Sat, Nov 23, 2002 page4

• Defeated New Party brass take flight across the Strait

  • By Hsieh Chun-Man and Shang Tao-Ming
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  The New Party suffered heavy losses in last year's mayoral, county commissioner and legislative elections and has nearly evaporated. One after the other, New Party members have left the political stage, many of them to a life of obscurity.

  Recently, however, many of them have silently moved to China to seek a new future there.

  

  Former New Party lawmakers, front from left to right, Yao Li-ming, Huang Kuo-chuang, Chu Kao-cheng and Yok Mu-ming, along with Cheng Lung-shui, at podium, and other founding members of the party attend a function in this file photo. The New Party won more than 20 legislative seats in the 1995 elections to become Taiwan's third biggest party. However, after last year's polls, it is down to only one seat.

  TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

  So who are these New Party political migrants? And what are they doing in China?

  Wang Chien-hsien (王建火宣) has gone to China to set up Hope elementary schools (希望小學). Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大) is developing a cultural and educational business aimed at children. Elmer Fung (馮滬祥) has set up a company offering services to Taiwanese businessmen. Yok Mu-ming's (郁慕明) iCareAsia (亞洲醫療網) has set up a branch in China. Fu Kuen-cheng (傅崑成) is teaching at Xiamen University. Hsu Li-nung (許歷農) frequently goes to China to visit his daughter and to travel.

  Most New Party officials have academic backgrounds, which is why most of them have undertaken semi-public services or cultural and educational activities after moving to China. Only a minority invest with the sole purpose of making a profit.

  Public services

  For example, Wang went to China to involve himself in public-service activities.

  Wang, a devout Christian who participated in last year's county commissioner elections on behalf of the pan-blue camp, has the spirit of a religious person. Together with his wife, Su Fa-chao (蘇法昭), Wang set up a cultural and educational foundation for charitable public service activities.

  The foundation's public-service activities are aimed at providing support for the elderly and children as well as blood donation programs in Taiwan.

  Last year, Wang started thinking about setting up Hope elementary schools in China. For between 200,000 yuan and 250,000 yuan, an elementary school can be set up in the country's remote areas. Wang has traveled to China on several occasions to evaluate possible school locations.

  Wang says he hopes to "invigorate education" in China by improving the opportunities for poor students.

  Hsieh Chi-ta, a former chairwoman of the New Party's National Committee, is also planning to involve herself in children's education and cultural activities in China. Recent media reports say that Hsieh will open classes for reading the Book of Odes (詩經).

  Hsieh says that teaching children to read poetry from the Chinese classic is just part of her plans. What she really wants to do is develop a children's education and cultural business in China. She has already completed the first stage of her planning and the whole project will be finalized after discussions with her business partners.

  Hsieh has a background in law. When she had to leave her post as a legislator, she would still have been able to make a living by falling back on working as a lawyer. Instead, she chose to develop something new across the Strait.

  Talking about her experiences in China fills Hsieh with amazement. She says she rested for six months after last year's elections and started thinking of where she would go from there.

  During that time, a Chi-nese law firm invited her to serve as a consultant, but she did not want to practice her profession in this manner and rejected the offer.

  When, at 18 years old, Hsieh began her working life, she spent a decade as an elementary school teacher. Between 28 and 38 years of age, she was a judge, and was a politician for the following 10 years.

  So what was she to do for the next 10 years? Hsieh said that Aug. 28 this year was a turning point in her life.

  `Book of odes'

  While having a meal in a Beijing vegetarian restaurant that day, she saw a poster announcing a "Reci-tation Center For Children From All Over The World." The poster showed a child reading from the Book of Odes.

  "Eureka!" Hsieh said to herself. "This is what I want to do."

  After seeing the poster, she found a young couple promoting recitation of the Book of Odes. It turned out that the recitation center had been started by Wang Tsai-kui (王財貴), a teacher from National Taichung Teacher's College. Wang had already been operating recitation centers in Taiwan for about eight years and in China for three years. Hsieh decided to join Wang and his wife.

  Hsieh says that even though the "four books and five classics" (四書五經) are the classic works of Chinese culture, no one really reads them.

  In addition, Hsieh feels that China's "one child" policy creates a situation where parents dote on their children. It also draws China toward an elitist education system which results in putting too much pressure on children, she says.

  Using herself as an example, Hsieh says that it was not until she had her third child that she could truly understand how to teach children. At the time, she adopted zero-age education and brain development concepts to educate her children, with good results, she said.

  Chinese parents, however, don't have the opportunity to learn by having additional children. So Hsieh decided to take up children's education by combining recitation of the Book of Odes with zero-age education and brain development concepts.

  Fung has also been concentrating on developing a new career in China since his electoral defeat. During his time as a legislator, Fung served as honorary chairman of a service center for the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and as chairman of a cross-strait culture, education and trade exchange association.

  He has always maintained a close relationship with top-level Chinese leaders.

  In July this year, Fung traveled to China in his role as chairman of the cross-strait association to set up an executive MBA program in cooperation with Tsinghua University and to expand the group's efforts to attract students from Taiwan.

  Fung says that this is the largest educational program for Taiwanese businessmen in the 53 years that China and Taiwan have been separated.

  The main reasons for this, he says, are that many Taiwanese businessmen want to improve their academic records and that Tsinghua University this year is ranked as the No. 1 university in China.

  The Tsinghua School of Econ-omics and Management was set up by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基), who also served as its dean for 10 years.

  The fact that Taiwanese businessmen can enroll for advanced studies at the school and receive a degree is seen as a politically savvy measure in the current climate.

  Fung stresses that Tsinghua's executive MBA (EMBA) program allows Taiwanese businessmen to improve their academic records. It has also accepted 150 Chinese students, all well-known people, such as the vice mayor of Tianjin and the mayor of Wuyishan.

  A student can also become a member of the Tsinghua EMBA club, whose members include China's future president, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

  Taking the EMBA program at Tsinghua, Fung says, helps Taiwanese businessmen greatly expand their social network.

  The EMBA program began teaching its Chinese students in September. Sixty Taiwanese students have already signed up for the program. Fung says the plan is to enroll between 120 and 150 students to start classes next month.

  Famous high-level media officials, second-generation leaders of well-known corporations and Taiwanese officials in well-known China-based enterprises have already signed up.

  However, this is an elitist program. At 250,000 yuan per student, tuition fees are high. Add to this a 30,000 yuan enrollment and approval fee. This adds up to a total of more than NT$1 million.

  Fung says that his main task is to evaluate and examine applications from Taiwanese businessmen.

  In September, Fung also set up the Shanghai-Hangzhou Commercial Consulting Services Company (滬杭 [上海] 商務諮詢服務公司).

  He says this is the first company in China offering this service to Taiwanese businessmen. His first case involved helping protect the legal rights of a Taiwanese company in a 600 million yuan property dispute.

  With Fung developing his business in China, his second daughter studying for a PhD in the history department at Beijing University and his third daughter having been accepted to the Beijing Film Academy (北京電影學院), it could almost be said that the whole family has settled in China.

  Having once walked away from the political world, Yok is back as chairman of the New Party. Apart from assisting party members in the city councillor elections for Taipei and Kaohsiung, he continues to run iCareAsia, which he started four years ago.

  It's natural that Yok, who prior to taking up politics worked within the military medical system and held a professorship at the National Defense Medical Center (國防醫學院), would set up a medical network.

  Yok is chairman of Healthcare E-business Solutions (國際脈絡集團). Major shareholders include Warburg Pincus Asia, Britain-based Barings Asset Management, US-based WI Harper and Taiwan-based Yulong Group.

  The financing of iCareAsia was completed in January 2000, and in May that year it set up a branch in Beijing.

  In March last year, the medical Web site of Healthcare E-business Solutions set up a branch in Shanghai.

  Taipei-Shanghai exchanges

  Apart from having traveled to China for business in the past, Yok handles non-governmental exchanges between Taipei and Shanghai for the Taipei City Taiwan-Shanghai Exchange Assoc-iation (台北市台滬交流協會). The association was set up late last year and Yok, whose ancestral home is in Shanghai, is chairman of the board. He also provides investment consulting services, travel research and assistance with various legal disputes for Taiwanese businessmen.

  However, talking about China and his own undertakings, his closest ties are probably with the Pudong Association (浦東同鄉會), of which he is also chairman.

  Yok says that the association had arranged for a delegation to visit Shanghai this summer, and when young people from Shang-hai's Pudong district came to Taiwan, his association took care of them.

  Former legislator Fu Kuen-cheng, who was originally a teacher, also turned to China after he gradually exited the political stage in Taiwan. He currently holds a guest professorship in the law department at Xiamen University. He is concentrating on his teaching as the New Party continues to fade.

  Focus on China

  Li Ching-yuan (李慶元), who is running for Taipei City council in the year-end elections, recently wanted to ask Fu to assist his efforts. He was, however, unable to contact Fu, which shows that Fu's focus has shifted to China.

  The New Party's spiritual leader Hsu Li-nung has traveled frequently between Taiwan and China in recent years -- not for business, but to visit his daughter. Before the KMT fled to Taiwan, Hsu had already married in China and had a daughter. When the two sides of the Taiwan Strait later split, Hsu was separated from his wife. It wasn't until seven or eight years ago that he was able to find his daughter. His wife had already passed away.

  His daughter lives in Wuhan, where she is chairwoman of the Hubei Area Chamber of Commerce (湖北區商業會). Hsu often visits his daughter, usually a couple of months at a time, and takes the opportunity to travel around China. Hsu and his Taiwanese wife also have a daughter in the US. He now divides his time between Taiwan, China and the US, enjoying a happy and contented retirement.

  Viewing the direction these New Party politicians have taken in China, they seem to have found their appropriate places. Public service, teaching, setting up a medical network and traveling for leisure -- it all seems befitting to their situations. The New Party's power within the pan-blue camp is gradually evaporating and its ideology is different from that of the government.

  Even though these individuals can't claim to be escaping an oppressive government, escaping to China in search of a new future has allowed them to avoid a gloomy and unhappy life in Taiwan.

  The article first appeared in the Win-Win weekly (今周刊) on Nov. 4.

  Translated by Perry Svensson
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