“Making Taiwan Stupid Policy,” Who Started It?

  “Making Taiwan Stupid Policy,” Who Started It?

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

February 4, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

Many people are worried about the Mainland’s "make Taiwan stupid policy," which will turn Taiwan stupid; what is "make Taiwan stupid policy"? Just with the brain drain to the Mainland, will it make Taiwan stupid? Forty years ago when Taiwan's top-notch brains drained to the United States, Taiwan conversely became smart; now if it has truly become stupid, who started it? It’s not the Mainland, but rather our own stupid policy.

Katherine Chang, chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), in a meeting with the press, said she was very worried about the phenomenon of Mainland's aggressive attraction of Taiwan's industries and talent; she revealed that the MAC would study countermeasures in order to safeguard national security. At a time when Taiwan was preparing to build a wall for self-defense, the other side of the Strait announced that its economy would be more open externally, absorbing and attracting more international talent. The changes in the thinking and mentality with respect to economic openness across the Strait is truly the root of the "make Taiwan stupid policy."

In recent years, the drain of industries and brains has caused great harm to Taiwan’s economy; however, going deeper to review the reasons, we have found that the problem lies in Taiwan itself. On the one hand, the rise of Taiwan’s new economy has attracted certain industries and brains to the Mainland; however, the major reason lies in ourselves. The investment environment has kept deteriorating for years, industrial upgrading has failed to show any accomplishments, foreign direct investment and domestic investment are inadequate, thus Taiwan is mired in a low wage predicament, forcing a drain of top brains. The brain drain in the sector of higher education results from the inability of the domestic higher education system and enterprises to absorb and digest, while historically it was the mistaken allocation of educational resources.

If the government wants to stop the drain of industries and talents through administrative means, viewed from case stories, it won’t have any effect, only hiding what has been apparent. And if we set down norms for the brain drain, it would involve the question of unconstitutionality. What’s more, the imbalance of supply and demand in the labor market will deteriorate. The problem of low wages would become even more serious.

Over 30 years ago, when Taiwan's economy and industries became mired in difficulties, President Chiang Ching-kuo proposed a response of "liberalization and globalization," opening up our doors, conversely prompted our economic surge. In recent years, Taiwan is in the economic doldrums, it has aroused increasing voices of "anti-opening up"; it is indeed more and more worrisome.

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