Cross Strait Peace Agreement

The cross strait peace agreement proposed by President Ma has been a heated issue recently. As a citizen of Taiwan, I’m obliged to know more about the bilateral talks between Taiwan and China in the past and their impacts to people at both sides of the Taiwan Strait in the future. I was excited to deliver Project 2 speech The Successful Negotiator at Taipei Metro Toastmasters Club Thursday noon, October 27th.

I didn’t know about the Toastmaster Advanced Manual on Interpersonal Communication till I attended Division A Advanced Training Wednesday evening, August 31st. After I listened to Toastmaster Lester Lin's introduction and interpretation of the said manual, I knew at once that it was it. I wanted to finish five projects in year 2011.

For some reason, people fear negotiations almost as much as they fear speaking in public. This probably has to do with a fear of being rejected, or maybe a fear of lawyers. By honing the negotiation skills, we can communicate more effectively, we can influence others, we can improve our ability to speak and listen.

When it comes to negotiation, listening to the verbal and non-verbal communications of other side and understanding the other side is critical to success. By taking the time to prepare before negotiations to understand and to learn the position of the other side can determine the success or failure of the negotiation process. Speaking is the other side of negotiating; it is how we influence others. It's important to remain confident and objective at all times. It is also important to be clear during negotiations.

To create a Win-Win situation for any given negotiation, negotiating is supposed to be a process where both parties make concessions towards each other in order to achieve the goal of obtaining what they desire. It is a give-give situation. When both parties are satisfied of the outcome, knowing that neither has taken advantage of the other, both have benefited from the agreed transaction.

I was happy that Toastmaster Lester Lin agreed to role play with me for 3 to 5 minutes during the second half of my speech. We had a lucky draw before the role play. He was the Chief Negotiator of Taiwan (ROC) and I was the Chief Negotiator of China (PRC). Frankly speaking, I knew little about Taiwan's cross strait policy, except the three NOes — No unification, No independence, and No use of force — the three pillars for Taiwan to maintain the "status quo" across the strait. I knew less about China's cross-strait policy, except the propaganda of "unification". Therefore I didn't play my role to the satisfaction of my evaluator Toastmaster Neal Quentin Stovicek.

Both Neal and Lester have been helpful with Project 2 speech in the past week. Neal and I had an early Tuesday morning meeting over coffee to go through my introductory speech for 4 to 5 minutes. Lester arrived at the meeting venue in advance Thursday to work out the details, not to rehearse (it is not allowed). As for my presentation, my evaluator Neal complimented my hair-do and my outfit. Lester suggested I pace myself under control, make it "plant" during my presentation to be more authoritative as a negotiator. I thank Lester and Neal both from the bottom of my heart.

For the summary of Project 2 speech, I invited President Gina Cheng and President Roger Chen to sign the symbolical cross strait peace agreement on behalf of Grand Toastmasters Club and Taipei Metro Toastmasters CLub. It was one of the most memorable moments in my Toastmasters life.

After the delivery of Project 2 The Successful Negotiator at Taipei Metro Toastmasters Club, I'm more eager to participate in every negotiation opportunity at work and in life, to become a better listener, better speaker, better negotiator, and a better person.