to disclose it (so there). I did make an observation during my last trip to Taiwan and was a little disturbed by it. Those of you who have been through Taipei probably have noticed that the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport is now named Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Minor detail? Yes. But think about the resources, both human and monetary, that had to go into changing this minor thing. Hold on, let me detail:

Chiang Kai-Shek, for those who care (well, those who care already know), is associated with the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT, or pan-Blue). Local Taoyuan County officials, pan-Green (Democratic Progressive Party/DPP), and mainland Chinese media, who either resent the Nationalist occupation of Taiwan (DPP) back in the day or don't recognize Taiwan as separate (PRC), refer to the airport as Taoyuan International Airport. So the Executive Yuan of Ah-bian's administration got together and officially approved the name Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on September 6, 2006. The KMT and its allies held a one-vote majority in the Legislative Yuan, decried the change, and proposed "Taiwan Taoyuan Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport" instead. In the end, the pan-Green party won and all the signs have changed.

Back when it was being built in 1979, it was planned as "Taoyuan International Airport".

Well, glad that's all taken care of. Let's talk about some more pressing issues now, maybe? Like dealing with corruption, etc etc, in the government? Sheesh.

Well get this, though -- Terminal 1 was designed based on the main Terminal of Dulles International Airport. Who knew?? I knew they copy video games, software, movies, but who thought they'd be copying airports?!