Misquoted
I was badly misquoted by your newspaper (“Ezra Vogel is on the wrong side of history,” Nov. 3, page 8).
I did say that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said that the Taiwan issue cannot wait for future generations to decide. I do not agree with his view.
I agree with former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) that the issue should be solved by future generations.
I do think that Taiwan must deal with the issue seriously, for there are people in China who would like an excuse to use military means to bring Taiwan under their control.
I was in Taiwan recently and was impressed with the comfortable feeling of life there.
Ezra Vogel
Social sciences professor emeritus at Harvard University and former director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
Vogel’s words
On behalf of Global Views Monthly’s editorial division, I would like to call to your attention a recent article by Gerrit van der Wees (“Ezra Vogel is on the wrong side of history,” Nov. 3, page 8).
We understand that the piece was based on Vogel’s exclusive interview in the November issue of Global Views Monthly, but we strongly disagree with the content therein.
In particular, Global Views Monthly has always been committed to promoting peace, exchange and interaction across the Taiwan Strait.
We defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and are dedicated to our responsibilities as a media organization in being fair and objective without presuppositions or biases.
We thereby strongly protest Van der Wees’ article, accusing our magazine of being “pro-unification.”
In addition, the content of our interview with Vogel is fair and objective.
If the report is read in full, it is obvious that Vogel simply points out that the leadership across the Strait does not necessarily have a lot of patience with cross-strait issues, and once argued that “cross-strait issues will not be resolved by the next generation.”
This is far from a personal opinion of Vogel. It is but a gentle reminder to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that she should handle cross-strait issues carefully.
Van der Wees’ article exaggerated this one sentence and overinterpreted its meaning, baselessly criticizing Vogel for being “on the wrong side of history.”
We solemnly protest that the content of the interview has been misinterpreted and criticized without grounds.
Mary Yang
President, Global Views – Commonwealth Publishing Group
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