Once, a Taiwanese friend of mine told me that here were two types of Taiwanese people, smart ones who co-operated with the Mainland government and those who further insist that Taiwan is an independent country. Of Taiwanese descent myself, it was hard to see the logic of Taiwanese politics over the years. Straining to manage its own domestic affairs (see: Chen Shui-bian), never mind what China consider a rebellious stance against a much bigger power, Taiwan has been quietly pushed aside in the media in exchange for a focus on China.

The Taiwan issue is brought back to public consciousness with the imminent release of "Formosa Betrayed" a Hollywood take on the Taiwanese issue. TASA (Taiwanese Student Association of Columbia) brought Will Tiao a graduate of SIPA ,  the writer-producer of the movie to Lerner Hall today and showed a couple of clips of the movie in addition to hosting a Q/A about Taiwanese/Chinese/American affairs in terms of his movie.

Tiao, a former international economist for the Clinton Administration, certainly had plenty of passion in his movie. He is right when he says that the issue of Taiwan is the most sensitive issue right now, in terms of Chinese/American relationship. "There are a thousand missiles pointed right at Taiwan right now and most Americans don't know that," he says.

As the trailer, the clips and the brief description on the website says"Formosa Betrayed" task place in the 1980s and is "inspired" by actual events. Spurned by the death of a Taiwanese professor at a small mid-Western college, an FBI agent played by James Van Der Beek (Tiao actually joked around saying that the movie is "Dawson going to Taiwan") follows the murder trail to Taiwan where the assassins were actually hired by the authoritarian Taiwanese government to quash dissidents even abroad. Tiao admits that the historical part or the "historical-fiction" genre he labels "Formosa Betrayed" as is pushed a bit, but nonetheless highlights an important part of history that is relatively obscure to American audiences.

The movie is ambitious to say the least, but seeing the trailer and the few clips was not that inspiring. Made on "a fraction of a 25 million dollar budget" as Tiao puts it, the movie does seem small and somewhat conventional. The American fish out of water in an insatiable foreign political environment has been before with millions of more dollars to back them up usually for more guns and more explosions (see: Tears of the Sun, Spartan, Beyond Borders, Blood Diamond etc). But those movies have been primarily focused on Africa.  Tiao, himself, admits that comparisons have been made to "The Last King of Scotland" and "Hotel Rwanda" but doesn't feel as raw as those movies did perhaps due to the lack of a credible Asian-American character actor. "Hotel Rwanda" and "The Last King of Scotland" both garnered Best Actor Academy Award nominations because of their charismatic African American leads.

Tiao emphasizes that the movies is an American movie with "an American point of view made for American audiences." While commenting on the political situation in Taiwan the movie also highlights America's awkward situation of the portrayal of Chinese people. For the most part, it seems that people with African origins have been assimilated into the American culture. Barack Obama is president. Will Smith is the highest paid Hollywood Actor. Chris Rock has been hailed as the funniest man in America. Kobe Bryant is a national icon. What of Chinese Americans? Is Jackie Chan still the go-to guy when people think of "safe" Chinese people?

Time will tell the impact of "Formasa Betrayed" and I sincerely hope it succeeds in making the Chinese-American and Chinese experience an accessible one to American audience.