Academics and politicians yesterday criticized former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) for misrepresenting Taiwan and trying to sway votes for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in an op-ed for the New York Times (NYT).
Lung, who served in the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), wrote an op-ed entitled “In Taiwan, Friends are Starting to Turn Against Each Other” that was published on Tuesday.
She wrote that the Chinese threat is dividing Taiwanese society, with people criticizing each other for either being too pro-China or fanning tensions by being “dangerously anti-China.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Using her experiences talking with people in Taiwan, she wrote that “the possibility of war with China comes up in nearly every dinner conversation.”
She emphasized the “down-to-earth realism” of rural Taiwanese, which she said she hopes “will prevail over the long run.”
Among the people she quoted were a farmer who supports unification, although he said he would still fight for Taiwan; another farmer affected by Chinese import bans issued under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration; and a fisherman who said he would fight China because he was already “accustomed to danger,” but has doubts about the younger generation.
Political pundit and US business management professor Chen Shih-fen (陳時奮), writing under the pen name Ong Tario (翁達瑞), said on Facebook that Lung seems to take a neutral stance in the article, but her deceptive “middle path” aims to sway people to support the KMT in next year’s election.
Her premise conforms to the KMT’s policy of boot-licking and surrendering to Beijing, Chen wrote.
She is either very naive, or is trying to whitewash an enemy state’s intimidation or threat of war against Taiwan, he wrote.
Lung’s call to vote for the KMT is clear in the article’s conclusion, which says: “Taiwan is set to hold a pivotal presidential election in January, and the question of whether to confront China or pursue conciliation will have significant implications for us... If the KMT wins, tensions with China might ease; if the DPP retains power, who knows?” he wrote.
Other pundits said that Lung’s writing reflected nostalgia for Chinese history and culture, with little regard for Taiwanese’s struggle for democracy.
Some have disputed Lung’s observation that “the possibility of war with China comes up in nearly every dinner conversation in Taiwan,” Taipei-based Swedish journalist Jojje Olsson wrote on Twitter.
“Far from my experience. It’s hardly even talked about when military exercises are taking place,” he said.
Taiwan Statebuilding Party Taipei chapter director Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱) wrote that most observers of the Taiwan Strait would know that a military invasion of Taiwan is dependent on who the leaders in China are and has no bearing on which party rules Taiwan.
“So should Taiwan build up its defense capability and collaborate with the US to strengthen itself? Or should we choose another party with feeble policies, whose leader aims to have a place in history, but might trigger an invasion and war?” Wu wrote.
Telecommunication science professor Lee Chung-hsien (李忠憲), writing in his column for Taro News, countered Lung’s claim that people in Taiwan are turning against each other.
“Real friends in Taiwan are coming closer together in the face of China’s threats by becoming more united and courageous in talking about resistance and fighting an invasion,” Lee said. “Lung’s premise is also way off, as she talks about Taiwan pushing to detach itself from China, while ignoring the fact that it is China that is plotting an invasion.”
He also questioned Lung’s concluding sentence, in which she quotes a person as saying that if war broke out, people would blame whoever fires the first shot.
“In reality, China has already fired on us so many times already... But Lung does not understand, because she sees no need to resist China,” Lee wrote.
“Lung’s piece concerns her own emotional attachment to China because of her family’s roots there,” he added.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
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