Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) Taiwan society can achieve higher goals by opening up linguistically and culturally, and it's time for Taiwan and China to "start talking to each other", one of the most respected Sinologist in Europe said Saturday.
Taiwan has achieved amazing things, including the peaceful democratic transformation, but its society will be able to do much more if it opens up linguistically and culturally, and understand what happens in the world today, said Rudolph Wagner, a professor at Germany's Heidelberg University, in his speech.
The speech, titled "German Unification: Popular Culture, Maoist Students, and the Socialist Disneyland, " was scheduled for last Saturday but was postponed because of Typhoon Krosa. The speech was one of an international lecture series organized by Lung Yingtai Cultural Foundation.
Focusing on German unification in his speech, Wagner was asked about the Taiwan-China situation in the question and answer session. He said Taiwan and China should start talking to each other for a civilized communication rather than political rhetorics of nationalism.
Commenting on the "dignity" factor in Taiwan independence movement, Wagner said that the sense of dignity does not neccessarily have to bundle with sovereignty because Taiwan has won its dignity in its bloodless democratic transition and economic growth.
As for the Taiwan identity, he said that "the world just doesn't respect that very much."
Wagner said the Chinese government has been amazingly successful in managing its economic development in recent years and has actually showed substantial amount of restraint in the Taiwan issue.
He also believed that China had pushed for hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics to repress the internal hawkish military force which has been anxious to take Taiwan by force. China knew very well that, in order to maintain the current economic growth, peace in the next 15-20 years was a priority, Wagner claimed.
With a Ph.D. from the University of Munich, Wagner has done extensive research on Buddhism, Taoist philosophy, and contemporary Chinese politics and the media. In 1992, he was awarded the Leibniz Prize, Europe's most prestigious prize in the humanities.