By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
“I’ve worked in the foreign ministry for one-fourth of a century,” said Yvonne Hsiao, Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston.
She has spent her entire adult career working in Taiwan’s foreign service.
As a college student, she studied literature and English. As she speaks to me, her English is easy to understand with slight hints of an accent that sounds like the mid-Atlantic accent from early Hollywood movies.
At times Hsiao’s voice is soft. Sometimes she speaks just barely above a whisper and with a slight soprano pitch. These qualities draw the listener into her every word.
Her pleasant disposition and charming voice lend themselves well to the career path she has chosen.
Her first introduction to American literature came when she was just a child — about the equivalent of a fifth-grade student in the United States. Young Hsiao read the Chinese translation of “Gone with the Wind.”
“I loved it,” she said. Hsiao’s eyes open wider as she describes that experience. “My mom bought the book for herself, and I took it to read.”
Hsiao has been a studious person and lover of literature for as far back as she can remember. The good grades she earned as a young child brought rewards from her parents, and thus, she had a box full of Barbie dolls.
Though her real passion was books and learning, when she did well as a student her parents gave her a Barbie doll.
Learning English is compulsory in Taiwan, and she began her English language learning when she was about middle-school age. Not only did she begin learning English as a middle schooler, but also she began a learning experience that centered around living in a free society.
For the formative years of her childhood, Hsiao recalled, there was an authoritarian style of government in Taiwan that did not allow for free exploration of one’s own thoughts or desires. She has vivid memories of living through a changing form of leadership that allowed the people of Taiwan to begin their journey as a democratic society.
“I feel so blessed to have witnessed changes from being under a controlled government to being under an open government,” Hsiao said.
One of those changes as her nation evolved in leadership helped make life in Taiwan a little less stinky and improved the quality of life for the island nation. Hsiao has a faint recollection of a time when people dumped their garbage into the streets.
As an open society began to emerge, she remembers sanitation collection became a regular part of their lives.
Speaking in a more excited tone, she used her whole being as she began to describe the extensive recycling process of her homeland. Demonstrating with her hands, she showed me how the people of Taiwan separate their discards into specific recycling boxes for each type of material, such as glass and paper.
Having lived through her nation’s metamorphosis, she remembers an emphasis on not littering that became part of the nation’s motto. Taiwan’s schools and municipalities emphasized the importance of keeping a tidy and clean living environment.
Most American Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and the generations that have come after these groups have been blessed with the benefits of municipal sanitation services and with having the ability to put our garbage in proper disposal containers throughout our lives, so we might not have the same sense of enthusiasm for the subject.
With the environment of our planet a focus for many people around the world, the garbage-collection memories of Hsiao’s childhood have relevance to her position as a diplomat.
Right now, Tiwan is vying to become a voice in world issues, a voice that is included in the United Nations.
Hsiao explained her nation’s sense of urgency to be welcomed as an equal partner with other nations in discussions, including the world ‘s environmental concerns.
“As a major economy and a hub for technological innovation, Taiwan’s capabilities in renewable energy and sustainable development make it an ideal partner to help achieve the environmental goals of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
“Now is the time for the United Nations to evolve, acknowledge that UN Resolution 2758 does not preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system, and focus on finding ways to maximize Taiwan’s ongoing contributions to global efforts like sustainable development, aviation safety, and public health,” said Hsiao.
In addition to sharing environmental concerns and taking pride in her nation’s role in technological innovation, Hsiao shares her nation’s pride and joy in being a world leader in the cultivation and distribution of orchids. She also shared with me a cup of boba tea and explained the history of the unique drink.
Boba tea also known as bubble tea is a fun and refreshing drink that employs a wide straw to draw up floating pieces of tapioca. It is a unique beverage created originally in Taiwan and made with milk, fruit and other juices.
Living abroad as a diplomat, Hsiao’s first assignment was in New York City, where both her son and daughter were born. Her next assignment was in Australia, and she fondly recalls her children came to see themselves as Australians.
“It was a shock for my children when we returned to Taipei,” Hsiao shared.
Her children immersed themselves in Taiwanese culture and language for almost six years, and then in 2023, their mother was sent to Houston, Texas, where they are both high school students.
Hsiao reports she met her husband while in graduate school, and both have pursued careers in diplomacy. Currently he is serving as Director General in Chicago, which is only a three-hour flight away from Houston, Hsiao proclaimed.
Hsiao shared that her husband will be making the three-hour flight to Houston to spend time with his family for Thanksgiving. She and their children will visit the ‘Windy City’ at Christmastime.
Though she and her husband have been married for close to two decades, Hsiao recalled that they have only lived under the same roof for one decade. She reports the longest time they lived together was when they were both assigned to work in Australia. But this reality does not seem to bother her. In fact, for her, having a long-distance marriage seems to be a positive experience.
“The best way to keep your marriage healthy is to keep proper distance,” said Hsiao with a slight hint of pride at being a woman who has been able to have both a high-profile career and a fulfilling personal life.
