Shanghai-based Taiwanese academic and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) representative Lu Li-an (盧麗安) was born and grew up in Kaohsiung, but she does not share the idea of a “Taiwan Dream.” She studied in the UK, but probably also never dreams of bygone days in London.
One might conclude that Lu is not a dreamer, but that would be short of the mark.
Lu, who has set up home in China, instead shares Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) vision of a “China Dream.”
At the CCP’s 19th National Congress last month, Lu even issued an appeal to all Taiwanese to “assimilate into the China Dream.” If Sigmund Freud were alive today, even he would have difficulty psycho-analyzing the wild dreams of this peculiar individual.
It is impossible to control a person’s dreams, which is why the greatest freedom China’s 13 billion people enjoy is to dream about the things they cannot do in their waking lives.
So long as you keep your nocturnal visions to yourself and refrain from telling every man and his dog that last night you dreamed “emperor” Xi was dead and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) had been resurrected from the dead — then you should be safe from the long arm of China’s security apparatus.
HALLUCINATIONS
The Chinese president wishes to be seen as a great strategic thinker, but his “China Dream” is not a patch on the hegemonic hallucinations of Lu, who reserves a special disdain for the notion of a “Taiwan Dream.”
Lu has said that if the “Taiwan Dream” is not combined with the “great revival of the Chinese people” — Xi’s “China Dream” — then it will be nothing more than a fantasy.
Lu’s parroting of the CCP line eclipses even Xi.
No wonder then, that the English-language China Daily’s insert advertisement between the pages of the Washington Post had a picture of Lu designed to show that she is “Taiwan’s representative” and fool readers into believing that Taiwanese dream of “returning” to China.
Xi dreams repeatedly, not just about national revival, but also about having his name and thoughts officially recorded within the CCP constitution.
INCOMPATIBLE
This is not a dream that can be shared by Taiwanese.
Taiwanese do not only dream about letting their spirits wander free at night, they also dream of liberty during their waking hours.
The composition and language of the “Taiwan Dream” is incompatible with Xi’s “Chinese Dream.”
Ironically, if there were no Taiwanese dream of liberty and freedom, how much would Lu be worth to China. If the “Taiwan Dream” disappeared, her role as “Taiwan’s representative” would vanish.
Lu’s hallucinatory ramblings echo Xi’s pledge to “oppose separatism,” but if the “Chinese Dream” is so wonderful, why do Tibetans, the Muslim Hui minority and Hong Kongers not share his enthusiasm for Chinese nationalism, but instead harbor their own dreams of independence?
At the party congress, Lu dutifully made an appearance and eagerly set about badmouthing Taiwan.
The language Lu used to criticize Taiwan and its pursuit of liberty and universal values was employed in the past to criticize the foolish dreams of China’s emperors of yesteryear.
Lu might want to pick her words more carefully in the future lest Chinese authorities conclude she has committed a thoughtcrime.
James Wang is a media commentator.
Translated by Edward Jones
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