ACADEMIA SINICA PRESIDENT LAMENTS TAIWAN'S LAGGING GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001167

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETTC ETRD OEXC CVIS TWL
SUBJECT: ACADEMIA SINICA PRESIDENT LAMENTS TAIWAN'S LAGGING
GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

REF: TAIPEI 03782


1. SUMMARY. Eight months into his term as Academia Sinica
President, Wong Chi-huey is concerned about the inability of
Taiwan to attract research talent from overseas and the
disconnect between research and the legal infrastructure that
is stifling development of Taiwan's scientific potential. He
said Taiwan's two main high-tech advantages, biotech and
digital display need a boost in order to be competitive in
today's world. Academia Sinica has a wealth of areas that
could be shared with the rest of the world, notably history,
the Chinese classics, biotech research but lately much of the
organizations' focus has been local, not international. A
legal framework and government policies more in tune with the
academic world would be necessary to encourage a more global
engagement. Wong is working to identify areas within
Academia Sinica that would benefit from such an approach.
END SUMMARY

REVERSING BRAIN DRAIN
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2. AIT ESTH officer called on Academia Sinica President Wong
Chi-huey on May 10. Since Wong took over from Lee Yuan-tseh
a little over eight months ago, he has carefully crafted a
new image at Academia Sinica. Gone are the occasional
comments on the political scene that sometimes bedeviled his
predecessor. Instead, Wong is focused on reversing the brain
drain which he sees as a serious problem for Taiwan's
scientific community. Wong said Taiwan suffers from one of
the highest rates of non-return for students going overseas:
78 percent versus 22 percent for the PRC and 2 percent for
Japan. He says Taiwan's poor academic and political
environment does not attract potential returnees after their
studies overseas. Wong also noted that research at
institutions for higher learning was hurt by the small
science budget allocated to them. He said Academia Sinica
takes 10 percent of the central science budget, far higher
than for universities. Wong is seeking to transfer some of
that budget to the universities.

INFRASTRUCTURE TO ENCOURAGE BIOTECH DEVELOPMENT
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4. Wong believes that Taiwan's future science potential lies
in biotechnology and information technology. Citing
biotechnology as one area where Taiwan has potential but
lacks both the right incentives and legal framework to
encourage development, Wong said the government sees only
short-term gains but not long-term potential. A case in
point is the low value the market places on stocks from
companies that have long-lead times developing new products,
such as biotech and drug companies. The market favors
companies with short lead times such as the electronics
industry according to Wong. In order to encourage R&D, IPR
protection needs to be strengthened, because without legal
protection, nascent knowledge-based industries will not have
a chance to survive. He criticized the top-down policy
approach of the bureaucracy which enacts regulations without
considering the opinions of academia or society. One example
he cited is the government's policy on carbon dioxide
emissions. It has set no target on CO2 emissions and has not
consulted researchers in academia to formulate a sound
policy. Instead it continues to enact half-way measures to
placate industry. Educating policy makers to coordinate
policy with academic experts will take time and effort said
Wong, suggesting holding symposiums to bring bureaucrats and
researchers and NGOs together.

STRONG HUMANITIES POTENTIAL
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5. Wong cited Academia Sinica's strong humanities research
particularly in the area of Chinese history. He mentioned
that Ming-Ching history (14th-19th century AD) is the
academy's forte, recognized even by PRC academics. Taiwan's
edge in this field is strengthened because it continues to
use traditional characters (compatible with old historical
texts) which allows researchers greater comprehension.
Because of growing international interest in Chinese history
and culture, he cited the digitization of the Palace Museum's
archives as an example of how Taiwan's wealth of archival
material (historical and cultural) could be disseminated
around the world. While ESTH officer spoke with him, Wong
introduced a representative of the publishing industry who
was preparing a digital encyclopedia of Taiwan (Note: this

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project is being chaired by Wong's predecessor Lee Yuan-tseh.
End Note).

A GLOBAL VIEW VERSUS LOCAL FOCUS
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6. Wong lamented that the academic world in Taiwan is too
focused on its own backyard and lacks a global view. One way
to become more engaged globally was to participate in joint
research projects with other countries. He was hopeful that
Academia Sinica could consider funding from overseas
organizations as a means to expand the scope of its research.
He recently obtained a $10 million grant from the Bill Gates
Foundation for an AIDS vaccine research project and hoped to
build more partnerships with U.S. institutions. However,
with decreasing numbers of foreign-trained scientists
returning to Taiwan, Wong felt the valuable connections and
global view that are so important for the research community
here would gradually be lost and be focused locally.

NO COMPROMISE ON TAIWAN'S IDENTITY
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7. In closing, Wong complained that the PRC continues to
pressure organizers of scientific conferences to label
Taiwan's academic contributions under the term "Taiwan,
China." He said that Taiwan's participation in the global
scientific community should not be subject to the dictates of
the PRC.
(Note: Wong's comment comes as the PRC pushes for a
resolution at the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
meetings to change Taiwan's name from the current term
"Taipei China" to "Taiwan, China." End Note.)
YOUNG