Taiwan Church News
3330 Edition
December 21 – 27, 2015
Editorial
Love Taiwan With Integrity, Or Denigrate Ourselves In Schizophrenia? – A Reflection On Red-Supply-Chain
Before Taiwan’s presidential election, China acts very frequently trying to affect the final outcome. The most obvious events include: China announces that the Chinese tourists to Taiwan are going to be slashed 95% off after the election; China’s Tsinghua Unigroup proposes a buyout of Siliconware Precision Industrial Co., Ltd(SPIL), a leading and critical provider of semiconductor assembly and test services in Taiwan; Mr Morris Chang, chairman of the renown Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company(TSMC), expresses his plan to set up a 12-inch wafer fab in Nanjing, China to serve his customers, and etc.
Why did these events emerge just one month before the election? Does China still attempt, following the effective threatening rhetoric of some leading businessmen(or women) in the 2012 presidential election, using their economic power to intimidate Taiwan voters? Of course, it’s beyond doubt that China wants Taiwan to knell down at her will. But, if there is no Taiwanese wagging the white flag to cooperate, how can China win her game? When we try all our best efforts, protesting the “imperialism” of China on their “colonial invasion” into current political or economical fields, the problem deserves to reflect deeper is: Why Taiwan is firmly gripped by the so-called red-supply-chain?
Solving this problem, except the pro-China policy of Ma administration in the past 8 years should be examined in details, the responsibilities of Taiwan makers cannot be acquitted. Due to a naive mentality considering only about cost and profit, no one knows exactly how many agricultural products and industrial techniques had been exported into China? Consequently, kinds of agricultural materials like rush(es), the planting techniques of wax apple and sugar apple and the traditional industries like shoes manufacturing, textile garment and etc have been exported to China. When the products of these industries were dumped back into Taiwan market, no wonder it became a deadly blow to Taiwan economics!
Facing these impacts, there are still many people doing their best to protect or revive those traditional industries in Taiwan. For example, under the west-forward emigrant crisis of Taiwan agriculture, Taiwan Solidarity Union always insists to use Taiwan agricultural produces as their party souvenirs in order to promote the traditional industries; PCT’s Church and Society Committee had ordered volumes of towels embroidered with “Taiwan”, intending to support the towel makers in Yun-lin county; the gifts or souvenirs made to celebrate PCT150 are specially chosen from the products being awarded Taiwan Excellence Awards, in order to witness the spirit of MIT(Made In Taiwan).
However, when the high priced MIT products encountered the low priced MIC(Made In China) goods, our long-term consumption habits obviously favor the low priced MIC goods without remorse. This is a problem, not related to individual industry, but a matter of personal mind set. Our identity and love of Taiwan is always seriously twisted by a cheap-orientated mind set. It become so easy for us to say we love Taiwan, yet as a matter of fact, we stand for China in our actual daily consumption behavior.
Those who can change such schizophrenic consumption should be the Christians. In our faith, the cross we believe is not a cheap goods but an invaluable salvation grace that Jesus sacrificed for us with his life. When we respond to this amazing grace, better we have a somber mind than a gluttonous mood in a free buffet. We should practice our faith in our daily lives: When we claim that we love Taiwan, MIT products should be purchased in priority even in a higher price; if no MIT product could be found, we still could find the products from South East Asia, East Europe or other countries to substitute.
When China tries to comprehensively dominate Taiwan, we should love Taiwan with integrity, not denigrate ourselves in schizophrenia!
