An Announcement from the Administrator

“The Administrator?” Hey, that’s me!

As some of my closest friends know, I’ve been talking for some time about shutting down The View from Taiwan. I’m exhausted and burnt out from blogging — it has ceased to be fun for me, and many days I simply dread facing it. The number of things I want to do with it keeps increasing, while the amount of time I have to devote to it keeps shrinking.

Well, that time has come.

No, I’m not shutting it down. But I’m going to take a few weeks off from blogging. In my other life I’m a PHD student and I need to focus on turning out papers this summer. I’d also like to get a start on my book about Taiwan, and finish one of the novels on my hard drive. Above all, I’d like to spend a little time doing what I really love: sussing out the structure of the complex and beautiful Gospel of Mark, one of the world’s great literary works. I’d also like some time to play Spades with my kids, and bike more, and toss the ball with the dog.

I’d like to not think about Taiwan politics for a while.

In the meantime, Taiwan’s English blogosphere offers great social and political blogs like the always reliable David on Formosa, the fantastic and insightful media and political commentary on Far Eastern Sweet Potato, the satirically penetrating The Foreigner, the energetic Letters from Taiwan, the amazing A-gu at That’s Impossible, always a font of information, the urgently restrained Claudia Jean, the savaging of the Blue propaganda at Taiwan Matters by my man maddog, the deep and robust Taiwan Link, and a hundred other blogs on my sidebar. They all write more richly and insightfully than I ever could. Please keep your eye on them, and on Taiwan.

Many thanks to all my wonderful readers. I’ll see you all sometime next month, tanned, rested, and ready to go.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Halloran gets everything wrong

Several people flipped me Richard Halloran’s piece on Taiwan’s defense in the Honolulu Advertiser, which seems to have a rather strange understanding of the issues….

It starts with a rather strange title….

Taiwan reasserts determination to defend itself

…which we’ll come back to in a moment. On to the rather strange claims Halloran makes — entirely background-free, of course….

The government of President Ma Ying-jeou in Taiwan has launched a revolution in military affairs that is intended to:

• rally the people of Taiwan to a firm defense of their island nation;
• give Taiwan’s armed forces their marching orders for fundamental reforms;
• deter mainland China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, from invading the island;
• convince the U.S., Taiwan’s only major ally, that Taiwan is prepared to do its part in defending itself.

Until now, some American, Chinese and Taiwanese analysts have questioned the political will of the people of Taiwan to defend themselves. Taiwan’s armed forces have been seen as lethargic and not well organized. In contrast, China’s armed forces have made steady strides in arms, training and preparing to invade Taiwan. And American leaders have muttered that Taiwan was not doing enough for its own defense.

A revolution! Absent from this discussion is the simple fact that the KMT, Ma’s party, was the major force behind the US complaints that Taiwan wasn’t doing enough to defend itself. Readers may recall that the KMT blocked the special arms purchase budget for years in the legislature, preventing it from reaching the floor for consideration some 60 times, leading to complaints from the US that Taiwan wasn’t doing enough to defend itself, part of a wider KMT policy to drive a wedge between the Chen Administration and the US, among other things. Moreover, Halloran also fails to inform the reader that the Bush Administration held up arms sales to Taiwan whilst blaming Taiwan for not doing enough to defend itself, something much discussed on this blog last year. In other words, Taiwan is not “reasserting a determination to defend itself” all previous Administrations, including the Chen Administration, have struggled to do just that. But what are the complexities of history when Ma Ying-jeou is launching a revolution!?

What is this revolution? Halloran says:

Specifically, if the QDR reforms are implemented, civilian control of Taiwan’s military forces will be enforced. That has not always been so; in the days of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who led Taiwan from 1949 to 1975, and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, who ruled until 1988, Taiwan’s armed forces were largely autonomous.

There’s a reason I get so testy when I blog and it is passages like this that seem to spring from an alternate universe where Google has never been invented: civilian control of the military was a DPP innovation and an excellent article dating from 2006 by Michael Chase on the topic has been online for some three years now. I blogged on it in July of 2008 when Ma the Revolutionary Military Leader repoliticized the military after years of DPP-driven democratic reforms. From Chase’s piece:

To promote the achievement of these objectives, the laws codify the political neutrality of the armed forces. Article 6 of the National Defense Act states, “The ROC Armed Forces shall remain neutral from individual, regional and party affiliations” [7]. The laws also establish a new chain of command; Article 8 of the National Defense Act states, “The President shall assume the supreme command of army, navy, and air force of the ROC, and is the commander-in-chief of the ROC Armed Forces. He exerts executive authority over the Minister of National Defense, and the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) follows the command of the Minister to lead the ROC Armed Forces” [8]. This means that the CGS, who previously reported directly to the president, is now subordinate to the civilian defense minister. The Two Defense Laws also increased the power of the defense minister by placing both the ministry staff and the armed forces under his direct authority.

Under the new laws, the MND is thus effectively placed in charge of all major aspects of national defense. Specifically, the Organization Act of the Ministry of National Defense declares, “The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is in charge of the overall national defense affairs of the Republic of China” [9]. Accordingly, the law grants the MND authority over a number of areas that were previously the exclusive purview of the General Staff Headquarters (GSH) and the services. Specifically, the law stipulates that the MND is in charge of, among other things, the defense policy, military strategy, budgetary plans and the development of the military forces [10].

The laws thus give the minister control of both military administration and military command, for the first time placing these two functions under the jurisdiction of a single official. Moreover, Article 12 of the National Defense Law stipulates that the minister of national defense must be a civilian. Therefore, a civilian is in charge of administration, command, armament and resource allocation, and is responsible for developing military strategy and defense policy. Another important change resulting from the two defense laws is that the MND will now have the power to make important personnel decisions, a function that was previously dominated by the GSH.

Yes, civilian control of the military is a DPP innovation, not a Ma Revolution. One reason people complain the DPP never did anything is that the KMT struggles to obliterate its reforms or else to annex them as its own, and foreign commentators fail to get wise to this.

Halloran plunges on:

A major reform will be setting up an elite, professional, volunteer force that will be slimmed down to 215,000 people by 2014 from the present 275,000. The draft, however, will be continued for all young men who will receive four months of basic training, then be required to join the reserves. Women may volunteer but will not be drafted.

I can’t even remember when discussions of an all-volunteer force began, they may date back to the Qing Dynasty, but the military began experimenting with all-volunteer units back in 2003 or 2004 (failed experiments, didn’t get enough volunteers, experts in both parties decided to put it off). This is not a revolution of Ma Ying-jeou, but an evolution that long predates Ma. Continuing:

The QDR calls for the national legislature to appropriate a minimum of 3 percent of gross domestic product annually on defense. Taiwan’s defense spending has been steadily decreasing for 10 years to about 2 percent of GDP even though Taiwan’s economy, like that of South Korea, has been expanding for several decades. By comparison, the United States spends about 4 percent of GDP for defense while Japan spends 1 percent.

*Sigh* The target of 3% of GDP on defense spending once again long predates Ma. A simple Google search turns up this promise from President Chen in 2005 to boost defense spending to that level by 2008, for example. Once again, not Ma Revolution but long evolution.

Taiwan’s defense review instructs the armed forces to adopt principles of “not provoking incidents, not escalating conflicts, and avoiding hostile actions” when confronted by Chinese forces. Taiwanese officers said, for instance, this would require Taiwan’s fighter pilots to break off contact if they encountered Chinese fighters over the Taiwan Strait.

On the other hand, the QDR directs Taiwan’s forces, mainly air and naval, to prepare to attack China’s centers of gravity in the event of hostilities. That means attacking critical targets such as Chinese ports loading invasion troops, missile launch sites preparing to fire, and airfields loading paratroopers into transports.

Again, no revolution. Attacks on targets in China have been envisioned as part of Taiwan’s defense strategy for years, while protocols to avoid conflicts over the Strait have also been in place for years.

Aargh.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

This Restaurant Doesn’t Serve Chinese Tourists and Taiwanese Traitors

The Liberty Times today hosted an interesting article on a Kaohsiung restaurant that doesn’t serve anyone from China, or Taiwanese traitors…..[Quickie translation, let me know if there are any errors]….

國民黨主席吳伯雄的「島內」風波，被民進黨立委引用網路笑話為「無脖熊」；高雄一家餐廳也有「背骨無脖熊」這道菜，這兩天點的人很多，超過原本最熱賣的「露出馬腳」（諷馬英九），業者劉明松與吳都是客家人，要吳硬頸說清楚，別再硬拗了。

The storm over KMT Chairman Wu Po-hsiung’s reference to “within the island” [while in China] resulted in him being jokingly called 「無脖熊」 (neckless bear, a play on his name). In Kaohsiung a restaurant has a dish called “backbone neckless bear” ordered by many customers in the last two days, even surpassing the previous hot dish 「露出馬腳」, (which pokes fun at Ma Ying-jeou). Like Wu himself, owner Liu Ming-sung is a Hakka. He wants Wu to stick his neck out and speak clearly, instead of always speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

事實上，高雄紅瓦厝餐廳的「國共賣台特餐」，早就有一道菜叫「無脖熊」，是以橙花排骨製成，諷刺吳伯雄「背骨」。老闆劉明松說，這兩天「無脖熊」的點餐率相當高，一些客人邊點菜、邊酸吳伯雄。

In reality, Kaohsiung’s Red Roofing Tile House restaurant specialty “KMT-CCP Sell Out Taiwan Special Meal” already had a dish entitled Neckless Bear, [a kind of sweet and sour rib dish], making fun of Wu Po-hsiung’s “spine” [a pun on selling out Taiwan]. Boss Liu says “The last couple of days orders for Neckless Bear have been heavy, with some customers ordering the dish on one hand and giving Wu a tongue-lashing on the other.”

「國共賣台特餐」的招牌菜，是嘲諷馬英九的「露出馬腳」（滷豬腳），其餘包括「連戰連敗蝦」、「清蒸宋楚魚」等三十幾道菜餚，菜名令人莞爾。

In addition to its famous dish, the “KMT-CCP Sell Out Taiwan Special Meal”, the restaurant makes fun of Ma Ying-jeou with 「露出馬腳」 (stewed pig’s feet), and also offers the “Lien Chan Keep Losing Shrimp”, “Steamed Soong Chu-yu Fish” and more than thirty similar dishes. The names of the dishes make people laugh.

紅瓦厝是家不接待中國顧客的餐廳，餐廳外醒目的標語寫著「拒絕招待中國人及台奸」，經常有載著中國觀光團的遊覽車到此拍照，上個月還有三桌中國客不信邪進入，點菜時被劉明松發現，通通請出去。

Red Roofing Tile House restaurant does not serve visitors from China. On the outside of the restaurant is a big sign that says “We Refuse to Serve Chinese and Taiwanese Traitors”. Buses carrying Chinese tourist groups regularly stop here to take photos. Last month three tables worth of Chinese tourists who refused to believe this statement went inside. When they were ordering, Liu Ming-sung found out who they were, and threw them all out of his restaurant.

劉明松強調，他和吳伯雄都是客家人，對於吳的作風，他長期看在眼裡；這次吳在中國的肉麻言行，他一點都不訝異。

Liu Ming-sung stressed that even though he and Wu were both Hakkas, he has been watching Wu’s style for a long time, and was not surprised at all by Wu’s disgusting behavior.

專程來吃「無脖熊」的陳先生罵說，「島內」這個詞聽到就讓人反感，如果台灣是島內，那馬英九豈不是島主？國民黨人士屢次在中國降格以求，民眾真的看不下去。

A Mr. Chen, making a special trip to eat the Neckless Bear dish, said that the term “within the island” filled him with disgust. If on Taiwan is “within the island”, than Ma Ying-jeou is merely the island’s Boss. KMT officials have lowered themselves to beg the Chinese for favors several times, said Mr. Chen, and people can’t stand seeing that.

I’ll be making my reservation there soon!

UPDATE: Lively discussion in the comments below.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Saturday Musings

Got up this morning and decided to rest today after a week of tough biking, and wondering….

Why are there no seagulls in Taiwan? Did they all get eaten? Is it the pollution?

On May 17th, in the anti-Ma march, I got into a debate with one of the marchers. He fell in beside me and we started to talk about the state of things here, and then he said “Obama! All Obama has to do is say one sentence! Just one sentence!” He gave the thumbs up. I pointed out that (a) Whatever Obama said, it wasn’t going to make Taiwan independent and (b) he wouldn’t do it anyway, US Asia policy now being thrall to Beijing. Instead, I explained that the Taiwanese would have to stand up, that only the Taiwanese could create Taiwan independence. That did nothing to dent his faith. Always the invocation to outsiders — the UN, Obama, whatever, to come save Taiwan…..

Foreigners who say annexing Taiwan to China will create peace deliberately ignore the violence that is likely to occur here if China does annex us. As Arthur Dent pointed out yesterday, the League of Nations UN reaction to the China-backed Sri Lankan violence against its Tamil civilians has chilling implications for the prospects of a Chinese takeover here.

People often talk about the staggering beauty of the mountains and the east coast and what potential there is for biking and hiking. But yesterday I biked up to Sanyi, then went over the ridge on 130, and zoomed down the other side to the west coast and 61, the Shi Bing Gong Lu. As we rolled through bright green Taiwan farming country, then down to the rice fields near the coast, and then back through Dajia city and the empty, endless rice fields along the Dajia River, my friend Ryan and I were remarking how there might also be a market for a different kind of ride through the Real Taiwan, the Taiwan of the earth god shrines and farms and factories and outre temples and roadside stands and crazed drivers. I enjoy that Taiwan very much…..

Yumaowu supermarket in Taichung makes awesome Italian-style bread. 85NT for a loaf about 70 cm long.

Greg Earl in the Australian Financial Review article about Korea’s Roh and Taiwan’s Chen above (click on it to go its Flickr page) gets it: it is possible to be both guilty and the victim of a political prosecution. Speaking of Chen, not a day goes by when I don’t thank the KMT for detaining him — not only driving home with each new detention the political nature of the charges against him, but also keeping him safely muzzled in jail where he cannot run around saying nonsense and dividing the DPP even more by desperately attempting to remain the center of attention.

________
Daily Links

• Ma meets with 8 Congressmen in the US
• Taiwan News with excellent piece on Taiwan’s economic structural problems. Neither ECFA nor a global upturn will solve these. Don’t miss their editorial on why Taiwan needs a referendum on ECFA.
• The Wild East claims the English teaching markethere has melted down. Wild East, it is not necessary to have a native speaker teach English; that is merely a Taiwanese foible.
• A couple of foreigners build mountain bike trails in Taiwan

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

ECFA in US eyes

Over at the Jamestown China Brief retired Foreign Service Officer Terry Cooke offers a robust but thoroughly Establishment view of the ECFA package, Cross-Strait Matrix: The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. It’s worth reading for its wide-ranging point of view, although naturally the actual details of the recent agreements are omitted, since they would contradict the case he’s trying to make. After an introduction that pointed to the EU and to the agreements between Beijing and Hong Kong, Cooke notes:

Nourished by these tap-roots, the ECFA concept sprouted again dramatically in early 2009 as the global economy continued to worsen. In mid-February, attention in Taiwan galvanized around the CECA concept after local press reported the Taiwanese National Security Council’s Secretary General, Su Chi, as stating that the government had decided to sign a CECA with China (CNA, Feb 14). Major industry associations immediately voiced support for the initiative, even before anti-China sentiment in Taiwan’s fractious democracy could organize to oppose the initiative. Yiin Chi-min, the minister of economic affairs, and President Ma then began an energetic campaign of pitching the concept to the Taiwanese public—presenting it as ‘inevitable’ and a virtual fait accompli, as a process that could be wrapped up by mid-year, as something that could add nearly 1.4 percent to Taiwan’s GDP, and as a boon to Taiwan’s efforts to forge free trade agreements (FTAs) with ASEAN, the United States and others.

During March and April, public debate over the concept led to various adjustments of these ‘pitch points.’ First, the CECA name was jettisoned as being too reminiscent of China’s CEPA with Hong Kong. Given Beijing’s sovereignty over the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the concern was that a similarly named trade agreement would erode Taipei’s posture of vigorously contested sovereignty vis-à-vis Beijing. Next, admission was made that the democratic nature of Taiwanese society required more public airing of the concept and a greater degree of consensus-building before the concept would be ripe for finalization in an agreement with Beijing. Accordingly, the timeframe for concluding the agreement with China has now lengthened. Following the model of the Financial Cooperation Agreement (which was discussed informally in the 2nd round in November 2008 and formally concluded in the 3rd round in April 2009), the ECFA is being staged for informal levels of discussion at the 4th round of the process, which is slated to take place at the end of 2009 (United Daily News [Taiwan], May 27).

Cooke actually puts his finger on some of the major problems without really acknowledging that they are problems, such as the KMT’s use of “shock doctrine” tactics — “we need a cross strait agreement now to save the economy!” — to get the pact accepted. He neglects to inform the reader that a plurality of the public opposes ECFA, even in polls by pro-KMT news organizations. This fact of widespread public opposition is the reason that in Belize this week President Ma Ying-jeou once again retiterated that ECFA would not be subject to a public referendum. The big boys in the financial industry who plan to scoop Taiwan out like a gourd don’t like public interference in their ability to make money.

It’s funny to read that the EU and CEPA are models or antecedents, because the reality is that the mutual agreement between the CCP and the KMT to annex Taiwan to China is what is driving ECFA — and the EU and CEPA agreements are not “models” but simply convenient rationalizations for a specific strategy for doing this, a cross strait economic agreement.

Cooke also claims that CECA was dropped because it sounded too much like CEPA, the Hong Kong agreement, but in fact CECA died because it was a free trade agreement which would have fallen under the WTO and GATT rules, giving Taiwan enhanced sovereignty. Hence CECA the globally-regulated FTA became ECFA the loose bilateral cooperation agreement.

Cooke observes:

…..This fits in with broad U.S. regional policy goals of supporting cross-Strait commercial engagement and economic integration as means for promoting regional prosperity and stability. The ECFA proposal and the cross-Strait cooperative dialogue process more generally are both seen in Washington as practical mechanisms for advancing those goals.

Cooke belongs to the school that increased economic integration will lead to “peace”. This is an article of faith unsupported by historical examples, and one could easily come up with dozens of counterexamples. The problem between China and Taiwan is China’s desire to annex the island. If that did not exist, there would be peace and economic integration would not be an issue. By the same token, so long as China maintains that desire, economic integration will not bring peace, because China’s goal in “integration” is annexation: increasing Taiwan’s dependence on it, levering Taiwanese firms out of lucrative cross-strait markets (as it has done with the gravel shipping and direct flight deals), dividing Taiwan’s populace, and sucking out the island’s economic strength. As the Taipei Times reported today, a KMT lawmaker warned on that very issue:

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said yesterday that a local Chinese government had “unreasonably” offered a large subsidy to encourage Taiwanese businesses to return to Taiwan.

Lo said she had received information from China-based Taiwanese businesspeople that the Dongguan City Government had offered Taiwanese businesses in the city a 20 million yuan (US$2.9 million) subsidy to encourage them to invest in Taiwan.

“What could the Dongguan City Government’s motive be? Why did it decide to offer a cash reward to encourage China-based Taiwanese businesses to return to the Taiwanese market?” she said.

Lo said the offer applied only to companies headquartered in Dongguan and whose annual turnover was more than NT$1 billion (US$3 million). At least 20 Taiwanese businesses had expressed interest in the subsidy, she said.

Lo said she suspected the Dongguan offer was aimed at bringing the companies’ capital back to China after they pool their resources in Taiwan.

Moreover, as economic integration accelerates, Taiwan will grow weaker relative to China, both economically and militarily…

….think that through. At present the high cost of military action against Taiwan deters China from attacking the island, along with the fact that the KMT can be expected to deliver the island into China’s hands. Assuming ECFA, two contradictory trends will manifest themselves. One is that Taiwan will continue to grow weaker, especially since we are not going to get new fighters and other military equipment from the US as the Obama Administration kowtows to Beijing. The other is that the island’s people do not want to be annexed to China and will likely remain firm in this view. But as the cost of military action against Taiwan falls — especially with the signals the US and its foreign policy establishment are sending that they are willing to sell out Taiwan — the attractiveness of the military option will rise to solve the problem of those pesky Taiwanese who won’t annex themselves voluntarily. Thus, further integration may well lead to a cross-strait conflict.

Never mind that once China gets Taiwan, it will shift its sights to its other territorial goals. Sooner or later there will be war over its Himal claims, Assam, the Spratlys, the Senkakus…. or whatever new claims China manufactures as its appetite increases. I’d be curious to know what territory US foreign policy analysts are planning to sell out to China next. The beast you guys helped create will have to be fed, you know…..

Thus, all the talk of “inevitability” of ECFA and integration is actually part of a larger, sustained campaign to get locals to resign themselves to the idea of being annexed to the PRC. It’s all of a piece, because ECFA is not about “economic integration” on the EU model but economic incorporation on the typical colonial/imperial model. Remember that so far China’s agreements with Taiwan have treated it as a domestic market, and excluded foreign firms from participation. Foreign airlines are not allowed to fly Taiwan-China routes, and ships registered to third party flags of convenience are not allowed on cross-strait shipping routes. Surely there is a clue here in China’s attitude how the US and its firms are going to be treated….
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Next Meet Up June 13

Jerome sends around word that the next meet up is June 13 at 10 AM, most likely at the same venue as before. Speaker and topic…..

+++++++++++++

Just a little advance notice; we will be having our breakfast club meeting on Saturday June 13 at 10 am. I will confirm the venue the week before; it will most likely be our traditional place.

The topic is George Leslie Mackay and the making of “Taiwanese”

The speaker is Michael Stainton, a brief bio of him is below. As you can see, he is well-qualified to speak on George Mackay. If you have been in Taiwan and have not heard of George Leslie Mackay or Mackay Hospital in Taipei, you need to. Mackay is an important figure of Taiwan’s ex-pat past.

Rev. Michael Stainton M.Div. M.A.

June 2009
Michael Stainton 史邁克牧師first went to Taiwan as a language student in 1974. Since then he has spent most of his life with Taiwan, even while living in Toronto. He is founder and secretary of the Canadian Mackay Committee. He is a Disciples of Christ 基督使徒教會minister, and was a missionary in Taiwan serving the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan from 1980 to 1991. It was there he first learned about George Leslie Mackay. In 1997 he organized the first international conference on George Leslie Mackay and his legacy in Taiwan and Canada, at the University of Toronto. He subsequently organized the Canadian Mackay Committee 加拿大馬偕委員會in 2000. In September 2005 he was in Taiwan as a consultant to a documentary on Mackay, “The Black Bearded Barbarian”, produced for OMNI TV. In 2006 he organized a conference on Canadian Missionaries in Asia, in which Mackay was one of the missionaries discussed. In 2007 he organized a panel on “Missionaries in Unaccustomed Contexts” at the Canadian Asian Studies Association East Asian Conference加拿大亞洲學會, where he presented on “George Leslie Mackay and the Head Tax” 馬偕與人頭稅. He was consultant and wrote the interpretive text for the new (2008) display of Taiwan Aboriginal Artifacts in the Royal Ontario Museum.

Michael is a Research Associate of the York Centre for Asian Studies約克大學亞洲研究中心where he is a specialist in Taiwan. He is also organizer for a research cluster on Canadian missionaries in Asia and organized an international symposium on Religion and Rights in China 中國宗教與人權研討會, which took place May 31.

Michael developed an interest in anthropology as a missionary in Taiwan working in rural community development with the Austronesian indigenous minority of Taiwan. He has pursued study in anthropology since 1992 and is currently a delinquent Ph.D candidate in Social Anthropology at York University. His to-be-completed dissertation is on the inhesion of religion, aboriginality and local politics among the Tayal 泰雅people.

He is an active in the Canadian Taiwanese community, and a member of Taiwanese United Church in Toronto多倫多台灣聯合教會. He is president會長of the Taiwanese Human Rights Association of Canada加拿大台灣人權協會.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Daily Links, May 29, 2009

What stunning views are found on the blogs today?

A post at DailyKos notes that Chinese are going to knock down Kashgar’s old town and replace it with a kitsch replica “to preserve local culture.” Anybody seen that policy in Taiwan?

Arthur Dent with the update on Jingfu Gate

KMT says Taiwan is “an island” says TaiwanRocks!. A-gu comments on the same issue.

Scott S on academic freedom in Canada and Taiwan

Global Voices on comparisons of Chen and Roh. Far Eastern Sweet Potato on same.

The Foreigner on a referendum on the island’s future.

Laowiseass critically dissects press conference English

Black marketing in Taiwan in 1965

Letters from Taiwan says Sri Lankan victory at UN has major implications for Taiwan.

Taoyuan Nights points out that the economy here can’t be as good as the government says.

Taiwan Drift blogs on that most Taiwanese of sayings: “don’t think too much”

A-gu notes that it is time for the DPP to get its shit together. Sorry man, ain’t gonna happen.

Jerome says Taiwan is Asia’s Voldemort.

AWESOME POSTS: Maddog on the next logical step for Taiwan, Taiwan Link on Satellite Radio & Taiwan & China, FESP on the strange case of Ma the PRC spy.

MEDIA: Will Taiwan defect to China? DPP will resolve the dispute over the Tainan County Chief Candidacy only after KMT nomination. Taiwan man cons $6.5 million out of lovelorn women, is arrested. Suppose he stopped at $2 million…. Xinhua trumpets SEF poll saying 60% satisfied with cross-strait direction. Now we know why such polls exist. Taiwan firm to market Google Android in China. Wang Yung-ching left no will to assign all his billions. AP with a long article on the glorious new era of Chinese investment in Taiwan. RDEC poll on ethnicity and politics in Taiwan. China backs Sri Lanka against the west. CEPD says April business conditions sluggish. 100 TONS of illegal pesticides from China seized in Taiwan. Forged shopping vouchers from China seized. Three new forest parks to open. Beijing now dictates US policy on Taiwan: The Beautiful Isle can’t even get a sensible policy like a visa waiver or extradition treaties. For shame! Ma says better China ties give Taiwan more room. See previous article. Ma urges US to sell advanced fighters. Since he knows US isn’t going to sell them, he can get brownie points for appearing to give a shit about the island’s future.

EVENTS: Taichung bike week is in December.

RESOURCES: The China Global Investment Tracker at Heritage Foundation. Downloadable E-book: Beyond the Strait

“Beyond the Strait: PLA Missions other than Taiwan. [2009]. Edited by Mr. Roy Kamphausen, Dr. David Lai, Dr. Andrew Scobell. While preventing independence likely remains the central aim of the PLA vis-a-vis Taiwan, Chinese foreign policy objectives worldwide are rapidly growing and diversifying. This volume analyzes the PLA’s involvement in disaster and humanitarian relief, United Nations peacekeeping operations (UNPKO), counterterrorism and border defense, security in outer space and cyberspace, and the level of activity in regional ‘joint’ operational contingencies. On the whole, the volume provides a discerning analysis of these varied PLA developments and how they affect policy towards both Taiwan and the entire Asia-Pacific region. While the significance of China has long been understood, the nation’s rise to prominence on the world scene is becoming more acutely felt. An understanding of the PLA’s growing roles both within China and internationally is of critical importance to the United States.”

URL: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=910

SWINE FLU: 9 cases now, with first domestic case.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Events and Announcements

Fixed Gear, the local bike blog, announces a meetup on May 31:

The first session Manhattan Cup Fixed gear meet up will be launched in Taichung on May 31st (Sunday).
For all participants from North, Central, South of Taiwan,
The location has transposed to Taiwan’s first three dimensional bike parking area’s TIGER CITY, to give everyone a fresh feelings.
Date: 2009.5.31
Location: Taichung TIGER CITY 1F Square
Activities: Keirin . Foot Down . Stand Comp . Trick Battle
Sponsorship: MANHATTAN . COG . Fyxation . Milwaukee . XXI . OZOTW . INTEGRAL 03 . SDG
Agenda:
Location: TIGER CITY 1F Square >> First Stop Yi-Chung SDG pick-up present Second Stop Ching-Mei Eslite’ SKID race (All participants will be enrolled for raffle ticket and prize).
Time Line: 1PM – 10PM
We would like to welcome all FIXED GEAR lovers to join in us
Kind Reminder: Suggested to bring helmet and bike lighting

And the Taiwan POW Camps Society has another activity, dedicating a memorial for the Toroku Camp:

The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society would like to extend an invitation to you to attend the dedication ceremony for the new TOROKU CAMP POW MEMORIAL located at Gou-Ba Elementray school in the village of Gou-Ba near the city of Douliou. The ceremony will take place on Saturday June 6th at 1:00 pm

The Toroku Camp was first occupied by American POWs who came to Taiwan from the Philippines in November 1944 off the hellship Hokusen Maru. After a terrible 39-day voyage the men were off-loaded on Taiwan for a period to regain their health before being moved on to Japan for further slave labour. The more than 1100 men on the ship were distributed throughout several camps in Taiwan, 294 of them being sent to Toroku Camp. Here with no slave labour and better living conditions, their health gradually began to improve. In mid-January 1945 most of the men were removed from the camp and sent either to Kaohsiung or Keelung, loaded onto ships and sent on to Japan.

Following this, a number of British POWs from Inrin Camp were moved into Toroku and stayed there with the few remaining Americans until April 1945 when they were all moved to Shirakawa Camp and Toroku Camp was closed. In total five men died in this camp. It is all these men – several of whom are still living today, who we want to remember and honour with the memorial.

We plan to charter a bus to take our staff and interested friends from Taipei to the ceremony. The cost will be NT$500 / person for the day – including fruit drinks on the bus – lunch is on your own. We will leave promptly at 9 am from in front of the Friends Hotel near the corner of Roosevelt Road and Hoping West Road. This location is easily accessible from the Guting MRT Station (take exit # 8). We will return that afternoon around 5 – 6 pm.

At this point the chartering of the bus will depend on whether we can fill it or not to help defray the costs. If not enough interest is shown then we will only hire a van to transport the staff and participants to the service.

So if you are interested in attending, please contact us by email ONLY at society@powtaiwan.org as soon as possible. The deadline for reservations for the bus is 5 pm on MONDAY JUNE 1st.

There are only 12 or 13 seats available so it’s “first come, first served”. Once you register your name will be put on the list and you will be contacted next week – if enough people sign up, to confirm that the bus will in fact be going. We certainly hope that there will be enough participants for the bus to go. If you have any questions kindly let us know by email. Also, if for some reason after reserving a seat, if you find that you cannot go, please let us know right away so we can give your seat to someone else.

Thank you again for your continued interest in the Taiwan POWs and our work to make sure that their story is told and that they are not forgotten. We are looking forward to a wonderful day and hope that you can be part of this history-making event with us.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Events and Announcements

Fixed Gear, the local bike blog, announces a meetup on May 31:

The first session Manhattan Cup Fixed gear meet up will be launched in Taichung on May 31st (Sunday).
For all participants from North, Central, South of Taiwan,
The location has transposed to Taiwan’s first three dimensional bike parking area’s TIGER CITY, to give everyone a fresh feelings.
Date: 2009.5.31
Location: Taichung TIGER CITY 1F Square
Activities: Keirin . Foot Down . Stand Comp . Trick Battle
Sponsorship: MANHATTAN . COG . Fyxation . Milwaukee . XXI . OZOTW . INTEGRAL 03 . SDG
Agenda:
Location: TIGER CITY 1F Square >> First Stop Yi-Chung SDG pick-up present Second Stop Ching-Mei Eslite’ SKID race (All participants will be enrolled for raffle ticket and prize).
Time Line: 1PM – 10PM
We would like to welcome all FIXED GEAR lovers to join in us
Kind Reminder: Suggested to bring helmet and bike lighting

And the Taiwan POW Camps Society has another activity, dedicating a memorial for the Toroku Camp:

The Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society would like to extend an invitation to you to attend the dedication ceremony for the new TOROKU CAMP POW MEMORIAL located at Gou-Ba Elementray school in the village of Gou-Ba near the city of Douliou. The ceremony will take place on Saturday June 6th at 1:00 pm

The Toroku Camp was first occupied by American POWs who came to Taiwan from the Philippines in November 1944 off the hellship Hokusen Maru. After a terrible 39-day voyage the men were off-loaded on Taiwan for a period to regain their health before being moved on to Japan for further slave labour. The more than 1100 men on the ship were distributed throughout several camps in Taiwan, 294 of them being sent to Toroku Camp. Here with no slave labour and better living conditions, their health gradually began to improve. In mid-January 1945 most of the men were removed from the camp and sent either to Kaohsiung or Keelung, loaded onto ships and sent on to Japan.

Following this, a number of British POWs from Inrin Camp were moved into Toroku and stayed there with the few remaining Americans until April 1945 when they were all moved to Shirakawa Camp and Toroku Camp was closed. In total five men died in this camp. It is all these men – several of whom are still living today, who we want to remember and honour with the memorial.

We plan to charter a bus to take our staff and interested friends from Taipei to the ceremony. The cost will be NT$500 / person for the day – including fruit drinks on the bus – lunch is on your own. We will leave promptly at 9 am from in front of the Friends Hotel near the corner of Roosevelt Road and Hoping West Road. This location is easily accessible from the Guting MRT Station (take exit # 8). We will return that afternoon around 5 – 6 pm.

At this point the chartering of the bus will depend on whether we can fill it or not to help defray the costs. If not enough interest is shown then we will only hire a van to transport the staff and participants to the service.

So if you are interested in attending, please contact us by email ONLY at society@powtaiwan.org as soon as possible. The deadline for reservations for the bus is 5 pm on MONDAY JUNE 1st.

There are only 12 or 13 seats available so it’s “first come, first served”. Once you register your name will be put on the list and you will be contacted next week – if enough people sign up, to confirm that the bus will in fact be going. We certainly hope that there will be enough participants for the bus to go. If you have any questions kindly let us know by email. Also, if for some reason after reserving a seat, if you find that you cannot go, please let us know right away so we can give your seat to someone else.

Thank you again for your continued interest in the Taiwan POWs and our work to make sure that their story is told and that they are not forgotten. We are looking forward to a wonderful day and hope that you can be part of this history-making event with us.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Ma’s Diplomatic Truce Scores Another Resounding Success

This translation of the PRC squeeze on Taiwan’s overseas diplomatic efforts is from the KMT’s own news site:

According to media reports, the Foreign Ministry’s efforts to establish Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices (TECRO) in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma have hit an impasse. In addition, the Foreign Ministry has also decided to withdraw its representative offices from Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Venezuela. Hsia Li-Yan, Deputy Foreign Minister, said during the interpellation period yesterday, “The only reason is, of course, Mainland China.”

Hsia pointed out that with the assistance of Taiwan businessmen, the Foreign Ministry had been able to establish official contacts with Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. Hsia said, “However, the three countries maintained reservations with regard to establishing TECRO offices,” adding that “the Foreign Ministry will continue in its efforts to set up offices.”

Although a TECRO office in Bangladesh was set up more than four years ago, our officials have not been allowed to display a TECRO plaque or issue visas and Bangladeshi officials have refused to interact with TECRO officials. Commenting on this, Hsia said, “If we continue to maintain a TECRO office in Bangladesh, it would be a waste of the taxpayer’s money.” Hsia added that “officials of the representative offices in Bolivia and Venezuela are having difficulties in obtaining visas even for themselves, so how are they going to issue visas and notarize documents?”

President Ma has striven for a cross-Strait diplomatic truce ever since he took office, hoping that both side of the Strait would put an end to the diplomatic tug-of-war. However, he has not urged with special emphasis that both sides of the Strait could establish representative offices in the capital cities of each other’s allies.

Boy, ya bend over backwards to please the PRC and they still treat ya badly. Who could have imagined it? One need only contrast this failure with DPP Mayor Chen Chu of Kaohsiung, who not only described Ma as “President” in China, but also refused to enter on a Taiwan Compatriot Visa, the odious PRC annexation of Taiwan via the visitor’s status.

The triumphant screeches over the World Health Assembly by the KMT and its media pals exist to throw dirt over the ongoing reduction in Taiwan’s international space that the Ma Administration appears to be acquiescing in. Note too the fallout from US foreign policy — Chavez in Venezuela leans to China because the US leans on Chavez, with concomitant negative results for Taiwan. Remember when Venezuela refused to issue visas to the Taiwan baseball team two years ago? It’s good that there is solidarity among small countries….

The news comes as the President and First Lady are off to Central America through the US. US approval of Ma is signaled by the fact that he is permitted to transit through Seattle and Los Angeles, a privilege also accorded to Chen Shui-bian back before the Bush Administration decided what it really needed to be doing was cozying up to Beijing.
___________
Daily Links

• Michael Richardson reports that the new Obama point man for North Korea thinks Taiwan is a province of China and hews to the line that economic integration will lead to political integration — and thinks Taiwan’s democracy complicates things. Yes, if only everyone simplified things by shooting their own people like China does…..
• China to send buying teams to Taiwan.
• Taiwan fans of Korean TV show peeved at poor presentation in Taiwan, think downloaded version is better.
• Taiwan invests in baseball.
• maddog discusses the defacing of the Jingfu gate by the KMT and the DPP protest of it.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Ma’s Diplomatic Truce Scores Another Resounding Success

This translation of the PRC squeeze on Taiwan’s overseas diplomatic efforts is from the KMT’s own news site:

According to media reports, the Foreign Ministry’s efforts to establish Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices (TECRO) in Cambodia, Laos, and Burma have hit an impasse. In addition, the Foreign Ministry has also decided to withdraw its representative offices from Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Venezuela. Hsia Li-Yan, Deputy Foreign Minister, said during the interpellation period yesterday, “The only reason is, of course, Mainland China.”

Hsia pointed out that with the assistance of Taiwan businessmen, the Foreign Ministry had been able to establish official contacts with Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. Hsia said, “However, the three countries maintained reservations with regard to establishing TECRO offices,” adding that “the Foreign Ministry will continue in its efforts to set up offices.”

Although a TECRO office in Bangladesh was set up more than four years ago, our officials have not been allowed to display a TECRO plaque or issue visas and Bangladeshi officials have refused to interact with TECRO officials. Commenting on this, Hsia said, “If we continue to maintain a TECRO office in Bangladesh, it would be a waste of the taxpayer’s money.” Hsia added that “officials of the representative offices in Bolivia and Venezuela are having difficulties in obtaining visas even for themselves, so how are they going to issue visas and notarize documents?”

President Ma has striven for a cross-Strait diplomatic truce ever since he took office, hoping that both side of the Strait would put an end to the diplomatic tug-of-war. However, he has not urged with special emphasis that both sides of the Strait could establish representative offices in the capital cities of each other’s allies.

Boy, ya bend over backwards to please the PRC and they still treat ya badly. Who could have imagined it? One need only contrast this failure with DPP Mayor Chen Chu of Kaohsiung, who not only described Ma as “President” in China, but also refused to enter on a Taiwan Compatriot Visa, the odious PRC annexation of Taiwan via the visitor’s status.

The triumphant screeches over the World Health Assembly by the KMT and its media pals exist to throw dirt over the ongoing reduction in Taiwan’s international space that the Ma Administration appears to be acquiescing in. Note too the fallout from US foreign policy — Chavez in Venezuela leans to China because the US leans on Chavez, with concomitant negative results for Taiwan. Remember when Venezuela refused to issue visas to the Taiwan baseball team two years ago? It’s good that there is solidarity among small countries….

The news comes as the President and First Lady are off to Central America through the US. US approval of Ma is signaled by the fact that he is permitted to transit through Seattle and Los Angeles, a privilege also accorded to Chen Shui-bian back before the Bush Administration decided what it really needed to be doing was cozying up to Beijing.
___________
Daily Links

• Michael Richardson reports that the new Obama point man for North Korea thinks Taiwan is a province of China and hews to the line that economic integration will lead to political integration — and thinks Taiwan’s democracy complicates things. Yes, if only everyone simplified things by shooting their own people like China does…..
• China to send buying teams to Taiwan.
• Taiwan fans of Korean TV show peeved at poor presentation in Taiwan, think downloaded version is better.
• Taiwan invests in baseball.
• maddog discusses the defacing of the Jingfu gate by the KMT and the DPP protest of it.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

PRC Spy or Clumsy Tourist?

One year when I was in India, long before I ever came to Taiwan, a friend of mine and I took a boat ride through the harbor of Bombay (ironically there was a Taiwanese film crew on board compiling an India travelogue). As the boat crossed the harbor, the guide indicated a direction and said we couldn’t photograph off to that side. I took that as an invitation and immediately took several photographs….

The Taipei Times reported today that a PRC citizen who took photos at a military base in Taipei was arrested. AFP reported that he had been released, but the Taipei Times report said he had been taken into custody….

Military police had detained the tourist, Ma Zhongfei (馬中飛), chairman of a high-tech company in China, for taking photos of military property at the Armed Forces Recruitment Center in Taipei. He was placed under arrest late on Monday night and detained for questioning.

Taipei prosecutors said they transferred the case to the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors’ Office at midnight on Monday because the case fell under the High Court’s jurisdiction.

Prosecutor Tseng Chiun-che (曾俊哲) yesterday took Ma back to the recruitment center to question him about the exact locations where he had taken photos and where he had aimed his camera.

This would be important in determining Ma’s reasons for taking the photos, prosecutors said.

Ma told prosecutors that he came to Taiwan on a nine-day tour and had planned to return to China today.

He left his tour group on Monday afternoon saying he was going to Sindian (新店) in Taipei County to pay his respects to a deceased Taiwanese friend. As he traveled along Keelung Road, he stopped at the recruitment center and took some pictures.

There’s a story going around that the firm that invited him is just an empty desk, but I haven’t been able to confirm it. It doesn’t really seem believable that a PRC spy could be so clumsy. The real threat isn’t from tourists taking photos of facilities, but from PRC sabotage experts, prostitutes, gangsters, and the like. The PRC already has much better information on Taiwan’s defense network than any tourist photos could provide — although it is true that lax security at Taiwan’s military facilities is often identified by outsiders as a signficant problem. As Lawrence Eyton wrote seven years ago….

It also follows the release of an alarming statistic by the Ministry of National Defense according to which more than 3,000 former Taiwan military officers are now either doing business or working in “consultancies” in mainland China.

And of course, at least one of the political parties on Taiwan has formed an alliance with the CCP…

UPDATE: J Michael has an awesome post on this. Note that the alleged tourist has been released on his own recognizance and is free to return to China.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

PRC Spy or Clumsy Tourist?

One year when I was in India, long before I ever came to Taiwan, a friend of mine and I took a boat ride through the harbor of Bombay (ironically there was a Taiwanese film crew on board compiling an India travelogue). As the boat crossed the harbor, the guide indicated a direction and said we couldn’t photograph off to that side. I took that as an invitation and immediately took several photographs….

The Taipei Times reported today that a PRC citizen who took photos at a military base in Taipei was arrested. AFP reported that he had been released, but the Taipei Times report said he had been taken into custody….

Military police had detained the tourist, Ma Zhongfei (馬中飛), chairman of a high-tech company in China, for taking photos of military property at the Armed Forces Recruitment Center in Taipei. He was placed under arrest late on Monday night and detained for questioning.

Taipei prosecutors said they transferred the case to the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors’ Office at midnight on Monday because the case fell under the High Court’s jurisdiction.

Prosecutor Tseng Chiun-che (曾俊哲) yesterday took Ma back to the recruitment center to question him about the exact locations where he had taken photos and where he had aimed his camera.

This would be important in determining Ma’s reasons for taking the photos, prosecutors said.

Ma told prosecutors that he came to Taiwan on a nine-day tour and had planned to return to China today.

He left his tour group on Monday afternoon saying he was going to Sindian (新店) in Taipei County to pay his respects to a deceased Taiwanese friend. As he traveled along Keelung Road, he stopped at the recruitment center and took some pictures.

There’s a story going around that the firm that invited him is just an empty desk, but I haven’t been able to confirm it. It doesn’t really seem believable that a PRC spy could be so clumsy. The real threat isn’t from tourists taking photos of facilities, but from PRC sabotage experts, prostitutes, gangsters, and the like. The PRC already has much better information on Taiwan’s defense network than any tourist photos could provide — although it is true that lax security at Taiwan’s military facilities is often identified by outsiders as a signficant problem. As Lawrence Eyton wrote seven years ago….

It also follows the release of an alarming statistic by the Ministry of National Defense according to which more than 3,000 former Taiwan military officers are now either doing business or working in “consultancies” in mainland China.

And of course, at least one of the political parties on Taiwan has formed an alliance with the CCP…

UPDATE: J Michael has an awesome post on this. Note that the alleged tourist has been released on his own recognizance and is free to return to China.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Taiwan’s Democracy Runs Deep, Says Chinese Scholar

The second half of a speech given in China on May 9 by Yu Jianrong, Director, Centre for Social Issues, Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His discussion of Taiwan begins in the third paragraph…..note how he uses Taiwan to pessimistically assess China.

+++++++++++++++++++

Yu Jianrong: Rigid stability: an explanatory framework for China’s social situation (part 2 of 2)

Time: May 9, 2009 Place: Yanshan Auditorium [2nd half of speech, relevant to Taiwan]

Third, we must carry out judicial reform, establish a judicial authority. I’ve believed that in Chinese society, given its various problems, we opt for petitions as we cannot find a better system to resolve disputes. We often say that the petition system necessarily arose due to judicial unfairness and corruption of the judiciary. So I think the reform of the judicial system is a very important reform now. If China is to resolve the social problems brought about by rigid stability, judicial reform is imperative.

How to change the judicial system? Speaking of the need for judicial checks and balances, who is to be checked and balanced? Use the judicial power to check and balance the grass-roots levels of government. The judicial problems relating to rights of the Chinese people are mainly at the level of lower and intermediate courts. Can we think of a way to take them out of the hands of local governments and officials? Can we first change the grass-roots courts and procuratorates, to the point where at least the personnel, finances and material of county and municipal courts are not under the control of local governments? I think that on the one hand, give authority to local county government, so that it had a certain degree of autonomy; on the other hand, there must be the check and balance of judicial power: when the judiciary can take on social responsibility, acting as the last baseline of society, the incidence of conflict will be much less.

Changing this rigid stable structure, that is, politically reforming it, including reforming the judicial system, is what I’ve been thinking about the past few years. In December 2004 I went to Taiwan to visit make a speech at the National Taiwan University. After giving the talk, I asked them to send a driver, give me a map, send someone to pay the bills, and let me go from Taipei to Tainan map in hand. I asked the Taiwanese people many questions. I asked, what would you do if your officials demolished your house? 99% of the respondents said: impossible, how could he wipe my house out? Because this house is mine. I kept on asking: if it were demolished, what would you do? They said they would report it to the court, the court would sentence them, which would be big trouble for the government. What if the judge was corrupt? I asked. They again replied: impossible. The judges could not be corrupt, because I have a title deed, I have ownership, so the judge cannot make an arbitrary determination. I kept asking, what would you do in case of corruption? Because on the mainland 90% of people believe judges may be corrupt. The people of Taiwan are different, he said, I can go to my Member of Parliament, who would be delighted to look into it immediately, hold a news conference, the judge couldn’t stand up to it. I then asked, what if your member of parliament was corrupt too? He said this was impossible, how could it be? Others may be corrupt, but for MPs it was impossible. If I didn’t believe it, we could just give the MP a phone call. So he took out his mobile phone and called his MP, saying “I’ve found out about something going on here, please get over here right away.” His MP, he said, would come up with something and come over directly. The MP would be delighted and really worked up. Why? He hoped something like this would happen, because once he started looking into it he would be able to gain great amounts of political capital. So if you go to Taiwan, you often see people calling their MPs, who immediately come out, and as soon as they have done an investigation they notify a lot of the media. Next, I asked what if the MP was corrupt? They said that corruption is impossible, he will have to come around to lobby for our votes, if he hasn’t solved my problem, if he is corrupt, he won’t get my vote.

Returning from Taiwan, I summed up a number of the most important characteristics of a harmonious grass-roots level society: Taiwan’s grass-roots society is very stable, all expression takes place within a statutory framework. A very important feature of what we call mass incidents, is that they have nature of a non-legal order. My feeling on first visiting Taiwan was not like people say, many Taiwanese people have never met a mainland person, they invite you for dinner, take you to their town. Noticing they hadn’t lock their doors, I said “your door isn’t locked,” “It’s unnecessary,” he said, “No problem, we have a security camera in the house so we can see if anyone is coming.” I thought, “With us over here, if anyone came they’d take the camera as well.” (Laughter). Observing Taiwanese society, I think, first of all, a stable society determines property rights, whereas we are uncertain whether what you is said to be yours is in fact yours, and what is not yours is in fact not. Secondly, a judiciary with authority, when there’s a problem you can go find the judiciary; there is judicial authority in Taiwan but not here — in the eyes of the people most judges are corrupt. Third, a genuine system of representation, one that relies on votes, and behind which is an open media.

Stable transition from rigid to resilient stability in China must start with these things. Some people ask whether they can be achieved in mainland China. Basically, they can’t. Because what we have here is revolutionary legitimacy, reform has no driving force, officials blindly flip-flop [zheteng], there is no consensus in the society. I see that yesterday a magazine printed the talk I gave Japan, and people wrote to me saying that what you speak of so well is not achievable. When I say this my heart is undecided. I’m not sure if it’s achievable, is there another, achievable way? Revolutionary discourse has distanced itself from us, revolution is no longer legitimate.

If it’s revolution you want, you can’t achieve it with the people: when surveying the peasants in Hunan, I asked them, what did they think of what they learned from Mao about starting a peasant association? “Don’t believe them,” they told me, “after those people left it was another group of corrupt officials, you want to start a revolution again, don’t make it yet another fraud.” In recent years I have gone many places and found that people do not agree with the adoption of violent means to break the order. Going online to express your grievances is OK.

Although revolutionary discourse has no legitimacy, the many problems it brought about has caused it to lose momentum. Reform has a lot of problems, to be sure, because reform in China is always led by a particular department, and the choices that are made are always in its own favor. It’s difficult for us to place great hopes in reform, and another big problem is that without sufficient pressure, would a ruling team be willing to release its power? Since Sun Yat-sen copied party rule of the state from the Soviet Union, party and state have been tied together. Political reform involves the distribution of power, can we place hope in the power-holders voluntarily letting go of power? So we can’t see where see the real driving force for reform of the political system is located. The power-holders blindly flip-flop for the sake of self-interest; the elite tell us not to flip-flop, but not to flip-flop is not to reform. On these issues therefore, China can not find the force and motivation for reform.

Another important issue is, the elite having failed to achieve consensus, and the forces of civil society not having been integrated, there is no mode of expression. Frankly, I simply don’t know what ultimately is to be done. I know where the road is, but who is going to lead us onto it? Who can lead this nation onto it?

Chinese scholars are of two minds regarding social stability: one is that many people still argue that it’s still stable and we don’t want chaos, once there’s chaos the Chinese nation will take many years to restore order. The other is, chaos—bring it on. While we hope that this country, this nation, this people will not be damaged because of social unrest, we also know how we should reform, but can’t find the force, find a pathway, we feel that there is no power, we feel great difficulty. Although our hearts are full of confusion, we are still looking at the stars, hoping the nation can find a path of stable development. I wonder, what those looking up to the stars today will eventually do for this society? Do to move this society from rigid to resilient stability? My mind is full of doubt.

Moderator: Thank you professor for you brilliant speech. Despite our lack of strength, let’s look up at the stars, and press forwards. Now is the time is for free questions.

Question 1: If personnel, finances, and material of county and intermediate courts were not under local government control, couldn’t judicial corruption be a bit better? When would this be possible?

Yu Jianrong: Recently, I discussed this issue with the President and Vice Presidents of the High Court of Yunnan, what should be done in the current case in which China is unable to carry through a democratisation of the party? Because the interests of the people are directly affected by the county and intermediate courts, they are what people have least belief in, hence the people’s lack basic trust in the judiciary. I feel that were the personnel, finances, and material of county level courts controlled by the province, the problem of localization of the judiciary will be overcome, which would help reduce judicial corruption.

Question 2: Thank you for your address.

The reason the rigidity stability you speak of can be carried out in China: the regime is currently in a process of outward tightening and inward relaxation, is this manner of coping what causes rigid stability be practiced in China?

Yu Jianrong: It’s not outward tightening and inward relaxation so much as inability to think of a solution. The greatest problem of rigid stability is rule by division of spoils, they check each other through stability. If you want to stabilize things, then you have to listen to me, otherwise what will you do when the country is destabilised? Nor do the people want instability. But rigid stability doesn’t strive for genuine harmony in the country, or move toward resilient stability. In my view, what this stability was is absence of disorder; even legitimate demonstrations are thought of as unstable, because you may be able to challenge my power. The rigid stability I speak of is in fact mainly a challenge to power itself, rather than fundamental turbulence brought about by the social order. So my view is that it can seek a temporary stability, as to how it will be in the future is for future generations to decide. Deng Xiaoping was very intelligent, he always said that those coming after us are smarter than us, it will be a problem for future generations how things should be then.

Moderator: It’s time we came to an end. We’re very grateful for the professor’s speech: how Chinese society makes a transition from rigid to resilient stability will affect the well-being of every one of us. I feel you are a bit pessimistic, you feel that there is no consensus in this society, I think there is consensus, a most basic one being that everyone wants this nation can avoid the tragic fate of 2 millennia of the cycle of alternating chaos and order. And given such a consensus, we have a lot of room for effort, so we should full of strength, and press onwards.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Taiwan’s Democracy Runs Deep, Says Chinese Scholar

The second half of a speech given in China on May 9 by Yu Jianrong, Director, Centre for Social Issues, Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His discussion of Taiwan begins in the third paragraph…..note how he uses Taiwan to pessimistically assess China.

+++++++++++++++++++

Yu Jianrong: Rigid stability: an explanatory framework for China’s social situation (part 2 of 2)

Time: May 9, 2009 Place: Yanshan Auditorium [2nd half of speech, relevant to Taiwan]

Third, we must carry out judicial reform, establish a judicial authority. I’ve believed that in Chinese society, given its various problems, we opt for petitions as we cannot find a better system to resolve disputes. We often say that the petition system necessarily arose due to judicial unfairness and corruption of the judiciary. So I think the reform of the judicial system is a very important reform now. If China is to resolve the social problems brought about by rigid stability, judicial reform is imperative.

How to change the judicial system? Speaking of the need for judicial checks and balances, who is to be checked and balanced? Use the judicial power to check and balance the grass-roots levels of government. The judicial problems relating to rights of the Chinese people are mainly at the level of lower and intermediate courts. Can we think of a way to take them out of the hands of local governments and officials? Can we first change the grass-roots courts and procuratorates, to the point where at least the personnel, finances and material of county and municipal courts are not under the control of local governments? I think that on the one hand, give authority to local county government, so that it had a certain degree of autonomy; on the other hand, there must be the check and balance of judicial power: when the judiciary can take on social responsibility, acting as the last baseline of society, the incidence of conflict will be much less.

Changing this rigid stable structure, that is, politically reforming it, including reforming the judicial system, is what I’ve been thinking about the past few years. In December 2004 I went to Taiwan to visit make a speech at the National Taiwan University. After giving the talk, I asked them to send a driver, give me a map, send someone to pay the bills, and let me go from Taipei to Tainan map in hand. I asked the Taiwanese people many questions. I asked, what would you do if your officials demolished your house? 99% of the respondents said: impossible, how could he wipe my house out? Because this house is mine. I kept on asking: if it were demolished, what would you do? They said they would report it to the court, the court would sentence them, which would be big trouble for the government. What if the judge was corrupt? I asked. They again replied: impossible. The judges could not be corrupt, because I have a title deed, I have ownership, so the judge cannot make an arbitrary determination. I kept asking, what would you do in case of corruption? Because on the mainland 90% of people believe judges may be corrupt. The people of Taiwan are different, he said, I can go to my Member of Parliament, who would be delighted to look into it immediately, hold a news conference, the judge couldn’t stand up to it. I then asked, what if your member of parliament was corrupt too? He said this was impossible, how could it be? Others may be corrupt, but for MPs it was impossible. If I didn’t believe it, we could just give the MP a phone call. So he took out his mobile phone and called his MP, saying “I’ve found out about something going on here, please get over here right away.” His MP, he said, would come up with something and come over directly. The MP would be delighted and really worked up. Why? He hoped something like this would happen, because once he started looking into it he would be able to gain great amounts of political capital. So if you go to Taiwan, you often see people calling their MPs, who immediately come out, and as soon as they have done an investigation they notify a lot of the media. Next, I asked what if the MP was corrupt? They said that corruption is impossible, he will have to come around to lobby for our votes, if he hasn’t solved my problem, if he is corrupt, he won’t get my vote.

Returning from Taiwan, I summed up a number of the most important characteristics of a harmonious grass-roots level society: Taiwan’s grass-roots society is very stable, all expression takes place within a statutory framework. A very important feature of what we call mass incidents, is that they have nature of a non-legal order. My feeling on first visiting Taiwan was not like people say, many Taiwanese people have never met a mainland person, they invite you for dinner, take you to their town. Noticing they hadn’t lock their doors, I said “your door isn’t locked,” “It’s unnecessary,” he said, “No problem, we have a security camera in the house so we can see if anyone is coming.” I thought, “With us over here, if anyone came they’d take the camera as well.” (Laughter). Observing Taiwanese society, I think, first of all, a stable society determines property rights, whereas we are uncertain whether what you is said to be yours is in fact yours, and what is not yours is in fact not. Secondly, a judiciary with authority, when there’s a problem you can go find the judiciary; there is judicial authority in Taiwan but not here — in the eyes of the people most judges are corrupt. Third, a genuine system of representation, one that relies on votes, and behind which is an open media.

Stable transition from rigid to resilient stability in China must start with these things. Some people ask whether they can be achieved in mainland China. Basically, they can’t. Because what we have here is revolutionary legitimacy, reform has no driving force, officials blindly flip-flop [zheteng], there is no consensus in the society. I see that yesterday a magazine printed the talk I gave Japan, and people wrote to me saying that what you speak of so well is not achievable. When I say this my heart is undecided. I’m not sure if it’s achievable, is there another, achievable way? Revolutionary discourse has distanced itself from us, revolution is no longer legitimate.

If it’s revolution you want, you can’t achieve it with the people: when surveying the peasants in Hunan, I asked them, what did they think of what they learned from Mao about starting a peasant association? “Don’t believe them,” they told me, “after those people left it was another group of corrupt officials, you want to start a revolution again, don’t make it yet another fraud.” In recent years I have gone many places and found that people do not agree with the adoption of violent means to break the order. Going online to express your grievances is OK.

Although revolutionary discourse has no legitimacy, the many problems it brought about has caused it to lose momentum. Reform has a lot of problems, to be sure, because reform in China is always led by a particular department, and the choices that are made are always in its own favor. It’s difficult for us to place great hopes in reform, and another big problem is that without sufficient pressure, would a ruling team be willing to release its power? Since Sun Yat-sen copied party rule of the state from the Soviet Union, party and state have been tied together. Political reform involves the distribution of power, can we place hope in the power-holders voluntarily letting go of power? So we can’t see where see the real driving force for reform of the political system is located. The power-holders blindly flip-flop for the sake of self-interest; the elite tell us not to flip-flop, but not to flip-flop is not to reform. On these issues therefore, China can not find the force and motivation for reform.

Another important issue is, the elite having failed to achieve consensus, and the forces of civil society not having been integrated, there is no mode of expression. Frankly, I simply don’t know what ultimately is to be done. I know where the road is, but who is going to lead us onto it? Who can lead this nation onto it?

Chinese scholars are of two minds regarding social stability: one is that many people still argue that it’s still stable and we don’t want chaos, once there’s chaos the Chinese nation will take many years to restore order. The other is, chaos—bring it on. While we hope that this country, this nation, this people will not be damaged because of social unrest, we also know how we should reform, but can’t find the force, find a pathway, we feel that there is no power, we feel great difficulty. Although our hearts are full of confusion, we are still looking at the stars, hoping the nation can find a path of stable development. I wonder, what those looking up to the stars today will eventually do for this society? Do to move this society from rigid to resilient stability? My mind is full of doubt.

Moderator: Thank you professor for you brilliant speech. Despite our lack of strength, let’s look up at the stars, and press forwards. Now is the time is for free questions.

Question 1: If personnel, finances, and material of county and intermediate courts were not under local government control, couldn’t judicial corruption be a bit better? When would this be possible?

Yu Jianrong: Recently, I discussed this issue with the President and Vice Presidents of the High Court of Yunnan, what should be done in the current case in which China is unable to carry through a democratisation of the party? Because the interests of the people are directly affected by the county and intermediate courts, they are what people have least belief in, hence the people’s lack basic trust in the judiciary. I feel that were the personnel, finances, and material of county level courts controlled by the province, the problem of localization of the judiciary will be overcome, which would help reduce judicial corruption.

Question 2: Thank you for your address.

The reason the rigidity stability you speak of can be carried out in China: the regime is currently in a process of outward tightening and inward relaxation, is this manner of coping what causes rigid stability be practiced in China?

Yu Jianrong: It’s not outward tightening and inward relaxation so much as inability to think of a solution. The greatest problem of rigid stability is rule by division of spoils, they check each other through stability. If you want to stabilize things, then you have to listen to me, otherwise what will you do when the country is destabilised? Nor do the people want instability. But rigid stability doesn’t strive for genuine harmony in the country, or move toward resilient stability. In my view, what this stability was is absence of disorder; even legitimate demonstrations are thought of as unstable, because you may be able to challenge my power. The rigid stability I speak of is in fact mainly a challenge to power itself, rather than fundamental turbulence brought about by the social order. So my view is that it can seek a temporary stability, as to how it will be in the future is for future generations to decide. Deng Xiaoping was very intelligent, he always said that those coming after us are smarter than us, it will be a problem for future generations how things should be then.

Moderator: It’s time we came to an end. We’re very grateful for the professor’s speech: how Chinese society makes a transition from rigid to resilient stability will affect the well-being of every one of us. I feel you are a bit pessimistic, you feel that there is no consensus in this society, I think there is consensus, a most basic one being that everyone wants this nation can avoid the tragic fate of 2 millennia of the cycle of alternating chaos and order. And given such a consensus, we have a lot of room for effort, so we should full of strength, and press onwards.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Chen Chu Speaks Out in China

Chen Chu, the DPP mayor of Kaohsiung, is back from her trip to China:

Chen, who left for Beijing on Thursday, returned on Sunday night to cheers from her supporters and protests from a number of pro-independence groups unhappy with her trip.

The Taiwan Southern Society, the Taiwan Society Hakka and a number of pro-independence groups that had urged Chen to scrap the trip said they would boycott her re-election bid next year.

A member of “the 908 Taiwan Nation Movement” sitting in seats reserved for the public at the city council yesterday held up two posters criticizing Chen for not stating that Taiwan and China are two different countries while on her trip.

While meeting Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong (郭金龍) last week, Chen mentioned “President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] of the central government,” winning praise from politicians across party lines in Taiwan.

Asked yesterday about the resulting criticism from some civic groups, Chen said she respected their opinions because Taiwan is a democracy.

However, she added, “I’m also an independence activist. I was imprisoned for my pro-­independence beliefs,” she said.

She declined to comment on whether she thought that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should adjust any of its China policies or that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should visit China.

Independent Kaohsiung City Councilor Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源) praised Chen at yesterday’s council session and urged her to be “brave” in the face of criticism.

Meanwhile, Chen called on Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川), who ­yesterday said Chen’s trip to China was a “betrayal” of Taiwan, to retract his comment.

“[Yeh’s attendance at] the Wolrd Health Assembly and my [trip to China] are completely different. He should shoulder responsibility for what happened there. I hope he will take back his criticism of me,” Chen said on the sidelines of the session.

In China Chen Chu had referred to President Ma as “President Ma”, something that KMT politicians negotiating with the CCP in the PRC had conspicuously avoided. The criticism of Chen Chu by her own side is just plain bizarre, and shows how stupid and self-defeating the Greens can be. Note also that Minister Yeh, off in Geneva for the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, criticized Chen Chu for “betraying” Taiwan. Irony meters must be exploding all over the island.

Chen Chu’s visit also shows that contrary to the claims of the international media, the DPP is quite willing to engage with China — as we all knew anyway — they just not are willing to engage at the expense of Taiwan’s sovereignty, as Ma and the KMT are. Good politics and good political theatre on Chen Chu’s part.

United Daily News (UDN), the reliably pro-KMT paper, offered a poll on the visit, which noted overwhelming support for Chen Chu. Polls here aren’t exactly reliable.

Chen Chu is an old independence activist, one of the Kaohsiung 8 arrested after the international human rights day protest in Dec of 1979.
____________
Daily Links

• Chinese investor buys chunk of Cavs.
• Yesterday we saw China in Central Asia, today it is China in SE Asia.
• Ma save us! Export orders fall 20% in April, down 27.3% for first quarter year on year.
• CNBC economist argues Taiwan is too dependent on China and stimulus is insufficient (video).

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Chen Chu Speaks Out in China

Chen Chu, the DPP mayor of Kaohsiung, is back from her trip to China:

Chen, who left for Beijing on Thursday, returned on Sunday night to cheers from her supporters and protests from a number of pro-independence groups unhappy with her trip.

The Taiwan Southern Society, the Taiwan Society Hakka and a number of pro-independence groups that had urged Chen to scrap the trip said they would boycott her re-election bid next year.

A member of “the 908 Taiwan Nation Movement” sitting in seats reserved for the public at the city council yesterday held up two posters criticizing Chen for not stating that Taiwan and China are two different countries while on her trip.

While meeting Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong (郭金龍) last week, Chen mentioned “President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] of the central government,” winning praise from politicians across party lines in Taiwan.

Asked yesterday about the resulting criticism from some civic groups, Chen said she respected their opinions because Taiwan is a democracy.

However, she added, “I’m also an independence activist. I was imprisoned for my pro-­independence beliefs,” she said.

She declined to comment on whether she thought that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should adjust any of its China policies or that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should visit China.

Independent Kaohsiung City Councilor Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源) praised Chen at yesterday’s council session and urged her to be “brave” in the face of criticism.

Meanwhile, Chen called on Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川), who ­yesterday said Chen’s trip to China was a “betrayal” of Taiwan, to retract his comment.

“[Yeh’s attendance at] the Wolrd Health Assembly and my [trip to China] are completely different. He should shoulder responsibility for what happened there. I hope he will take back his criticism of me,” Chen said on the sidelines of the session.

In China Chen Chu had referred to President Ma as “President Ma”, something that KMT politicians negotiating with the CCP in the PRC had conspicuously avoided. The criticism of Chen Chu by her own side is just plain bizarre, and shows how stupid and self-defeating the Greens can be. Note also that Minister Yeh, off in Geneva for the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, criticized Chen Chu for “betraying” Taiwan. Irony meters must be exploding all over the island.

Chen Chu’s visit also shows that contrary to the claims of the international media, the DPP is quite willing to engage with China — as we all knew anyway — they just not are willing to engage at the expense of Taiwan’s sovereignty, as Ma and the KMT are. Good politics and good political theatre on Chen Chu’s part.

United Daily News (UDN), the reliably pro-KMT paper, offered a poll on the visit, which noted overwhelming support for Chen Chu. Polls here aren’t exactly reliable.

Chen Chu is an old independence activist, one of the Kaohsiung 8 arrested after the international human rights day protest in Dec of 1979.
____________
Daily Links

• Chinese investor buys chunk of Cavs.
• Yesterday we saw China in Central Asia, today it is China in SE Asia.
• Ma save us! Export orders fall 20% in April, down 27.3% for first quarter year on year.
• CNBC economist argues Taiwan is too dependent on China and stimulus is insufficient (video).

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Blogger-writer travel team wanted for Taiwan Award: NT 1 million!

Looking for a few good people…

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is about to launch the search for a team of explorers to win NT$1 million (US$30,000) to travel around the country, following the example of Queensland’s Best Job in the World, the Ministry of Transportation Tourism Bureau said Monday.

From June 1 to 30, the bureau wants to find 50 teams of at least two blog-writing explorers each, including one foreign citizen, to design an original four-day tourist itinerary. Each team will have the opportunity to receive NT$7,000 a day, with a chance to win a NT$1 million prize.

Each team can register in Chinese, English or Japanese at the website www.TaiwanBestTrip.net and post a short film presenting the team as well as explain a theme for its designed trip.

The Tourism Bureau will announce its choice of 50 teams on July 10. The popularity of the introductory video will account for 10 percent of the result, the feasibility of the itinerary for 35 percent, and the creativity and inexpensiveness for the remaining 55 percent, according to the web site.

The teams have to arrive in Taiwan and complete their itinerary between July 11 and August 31. Each day they should also post a video of up to 10 minutes online, including 200 words of commentary, about the progress of their trip. The best team will receive a four-day, three-night trip including airline tickets and hotel accommodation, the bureau said.

Before September 30, the teams must post an 800-word travelogue and a three- to five-minute film on the web site. From October 1 to 30, voters can contribute to the final result by selecting the best team.

On November 15, the Tourism Bureau will announce the winning team for the NT$1 million travel award, which must then spend a month touring Taiwan in February or March 2010.

The Tourism Bureau launched its Best Trip competition after the resounding worldwide success for Queensland’s Best Job in the World promotion to spend six months on an island exploring nature and posting experiences on a blog. Taiwan’s Clare Wang won the “wild card” online popularity vote but in the end the organizers picked a British charity worker for the NT$3.5 million job.

I can think of a number of people who would be absolutely perfect for this.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Blogger-writer travel team wanted for Taiwan Award: NT 1 million!

Looking for a few good people…

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is about to launch the search for a team of explorers to win NT$1 million (US$30,000) to travel around the country, following the example of Queensland’s Best Job in the World, the Ministry of Transportation Tourism Bureau said Monday.

From June 1 to 30, the bureau wants to find 50 teams of at least two blog-writing explorers each, including one foreign citizen, to design an original four-day tourist itinerary. Each team will have the opportunity to receive NT$7,000 a day, with a chance to win a NT$1 million prize.

Each team can register in Chinese, English or Japanese at the website www.TaiwanBestTrip.net and post a short film presenting the team as well as explain a theme for its designed trip.

The Tourism Bureau will announce its choice of 50 teams on July 10. The popularity of the introductory video will account for 10 percent of the result, the feasibility of the itinerary for 35 percent, and the creativity and inexpensiveness for the remaining 55 percent, according to the web site.

The teams have to arrive in Taiwan and complete their itinerary between July 11 and August 31. Each day they should also post a video of up to 10 minutes online, including 200 words of commentary, about the progress of their trip. The best team will receive a four-day, three-night trip including airline tickets and hotel accommodation, the bureau said.

Before September 30, the teams must post an 800-word travelogue and a three- to five-minute film on the web site. From October 1 to 30, voters can contribute to the final result by selecting the best team.

On November 15, the Tourism Bureau will announce the winning team for the NT$1 million travel award, which must then spend a month touring Taiwan in February or March 2010.

The Tourism Bureau launched its Best Trip competition after the resounding worldwide success for Queensland’s Best Job in the World promotion to spend six months on an island exploring nature and posting experiences on a blog. Taiwan’s Clare Wang won the “wild card” online popularity vote but in the end the organizers picked a British charity worker for the NT$3.5 million job.

I can think of a number of people who would be absolutely perfect for this.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

The Great Game Afoot in Central Asia

AFP describes China’s moves in Central Asia:

A China expert at Almaty’s Institute for Economic Strategies, Adil Kaukenov, revealingly recalls a conversation with a Chinese counterpart who told him: “We’re walking all over the world with suitcases stuffed full of money, because we have to spend it.”

China’s investment pattern in Central Asia fits with a broader strategy that has seen Beijing snap up assets across the world in a drive to convert its massive foreign currency reserves into concrete holdings.

But for nearly two decades since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Beijing has also shown special interest in using its pocketbook to secure stability along its Central Asian border, funding infrastructure projects and investing in key sectors.

Of primary concern for Beijing is the long, porous border between Kazakhstan and China’s restive Xinjiang province, says Kaukenov.

Xinjiang is home to a Muslim Uighur ethnic group feared by Beijing for its supposed separatist views — a tension critics say has resulted in human rights abuses by the region’s authorities.

“China has always, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, been extremely worried that terrorists from Xinjiang would find support from the governments of Central Asia,” Kaukenov said.

Now, with Russia and the United States struggling to compete in the face of domestic economic woes, China has a chance to secure the stability and assets it craves at bargain-bin prices.

Multi-million dollar infrastructure projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — both wracked by chaos and disorder since the fall of Soviet Communism — are prime examples of China’s strategy.

Electrification and road projects improving the quality of life in these impoverished regions make them less likely to spawn extremists, but also open up their markets to Chinese goods — a win-win situation for Beijing.

Nargis Kassenova, a professor at the elite Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP), has researched Chinese investment and development in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and detects impressive gains for Beijing.

“Tajikistan is so isolated, and to see all these Chinese companies there and the investment in Tajikistan I was pretty surprised,” she said.

“In pretty much all spheres now you have Chinese goods, Chinese companies…. The level of penetration is quite impressive.”

No single move is more emblematic than the ten billion dollar loan package secured by Kazakhstan, the region’s beleaguered economic powerhouse.

Under the terms of the deal, the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), will loan up to five billion dollars to Kazakh energy giant KazMunaiGas, with a further five billion going to the Development Bank of Kazakhstan.

Although Syroezhkin described the loan package as “friends helping each other out”, China also received a 49 percent stake in the country’s fourth-largest oil producer, MangistauMunaiGaz, as part of the deal.

China also took a stake in a Singapore energy firm recently, and is hunting up deals elsewhere. The Great Game is alive and well in Central Asia — as the first link below notes. And not just Central Asia either — Sri Lanka’s recent pounding of the Tamil Tigers was due to Chinese aid, and China is building a “commercial” port in that island nation.

________
DAILY LINKS

• Pipelines and the new Eurasian great game.
• The fake beauty pageant last week: one of the girls tells her story
• A Taiwanese Swordmaker rekindles a legacy.
• Two from the China Brief: Taiwan area command to be absent from latest PRC war games? And Dennis Wilder on the US’ “non-ideological” relations with China. Saying that your relations are “non-ideological” is the political equivalent of religious claims that your religion is true and all others are superstition.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

The Great Game Afoot in Central Asia

AFP describes China’s moves in Central Asia:

A China expert at Almaty’s Institute for Economic Strategies, Adil Kaukenov, revealingly recalls a conversation with a Chinese counterpart who told him: “We’re walking all over the world with suitcases stuffed full of money, because we have to spend it.”

China’s investment pattern in Central Asia fits with a broader strategy that has seen Beijing snap up assets across the world in a drive to convert its massive foreign currency reserves into concrete holdings.

But for nearly two decades since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Beijing has also shown special interest in using its pocketbook to secure stability along its Central Asian border, funding infrastructure projects and investing in key sectors.

Of primary concern for Beijing is the long, porous border between Kazakhstan and China’s restive Xinjiang province, says Kaukenov.

Xinjiang is home to a Muslim Uighur ethnic group feared by Beijing for its supposed separatist views — a tension critics say has resulted in human rights abuses by the region’s authorities.

“China has always, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, been extremely worried that terrorists from Xinjiang would find support from the governments of Central Asia,” Kaukenov said.

Now, with Russia and the United States struggling to compete in the face of domestic economic woes, China has a chance to secure the stability and assets it craves at bargain-bin prices.

Multi-million dollar infrastructure projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — both wracked by chaos and disorder since the fall of Soviet Communism — are prime examples of China’s strategy.

Electrification and road projects improving the quality of life in these impoverished regions make them less likely to spawn extremists, but also open up their markets to Chinese goods — a win-win situation for Beijing.

Nargis Kassenova, a professor at the elite Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP), has researched Chinese investment and development in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and detects impressive gains for Beijing.

“Tajikistan is so isolated, and to see all these Chinese companies there and the investment in Tajikistan I was pretty surprised,” she said.

“In pretty much all spheres now you have Chinese goods, Chinese companies…. The level of penetration is quite impressive.”

No single move is more emblematic than the ten billion dollar loan package secured by Kazakhstan, the region’s beleaguered economic powerhouse.

Under the terms of the deal, the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), will loan up to five billion dollars to Kazakh energy giant KazMunaiGas, with a further five billion going to the Development Bank of Kazakhstan.

Although Syroezhkin described the loan package as “friends helping each other out”, China also received a 49 percent stake in the country’s fourth-largest oil producer, MangistauMunaiGaz, as part of the deal.

China also took a stake in a Singapore energy firm recently, and is hunting up deals elsewhere. The Great Game is alive and well in Central Asia — as the first link below notes. And not just Central Asia either — Sri Lanka’s recent pounding of the Tamil Tigers was due to Chinese aid, and China is building a “commercial” port in that island nation.

________
DAILY LINKS

• Pipelines and the new Eurasian great game.
• The fake beauty pageant last week: one of the girls tells her story
• A Taiwanese Swordmaker rekindles a legacy.
• Two from the China Brief: Taiwan area command to be absent from latest PRC war games? And Dennis Wilder on the US’ “non-ideological” relations with China. Saying that your relations are “non-ideological” is the political equivalent of religious claims that your religion is true and all others are superstition.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Biking the NE Coast

Another weekend, another bike trip down the East Coast….

The map shows our trip: the five of us started in Cidu just outside of Keelung, headed out through Rueifang down to the coast where we picked up Route 2, and then followed 2 until we reached Fulong, the beach town. If you follow the road south from the train station along the tracks, you soon come to a disused Japanese railroad tunnel, built in the 1920s. That is now a developed tourist attraction. It cuts off 7 or 8 kilometers of coastline by going under the peninsula. We took our bikes through it, and then followed 2 again until we reach Jiaoxi in I-lan, now a booming “spa” town. There we overnighted, and in the morning, reversed our course. Total route length one way, according to one of our odometers, was 78 kilometers. We took a relatively leisurely pace with plenty of stops, and did it in about 6 1/2 hours.

My friend Jeff Miller, a Keelung area history buff, led us along the river paths toward Rueifang as we started out.

Jeff and Michael C rest for a moment as I capture the view.

A favorite of day trippers from Taipei, Rueifang is a madhouse on the weekends.

Soon we reached the beautiful northeast coast, with its wild rock formations, towering cliffs, and insane drivers.

The old copper mine and processing facility on the northeast coast outside of Keelung. Sources say it supplied up to a fifth of Japan’s copper.

A photography club hard at work?

Majestic headlands shine in the morning sun. My heart sank: it was going to be a hot day.

Fisherman can be seen on every rock along the coast.

We stopped before the one big hill on the trip, the long rise outside of Bitou, for water and rest.

Is this what happens to the hair removed from Golden Retrievers at pet shops? Nope, just the ocean’s bounty, drying in the sun.

As Kenji surges ahead, a truck goes by. The one problem with this route is the unceasing flow of big trucks.

Having left at 9:30, we reached Fulong about lunch. A favorite of day-trippers from Taipei, Fulong is a madhouse on the weekends. Bicycle rental places have sprung up everywhere.

Fulong train station, now dominated by bicycle renters.

If you head south out of the Fulong station along the road that parallels the train tracks, you will follow the day-trippers on their rented bikes to the old Japanese railroad tunnel.

The entrance to the tunnel is overwhelmed with tourists.

Here is the other end of the tunnel, a total of 2 kilometers in length. The local government has done an excellent job making the ride a great deal of fun — and it is cool and out of the sun. The tunnel is lit, and as you ride, the sound of trains barreling through a tunnel is played. If you ride or play here, I highly recommend a trip through it. A favorite of day-trippers from Taipei, the tunnel is a madhouse on the weekends.

As we came out of the tunnel, the sky clouded over, making the rest of the trip highly enjoyable. Here Gueishan (Turtle Mountain) Island appears to generate the mist.

Buildings along the Ozymandias coast.

Kenji, Michael, and Jeff.

This strangely shaped building is a highway rest stop.

The beach by the rest stop.

This strangely shaped building is the home of a local construction magnate.

Heading into Jiaoxi. A favorite of day trippers from Taipei, Jiaoxi is a madhouse on the weekends.

Drew shows off his flexibility while we wait for beers at an outdoor cafe in town.

Some of the mountain scenery that makes I-lan so beautiful.

In the morning we headed out around 8 am. Here is a pic of our hotel. They let us keep the bikes in our room, which was $2800 for a double (sleeps 4, if three are dwarves) on the weekend. The cloudy skies stayed with us the entire day. ‘Twas wonderful.

Here we are leaving Jiaoxi. I’m the guy in the hat.

Lion statues, once destined for tombs or temples, rot by the ocean.

Road widening led to the destruction of this house, and the exposure of its beautiful old altar painting.

Fisherman occupy a rock.

On the way back we took the coast bike path to Gongliao where the new nuke plant is going up. These lovely ladies were happy to pose for me.

From the suspension bridge along the way the views toward Fulong are stirring.

Drew snapped me snapping the pic above.

The path cuts through the low grasses along the water’s edge.

Home through the traffic. A favorite of day trippers from Taipei, the road is a madhouse on the weekends.

Michael stops to admire the scenery.

Fisherman cram onto a rock.

UPDATE: By popular request, me with the new Flight M1. Smooth ride, sturdy, light, I am well pleased.

UPDATE II: Michael C’s account is online on his blog, with good pics.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Biking the NE Coast

Another weekend, another bike trip down the East Coast….

The map shows our trip: the five of us started in Cidu just outside of Keelung, headed out through Rueifang down to the coast where we picked up Route 2, and then followed 2 until we reached Fulong, the beach town. If you follow the road south from the train station along the tracks, you soon come to a disused Japanese railroad tunnel, built in the 1920s. That is now a developed tourist attraction. It cuts off 7 or 8 kilometers of coastline by going under the peninsula. We took our bikes through it, and then followed 2 again until we reach Jiaoxi in I-lan, now a booming “spa” town. There we overnighted, and in the morning, reversed our course. Total route length one way, according to one of our odometers, was 78 kilometers. We took a relatively leisurely pace with plenty of stops, and did it in about 6 1/2 hours.

My friend Jeff Miller, a Keelung area history buff, led us along the river paths toward Rueifang as we started out.

Jeff and Michael C rest for a moment as I capture the view.

A favorite of day trippers from Taipei, Rueifang is a madhouse on the weekends.

Soon we reached the beautiful northeast coast, with its wild rock formations, towering cliffs, and insane drivers.

The old copper mine and processing facility on the northeast coast outside of Keelung. Sources say it supplied up to a fifth of Japan’s copper.

A photography club hard at work?

Majestic headlands shine in the morning sun. My heart sank: it was going to be a hot day.

Fisherman can be seen on every rock along the coast.

We stopped before the one big hill on the trip, the long rise outside of Bitou, for water and rest.

Is this what happens to the hair removed from Golden Retrievers at pet shops? Nope, just the ocean’s bounty, drying in the sun.

As Kenji surges ahead, a truck goes by. The one problem with this route is the unceasing flow of big trucks.

Having left at 9:30, we reached Fulong about lunch. A favorite of day-trippers from Taipei, Fulong is a madhouse on the weekends. Bicycle rental places have sprung up everywhere.

Fulong train station, now dominated by bicycle renters.

If you head south out of the Fulong station along the road that parallels the train tracks, you will follow the day-trippers on their rented bikes to the old Japanese railroad tunnel.

The entrance to the tunnel is overwhelmed with tourists.

Here is the other end of the tunnel, a total of 2 kilometers in length. The local government has done an excellent job making the ride a great deal of fun — and it is cool and out of the sun. The tunnel is lit, and as you ride, the sound of trains barreling through a tunnel is played. If you ride or play here, I highly recommend a trip through it. A favorite of day-trippers from Taipei, the tunnel is a madhouse on the weekends.

As we came out of the tunnel, the sky clouded over, making the rest of the trip highly enjoyable. Here Gueishan (Turtle Mountain) Island appears to generate the mist.

Buildings along the Ozymandias coast.

Kenji, Michael, and Jeff.

This strangely shaped building is a highway rest stop.

The beach by the rest stop.

This strangely shaped building is the home of a local construction magnate.

Heading into Jiaoxi. A favorite of day trippers from Taipei, Jiaoxi is a madhouse on the weekends.

Drew shows off his flexibility while we wait for beers at an outdoor cafe in town.

Some of the mountain scenery that makes I-lan so beautiful.

In the morning we headed out around 8 am. Here is a pic of our hotel. They let us keep the bikes in our room, which was $2800 for a double (sleeps 4, if three are dwarves) on the weekend. The cloudy skies stayed with us the entire day. ‘Twas wonderful.

Here we are leaving Jiaoxi. I’m the guy in the hat.

Lion statues, once destined for tombs or temples, rot by the ocean.

Road widening led to the destruction of this house, and the exposure of its beautiful old altar painting.

Fisherman occupy a rock.

On the way back we took the coast bike path to Gongliao where the new nuke plant is going up. These lovely ladies were happy to pose for me.

From the suspension bridge along the way the views toward Fulong are stirring.

Drew snapped me snapping the pic above.

The path cuts through the low grasses along the water’s edge.

Home through the traffic. A favorite of day trippers from Taipei, the road is a madhouse on the weekends.

Michael stops to admire the scenery.

Fisherman cram onto a rock.

UPDATE: By popular request, me with the new Flight M1. Smooth ride, sturdy, light, I am well pleased.

UPDATE II: Michael C’s account is online on his blog, with good pics.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Friday Night Shorts

First, I would like to take a moment to publicly thank the fashion mavens who decreed that short shorts would be in this year. May all their clothing lines sell out forever.

Cops stop in front of my house, lights flashing, at 10:30 pm. What’s going? A few minutes later I get a phone call. Turns out when we took in the groceries in the afternoon, we forgot to close the back of the van. The police stopped to call and tell us it was left open….

Max Hirsch at Kyodo has the whole story on Chinese dissident Wang Dan and his new position teaching in a Taiwan university:

A Chinese dissident who led the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 has accepted a position at a top Taiwanese university, a post brimming with political significance amid the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown and warming ties across the Taiwan Strait.

Wang Dan, one of the most visible student leaders of the 1989 protests, will teach Taiwanese history at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University starting in September, Wang said Thursday while in Taipei to commemorate the pro-democracy movement that ended in bloodshed.

Wang was among a handful of student leaders who organized in 1989 massive Beijing rallies calling for democratic reform.

On June 4, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) crushed the dissent, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people. Beijing has never offered a full accounting of the crackdown.

Exiled to the United States since 1998, Wang studied East Asian history at Harvard University, eventually earning his Ph.D.

Wang said he has been seeking a job in academia since graduation, and his interest in Taiwanese history led him to National Chengchi University. He will serve as an assistant professor or lecturer on an initial half-year contract at the university.

The timing of the post — publicized just weeks before the anniversary — has fueled speculation over whether Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who recently discouraged the Dalai Lama from visiting Taiwan, is using Wang’s appointment to head off criticism that he is too soft on China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory.

China has threatened to attack the island should it seek to formalize its de facto independence, the source of tensions in the Taiwan Strait — one of Asia’s oldest and most dangerous flashpoints.

But Ma has dramatically reduced tensions by engaging China in formal talks on economic cooperation and toning down Taipei’s pro-sovereignty rhetoric. The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) argues Ma is trading away the island’s sovereignty in the process.

Ma, according to Hong Kong media, may be using Wang’s appointment to counter the DPP’s criticism, as China considers Wang persona non grata, while his field tends to highlight the separateness of Taiwan from China by focusing on the island’s divergent historical trajectory.

But Wang rejected such speculation, saying, ”My appointment has nothing to do with politics.”

Nonetheless, Taiwan’s history — especially the island’s democratization — holds valuable lessons for China as the anniversary nears, Wang said, adding, ”China can learn from Taiwan that there is no need to fear democracy.”

”The world needs to understand the Tiananmen Square protests exposed a deep-seated desire among the Chinese people for democracy — the world needs to reaffirm that on the 20th anniversary of the crackdown,” he added.

Gordon Chang, author of The Coming Collapse of China, has a nifty piece in Forbes summarizing basically why it is really shortsighted to permit China to annex Taiwan, entitled Will Taiwan Defect to China? He worries, as I do:

The pro-China elements in the Kuomintang know that the Taiwanese would never willingly agree to join with Beijing in any type of political union. Although most polling on the island is suspect, the vast majority of surveys show that the percentages of the population considering themselves “Chinese” only, and those wanting to unify with China, are both in the single digits and dropping. So the only way diehard Mainlanders can make the island a part of China is for them to destroy Taiwan’s democracy first.

The Australian has a piece on the protests that gives extensive space to the pro-Taiwan side and does a good job of discussing what the protests were about, and that from a Beijing correspondent. It contains a couple of errors that several of wrote him about.

Frank Ching, who appears to be a very nice man who writes from a pro-China, pro-KMT perspective, seems a bit more balanced than usual in his commentary in the China Post today with his last paragraph:

The main point is this: Beijing needs infinite patience when dealing with Taiwan. The current situation of hostility and suspicion is the outcome of six decades of threats, blackmail, military pressure and diplomatic isolation. Even though building mutual trust is the responsibility of both sides, first and foremost it requires efforts by Beijing.

Bingo: Taiwan does not threaten China — it is China that threatens Taiwan. And not only Taiwan…. Arthur Waldron points out how inflexible and unimaginative China’s Taiwan policy actually is.

Sunday I hope to assemble some stuff on Ma’s first year as Preznit. Look out for big post!

And for the sheer beauty of it, TNR has a piece on translating Chinese poetry (h/t to Joel).

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Friday Night Shorts

First, I would like to take a moment to publicly thank the fashion mavens who decreed that short shorts would be in this year. May all their clothing lines sell out forever.

Cops stop in front of my house, lights flashing, at 10:30 pm. What’s going? A few minutes later I get a phone call. Turns out when we took in the groceries in the afternoon, we forgot to close the back of the van. The police stopped to call and tell us it was left open….

Max Hirsch at Kyodo has the whole story on Chinese dissident Wang Dan and his new position teaching in a Taiwan university:

A Chinese dissident who led the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 has accepted a position at a top Taiwanese university, a post brimming with political significance amid the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown and warming ties across the Taiwan Strait.

Wang Dan, one of the most visible student leaders of the 1989 protests, will teach Taiwanese history at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University starting in September, Wang said Thursday while in Taipei to commemorate the pro-democracy movement that ended in bloodshed.

Wang was among a handful of student leaders who organized in 1989 massive Beijing rallies calling for democratic reform.

On June 4, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) crushed the dissent, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people. Beijing has never offered a full accounting of the crackdown.

Exiled to the United States since 1998, Wang studied East Asian history at Harvard University, eventually earning his Ph.D.

Wang said he has been seeking a job in academia since graduation, and his interest in Taiwanese history led him to National Chengchi University. He will serve as an assistant professor or lecturer on an initial half-year contract at the university.

The timing of the post — publicized just weeks before the anniversary — has fueled speculation over whether Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who recently discouraged the Dalai Lama from visiting Taiwan, is using Wang’s appointment to head off criticism that he is too soft on China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory.

China has threatened to attack the island should it seek to formalize its de facto independence, the source of tensions in the Taiwan Strait — one of Asia’s oldest and most dangerous flashpoints.

But Ma has dramatically reduced tensions by engaging China in formal talks on economic cooperation and toning down Taipei’s pro-sovereignty rhetoric. The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) argues Ma is trading away the island’s sovereignty in the process.

Ma, according to Hong Kong media, may be using Wang’s appointment to counter the DPP’s criticism, as China considers Wang persona non grata, while his field tends to highlight the separateness of Taiwan from China by focusing on the island’s divergent historical trajectory.

But Wang rejected such speculation, saying, ”My appointment has nothing to do with politics.”

Nonetheless, Taiwan’s history — especially the island’s democratization — holds valuable lessons for China as the anniversary nears, Wang said, adding, ”China can learn from Taiwan that there is no need to fear democracy.”

”The world needs to understand the Tiananmen Square protests exposed a deep-seated desire among the Chinese people for democracy — the world needs to reaffirm that on the 20th anniversary of the crackdown,” he added.

Gordon Chang, author of The Coming Collapse of China, has a nifty piece in Forbes summarizing basically why it is really shortsighted to permit China to annex Taiwan, entitled Will Taiwan Defect to China? He worries, as I do:

The pro-China elements in the Kuomintang know that the Taiwanese would never willingly agree to join with Beijing in any type of political union. Although most polling on the island is suspect, the vast majority of surveys show that the percentages of the population considering themselves “Chinese” only, and those wanting to unify with China, are both in the single digits and dropping. So the only way diehard Mainlanders can make the island a part of China is for them to destroy Taiwan’s democracy first.

The Australian has a piece on the protests that gives extensive space to the pro-Taiwan side and does a good job of discussing what the protests were about, and that from a Beijing correspondent. It contains a couple of errors that several of wrote him about.

Frank Ching, who appears to be a very nice man who writes from a pro-China, pro-KMT perspective, seems a bit more balanced than usual in his commentary in the China Post today with his last paragraph:

The main point is this: Beijing needs infinite patience when dealing with Taiwan. The current situation of hostility and suspicion is the outcome of six decades of threats, blackmail, military pressure and diplomatic isolation. Even though building mutual trust is the responsibility of both sides, first and foremost it requires efforts by Beijing.

Bingo: Taiwan does not threaten China — it is China that threatens Taiwan. And not only Taiwan…. Arthur Waldron points out how inflexible and unimaginative China’s Taiwan policy actually is.

Sunday I hope to assemble some stuff on Ma’s first year as Preznit. Look out for big post!

And for the sheer beauty of it, TNR has a piece on translating Chinese poetry (h/t to Joel).

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Two by Adams

Local reporter Jon Adams has two interesting pieces out this week in CSM and in Global Post. First, he highlights the problems that many of us have observed in Taiwan’s judiciary, using Chen supporters in the south as a backdrop, in the Christian Science Monitor:

But a growing chorus of Taiwanese and foreign scholars are echoing – albeit in more measured tones – villagers’ concerns about how the case is being handled. The criticisms have put this young democracy’s judicial system in the spotlight, as it struggles to handle one of its most politically charged cases yet.

Chen – who irked Beijing and Washington with his loud trumpeting of Taiwan’s autonomy – faces charges of accepting bribes, misusing state funds, and money laundering. If convicted, he could be jailed for life.

He says he’s innocent. He acknowledged last year that his wife wired $21 million abroad, but said that money was leftover campaign contributions. He’s been in on-and-off detention since Nov. 11, including a month without charge– a sore point for critics of Taiwan’s judiciary.

Media leaks and detention without charge

Critics also object to the reassigning of Chen’s case to a judge seen as less sympathetic to Chen; a skit by prosecutors mocking Chen, which they say reflected judicial bias; and persistent leaks about the case to the media. (Click here for open letters from a group of foreign scholars in November, December, and January).

The government insists it has not interfered with the case, and the justice minister and other officials have denied any political bias or influence. (Click here for the government’s responses in November, January, and February.)

In a December poll conducted by Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, 50 percent of Taiwanese said the island’s judicial system was biased (compared with 38 percent who said it was impartial), while 59 percent said Taiwanese law did not sufficiently safeguard human rights.

At Taiwan’s own Judicial Reform Foundation (a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit), executive director Lin Feng-jeng says Chen’s case highlights broader problems. The most serious, he says, is loose lips.

“All the information in this case was leaked to the media – that’s our biggest criticism,” says Mr. Lin. “And they still haven’t fixed the problem.”

Lin’s group also says Taiwan should emulate Japan, which only allows holding suspects without charge for 20 days – instead of four months, as permitted in Taiwan. “Sometimes you need to lock someone up because they might flee,” says Lin. “But four months is too much.”

Finally, the foundation has long criticized the practice of cops recording conversations between detained suspects and their lawyers, as happened with Chen. Lin says on this front there’s progress: Taiwan’s top court has ruled such recordings unconstitutional.

Taiwanese resent control by those who fled China

Here in Chen’s hometown, villagers also voice such concerns, flavored with a strong dash of partisanship. The village sits in Taiwan’s breadbasket, a land of flat, expansive rice and sugar-cane fields, lingjiao (water caltrop) paddies, and banana trees. Older residents are often illiterate and don’t speak Mandarin (they use Taiwanese, which is derived from a southern Chinese dialect).

When they talk, they lay bare the scars of Taiwan’s defining communal division between Taiwanese like them, who have lived and farmed here for centuries (84 percent of the population), and Mainlanders who came to Taiwan with the Kuomintang and announced martial law in 1949 (now 14 percent).

For younger, urban Taiwanese, that communal divide is less and less significant. But for the older generation in Hsichuang, it’s still very much alive. And it clearly colors their view of Chen’s trial.

As I recall, the Supreme Court decision calling taping of lawyer-client meetings in prison unconstitutional does not apply to the Chen case. Hence taping may still be going on. Adams’ piece is especially timely because yesterday another letter from concerned international scholars was published in the Taipei Times:

We raise these issues as international supporters of Taiwan’s democracy who care deeply about the country and its future as a free and democratic nation-state. As you recall, we voiced concerns on three previous occasions, most recently in a letter to you, Mr President, dated Jan. 17, 2009, in which we expressed our concern regarding the fairness of the judicial system in Taiwan.

These concerns have not been alleviated by either the response from Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) or the cessation of troubling, flawed and partial judicial proceedings, in particular involving the case of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

We reiterate that any alleged corruption must be investigated, but emphasize that the judicial process needs to be scrupulously fair and impartial. In the case of the former president, it is evident that the prosecution is heavily tainted by political bias, and that the former president is being treated badly out of spite for the political views and the positions he took during his presidency. Such retribution does not bode well for a young and fragile democracy, as Taiwan is.

The second issue that we feel we need to highlight is press freedom. In spite of earlier expressions of concern by international organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House, there continue to be reports of impingement on press freedom by your administration. A case in point is the recent disturbing report that Central News Agency staff were instructed to write only “positive” stories about the policies of your administration, and that reports containing criticism of your administration or China were excised.

It is evident from stuff I’ve read on the seminar at GWU the other day that the community of Taiwan scholars is becoming aware that Taiwan’s democracy is not as secure as it was thought to be. As I’ve noted in the past, the anschluss with China cannot go forward without significant damage to Taiwan’s democracy, since nobody here wants to be part of the PRC. That is why the KMT has been careful to insulate the ECFA agreements and the negotiations from oversight by the legislature — the legislature it controls! — and from democratic oversight by the public in the form of referendums, and to have those negotiations carried out by KMT party officials Lien Chan and Wu Po-hsiung, and not appointtees of the Administration accountable to the public.

Adams’ also has a nifty piece over at Global Post on strikes at an Apple contract manufacturer, Wintek, in China and Taiwan:

The current labor action is unusual in that it’s being taken on behalf of both Taiwanese and Chinese workers. It’s supported by labor groups in Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan and South Korea, according to a press release about Thursday’s protest.

On Thursday morning, about 30 protesters from local labor rights groups and trade unions held signs and chanted slogans, including “black-heart business” (heixin qiye), in front of Apple’s Taipei office.

One protester held up an Apple laptop with the Chinese characters for “responsibility” on the screen. Behind, some 25 police officers stood by.

Some 15 laid-off Wintek workers joined the protesters later. Many wore surgical masks to prevent being identified, because they still hope to be re-hired at the firm’s central Taiwan factory.

“If the company finds out you came here to protest at Apple, they will put you on a blacklist,” explained Liu Wan-ling, of the Taiwan Labor Information and Education Association.

Read and enjoy.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Two by Adams

Local reporter Jon Adams has two interesting pieces out this week in CSM and in Global Post. First, he highlights the problems that many of us have observed in Taiwan’s judiciary, using Chen supporters in the south as a backdrop, in the Christian Science Monitor:

But a growing chorus of Taiwanese and foreign scholars are echoing – albeit in more measured tones – villagers’ concerns about how the case is being handled. The criticisms have put this young democracy’s judicial system in the spotlight, as it struggles to handle one of its most politically charged cases yet.

Chen – who irked Beijing and Washington with his loud trumpeting of Taiwan’s autonomy – faces charges of accepting bribes, misusing state funds, and money laundering. If convicted, he could be jailed for life.

He says he’s innocent. He acknowledged last year that his wife wired $21 million abroad, but said that money was leftover campaign contributions. He’s been in on-and-off detention since Nov. 11, including a month without charge– a sore point for critics of Taiwan’s judiciary.

Media leaks and detention without charge

Critics also object to the reassigning of Chen’s case to a judge seen as less sympathetic to Chen; a skit by prosecutors mocking Chen, which they say reflected judicial bias; and persistent leaks about the case to the media. (Click here for open letters from a group of foreign scholars in November, December, and January).

The government insists it has not interfered with the case, and the justice minister and other officials have denied any political bias or influence. (Click here for the government’s responses in November, January, and February.)

In a December poll conducted by Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, 50 percent of Taiwanese said the island’s judicial system was biased (compared with 38 percent who said it was impartial), while 59 percent said Taiwanese law did not sufficiently safeguard human rights.

At Taiwan’s own Judicial Reform Foundation (a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit), executive director Lin Feng-jeng says Chen’s case highlights broader problems. The most serious, he says, is loose lips.

“All the information in this case was leaked to the media – that’s our biggest criticism,” says Mr. Lin. “And they still haven’t fixed the problem.”

Lin’s group also says Taiwan should emulate Japan, which only allows holding suspects without charge for 20 days – instead of four months, as permitted in Taiwan. “Sometimes you need to lock someone up because they might flee,” says Lin. “But four months is too much.”

Finally, the foundation has long criticized the practice of cops recording conversations between detained suspects and their lawyers, as happened with Chen. Lin says on this front there’s progress: Taiwan’s top court has ruled such recordings unconstitutional.

Taiwanese resent control by those who fled China

Here in Chen’s hometown, villagers also voice such concerns, flavored with a strong dash of partisanship. The village sits in Taiwan’s breadbasket, a land of flat, expansive rice and sugar-cane fields, lingjiao (water caltrop) paddies, and banana trees. Older residents are often illiterate and don’t speak Mandarin (they use Taiwanese, which is derived from a southern Chinese dialect).

When they talk, they lay bare the scars of Taiwan’s defining communal division between Taiwanese like them, who have lived and farmed here for centuries (84 percent of the population), and Mainlanders who came to Taiwan with the Kuomintang and announced martial law in 1949 (now 14 percent).

For younger, urban Taiwanese, that communal divide is less and less significant. But for the older generation in Hsichuang, it’s still very much alive. And it clearly colors their view of Chen’s trial.

As I recall, the Supreme Court decision calling taping of lawyer-client meetings in prison unconstitutional does not apply to the Chen case. Hence taping may still be going on. Adams’ piece is especially timely because yesterday another letter from concerned international scholars was published in the Taipei Times:

We raise these issues as international supporters of Taiwan’s democracy who care deeply about the country and its future as a free and democratic nation-state. As you recall, we voiced concerns on three previous occasions, most recently in a letter to you, Mr President, dated Jan. 17, 2009, in which we expressed our concern regarding the fairness of the judicial system in Taiwan.

These concerns have not been alleviated by either the response from Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) or the cessation of troubling, flawed and partial judicial proceedings, in particular involving the case of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

We reiterate that any alleged corruption must be investigated, but emphasize that the judicial process needs to be scrupulously fair and impartial. In the case of the former president, it is evident that the prosecution is heavily tainted by political bias, and that the former president is being treated badly out of spite for the political views and the positions he took during his presidency. Such retribution does not bode well for a young and fragile democracy, as Taiwan is.

The second issue that we feel we need to highlight is press freedom. In spite of earlier expressions of concern by international organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House, there continue to be reports of impingement on press freedom by your administration. A case in point is the recent disturbing report that Central News Agency staff were instructed to write only “positive” stories about the policies of your administration, and that reports containing criticism of your administration or China were excised.

It is evident from stuff I’ve read on the seminar at GWU the other day that the community of Taiwan scholars is becoming aware that Taiwan’s democracy is not as secure as it was thought to be. As I’ve noted in the past, the anschluss with China cannot go forward without significant damage to Taiwan’s democracy, since nobody here wants to be part of the PRC. That is why the KMT has been careful to insulate the ECFA agreements and the negotiations from oversight by the legislature — the legislature it controls! — and from democratic oversight by the public in the form of referendums, and to have those negotiations carried out by KMT party officials Lien Chan and Wu Po-hsiung, and not appointtees of the Administration accountable to the public.

Adams’ also has a nifty piece over at Global Post on strikes at an Apple contract manufacturer, Wintek, in China and Taiwan:

The current labor action is unusual in that it’s being taken on behalf of both Taiwanese and Chinese workers. It’s supported by labor groups in Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan and South Korea, according to a press release about Thursday’s protest.

On Thursday morning, about 30 protesters from local labor rights groups and trade unions held signs and chanted slogans, including “black-heart business” (heixin qiye), in front of Apple’s Taipei office.

One protester held up an Apple laptop with the Chinese characters for “responsibility” on the screen. Behind, some 25 police officers stood by.

Some 15 laid-off Wintek workers joined the protesters later. Many wore surgical masks to prevent being identified, because they still hope to be re-hired at the firm’s central Taiwan factory.

“If the company finds out you came here to protest at Apple, they will put you on a blacklist,” explained Liu Wan-ling, of the Taiwan Labor Information and Education Association.

Read and enjoy.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Daily Links, May 21, 2009

Waiting for nourishment? Check out the blogs….

Letters from Taiwan notes that no one is happy. Note KMT party Chair Wu’s comment that the party and government must be intimate.

Sure wish Taiwan Link would blog more often, like 5-6 times a day. Oh well: here is his latest on Chinese airlines employing Taiwanese pilots.

maddog says WHA rep Minister Yeh is a national disgrace and Huang Hai-ning is a national treasure. I can’t comment any more on Huang Hai-ning, my wife already has me sleeping outside in the backyard with the sheepdog. The Foreigner also has a few sharp words for the Minister.

Jerome also looks at WHA.

Ma is dissembling, says A-gu. We’re on the road to annexation.

Wild At Heart has images of the coal-fired plant in Taichung.

Cop who hit protesters was on cellphone?

Twenty percent, right off the top

Rank with another great Taipei ride

Pinyin Info on the simplified vs traditional character debate

MEDIA: Incredibly the US Homeland Security Dept (1) admitted it issued a Green Card to Taiwan Representative Jason Yuan by mistake and (2) apologized. When I think of the problems that my wife and I encountered, without acknowledgment or apology, from the INS, along with the horror stories my friends can recite by the bushel… clearly, I needed to be a well-connected foreigner rather than a US citizen, if I want my government to take action on my behalf. Global Views pegs Ma’s approval rating at a scintillating 38.9%. Jon Adams with a great piece on boat burning against Swine Flu. Hong Kong activists want more autonomy from Beijing. Hilariously, after insisting that Taiwan must open now now now now to China or we are all gonna die die die die, the Premier says in an FT piece that Taiwan is “in no hurry” to open up to China investments. Wind turbine noise kills goats in the Penghu by keeping them awake. Japan economy shrinks 15.2%. Taipei Zoo launches Ring-a-Panda service: you can watch the Capitulationist Raccoons live on your videophone. But if the pandas aren’t live, how will anyone know the difference? In response, I’ve decided to launch a new Ring-a-paint-drying service…. Ma save us! Taiwan’s economy shrank 10.2% last quarter. Economists say economy appears to have bottomed out. China Mobile investment in FarEasTone nixed. Incredibly, WSJ can describe history without using the incorrect “split in 1949″ formula. How can it do that? Isn’t “split in 1949″ the only possible way? Taiwanese mountaineers surmount Everest. Taipei City councilor says the city is turning a blind eye to traffic violations by foreigners. A fascinating article, especially when it says foreigners will be informed about traffic laws to reduce violations. Just foreigners? Taiwan foodstuff exports to China rise 21%. US Congressman calls for overhaul of Taiwan policy.

EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:Taiwan Journal will relaunch as an online publication on June 1….here is part of the notice they sent around:

In keeping with the zeitgeist of the digital age, Taiwan Journal will cease publication from May 22 and relaunch online as Taiwan Today June 1.

The TT’s vastly-expanded Web site will feature daily translations of breaking stories published in Taiwan’s top Chinese-language newspapers, as well as all the regular features that have made TJ a must-read for those seeking to keep abreast of events on the island

SPECIAL: The fourth scholar’s letter on the state of affairs here, published today in the Taipei Times.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Taipei Times Channels Me

The Taipei Times makes many of the same points that it has, and we bloggers have, before on the way the foreign media treats the China-Taiwan relationship….

Reporting by international wire agencies on Taiwan is often nuanced in a way that backs Beijing’s claims, even if inadvertently. This can mislead readers about everything from the reasons for tension between Taiwan and China to basic facts about Taiwanese and Chinese history — and there are no signs that sloppy reporting will end any time soon.

Careless wording in wire reports can lend credence to Beijing’s portrayal of Taiwan as a “renegade province.” Although a reporter may sidestep the word “country” to avoid taking a stance on Taiwan’s status, alternative phrasing may instead suggest that Taiwan is part of China. Frequent references in wire articles to China as “the mainland” and Taiwan simply as “the island” do just that.

An Associated Press (AP) report on Monday offers an example that is hardly limited to that agency. The report on the Strait Forum in Xiamen, China, said “mainland purchasing groups” would travel to Taiwan to buy agricultural products and mentioned “President Ma Ying-jeou’s [馬英九] policy of allowing more investment by mainland Chinese in the island.”

That wording suits Beijing. While the term “mainland” is appropriate to denote China in the context of Hong Kong and Macau, in an article on cross-strait relations it is misleading. More than geographical proximity, it implies a political link similar to that between China and its two former European colonies.

Wire reports also often contain straightforward and recurring factual errors. The same AP report recycles the claim that “China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949,” which also appears in an Agence France-Presse (AFP) article that same day. Read in combination with the terms “mainland” and “island,” the risk of misleading readers is considerable.

This error reduces the historical gap between Taiwan and China, suggesting the two were unified until 1949. That is a version of events that Beijing and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have both insisted on and that can be dismissed as propaganda. Coming from international media, however, the effect is disconcerting. Independent media enjoy added credibility by virtue of their neutrality on cross-strait developments, but unfortunately what they are reporting in these instances is wrong in fact.

As news agencies often reuse these snippets as inserts, their inaccuracy is all the more unacceptable. Agencies need only get the background information right once, then draw upon it as needed.

Just as disturbing in the AFP report is its unqualified citation of a poll conducted by the KMT-friendly, Chinese-language China Times as showing that “a record number of Taiwanese believe traditional rival China is friendly.”

As a backdrop to this, AFP explains: “Relations between Taiwan and China, which split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, hit rock bottom due to the pro-independence rhetoric of Ma’s DPP predecessor [former president] Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁].”

This has the effect of sweeping under the carpet decades of aggression during which the KMT’s goal was to “retake the mainland” and Beijing’s was to “liberate” Taiwan through force. The blame for cross-strait tension is placed squarely on the shoulders of a president who never advocated aggression. This suits Beijing, which branded Chen a provocateur.

Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) may have claimed to rule all of China for decades at the UN, and China may have bombarded Kinmen in 1954, but AFP suggests Chen’s presidency was the nadir of cross-strait relations. Such reports may be laughable to informed readers but others have no cause to doubt them. Professional journalists are obliged to avoid such nonsense.

I have no idea why people continue to use the “split after a civil war in 1949″ formulation. Consider — if you read “Vulgaria and Narnia split in the tenth year of Caspian’s reign after a civil war” the plain language meaning of that text is that the war was fought between what is now Vulgaria and what is now Narnia. But if you know Taiwan history, you know that Taiwan and China never fought a “civil” war, hence the claim is false — doubly so because it was the KMT and CCP which split, not Taiwan and China. In other words, if you know enough history to understand it, you know it isn’t true, and if you understand it in the plain language sense, you learn false history. No one could read that and learn anything. So why continue to use it?

Speaking of channeling me, this blog carefully calculates the crowd on Sunday must have been around 450,000. Interesting! The 100,000 police estimate is an absurdity.

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Swine Flu Makes Landfall in Taiwan

Our first swine flu case:

Taiwan’s health authorities on Wednesday reported the island’s first confirmed case of Influenza A (H1N1), in an Australian doctor who arrived by plane from Hong Kong earlier in the week.

The 52-year-old cruise ship doctor arrived at Taipei airport on Monday and was responding well to treatment, said Shih Wen-yi, a spokesman from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The man was found to be running a fever after arriving from New York via Hong Kong late Monday and was sent to hospital for testing, Shih said. Lab results confirmed early Wednesday that he had contracted the H1N1 virus.

“We urge the public not to panic and the passengers aboard the flight to contact the CDC for testing,” he said.

Hope you all invested in some masks, because the price is about to skyrocket….

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don’t miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!