Chao Yao-tung (National Policy Adviser)--Revamping our ideals is the key

Our poor international image of late has really arisen from internal problems related to three major causes:

1) Political power struggles. Democratic politics should be party politics in which the national interests of the people come first, party interests are second, and personal interest comes third. Physical clashes in the legislature are misleading and harmful to the public, which imagines that power struggles must be conducted by irrational means. Unfortunately the ruling party has also failed to remain solidly united.

Only a healthy ruling party can ensure a healthy opposition. Today the ruling party must unite and encourage an attitude of toleration for other parties; the opposition too must rise to the occasion, advance their political ideals and strive towards their objectives without turning the legislature into a shouting match.

2) Money games have undermined common sense. Taiwan today enjoys a degree of prosperity unprecedented in China's history, but wealth has brought harmful effects in train. Without proper channels for excess liquidity, money games flourished; this undermined our work ethic, management didn't invest and workers didn't work.

The narrow gap between rich and poor was one of the things we used to be most proud of, but now this good point is being steadily eroded. Once society exhibits manifest unfairness good people become filled with indignation and bad people think up evil designs, threatening social order.

As a first step the government must simply administer strong medicine to cool off the money games fever.

Secondly they should get started as quickly as possible on a range of public works projects and allow private participation as the best way of absorbing private capital. The government should also take the lead in investing in high-tech industries such as biochemistry, computers and aerospace in order to spur industrial upgrading.

3) The third factor damaging our international image is the "quick bucks" mentality which has clouded our people's outlook.

Making a quick buck has taken on because people have no ideals. If a society loses its ideals it has lost hope, so now our only way out is to restore our ideals and rekindle our hopes.

To restore ideals we must strive in several directions, the first being to reawaken a sense of moral courage. This begins with speaking the truth; government officials, elected representatives and public opinion must all be brave enough to speak the truth, acknowledge short-comings, recognize crises and raise questions.

Next we need to reestablish a culture based on social ethics, restoring the old and embracing the new.

Old ethics involves some outmoded ways of thought but also includes timeless truths such as moral ethics, an emphasis on trustworthiness, industriousness and a work ethic based on "a penny earned is a penny gained."

Embracing new ethics means absorbing the spirit of Western democracy and liberty. In addition to talk of freedom and encouraging competition, we also need to stress fairness and orderliness; if we are to emphasize democracy we must abandon authoritarian thinking and nourish a climate of oocrdination and tolerance, not treating everything as a head-on clash.

Also, if we are to restore the rule of law our first aim should be to restore respect for the law. The actions of government officials, the interpellations of elected representatives and on down to the public's behavior must all be in accordance with the law. Stern measures must be taken to deal with all who skirt, defy or break the law.

Finally we must establish objectives for national development.

Dr. L. Klein, winner of the Nobel Prize for economics, has said that Taiwan may reach the economic level of Italy by the year 2000 and join the ranks of the industrialized nations.

World powers always used to stress armaments in the past; but today East and West Germany are united, the European Community is on the verge of unification and there are good relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, everyone is concentrating on economic development. The economy is Taiwan's lifeline, and in future we shall certainly take the lead and improve our industrial mix. I propose that we initiate a second set of Ten Major Projects.

The first Ten Major Projects bore fruit in the '80s, the second set of Ten Major Projects should be geared to the year 2000, we should no longer seek short-term economic prosperity.

Meanwhile there must also be blueprints for other public policies and for cultural development. Multi-faceted coordination offers the best chance of ensuring resilient, strong economic growth.

Our ideals should not be restricted to Taiwan itself nor even limited to mainland China, but we should cast our gaze worldwide as we look to the future. I expect that in the near future we will succeed in nurturing another new Chinese culture which will look the world proudly in the face. This is my ideal, and I hope it is one everybody shares.