RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Rachel Martin. It's common practice to give a gift to a visiting dignitary. So when the president of Taiwan went to Texas, the governor Greg Abbott presented her with a clock with the Texas seal on it. So nice, right? Alas, clocks are a taboo gift in many parts of Asia because in Chinese the phrase for giving a clock sounds the same as the phrase used to say goodbye to the deceased. Foreign policy editor James Palmer put it best - it's basically the equivalent of Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.