Gift gaffe did not mar Tsai’s meeting with Texas governor to discuss trade ties
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/09
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Taipei (Taiwan News) — Texas governor Greg Abbot met with Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen on Sunday
Texas governor Greg Abbott meeting with President Tsai.
in Houston, where they discussed trade ties and exchanged gifts, though the governor’s choice of a clock was untimely.
Abbott says in a statement that they discussed energy, trade relations and commercial ties between Taiwan and Texas. In terms of trade relations, the governor said that the two focused on the exchange of natural gas and agricultural products, of which Taiwan is major consumer.
Tsai presented Abbot with a vase, while the governor inadvertently committed a cultural faux pas by gifting Taiwan’s president a clock bearing the Texas State Seal. In Chinese culture the phrase “giving a clock” ( 送鐘) is a homophone with “attending a funeral,” and therefore symbolizes an untimely demise for the recipient.
Fortunately, Tsai did not seem to be phased by the culturally inappropriate gift as it was surely well intentioned. The governor described the meeting in a cordial manner saying, “It was an honor to meet with President Tsai and discuss how our two economies can expand upon our already prosperous trade partnership.” [FULL STORY]
