Q: Due to the mainland's protective attitude toward the publishing market, most Taiwan and Hong Kong publishers are thinking only about breaking through the commercial barriers, without giving ample thought to deeper cultural interaction and cooperation. Would you say that interaction between the publishing industries of all three areas is a blessing or a curse?

A: Publishers are subject to pressure like all other business, and you can't blame them for emphasizing the marketing side of the business. In their respective areas, Taiwanese and Hong Kong publishers can probably rely on big names to generate welcome reviews, but when they enter the mainland market, everything's unfamiliar. They lack roots, and as such they enter as the competition. They have to crack the market before they can get any substantial grounding, and if they can't make a profit, they at least want to break even.

At present, the books selling between Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland seem to predominantly be light literature, which is a shame. It's no easy thing for mainland readers to get a glimpse into the overall cultural picture of Taiwan and Hong Kong just from a few bestsellers, but at least the Taiwan and Hong Kong publishing industries are strong in their own rights. They can avoid the misjudgments that come with this kind of superficial exchange.

With respect to Taiwan in particular, there are a number of factors that could decide the political future, but of all of them, it's cultural interaction that has the best chance of fostering mutual understanding and lessening hostility. If we communicate more with the language of culture and less with the language of political, military or economic competition, mainlanders will understand Taiwan anew, and not just as the Taiwan of cross-strait business or the Taiwan of the political realm.

In all sorts of big issue areas-democracy, educational reform, public health, labor rights and welfare, and so on-and even in the cultural accumulations of everyday life like tea-making, flower arranging, and coffee, Taiwanese society is brimming with hope and vitality. If this hope and vitality can trickle through to the mainland by way of books, it would be a great thing for both sides of the strait.

Q: After your appointment to the directorship of Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center, your works were then subjected to political obstruction, and they couldn't be published in the mainland. What do you think of this?

A: Of course, there's a trace of regret, but it's just an individual case. If you look at it from a broader perspective, repressing works by certain authors is just a temporary thing. But even so, I believe that there are definitely more authors, more great works, that can be circulated and exchanged.

I believe that all it will take is hard work, and the power of culture to go beyond politics will become evident. The reason why I got myself involved in politics and accepted this post is that I hope to create more cultural dialogue.

If Taiwan itself has the resolution to put culture ahead of politics, we will then be able to stand as equals when we face the mainland, because our culture isn't at the periphery, nor is it so far removed from theirs. The most obvious example is when, years ago, Taiwan set about the protection of traditional arts like Kunqu, this brought about an upsurge in cultural preservation in mainland areas.

When I had just arrived in Hong Kong, the media assumed there must have been some political agenda behind my appointment. Now, however, everyone understands that even in politics there is room for cultural vision and creativity.

This year, because of SARS, the Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center had to postpone several events, but next year we plan to bring over many more authors and artists for culture exchanges.

With the SARS crisis behind us, we have a special event planned: a reading of some new poetry written by the late Taiwanese author Hsin Lin-tsu. Her hopefulness and poetic expression of life is something that has a kind of resonance with people of every generation.

Q: In this surge in publishing exchange, the cultural conflict between a greater Chinese identity and localization is commonly appearing throughout these three territories. For example, Hong Kong faces the strong entry of low-priced books in simplified Chinese [used on the mainland but not in Taiwan or Hong Kong], giving a possibility of changing the style of writing used there. But in Taiwan there's a sense of foreboding that after the introduction of mainland encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other kinds of academic texts, their own basic culture will start to be drowned by them. What is your opinion on this?

A: I must stress, politics is a kind of diminisher, belittling each party through mutual accusations and plots; culture, on the other hand, is a kind of enlarger, the more that is added, the richer it becomes, and you don't lose it when you give it to someone else.

Both Hong Kong and Taiwan have had complicated histories, and with increasing globalization, we've each had to consider our roles in the world. Before, Hong Kong was an economic powerhouse, and its skyscrapers were a way of demonstrating its pride and power. But the economic downturn of recent years has proven to be an opportunity; it's made everyone think-aside from it's economy, what other things of value or significance does Hong Kong have?

Culture is not an importation but an interaction. You see, Taiwan adds to Hong Kong, Hong Kong adds to Beijing, and Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, they all add to the mix as well. Through cooperation, we'll find more creativity.