[3113] Former PCT General Secretary says the church will always be a critic of the government

Former PCT General Secretary says the church will always be a critic of the government

Reported by Lin Yi-ying

Written by Lydia Ma

Christians have social obligations and responsibilities that need to be carried out with a distinctly Christian framework in mind, said former PCT General Secretary C.S. Yang. A classic example of how the PCT as a church has done this is the drafting of the “Statement On Our National Fate” in 1971, shortly after Taiwan lost its seat in the UN to China.

To mark the 40^th anniversary of this event, PCT General Assembly held a conference on October 20, 2011, at PCT General Assembly Headquarter Office in Taipei and invited former General Assembly Secretary C.S. Yang to speak on “The Church’s Social Responsibilities”. Taiwan consul to Japan, Lo Fu-chen, was also invited to speak on “An economic perspective on the perils and transformations facing Taiwan”.

Yang underscored that the purpose of bringing up the “Statement On Our National Fate” again wasn’t to garner praise, but rather, to continuously examine oneself critically and learn from past lessons. He added that these reflections would help the church to be ready to step up to the plate in this new era and exercise its social responsibilities.

Yang said Christian missions shouldn’t be solely evangelistic or preaching, but should include reaching out to the weak, the poor, and liberating the oppressed. In this regard, the church will always be a critic, a prophet, and the opposition party to the government to keep it from veering into paths of evil and injustice.

Yang added to these roles other callings such as being society’s moral conscience, a messenger of God’s justice, and an agent of reconciliation so that Taiwanese people may live in harmony and mutual respect.

As for the economic challenges and dangers facing Taiwan, Lo pointed out that Taiwan’s over-dependence on China – whether it be in investments or exports – had been detrimental to Taiwan’s economy and had caused a hollowing out of industries as well as a technological and brain drain. It had also caused the average salary remain stagnant for the past 10 years and caused unemployment to double from 2% to 4% in the past few years.

Lo suggested rectifying the problem of over-dependence on China by diversifying trading partners across Asia and trading more with newly-industrialized countries (NIC) and developing countries in Asia.

He alluded to Japan and said its investments in India for the year 2010 had exceeded its investments in China. He added that Taiwan should focus on signing free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries and cautioned the Ma administration against overreliance on China. Using South Korea as example, he said it had already signed an FTA with the European Union and the United States.

This conference hosted by the PCT General Assembly consists of two parts. The latter part will be held in the near future. For more information, contact PCT General Assembly.