Lee Yuan-tseh says Taiwan must find its own path of development to survive

Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠-?/CHINESE>) yesterday warned that Taiwan will be destined to lose in international competition unless it finds its own direction of development, instead of aimlessly following the path of Western countries.

Lee said the future of Taiwan will depend on its performance in international competition, in which nations strive for economic development backed by high technology and protected by intellectual property rights.

"We will be the loser unless we can keep pace with developed countries in terms of education, science and culture," Lee said. "But we must not aimlessly follow the development formats of Europe and America if we want to sustain our development."

As Taiwan considers rezoning its farmlands to sell to real estate developers and forcing the country to import food, Lee said, it should make a clear assessment of the world 20 years from now.

Lee predicted that world population growth and uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources will lead to energy and food shortages in 20 years, leading nations to compete for and possibly fight over energy resources and food.

Only 3.6 percent of Taiwan's households are connected to sewage treatment facilities, and the country has done nothing to decrease carbon dioxide emissions, Lee pointed out.

Lee faulted Taiwan and many other countries for chasing the standards of industrialized countries while ignoring the environmental, economic and political impact of their ambition, and the fact that these Western countries are now scrambling to patch up damage incurred during their development.

Lee made the remarks while addressing a conference on "Marching Toward a Society of Justice" sponsored by the China Times Cultural and Educational Foundation.