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Taiwan Church News 2615, April 14th, 2002
Reported by Lin Yi-ying, Written by David Alexander

    When the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
meets for a legislative session, one evening is traditionally
given over to a celebration or series of lectures.  This year the
Rev. Dr. C. S. Song, president of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches was invited to address the delegates and guests.  He
also participated in a panel
discussion on the topic of establishing a homeland feeling and
firming up the Taiwanese self-identity.  The other participants
in the panel were the Rev. Dr. C. M. Kao, former General
Secretary of the PCT and Elder Lin Yi-hsiung, a lawyer and member
of Taiwan's Parliament.
    "Three principles: self-rule, self-propagation and
self-development, are necessary to implement a spirit of homeland
identification among Taiwan's people."  Dr. Kao notes that there
must be respect for all ethnic groups in the country, and mutual
support among Aborigines, Hakkanese, "Mainlanders" and
"Taiwanese" if there is to be true independence for Taiwan.
    Elder Lin, reflecting his political preoccupations, emphasizes
the need for democracy.  He notes the push towards globalization
that demands an understanding of nationhood if there is to be a
Taiwan identity.  He faults the previous Nationalist Party
government, which, in a heavy handed manner, controlled education
and media, projecting a distorted understanding of the meaning of
being a nation.  This resulted in Taiwan's exclusion from
international forums.  He sees this as a current crisis for
Taiwan, and calls for new understandings of democracy and
nationhood as approaches to solution.
    Dr. Song sees the key point to political cleansing and
economic transformation in the reformation of the spirituality
and culture of Taiwan's many ethnic groups.  "Spirituality is
first. Without spirituality, culture is rootless.  Without
cultural roots, national political and economic development is
hampered. Because the life of a nation and its people is in its
culture, it is intimately bound up with ethnicity."
    Dr. Song added that the economy is not the greatest problem
being faced by Taiwan.  Spiritual reformation and cultural
identification are prime.  When we can renew our cultural
uniqueness, based on the special features of each ethnic group
here, then the identity of Taiwan, the homeland feeling, will be
established.

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