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International or domestic? The postal politics of applications from China to Taiwan

A personal account of navigating bureaucracy and politics in China

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Sir, – I lived and worked in Fuzhou city, China in the late 2000s.

Recent letters about Taiwan have reminded me of an occasion where my English friend in Fuzhou was applying for postgraduate study in a university in Taiwan. My friend had the paper application and documentation ready to go, and we went together to the main post office in the city centre to send it off.

At this point, the political dilemma came into full focus – should the application be put into domestic post or international post? Not wishing to miss the application deadline, we decided to check with a post office staff member. The answer? International, of course. – Yours, etc,

STEPHEN HENNESSEY,

Dundalk,

Co Louth.