Did you know that all the water buffalo in Taiwan are the descendants of a group of these bovines from Indonesia (formerly the Dutch East Indies)? These poor water buffalo were put on a sailing ship by the Dutch in 1648 and sent to Taiwan!

Who knew? Well, former Dutch diplomat and current George Mason University Taiwan history professor Gerrit van der Wees does… and that’s not all he knows.

It was a genuine pleasure to chat with a person who's not only studied Taiwan extensively but who also played a big role in Taiwan’s fight to become a democracy. 

The day before former President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down, she honored van der Wees by conferring on him the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon, primarily for his work as chief editor of Taiwan Communiqué, a bi-monthly publication that chronicled Taiwan’s transition to democracy from 1980 to 2016.  

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