China should promote a Chinese cultural renaissance and handle cross-strait issues with benevolence if it wants to be a great world power, according to former premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄).
Liu said British historian Arnold J. Toynbee predicted that the only human civilizations that could save the world in the 21st century were the Chinese civilization of Confucianism and the Buddhist civilization of Mahayana Buddhism.
However, Liu said Toynbee’s prediction could not come true unless today’s China made a great contribution to global cultural development.
“While China has emerged as an economic powerhouse and is the world’s largest manufacturing center and consumer market, it will not be able to command the same stature or influence as Britain in the 19th century and America in the 20th century if it fails to contribute greatly to human civilization and culture,” Liu said in his capacity as president of the National Cultural Association at a function held on Friday at the Presidential Office.
Liu suggested that China follow the principles of “benevolent rule” preached by Chinese philosopher Mencius (孟子) (372-289 BC), arguably the most famous Confucianist after Confucius (孔子) himself.
Moreover, China should initiate a Chinese cultural renaissance and draw on the essence of traditional Chinese culture while learning from the fusion of ancient and modern cultures and Eastern and Western civilizations, Liu said.
On President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) appeal in his 2010 New Year’s Day speech that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should seek a pragmatic and feasible solution to their disputes on the basis of traditional Chinese culture, Liu said the first step toward that goal is to address cross-strait issues with a benevolent way of thinking.
Liu cited a media report published during negotiations between Taiwan and China on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) earlier this year to underscore the importance of Mencius’ philosophy of “benevolent rule” in dealing with Taiwan-China affairs.
According to the report, some Chinese officials found Taiwan’s call for China to yield further -concessions under the ECFA’s early harvest program annoying.
However, under a benevolent mind-set, Liu said, justice, righteousness or fairness should always take precedence over unilateral interests.
For its part, Liu said, Taiwan can play the role of vanguard and catalyst in the pursuit of a Chinese cultural renaissance.
As an immigrant society, Taiwan is inclusive and innovative in its cultural development and it can use those assets to help shape new rules of the game for the 21st century, such as how to deal with international disputes with benevolence and devise ways to ensure sustainable development, he added.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai