After the big earthquake in September, I telephoned a good friend of mine who was born in Taiwan to ask how his family and friends were doing. During the chat I mentioned that I had read Lee Teng-hui's With the People Always in My Heart and thought it was incredibly good. My friend suggested that I write a brief review. Although I'm not really qualified to comment on such a towering piece of work, I decided to follow his advice.
I just happened to run across the book when I was browsing in a book store. I was struck by the fact that the book didn't carry a portrait of President Lee. That really impressed me, and I was already quite interested in the book as I began to read the first page. It took me about three days to finish. As I read it I began to feel a bit depressed that we don't have any politicians of Lee Teng-hui's stature in Japan. As soon as I finished, I wanted to recommend the book to Japanese politicians. We ought to have plenty of outstanding statesmen in Japan, but our country has been too deeply influenced by the US-style education system that was implemented by the Occupation after our defeat in World War II. Our whole country, including our educational system, has become nothing more than an appendage of America.
Japan and Taiwan must assume a position of joint leadership in East Asia.
In this book, after discussing the "tragedy of being born in Taiwan" and the "good fortune of being born in Taiwan," Lee goes on to talk about the future he envisions for Taiwan in the 21st century and after he passes away. Lee describes the factors that have influenced his thinking, e.g. the Japanese education he received as a child, Confucianism, Sun Yat-sen, Marxism, and the spirit of Christianity.
It has always been my ideal to be able to act in harmony with the universe. I think that Lee Teng-hui has shown in this book that he has lived up to this ideal. In its ideological consistency, in its lucidity of thought, With the People Always in My Heart is a world-class piece of literature.
As a politician responsible for protecting domestic industry, preserving the welfare of a nation's citizens, and maintaining international economic and trade relations, Lee has had an extremely busy career, yet he is still able to conduct himself with dignity and aplomb.
I believe that Japan enjoyed a relatively high level of cultural sophistication before World War II, but since then our nation has died. Still, looking at it from another perspective, both Japan and Taiwan are island nations. In this sense we are both very fortunate.
In this book President Lee states, "The Japanese are a highly principled people, and this is an indication of a strong sense of self-confidence and pride." But where has our sense of pride gone today? Where has our self-confidence gone?
Japan must change itself in accordance with its own principles, because the world is changing all around us.
I think it is very difficult to be the leader of Taiwan, but Taiwan is very fortunate to have a man like President Lee. We have no one like him in Japan.
I lost no time in having my wife read the book, and I've also recommended it to my co-workers. The book deals with very significant issues.
Finally, I would like to offer a prayer for the departed spirits of those who died in the earthquake. I hope that Taiwan can recover quickly from the disaster.
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