One of the clear points of consensus that emerged at a conference of university rectors which I attended in New York in 1995, was that globalisation (or, if you prefer, internationalisation) of university life is one of the most important "megatrends" showing the way into the next millennium.
In late April and early May, the Rector of Charles University, Prof. JUDr. Karel Maly, DrSc., and the Pro-Rector for International Relations, Prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Vacek, CSc., spent a week on a working visit to the island. The goal of their stay in Taipei was to sign an agreement on academic cooperation, but their journey was of course also accompanied by a thorough familiarisation with the lifestyle and mentality of the people. Their days in Taipei, a city with a very European pace of life, had a precise and very demanding timetable, lasting from early morning until late evening, in order to maximise the use of their time. Prof. Maly and Prof. Vacek were the guests of National Taiwan University, where they held discussions to clarify the possibilities for academic cooperation; their visit concluded with the signing of the agreement.
The whole week in Taipei was unusually interesting, in particular thanks to the attention which was devoted to the Czech "university ambassadors". Discussions were held, both at the level of the University President's office, and with individual colleges. Prof. Maly also had a meeting with the Minister of Education and, in the end, an unplanned audience with the Premier, Lien Chan.Forum spoke about the significance of the visit and its results to the Rector of Charles University, Prof. Maly:
You've come back to Prague with a signed agreement about academic cooperation. Why do you regard this as so very important for us here in Europe?
I must admit that we are one of the very few universities with which National Taiwan University has signed an agreement. At first sight it might seem that the Republic of China Taiwan is too far away and too "exotic" for us. Indeed, the question arises as to why we should negotiate with this kind of university at all... But when we looked closer, it became evident that Taiwan is a country with a great economic future and that it is currently undergoing enormous economic growth. Already today it is economically somewhere between South Korea and Japan, despite the fact that it has only 20 million inhabitants. As regards its relationship to science and education, this is very positive. Each year, Taiwan spends 1.7% of its GNP on science and education; a large percentage of its budget is spent in this sphere. This fact is visible at every step, in the equipment of its faculties and laboratories. We had the opportunity to visit two important university facilities - the College of Medicine, one of the members of which, Prof. Wei Jao Chen, is currently President of National Taiwan University, and we were able to examine the state-of-the-art equipment of the University Hospital. The second facility was the College of Engineering, where we saw a centre for research into modern computer technology. We discovered, for example, that there are great possibilities for collaboration in the field of human communication with computers, using natural speech patterns, but also in other areas.
Can you give us some specific examples?
There was enormous interest in cooperation in all fields of the natural sciences, from geography, geology and oceanography to botany and aspects of medical science. Further - and this may come as a surprise to many people - there is an interest in jurisprudence. You see, the Republic of China Taiwan has essentially modelled its legal system on Germany's, including civil law, family law and criminal law, and the vast majority of their law professors have been educated at leading German universities, or (exceptionally) at the Sorbonne. Their interest in cooperation is directed towards the possibility that their students could study for their doctorates at the Faculty of Law in Prague, with the assumption that they will first either have to master the Czech language, or in some cases English. A real interest exists in the possibility of exchanging visiting professors in the fields of mathematics and physics. Charles University will also offer help to students from Taiwan who are learning Russian; experience has shown that Taiwanese students who are sent for short-term conversation courses to St Petersburg or Moscow often have serious problems there because they don't yet speak the language. The first group of Taiwanese students who will come here under this arrangement will probably arrive in the spring of 1996 and will be based at our Institute of Linguistic and Professional Training, who are equipped for the teaching of languages to foreign students. In the autumn of next year, the President and Vice-President of National Taiwan University will visit Prague, and during their visit we would like to start fleshing out the agreement we have signed with specific research projects, in which our individual faculties will be invited to participate. We also held discussions with Dr. Yih-yuan Li, the president of the largest Taiwanese educational foundation, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for Educational Scholarly Exchange, which sets up international exchanges of students and researchers, and here too we were essentially successful.
Is it possible to say, then, that the results of your journey were one hundred percent successful?
This apparently diminutive island, surrounded by greater China - which, of course, feels it is a part of China, and understands its identity as a Chinese identity - is, in my opinion, becoming an important ally in the fields of science and education. The path to Taiwan was opened for us by the internationally renowned Sinologist, Prof. PhDr. Oldrich Kral, CSc., who works at our Philosophical Faculty. However, economic and cultural interest in our republic has grown rapidly in recent years in the Far East. Our firms are successful in Taiwan. And we should certainly make sure we make full use of this unusual opportunity...
before the presentation of diplomas and one of the awarded students, Marek Halbich 
accepting the Prize. It is estimated that between twenty and fifty species of animals and plants become extinct each day, while an area of forest twice as big as the Czech Republic disappears each year. The ecological crisis is understood by the world powers as a war with an antagonist, in which the weaker opponent (and that usually means nature) comes out the loser. The economically impoverished states of Africa, Asia and Europe say that environmental protection is a luxury that can be afforded only by those who are prosperous.
These words do not sound especially hopeful, but after this almost tragic vision of the world, Prof. Weizsacker returned to a more optimistic version of the future.
Prof. Weizsacker, do you think that a solution to the ecological crisis exists today?
Yes, definitely, but it is necessary to see this problem globally. Everybody can see at a glance that the environment is in a very bad state - dirty water, unbreathable air, indestructible wastes. It is necessary to create technologies that are so efficient they will prevent further destruction of the natural world. To build cars which use only 1.5 litres for every 100 km; to build houses which don't require any heating, because their insulation is so effective that the energy from the sun and from ambient light is enough to supply them with their heat and energy.
I'll give you an example. Thirty years ago, when the inventors of the microchip came to the typewriter manufacturers, and offered to help them modernise their products, they were thrown out. The typewriter manufacturers didn't understand that only with the aid of microelectronics could they survive the coming revolution in computer technology. The same kind of situation applies in other fields: only they that see far enough ahead will survive.
You once put forward a proposal for ecological tax reform. How does the world regard this thought today?
I first put forward this idea in 1988 and everybody laughed. They said, he's just a crazy biologist, we can ignore him. The European Union discussed the idea of an ecological tax reform, but they turned it down. In the spring of 1995, however, the idea was tabled again in a revised form, and some European countries have now voluntarily accepted it.
What, in your opinion, are the most important tasks facing the Czech Republic in improving its environment, and what do you think of our program of nuclear power?
You have to improve the quality of the water in your rivers and remove the sulphur from your air, so your children can live here without getting ill. As regards nuclear energy, I understand that, in the short term, this is one possible solution; but I am against the construction of any new plants, and I don't think that nuclear energy is the best solution for the future. In the future, humanity will orient itself towards other sources of energy. The Czech Republic is today one of the countries which is spending twice as much per head on the improvement of the environment as the Federal Republic of Germany, and for the future of the environment, that is an encouraging situation.
Prof. Weizsacker, thank your for talking to us.
The host of the whole event, the Dean of the Pedagogical Faculty, Prof. PhDr. Zdenek Helus, DrSc., though fully occupied with his notable guests (Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Filipp of Hamburg University; Archabbot Dr. Anastaz Opasek of the Brevnov monastery; Mr. Anton Otte; and Dr. Heiner Horsten of the German Embassy in Prague), nonetheless found time to answer two of our questions:
What led you to realise the idea of a seminar on this topic?
This is the first time we have arranged a colloquium of this kind, and the topic arose by the coincidence of a number of circumstances - even if it does have a deeper significance. Personally, I understand Czech-German relations as a general problem of self-image; German culture has pervaded this nation more than we perhaps realise, and it is the joint creator of the Czech soul... This fact has been disguised by a sediment of horrors, which we often classify as severe injuries and which the Germans describe in the same words. The seminar was intended as a small contribution to the elucidation of this complex problem.
The second reason for the seminar was more pragmatic: at our faculty we have a lot of students majoring in German, young people who - even if they perhaps regard the facts of the last World War as mere historical curiosities - ought to know more about the Czech-German drama (if only because they will one day have to work with children for whom all these events will be even further removed than they are for them today). We must make sure that these future teachers are able to explain our history to their pupils in a cultivated and well-educated way.
The third aspect of the seminar was rather accidental, and relates to the long-term collaboration that exists between Charles University and the University of Hamburg. This collaborative programme has found an excellent platform on the soil of our faculty, and by one of those interesting coincidences, Prof. Filipp was born in Teplice. He left at the age of five. That he has a special relationship to the place of his birth is quite evident from his attempts to do good in his first homeland. This afternoon we carried in our hearts the thought that everybody should be given the chance to consider particular questions through another person's eyes. So they can free themselves from received opinions in their thinking and indulge in the luxury of a different point of view. Perhaps regarding Czech-German relations...
Which of the ideas expressed during the colloquium had the greatest impact on you personally?
Archabbot Opasek's comment that there is something mysterious in Czech-German relations. We look for causes, for our own reasons, but there is something more at work. Some kind of mystery which permeates every relationship to another person, both friend and enemy; something which repels, attracts again, and then goes back to where it was - this pattern finds expression both in the fates of individuals, and in those of nations. One of these continuing mysteries of the world is Czech-German relations.
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