a n$
means that people soon tire of it. Obviously, our aim with
Heineken Lager is to stay timeless, so we want to keep out
of the category of trendy beers."
For some imported brands the decline of dark beer also
signalled the end of their operations in Taiwan. Some brew
eries seized on the sudden growth of dark beers as an
opportunity to introduce a dark version of their lager
brand. After the Taiwanese had become bored with drink
ing dark beer, these brands immediately lost their right of
existence.
Stay away from trends is therefore the motto of
Heineken Taiwan. For the time being it does not look as if
Heineken will become a trendy beer. The brand has built up
too stable a position for that over the past eight years. That
position has been achieved in part thanks to the high retail
selling price and the good distribution in Western-style
pubs, which represent an important sales channel for
Heineken. In the year ahead strong emphasis will also be
placed on the high class Chinese restaurants. Heineken is
one of the key players in the import segment at the
moment. "We have now reached the position where some
one opening up a new bar cannot afford not to have
Heineken in his range", explains Ed Weggemans.
As can be seen from the Taiwanese beer market statis
tics that are released by TTWMB each year, imported
American beers in particular are going through a difficult
time. Partly as a result of the collapse of the dark beer seg
ment, imports from that country were down by a half last
year. Heineken showed strong growth, as did Kirin, the
lager from Japan. In 1991 the market share of the local beer
was still 96%. Five years later it had fallen to 71%.
BOND
One of the reasons for the success of Heineken in Taiwan,
feels Mr Weggemans, is the special historic bond that
Taiwan has with Holland. From 1611 to 1633 the island,
then known as Formosa, was under Dutch rule. Another
factor that emphasises the affinity between the two peo
ples is that the Dutch are sometimes referred to as the
Chinese of Europe because of their commercial acumen.
The special bond that exists between the two countries
is further demonstrated by the industrial interests that the
Dutch have in Taiwan. Electronics giant Philips is the big
gest foreign employer in Taiwan and for many years it was
also the biggest investor in the country. KLM Asia was the
first and is currently the only European airline to serve the
island with a direct daily flight. All the major Dutch banks
are also present in Taipei.
Taiwan was originally populated by the island's aborigi
nals and by Chinese from the provinces of Fujian and
Shandong on mainland China. At the end of the 1940s the
Kuomintang moved from the mainland to settle in Taiwan.
As early as 1911 this political party had already established
the Republic of China in mainland China but in the years
after the Second World War it met with fierce resistance s
from Mao Tse-tung. The Republic of China thus found its i5
home in Taiwan but the People's Republic of China, which
the Taiwanese consistently refer to as mainland China, has
never given Taiwan official recognition as a separate state.
In recent decades the PRC has vigorously strengthened
its links with the outside world, with the result that Taiwan
almost automatically ended up in political isolation.
Taiwan's domestic policy over the past ten years has been
