Lin Yifu should not be forgiven

If the government gave Lin a 'pass' merely because he is a prominent economic scholar and holds a high position in a major international organization, this would encourage fellow Taiwanese to commit disloyal acts.

If Lin is now forgiven for his treachery, soldiers and conscripts in Taiwan may begin to believe that as long as one can rise to high positions after joining the enemy's camp, it is perfectly fine to strip off your uniform, abandon your post and swim into the embrace of the other side.

It should also be noted that in 1979, when Lin made his defection, authorities in mainland China had just begun opening up and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's call for Taipei to open peaceful negotiations had just been issued. Unlike today, there was no sign of any framework or even a hope for a framework leading to peaceful co-existence of both sides, and indeed Beijing was still threatening to 'liberate' Taiwan by military force.

Lin was an opportunist who had already received a government scholarship to get his master's degree in Taiwan and, by all accounts, was on a fast-track to joining the elite of Taiwan's society before his defection.

Today, Lin has become a prominent economist who enjoys an excellent reputation for his studies and predictions. While the government should not seek to stop Lin from continuing in his position at the World Bank, he should be informed in no uncertain terms that his act of treachery, and indeed treason, carries a high price that he will have to pay no matter what high positions he is appointed to.

If Lin someday decides he wants to come home in spite of being arrested for defection and going absent without leave, he should be given a fair trial that does not take into account the high positions he has received after defecting to mainland China.

This lesson should be held out not only for Lin, but also several other defectors and draft evaders from Taiwan living in mainland China, most notably Wang Hsi-chueh, the former China Airlines pilot who in 1986 hijacked his own 747 cargo aircraft and flew it to Guangzhou in mainland China.

Wang then rose to become a high-ranking official in mainland China and still lives openly in Beijing, where he boasts about pulling off the hijacking so that he could see his elderly mother in Sichuan province before she died.

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