World's Largest Christmas Tree to Solve All of Taiwan's Problems

According to this Taiwan News article, "a foreign-ventured local company has launched an ambitious campaign to market Taiwan to the world by turning its landmark Taipei 101 into the world's biggest Christmas tree." (Note: We didn't realize trees were made of concrete, glass and streel.)

The article continues:

"We want to make the whole world know about Taiwan, and Christmas is something that everybody cares about, whether one is Christian or not (emphasis ours)," Elias Ek, president of telemarketing company Enspyre, told CNA in a telephone interview.

"Tapping into the whole Christmas theme, Taiwan will be able to really connect to people around the world, " said Ek, who is also co-chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei's small- and medium-sized enterprises center.

It will only cost US$12 million and investing companies will get the right to advertise, which, of course, is all in the spirit of Christmas.

"This is a project that should be carried out and we are looking forward to getting it done, " Ek said, adding that the project is seeking for an investment of roughly NT$400 million (US$12 million) from 25 companies, all of whom will obtain in return the right to advertise on the exterior of Taipei 101.

We wonder what the thousands of people who have lost their jobs on the island recently will think about their employers spending millions to advertise on a Christmas tree. We aren't sure, but there must be some heartwarming Christmas story in all of this.