KMT twists Lee’s remarks
On Wednesday last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus solemnly called a press conference to express the view that “all Taiwanese people are Taiwanese, not Japanese,” while declaring that various things that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said in a recent interview with a Japanese magazine, such as the idea that Japan had at some time been the motherland for him and other Taiwanese, eroded the dignity and sovereignty of this country.
However, the KMT’s criticisms commit the fallacy of making gross generalizations.
The first half of the sentence — “all Taiwanese are Taiwanese” — is not problematic, but the second half amounts to saying that “all Taiwanese are not Japanese.”
The gross generalization is to be found in the words “all … are not.”
In this day and age, many Taiwanese have both Taiwanese Republic of China (ROC) and Japanese citizenship, or ROC and US citizenship, or other dual or multiple nationalities.
To say that “all Taiwanese are Taiwanese, not Japanese” is a generalization, and to say that “all Taiwanese are Taiwanese, not American” would commit the same fallacy.
Of course, should any Taiwanese happen to also have a passport issued by the People’s Republic of China — or what would in today’s political circles be called simply “China” — then to say that “all Taiwanese are Taiwanese, not Chinese” must also be an example of gross generalization.
As to the accusation that Lee’s remarks about Japan being people’s motherland erode the country’s dignity and sovereignty, it is based on a refusal to take into account a change in the historical context over time.
If Lee had said that he was Japanese now, of course it would be an erosion of the nation’s dignity and sovereignty. However, Lee was talking about Taiwan as it was during World War II, not the Taiwan of today.
To intentionally crawl through a time tunnel and take things out of context to denigrate Lee’s “Japanese motherland theory” is unfair to Lee, and it is also unfair to the Taiwanese who lived on this island between Japan’s annexation of Taiwan in 1895 and its departure in 1945.
Chang Kuo-tsai
Hsinchu
Twilight of ‘Chinese century’
China will not attack Taiwan.
When president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) declared China and Taiwan to have a “special state to state” relationship Beijing rattled its sabers, but did not attack. When the seemingly pro-independence Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) became president, China saber-rattled, but did not attack. Now China’s economy is crashing. They cannot afford a war.
China is the new Japan. Over about 15 years, from about 1980 to 1995, Japan grew to become the second-largest economy in the world. Many thought Japan would become No. 1. Many people learned Japanese.
Many people thought there would again be a military conflict between the US and Japan. Then the Japanese economy crashed.
Over about 15 years, from about 2000 to this year, many people thought China would be No. 1, many learned Mandarin and many thought there would be a military clash between China and the US. So much for the Chinese century.
Remember the BRIC alliance of Brazil, Russia, India and China that was supposed to challenge US and European dominance? The economies of Russia and Brazil are not well and were not well before the Chinese crash. So much for the BRICs.
Because China’s economy is crashing, Taiwan’s economy will also suffer. No one knows for how long. One sector that will suffer is education. Fewer people will want to learn Mandarin.
One possibility is that India will start to grow more rapidly in about 2020, but then its economy might also crash in 2035. Many people in India speak English because it was once a British colony.
For Taiwanese who need a job, keep learning English.
Andres Chang
Taipei
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