MEYER: Why did you choose to immigrate to Taiwan and start a magazine?
LAI: I think the fact that Chen Shui-bian was elected [president] was a very clear sign that democracy in Taiwan is an eternal reality. It is irreversible. Under the [former ruling party] KMT, you always had doubts about democracy because they had such control over the country. Second, I really think Taiwan is the future of China. Politically, it can be a titanic catalyst for China to become a more liberal, if not necessarily democratic, country. Taiwan as an idea can be very influential in inducing China [toward] greater democracy. That’s what makes Taiwan very unique and very important. So Taiwan naturally will become a media focus.
What did you find most surprising about Taiwan?
There are a lot of myths about how the Taiwanese reader is different than the Hong Kong reader. A lot of people told me Taiwanese readers are very politically oriented. They like to read political commentary. Anything about politics and politicians. This is absolutely not true. In our focus groups, the readers tell us that they only like to read about politics or politicians when there’s a scandal or a love affair or some funny gaffe. Otherwise, they have too much of it from the newspapers. They don’t want it.
In your first issue you wrote about the love life of the president’s daughter. Now some celebrities have banded together in protest against you and are refusing to accept interviews from your reporters.
When you explore change in [a new] market, you tend to become unconventional, and to provoke some reaction. This is natural. At the end of the day, what is important is not how people react to you, it’s how readers react to you.
Some of your critics say you appeal to the lowest common denominator, to chauvinism and other base instincts.
Well, we have occasions of overdoing things. I don’t think we deny that. But you can’t generalize those exceptions as a rule of what we are doing. Yes, we sometimes overstep and we sometimes make mistakes where we have to apologize on the front page or the cover. As long as we show the courage to face mistakes and apologize for it, we always learn.
What are the differences between Taiwanese society and Hong Kong?
I think Taiwanese society is more personal. People really value relationships a lot more than [in] Hong Kong… Even in the workplace, even in business. If you have somebody in Taiwan that you’d like to hire, it doesn’t matter what kind of deal you offer him. [He will decide on the basis of your relationship.] But in Hong Kong, people don’t see it this way. It all depends on what terms you offer.
Which place do you think is more like the mainland?
Taiwan, for sure. And that’s why Taiwan is going to be very important for any media going into China when China opens up.
So you don’t feel Taiwan is in danger of being swallowed by the economic and cultural expansion of China?
Taiwan definitely, as a democratic society with free speech and free information, always has an advantage in competing as part of the Chinese market… The Taiwanese idea of democracy is so powerful and influential that there is no fear of China’s political influence changing Taiwan’s politics. Nobody wants to go back to the dictatorship, to the autocracy of China. The whole world is going forward. There is no danger of Taiwan going backward, there is only a danger of China going forward.
