2007.11.16 5th Annual Global Strategy and Taiwan Strait Security Conference at National Chung Hsing University Part I

Before I head off to sleep after a very long day today, perhaps the longest day of my life in Taiwan yet, I thought I should quickly jot some notes down~ hopefully, this wont take no more than 10 min cuz I have work tomorrow morning as well (sigh~) anyways, so here's how the day started~

as the heading suggests the 5th annual strategic conference of NCHU was held today after much preparation in advance~ filling in for the other guy whom I don't recall ever seeing and who never shows up in any of the classes I am in, I had to arrive at 8 o'clock sharp this morning to help with the setup~ although most of the setup was done yesterday, there were still some lil' things here and there that needs to be taken care of eg moving stuff around, showing ppl the way etc~ of course, the process always includes some chatting as everyone gradually flows in and gets ready for a busy day~ so at 9 o'clock sharp, the event was underway and everyone dressed in their finest attire drifted into the spacey air conditioned International Conference Hall on the 13th floor~ according to a task division schedule distributed to nearly everyone, I was responsible for tasks in the afternoon, therefore I glided into the conference room with everyone else to listen to the speakers~ Atena, a Romanian girl in my law class (the only Romanian girl in the department actually~) sat next to me, as I was "partly" responsible for being her personal translator (entertainer) today, for total boredom would probably set in after awhile as facial expressions and gestures of the speakers would serve as her only means of entertainment (and the occasional diagrams)~

anyways, so the conference was officially under way with much of the ppl seated~ after brief opening speeches by Professors Ju, Tsai and Sheng aka the current "Big Three"/"3C" (Chairman of Profession Class, Department Chair, Arts Faculty Chair), the keynote speaker, Professor Lee Zi Yi, an 82 yrs old retired veteran/professor of strategic studies, was up~ Professor Lee was quite frail looking with think dark rimmed glasses and tufts of white on his scalp~ however, he seemed like a smart and wise looking man~ so Professor Lee went on with his speech, quite slowly and with a voice so low that some of the ppl in the class think the guy might get a sudden heart attack or cough so hard that he'll collapse on the stage~ = = luckily, that didn't happen:P Professor Lee made some real interesting points on both parts of the conference subject today: global strategy and Taiwan Strait security~ here are the key points I grasped from the speech:

Global Strategy

the future of global strategy shall be guided by 3 considerations:

1) devaluation of the US dollar leading to strong economic impact for the world
2) energy crisis caused by the shortage of oil; the problem of distribution should be another more significant concern than simply the soaring of price of oil
3) upcoming US presidential election

Professor Lee offers the above 3 points as factors that should be considered when thinking about the current world~ he calls it another "new angle for thinking about world order"~

Taiwan Strait Security or Cross Strait Issue

Professor Lee thinks that a reflection on the historical issue between the CCP and the KMT is needed as a basis for potential solution of cross strait tensions~ Professor Lee elaborates on a story about his days working as a reporter when China was amidst a brewing civil war~ Professor Lee was a reporter at the 1946 legislative meeting of the parliament where Zhou En Lai (I forgot what post he held at the time but anyways,) was present as a speaker~ the CCP did not attend the meeting and nearly all the rest of the members were KMT, therefore, in a sense, as noted by the prof, the KMT was in total control of the meeting~ at the meeting, Zhou criticized the KMT for destroying previous political agreements with the CCP through manipulating the parliament and selling out China in order to justify its part in the progressing civil war and its separatist movement~ with that said, Zhou held the KMT responsible for a separated China and left the conference angrily after the statement~ If I recall correctly, Professor Lee said that many of his colleagues at the time, who were KMT supporters, were shocked and nearly all cried when hearing such comment~ according to the prof, the key point to draw from the brief anecdote is that the cross strait issue is not unlike the cases of Korea, Vietnam and Germany, where superpower intervention is the critical cause; the cross strait issue is a historical (interior) problem that should be dealt with from a historical approach~ the prof then points out that from Zhou En Lai's remarks, one may see that great tension exists between the CCP and the KMT, a historical problem that is the root of the existing cross strait issue~ regarding the 17th CCP Congress held recently, Professor Lee points out that CCP Chairman Hu Jin Tao's wisdom is that he is suggesting a potential historical solution for a historical problem~ according to the prof, in the past, the CCP undertook a less clarified approach to the cross strait issue, thus leading to unnecessary tensions and instability~ Professor Lee makes the suggestion that the Taiwanese leadership should carefully consider China's peace agreement proposal through historical reflections~

after Professor Lee makes his first point regarding Taiwan Strait security, he loudly exclaims with probably more than 80 % of his energy and spirit from within the following statement:

"In 1949, IF THERE WAS NO TAIWAN THEN THERE IS NO REPUBLIC OF CHINA (ROC); NOW, IF THERE IS NO R.O.C THEN THERE IS NO TAIWAN!!! x 10~~~"

at that point, more than half of the audience who were sleeping or dozing off bounced right awake and focused on the speech 'til the end~ I was a bit baffled myself and even Atena, who didn't understand the language, seemed to be struck with a sudden shock and concentrated on the man with bulged eyes~ yes, such is the impact of a frail old man: the ability to surprise the audience...

anyways, the key point to note here is that the current Taiwan, under whatever name the international community recognizes the state (the CCP denies the existence of Taiwan as a state), needs to retain its identity/title of ROC in order to negotiate with China on an equal status or status on par with CCP between governments (對等身份)~ such is the case when Chiang Kai Shek first negotiated with Chairman Mao bak in the days of the civil war~ the reason behind the strong advocacy for Taiwan to keep its name "ROC' is to maintain Taiwan's stake, perhaps the only stake, for entering negotiations with China eventually~ from China's point of view, according to the peace initiative recently proposed by Hu, China wants to negotiate under the status quo~ what's the status quo? the status quo is the division of China and the ROC across the Taiwan Strait~ therefore, if Taiwan really forgoes the title ROC, a policy direction of the current DPP government, Taiwan will give up its "only" stake or basis for entering into negotiations with China, with the implication that even if China is willing to condescend to make friendly gestures towards Taiwan and bring both ruling governments back on the negotiation table, China has no way in realizing its initiative as Taiwan has unilaterally altered the status quo~ the only possible solution when the peace initiative is lost is war~ Professor Lee also makes the point that due to its economic advantage, as recently as 20 years ago, the Taiwanese government could buy off the CPP government with 50 billion NT~ however, due to China's gradual rise as a dominant economic power in recent years, the Taiwanese government could no longer buy off the CPP government even if it metes out 100 billion NT towards China~ this point reinforces the prof's main point that Taiwan needs to maintain its title and identity as "ROC"~

the speech ends with Professor exclaiming the phrase,"VETERANS NEVER DIE!" I actually got laughed a little when I jotted down the phrase in my notes~ Atena just gave a puzzled look~ well, the reason for the laugh is that the prof said the words as if he's willing to die with his words... some pretty strong words showing A LOT OF determination, too much perhaps, to carry out a task for a fragile looking 80 years old...=)

anyways, it seems that after an hour of hammering away on my keyboard, I've been only able to get through only the keynote speaker...I haven't even talked about the panels yet! anyways, I guess I'll leave that 'til tomorrow some time, when I have more time on hand~ extreme exhaustion setting in right now... Chow!