Long Yingtai on DPP

What a coincidence. I was just blogging about Long Yingtai's (龙应台) past articles when I stumbled upon a recent media report about the Taiwanese writer.

Apparently, Long is now a professor in China's Tsinghua University (清华大学).

In the media report, Long accused Taiwan's ruling party of having a "pea-like vision" (目光如豆). She also claimed that during the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP, 民进党) seven years in power, Taiwan had increasingly become more inward-looking, and had even lost its global perspective.

Making it clear that there are no contradictions between localization and globalization, Long noted that under the DPP, Taiwan had become severely short-sighted. This short-sightedness had, according to Long, impeded the island's progress.

Long also described the DPP as "retarded" (弱智) for shutting Taiwan's doors to mainland Chinese students. Drawing on her teaching experience in the University of Hong Kong (香港大学), Long said that Hong Kong universities had been offering scholarships to attract the best mainland Chinese students. Even the U.S., Europe and Singapore had done likewise. "Are these countries all fools?" Long asked.

Long argued that as a small island, Taiwan does not have much to fall back on. Yet Taiwan had persisted in going against mainstream thinking, a move which according to Long, is "incredulous" (不可思议).

Long, who had spent several years living in Europe, noted that European students usually make it a point to keep track of global news on the internet. But the same cannot be said of Taiwan students.

But Long also acknowledged that DPP's inward-looking nature is partly brought about by China's efforts in depriving the island of its international status.

Finally, Long urged that no matter who is elected to power next year. "I beg you, to please place the future of Taiwan into the massive wave of globalization, and to quickly locate Taiwan's position." (求求你, 赶紧把台湾的未来放进全球化的大浪潮, 快点找到台湾的位置.)