Wang served in Switzerland for six years, beginning in July 2002. His book Zhiyan discusses that time and is as historically valuable as Peng’s book.
Despite the transfer of ruling power and the fact that prominent pro-localization figures were dispatched to foreign countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the nation’s overseas embassies were still filled with bureaucrats steeped in the traditional “Chinese government bureaucracy” with outdated ways of thinking making the work of Taiwanese representatives strenuous.
In his new book, Wang spares no words in stating that the current government bureaucracy is no different from the past, as it is still bogged down in an enormous out-dated administrative system that violated modern organizational principles. In the end, Wang began contemplating retirement.
Last year, the remainders of the regime that forced Peng into exile returned to power. This government, which used to be vehemently opposed to Communist China has now begun fawning on the CCP and has sunk to becoming Beijing’s representative in Taiwan. Taiwan’s sovereignty and human rights have been gradually undermined, and the chance that pro-Taiwanese figures would represent the nation overseas has altogether disappeared. I cannot help but wonder whether the upright Taiwanese that love democracy, freedom and the rule of law will have to go into exile again. Should we Taiwanese not be worried?
Lee Hsiao-feng is a professor in the Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture at National Taipei University of Education.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
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