Naked truths

THOUGH UNREPORTED in any news media, the Kingdom of Ladonia recently announced it will not only recognise Taiwan as a nation, it will defend the island with its army, navy and air force in the event of any attack. The conditions of this alliance are that Taiwan, in return, will observe a national holiday on October 27, when the Ladonian king annually releases his 'artificial comet', and further permit inspections of 'teddy animals'.

Ladonia, you may guess, is, like Taiwan, not part of the UN. It is what many refer to as a micro-nation, one of dozens of quasi-legal, self-proclaimed sovereign territories that have sprouted up on islands, the internet and even inside real countries, such as England and Australia.

Located inside the territory generally known as Sweden, Ladonia was contacted on behalf of a Taiwanese non-governmental organisation by an artist collective from Finland called YKON.

The resulting work by YKON, Recognise Me, is part of a show by 23 international artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, which looks at grey zones in the new world order - such as territorial disputes, the Middle East, migrants, defectors and criminals. Titled Naked Life, it's curated by Taiwan's Manray Hsu Wen-rui and Austrian Maren Richter.

The low-low-level diplomacy in YKON's piece is a parody of Taiwan's official foreign policy, which looks for international recognition anywhere it can get it. Trading foreign aid for UN support from poor nations in Africa, Central America and the South Pacific has become standard policy, and the Fijian coup now appears in Taipei's headlines daily because it could raise or lower the island's dwindling number of UN allies by one.

So if Taiwan is so desperate for international friends, why not reach out to, say, the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands? In all, YKON asked 50 micro-nations to recognise Taiwan, of which 10 responded. Two offered unconditional recognition, including the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom and the Principality of Snake Hill (which believes it has seceded from Australia), while others, such as Ladonia and an empty slice of Antarctica called Westarctica, were willing to negotiate. Taiwan's recent real diplomatic efforts have been only slightly more successful.