President Chen Shui-bian met with Yale University History Professor Jonathan D. Spence and wife Annping Chin on the morning of November 14, 2005. He met with Spence in honor of his contribution to Chinese history and offered his suggestion that Spence write a book on Taiwanese history to encourage recognition of its sacrifices to achieve democracy and economic development.
The President said that Spence's book, "To Change China: Western Advisers in China," which depicts how 16 western advisers who had originally set out to take advantage of China found themselves being taken advantage by China, raises serious questions as to whether the United States could ever bring about change in China under the present circumstances. The President also said Taiwan has already undergone huge transformations and development, noting that although there was little mention of Taiwan in one of Spence's three major works "The Search for Modern China," Taiwan's economic development in the 80s and 90s as well as democratic development have left their mark.
Chen said that, as far as Taiwan is concerned, the most outstanding accomplishment has been the transfer of political power between parties in the year 2000, serving as a beacon of democracy for China. The successful transfer of power in 2000 can be considered to be Taiwan's "maiden voyage of the century." He admitted that the voyage has not been smooth in the past five years, but assured that the vessel will not sink and it is bound for more stable, more distant and lengthier voyages.
He hopes that Professor Spence will write a book entitled "To Change Taiwan" or even "A Search for Modern Taiwan," either of which would be the greatest encouragement to the 23 million people of Taiwan.