China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
April 29, 2015
Executive Summary: Anyone sensitive to global trends has noticed what blue vs. green partisan bickering over the years has done to people on Taiwan. It has narrowed their vision. Ever more trivial issues occupy peoples' attention. Mere trivia monopolizes the Internet, often for weeks on end. The public, it would seem, has nothing more important to attend to than waste valuable time on the Internet gossiping or worse, cyberbullying. When a society loses its ability to focus on the external world, to reflect on the past, to care about world events, or to remember history, how can it avoid a descent into crisis?
Full Text Below:
Anyone sensitive to global trends has noticed what blue vs. green partisan bickering over the years has done to people on Taiwan. It has narrowed their vision. Ever more trivial issues occupy peoples' attention. Mere trivia monopolizes the Internet, often for weeks on end. The public, it would seem, has nothing more important to attend to than waste valuable time on the Internet gossiping or worse, cyberbullying. When a society loses its ability to focus on the external world, to reflect on the past, to care about world events, or to remember history, how can it avoid a descent into crisis?
People on Taiwan may be feeling sorry for themselves. But the rest of the world is not about to wait for them to get over it. The Mainland, in particular, has picked up its pace. Many intelligentsia who have visited the Mainland or conducted interviews on the Mainland, have arrived a the same conclusion. In many ways, Taiwan already lags far behind the Mainland. Yet many on Taiwan continue to wallow in self-congratulatory, feel-good sentiments, such as "Taiwan's greatest tourist attraction is her people!" But look at our endless food safety crises and vicious cyberbullying. What do we really have to be proud about?
It is time to open our eyes. The world has changed. Mainland President Xi Jinping recently visited Pakistan. Soon afterwards, the long-anticipated "One Belt, One Road" plan went into effect. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is already a sensation, even though it has yet to debut. What matters now is no longer who joined the AIIB first, but who is still dithering and has yet to join. The AIIB and One Belt, One Road are already paving the way for Mainland China's peaceful rise.
Of course the United States is not happy to see this. Japan too, is anxious. That is why Japanese Prime Minister Abe visited Washington recently to seek reassurance. US-Japan relations are closer than ever before. But Abe's rhetoric about World War II history will only further alienate Japan from the rest of Asia. Actually, for other Asian countries, this long ceased to be an issue. Does Japan really want to integrate itself into Asia? It won't if it uncritically accomodates the United States effort to contain China. Doing so will only marginalize Japan, reducing it to a mere pawn.
Most Asian countries have long left the Cold War behind. The US and Japan however, remain frozen in their Cold War mentality. The goal of US President Obama's "return to Asia" is not about contributing to Asian prosperity, but about "containing China".
That is why in recent years the United States has deployed aircraft carriers and conducted joint military exercises in the Western Pacific, provoking sovereignty disputes over territorial waters. That is why the 20th century Cold War dramas in the Western Pacific and South China Sea first island chain and second island chain are being reenacted.
The United States and Japan cling to old thinking. They are determined to contain China. Beijing, by contrast, has already freed itself from the outmoded framework of the past. Why should Beijing care about containment? When has China ever been overly dependent upon the ocean? The Han and Tang dynasties both relied on overland connections to the West. Besides, today's China is already active in the ocean.
The Mainland's One Belt, One Road and AIIB have revived overland Silk Roads. Europe and Asia are no longer far from one another. The Central Asian section of the chain has been repaired. The international map has been redrawn. Conceptual categories have been redefined. Put bluntly, international relations have turned a new page. Meanhile, the United States and Japan cling to the framework of the 20th century.
US and Japanese think-tank experts must admit that their predictions about the coming collapse of China have not come to pass. China has escaped every financial crisis experienced by other countries the world over. Many Western theories about international relations do not apply to China. Likewise, many theories about economics that are prevalent in the West do not apply to China. China has its own practices, its own models, and its own logic. Its pattern and logic has never needed the endorsement of Western theorists.
Meanwhile on Taiwan, blue vs. green partisan bickering spells Mutually Assured Destruction. Such bickering does more than obstruct progress. It swiftly cancels any progress. Newly-elected green camp local officials have been hastily dismantling their predecessors' achievements. Taipei Mayor Ko cannot wait to dismantle the Taipei Dome. Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung has dismantled the Taiwan Tower and canceled the BRT Light Rail system. This purge of consortiums and political predecessors, will surely destroy any desire to participate in future infrastructure projects. The impact will be massive. Meanwhile, landmark projects on the Mainland will debut in 2015. They include China United in Beijing, the Chaotianmen Plaza and Pier in Chongqing, the Greenland Center in Wuhan, the Twin Towers in Hangzhou. One side is destroying. The other side is building. So exactly who is being left behind?
Open your eyes and look at the world. The outside world will not stop and wait for people on Taiwan. People on Taiwan have long needed a global perspective. Xi Jinping has demonstrated economic and strategic boldness. Who says people of Taiwan cannot do the same? Who says 't people on Taiwan lack the determination shown by their compatriots in China's heartland? People on Taiwan persist in bickering behind closed doors, making petty calculations for petty advantage. Should we be surprised that their hearts and minds have gotten smaller and smaller?
為何不能有逐鹿中原的氣勢
2015-4-29 旺報
只要對全球趨勢稍為敏感的人都會察覺，
當台灣只顧影自憐，世界卻沒有停下腳步等待台灣！
打開眼睛吧！世界地圖真的已經改變了，
當然，這般的光景，美國不樂見，日本很焦慮！因此就在這幾天，
對亞洲多數國家而言，前進的步伐早就已經「脫冷戰」，
所以大家看到這幾年美國在西太平洋合縱連橫，
就在美日還在依循舊思維積極部署圍堵中國，
如今大陸藉著一帶一路與亞投行的搭配，
恐怕美日智庫專家都不得不承認，
回到台灣，在藍綠保證相互毀滅的對立下，不僅封阻了前進的步伐，
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