Taiwan is facing a formidable crisis as Beijing’s “united front” tactics penetrate society, Chinese-born American historian Yu Ying-shih (余英時) said yesterday in a recorded speech, urging people to resist Chinese infiltration by improving “humanistic learning.”
An Academia Sinica academician, the US-based historian and Sinologist’s speech, titled “From scientific democracy to humanistic democracy,” was for a Sinology forum named after Chinese historian Luo Jialun (羅家倫) at National Chengchi University in Taipei.
Noting the protests against Hong Kong’s extradition bill, which has been withdrawn, Yu said that high-school students and undergraduates are the group voicing the strongest objection to oppression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Screen grab from National Chengchi University’s Facebook account
Although Taiwanese society generally supports the protesters in their pursuit for democracy, other opinions are still heard, the 89-year-old said.
While diversity is good, people need a solid understanding of humanism to make correct judgements, he said.
Taiwanese society was subjected to the yoke of ideas imparted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which affects conceptions of freedom and democracy, he said.
Hong Kongers know the importance of freedom, as they enjoyed it under the British government, which governed the territory until 1997, he said, adding that he had lived in Hong Kong for years.
Taiwan has fulfilled the ideal of developing democracy and science, which people of the May Fourth Movement in China in 1919 sought, Yu said.
Taiwanese can elect their own leaders and their scientific research has met global standards, Yu said.
However, despite its formal establishment, Taiwan’s democracy has not yet matured, he said.
Taiwanese should gain more understanding about the CCP through the study of politics, philosophy and history, Yu said.
Many media firms in Taiwan have become parrots of the Chinese-language Renmin Ribao (人民日報), a mouthpiece of the Chinese government, showing the lack of humanistic cultivation of Taiwanese, he said.
Without humanistic learning, it is hard to see through and resist China’s ever-present infiltration, Yu said.
Beijing has employed economic leverage to menace many nations, including in the West, which silence themselves in certain domains to protect their business with China, he said.
Democracy should be bolstered by humanistic values, otherwise it would spoil other parts of society, Yu said.
A lesson worth learning is that the Soviet Union, once looking to establish a democracy, returned to dictatorship after its dissolution, he said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to