Lung Ying-tai on International Vista

(United Daily News)  Lung Ying-tai Criticizes the "Short-Sightedness" of the DPP

[in translation]

During an interview yesterday, Tsinghua University professor Lung Ying-tai criticized the "short-sightedness" of the Democratic Progressive Party for causing Taiwan to turn "invwards" and lacking international vista during its seven year rule.  Even the pressure by China against Taiwan was used to rationalize the policy to lock down the nation.  The refusal to accept top mainland Chinese students to study in Taiwan is even more feeble-minded.

Lung Ying-tai said that she once had very high expectations for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and she had hoped that they would get rid of the bad practices of the Nationalist Party.  But her hopes were totally unmet during the past seven years.  In theory, the promotion of localization can compliment globalization without being mutually exclusive.  But the DPP ended up turning Taiwan invwards, and their short-sighted methods have seriously impeded the progress of Taiwan.

She offered the example that the Chinese government welcomed Taiwan universities to recruit students from the mainland.  But the Mainland Affairs Council rejected the proposal on the grounds for reasons such as mainland students will affect security in Taiwan and so on.  "This is a feeble-minded position."

Lung Ying-tai used the example of Hong Kong University where she also teaches.  Over the past two years, it has made a full effort to provide the best scholarship money to attract the top students from mainland China and the progress has been tremendous.  European, American and Singapore universities are also attracting mainland talents.  "Are they all fools?"  They do so in order to build up their national strengths.  Taiwan's conditions are not as good as the others to being with.  So it is incredible that they still insist of going opposite to the international trend.

A former resident of Europe, Lung Ying-tai reflected that secondary school students in Europe will read international news on the Internet every day, whereas Taiwan students practically never do that.  They think that mainland China is a communist country.  The Taiwan university students have even less international vista than Taiwan as a whole.  By comparison, she has discovered that the young mainland Chinese people that she has come into contact with over the past few years have a thirst for global knowledge and a desire to participate in international affairs that have gone beyond Taiwan.

But she also said that the lack of an international vista cannot be blamed solely on the Democratic Progressive Party.  It is related in a large part to the withdrawal of Taiwan from the United Nations as well as the martial law for an extended period.

She analyzed that under the omnipresent pressure by Communist China, too few countries have formal relationships with Taiwan which cannot join international organizations.  The young people of Taiwan has lost the "human right" to learn about the international community.  The social angst and the lack of internatioanl vista turned people to detest mainland China and affect the cross-strait relationship.  This is something that the Beijing government has not yet reconized.  Instead, it has become the excuse for the Democratic Progressive Party to lock down the country.

The electronic media lack international news.  There are only the American/CNN viewpoints, "which have reached a level of feeble-mindedness."  She made an appeal: "No matter who wins next year, could you please insert the future Taiwan into the giant wave of globalization and find a place for it."


Related Link: Lung Ying-tai slams Taiwan's isolation  Charles Snyder, Taipei Times.  December 10, 2006.