The Wisdom of Asia №6

Part Ⅰ：How to Deal with China and America

Chapter One
Expanding Potentials in Asia by “Taiwan's Choice”

President of Akita International University 　　Nakajima Mineo

 4．Lee Teng-hui and the Asia Open Forum
　

　　　My first encounter with President Lee，as he stated in the preface，took place back on March 14，1985，when he was still Vice President. He had　stopped over in Tokyo after a tour to visits to Latin American countries and　invited me to meet with him at the Hotel Okura．I remember calling on him　at the hotel at 9 o'clock in the evening and was delighted to see several of　my books on the table，all with heavy underlining by the Vice President　himself. He had paid special attention to my theory on China in the volume　『文明の再鋳造をめざす中国』（China that aims at Recasting Civilization，published by Chikuma Shobo，1984）．We touched on Marx and　Max Weber's view on　China and continued our discussion late into the night．
　　　　Vice President Lee said，“I have just come from meeting with Liberal Democratic Party politicians．It was rather boring．” That may have been caused by the inability of Japanese politicians to match Dr．Lee's intellect．
　　　　At the time，though he was the incumbent Vice President，it was perfectly natural for him to make a short transit visit to Tokyo．Since then，however，Japan has created a climate which does not permit him to visit  Japan even in a private capacity．This is solely due to problems in　Japan-China relations．Japan's twisted relation with China，in which Japan is　constantly sensitive to political pressure from China，has cast a shadow on　Japan's relations with Taiwan and greatly distorted the direction of Japan's　entire East Asia diplomacy．One could turn the table and say that this was　due to the tremendous increase in the importance of President Lee's and　Taiwan's existence．
　　　0wing to the meeting with Dr．Lee，I have been invoIved as the　Japanese representative to the Asia Open Forum（亜洲展望研討會），which　has served as　the organ of　Japan－Taiwan　intel1ectual　exchange．The　Asia　Open Forum was set up by President Lee and a few of us who are united in　the conviction that Japanese exchanges with Taiwan，which have been　limited to a narrow channel of pro-Republic of China people in the past，need to be broadened and deepened．The Forum has reciprocity between　Japan and Taiwan as its principle and has been managed with contributions  from private business，with Koo Chen-RI（辜振甫），Huang Shi-hui（黄世恵）and　Koo Lien-sung（辜濂松）as the central figures on Taiwan's side and Kamei Masao（亀井正夫）and other business leaders on the Japanese side．Finances and meetings are all open to the public. According to my journal，it was in late July of 1988 that l received President Lee's request to think about an exchange Forum，and it was in June of 1989，immediately following China's Tienanmen lncident，that the first Asia Open Forum was held in Taipei．

"The Wisdom of Asia" Translated by Alexander K. Young 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Akita International Univwrsity Press

日本語版『アジアの知略』は光文社カッパブックスにあります