Will Barack Obama Stand Up the Same Way for Taiwan?
Thursday July 02
With the recent attempted coup in Honduras, Barack Obama responded immediately and spelled out the United States position under him. He said, "We stand on the side of democracy, sovereignty and self-determination." Those are strong and clear words; the only shame of it all is that the United States after some sixty years (more than a half a century) has not been able to unambiguously state the same about Taiwan. ...
Ma-Ying-jeou's Flexible Diplomacy, ECFA and Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Wednesday July 01
All politicians seek a catch word or phrase to use for spin and glorification of their policies. Ever since Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration, one phrase Taiwan and the world have regularly heard bandied about is how "Ma has Flexible Diplomacy." Whatever that means has been anyone's guess but with the recent happenings in Honduras things suspiciously took a turn for the worse in finding an appropriate definition. ...
How Many Protests Must Be Made Against the KMT Abuse of Justice in Taiwan?
Saturday June 27
Justice continues to be abused in Taiwan; human rights are ignored on a regular basis; transitional justice never happened; the Legislative Yuan has always been controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and yet Ma Ying-jeou (whose reputation as the "phony pony" grows by leaps and bounds) wants us to believe that all is well in his lah-lah land. Ma preaches the deceit of "Peace in Our Time" with the rapacious country to the west of Taiwan; to cover his deceit he must distract and orchestrate the circus trial of Chen Shui-bian. ...
Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society Active in June
Saturday June 20
Taiwan abounds with the multiple histories of its complex past. This June has proved to be a typical example, for it was an active month for the Taiwan Prisoner of War (POW) Camps Memorial Society. On June 6, we dedicated the Toroku Prison Camp Memorial at the Gou-ba Elementary School in Douhlio. Then on June 20, we dedicated a memorial to fourteen American airmen who were executed at the former Taipei Prison on June 19, 1945. Both memorials were part of the society's on-going campaign to never forget those who suffered imprisonment in Taiwan. In the complexities of history, these men had fought in World War II for the freedom of their own countries, and they had in their own small way contributed (directly or indirectly) to the eventual democracy that Taiwan enjoys today. ...
Peng Ming-min's New Book, Does Taiwan Need to Escape from Ma?
Friday June 19
Peng Ming-min is a man who has not only talked the talk, but more importantly walked the walk for Taiwan. A life long advocate of Taiwan's right for self-determination, he recently came out with a new book, "A Perfect Escape." The book recounts how in early 1970 Peng, still under house arrest for publishing the "Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation" (1964), managed to escape from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) autocratic state control. This was at the height of the KMT's White Terror period and provides much more detail than there was in the brief mention of the escape in Peng's "A Taste of Freedom." ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Mentor Remains Depressed Over What He Sees in Taiwan
Sunday June 14
One has to wonder, how many times must Ma Ying-jeou's mentor and former law professor have to criticize Ma's government before they get the picture. Twice he has spoken out on the corruption and the violations on human rights as well as the injustices prevalent in Taiwan. Yet in the short span of six months Jerome Cohen has felt compelled to speak out once more. This time he criticizes the silence of the legal personnel in standing up to the government's abuses. His article "Silence of the Lambs" appeared in the South China Morning Post on June 11, 2009. It follows: ...
Wu Poh-hsiung: Tears, Just Desserts, Or the Simple Inevitable Slap in the Face?
Thursday June 11
One can almost feel sorry for Wu Poh-hsiung as he steps down or is pushed off the stage as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman by Ma Ying-jeou. I say almost, but that is as far as it goes. Wu is one of those strange Hakka who have a rightful place to be masters in their own land of Taiwan, but have given it up to be a second class citizen in the KMT. Why? It seems that such would rather settle for the guaranteed crumbs and secure lower status provided by the KMT than enter the competitive world of finding principles on which they can build their lives and living those principles. ...
Tianamen Square Twenty Years Later: the Memory Lives for Those Who Care
Tuesday June 02
Tomorrow we commemorate the massacre at Tiananmen Square, a massacre that many pretend never happened and others wish would go away so they could go on making money off the tainted goods of China. For those who live in the democratic nation of Taiwan, it is particularly poignant because the country to our west has designs on our economy and our nation. Similarly as there are those who wish that Tiananmen Square would go away, so there are those that wish the 23 million people of Taiwan's wish to preserve their democratic nation would go away. Such people also want only to go on making money with China. ...
Taiwan, Asia's Supposed Voldemort, That-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named
Thursday May 28
Shades of Harry Potter, but the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) continues to place Taiwanese in the Chamber of Secrets. Secrets? Yes and we are talking about more than just Ma Ying-jeou's refusal to provide any transparency on ECFA, the mythical savior to salvage his failed economic policies. As he gives the farm away, Ma wants Taiwanese to blindly trust his last ditch speculation. No the greater secrets we are talking about are the way KMT leaders enter into discourse with China. Whenever the subject of the nation state of Taiwan comes up, it is treated like the Voldemort of Asia, "That-Which-Must-Not-Be Named." ...
Ma Ying-jeou Completes his First Year as Justice and Human Rights Continue to Erode in Taiwan
Tuesday May 26
Ma Ying-jeou has completed his first year as president of Taiwan and the reviews of his performance are far from favorable to say the least. The economy remains poor but Ma as a "one-trick pony" risks endangering the nation's sovereignty by professing that his only salvation is in China. Those countries eager to profit off of China's cheap labor and tainted goods are happy to go along with this and praise him for it. Within Taiwan, however, there have already been four major protests in the nation; for the observing group of scholars and writers, justice and human rights continue to erode. They have issued their fourth letter on this. The postings of the previous letters can be found here on November 15, 2008, November 29, 2008, and January 30, 2009. Below is the latest Open Letter, printed in the Taipei Times on May 21, 2009. It reads. ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Police State? A Follow Up on the 5/17 Protest "Accident"
Sunday May 24
Imagine that you are speeding along at 80 km per hour on a city street where the speed limit is around 30 to 40 km per hour. Imagine further that two elderly gentlemen in their sixties slowly cross the street in front of you. They are from a protest that you have been monitoring. You may be annoyed at them because of that and you may further be annoyed at them because you know your boss wants to create the façade that everyone in Taiwan is happy. You do not slow down or even apply the brakes. You hit both of them throwing one up in the air so that he breaks the windshield on your car in his fall. Both of them end up in the hospital. One may die; the other has a broken hip and must have his leg amputated. Police responsibility under Ma Ying-jeou? Read on. ...
Taiwan and the WHA, a Gift Horse to be Examined?
Tuesday May 19
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) just does not get it. They cannot understand why the people of Taiwan are fed up with their continued condescending paternalism. They fail to realize that the people see through the KMT's pretense to love Taiwan as Taiwan. They cannot fathom why their colonial beneficence is seen as just that, rehashed colonialism. The most recent example of this is the shameless behavior of Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan who when challenged on what name was used in joining WHA, tearfully complained, "I really don't know what these people want . . . I am being patriotic." Patriotic to what? Yes, this has always been the problem of colonial masters wanting to maintain their colonial status. ...
Emboldened Police Car Runs Down Two Anti-Ma Ying-jeou Protesters in Taipei
Monday May 18
The current Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) President Ma Ying-jeou had promised that he would return the streets to the people after his election. But as always with the hypocritical Ma, one must watch what he does rather than what he says. During the People's Republic of China (PRC) Chen Yunlin's visit, Taiwan witnessed how thousands of police were mobilized to forcibly prevent legitimate protest. Police manhandled citizens wanting to display the national flag or trying to get near the hotel where Chen was staying as Ma sought to cozy up to China. Later a record store was shut down because it was playing Taiwanese songs. Its crime was that it was a half-block away from another hotel where Chen Yunlin was having tea with KMT bigwigs. ...
Taiwan: Problems in Paradise under Ma Ying-jeou
Saturday May 16
Taiwan and Kaohsiung are bracing for the protest marches on Sunday May 17th. They promise to be colorful with plenty of creative signs and slogans as the people voice their discontent with Ma Ying-jeou's poor leadership in his first year as president. There will be plenty of photos following on the web to give ample evidence that all is not well in Taiwan despite the glossy veneer that some would like to put on the erosion of justice and human rights under Ma as well as his lack of transparency in dealings with Taiwan's troublesome neighbor across the Strait. ...
Taiwan's Injustice, How Can I Protest? Let Me Count the Ways, but First Sign Up
Thursday May 14
On May 11, I posted below on how injustice has continued to erode in Taiwan and gave specific reference to the trial of Chen Shui-bian. Someone has since made available a place to sign up and voice your protest. ...
Jason Yuan, Another KMT Case of Deceit and So-So Loyalty to Taiwan?
Thursday May 14
Remember the weeks and months of denials and protestations of innocence we had to endure in the recent case of Diane Lee's loyalty to Taiwan? Well, Lee, the illegal member of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan kept saying she did not have a US passport etc. etc. till she finally resigned and ran off with over US$3 million dollars of illegally earned money from Taiwan. It now seems like another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) case of so-so KMT loyalty to Taiwan is in the wind. This is over Jason Yuan's now-he-has-it, now-he-doesn't green card. "Next Magazine" has once again exposed the fast and loose practices of KMT members. ...
Taiwan Stands up to be Counted: Protest in Taipei on May 17
Wednesday May 13
Are you fed up with the erosion of justice in Taiwan? Are you fed up with the lack of government transparency in its dealings with China? Are you fed up with the lack of economic leadership and results in Taiwan? Are you fed up with the re-introduction of a police state? Are you fed up with the way the media is being constricted? Are you fed up with 6-3-3 and all the false promises of the Phony Pony? Then come out and protest on May 17th. So rings the cry in Taiwan. ...
Injustice Continues in Chen Shui-bian's Trial
Monday May 11
Injustice flows from granting too much power to an agency or government and that continues to be the case in Taiwan. The collaboration of prosecutors and witnesses, plea discussions and immunity negotiations continue to easily lead to a fabrication of evidence where the intimidated witnesses say what the prosecutors want them to say. Professor Jerome Cohen's critical remarks of Taiwan's legal process again hold center stage as run of the mill prosecutors are allowed free rein in the courts. The most recent abuse has been that when the unconstitutional holding of Chen Shui-bian finally went into effect, the prosecutors drummed up new charges so that they could still keep Chen in jail. Review these past highlights. ...
A New Perspective on Taiwan's Identity: Doris T. Chang's "Women's Movements in Twentieth Century Taiwan"
Friday May 08
In addition to its unresolved status, a second pressing issue for Taiwan is its identity. Doris T. Chang's new work, "Women's Movements in 20th Century Taiwan" addresses that issue from a totally unexpected perspective, the role of women. Dr. Richard C. Kagan, Professor Emeritus at Hamline University, shares his review of that work and its importance. Kagan cautions that the book is academic and does not directly address the issues of identity but once read, it calls for a re-evaluation and new assessment of Taiwan's feminist movements in terms of Taiwan's identity and its relations with China. ...
A New Book: Nancy Bernkopf Tucker's "Strait Talk" on Taiwan's Unresolved Status
Friday May 08
Taiwan's status after World War II remains unresolved, how true. Yet while Dennis Wilder of the US State Department could say this, Japan's representative to Taiwan, Masaki Saito, recently got into trouble for saying exactly the same thing. Rebuked and admonished by both the Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), Saito was nevertheless applauded by others. Why? Because it is about time that the world faced this unfortunate residue of San Francisco Peace Treaty (1952). I have written on it numerous times but am pleased to say that Nancy Bernkopf Tucker's new book goes into the full background. Her work, "Strait Talk: United States--Taiwan Relations and the Crisis with China" both documents and points to the numerous causes of this problem and how we got saddled by it. I present an excellent review of that book below. Anyone involved with Taiwan should read it. ...
Taiwan's Tung Blossoms: Take Time out to Appreciate the Flowers
Thursday May 07
From mid-April to mid-May, in central and northern Taiwan, the mountains come alive with the blossoming of the Tung tree. This fast-growing tree (genus paulownia) has been imported to Taiwan from China and prospered here. Not needing much water, it is a good economical tree known for its lumber and seeds and of course the beauty of its blossoms. ...
Justice, Human Rights, Free Press Continue to Erode Under Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou
Wednesday May 06
There is a nauseating sickness that overtakes anyone in Taiwan who has had to listen over the years to what some call "the mealy-mouthed hypocrisy" of its president, Ma Ying-jeou. While Ma tries to pretend all is well under heaven in Taiwan, Freedom House in its latest announcement has just dropped Taiwan in its global ranking to number 43 from the previous year's ranking of 32 in freedom of the press. Likewise Ma endeavors to create a police state to bolster his policies and eliminate opposing opinions. ...
An Unusual Cemetery Houses Many of Taiwan's Forgotten Dead
Sunday May 03
Situated on a small mountain overlooking Taipei Medical University and in the shadow of Taipei 101 is a cemetery. That there would be a cemetery there is not necessarily unusual but what makes this cemetery unique is the strange and unusual mixture of graves within it recalling different periods of Taiwan's historic and often tragic past. ...
Dumb and Dumber, the Naming of Chinese Taipei and its Acceptance
Friday May 01
Chinese Taipei, now that is really a dumb name. I don't know whose brainchild it was but if you really analyze it, it is insulting and misleading. How many countries would want to suffer a similar degrading nomenclature? Such an imposition represents the residue of the last colonial ethnic group to seize that land and that last colonial group's language. Spain had ruled a lot of countries. Imagine the chaos and confusion if we named those countries the same way. We would have Spanish Manila, Spanish Santiago, Spanish Buenos Aires, Spanish Lima etc. the list would go on and on. In South America, the only different neighbor would be Portuguese Brasilia. Bizarre to say the least. ...
Taiwan, You Gotta Love This Place!
Tuesday April 28
Taiwan, you gotta love this place! Have you ever wondered why Taiwan's economy under President Ma Ying-jeou continues to be in the doldrums? Well it seems that Ma's minister without portfolio and chief economic advisor, Chu Yun-peng, often cuts out during work hours to go on dates with his girlfriend. Just what Taiwan needs? Caught on different occasions by Next magazine, Chu has been forced to resign. His excuses, however, proved to the most interesting part of this escapade. ...
Jerome A. Cohen, Ma Ying-jeou's Mentor, Again Highlights the Erosion of Justice in Taiwan
Sunday April 26
In a recent South China Morning Post article ("Lesson in Integrity for All", April 18, 2009) http://www.cfr.org/publication/19148/ , Jerome A. Cohen, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Asia Studies nailed it once again. In November 2008, Cohen, President Ma Ying-jeou's former mentor at Harvard, had questioned the neutrality of Taiwan's judiciary. Now he has come out stronger pointing to the continuing erosion of justice in Taiwan. In his article, Cohen used the corruption case of US Senator Ted Stevens as an example with "profound implications for efforts on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to stamp out corruption while fostering a rule of law based on the adversarial system of criminal justice." It is an example he feels Taiwan should heed. ...
Jackie Chan and the Utter Failure of Confucianism
Tuesday April 21
Speaking at the Boao Forum in the Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison and Propaganda, Jackie Chan gave forth with some unusual alleged personal insights. In reality they were statements in support of the authoritarian rule/dictatorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chan declared "We Chinese need to be controlled." And further "If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic." Chan's remarks drew applause from the "fat cat" businessmen attending for obvious reasons. And though Chan has since been raked over the coals by many for his words, ironically if one goes deeper between the lines, what he did was actually highlight the utter failure of Confucianism as a way of life in Chinese history. ...
The Blood of Taiwan's Patriots: Dang Nylon--One of Many
Friday April 17
Thomas Jefferson is known for the quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." In Taiwan's quest for liberty and democracy, too many of its patriots have shed their blood for it but not enough of its tyrants. And it is high time that we honored those patriots who shed their blood as well as stopped praising the tyrants who did not. ...
A Kafkaesque System of Justice: The Plight of the Poor in China
Monday April 13
When you live in an authoritarian state where corrupt courts reign supreme and judges are often feted by the wealthy, local magistrates, what chance does the little man have? In China local justice is rarely available so what happens? In the imperial past, the little man could petition the emperor if he felt he did not get justice locally. This practice has continued into the Communist era in China but now such petitioners are either beaten by thugs or placed in mental institutions. This follows a recent article in "China Newsweek" written by Sun Dongdong an associate professor of law. He declared them mentally ill. Is this the fault of the poor? And what are the yearly numbers of these petitioners?
Kinmen and Matsu, Where Do They Belong? To Taiwan or China?
Friday April 10
In my posting of March 7, "Taiwan Was Never Part of China's Civil Wars, Part II," and "Taiwan, Samoa, US Passports for All? Who Knows?" (February 5) I mentioned the recent case of Lin/Hartzell that was before the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC. Well the Court of Appeals issued its verdict yesterday, and while it denied Lin/Hartzell's cause, it opened up a whole different Pandora's Box on Taiwan's sovereignty, status, and rights. Point blank, it admitted that the US policy of ambiguity for over the past sixty years had trapped the citizens of Taiwan in "political purgatory."
Corruption Taiwan Style: It Depends on Who You Know?
Wednesday April 08
Yu Wen, Ma Ying-jeou's secretary from the days when Ma was Mayor of Taipei has just gotten out of jail. Yu had embezzled nearly a half million dollars (US$) from the Taipei Mayor's fund and put it into Ma's account. Yu denied any charges of corruption, "I did not take one cent." OK, fine but that leads to the next questions. What about motivation? If you did not take a single cent, then why did you do it? And why are you the only one that went to jail for this? And further, do you always act alone and put money in other people's accounts? Some things defy logic or do they? ...
Taiwan Needs Resistance Art: Where are the Taiwanese Artists Who Can Meet That Need?
Friday April 03
If you ask a dozen people what the purpose of art is, you will get a dozen answers. For some art should stand for something, for others it communicates feelings, ideas, thoughts, expressions etc. Still for others it is there to inspire, to pacify, to heal, to make us think, to give us experience, to memorialize, to symbolize, to beautify etc. etc. You get my drift. But the subject I want to raise today is a more narrow type of art; an art that I believe Taiwan is in dire need of. Taiwan needs Resistance Art. ...
Leeches Part IV, Taiwan's Uncle Toms Perpetuate the KMT Superiority Complex
Monday March 30
Are there so many Taiwanese that remain brain-washed? Is this the result of nearly a half century of Martial Law, White Terror and forced education? Such questions can and must be asked. Where is Taiwanese pride? Why do the Taiwanese, a majority population, allow the belittling and exploitative behavior of the minority Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) exemplified by people like Kuo Kuan-ying, Diane Lee etc. to still flourish. Bottom line, why are so many Taiwanese "Uncle Toms?" ...
Ma Ying-jeou, EFCA, MBPP and Taiwan, Wake Up Taiwan!
Saturday March 28
The horse still does not know how long his face is, and Ma Ying-jeou continues to live in his own little world. True when he was elected President a year ago, with overblown and outrageous campaign promises he got 58 per cent of the vote. However, once he took office and failed to live up to those promises, reality finally began to set in for many Taiwanese. Ma's popularity has since plummeted to as low as 23 per cent and for the last several months it has remained below 30 per cent. Instead of facing this, Ma fantasizes and postulates that the solution is for people to give him a blank check in drawing up his latest fly-by the-seat-of-your-pants brainstorm an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (EFCA) with China. ...
The GIO and the KMT, a Joint History of Murder, Intrigue, and Cover Up? Wake Up Taiwan.
Wednesday March 25
Kuo Kuan-ying is not a career diplomat. He has always been an employee of the Government Information Office (GIO) and that may explain his lack of diplomatic professionalism. Nonetheless the hate-mongering case of Kuo Kuan-ying took a new turn today when he admitted that the GIO knew and had covered up the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) murder of Henry Liu in 1984. Kuo was working for the GIO at that time and stationed in New York. Perhaps out of kindness or perhaps as a warning, he seemed to break with government "ethics" and revealed to Liu's wife the true story of what had happened. Liu's wife also confirmed yesterday that Kuo had told her such at that time. ...
When Will Taiwan Awaken? The KMT Leech Has Always Been at Your Throat, Part III, Miaoli, a Glimmer of Hope?
Saturday March 21
With people like Kuo Kuan-ying, calling himself a "superior Mainlander," the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has since 1945 profited from Taiwan and its resources. Despite its sordid past, the current KMT government now claims to have changed and will support clean government. Who has not heard President Ma Ying-jeou say that the KMT aims at rooting out corruption? Who has not heard KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung re-echo that the KMT is against corruption? For this reason it was a real shock to Taiwanese (or was it?) that in Miaoli, the KMT supported the wife of convicted vote-buyer KMT Legislator Lee E-tin in the replacement elections. ...
When Will Taiwan Awaken? The KMT Leech Has Always Been at Your Throat? Part II, the Past
Saturday March 21
The recent scandals of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) loyalists Diane Lee and Kuo Kuan-ying's exploitation of Taiwan are mere tips of the iceberg. Collecting steady, paychecks from the nation, they nevertheless have shown little loyalty and/or respect for its people by their actions. This is however a simple continuation of the KMT history of past exploitation. The more classic example is the thousands of KMT members who had held "iron rice bowl" positions in the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly from 1947 up until their forced retirement in the early 1990s. Elected once in 1947, they never faced elections again; all also drawing comfortable paychecks until death or their final forced retirement.
When Will Taiwan Awaken? Diane Lee, Kuo Kuan-ying, the KMT Leech Has Always Been at your Throat!
Friday March 13
The recent media scandal of Kuo Kuan-ying, information division director of Taiwan's Toronto office, again points to the condescending and demeaning attitude that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has always had towards Taiwan and its people. It is the same attitude for which they were driven from China, losing both the Civil War there and the propaganda war with Mao Tse-tung. It is the same attitude by which they always claim privileged entitlement to exploit. The shame of it is that so many Taiwanese (some brain-washed under the KMT past one-party state and others too generous and naïve to realize) remain blind to it. ...
The Erosion of Human Rights in Taiwan Continues: The KMT Seeks the Right to Go on Fishing Expeditions Against its Enemies.
Wednesday March 11
Whenever the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) says that it is against corruption, step back and examine what it professes to support and what it condones. Ma Ying-jeou's secretary is in jail because he "laundered" nearly a half a million US dollars into Ma's bank account; yet, Ma Ying-jeou is found innocent by the KMT courts and so walks the streets proclaiming his virtue. Diane Lee was forced to resign her position as a KMT legislator because she illegally collected US$3 million dollars in salary, but she also walks the streets free. This is not corruption in the KMT's mind and they will not pursue restitution. These are two of many examples of KMT justice. But not satisfied with that KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang wants to have the right to go on fishing expeditions against KMT enemies.
Taiwan Was Never Part of China's Civil Wars: Part II
Saturday March 07
During World War II, the US bombed Japan's colony of Taiwan regularly, and had considered an invasion of the island but chose instead to invade Okinawa. Later with the dropping of the atom bombs, Japan announced its surrender on August 15, 1945 and formally surrendered on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 (V-J-Day). What then would become of Japan's colony of Taiwan? That was 1945; it would be another seven years before the San Francisco Peace Treaty would be ratified in 1952. The Chinese Civil War between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allegedly ended in 1949. Here then the murkiness begins. ...
2-28, 1980 The Lin Family Murders; the Surviving Daughter's Account
Tuesday March 03
The Lin Family Murders took place on 2-28, 1980; they happened shortly after the Kaohsiung Incident (December 1979)and show that some 33 years after 2-28, 1947, the same vicious mentality lived in many of the KMT. This following account is by the surviving daughter as she came to terms with the past. It is a moving story, read it more than once to get all the details. Come, Take a Walk With Me: Out of Darkness into the Light ...
Taiwan Was Never Part of China's Civil Wars: Part I
Sunday March 01
If you ask people when China's Civil War occurred, be prepared for a variety of answers. Some will say from 1945 to 1949; others will add the years 1927 to 1937 and still others will point out that it continued intermittently throughout World War II. In giving their answers most will be thinking of the power struggle between the two Leninist modeled parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). But I propose a different perspective. ...
2-28, The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Sins of Their Fathers
Friday February 27
I am not one who believes that the sins of the fathers should be laid upon their children and certainly not to the third and fourth generation. However, I do believe that if those children constantly try to ignore and whitewash the sins of their fathers and insist on keeping the profits and privileges resulting from the sins of their fathers, then that is a different matter.
The Unbearable Lightness of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou's Words
Thursday February 26
Ma Ying-jeou again shamefacedly took the cake when he pledged that he would seek the truth of 228 and provide compensation for the survivors and families of those murdered. How nice this sounds until one examines just how many survivors are now living some sixty-two years later. Anyone who was at least twenty years old at that time (1947) would now be eighty-two years old. Even if one was a baby at that time, he/she would be now sixty-two years old, so how would they possibly have any memory or recollection of that horror. Add this to the fact that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had practically a half of a century of one-party state rule to sanitize any guilt or responsibility for what happened in 1947 and destroy the convicting documentation. ...
Can Chen Shui-bian Get a Fair Trial? Taiwan's Prosecutors Leave More Smoking Guns.
Tuesday February 24
Anyone who lived through the Watergate scandal and obstruction of justice will readily recall Rose Mary Woods and the "smoking gun" 18 minutes of erased tapes to protect President Nixon. In Taiwan, we are having some similar experiences though it appears that the ones erasing tapes and leaving the smoking guns are not Chen Shui-bian's lawyers, but the KMT Court Prosecutors who are supposed to be protecting evidence and upholding justice. ...
Taiwan as the World Turns, Questions of a Cheated Past
Saturday February 21
The Pareto Principle is dead in Taiwan's bureaucracy. This principle frequently referred to as the 80/20 rule, means that 80 per cent of the effects in any given endeavor come from 20 per cent of causes. In quality control it means that 80 per cent of your product defects come from 20 per cent of the process; thus if a company can cure the 20 per cent, it will have eliminated 80 per cent of its problems. Looked at in a positive way 80 per cent of a company's sales come from 20 per cent of its customers. They should therefore be cultivated. Or 80 per cent of the work in an organization is done by 20 per cent of the people, and they should be rewarded properly. So what does this have to do with Taiwan's civil servant system? ...
Taiwan: As theWorld Turns Greased With Corruption
Tuesday February 17
Ma Ying-jeou's administration continually tries to spin itself as a clean government and those who lack memory or who have zero investigative powers will probably buy what they sell. So while the media are abuzz with the continuing trial of Chen Shui-bian who has been judged guilty even though his trial has just begun, maybe we should still peek behind the curtain of the side that tries to pass itself off as clean. ...
Can Ma Ying-jeou Make the Crumbs of His Mole-hills Look Like Mountains?
Wednesday February 11
As the first year of Ma Ying-jeou's presidency nears completion, Ma, his cabinet and his spin-masters are desperate for some sign, symbol, or semblance of success, but the picture is looking bleak. When it comes to dollars and cents and spending power, no amount of media hype and exaggeration, no amount of pictures in the paper, no promises, platitudes or dreams can change the hole in the nation's economic pocket and the lack of dignity the people feel as Taiwanese. And so while President Ma Ying-jeou, if we can still call him president, pretends that all is working out as he planned, one is reminded of a variation of an old nursery rhyme. ...
Diane Lee Continues to Blow Smoke in Taiwan
Friday February 06
Diane Lee and her lawyer continue to blow smoke and have dragged out a letter from Barbara Schrage, the managing director of the Washington office of the American Institute in Taiwan. In the letter of January 16 2009, managing director Schrage repeats what she said in her November 22 letter. "Loss of US citizenship occurs when a citizen voluntarily commits a statutorily define potentially expatriating act with the intention of relinquishing US citizenship." The key words are "potentially expatriating act" and "with the intention of relinquishing US citizenship." How does one separate that "intention" from the intention of one who "intends" to deceive and thus rip off the citizens of Taiwan while still keeping her passport? ...
Taiwan, Samoa, US Passports for All? Who knows?
Thursday February 05
The arguments are in and the ball is in the court of, well, the court of the US Court of Appeals. When and what the judges will decide is not announced but we do have the following report that comes from the "Boston Progressive Examiner." Regardless of that decision, there will certainly be a lot of denials and agreements as different pundits weigh in. The China lobby is going to have to spend a lot of bucks to try and put this one down. Here follows the report in the Examiner by Michael Richardson. Let the games begin. ...
Taiwan's Sovereignty and Statehood Still "Undecided" ??
Wednesday February 04
On February 5th, the oral arguments of a provocative lawsuit will go before the US Court of Appeals at 9:30 am. In this presentation, Dr. Roger Lin is arguing that the sovereignty and role of Taiwan in the international community remains a piece of unfinished business left over from World War II (WWII). Lin is claiming that since the US conquered Japan and its territories, it bears responsibility for the disposition of those territories and in particular that of Taiwan. That disposition was not made, treated or designated in the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1952. Taiwan was given neither to the Republic of China (ROC), nor the People's Republic of China (PRC). ...
Why Chen Shui-bian Will Not Get a Fair Trial in Taiwan.
Monday February 02
Chen Shui-bian will not get a fair trial in Taiwan. This is not assessing whether he is guilty or not, but simply that he will not get a fair trial in Taiwan. Why? First, remember that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has always controlled the Legislative Yuan and that for three years they refused to appoint any members to the Control Yuan, the governmental watchdog, until they got a KMT president making the appointments of their own people whom they would approve. ...
The KMT's Diane Lee Takes Her Illegal US$ 3Million Dollars and Runs
Saturday January 31
If westerners or others want to understand the double standard in application of justice and media coverage in Taiwan, they need look no further than the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) hypocritical former legislator Diane Lee. The controversy of Lee's illegal possession of dual citizenship has been going on for nearly a year with Lee failing to prove her innocence. With a recent press statement, Diane Lee had the gall to claim that since she has resigned from her position as a KMT legislator, she now does not have to produce any documents that would bare her falsehood. In essence, the KMT's Diane Lee is trying to take her illegally earned money (US$ 3 million) and run. The KMT dominated legislature is doing nothing about it. How can thieves accuse one of their own? ...
Scholars Issue Yet Another Letter on the Erosion of Justice in Taiwan
Friday January 30
Previous posts of November 15, and November 29, 2008 had presented two open letters to Taiwan's Minister of Justice on the erosion of justice in Taiwan during the short presidency of Ma Ying-jeou. Minister Wang failed to provide any kind of satisfactory answer to both letters and as a result the scholars and writers issued a third letter. This time the letter was addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou before the Lunar New Year holiday. The text is provided below; an answer has since been given by the Government Information Office. It too was inadequate but it will still be provided at a later date. Unable to live up to its pre-election hype and face the bankrupt inadequacy of its programs, the Ma government can only resort to denial. ...
No Virginia, the 21st Century Will Not be China's Century!
Wednesday January 28
International pundits chomping at the bit for something provokingly sensational to declare in past years have said that the Twenty-first Century is China's Century. Power-hungry Chinese searching for the wish-fulfillment of their dreams will champion this slogan. And even average Chinese citizens long-suffering from their own self-inflicted humiliations will hopefully proclaim that yes this is their century. But it isn't. In an age of global interdependence and instant news-messaging the Twenty-first Century belongs to no one, let alone the dreamers of China. ...
A Happy Lunar Year of the Ox to All, and Now Back to Work
Tuesday January 27
A Happy Lunar New Year to everyone! In Taiwan the weather up north was typical, wet and cold, but that did not dampen the celebrations. Now as the sun comes out the nation braces for the work ahead to keep its democracy and human rights from continued erosion. ...
Barack Obama is President, Let Us Celebrate!
Monday January 19
Prejudice dies hard and old prejudices die even harder; that is what makes the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States all the more meaningful. It is the death of one of the oldest prejudices in the United States. ...
Diane Lee, Taiwan Updates, the Shame Continues
Monday January 19
The irony of ironies took place in Taiwan when the World League of Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) Republic of China chapter celebrated the upcoming World Freedom Day at their 53rd convention in Taipei. Everyone was praising how Taiwan had become a democracy (which it has) but no one admitted how long it took to do so and how much Taiwanese blood had to be shed to accomplish that. This is just one of the unsaid items of the day. ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Impotency Bodes Ill for Taiwan
Sunday January 18
Like the kingdom of the Fisher King in T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," Taiwan is suffering from a deep malaise. Its problem is that its president Ma Ying-jeou is impotent, impotent as a leader and impotent in his party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT); because of that he is impotent to make any long-term constructive contributions to the nation of Taiwan. He can only talk. ...
Taiwan's Freedom Fighter, Linda Arrigo Turns the Big 6-0!
Saturday January 17
Linda Arrigo, a name well known in Taiwan since the days of the Kaohsiung Incident (when she was unceremoniously kicked out of the country) cheerfully celebrated her sixtieth birthday here yesterday. With her were a diverse group of well-wishing friends, whom we could dubiously call some of the usual suspects in Taiwan's pro-democracy and pro-environmental circles. They included members of the Green Party, prominent bloggers, and even a classmate from Taipei American School high school days who had come up from Pingtung. ...
Freedom House Ranks Taiwan High and China Low, but There is More
Thursday January 15
On January 13, Freedom House (FH) presented the 2009 findings of its flagship publication "Freedom in the World." This was the first time the publication had been made in Asia. In doing this, FH purposely chose Taiwan as the place for its presentation, noting that Taiwan after many struggles and sufferings had finally become a "vibrant democracy" and "one of Asia's success stories." ...
Zhang Ziyi, Taiwan, and the Perverse Shaming of China
Saturday January 10
Recent topless photos of Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi have created an uproar and online debate in China; they also expose a dark side of Chinese culture. It is a culture that because of several of its underpinnings unfortunately allows control freaks and people without a life of their own to gravitate to the top of the society. This in turn allows that element to create the self-righteous group thinking that makes China the continued dangerous hegemonic threat it is in Asia. ...
Diane Lee Resigns and Puts KMT Justice on Trial.
Friday January 09
Fabrication, fabrication, who would do the fabrication to save Diane Lee? Apparently no one. So as the forces of justice closed in on her falsehoods, Diane Lee decided to try a little fabrication of her own. Two days ago, she brought out letters and documents stating that this was all a mistake, a misunderstanding; the US Consular Office's right hand did not know what the left hand had been doing. Lee had proof that she had given up her US citizenship. She was again innocent. ...
The KMT's ex-legislator Diane Lee: the Smell of Rotten Fish Becomes Stronger in Taiwan
Wednesday December 31
There is indeed something rotten in both Denmark and in Taiwan as the Diane Lee case drags on. Lee has now resigned from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) but she still remains locked in denial. Who wouldn't if you had committed a criminal act and owed over US $3 million dollars to the people of Taiwan? There is a simple solution however, but Diane Lee does not provide it. Diane Lee got her first passport in 1991. US passports are good for ten years; that means that Diane Lee's passport would have to have been renewed in 2001. So why would the US state that her passport is still valid? What number is the passport under? Does it show renewal? 2001 was a crucial year in US history and entrance requirements have become much stricter. ...
The KMT's Diane Lee, the Ways of the Weasel Part II
Sunday December 28
Fabrication, fabrication, who will do the fabrication? The case of Diane Lee becomes more complex and more devious. Below follows some expert advice from someone well versed in the ins and outs of the US consular service. There is a formal process that is gone through and with such a process, the magical way that Diane Lee claims her US passport has disappeared becomes less and less credible. In the meantime, however though it becomes more evident that Diane Lee has ripped off the government and people of more than US$3 million, and violated Taiwan's Constitutional law, Diane Lee is allowed to roam free and collude with whomever she wants to develop her strategy for exit. She has not even been sought for questioning, let alone handcuffed etc. before indictments. Would that Chen Shui-bian had friends in high places. It will be interesting to see what evidence Diane Lee provides in the coming month and how it was fabricated, or shall we say mysteriously found. ...
The KMT's Diane Lee, Legislative Abuse, and the Ways of the Weasel
Saturday December 27
For those that watch the scandals and rumor-mongering of Taiwan, Diane Lee's name is an all too familiar by-word. One of her more famous past escapades and abuses of her legislative position was in 2002 when she wrongfully accused DPP supporter and head of the Department of Health, Twu Shiing-jer. Lee charged that Twu kissed another man in a KTV parlor and that public morals were being corrupted. She insisted over and over again that she had her man and she was the upholder of morality not rumors. Of course, investigations proved Lee wrong and she had to make a public apology - what else could she do when caught in a blatant falsehood. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dominated Legislative Yuan (LY) gave her a slap on the wrist and let her off easily as it has with the convicted Chiu Yi. It seems now she is again counting on her KMT comrades in the LY to bail her out once more. ...
David Wu, Taiwanese American US Congressman Criticizes Ma Government
Wednesday December 24
David Wu is the only Taiwanese American serving in the US Congress; and he was recently re-elected to his sixth term representing the 1st District of Oregon. Wu knows the difference between true freedom and democracy, and so he also wrote to US President Bush to express his deep concern over the clampdown of human rights and civil liberties in Taiwan under President Ma Ying-jeou. Wu urged US President Bush to push for an investigation of these abuses under Ma and to closely monitor Taiwan's problems. What makes Wu's letter all the more important is that he purposely wrote his own letter instead of joint signing with the 14 other US Congressman who also expressed concern to President Bush. By separating himself, Wu is making a statement. He is one that truly knows both Taiwan and knows human rights and civil liberties; therefore he is not fooled by Ma's propaganda or platitudes. Wu's letter follows. ...
US Congress Expresses Concern over Abuses Under Ma Ying-jeou
Tuesday December 23
It is not only numerous International Human Rights Organizations, media watchdogs and other guardians of human rights and civil liberties that are shocked at the violations that have already taken place in Taiwan during the first seven months of the rule of President Ma Ying-jeou. Fourteen members of the US Congress took pains to write US President Bush advising him that he must keep a "close eye" on the machinations of the Ma government. These Congressmen are well worried that Ma's definition of "peace in our time" does not come at the expense of Taiwanese civil rights. Their letter follows. ...
Taiwan's Chen Shui-bian, Guilty or Not-Guilty?
Saturday December 20
Anyone reading about Taiwan news would know that former president Chen Shui-bian has been accused of just about stealing everything from the Presidential Office kitchen sink to the treasures in the National Palace Museum. Some may wonder where I stand on this. My response is simple; if Chen is guilty of money laundering etc., then I say "hang him high." If not then let's get on with life and face the fact why so many hate not only Chen, but also the reality of Taiwan's sovereignty that he represents. For it is this that inconveniently sticks in their craw and disrupts their profits and sculpted agendas for the world. For sure, Chen has been already, judged and found guilty in the pan-blue media and subsequently hung, drawn and quartered so many times that it is not just de rigueur but the only thing they can think of to print. Innocent until proven guilty? Not in pan-blue Taiwan. ...
The List of Protests Against Ma Just Grows and Grows; Is There Anyone That Has Not Spoken Up
Wednesday December 17
The list of complaints against Ma Ying-jeou has become so numerous that one hesitates to add another. For those who know Ma, it is reality finally surfacing. Ma never had an image of Mr. Clean; those on the inside have always seen through that from Ma's days as a student spy. Now, Reporters Without Borders (RWP) has spoken out on how President Ma Ying-jeou is not keeping his promises to respect public media independence. In response, Ma had written in a letter to its secretary-general Jean-François Julliard, "We believe that accusations of this administration's interference in Taiwan's media are based on some wrong information or misunderstandings." But despite such denials the organisation continues to get disturbing reports of the ruling Kuomintang party decisions undermining the independence of the public media. ...
Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou, the Cracks Have Become Fissures, Part I
Monday December 15
Ma Ying-jeou has been president of Taiwan for some seven months and already the cracks in his counterfeit façade are becoming fissures. As one elected with a popular majority, his image, so carefully crafted in the past, has not stood up to the test of the reality and responsibility required by the role of President. Even rascals and under-achievers have had a longer honeymoon period than Ma's bare one month. ...
And Still Another Two Human Rights Organizations Join the Protest Against Ma Ying-jeou's Rule
Friday December 12
Read through the past ten posts where international organization after international organization speaks out on the erosion of justice and the violation of human rights in Taiwan. Earlier this week, the police forcefully removed the students in silent protest at Liberty Square in Taipei. With clubs and shields the Taipei police moved in on the sleeping students at 4 am in the morning; U-tube recordings of the event are available. And yet in almost mocking ironic contrast, Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou spoke at a seminar on Dec. 10th Human Rights Day. While outside abuses of human rights followed abuses Ma said that all was progressing well under his administration. Ma may still fool some of the naïve in Washington DC but almost in answer another two organizations, The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (Taipei) and the Formosan Association for Human Rights (US) added their cries to the mounting criticism of Ma Ying-jeou. Their words follow. ...
Amnesty International Adds its Voice to Protests Against the Erosion of Justice under Ma Ying-jeou's KMT Government
Saturday December 06
On December 7th, the Wild Strawberries will have a march to continue their protest against the harsh Parade and Assembly Laws that Taiwan has and which are a carry-over from the Martial Law days. The march will be peaceful; it will also be carried out without a permit required by the law. It constitutes a peaceful act of civil disobedience reminiscent of the thought and practices of Henry David Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. Almost as if in support, Amnesty International has added its voice to the continuously growing number of organizations that question the dedication to justice of the government of Ma Ying-jeou. You simply have to look at all the previous posts on this page and you will see some ten protests and organizations listed. ...
The Taiwan Bar Associations and Judicial Reform Foundation Weigh in on the Abuses of the Ministry of Justice
Monday December 01
The evidence mounts, and it seems like it will never end. On Nov. 21, in a Joint Statement, the Taiwan Bar Association, the Taipei Bar Association and the Judicial Reform Foundation expressed their dissatisfaction on the abuses demonstrated by Taiwan's Ministry of Justice (MOJ). The MOJ appears to be selectively carrying out its vendetta against Taiwan's former president and members of the Democratic Progressive Party. Taiwan's President who appointed the Minster of Justice also tries to dodge the guilt by claiming that is the MOJ business. ...
Scholars Find Taiwan's Minster of Justice's Response Inadequate
Saturday November 29
The previous posting of Taiwan's Minister of Justice's response to the JOINT STATEMENT of the scholars and writers (posted November 15) did not address the real issues of the erosion of justice in Taiwan. Ignoring numerous other protests also listed below, the Minister's response appears to hide behind the technicalities of the Constitution. Taiwan's current Constitution has many inadequacies; among them is that it was created for continental China but ill fits the island nation of Taiwan. By the Minister's implication it is so broad that it allows numerous abuses that may be technically within the letter of the law but far from the spirit and purpose of the law. For this reason it can allow the selective application to one's political opposition and still fall under the umbrella of the Constitution. For that reason, the scholars/writers of the first statement on the erosion of justice in Taiwan felt obligated to respond in specifics to the Minister's letter. That response can be found below. ...
Taiwan's Minister of Justice Responds to the Scholars' Joint Statement
Thursday November 27
On November 6th some twenty US, Canadian, European, and Australian scholars wrote a Joint Statement to Taiwan's Ministry of Justice and other government agencies expressing deep concern over the recent series of detentions in Taiwan (that statement can be seen below on November 15). The statement was also published in the "Taipei Times" on November 6. The Honorable Wang Ching-feng, Taiwan's Minister of Justice recently responded to that statement stating that it was inaccurate on several points. Minister Wang's letter was printed in the "Taipei Times" on November 25. On November 26 the Taipei Times editorial addressed the Minister's letter and in particular where it claimed that all Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) figures arrested were charged according to law within 24 hours. The editorial stated "This unfortunately, is also
simply untrueraising concerns that Wang did not mean what she wrote or lacks a basic grasp of the legal system." The full editorial can be found in the Taipei Times for November 26. ...
And Yet Another World Agency Protests Abuses of Rights under Ma Ying-jeou
Tuesday November 25
The recently quoted Chinese proverb, "The Horse does not know how long his face is," appropriately fits Taiwan's situation under Ma Ying-jeou. There Ma's Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and KMT dominated judiciary proceed blithely on claiming to be working for peace with the totalitarian regime in China while ignoring the abuses of power within their own ranks and inflicted on the democracy of Taiwan. Another world agency, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) has sent the following open letter to Taiwan's President Ma. ...
Freedom House Adds Yet Another Voice Against the Abuses of Ma Ying-jeou's KMT Government
Saturday November 22
While Ma Ying-jeou remains the one-trick pony whose only hope seems to be in running to China for solutions to boost his sagging approval rating of 23 per cent; his permitted or possibly directed abuse of his own people and the sovereignty of their nation continues. Another voice that has spoken out in this regard is Freedom House which also wants the abuses looked into. Since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dominated judiciary continues it's fishing expedition and witch hunt to punish the opposition party leaders; it seems however that the citizens of Taiwan will get an impartial response to Freedom House's inquiry. ...
Annette Lu, Taiwan's Former Vice President Adds Her Voice to Protests Against the KMT Dominated Judiciary
Wednesday November 19
Former Vice President Annette Lu is no stranger to persecution and bad-mouthing from both the People's Republic of China (PRC) as well as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Until now after leaving office, she has been relatively silent on the recent abuses of the KMT dominated judiciary system under Ma Ying-jeou. In the following statement however, she does not hold back and adds her voice and legal experience to the many other critics of the heavy-handed measures used by the KMT judiciary. A Harvard educated lawyer, Ms. Lu goes into great detail on the specifics of the abuses. ...
The USA Heritage Foundation Further Lays Bare the KMT's Current Abuse of Justice
Tuesday November 18
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controlled judiciary in Taiwan continues to abuse its powers. At present it conducts both a witch hunt and fishing expedition in its attempt to squelch its opposition party the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Former President Chen Shui-bian has been arrested and led away in handcuffs but to date no formal charges have been leveled against him. Likewise in abusing their powers they have arrested and held incommunicado numerous others of the DPP. These are all held in prison under the guise that they will now obstruct justice in a case that has been tendered and pursued for a long time. ...
Scholars Around the Globe Criticize Abuses Under Ma Ying-jeou and the KMT
Saturday November 15
This JOINT STATEMENT of US, Canadian, European and Australian scholars/writers started the ball rolling. It highlighted numerous abuses of civil rights and liberties already clearly evident in the first five months that Ma Ying-jeou had been in office. This statement came out on November 4th, 2008, even before Chen Yunlin had completed his visit and further police brutality and violation of civil liberties would become evident. These scholars wrote to express concern about the growing political prosecutions in Taiwan under Ma Ying-jeou. It reads as follows. ...
The Prebyterian Church of Taiwan Adds its Voice to Questioning the Government of Ma ying-jeou
Friday November 14
The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, a long-time and a staunch supporter of human rights and democracy in Taiwan has added its voice to the growing criticism and disillusionment with the government of Ma Ying-jeou and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The following letter explains.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN TAIWAN
3, Lane 269, Roosevelt Road Sec. 3, Taipei 10647 TAIWAN
General Secretary: Rev. Andrew T. C. Chang
11 November 2008 ...
Canadian Human Rights Association Puts Ma Ying-jeou's Government on Watch List
Thursday November 13
Statement by Taiwanese Human Rights Association of Canada, November 13, 2008
Condemns Ongoing Political Prosecutions in Taiwan Calls on Human Rights groups to put the "Republic of China" on watch list ...
Taiwan's Wild Strawberry Student Protest Challenges the Inequities of the Nation's Laws
Thursday November 13
As long as Taiwan has Wild Strawberries, the country will maintain its democracy. Just as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in its will to maintain a one-party state miscalculated the will of the people and the strength of their determination in the Kaohsiung Incident on Human Rights Day (December 1979), so too, a generation later, the KMT is attempting to stonewall the Wild Strawberries who similarly are protesting against police abuse. The protest is also aimed at the continued failed action of the Legislative Yuan (always dominated by the KMT) to amend the harsh Parade and Assembly Law existent in Taiwan as a substitute for martial law. Following is the protest statement of the students who belong to no political party ...
Taiwan's President, The Little Man that is There!
Friday November 07
After a stormy five day sojourn in the country of Taiwan, Chen Yunlin is on his way back to China. Now that he is gone, it is time for Taiwanese to see their primping president for the little man that he really is. What should have been a routine visit by a low level person from China to ink prearranged agreements turned into a near riot and cost Taiwanese citizens millions of dollars in wasted resources as well as the experience of police brutality not seen since the days of the Kaohsiung Incident. This is not because of legitimate anger and protests of concerned citizens, but because of the inept mishandling and callous indifference of the whole situation by Taiwan's sometime president, Ma Ying-jeou. ...
The KMT's and Ma's Surreal Dream of Yesteryear
Wednesday November 05
Like an opium reverie of bygone years, a strange surrealistic cloud is descending on Taiwan. Members of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their sometime leader Ma Ying-jeou are nostalgically striving to recreate the celebratory one-party state days of their colonial yesteryear rule as they wine and dine a civil servant of China, Chen Yunlin. Chen is head of China"s Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS); he is no head of state; he is simply head of an association to negotiate trade and is here to sign some trade agreements. The question then is why is Ma spending so much and trying to convince Taiwan citizens as well as the foreign media that something momentous is going on? ...
Special News from Taiwan Sovereignty Watch
Wednesday November 05
Coordinator: Taiwan Sovereignty Watch/ Contact Info: Billy Pan 0968-718673; Michael 0935-156396; Luna 0917-228-367 ...
The US Elections, Is McCain the Republican Throwaway Candidate?
Sunday November 02
The US elections are drawing to a close and with all the rhetoric that has been flying most are probably glad that it will soon be over with. I was glad to see that at the American Legion dinner (I believe) last week, both candidates were able to laugh and joke in each others presence, despite the somewhat rabid behavior that each of their followers have exhibited. That gives me faith in the system. ...
1895, A New Film Coming out on Taiwan's Early Republic
Wednesday October 29
A new film, "1895", will be coming out within a month and it will be screened in many theatres in Taiwan. Its title and subject is 1895 - the year that the Republic of Taiwan was established. If you remember, the Manchu Qing Dynasty lost a war with Japan over who would control Korea during that year. In the subsequent Treaty of Shimonoseki, the Qing falsely surrendered all of Taiwan to Japan. Why do we say falsely? The Qing never controlled all of Taiwan; they only controlled the western part of the island. Nevertheless in mock and false generosity, they gave away all of Taiwan to the Japanese. In this process, no one ever asked or told the Taiwanese on the western part that they were being given away. Nor did anyone tell aboriginals who controlled the eastern half and the central mountain range that they no longer controlled their lands. ...
Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand: Part II, the Manila to Acapulco Trade Route
Sunday October 26
Part I of this series can be found on Oct. 17. Now while Taiwan is often the center my writings, as far as Spain was concerned in the 16th and 17th centuries, Taiwan was only one part of the larger picture of its trade, empire and expansion. An oft-forgotten part of that picture is the long standing Manila-Acapulco Trade Route, whose establishment and history have enough tales, challenges and adventures to create several novels. For though the Spanish had arrived in the Philippines as early as 1521 and a remnant of Magellan's men would continue west to complete their round-the-world journey, the Spanish faced yet another problem. If they were to develop consistent trade with Asia, they would need to find a way back east across the Pacific Ocean.
What Does Ma Ying-jeou Mean That There Will Be No War?
Saturday October 25
Taiwan did not respond in a filial manner to Zhang Mingqing's patronizing paternalism last week and so he went home to China teary-eyed, nevertheless he did go away with our quote of the week. Ma Ying-jeou however gave him a close race in that arena and came in second with his own brilliant statement. Ma boldly declared in the same week that there would be no war with China during his four year term as president. This strange quote left many in a quandary and wondering who on earth Ma was trying to talk to and what on earth was he trying to say. ...
China's Zhang Mingqing Lectures Taiwan on Human Rights
Wednesday October 22
Zhang Mingqing, the Vice Chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, gets the award for the quote of the week. After he was jostled and booed by Taiwanese citizens, he decided it was time to lecture them in true authoritarian, patriarchal style. He said, "Such violent behavior not only infringes on human rights but also runs against the wish of the peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Only uncivilized people do such a thing. A civilized society governed by the rule of law would never allow such violence to happen again." Wow, how so little a statement can leave so much to comment on, where shall I begin? ...
Ma Ying-jeou and the Peter Principle
Monday October 20
What is it a sign of when posing for pictures and uttering platitudes are not enough, when your approval ratings have plunged from 70 to under 25 and when half of the people who voted for you already regret their choice in your first 100 days? What is it a sign of? It's a sign that Taiwan has once again witnessed the Peter Principle in action, the principle that all men rise to the level of their incompetence, some more quickly than others. In the case of Ma Ying-jeou, however, some feel the degree of incompetence is so great and so unique that perhaps a new principle needs to be coined, the Ma principle. ...
Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand: Part I, Taiiwan
Friday October 17
Taiwan has always had trade with the islands around it and with the Asian continent. However, it was when the "invisible hand" that Adam Smith speaks of in "The Wealth of Nations" took hold of many Europeans that it would drive them to enter Asian waters in search of many things including spices known for their taste, medicinal value and even preservative aspects. Like it or not, the invisible hand had a large role in putting Taiwan on the "radar screen" and maps of Europe and in so plotting Taiwan's future and often turbulent destiny. ...
Penghu, Casinos and the Future of Taiwan?
Friday October 17
Penghu has always had a unique role in Taiwan's history. The Dutch fought the Ming to a standoff there, and as a result the Ming gave the Dutch Taiwan as a place from which to operate. When the Qing wanted to drive Zheng Zhi-long's Ming loyalists out of Taiwan, they first captured Penghu. When the Japanese wanted to fully take over Taiwan, they also first occupied Penghu and so the saying developed, as Penghu went, so went Taiwan. Now as Taiwan looks for ways to revitalize its economy, Penghu again appears to be stepping up to the plate. How's that? No there is no war; this time the word is Casinos. ...
Pandas in the Mist: Naming and More Problems for Taiwan?
Saturday October 11
While Taiwan's economy continues to slump, Mr. Ma, our regional administrator has been working (about the only area he seems to be actually doing some work in) and preparing behind the scenes to accept two pandas from China. These pandas are perhaps the sole vestige or legacy of Taiwan's well-known political loser Lien Chan to the country. ...
Niagara Falls, Still Spectacular and Well Worth the Visit
Tuesday October 07
Despite the seductive performance of Marilyn Monroe in the film noir "Niagara" (1953), the days of Niagara Falls as the favorite honeymoon destination in the USA are long past, but by no means, does that mean the falls are not well worth the visit. The first time I had seen them was with two of my brothers, way back in 1960; that may give you an idea of how old I am. It was a trip before I went on to grad school and had its own string of interesting events that I will save for another day. As for the falls, they of course are much older and have changed and weathered many a season and many a century while maintaining their own splendor. ...
Taiwan History Book Reaches its 4th Edition
Sunday October 05
The 4th edition of "Island in the Stream, a Quick Case Study of Taiwan's Complex History" is fresh off the presses and available at bookstores in Taiwan for the modest price of NT$200 (US$ 6.50). We are proud of this book since not many history books reach their fourth edition and certainly few if any other histories of Taiwan reach that stage. This edition continues with the tradition of having provocative questions at the end of each chapter to encourage readers to examine and probe more deeply into the many challenges facing the hard-won democracy of this island nation as well as the ways others have tried to twist and influence its history. For those in the United States and around the world, we are increasing our efforts to make it more readily available there. If you have trouble getting it, let us know.
Away from the Hustle and Busltle of Life is the Joy of Grandchildren
Friday October 03
One of the privileges, joys, and pleasures of life as you get older is to unashamedly brag about your grandkids and I am no exception. Kahlil Gibran states, "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the Archers hand be for gladness; for even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable." With grandchildren, you have the wonder and joy to see how swift and how far beyond your children, your arrows and then their arrows have flown, and how the Archer allows the bow to be rewarded. ...
Musings on the US Presidential Elections II: McCain, Distance, Palin and More Bush
Sunday September 28
Distance, distance, distance. Distance is the watchword and battle-cry of Republican John McCain's presidential campaign for if he is to have any chance, he must distance himself from fellow Republican George Bush and from the disastrous past eight years of the Bush presidency. For that reason, on August 29th I wrote that I was not surprised by McCain's choice of running mate Sarah Palin. He needed a Republican but one with little baggage from the Beltway and little association with Bush policies. He got that in the relative unknown Palin, but he also got a lot more, he got an attack dog, a cheerleader, and a mixed bag of anomalies. ...
News from China, Is There a Pattern There?
Saturday September 27
There seems to be a clear pattern for news from China. It is simple, it is basic, and it is geared to one thing--make the ruling government look good. Any bad news must be delivered late; hopefully it will go away before it has to be delivered. SARS, let's keep that under wraps; put the doctor who blew the whistle on it under permanent house arrest and maybe the people in the world won't understand why they are dying. The poisoned milk? Yes that news has to be delayed, we cannot have anything like that ruin the image we are trying to create for the Olympics, you know, peaceful China rising, while babies in China and around the world die. Delay that one six months or so, or at least until the Olympics are past. ...
Musings on the US Presidential Elections I, Bush, Republicans and the Economy
Friday September 26
As the US elections approach, I cannot escape one of those "Wordsworthian spots of time." It happened in the year 2000 when I was in X'ian, China looking at the terra cotta warriors. As I admired the statues and craftsmanship, a tourist group from the United States passed by and a loud mouth American who had to have been a Republican (Clinton was in the White House then) was boasting, "Just wait until we get in the White House, then we'll show them how to run the economy." George Bush, the Republican candidate did win the election in Nov. 2000 and of course entered the White House in January, 2001. So here I am eight years later, thinking back on that loud mouth and the way the Republicans showed us how to run the economy. ...
Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou, Clueless but Comforted?
Wednesday September 24
While his popularity ratings plummet to an all time low, the saga of Ma Ying-jeou, little boy lost and clueless in the cross-currents of reality continues. First, Ma wonders why things are not going right and according to the script of the novels and stories he read as a young boy. These are the ones where ruler takes the pose of paternalistic benevolence, makes a show of listening to the people, utters the right platitudes and then everything works out. Ma has followed the script, but somehow real leadership in today's Taiwan demands more. ...
Cairo Rhetoric, Undecided Stealing, Taiwan and the UN
Saturday September 20
The 65th anniversary of the Cairo Declaration (Dec. 1, 1943) approaches and I have always wondered at its rhetoric as well as how often this simple declaration is used by some to justify the People's Republic of China's (PRC) claim to Taiwan (then called Formosa). Let us grant that the declaration was made in war time, and that it would require rhetorical wording to rally the troops to the righteousness of a cause. Granted it was a statement and not a treaty. It had no legal force; there were no binding commitments. Granted, it also was made at a time when though the darkest hour of the war was past, there was much more to come. For some the concern that Chiang Kai-shek might still sign a private peace treaty with Japan and opt out of the war remained. Go past that however and focus for a moment on one simple neglected aspect, the rhetoric involved and the future problems that have arisen because of that rhetoric. ...
St. Andrew's Ball, Scottish Dancing Anyone?
Sunday September 14
This year the St. Andrew's ball will be celebrated on November 1st at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Every year I have posted about it since 2004; if anyone wants to see past photos just go to the heading "Another Side" click on and find the four sub-albums on St. Andrew's Ball for each year. If anyone out there will be in Taiwan at that time and would like to go, you are more than welcome and we still have some room at our table (room for 3). Just go back to postings at the end of November or early December and you will see more of the details. Contact me if you are interested in joining the Scottish community in one of the best celebrations in Taiwan. ...
Taiwan, China Matters: a MOFA Smokescreen?
Saturday September 13
Henry Chen, MOFA spokesman, announced yesterday that MOFA has found fewer cases of Chinese pressure against Taiwan participation in international affairs. "In the first half of the year, there were relatively fewer examples of China's suppression of Taiwan." While this sounds like progress, Chen did not elaborate as to why and so leaves the whole matter in the vagaries of limbo. Does this mean China is relenting or that a certain strategy is working? Chen's vagueness is as graspable as the morning mist. ...
Taiwan Commemorates Far Eastern Prisoners of War (FEPOW) Day
Friday September 12
While Taiwan's media vacillates between focusing on President Ma Ying-jeou's dismal performance in his first 100 days and the US$ 20 million dollars that Chen Shui-bian admits he profited from by using the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) system to advantage, believe it or not a lot of other things are going on in Taiwan besides those two events. One such was on August 10, when the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society hosted a gathering to celebrate the first ever Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOW) Day in Taiwan. ...
Is Ma Ying-jeou Becoming a Parrot of the PRC?
Wednesday September 10
Recently, the People's Republic of China (PRC) rejected Taiwan's bid for simple participation in other international agencies as an observer. This was allegedly Ma's new flexible and placating approach to China. Though it was quickly shot down by the PRC, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) tried to downplay the rejection and say that the PRC did not understand Taiwan's effort. The PRC understood only too well, but it is what followed that indicates how things are getting worse and how China seeks to define the terms of engagement.
Taiwan's Economy Continues Sinking but Ma Ying-jeou Wants to Bring Back Chiang Kai-shek
Monday September 08
I attended a presentation by Vice Premier Chiu Cheng-hsiung today and what he said about the world and Taiwan's economy were not encouraging. Quoting Global Insight he predicted the growth of the world economy will slow to 3% this year and 2.8% next year. Taiwan's growth would fall from 5.72% last year to 4.3% this year. Plus Taiwan's CPI would go up 3.74%. Now Taiwan is in much better shape than most countries in Asia, but since Ma Ying-jeou had predicted the growth would reach 6% under him, (he later changed and said it would only be by 2016) things do not look good. ...
Taiwan, the Gravy Train Rolls On
Saturday September 06
Well I barely posted the need for Taiwanese to examine the gravy train politics and system of rewards and punishments than Ma Ying-jeou gave a good example. Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po confirmed that the state affairs fund (some read that as personal slush fund for politicians) has been used to give a birthday party banquet for Lien Chan, the former chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Using my tax dollars for what? ...
Taiwan's Political Gravy Train in Search of a Wild Lily
Thursday September 04
While hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets to show their displeasure with the ineffectual performance and potential betrayal of the country's sovereignty by MaYing-jeou in his first 100 days, other media headlines have been discussing the so-called "money laundering" scandal of the former president, Chen Shui-bian. Chen had wired (via his wife) some twenty million US dollars to bank accounts overseas. While it is being investigated as to whether it is actually laundering, some felt betrayed; some felt justified, and many others were shocked. Regardless of that, what this does is expose how Taiwan politics is and has been one big, long, and continuous gravy train.
Why There are Protests Against Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou
Wednesday September 03
This August, there have already been two protests against the ineffectual leadership of Ma Ying-jeou as president of Taiwan. Ma's party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will use their press to try and downplay the actual size of the protests, their importance, and their implications. ...
Taiwan's Little Boy Ma Remains Lost in Lah-lah Land
Monday September 01
Ma Ying-joke, the flim-flam man, the phony pony, call him what they will, for the people in Taiwan who watch the real world going on in places like Georgia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Tibet, Xinxiang etc. Ma Ying-jeou's "flexible diplomacy" remains the laughing-stock of the country. Somehow Ma still feels that by being a good little boy to the powers of the world and by continuing to seek venues where he can pose and smile, then all will be solved and the rest of the problems of the country will disappear. ...
McCain Picks Palin: His Safest Bet Given the Circumstances
Friday August 29
I don't usually comment on US politics except as they relate to Taiwan but everyone is touting McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate as his boldest move yet. I don't see it that way at all. McCain is playing it safe. ...
Art Taipei 2008: Money and Freedom, a Different Perspective
Thursday August 28
Art Taipei 2008 begins today at the Taipei World Trade Center and runs through September 2nd. As an art show, it is worth attending; and because of work I do with the art community, I was lucky and already got a sneak preview. I had a VIP pass to get me through the gates for the preview and grand opening on Thursday. I am not however going to give you a review; you can get that in the local papers. What I want to talk about is a different feeling I left with - that art shows present an unusual and ironic microcosm of our world. ...
To Taiwan's Foreign Media: Check out the Aughst 30 Protest Against Ma Ying-jeou
Tuesday August 26
It will soon be 100 days since Ma Ying-jeou has been president of Taiwan, 100 ineffectual days. So what do the people think about Ma? How do they evaluate his first 100 days? Come to the Presidential Palace this Saturday, August 30th and you'll see what people think of the man whose popularity rating has dropped below 37 per cent. Don't be misled, this protest is no show of support for the scandal-ridden Chen Shui-bian as pan-blue forces may try to paint it. This protest is all about Ma, his ineffectual programs, his placing the country at risk and his inability to govern. ...
Ma's New Brainchild; Give China's 1.3 billion Multiple Entry Visas
Monday August 25
Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan's President, the president that does not want to be called president, the same one that said that Taiwan's sovereignty is not important, has come up with a new brainchild. (Notice that he does not talk about the economy after his last economic brainchild failed in less than a month.)So speaking on Kinmen where many died to defend the island against the atacking Chinese, Ma decided that the real answer was to just open the doors and let them in. ...
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" Revisited
Friday August 22
With the recent events in the troubled democracies of Georgia and Taiwan, recurring images from George Orwell's seminal novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" return. In that novel, (published 1949) Orwell predicted a divided world where three major powers Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia compete and re-align with each other. Each is so large that no two united can destroy the remaining one. As a result their battles regularly overflow into the remaining world around them. Present also in each though only seen in one are departments such as the Thought Police, the Ministry of Truth, Newspeak etc. ...
China/Taiwan, Russia/Georgia:an Inconvenient Case of Cause and Effect?
Wednesday August 20
Russia recently shocked the world. With a swift show of military might it steamrolled into Georgia, grabbed key strategic locations and took aim at punishing what it considers an annoying democratic gnat at its doorstep. The timing was perfect; Russia's neighbor China, one that also cares little for democracy, was hosting the Olympics, a good distraction for all. George Bush, the named leader of the free world was enjoying the games. He gave a condemnatory speech and went back to enjoying the Olympics. The world remained shocked but how much should it be? ...
Spreading the Blame: the KMT Finds a New Excuse on Arms Delays
Tuesday August 12
The farcical charade between Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the United States State Department over arms sales to Taiwan has reached a new level. For those uninformed, the old excuse as to why nothing happened was the past president, Chen Shui-bian. Remember him; he was the alleged trouble maker that stymied everything. Never mind the fact that it was Taiwan's KMT dominated Legislative Yuan that blocked the sales over 50 times; never mind the fact that the US State Department also couldn't bring itself to honor the Taiwan Relations Act for fear of offending China before the Olympics, Chen was the problem. Unfortunately he is not around now so how does the KMT explain the reality that progress is still not happening. Not to worry, the KMT's Lin Yu-fang (Chairman of the Legislative Yuan's Diplomacy and National Defense Committee), has come up with a new solution, a new excuse; "Everyone is to blame." ...
Katyn, Poland's Bitter Past Recalls Taiwan's Tragedy
Monday August 11
It is September 1939 and Poland is in dire straits; first the Nazis have attacked from the west on September 1st and then on September 17th, the Russians violated their non-Aggression Pact with Poland and attacked from the east. Andrezej Wajda's film "Katyn" opens with a poignant scene from this period. Polish refugees fleeing the German invasion on the west, meet on a bridge with refugees fleeing the Russian invasion coming from the east. They have nowhere to go; each indicates to the other it is worse where they came from. Germany and Russia have decided to carve Poland up and Poland unable to fight on both fronts must surrender. ...
Taiwan, the UN, What's in a Name?
Wednesday August 06
We have all witnessed how quickly the People's Republic of China (PRC) kept their most recent promise to refer to Taiwan as Zhonghua Taibei (Chinese Taipei) and not Zhongguo Taibei (Taipei, China) as regards the 2008 Olympics. This broken promise followed upon the heels of the previous broken promise that they would originally use this term. But another issue now faces Taiwan, that of United Nations membership. Not to worry, Ma's Cub Scouts are again hard at work, flying by the seat of their pants. ...
Taitung and the KMT's Kuang Li-chen: She Did it All for Love
Tuesday August 05
One thing about Taiwan politics, it will never disappoint. Even in the remotest of areas, scandals and bhagwa can be brewing. The latest of a long string of episodes involves the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taitung County Magistrate, Kuang Li-chen. Kuang Li-chen has gained the reputation of being a jet-setting magistrate after having taken eight trips abroad in her two and a half years in office at a cost to tax-payers of 10 million NT dollars or roughly $1,200,000 NT dollars (US$40,000) a trip. ...
President Bush Makes it Clear?
Tuesday August 05
Lest one think that Ma Ying-jeou is the only problem Taiwan has in getting respect in the international community, examine the recent words of the United States President George Bush. Some have conjectured that a meeting with this man might be enough to convince the leaders of the People's Republic of China (PRC) or any totalitarian state that they would not want to risk the leadership of their country to the potential pitfalls of the results of a democratic election; regardless of that, the United States has continually and ambivalently sat on the fence as regards the status of Taiwan. Yes despite it being more than sixty years after World War II, the United States still does not know how it wants Taiwan to fit into its script. The US official position on Taiwan's status is that it is undetermined. ...
Ma Ying-joke's Alternate Universe
Monday August 04
Ma Ying-joke, the naive president of Taiwan continues to live in his own little alternate universe, a universe so distant that no one can figure out where he is coming from. If you remember that yesterday I posted on how Ma boasted of the great diplomatic coup his staff had achieved by getting China to agree to use the term Zhonghua Taibei instead of Zhongguo Taibei in reference to Taiwan in the Olympics. The reality was that all they had gotten China to do is to agree to honor what it had pledged back ages ago. ...
The Buck Stops Elsewhere: Ma Ying-joke, Taiwan's Inveterate Poseur
Sunday August 03
Western media pundits in search of quick dramatic story lines have always glossed and glamorized Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou; few have observed him long and close enough to see the reality beneath the surface. For example, they always tout him as the brilliant Harvard lawyer though in reality while he did attend Harvard he never passed the bar in the United States or in Taiwan. He is spoken of as being a glamorous mayor of Taipei, but few can list any real concrete accomplishments of his eight year period in that office. True, gloss is easier than doing one's homework, but this is why such reporters feel surprise when more and more people express a different conception of Ma and have started to refer to him as Ma Ying-joke. What to make of it and why? Let me count the ways. ...
The US State Deparmtent and the KMT Fail Again
Friday August 01
The farcical dance goes on, proving once again how difficult life is for the US State Department and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to cover up their ineptitude and kowtowing to China. Without Chen Shui-bian to blame, they are at sixes and sevens in trying to explain why there has been no activity on arms sales to Taiwan. The US State Department has said it wants to sell arms to Taiwan; the KMT says that they want to buy arms, so why is there no action? The dance continues with no results. Where is the problem? ...
The New Kissinger Institute: Score One for the China Lobby
Thursday July 31
I have been traveling for the past two weeks but am back in Taiwan and there is plenty to write about. First on the horizon is a blurb from Xinhua Agencies announcing that the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars inaugurated on July 29, the Kissinger Institute for China and the United States Relations. Before anyone shouts Hallelujah, there are basic questions that need to be asked. ...
Taiwan's Black Hole and the Cultural Imperialism of Zhonghua Minzu
Sunday July 13
Taiwanese have always had a black hole in their psyche. It is a black hole caused by underreported or misrepresented history, a black hole partly caused by their own neglect, a black hole caused by 50 years of colonial rule by Japan and another 50 years of martial law, white terror and indoctrination by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It is a black hole that looks at the years before 1895 as a vague blank. It shames Taiwanese of their present, and prevents them from discovering the fullness of their true identity, selves, and pride. It is a black hole that they must eradicate if they are ever truly going to know themselves, and their place in the world. ...
Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan's One Trick Pony
Friday July 11
While his cabinet continues making mistake after mistake in governing Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou appears to be the proverbial one trick pony and have only one thing on his mind. Elected on his promises that he would send Taiwan's economy soaring, Ma's only solution and hope is to continue to keep repeating his mantra, "run to China." Life however, is not that simple. ...
The Difference Between Two Countries: More of Ma's Tourists Take Flight
Wednesday July 09
In other related news, a second group of three more Chinese tourists have jumped ship and run after they got to Taiwan. The only Taiwanese that jump ship and flee to China from Taiwan are those under indictment or criminal charges in Taiwan. But perhaps Ma Ying-jeou will use the argument that they will spend more money if they hang around. Or will they go on to Canada and the United States ...
Flimflam and Fluff: Taiwan Voters and Their Syndromes
Tuesday July 08
The days of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) control of indoctrination, propaganda and media are long gone (if you can consider twenty years as long gone), but that does not mean that the KMT does not keep influencing Taiwan voters. Witness Taiwan's last presidential election where many sheep-like voters were led to believe that Taiwan's main problem was its economy and that Chen Shui-bian was solely responsible for holding it back. Some may call this response a Stockholm syndrome result; hostages take on the beliefs and identity of their captors and Taiwanese have been hostage for fifty years under the KMT's one-party state rule and indoctrination. For me, I prefer to look on it as the failure of voters to do their homework. ...
Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen, a Woman to Watch
Tuesday July 08
I recently had the pleasure to take part in a two-hour question and answer presentation to the Taiwan Foreign Correspondent's Club (TFCC) by Tsai Ing-wen, the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) new Chairperson. Without any canned, prepared statements, Tsai immediately launched into any and all topics that the correspondents wanted to ask and know about. With a short break in the middle, this went on for two hours straight; it was all in English. In sharp contrast to Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou (oft touted by foreign media for his ability to speak English), Tsai did Ma one better. Ma will usually require prepared questions in advance so that he can avoid controversial topics. Tsai had no such requirement. ...
Taiwan: We'll Take Tibet's Torch over China's Any Day!
Monday July 07
The fate of the Olympic Torch has been superceded in the international press by the Sichuan earthquake and other problems that China is facing as it tries to reduce pollution for the Olympics. But another torch is going around and it made its symbolic presence known in Taiwan on July 6th. That torch is the Tibetan Freedom Torch which began on March 10 the 49th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising for freedom from China. This torch has passed through 30 cities in 18 countries around the world before coming to Taiwan. ...
Taiwan's Human Rights Struggles, 1960--1980, a New Book
Sunday July 06
Anyone involved in the Civil Rights Movements in the United States would scoff at the suggestion that the South intended all along to give blacks equal opportunity. The South was just waiting for the right moment. Anyone who knows the struggles against apartheid in South Africa would scoff at the suggestion that the Afrikaners were also just simply waiting for the right moment to share power with the majority of the people. So too, anyone who knows Taiwan will laugh at implications that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was working hard to share power and to extend human rights to all citizens including the right to a representative two or more party system, the right to freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, the right to a fair trial etc. in sum the basic rights of a democracy. Against despotic, autocratic rulers who strive to cling to their self-justified power, privilege and sense of entitlement, such rights can only be won by the sacrifice and struggle of the people. The grass roots work involved in wringing such rights from the self-appointed elite in Taiwan, is the subject of a new book, "A Borrowed Voice, Taiwan Human Rights through International Networks, 1960--1980" written and edited by Linda Gail Arrigo and Lynn Miles, Hanyao Color Printing Co. 2008, Taipei. ...
A New Book on the Spanish Experience in Taiwan Coming Soon
Saturday July 05
Those interested in Taiwan's early encounters with the West and the outside world will be happy to know of a new book coming out this fall. The work, "The Spanish Experience in Taiwan 1626--1642: The Baroque Ending of a Renaissance Endeavor" by Jose Eugenio Borao of National Taiwan University is sponsored by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation and in line to be published by Hong Kong University Press. For researchers of Seventeenth Century Taiwan, this is an important and fascinating part of the Taiwan mosaic. Here we see Taiwan on the furthest reaches of the Spanish Empire with all the hopes, challenges and conflicts faced by the Spanish at that time. ...
Taiwan and the USA on Arms Sales with No One to Blame
Friday July 04
The charade of the blame game goes on. Now that the United States State Department and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) cannot use Chen Shui-bian as a scapegoat for their problems and inadequacies; they don't know how to talk to each other. Case in point, Jason Yuan who is soon to be Taiwan's representative in Washington DC says his top priority will be to mend fences and rebuild trust; he followed this up by quoting President Ma Ying-jeou as saying countries should not "play games" with each other. Noble thoughts, so how are things working out between these two countries now that the KMT has absolute control of Taiwan's politics. Ironically, not so well, they have already fallen into playing "the game of not me." ...
Ma Ying-jeou Continues to Talk out of Both Sides of His Mouth
Thursday July 03
Ma Ying-jeou seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth again; how else does one match his words with his actions? Speaking at the graduation ceremony for the nation's five military schools, Ma put forth the following statements.
Be prepared! Now that sounds like a president who recognizes Taiwan's precarious situation and is ready for action. But wait, what about Ma's actions? ...
- China remains the biggest threat to Taiwan's security.
- We need to be well-prepared to defend ourselves.
- Some of you may wonder whether China is our friend or foe. What you should do is to help us build a strong military force and be prepared for war.
- Only by being prepared for war can we prevent it.
Book Review by Richard Kagan Ph.D. of "Taiwan, the Search for Identity"
Friday June 27
The title of this book, "Taiwan: the Search for Identity," shares its name in whole and/or in part with over 220,000 published works in the Google.com list. If one were to just search for the sub-title, there would be another 4,736 identified publications. The topic of Taiwan's identity is one of the compelling issues of our time. I cannot overstate the fact that the issue of a nation's, culture's or individual's identity IS a global issue. It is much too parochial and narrow-minded to believe that it will be easily resolved or mediated by a simple resolution or formula.
The KMT Revives Memories of its Blacklist
Thursday June 26
Those who know Taiwan history, know well of the infamous blacklist created by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during the period of White Terror. This list was used to suppress any form of dissent or challenges to the KMT's monopolistic rule and image. Its main purpose was intimidation and the victims were not only Taiwanese but even foreigners. Anyone who expressed a dissident view or took a dissident position was put on the list and banned from entering the country. Some were even listed because they checked out library books overseas that the KMT did not think proper. What many do not realize however, is that although martial law ended in 1987, the KMT continued to keep and update this blacklist for another five years until 1992. So now that democracy is finally here in Taiwan is all this past? Not on your life. ...
Are Ma and the KMT Betraying Taiwan?
Saturday June 21
Recently the Pan-blue press has been trying to make a mountain out of a molehill in the Diaoyutai islands. There have been suggestions of war accompanied by jingoistic saber-rattling. In reality what may be involved is that Taiwan's President wants to distract the public from how much he has been kowtowing to China to hopefully gain some tourist dollars. In the Diaoyutai Affair, members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) seem more interested in trying to stake a weak claim at sovereignty over these rocks than protecting the sovereignty of their country. The extent to which these islands provide a platform for political posturing and distraction has been accented by the recent revelation that as far back as December, Ma Ying-jeou and the KMT had urged the United States to not provide Taiwan with the necessary arms to defend itself. They wanted to postpone arms sales indefinitely. Why? They were worried about offending the bully across the Strait and afraid China might keep them from fulfilling a campaign promise of Ma to bring in some China dollars. Such a principled president.
The Diaoyutais Incident: Ma Ying-jeou Fails the Action Test Once More
Friday June 13
The Diaoyutais Islands are just a bunch of rocks and as such they would not be worth fighting over. What makes them valuable of course is the possibility that there may be oil below them; that plus the fact ownership would allow Taiwan, Japan or China (three claimants to the islands) to extend their territorial waters. So the collision on Tuesday of a Taiwanese fishing boat with a Japanese patrol vessel at that location has all the makings of an international incident. Now it is Friday, three days later and we still have yet to hear from Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou. Do we have a president? His silence is deafening. ...
Tiananmen, China, and What They Call Progress
Sunday June 08
The 19th anniversary of Tiananmen Square has come and gone. Over one hundred of those who led and participated in the demonstrations and were not killed are still prisoners languishing in jail. Wang Dan, an exiled leader clearly advocates that what was sought by the demonstration were greater rights for the people of China. He bemoans the fact that little has since been done to advance those rights. What is more, a surprising majority of the observers around the world have remained silent on these facts as they profited from China's cheap goods. Nineteen years later and nothing to show regarding this; this is unfortunate but true. Even more surprising, however is the fact that some have had the gall to write articles or express their opinion that China has made progress in recent years. Ma Ying-jeou, the president of Taiwan, a man with a platitude for every occasion is one of them. The question naturally follows, what sanctimonious criteria do these China praisers use to make such a claim? ...
The KMT's Questionable Sunshine Loyalty: When Will Taiwan Wake Up?
Sunday June 08
As outsiders and losers, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) came to Taiwan; it was only by force of arms that they took colonial rule over the island. They remained and kept a one-party state resisting attempts to democratize the island for close to a half a century. When they lost in elections, they threatened to take their ball (and the stolen state assets) and see what kind of a Quisling deal they could work out with China under China's terms of re-unification. Now it is also being revealed that they had more than one escape route to benefit them and their families. What route is that? Dual citizenship and green card status in the United States. ...
Ma Ying-jeou, the Excuses Keep Coming
Sunday June 08
There is more to being president than making promises and taking pictures. Does anyone remember Ma Ying-jeou's touted "long stay" in the south; the one where he spent a brief time with the people there to supposedly show his sympathy and understanding? That was the same stay that the infamous "farmer's daughter" incident came up and Ma's spin doctors tried to create a cultic image only to have it blow up in their faces. Well the touted long stay has turned into a short, very short memory. ...
1992--The Consensus That Never Was
Sunday May 25
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." These words of Paul Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister for Adolph Hitler come to mind each time someone mentions the 1992 Consensus, the alleged agreement between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This agreement holds that there is one China open to different interpretations; it implies that Taiwan is part of that one China. The '92 Consensus has been bandied about since Su Chi, then a KMT Straits Exchange Foundation official invented it in 2000. The most recent use of this made-up term came in the inaugural address of Taiwan's newly elected president Ma Ying-jeou. Why Ma still clings to this fabrication speaks volumes on his character, his lack of courage and leadership, and his modus operandi. ...
Ma Ying-jeou Begs China Not to Put Him on the Spot
Saturday May 24
Ma Ying-jeou has already said he won't honor his 6-3-3 campaign promise, now as KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung is preparing to lead a sixteen member delegation to China, Ma is worried. His request, ask the Chinese not to bring up the sovereignty question. Why? It is not just to keep the talks moving, Ma wants to keep the fudge factor that he depends upon so that he can speak out of both sides of his mouth. During his campaign for the presidency, Ma pledged that he would defend Taiwan's sovereignty to the end; so did Frank Hsieh. Now if a delegation from the DPP were going to China, there would be no question of where they stood on Taiwan's sovereignty. In Ma's case however, there is not. And he does want to be put on the spot of actually having to say to China that he and his party will defend Taiwan's sovereignty. Ma's solutiuon, please, don't bring the sovereignty subject up, I don't want to be forced to make a real life decision and committment. If he had to actually choose, then he could no longer keep his Mr. Nice Guy image. Sound familiar.
Taiwan Post Election Awards III
Saturday May 24
Prosecutor Wu Wen-chung qualified for numerous awards recently when he joked with reporters that Chen Shui-bian should be given the death sentence because the KMT accuses him of misues of his "state affairs" fund; this is all before Chen has even been questioned and before it has been decided whether there is enough evidence to warrant a trial. Award givers are debating which category Prosecutor Wu best fits. Is it the "Fair Play and Justice Befitting a Prosecutor" Award? Or the man most dedicated to the "Return of the KMT Thug Mentality" Award? Or the "Another Example of the Peter Principle and a Man Promoted Far Beyond His Capabilities" Award. Perhaps Prosecutor Wu deserves all three awards.
Taiwan Post Election Awards II
Friday May 23
Diane Lee qualifies for the "Not Me" Award. Legislator Diane Lee states that she no longer holds US citizenship, because she became a legislator. However, US Citizenship requires that a person in such a position must write a formal letter for such. Someone needs to tell Diane that simply putting your US Passport in a drawer and using your Taiwan Passport for the duration does not qualify for giving up one's US citizenship. No formal letter has been produced. There is more however. ...
Taiwan Post Election Awards I
Friday May 23
The inauguration of Ma Ying-jeou had barely finished when everyone began to show their true colors. A series of awards are thus in order. First of all, Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min got two awards. The first was the award for claiming expertise in a field totally foreign to one's training. At a briefing of the National Defense Committee he stated that Chen Shui-bian's stomach wounds were not caused by the 3/19 shooting in 2004. How did he know, well he did not have any proof to offer, but he just knew. Since what he was talking about happened in 2004, he also qualified to share the "Get Over It" Award. ...
Ma Ying-jeou, the Drama of it All
Monday May 19
On the eve of his inauguration as President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou described his feelings as "treading on thin ice and standing on the edge of an abyss." How true. It is only natural that when you have promised everything to everyone, that sooner or later it sinks in that people will realize you cannot deliver. It is also only natural that when you have claimed to be what you are not that sooner or later more people will see through the two-faced pretense.
Can Ma Ying-jeou Hide the Cracks in the Facade?
Sunday May 18
Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration is near at hand; the visitors are arriving and the press will have their cameras out. To be sure his speech will be full of promises and more promises and will paint a rosy picture of the future but despite all that the cracks in the façade are widening. First of course Ma's 6-3-3 pre-election promise (6 percent growth, 3 percent unemployment and an average income of NT$30,000 a month has already been abandoned. Almost immediately after his election the Pan-blue press began to make excuses as to why he might not fulfill this promise. Ma later confirmed these predictions. Taiwan's economic growth this past year was near 5.13 percent; it had averaged 4.1 percent between 2000 and 2003. The global average has generally been around 3.2 percent so Ma's promise to make Taiwan's growth to 6 percent was the first to fall. As for the other two promises, don't count on them either. ...
Inauguration Games
Sunday May 18
It appears that Frank Hsieh will not attend Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration; reason given is that Ma has already reneged on his campaign promises even before he has taken office. An extra unofficial reason may be that Hsieh was given the parking place with number 44--not an auspicious number. It makes me wonder who got that parking place in 2004 and in 2000? Nevertheless, our local English Pan-blue rag stated in an editorial that Hsieh's act was one of "sour grapes." Yet somehow, when Lien Chan after defeats in 2000 and 2004, boycotted the inauguration of Chen Shui-bian, Lien's acts were portrayed as noble and righteous. That's life in our political city.
China, Tibet, Feng-shui and More?
Saturday May 17
It may be post hoc reasoning, but with the problems of the Olympic Torch relay, the recent disasters in China, and in particular the earthquake in Sichuan Province, the Feng-shui masters and commentators in Taiwan have been having a field day on the airwaves. The first point taken focused on the bringing of the Olympic Torch to the top of Mount Everest. This upset the balance of nature and earth; Fire (the torch) should never be over water (the ice and snow on the mountain). Naturally the earth protested and hence the massive earthquake in Sichuan. Pride goeth before the fall. ...
China Says Let Bygones be Bygones, Of Course They Always Do
Thursday May 08
Am I hearing things or am I am hearing things? Hu Jintao now visiting Japan has told the Japanese that they should not dwell on history. It is important, he went on, to remember history, but people should not hold grudges. Is this the same China that continually tells Japan they must apologize and apologize over and over again for World War II because it is never enough? Is this the same China that continually sends its brain-washed citizens into the streets to protest against Japanese businesses and tourists? Is this the same China that goes ballistic whenever any Japanese person of note visits the Yasukuni Shrine? No I must be imagining things, China does not dwell on the past from the Opium Wars on to the present and this month the French and Carrefour are the target. Now Tibetans, however, that is another story ...
Going to the Olympics? Leave the Kids at Home
Tuesday May 06
The Olympics are just a few months away, and for those planning on going to the Olympics in China this year, a new wrinkle has appeared to threaten those plans. Enterovirus 71 or EV-71 is spreading across the country. Already present in two provinces, this virus is particularly deadly to children and has already claimed 26 fatalities; overall there are 6,300 total reported cases in the population. One only has to think back a few years to the spread of SARS and remember the irresponsible way it was handled by the Chinese authorities to give one cause for concern. ...
A Borrowed Voice, Taiwan Human Rights through International Networks 1960--1980
Sunday May 04
A new book, "A Borrowed Voice, Taiwan Human Rights through International Networks, 1960--1980" written and edited by Linda Gail Arrigo and Lynn A. Miles, will be coming out shortly. This book covers the tumultuous years of Taiwan's movement toward democracy and the many people that underwent persecution and paid a heavy price for Taiwan's present democracy. The
Borrowed Voiceis that of international organizations like Amnesty International which the Taiwanese had to borrow since their own voice was stifled by persecution, imprisonment, torture etc. of the repressive one-party state they lived under. What makes this book all the more poignant is the fact that many of the players (from James Soong to the participants of the Kaohsiung Incident to Lee Ao) in that period are still around. You will get many personal perspectives that will enlighten you ...
China Welcomes Loser Lien Chan, Their Kind of Man
Saturday May 03
Lien Chan is in China for his fourth visit and one cannot help but wonder why Hu Jintao delights in discussing cross-strait relations with a known loser in Taiwan. Lien has never really won an important election in Taiwan. Perhaps that is his appeal to someone like Hu, who is naturally not keen on democracy and elections anyway. Other questions naturally follow. Does the loser Lien want to prove that he is a player though he never had a good reputation as such in the past? Perhaps he is looking for a place where his millions acquired as Chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will go a lot farther when he thinks of retirement? ...
Taiwan Vignette III, Vincent Siew and the High Cost of Humiliation
Sunday April 27
A short while ago, vice-president-elect Vincent Siew of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) returned from the Boao Forum in Hainan. Siew's trip was hailed by Taiwan's Pan-blue press as a breakthrough; the kind of thing we need to stimulate Taiwan's allegedly faltering economy, after all, we only had 5.7 % growth last year. While there at the forum, Siew had a chance to have a twenty minutes meeting with China's president Hu Jintao. At that meeting Siew brought up four requests including the resumption of a cross-strait dialogue, normalization of bilateral trade and economic ties, weekend cross-strait charter flights and opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists. Hu endorsed two of these proposals, the opening of Taiwan to more Chinese tourists and weekend charter flights. As for other matters, he said he would give them deep thought, probably similar to the deep thought he is giving to Tibetan matters. ...
Taiwan Vignettes II, the Rising High Cost of Housing in Taipei and Taiwan
Saturday April 26
Ma Ying-joke is not yet president but people are already starting to see problems behind the façade of his simplistic cure-all systems and promises. If you remember Ma was the one who was going to open up China for investment as well as invite the Chinese to invest in Taiwan, and everyone would become rich. Well last week our first group of well-heeled investors from China came over and interestingly enough a prime target they looked at for investment was not business opportunities but Taiwan�s housing market, in particular, that of Taipei. With deep pockets, they began to sense that it would be fashionable as well as advantageous to start buying up real estate in Taipei. China is developing tycoons and while they will want alternate housing in the Americas and Europe, there is something appealing about having a place just off-shore where things are a little more free and easy and you can drop over for the weekend. ...
Taiwan, China, and the Olympics; This Is Not About Politics. Thank God!
Monday April 21
The selection of China for the Olympics was not political; it was just done to legitimize the claim that China despite Tiananmen Square and despite its dismal human rights record is on a peaceful rise. After all Tiananmen Square was ages past, and China has changed, so China deserves the Olympics because China has been begging to prove it is a legitimate world player. Certainly China wants to show it can crack heads and get away with it. That's not politics it is --- Well let's move on. As the Olympic torch has passed through various countries, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was told that it should abdicate its responsibility for sponsoring the torch run because China felt the IOC was not doing the proper job of protection. After all, who is in charge of the Olympics? We are not talking politics; it may be abdication, but well it is --- Well let's move on. Yes China has dictated that its goons and thugs should take charge of the torch relay, for China is on a peaceful rise, and only China can best express this to the world and the rest of you idiots better shape up. Tibetans you should be thankful that China is bringing in all those Chinese shopkeepers to run the businesses in your captive country; let the Han Chinese citizens trash Tibetan culture. That's not politics, that's business right? ...
Taiwan Vignette I: The High Cost of Pandas for the Alleged Depressed Economy
Thursday April 17
I have always professed that Ma Ying-jeou was a window dressing mayor and politician and that he promises more of the same as president. But now it seems that Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin is also trying to get in on the act with the panda connection. All this flies in the face of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential campaign issue of the alleged poor state of Taiwan's economy under President Chen Shui-bian. Taiwan voters were sold the bill of goods that the country was suffering from its mere yearly growth of 5.7 per cent. The solution was to elect Ma Ying-jeou to boost the economy. He promised a whopping 6 per cent. ...
Taiwan Gets Support from Down Under
Thursday April 17
On Saturday April 12, two Australians addressed the Taipei Breakfast Club on salient Taiwan issues. First was 26 year old, Dr. Lily Wang, CEO of the Australian Taiwanese WHO for Taiwan Action Association. Lily, who had returned to Taiwan from Australia to vote in the presidential elections spoke of the problems that the 23 million people in democratic Taiwan and that the rest of the world face because Taiwan is denied any representation (observer or otherwise) in WHO and other world organizations. Why? The answer is simple China would rather let the world play Russian roulette with disease and epidemics so that China can maintain its unfounded claim to the island nation. Taiwan is in her words, the hole in the net of global disease defense through which any and all things can get through. Unfortunately the rest of the world allows itself to be held hostage to the blackmail efforts of China which does not protect its own citizens from its cover-ups let alone worry about the citizens of Taiwan. ...
Troubles in Tibet? It's All the Dalai Lama's Fault, Just Read the "China Daily"
Monday April 07
Have you been seeing the fictitious problems of the symbolic Olympic torch that supposedly needs a huge protective guard as it starts its journey around the world? Have you been reading about the riots and suffering in Tibet? Pure fabrication says the "China Daily." The world is much too sympathetic to the incorrectly reported plight of Tibetans. Such were the findings of my trip across the Taiwan Strait this past holiday weekend into China, the land which specializes in freedom of the press or is that freedom to oppress? There in the Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison and Propaganda, the media presented the real scoop, it is all the fault of the Dalai Lama. ...
Bolton Nailed It; Taiwan Needs to be Independent
Tuesday April 01
Taiwan deserves full diplomatic recognition by the USA and other nations. These nations should recognize the state that has existed for some time in Taiwan, and the state that the Taiwanese wish to preserve. That was the gist of John R. Bolton's piece in the March 29 edition of the "Los Angeles Times" which highlighted the refreshing approach that Taiwan needs to be independent, to have a healthy economy and to maintain ties with China. ...
Ma Ying-jeou Wins Taiwan Presidency: Let the Flip-flops Begin
Wednesday March 26
On Saturday, March 22nd, 2008, Ma Ying-jeou of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won Taiwan's presidency with a clear majority of over two million votes. Immediately afterwards local and international pundits began casting about for reasons to explain and/or justify his convincing win and why people voted as they did. These efforts at best remain highly speculative. As a young democracy, one that only recently possessed a free press after its martial law and white terror days, Taiwan lacks bias-free mechanisms of political analysis and even reliable exit polls. It will be sometime before a correct analysis of the public's mind can be done, so where do I stand? In my past writings, I have classified Ma as a weak, window dressing politician, lacking substance and dependent more on media hype and showmanship than fact. That opinion has not changed. ...
Taiwan's UN Referenda Fail to Reach Their Abnormally High Bar
Sunday March 23
In any other country if a referendum were held and 94 per cent of those voting on it approved, it would be considered successful. That is not the case however in Taiwan for Taiwan has unusually high requirements for success. First of all, 50 per cent of the eligible voters must pick up and cast a ballot, and then 50 per cent of those who cast a ballot must approve the referendum. Herein lies the problem. The first big hurdle requires 50 per cent of the total eligible voters and not 50 per cent of those who vote on any given day, so if there is a low voter turnout or even a medium sized voter turnout, a referendum is already in danger of not passing.
Election Day in Taiwan, It's Showtime!
Friday March 21
It has been an interesting election campaign in Taiwan and today Saturday March 22nd is a nice quiet and peaceful day; no noisy trucks in the street; the weather is cloudy up north at least but pleasant. There is no reason why people should not go out and vote. ...
How Does the US State Department Earn its Keep?
Friday March 21
Tibet still burns, Iraq is a quagmire where the USA is spending billions, the US economy is tanking and the only thing Thomas Christensen of the US State Department can think of to make a comment on is the democratic right of Taiwan to have a referendum. Shame on Taiwan it is not following the script that US State Department wants it to follow. How strange it is that while the US State Department continues to try and force feed democracies on the world; it continues to reveal that it does not want democracies that are real democracies; it wants only people that will follow its script. ...
How the Horse Got His Frozen Smile, a Strange African Folk Tale
Thursday March 20
There once was a horse that was raised by jackals. Now jackals are a devious group of animals; they are known for preying on the weak, pretending to be something that they are not and even claiming the territory of others. They may even pretend to be dragons. This particular group of jackals however had recently been driven from the land they lived in by a rival gang of jackals, who proved to be greater pretenders than they were. And so running with their tails between their legs these jackals came to the land of the black bear. They took up residence and pretended it belonged to them. They told the black bear that they were dragons and should therefore be treated as such i.e. like emperors; they would rule the black bear’s land while they waited to reclaim their own land. ...
Tibet Burns and the World Still Kowtows to China the Cause of it All
Tuesday March 18
Tibet burns; Tibetans suffer and die. Why? Tibetans want the right to self-determination. It is only natural; it is human nature. They want freedom and self determination. All men are created equal with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it seems to me I have heard words like that somewhere else. And yet the panda huggers in the USA and around the world so desire cheap poisoned toothpaste, cheap poisoned dog food, cheap poisoned toys for their children etc. that they choose to ignore the Tibetans plight. ...
Look Out Beijing, Here Comes Taiwan!
Friday March 14
Taiwan is concerned about its upcoming presidential election but it is not the only thing that is hot on the island. Yesterday Taiwan's baseball team qualified for the Olympics and today the 2008 Tour de Taiwan is entering its sixth stage. What all this says is that while China may try as it may to keep Taiwan down, Taiwan is showing the world it is here and it is not a part of the poor old People's Republic of China (PRC)...
Taiwan's KMT Has Too Much Power, and Yet It Still Wants More
Thursday March 13
Buoyed up by their veto-overriding majority in the Legislative Yuan, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is resorting to Gestapo and gangster-like tactics to carry out their whims. With no proof to back up their claims, KMT legislators Chen Chieh, Lo Ming-tsai, and Luo Shu-lei along with caucus whip Alex Fai forcefully entered the Democratic Progressive Party campaign offices on a fishing expedition. They had heard allegations that the First Commercial Bank had waived the lease on the office for the DPP. To the KMT, the mere suspicion of such gave them a supposed right to storm into the offices and demand records. ...
Even Taiwan's Pan-Blue Press Admit Ma Ying-jeou is Naive
Tuesday March 11
Well I have to admit I dropped my glasses (to use a local expression) on this one. The Tuesday March 11 editorial in the China Post spoke of the presidential debates between Ma Ying-jeou and Frank Hsieh as "Naiveté versus savviness" and it did not end there. The opening paragraph read, "Come March 22, a naïf will have a face-off with a politically savvy defense lawyer in the race for the nation's highest public office. They had their last TV debate on Sunday, the latter apparently was the winner."
Taiwan Sex Workers Experience the Ma Ying-jeou Shuffle
Sunday March 09
Sex is in the air, not only in China but also in Taiwan. As Taiwan's presidential elections approach, the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS) called upon the candidates to make prostitution legal in Taiwan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh pledged that he would work to decriminalize prostitution if elected. Ma Ying-jeou, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate on the other hand did his usual Taiwan shuffle off to avoiding responsibility. ...
Tough Love in China: Tang Wei Blacklisted for "Beautifying Collaboration"
Saturday March 08
The control freaks in China are at it again; not content with controlling religion, the media etc., they now want to control art. The latest to fall under their ban is actress Tang Wei because the character she plays in the movie "Lust Caution" falls in love with a Japanese collaborator. The way it is phrased is that the role she plays "beautifies" collaboration. Dear me, now actors and actresses must not only express personal party line sentiments but they must clear what artistic characters they will play in films and theatre with the freaks in Beijing. ...
Examining Taiwan's Pan-Blue Media Rag Spin
Friday March 07
"The China Post," an English paper in Taiwan is often referred to by ex-pats as the local Pan-Blue Rag, and that is on good days. Is the title deserved? Well let's take a look. An article on March 5th dealt with Lee Teng-hui's recent interview in Japan. When asked about Taiwan's upcoming presidential elections Lee stated that if Frank Hsieh did not win, Taiwan's democracy would be set back twenty years. Hsieh's main opponent of course is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou; so what might one guess would be the headline for an article featuring Lee's belief that a defeat of Hsieh by Ma would set back democracy twenty years. ...
Taiwan Alert, More Pollution from China Coming
Saturday March 01
On Saturday, March 1st the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau issued two alerts. First the nation could expect a cold front for the coming week. Second, the Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison, and Propaganda was sending more of their pollution Taiwan's way. Japan had gotten some of their poison the previous week so Taiwanese felt it was their turn and sure enough, a dust cloud from China is expected to cover the country until Monday. Such is life when you have vulgar neighbors who care little for the environment. ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Shallow, Simplistic Economics: Promise the Moon
Friday February 29
Promise the Taiwanese anything and you will keep them from examining and facing the reality of their present and past, this is the continued strategy of candidate Ma Ying-jeou. Promises, promises, promises, if anyone would total up the cost of all the promises that Ma has made it would bankrupt the richest nation. Yet Ma keeps promising and the simple-minded keep believing. With no sense of economics and no sense of Taiwan history beyond the past ten years, many continue to be fooled by Ma Ying-jeou. They cannot even go back three years to two key promises that Ma made and never kept. ...
The USA and Britain Continue to Feed the China Propaganda Mill
Wednesday February 27
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband joined forces in their protracted overkill in trying to destroy democratic Taiwan's right to state its desire to have its 23 million people represented in the United Nations. Their duplicity is all the more evident when starkly contrasted with the bald fact that both the USA and Britain had barely just approved the declaration of independence of a few million people in Kosovo. Somehow the clear bold declaration of independence by Kosovo did not qualify for being provocative in the allegedly harmonious Balkans, but the simple voicing of their wishes of the people of Taiwan would be sending shock waves across the Taiwan Strait. Who is fooling who? And who is bending over backwards to be China's policeman in restricting Taiwan. ...
Democratic Taiwan Supports Tibet: Take Note World
Monday February 25
Let the control freaks in Beijing take note; Taiwan does not need an LKK (lau ko-ko, out of touch old grandfather) trying to tell it what it has the right to do and not do. Taiwan is an open democratic society. As a result, not long ago, Taiwan refused the Olympic Torch of Beijing because Beijing wanted to use its passage through Taiwan as a way to belittle Taiwan's democracy. Yesterday, however, Taiwan welcomed the Tibetan Olympic Torch to pass through its country in anticipation of the upcoming Tibetan Olympics (held in exile in India, May 15 through 25). This was clearly celebrated in front of Democracy Hall in Taipei along with Miss Tibet, Tsering Chungtak who preferred to be expelled from Malaysia's 2007 Miss Tourism competition rather than conform to China's demand that she wear a sash reading "Miss Tibet-China." ...
China, the Frustrated Potentate, Continues to Try to Isolate Taiwan
Saturday February 23
There is something laughable and almost senile at the attempts of China, the frustrated potentate, laboring on and on to try to isolate Taiwan in the world. The latest example is of course Kosovo where China has told Taiwan that it does not have the right to recognize Kosovo. As if who cares what China says Taiwan has the right to do and not do. Then there are the countries that have their self created hypocritical hoops that they try to jump through. They try to defend their recognition of the right of a few million in Kosovo to declare independence but at the same time deny the twenty three million people in the democracy of Taiwan that same right. Fortunately more and more people in the world are seeing through this charade. ...
Why Ma Ying-jeou Should Not Be President
Monday February 11
Ma Ying-jeou is the quintessential politician, one who smiles and smiles and promises and promises but rarely delivers. Born into the privilege of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) one-party state, he was educated, and supported by that state throughout its White Terror dominance. He didn't question its rule and served its ends both as a student in the USA and back in Taiwan where he was awarded with appropriate positions. To gain insight, compare and contrast his response to the KMT's enticements and rewards for service to that of Peng Ming-min and you will see the difference in their characters. ...
Ma Ying-jeou, a Weasel Under Pressure?
Friday February 08
Ma Ying-jeou continues to be the perfect example of how a person with an unearned sense of privilege and entitlement is unable to handle adversity and pressure. Case in point is the recent revelation that Ma Ying-jeou had a green card. Whether Ma had a green card or not is really not the main issue. What is of more importance is how a man whose whole political stance is built on image and style as opposed to substance and honesty becomes a weasel when that image is threatened...
Taiwan, East Germany, and "The Lives of Others"
Thursday February 07
Von Donnersmarck's film, The Lives of Others, (Das Leben der Anderen) is a film well worth seeing. It is well worth seeing not simply because it won the Oscar Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 2006 and numerous other awards, but because it provides a strong, sobering insight into what life is like under a totalitarian regime. Here the regime is East Germany, but the lack of human rights, of freedom of the press, and the constant surveillance by an elaborate system of spies and informants etc. could apply to any one-party state dictatorship, past or present including Taiwan when it was under the dictatorship of the Chiangs and their watchdog, the Garrison Command. ...
China's Snow Storms Expose its Controlling Cabal's Exploitation of the Masses
Monday February 04
China--never have so many been ruled and controlled by so few! Yes this is the same China which Taiwan knows as its greedy and rapacious neighbor and that despite its inability to take care of its own 1.3 billion people it still always wants to control more. Now as winter storms of ice and snow hit China at its most crucial travel time of the year (Chinese New Year holidays) the chickens have come home to roost and the world sees the other side of China or at least as much as the state-controlled media allows it to. ...
The Fat Lady Sings for Boston in Arizona
Sunday February 03
Super Bowl XLII proved to have the classic finish. The underdog is down by four points. A field goal will not save them; they need a touchdown. Still, they have the ball and just enough time for one last drive, yet the drive must cover close to the length of the field. The game has been a defensive struggle up to that point. Can the underdog do it? The rest is history, New York Giants 17, Boston Patriots 14. ...
Taiwan Searching for Identity in the Bamboozle of 2008
Saturday February 02
Thoreau stated it succinctly in Walden, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation," and I would add a corollary to his words, "Most men lead lives of willingly being bamboozled." This flaw is what drives companies to hire marketing executives to persuade consumers to buy what they don't need; this flaw is what allows the media to try and get away with providing pap instead of substance; this flaw is what allows politicians to posture and to promise and not worry about being held accountable. Everyone has their favorite examples of such posturing and promises. ...
Taiwan's Identity: the Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts
Wednesday January 30
As Taiwan searches for its identity, it must remember, The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is the principle of emergence and the principle by which the identity of Taiwan should be understood. It is the proper way to perceive Taiwan's past and what makes Taiwanese to be Taiwanese. From ancient times of over 5000 years ago, when thriving aboriginal civilizations quarried jade and did a burgeoning sea-faring trade with Southeast Asia, Taiwan has had its uniqueness. It later had the influx, influence, and contributions from the Dutch, the Spanish, the Hoklo and Hakka seeking freedom, pirates, Ming loyalists, Qing conquerors; you name it and Taiwan received it. Each contributed a part, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. ...
Katyn, a Polish Film, Resonates in Taiwan
Monday January 28
How a nation deals with its past is vital to its present health and existence. A recent Polish film "Katyn" addresses an "unhealed wound" in Poland's past, and a recent review of that film (as presented below) in the January 24, 2008 Economist illustrates the issues and its need for closure. Taiwan has its own "unhealed wounds" and a need for transitional justice which still cry for closure. Unfortunately the recent disproportionate victory and control of the Legislative Yuan by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) point to the fact that this need for transitional justice will remain unanswered and continue to fester beneath the surface in Taiwan.
Taiwans 2008 Legislative Elections, Ma Ying-jeou, a Weak Man Becomes Weaker
Saturday January 26
Despite what the average observermay think, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is not a monolith. Numerous contrasting points of view exist within it, and power struggles continue beneath the surface. However, like the Republican Party compared to the Democratic Party in the USA, the KMT manages to hide its conflicts, power struggles, and dirty laundry much better than its Taiwan counterpart the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That being said, the conflicts are alive and well, and remain even after the KMT won big in the recent Legislative Yuan elections. ...
Taiwan's 2008 Legislative Yuan Elections: Lesson 2, Examining the McGovern Factor
Tuesday January 15
After the overwhelming and disproportionate defeat of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the January 12 Legislative Yuan elections, many DPP party members and supporters were obviously disheartened. Certainly if one looked at a district by district color-coded map of post election Taiwan, it was a sea of blue with a few islands of green. Despite this, party members need to remember that Taiwan is a democracy and not a totalitarian state; therefore, a defeat even if devastating, is never the end of the road. The DPP must in other words develop a longer term perspective and examine what can be called the McGovern Factor. ...
Taiwan's 2008 Legislative Yuan Elections: Lesson One, in Search of an Adequate System
Monday January 14
As the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) regroups after its huge defeat in Taiwan's January 12 Legislative Yuan elections there are several things that its members should realize for perspective. First the defeat became larger in reality than it should have been because of the inadequacies of the electoral system. This does not excuse other faults and poor strategies of the DPP but it does give a more appropriate perspective. No election system is perfect and this is the first time that the new system for the Legislative Yuan was used, but it quickly proved in need of restructuring if Taiwan's citizens are to have proper representation. ...
Taiwan's 2008 Legislative Yuan Elections Update
Saturday January 12
It appears that there has been only a 58 per cent voter turn out. This has already doomed the referendums. If such a low turn out continues in future elections, any referendum will certainly face extreme difficulties passing with the present rules. ...
Taiwan 2008 Legislative Elections: On the Spot
Friday January 11
The voting stations are open today and already it is evident that the Pan-blue party is out to kill the referendums by boycotting them. ...
Taiwan's 2008 Legislative Yuan Elections
Friday January 11
Big changes are coming this Saturday January 12, 2008, Taiwan will vote to select members of the upcoming Legislative Yuan in an election that will have several new wrinkles and be a first in many items for Taiwan. First of all, the number of legislators has been halved from 225 to 113 so a number of the old faces will not be there simply because of this reduction. Second the legislators will be elected one member per district. This means that candidates from the various parties will be going head to head with each other and not just hoping to luck out in being one of the top ten or such in multiple members for single districts as in the past. Each has to win now solely on his or her own personal record and/or relationship with voters in their district. Because of these two changes we will no longer see characters like Li Ao who lucked out last time in being the 10th of 10 legislators selected from his district. He has chosen not to run and not be embarrassed by a small number of votes. But there is more. ...
Taiwan Desperately Needs a Green Legislative Yuan: Problem Two, Sabotage of the Country
Saturday January 05
When I say that the pan-blue Legislative Yuan led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) sabotages the country I do not mean that they have guerilla bands blowing up bridges. I speak metaphorically. The KMT's sabotage is of a much more subtle nature; it is a sabotage that is willing to drag the country down as it strives to regain its lost privilege. Despite the pan-blue media hype, Taiwan's problems of today stem from the Legislative Yuan and not from the President. Since the mid-nineties, the controlling power of the country has shifted from the Presidency to the Legislative Yuan, and the Legislative Yuan has always been under the control of the KMT and its pan-blue alliance...
Ma Ying-joke, Would You Want This Man as Your Leader?
Thursday January 03
Does Ma Ying-joke know what time it is? Does he even know where his party is? Shortly after Ma promised Taiwan citizens that he would definitely vote on the two anti-corruption referendum ballots in the up-coming election, his party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), announced that it would boycott the referendums. Who is in charge here? It certainly isn't Ma Ying-joke. ...
Why Taiwan Needs a Green Legislative Yuan: Problem One Justice
Wednesday January 02
When Taiwan was a one-party state dictatorship under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the power of the country was in its president. The Legislative Yuan was a rubber stamp body in which each legislator who had been elected ages previous in 1947 was guaranteed his position for life. All each legislator had to do was approve what President Chiang Kai-shek and then later what his son President Chiang Ching-kuo directed. This all began to change under President Lee Teng-hui when the "iron rice bowl" legislators who had not yet died off, had to step down. After 1992 legislators had to run for office and compete with members of other newly allowed parties. ...
Is AIT as Dumb as the KMT Thinks That They Are?
Wednesday January 02
In early December, Raymond Burghardt, Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), visited Taiwan to speak and listen to the presidential candidates from both major parties as well as to receive assurances from President Chen Shui-bian that Chen would do nothing drastic before the end of his presidential term. To speak to the two major presidential candidates would be natural for the AIT head in order to get a feeling for the priorities of each. To be concerned about President Chen doing something drastic is a bit over the top and another indication that the US has never had good communication channels with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). While the fault of this lies on both sides, it also continues to show how many in the USA's bureaucratic ranks not only don't have an ear to the ground in Taiwan but that they also still rely on their past wining and dining buddies of the past Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) era for information. Examine the laughable but oh-so-typical of media hype that followed Burghardt's visit. ...
Myth #3, Chiang Kai-shek Created the Taiwan Miracle for the Sake of Taiwan
Wednesday January 02
The Taiwan Miracle is regularly brought up by KMT to show its care for Taiwan. Myth #3, Chiang Kai-shek so loved Taiwan that he created the Taiwan Miracle for it. Answer: The Taiwan Miracle is a fact of history but it was not created for the sake of Taiwan. It was created because Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT realized that they would never retake China and that they might as well try to make a "heaven of their hell" in exile in Taiwan. To gain a needed and full perspective on what this means, one must compare it to the German Miracle and the Japanese Miracle after World War II. ...
Debunking the Myths of Chiang Kai-shek: Myth # 2, Chiang Kai-shek Rebuilt Taiwan
Tuesday January 01
A second myth that the profiteers and exploiters of Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship use to justify their position and profit is to promote the idea that the people of Taiwan should be grateful to Chiang Kai-shek because he rebuilt it after World War II. This is Myth # 2: Chiang Kai-shek rebuilt Taiwan. Answer: Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) did not rebuild Taiwan; in reality, he is the one who brought it to its lowest degradation. ...
Debunking the Myths of Chiang Kai-shek: Myth # 1, Chiang Kai-shek Saved Taiwan
Tuesday January 01
There are many myths that surround Chiang Kai-shek. Most are perpetuated by those who still profit from his one party state dictatorship on Taiwan; these people use the myths to justify their gains and cover what really happened. A series of posts will follow debunking those myths. ...
The Presbyterian Church of Taiwan Goes on Record for Taiwan and the UN
Friday December 28
In my previous post I had mentioned that the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCT) had a conference in early December. The PCT has always stood by the Taiwanese people in their quest for dignity, respect, and justice. At their conference they issued a public declaration in support of Taiwan's right to join the United Nations. I put the full text below:
To the member states of the United Nations, to the peoples and nations of the world who love justice and peace, and to all churches around the world...
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, One Solution: Out Out Damned Spot and Let the KMT Pay for It
Wednesday December 19
Much went on in Taiwan in the early days of December 2007. There was the 28th anniversary of the Kaohsiung Incident, which had taken place on December 10th Human Rights Day 1979. In conjunction with this was the opening of the Taiwan Human Rights Jingmei Park/Museum in Taipei; the site of this museum is a former prison, which had housed the Kaohsiung Eight. It had also been the main political prison from that era; from there prisoners were often sent to Green Island. ...
He Came, He Saw, He Jumped, Felix Baumgartner
Thursday December 13
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it? No it's Felix Baumgartner, Austrian extreme sport enthusiast and he treated surprised Taipei residents to a free fall leap and parachute jump from Taipei 101. If you haven't seem photos in the papers, or the video clip on TV, you will probably see it in a future commercial or some other commercial venture. ...
Secret Deals, Secret Deals, Those Damned Secret Deals!
Thursday December 13
[A French translation by Jerome Besson is available at Taiwan 1st!]
The more they protest, the more time and verbiage they expend, the more they insist that they respect Taiwan's democracy; the more it becomes obvious. The US State Department, its officials and henchmen seem to have once again made another secret deal, a secret deal with China to limit and control the democracy and freedom of Taiwan. ...
Lee Teng-hui Misquoted on Chen Shui-bian
Tuesday December 11
In the Taipei Times of December 11th there was a correction to an article which I had found strange in the previous day's paper. The Times gave a correction and I put it here in their exact words. "In yesterday's issue, an item in the
Quick Takesection said former president Lee Teng-hui urged voters not to suport the Democratic Progressive Party in upcoming elections. ("Lee Teng-hui turns on Chen" page 3) Lee only urged his audience to make good use of the party ticket vote in the legislative elections. The material was sourced from Agence France-Presse, and the Taipei Times regrets the error." ...
Ang Lee, Taiwanese to the Core: "Lust Caution" and the Golden Horse Awards
Monday December 10
This past weekend the 44th Golden Horse Awards were held at the Taipei Arena and Ang Lee's film "Lust Caution" won in eight categories including best director and best film. ...
Christensen, Jay Leno & the Crystal Clear US Position on Taiwan's UN Referendum
Sunday December 09
On December 6, 2007, US Deputy Secretary of State Tom Christensen spoke to a roundtable and answered questions from reporters on Taiwan's upcoming UN Referendum Proposal. In the brief interchange with reporters Christensen repeatedly stressed over and over again that his main purpose was to make the US policy "perfectly clear" to the people of Taiwan. That this was a near verbatim repeat of what he said a couple of months back seemed to have no impact on Christensen. Such constant repetitions on the part of the US State Department serve only to raise questions of its credibility; the State Department can only fall back on its hackneyed past. ...
Taiwan and the UN, the Hypocrisy Continues
Saturday December 08
In a recent statement, former United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan managed to both put his foot in his mouth and at the same time expose the continuing hypocrisy and ineffectiveness of the UN. ...
Freedom, Taiwan's Presbyterian Church, China, and Religion
Wednesday December 05
[A French translation by Jerome Besson is available at Taiwan 1st!]
This past week I had the opportunity to meet Wendell Karsen of the Reformed Church in America as he was being interviewed by Linda Arrigo on his experiences working in Taiwan with the Presbyterian Church from 1969--73. Karsen was one of many in the ranks of foreigners and ex-pats of that era expelled and/or blacklisted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It was the period known as the White Terror. The KMT then ruled by strict martial law; with spies and informers everywhere, they were quick to pounce on anyone who questioned their autocracy and/or spoke up for human rights. ...
Enron, China, and One-Track Economics
Sunday December 02
[A French translation by Jerome Besson is available at Taiwan 1st!]
This past October with four other Taiwan scholars/advocates, I spent two weeks in seven European capitals discussing Taiwan and China issues with governmental leaders, think tanks, university professors, journalists etc. It was a beneficial and enlightening trip. There was much interchange and sharing of ideas. As would be expected positions varied from country to country, and naturally there was not always agreement. However, amidst the variety of positions expressed there were some that were so glib and callous in their solutions of how to make money off of the China economy that I found them frightening.
St. Andrew's Ball, Taipei 2007
Saturday December 01
All work and no play makes Jack and certainly Jerome a dull boy, so at this time of the year, we always go out to play is at the St. Andrew's Ball in Taipei. This year it was again sponsored by the British Chamber of Commerce and held on November 17 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. A fine night it was. ...
Taiwan, Who's Your Mama?
Sunday November 25
[A French translation by Jerome Besson is available at Taiwan 1st!]
Two separate and seemingly unrelated articles published this past week cast new meaning on the uniqueness of Taiwan's history and identity and provide further insight on how the Taiwanese character, by being more honest in analyzing and facing its past than the Chinese character, can be more open to many things including democracy. The first article relates to the discovery that jade artifacts quarried in Fengtian (present day Hualien) were found not only in Taiwan, but the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand indicating flourishing sea trade patterns going back some 5,000 years. ...
Taiwan's Wild Side II
Wednesday November 21
While Taiwan may be a hi-tech island and lead the world in many products, with its many steep and rugged mountains, it still has its wild side. Last June 22, 2006, I had posted about a boar hunt where a man and his 15 dogs tracked down and cornered a 120 kg boar; now at 120 kg that is one big boar, something you would not want to face when it is cornered. The man's dogs got their share of gashes in that battle. ...
Eastern Bloc Countries See Through China's Patronizing Efforts at Control
Friday November 09
[A French translation by Jerome Besson is available at Taiwan 1st!]
I have just returned from a trip through seven capitals of Europe (Brussels, Paris, Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and London. There with four other scholars and advocates of Taiwan we presented the message that the 23 million people of Taiwan deserve the rightful recognition of their voice in world matters. We dialogued and talked with think tanks, leaders, politicians, professors, students, and anyone who would listen. It was exhausting but an informative and exhilarating trip.
China, Tibet, and Thought Control
Friday November 09
Thought control alert! Thought control alert! The Dalai Lama is at it again. This time this dangerous splittist is visiting Japan spreading his nefarious message of peace and harmony among men. Beware, beware! This man is dangerous! However, do not fear, true to form the PRC government has lodged a formal protest with the Japanese government that this hideous criminal should stay at home where his thoughts can be controlled. As for the rest of us, we are lucky that the Middle Kingdom of pollution, poison and propaganda is watching out for our minds. It is true that they are responsible for sending us SARS, poisoned food and toys etc. etc. etc. but at least they are watching out for our thoughts. ...
Down and Out and Blacklisted by the KMT as late as 1992
Monday October 15
Pundits of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) always try to make the pseudo claim that the KMT supported democracy as early as the 1960s by allowing paltry elections in Taiwan. What they don't say of course is the following. The elections were only for lesser positions because the main power of the country was held by the KMT President and Legislative Yuan (these were the KMT loyalists with an iron rice bowl. They were elected in 1947 and never had to run again; those that were still alive by 1992 were finally retired. They don't say that the KMT held the country under martial law until 1987; and that the dreaded Garrison Command which could interrogate prisoners with no restraints was not disbanded until 1992. They don't say that they did not allow opposition parties until 1987 though the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) with many of its members still in jail from the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 did dare to form a party in 1986. They also don't say that they had a blacklist to keep out anyone that was opposed to the KMT or was for independence. Since the KMT had given up aspirations of retaking China one would think that being a democracy meant that they were independent. Not so in the KMT's mind. ...
Taiwan's Statesman, Richard C. Kagan's Biography of Lee Teng-hui
Monday October 15
A new biography of Lee Teng-hui has just come out. The title is "Taiwan's Statesman, LeeTeng-hui and Democracy in Asia" (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD); the author is Richard C. Kagan Ph.D. Professor Emeritus in history at Hamline University in St. Paul Minnesota.
The Paradigm Diaries: a Beginning
Monday October 15
Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality.
All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration. ...
Machiavelli
China, How Much Control is Enough?
Friday October 12
I comment regularly on how the cabal of control freaks in the People's Republic of China (PRC) feel it is their god-given (excuse the ironic pun) hierarchical privilege and right to dominate and dictate all aspects of their citizens lives including their spiritual pursuits. But just when I think I have said it all, these people that continue to give us poisoned toothpaste, toys, baby cribs, cups etc. etc. prove me wrong. ...
Are China's Cheap Goods Really That Cheap? Taiwan, China and the US State Department: Examining the Idiocy
Wednesday October 03
Thanks to the USA's Freedom of Information Act, citizens of Taiwan, the USA, and the world now know how over 30 years ago Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon betrayed and sold out their ally Taiwan, the Republic of China. In addition to his wanting to gain China's support to counter threats from the USSR, the fawning way that Kissinger speaks therein of his Chinese counterparts indicates a man so wanting to be known as the one that opened up China for the USA that he would do anything to cut a deal and make a name for himself. If it meant selling out one time allies and the founding principles of the United States so be it. ...
Myanmar, China, and Democracy in the World
Friday September 28
Where's China? As the citizens of Myanmar struggle to protest their lost democracy, sympathy pours in from around the world. Monks are shot in the streets; monasteries are ransacked. Myanmar's military which refused to acknowledge the democratic victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's party in parliamentary elections over a decade ago continues its crackdown. It will not allow challenges to its authority. The situation worsens and finally the world community demonstrates awareness and concern for this situation, that is, all but China. As the one who could do something, China does nothing. ...
China's Cheap Goods are Cheap, Aren't They? Part I: Feeding the Bully
Monday September 24
How many countries in the world do you know of where the rulers insist on having the right to appoint bishops in the Catholic Church? How many countries in the world do you know of where the rulers insist on having the right to appoint the successors of the Dalai Lama and Pacnhen Lama? How many countries in the world do you know of where the rulers insist on having the right to appoint religious leaders of any and all religions? So what does religious freedom have to do with cheap goods? Look into that and you will begin to understand what is meant by feeding the bully. ...
Greenspan, Me, the United Nations, and the Inconvenient Truth about Taiwan
Monday September 17
It is not often that one finds oneself in the august company of people one admires so I must admit that I was happy in reading several quotes taken from Alan Greenspan's new book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World." There I found mutual agreement between us. Greenspan called a spade a spade in speaking about the Bush administration's leading the USA into Iraq. He wrote, "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." ...
Freedom House Highlights the Hypocrisy of the World Including the USA!
Thursday September 13
Kudos to Jennifer Windsor of Freedom House for pointing out clearly the hypocrisy of the world and the USA. After World War II, one of the founding principles of the UN has been that people shall have the right of self-detrmination. This seems to apply to all peoples except those in Taiwan. Windsor stated that the USA had "no business in joining with China to bully the Taiwanese people." She referred to the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte stating that if Taiwan sought this right it would change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. (Isn't it strange that while others act freely in their own interests in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan seems to be the only one that gets scolded for changing the status quo?) ...
Blacklisting: Another of the Many Ways the KMT Strove to Control Thought on Taiwan
Friday September 07
A common falsehood that the followers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) try to turn into a truism and a belief is that they fostered democracy on Taiwan beginning way back in the 1950s and 1960s. The thousands of political prisoners that were sent to Green Island from the 1950s through the 60s, 70s and 80s are just one of many facts that put this to the lie. But there are many more. ...
Alfredo Gonzales, Scooter Libby: Hired Guns and Perjured Lackeys
Thursday September 06
The resignation of Alfredo Gonzales is history and anyone who supports democracy and participative government cannot be anything but pleased. Some sense of justice has been rendered to the hegemonic, blind, my-way-or-the-highway management style that President Bush has been trying to force on the United States and the world. ...
Step Two: Examining Does the USA Really Have a Valid Strategic Plan for Taiwan and its Democracy?
Friday August 24
When you are up to your ass in alligators, the original brain-child idea to drain the swamp no longer seems so brilliant. What does this old business maxim have to do with Taiwan's vibrant democracy and the USA's Strategic Plans for it and the world? Please follow. The USA's founding principles support the ideal of democracy for itself and other nations. This supposedly is one of the reasons why the USA entered Iraq, to free that nation of its dictator Saddam Hussein. Keep this ideal in mind as we look back over the past seven years, and the long term Taiwan situation. For those of us who have lived in Taiwan for more than that time, the one main constant droning complaint and fear expressed by the US State Department has been that President Chen Shui-bian will announce the de facto reality that Taiwan is a viable democratic nation and as such belongs to no one. Supposedly the announcing of this de facto reality will upset the delicate balance of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. In the meantime of course, everyone else has been tipping the balance scales this way and that. China has totally ignored the status quo, and continues to pile up missiles aimed at Taiwan, but only Taiwan merits chastisement. ...
Step One: Anticipating China's Conciliatory Pundits
Wednesday August 22
The world is finally waking up to the draconian monster it has created and fed in outsourcing not only manufacturing and pollution but also quality control to China. It seemed convenient and profitable allegedly for all at the time; such a pitch was used to sell those that lost their manufacturing jobs. But now the recall snowball is gaining steam; pet food is being taken off the shelf; toothpaste is questionable, toys are a dangerous minefield; Mattel recalled first 1.5 million toys, then 9 million because of the threat of lead poisoning from substandard paint and parts. What next? As awareness grows with each new recall announcement, so also does the realization that the USA had extremely shoddy mechanisms in place to even try to catch one fifth of the avalanche of poor quality and dangerous imports from China. ...
Mattel, China, and the Contemporary Business Culture, You Reap What You Sow
Saturday August 18
I recently listened to Bob Eckert, the Chairman and CEO of Mattel trying to do damage control for the growing problems of their China-made products. Eckert stated that he was shocked, absolutely shocked how the plants that produce their products in China could have let them down. Note this fancy way of passing the buck. It was not really Mattel that had the poor quality, but the plants in China, reference my previous writing on the Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison, and Paternalistic Propaganda. Somehow after supporting and creating this hegemonic draconian monster, somehow after outsourcing pollution to China to supposedly solve their back yard problems, now the business community has also realized that part of the bargain with the devil is that they also have also agreed knowingly or unknowingly to outsource quality. ...
On the road Again But the Search Can Go On
Tuesday August 07
Will be on the road, doing some speaking and visiting of family and friends. However, interested parties can use the Search button on the left to go through the many categories and numerous past writings. There is a wealth of comment, perspective and viewpoints there from over the years; Use the different categories like Politics, or Technology and Life or China, Taiwan etc. Just type in the person or topic or category you wish to find in each. Cheers ...
The Price We All Pay for China, the Middle Kingdom of Pollution: Why Don't I Feel Safe? Taiwan Vignette III
Tuesday August 07
Recently the United States health chief made the statement that the USA would help China with product safety. That brought me little comfort. The USA is notorious for creating problems and then trying to express largess in solving them or else it tries to fit square pegs into round holes and force others to accept its solution. After I had written about the shame factor and machinations that produce the Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison and Paternalistic Propaganda, a friend wrote me that he had heard an expert describe the China situation in these terms. "The world is outsourcing its pollution to China." Those words hit the nail on the head. There is a bitter irony in those words as well because of the price we all pay. Some unfortunately must pay more than others. ...
Ma Ying-jeou, Reason, and Responsibility: Taiwan Vignette II
Monday August 06
As life goes on in Taipei, it becomes clearer and clearer that there are reasons why the Hong Kong born, indicted Ma Ying-jeou never passed the bar exam, either in the States or in the much tougher version in Taiwan. 1) They don't admit you to the bar just because you show up with a frozen smile and wearing jogging shorts. 2) You do have to take some responsibility for your actions in the past and not just pass them off by saying "the White Terror Period was another time, my support of it and participation in it should not be judged." And 3) You should demonstrate some sort of logic and reasoning in your speeches. ...
Shih Ming-teh, the Media, and the US$ 3 Million Anti-Corruption Scam: Taiwan Vignette I
Monday August 06
How long would it take an alleged anti-corruption group to blow US$3 million? Less than a year? You got it and in Taiwan none of the Pan-Blue media are asking for receipts. If you recall, less than a year ago, the media was awash with how Shih Ming-teh and his Red Shirt Army were going to purge the country of corruption. They asked the public for donations and got some NT$ 110 to 120 million (well over US$3.5 million). Praise the Lord, salvation was at hand for Taiwan, the Red Shirts were going to solve the country�s problems. So what did they accomplish with their US$ 3 plus million and how have they accounted for it? ...
The More than Flawed Bush Administration, Al Gore and Documentaries
Saturday August 04
While Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is hanging on by the skin of his teeth, his credibility is lost. Scooter Libby runs free despite his lies. New Orleans continues to suffer not only because of the hurricanes but also because of incompetent White House response to its needs and its lack of follow up. Iraq? Let's not even talk about it. Through it all, the general attitude of the American people seems to be, if we can hang on for a year or so, at least we will finally be rid of George Bush. But there is one question I would like to ask, if George Bush had not won the Presidency, what kind of documentary would he have produced? Could it have in any way matched Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth?" Be Honest Now ...
I Never did Like Richard Nixon, but I did Shake his Hand
Friday August 03
Sometimes the most casual of life experiences can present us with and reveal the strangest of confluences and leave us with unforgettable memories. It was December of 1968, which already gives you an idea of how old I am, and I was driving down to Florida in my trusty '66 Plymouth, Lily Marlene. Taking advantage of semester break to escape the harsh Michigan winter at a college where I was teaching, I was fleeing to the sunny beaches of Florida. Little did I know how that trip would bring me back in touch with three unusual people that continue to influence my life. Two of them I respect and admire, one I only respect.
The Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison, and Paternalistic Propaganda: China's New Inconvenient Truth and its Effect on Taiwan and the World, Part III
Thursday August 02
The world is cruising toward the Genocide Olympics and the smell of the growing cancer is already in the air. It appears all over, even in less related matters. The pride in being No. 1 exceeds all other considerations. On one side of the Atlantic, the once gloried Tour de France has been exposed to be in reality the Tour du Dope. On the other side of the Atlantic, in baseball which allegedly was played for love of the game, Barry Bonds pursuit of Hank Aaron�s record is tainted with the question of steroids. And then in Asia there are the Genocide Olympics. All certainly is not right with the world if corruption that is so prevalent in higher echelons has filtered down to these simple pastimes that men pursue. And yet while many may be counting on the coming Olympics to distract or rise above the increasing poisonous problems with China, they will instead put the focus of the spotlight right there. What is trying to be hidden here is a strange, symbiotic, self-destructive relationship that the whole world is being dragged into.
The Tale of the Unwanted Relative: Ma Ying-jeou, and the KMT's Stolen State Assets
Sunday July 29
Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
The African proverb above is essential to understanding the many issues of Taiwan; transitional justice is at the top of that list. It is easy for outsiders to say, the past is past, let's simply move on. But Taiwan's past has always been one of colonization; its past historians have been those wined and dined by the colonizers. The past is not simply the past; rather it should be prologue, a prologue for justice, transitional justice. Taiwan is now a democracy but one of its political party's, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) remains in control of the bulk of state assets from when it ruled as a dictatorial one-party state. This is the true past...
Taiwan's Stolen Assets: Will the KMT Ever Own Up?
Sunday July 29
Transitional Justice where is it in Taiwan? Has it ever come here? In the previous post we had seen how the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has gone on record to admit it has over NT$ 25,000,000,000 in assets, that is NT$25 billion (US$ 757,757,757.00 million). Its closest rival, the ruling party Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has barely about one per cent of that, it has approximately NT$ 250,000,000 in assets, or US$ 7.5 million. What explains this huge discrepancy? How does the main opposition have so much and all the other parties including the ruling party have so little? On Saturday July 28th, the Taiwan Thinktank sponsored the International Conference on the Comparative Studies of Transitional Justice to provide the answer.
Taiwan's Stolen Assets and the KMT's Smoking Gun
Wednesday July 25
Just how much smoke do you need from a smoking gun to point out the truth? The figures released by the Ministry of the Interior on the wealth of the various political parties brought back the jarring reality that transitional justice has not been fully carried out and that the stolen assets that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still remain stolen. ...
The Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison, and Paternalistic Propaganda: China's New Inconvenient Truth and its Effect on Taiwan and the World, Part II
Tuesday July 24
Shame or guilt? Finding identity in a group or finding it in ourselves? If our identity comes from our imagined grouping, community or state then, by this need for identity through belonging, we automatically open ourselves to manipulative leaders. Shame and the threat of banishment become powerful weapons. The chief passion of the frustrated is "to belong;" there can never be too much cementing and binding to satisfy this passion. While Renan said, fanatics fear liberty more than they do persecution, I would also add to this that the manipulative leaders of fanatics also fear the liberty of their subjects. They fear it more than they do attack from enemies outside. To eliminate such fear the leaders must control not only the people but the people's main sources of information such as the media, the press, and the education system, with these they have powerful tools at their disposal...
The Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison, and Paternalistic Propaganda: China's New Inconvenient Truth and its Effect on Taiwan and the World, Part I
Saturday July 21
Guilt and Shame! Ruth Benedict broached this controversial distinction in her book, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword stating that there are guilt-based cultures and shame-based cultures. She further went on to posit that the Western world is governed more by guilt while the Eastern world is governed more by shame. How accurate that is, I will leave to the psychologists and anthropologists. In my own thought we all suffer from elements of both, but one of the two will usually predominate and influence our actions more deeply. However what is more important is to figure out who or what controls and defines our guilt and/or our shame, how this relates to our sense of self and how that guilt or shame affects the world around us...
Additional What Might Have Beens for Taiwan Come to Life
Monday July 16
More countries should have clear Freedom of Information Acts. Certainly, a Freedom of Information Act such as that of the United States is a valuable asset for the countries citizens, for historians and for those interested in what really happened. It does not guarantee that all of any country's secret past dealings, motivations, and maneuverings of its leaders will come to light; it does not mean that all potential skeletons will eventually be found, but it does mean that a better grasp of history can be gotten from the past and we can get a little closer to the truth. ...
TAITRA (Taiwan) is Hunting Talent: in the IT Field and Other Professional Areas
Tuesday July 10
Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) is offering a free recruitment service for both foreigners living in or outside Taiwan and Taiwanese living outside Taiwan. They call it HiRecruit Services.
They introduce it by saying: If you are seeking further professional development and career advancement in a world-renowned high tech country as Taiwan, and would like to be rewarded through better compensation and the personal satisfaction that you are growing as a professional . . . Then look no further than HiRecruit Services.
Observations and Comments on Denny Roy's "Taiwan a Political History"
Friday July 06
Denny Roy's "Taiwan, a Political History" (published by Cornell University, 2003) claims to have an objective approach ("I am beholden to no particular political organization in Taiwan and have aimed for a balanced assessment." ix) yet the book repeatedly shows the influence that it is the Pan-Blue politicians who most often have had his ear and that he does not want to directly offend the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation which had funded the book...
The Indicted Ma Ying-jeou, Left Hanging or Hung out to Dry?
Wednesday July 04
Yesterday was not a good day for the Hong Kong born, indicted former Taipei mayor, Ma Ying-jeou who believes he is the one destined to unite Taiwan with China--if he can only become president. First, there was the Next Magazine article that suggested Ma was guilty of ignoring construction defects and contract scandals in the Taipei Arena in order to gain kudos for opening it before his term as mayor expired. The building still has 30 deficiencies even after two years of operation plus there is the allegation that Eastern Multimedia Group (EMG) chairman Gary Wang bribed Ma's city government officials to win the nine-year contract. Not to worry, succeeding Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Mayor Hau Lung-bin said he has a special KMT committee to review all of the above. We are in safe hands. ...
Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and the Falun Gong
Monday July 02
July 1, marked the tenth anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China. In Hong Kong, there were celebratory fireworks, a parade, and a public visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao. In contrast, there was also a pro-democracy protest numbering anywhere from 20,000 to 68,000 depending on whether you believe the Hong Kong police or the protest organizers. Ten years had passed and Hong Kong is in no way closer to the democracy and autonomy promised by the People's Republic of China (PRC). A simple bellwether of this lack of progress can be seen in the continued mistreatment of members of the Falun Gong. Several members of the Falun Gong that went to Hong Kong from Taiwan for this day were denied entry and sent back to Taiwan. ...
From the Belly of the Beast: a New Democracy Exhibit Tours Taiwan
Monday July 02
Taiwan continues in its search for a unifying identity, yet one major impediment remains; how to resolve the crimes of its tumultuous past. True, Taiwan has finally and painstakingly achieved its democracy, but the nation has still not dealt with the legacy of the past 45 years of colonial aggression, white terror, and systematic propaganda. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) which profited immensely during those years wants to downplay their damage; the Taiwanese who suffered in that same period seek transitional justice. This conflict creates Taiwan's identity problem. Nowhere perhaps was the contrast of these two positions more evident than in the dual exhibitions that recently were seen side by side in the former Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (now Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall). One of those exhibits now tours Taiwan...
The KMT and Their Flag: Is Puyi Power Better than None?
Friday June 22
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is famous for duping its lower members with false beliefs, images, and hopes and then reversing itself. None perhaps was as classic as the perpetuated propaganda from the 1950s through the 1970s that it was just a matter of time before they would retake China. For decades party loyalists projected the mythical belief that despite getting soundly trounced and run out of China by the forces of Mao Tse-tung, the people in China were just dying for the KMT's corrupt regime to return and liberate them. For decades many party members believed this farce.
Wang Chien-ming, the Yankees and Taiwan: a Thought for the Day
Thursday June 21
As a country, Taiwan is in dire need of unifying symbols and a sense of purpose to which all Taiwanese can relate and draw inspiration from. At present the opposite is true. Whether we speak of the national flag, the national anthem, interpretations of the country's past, the future vision of the country, the followers of the green or blue political camps have trouble agreeing on anything. There is however, one hope, one area where I find members of all parties agree upon. What's that? Sports, and in particular I speak of the figure of Wang Chien-ming, pitcher for the New York Yankees. Wang's W/L record was 19-6 in 2006; this year he has seven wins and if he keeps healthy could become a 20 game winner. The local TV channel covers all Yankee games and Wang's exploits are closely followed by all. If I were the President, I would make it a law that Wang cannot join any political party; after all, he is the one thing that unites all of Taiwan.
Taiwan Independence, an Identity in Process
Sunday June 17
Many historians try to make much of the fact that the Taiwanese in 1895 or at other times did not have a clear idea of Taiwan independence. They make the common mistake that any nation has a clear idea of its identity and goals at any specific moment in time or that a singular vision and common identity is shared by all levels of its populace at any time. Reality tells us that this is never so. Because of this, we see that the motivation of participants in history is likewise quite often mixed.
The US State Department Remains Mired in its Green Cheese Fantasy World
Sunday June 03
The United States State Department in true ostrich-like fashion persists in keeping its head buried in the sand. It seems that the only way it knows to resolve problems like that of the Taiwan Strait is to resort to mantra-like repetitions of stock phrases, "The Moon is made of Green Cheese; the Moon is made of Green Cheese, and we have a One-China Policy. We have a One-China Policy." Somehow State Department officials hope with hegemonic intent that everyone will follow their wishes and that their worst nightmare (one which they created and re-created from the San Francisco Treaty down through the Shanghai Communiqué and continuing communiqués) will go away...
A Fable: The US of A's The Moon is Made of Green Cheese One-China Policy
Sunday May 27
The best and quickest way to assess the ignorance and/or laziness of the average bureaucrat, politician, and/or journalist is to simply ask them to expostulate on the United States' "One China" policy; that same policy inevitably and ironically comes up when the sovereignty of Taiwan is mentioned. Why ironic? Taiwan is a country that cares for and has fought long and hard for its democracy; it has certainly fought much longer and harder than the nation of Iraq. Yet those same US bureaucrats that are more than willing to throw good money after bad to redeem a resistant Iraq prefer that Taiwan cower from declaring its democracy. Taiwan should not bother the rest of the world as that world tries to make money in the overheating China market with its tainted products. Instead Taiwan should play the role of beggar in the streets accepting whatever meager handouts it is given. ...
The China Post Blows it Again: Taiwan's Pan-blue Paper Continues to Contort History
Friday May 25
The "China Post" (CP) is what some call our local Pan-blue rag. It is a paper that began in the 1950s and prospered during the dictatorial reigns of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo. This was the time of White Terror and Martial Law when writers, journalists, and other commentators were either being assassinated, kicked out of the country or spending long years in prison on Green Island for saying anything that might be construed as critical of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The high profile cases of Henry Liu, Tina Chou, and Bo Yang are typical examples of what was standard fare for those who did not conform to the regime...
Taipei, Taiwan, In Search of a Good Feng-shui Master
Monday May 21
In the wake of the changing of the name of Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall to Democracy Memorial Hall, another factor is coming to the fore. That is, how the feng-shui of the building itself reveals intended tribute to this dictatorial megalomaniac. Feng-shui masters are discussing on TV the numerous ways it resembles the tomb of an emperor, and trumpets the self-inflated image of a man who would not tolerate anyone under him stealing his limelight. It is not a memorial or image of one who espouses government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Spin-doctors and the Taipei City Hall Corpse
Saturday May 19
Not too many would be aware of it, but we are fast approaching the anniversary date of the finding of a corpse on a Taipei City Hall balcony. It is not every day of course that an unclaimed corpse turns up at Taipei City Hall, but what made this corpse so unusual was that it had lain there on the 3rd floor balcony for over six months. The Hong Kong born and indicted former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, Ma Ying-jeou, was mayor then. ...
The KMT Shows its True Colors: They Prefer to Honor the Dictator Chiang Kai-shek over Democracy
Saturday May 19
Today, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that allegedly was founded on the principles of government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" showed its true colors when it came to changing the name of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to Democracy Hall. They would rather honor the losing dictator that they followed to Taiwan,than honor the democracy of the people. ...
Shinenko, the Emerald Horizon: A Documentary on Taiwan Youth and World War II
Saturday May 19
Picture yourself at age 13 leaving your parents, your family, your friends, and the only place you have known for those 13 years. Alone, you board a train that will take you to a larger city, a port; there with similar youths you will board a ship that will take you to another land. It is Japan, the land of the emperor. What are your thoughts and feelings? ...
WHO Again Reveals its Lack of Concern for the 23 Million of Taiwan
Thursday May 17
From the folks that brought the world SARS, in a recent report from AFP, Beijing we find that following a string of such cases, two Chinese companies were responsible for poisonous additives that found their way into pet foods in the USA. Further China is fast becoming the world's biggest exporter of food-related health threats. WHO admitted the problem. ...
St. Lucia to WHO on China: "You Need LP!" **
Saturday May 12
It is over a week now since the small Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia (pop. 168,000) stood up to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and once again set up diplomatic relations with the island nation of Taiwan. In quick retrospect, the actions of St. Lucia stand out in sharp contrast with the recent actions of the World Health Organization (WHO) which once again caved in to PRC demands and refused to admit Taiwan any kind of member status or participation in WHO. ...
Ma Ying-joke, a Sign of More to Come?
Thursday May 10
The Hong Kong born, indicted former Mayor of Taipei, Ma Ying-jeou did his usual shuffle once again. It followed a statement made to please the People's Reppublic of China by Wu Yu-sheng, a KMT Legislator, in an interview with Chinese Central TV (CCTV). Wu stated that the indicted Ma was a candidate for "Taiwan leader" in the upcoming 2008 Presidential elections of Taiwan. ...
Taiwan Studies M.A. Degree Program in English
Tuesday May 08
Chang Jung Christian University will be offering an all English Master of Arts degree program in Taiwan Studies for foreign students, beginning August 2007. Applications ar being accepted. The program focuses on the principal features of Taiwan's history, social organization, political and economic institutions and related cultural phenomena. ...
Florence, Italy, a Showcase of the Renaissance
Sunday May 06
Florence, the very name that the early Romans gave it, Florentia (destined to flourish) tells it all. You cannot hear the name of this city without thinking of its rich historic and artistic past. It is the home of the Medici and the birthplace of the Renaissance. Almost every Italian artist of note has left his mark on the city. Even some earlier ones like Dante Alighieri, author of the "Divine Comedy" (Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso), wrote that work because he was forced into exile from the city in 1303...
Taiwan, China, and the Olympics Part II: More Half-baked Journalism
Sunday April 29
As China seeks to use the Olympic torch route to bolster its claim to possess and rule Taiwan, another typical one-sided, hackneyed phrase used by journalists appears. It joins the list of stock phrases that journalists are either ordered to use by their syndicates or are too lazy to seek the full detailed explanations behind them. Some past phrases are Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province. (Journalists never print what Taiwan considers China.) Or there is the old chestnut, Taiwan, which has always been a part of China. (Hello, do you ever read history?). The current phrase (while not entirely new) states that Taiwan and China have been ruled by separate governments since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. This implies that Taiwan was always ruled by one and only one form of government before. It is time to clarify this half truth and set the record straight...
Taiwan, China, and the Olympics Part I, Who is Playing Politics?
Friday April 27
The Olympic Charter states that politics and sport should be kept separate. Yet China is claiming surprise that Taiwan has rejected its politically planned route for the Olympic torch.
Peng Ming-min Part I: A Principled Search for Democracy
Saturday April 21
Peng Ming-min is a man who could have had it all. He had family background, education, position, prominence, and recognition by the Republic of China (ROC) and its President, Chiang Kai-shek. What more could one ask for in the 1950s and early 60s in Taiwan. He had even been named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of Taiwan by the Taiwan Junior Chamber of Commerce. Yes, Peng Ming-min is a man who could have had it all at that time. All he had to do was give up his foolish and silly ideas about democracy and preach the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) party line and he could look forward to a very comfortable and influential life. He didn't. ...
Looking for Something to Do? Taipei is Full of Surprises, Bobwundaye
Saturday April 21
Taipei is always full of surprises no matter how long you have lived here. There are always new shops, new businesses, new restaurants etc. springing up overnight. Just last night Monika and I discovered a small pub, Bobwundaye, right in our neighborhood. We had gotten an email from D. C. Rapier of the Taiwan Blues Society that Dave Chen and Conor Prunty of the Muddy Basin Ramblers were having a jam session there and any and all were welcome. ...
Good Old Sun Yat-sen, Is He Still Turning in His Grave?
Sunday April 15
The end of April approaches and the newly elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman, Wu Po-hsiung, is preparing for his trip to China. He states that he wants to have "substantive talks" with the leadership of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Is it only me or does anyone else wonder why the newly elected leader of the KMT sees fit to first talk to the PRC instead of first going to the people of Taiwan to see what they want?
Taiwan Needs Grass-roots Democratic Development
Saturday April 14
Joel Linton gave his first sermon in Taiwanese this past Easter. Now a provocative letter he shared with the North American Taiwanese Professors Association (NATPA)expressed both his thoughts and vision for the future of Taiwan. The letter points out the problems Taiwan still faces from the KMT's authoritarian control of this country; but it further issues a challenge to all to develop responsible citizens who will hold all their politicians accountable. I place the letter below. ...
A Special Easter in Taiwan
Wednesday April 11
Easter is a celebration of resurrection and rebirth. This past Easter was a special day in Taiwan. On that day, Joel Linton the American husband of Lin Huan-chun (Judy Lin) the only surviving daughter of Lin Yi-hsiung gave his first sermon in Taiwanese. What made it more special was that he gave it in the same place that his wife's twin sisters and grandmother had been murdered during the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) White Terror period in 1980.
Pictures of Italy, Venice is Hard to Beat
Friday April 06
Venice is Venice and like no other city. Romantic, picturesque, a network of canals, walkways and bridges, it possesses a charm and way of life that is both compact and cosmopolitan. Numerous writers, musicians, and artists have fallen under its inspiration and spell; it was the highlight of the Grand Tour for English nobility; and I for one will certainly add my name to the list of those who love Venice. ...
Chiang Kai-shek's Pitiful Legacy and the Minions Who Try to Defend it
Sunday April 01
How should Chiang Kai-shek be remembered? This is the challenging problem facing Taiwan. The statues of Chiang Kai-shek are tumbling all over the nation of Taiwan, but some previous beneficiaries of Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship staunchly defend their erstwhile benefactor. Examine the chief arguments they put forth. ...
Taiwan, Just When You Thought You Had Seen It All
Sunday April 01
More breaking news. It looks like Taiwan will have interesting and rioutous times from now until December and the Legislative Yuan elections. The number of seats has been halved so that there will be fierce fighting for positions even within the parties. If this is not enough recent remarks by Shih Ming-deh and Ma Ying-jeou promise to keep people wondering with disbelief. ...
KMT Dominated Taoyuan County Police Break up Anti-CKS Skit
Friday March 30
Breaking News. From Linda Arrigo on the scene. On Saturday morning March 31, a skit was being performed in the parking lot near Chiang Kai-shek's burial place. In it Johnny Huang (Huang Yu-Chi) portrayed the spirit of CKS being called to judgement. In typical police state fashion of the old days when the Kuomintang would censor and not tolerate any contrary expression of opinion, the police in this KMT dominated county moved in to break it up. ...
Chu Mei-feng and Taiwan's Bhagwa Mill
Saturday March 24
For those who like to follow the bhagwa (gossip) around town, local papers recently reported that Chu Mei-feng (now age 40 but I am sure still attractive) was hired on as the news anchor by Macau Asian Satellite TV (MASTV) at the comfortable salary of Hong Kong $3 million or US$360,000 a year. Certainly it's not a bad six figure salary and enough to live on. ...
Taipei 101, a Benefit to Taiwan in Many Ways
Wednesday March 21
No one has doubted that having the tallest building in the world has benefited Taipei and Taiwan in numerous ways. First it is a tourist attraction not only for Taiwanese but also for the international crowd. Come New Years Eve, it is a focal point and draws many to view its fireworks display sponsored the last couple of years by SONY. Events like local climbathons draw crowds. Page One, the bookstore on the 4th floor has one of the widest selections in the city. And of course, there is the view from the top observation area, where one can get a great view of Taipei, east, south, north and west. ...
Chiang Kai-shek's Legacy: Small-minded Minions Struggle to Maintain His Image
Saturday March 17
Taiwan's Strawberry Generation is often blind and/or oblivious to the oppressive past that their parents endured. The then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government regularly suppressed information and forbade certain discourse under penalty of jail, torture and even death. It even tried to deny the history of the world. Remnants of that controlling past remain and can easily be found for those who have eyes to see.
Taiwan 2007 Taking Stock V, Let the People Be Heard
Friday March 16
As the time for the primaries for Taiwan's 2008 presidential elections approaches, both the blue and the green camps unfortunately seem to be in agreement on one matter. They want to select their representative candidates from behind closed doors instead of letting the people have their say in open primaries. ...
Warning: Hello Kitty Plays Hardball in Taiwan
Friday March 16
The statues of Chiang Kai-shek are falling; the pan-blue dominated Legislative Yuan continues to hold the country's budget hostage, politicians and pundits on both sides of the political fence are arguing who should or should not get the nod for the 2008 presidential elections. Chaos threatens; tempers are short, but amidst all this turmoil, there is one person you don't want to cross, that person is Hello Kitty. ...
Rome, the Vatican, and the Republic of China's European Embassy
Tuesday March 13
Yes Virginia, Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC) does have a European Embassy; it is smack dab in the middle of Rome, Italy and a stone's throw from the Vatican with whom it is connected. As you leave the Basilica of St. Peters and go out past the colonnade designed by Bernini (photo 1), you find yourself on the Via della Conciliazione going toward the Castel Sant'Angelo. About halfway there on the northern side of the street you can see the ROC flag and embassy credentials (photos 2 & 3). ...
Taiwan and Its Past: Chiang Kai-shek Must Go!
Monday March 12
In developing democracies, how they deal with their dictatorial pasts is crucial. Taiwan is undergoing such change. A number of the statues of Chiang Kai-shek have recently been removed from various places around the island to a park in Taoyuan. Chiang Kai-shek International Airport has been renamed Taoyuan International Airport. The question of the rectification of other names is being dealt with. Yes, change is in the air, but Taiwan has still not yet caught up with the rest of the world. Certainly one major statue of Chiang Kai-shek glaringly remains, the statue in Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. This statue and memorial name must go. ...
The CNN Saga Continues: Follow the Money
Sunday March 11
In a Graham Greene novel, the police chief in a dictatorial banana republic, comments to another character that even in a dictatorial state, there is a double standard in the way that they can treat prisoners of the state. He comments, "There are prisoners that you can torture and prisoners that you cannot." He is referring to the difference between those with money and family background and those without.
The PRC, Tibet, and Texas: the PRC Would Never Tolerate Texas!
Sunday March 11
If one lives in Texas for even a brief period of time, he/she soon quickly knows from native Texans that Texas is the most unique state in the Union. Texas, the Lone Star State, was its own Republic for some nine years from 1836 to 1845. This Republic was set up in 1836 after a successful revolt against Mexico and the subsequent defeat of Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto. A year later, Texas was recognized by the United States, and in 1845 it joined the Union. This is taught to every seventh grader in Texas in their Texas State History Class, and if you didn't learn it then, Texans will make sure you know it later. ...
CNN Sucks II, the Bad, the Worse and the Ugly: Viewers Speak Out
Thursday March 08
There is a joke going around about CNN's most recent gaffe on Taiwan and cross strait issues with China. Question: Why shouldn't CNN have an opinion of its own on Taiwan's democracy? Answer: Because to support an opinion you need a backbone.
CNN Continues to Suck Up to China
Wednesday March 07
Once again CNN has shown its total lack of any sense of what is going on in Asia. Once again, they have sacrificed good journalism to suck up to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Once again its reporters have proven they can only report the PRC's narrow perspective of the world. ...
Burano, Lido, and Murano: Part of the Venice Experience
Wednesday March 07
Venice is not the only island off the northeast coast of Italy. Other islands there are also worth experiencing. Three are Burano, Lido, and Murano. Each has it own flavor. ...
Carnival in Venice: What More Could You Ask For?
Friday March 02
Venice is a very special place to visit any time of year, but to visit there during Carnival, now that is really special. During Carnival, this scenic photographer's paradise is filled with festive, costumed people of all ages, all sizes, and all nationalities. ...
China: Give Us 100 More Years, You'll be Dead then Anyway
Friday March 02
Wen Jiabao recently spoke on China's national goals and began by assuring all the fat cats in the upper government and business levels that they need not worry about having to share power and privilege as they might in a democracy. Economic reform would he said take precedence over any political changes. China would adhere to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) form of socialism for the next 100 years. He did not deny that China could work toward democracy but that it would have to wait for at least 100 years. ...
Shih Ming-deh Alert! Any Good USA Paparazzi Out There?
Sunday February 25
As the world turns in Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT's) Last Blue Hope was indicted for fraudulent misuse of funds just before the Chinese New Year. Yes, good old Ma, remember how six months ago he was demanding that Chen Shui-bian step down from the presidency not because Chen was indicted, but because his son-in-law was indicted on insider trading issues? Well the horse is off and running; he seems to have taken his own personal indictment as a different political sign. Somehow this qualifies him to run for the presidency on a clean up Taiwan platform. I will have a lot more on this shortly.
Happy Lunar New Year: Travelling but May the Pig Bring Prosperity to All
Sunday February 11
Taking some time out for travels. Will be In Italy and hope to bring back some interesting photos and news. After the new year you can expect some articles on your favorite Mr. Clean candidate Ma Ying-joke, the Rectification of Names issue and More. Cheer ...
Taiwan 2007 Taking Stock IV, Send Out the Clowns
Sunday February 11
The passing months continue Taiwan's count down towards the December 2007 Legislative Yuan elections. With the legislature being pared down to half its size (225 to 113 seats) and the voting switched from the one vote multiple member district scenario, Taiwan's new Legislative Yuan will have to be lean. It will have no room for excess baggage, and certainly no room for clowns. ...
Yes Virginia, You Should Not Trust Dollar Diplomacy
Tuesday February 06
People here in Taiwan sometimes criticize the Chen government on its periodic forays into the practice of dollar diplomacy. Some are idealists and do it so vehemently and so frequently that they give the impression that they believe that Taiwan is the only country in the world that does it. Others that are Pan-blue criticize the current government as if they believe the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) never stooped to do it in the past. Still others, the pragmatists, criticize because they believe that Taiwan can not match the spending of the People's Republic of China (PRC) dollar for dollar as the PRC continues to try and deny the people of Taiwan their place in the world. The following story should please all of the above; certainly it questions the moral that Dollar Diplomacy does work.
Elmer Feng and His Past: Do We Want to Go There?
Tuesday February 06
Henry Lee is back in favor in Pan-blue circles. The Lee that we are talking about of course is the well known Dr. Henry Lee, forensics expert from the United States. Lee is one who has been brought in to provide testimony in numerous trials including the infamous O.J. Simpson trial. Most in Taiwan however will remember him because the Pan-blue camp brought him over in 2004 to prove once and for all that the Chen assassination attempt was a hoax and that it robbed Lien Chan of his birthright to be president. ...
Taiwan's Hakka and Taiwanese Identity:Democracy Remains the Key
Monday February 05
Perhaps no group in China's history has wandered more and experienced more the role of second class citizens than the Hakka people. Displaced by wars and rejection, they have migrated from place to place so often, that they are called the "Jews of the East." Their very name means guest, unfortunately more often than not it suggests the connotation of being an unwelcome guest. For this reason it was most appropriate and fitting that by recently forming the Taiwan Society Hakka, they should be the ones to point the way to solidarity of identity in Taiwan. ...
Trust the Bloggers and Not the Bobble Heads
Sunday February 04
I still remember the boring morning I spent on the Sunday after Taiwan's March 2004 presidential elections. The Taiwan Sociological Society had gathered two panels of so-called foreign experts to give the foreign press and locals their opinions on why Chen Shui-bian won and the Chinese Nationalist Party lost. They talked and talked, on and on; in the end they had given us nothing but pabulum. No one had told us anything we did not know before. Only Shen Fu-shiung in his unfortunate way of trying to be cute came up with his "silver bullet theory." The other so-called experts either did not have any answers or they were too afraid to risk their prominence and take a position.
A Touch of Fated Humor Taiwan-Style: Sometimes Parents do Know What is Best.
Friday February 02
There are times when truth is stranger than fiction. Recently an unusual story resembling a Hong Kong movie on fate and life made the rounds of the newspapers. The story had the potential of being tragic but fortunately for all, it ended only with some painful wisdom. ...
Taiwan 2007, Taking Stock III, See Politicians for What They Are
Thursday February 01
All that glitters is not gold--such a simple saying yet how truly it reflects the reality of political office. Politicians are seldom what they seem or what they should be; certainly they should not be idolized. There is an infectious amnesia about political office that once politicians get elected they quickly forget who put them there and why. If they do not take their office as a license for self-serving indulgence and abuse, at least their priorities quickly change.
Charles William LeGendre, A French Yankee in Taiwan's Court
Tuesday January 30
One of the most colorful Americans to be associated with Taiwan in the 19th Century was Charles William LeGendre (1830-1899). A rare man whose active life spanned three continents long before trans-oceanic flights existed, LeGendre was born in Ouillins, France on August 26, 1830. He attended the Royal College of Rheims and then the University of Paris from which he graduated. In 1854 he married Clara Victoria Mulock, the daughter of a prominent New York lawyer. This new union changed his life by bringing him to the United States at a time when that country was moving steadily towards civil war. ...
Taiwan 2007, Democracy, the KMT's 5 dos, Quislings and Reality
Sunday January 28
When Ma Ying-jeou visited Taichung recently, members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) asked him to clarify the party's policy towards China. In the past, Ma had said that the ultimate goal was unification with China and then in his typical song and dance/shuffle fashion of trying to please everyone, he also said he recognized independence was an option for Taiwan. Now fearing he may be forced to take a clear position Ma is seeking a nebulous middle ground where he can speak pleasant vagaries without any real commitment. He found it by saying he wants to maintain the stagnant quo. ...
Taiwan 2007, Taking Stock II: Scoping out True Reform
Friday January 19
Where have all the red shirts gone, short time passing?
Where have all the red shirts gone, short time ago?
Where have all the red shirts gone?
Returned to hypocrites everyone,
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn. ...
On the Lighter Side, Is Life a Sudoku Puzzle?
Friday January 12
What is the good life and how does one live it? St Augustine for example offered a simple direct solution, Love God and do what you will. The Beatles reduced that to, All you need is love. The Book of Ecclesiastes took a different and more questioning approach with Vanity of vanities, all is vanity; while Marilyn Monroe on the other hand, contradicted that (at least for women) in the song Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Whatever one's culture and age there are plenty of simple explanations and pat solutions to the question and meaning of life. Unfortunately, however easy these are, my experience has been, especially if one tries to live authentically and responsibly, that life is complex not simple. ...
Taiwan 2007, Choosing a National Bird
Thursday January 11
There are many issues that face Taiwan as it struggles to maintain and develop its democracy. The following may certainly not be top priority but it is relevant. Yes, the time has come for Taiwan to choose a national bird and best of all, you can participate. Note my words, I am specifically saying "Choose a National Bird", not a Provincial Bird. Note also, that choosing a national bird is not the same as choosing a national emblem, though that is something Taiwan should consider for the future as well. ...
Taiwan 2007, Taking Stock I, the Keelung Corruption Case Continues
Tuesday January 09
Recall when Keelung Mayor Hsu Tsai-li (already under investigation in a criminal case) was running for re-election in 2005, Ma Ying-jeou as Chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) endorsed him and campaigned for him. Hsu was subsequently indicted in May 2006; nevertheless Ma still excused his actions by saying that indictment did not constitute guilt or corruption. Finally of course in September 2006, Hsu was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison; Ma then reluctantly and begrudgingly had the KMT cancel Hsu's membership. Case over? Not quite, this case still has legs and has yet to play itself out. ...
2007, Taiwan's Year for Reflection, Preparation and Production
Friday January 05
It is almost the 12th day of Christmas, the feast of the Three Kings, and the Christmas holidays are drawing to a close. In the Christian tradition, the period of Lent will be approaching; it is a period of reflection, penitence, and preparation for Easter rebirth and resurrection. Lent follows a lunar calendar and begins at the same time as the New Year in the Chinese tradition. This year is also 2007, for Taiwan that means the approaching 60th anniversary of er-er-ba (February 28, 1947). This too represents a time for continued reflection on the island's progress and sense of identity. Crucial for this year will be the elections for the Legislative Yuan in December; they may even be combined with the 2008 elections of the president. Whatever way I look at it, it is time to shake off the indolence of the holidays and get back to writing. ...
As Taiwan and the World Turn: the Scots Dance On!
Tuesday December 26
Whatever dire predictions the media (foreign or local pan-blue) had painted for Taiwan leading up to the December mayoral elections, life in the capital of Taipei was going on as usual thank you. This meant that in November the Scots had their St. Andrew's Ball and we were happy as always to join them in their festivities. This year however there was one slight change; the ball was not on the last Saturday of the month as tradition dictates but on the 3rd Saturday (November 18). Nevertheless we all adjusted and had a great time as photos will show. ...
Focus on 2007 and not 2008: the Message for Taiwan Voters
Sunday December 17
The Taipei and Kaohsiung Mayoral elections are over and people are talking about the Presidential elections of 2008. 2008 however should not be the focus. What the public needs to look at now is the Legislative elections in 2007. ...
Third International Women's Peace Conference: July 10--15, 2007 Dallas, Texas
Friday December 15
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." These words of Margaret Mead (1901-1978), mark the theme and definition of the Third International Women's Peace Conference to be held in Dallas, Texas this coming July 10-15, 2007. ...
Arrigo vs. Soong: Point, Counterpoint in Taiwan's History
Thursday December 14
Sunday December 10th 2006 was a full and auspicious day in Taiwan. Much was going on. The day previous in the Taipei and Kaohsiung Mayoral Elections, the people had passed judgment on all the hullabaloo and charge/counter-charge of corruption that had plagued Taiwan in the past six months. The people were not buying into the pan-blue propaganda. Further as a result of his personal defeat in that election, James Soong finally resigned from politics (hopefully in the eyes of many for good). ...
The Lighter Side of the Taipei Elections: Side Bets Anyone?
Monday December 11
The race for Taipei Mayor is over and it had its share of controversy, rumors, plots and potential conspiracies. People wondered if Soong would split the pan-blue vote while Hsieh and Hau duked it out. Would Chen Shui-bian be a factor. There was plenty to talk about and plenty to speculate on, but believe it or not there was also a lighter side. ...
Those Nefarious Pan-Blue Polls: Expect More Denial of Reality
Sunday December 10
It was supposed to be the return of the KMT; it was supposed to be the final referendum on President Chen Shui-bian and all his alleged corruption; it was supposed to be the pan-blue moment of triumph. It was supposed to be, that is, it was supposed to be if you believed the polls of the pan-blue media and all the other hypocritical hype they had been spewing forth in the past six months. It was supposed to be, it was supposed to be. ...
Election Eve Excitement
Friday December 08
It is election eve in Taiwan and excitement is in the air. Tomorrow the people will select the mayors for the two top cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung. It is a crucial time for the major parties for they will look to see what effect the recent scandals have had. It is a crucial time for individual politicians, certainly so for James Soong where a poor showing could pour more oil on the slippery slope his party, the PFP, is on ...
Be an Ambassador for Democracy and Freedom
Friday December 08
The Formosa Foundation is accepting applications to the 2007 Ambassador Program now through March 16, 2007. Application instructions and forms are now available online at http://www.formosafoundation.org/ourwork/upcoming-events.php
Taiwan's Discontent, the Legislative Yuan's Corruption of Negativity: Democracy Part III
Thursday December 07
The overriding questions that Taiwanese voters must face in the coming elections and in any elections are basically who is for the democracy of Taiwan and who is for the people of Taiwan and what those people really need?
Shih Ming-deh Update: Another Gary Hart?
Wednesday December 06
Shih Ming-deh has recently returned from the sunny climes of Thailand where he basked while whatever remnants (if any) there were left of his red shirts withstood the wind, rain and cold outside Taipei Main Station. Now Shih is plying another grandstanding move. He pledges that he will be true to his word, that since his coup did not topple Chen Shui-bian, he will become a recluse. He will retire into a small apartment near the main Taipei Main Station and stay there until Chen steps down in 2008. ...
Taiwan's Discontent, Progress Amidst Bhagwa: Democracy Part II
Tuesday December 05
December 9th, the election date for Taipei Mayor approaches and the bhagwa (rumor) mills are going full force. The current topic is the secret--until it was leaked--meeting between Ma Ying-jeou and James Soong on Friday December 1st. ...
Taiwan's Discontent, a Sign of Hope for Taiwan & Even China, Democracy Part I
Saturday December 02
Now is the winter of Taiwan's discontent. Its discontent abounds. It is a discontent with an inherited system of corruption and hypocrisy, a discontent with posturing politicians who talk too much but accomplish too little for the good of the nation, a discontent not only internal but even external with the nations of the world that claim to support Taiwan's democracy but refuse to grant that democracy its proper participation in the world. Nevertheless, as Taiwan confronts and becomes conscious of the roots of its discontent, that very awareness can point in the direction of hope, a hope not only for Taiwan, but for the cause of democracy and even for China.
A Family Wedding and Birthday in Michigan
Sunday November 26
Weddings are always happy affairs; but for my family they additionally serve as family reunions. With four brothers and four sisters who have scattered to various parts of the United States and the world, we all don't see each other every month or even every six months. Fortunately however we have an abundance of nephews and nieces and their weddings give reason for everyone to get together. This past September my niece Tina married Adil Sami from Pakistan in an outdoor wedding at Muskegon, Michigan. ...
By Their Headlines You Shall Know Them: Do Taiwan's Media Show Their Colors?
Sunday November 19
To see where Taiwan's newspapers stand politically one often does not need to read their editorials; sometimes you only need to see their headlines. A case in point would be that of today, Saturday November 18, 2006. For months the opposition party had been trying to hang President Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges or anything else they could get their hands on. Now thinking that they had Chen with a charge of misuse of state funds, they all of a sudden found the tables turned when the opposition's own main man, Ma Ying-jeou, faces the same charges. ...
The Ma Ying-jeou Shuffle Continues
Thursday November 16
A Glance Backwards ...
More Taiwan Breaking News: Have the Pan-blues Opened Pandora's Box on Corruption?
Tuesday November 14
After years of searching for ways to try to discredit Chen Shui-bian, the Pan-blue camp of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) felt they finally had found the way. Attack Chen through the vague and nebulous accounting procedures governing government expenses and receipts. In the past any receipts could often be turned in to cover listed expenditures as long as there were pieces of paper there the accountant could bill items under. ...
National Taiwan University Opens Tribute to Dr. Wolfgang Kroll
Tuesday November 14
National Taiwan University's tribute to Dr. Wolfgang Kroll (1906-1992) began with a flourish this past November 3rd After talks and presentations by numerous notable past students of Kroll, a display detailing details on Kroll's life and his key role in the development of the study of physics in Taiwan was formally opened. This display on the first floor of the central library of the university is available to all and will run to November 30th. (It is on the left as you enter.) Kroll's contributions had been mentioned earlier in my postings of July 7 and July 9. Twenty-four photos of the opening ceremony and prominent speakers can be found by clicking on the name Herr Kroll on the left of this page. More detailed information will follow.
Breaking News! Chen Addresses Nation over Recent Indictments
Sunday November 05
It goes without saying that the past few months have been an ordeal for Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian. Chen has been under siege both figuratively and literally for crimes not of his own commission but for ones attributed to those that surround him. The most recent bombshell to burst has been the indictment of the nation's first lady Wu Shu-jen (and thus the President) over spending receipts for the amount of US$455,500. ...
Raptors Need Protection Also
Sunday November 05
Taiwan plays a crucial role in the migratory patterns of many birds and butterflies. For example, the continuing conservation efforts to preserve the life and habitat of the black-faced spoonbill are well known. The black-faced spoonbills however are not the only ones in need of protection. Your attention is called to the plight of raptors and other birds and an organization appropriately named Wildatheart that works to preserve them. Cf. http://en.wildatheart.org.tw/archives/the_ongoing_slaughter_of_raptors_in_southern_taiwan.html
Taiwan Scholars, a Call for Papers by NATSA in Wisconsin
Friday November 03
For all Taiwan scholars, the following call for papers should be of interest. For those interested in Taiwan studies and Taiwan's role in Asian and world affairs, attendance at the conference promises to be both stimulating and informative. ...
Shih Ming-deh, Hypocrite, Maudlin, Schizophrenic, or a Pawn in Search of Redemption
Sunday October 22
Shih Ming-deh's Red Guard has been reduced to a small cadre of cult-type fanatics, hangers-on, and simple-minded idealists with no sense of history; they now hang out at Taipei Main Station where they have restrooms and shelter and are guaranteed at least of a passing crowd to feed their need for attention. The leaders of Shih's movement, after trying to build a facade of being anti-corruption are finding that the burden of transparency is revealing the cracks in their own mirror image. The sensation hungry media has turned its attention to the much more promising and quickly heating up Taipei Mayor's race. However, in the aftermath of all this, there remains a residue of uncomplimentary opinions on Shih's motivation and image. Among this are words like grandiose, schizophrenic, hypocritical, maudlin, and pawn. ...
The School for Oriental and Afrcan Studies in London Offers Masters Program in Taiwan Studies
Thursday October 19
While the ups and downs of Taiwan's politics are often on our minds, it is good to note other things developing internationally. Su Mei Ooi a doctoral student in Canada has passed on this information that the School of Oriental and African Studies in London is offering an MA in Taiwan Studies. This is the first graduate degree on Taiwan in the English speaking world. ...
Breaking News! James Soong declares candicacy for Taipei Mayor
Tuesday October 17
Katie bar the door and Taipei and Taiwan get ready for some great politicking and entertainment. ...
Taiwan Poltics Observation Seven: the KMT, Assassinations and Democracy
Saturday October 14
When James Soong recently addressed pan-blue legislators debating the recall of Chen Shui-bian in the Legislative Yuan, he suggested that it would not be difficult to assassinate Chen. Such a statement before the Legislative Yuan is in bad taste. It is also unbefitting of the leader of the People First Party (PFP) one of Taiwan's major parties. It further does not match one with aspirations to be president in a democracy. Excuses could easily be found for Soong's remarks. They were rhetoric, grandstanding, exaggeration etc. Nevertheless a deeper problem has been revealed. This has been a consistent way for pan-blue leaders to suggest resolving issues with those that think differently than they do. ...
A Statesman He Isn't: James Soong Shows Signs of Desperation
Wednesday October 11
October Tenth (10/10) proved to be a unique National Day for Taiwan. As promised, Shih Ming-deh provided his siege of the Presidential Palace. Shih's red shirts were out in force but not quite the full force he had predicted or desired. Remember the March of a Million in September? It turned out to be at best 360,000 from a support base of 2 million pan-blue voters in the Taipei area. This time Shih vowed he would produce two million marchers. He had the fanfare but not the numbers. The blue papers reported 300,000 by their source estimates; the green papers reported 120,000 by police estimates. The number had dropped despite Shih busing supporters in from numerous surrounding counties. That however is not today's story; today's story is the behavior of James Soong. ...
Shih Ming-deh's Red Guard: Separating the Simple-minded from the Whores
Monday October 09
In the late sixties, the ease with which Mao and his henchmen manipulated the Red Guard was impressive. It was a classic case of ignorant and naive idealism exploited by one man and his cronies for their own gain--all done supposedly for the good of the country. Shih's Red Guard in Taiwan unfortunately has the same earmarks. True, Mao wanted power, Shih just wants money and attention. And true also, Shih does not have the control that Mao had. Mao had a dictatorship; Shih must operate in a democracy. Shih does have, however, an enormous slush fund and the pan-blue media at his disposal, and further the democracy that Shih is in must ironically allow the pan-blue media free reign. That is the advantage he exploits.
Taiwan Politics Observation Six: The Mysteries of Shih Ming-deh's Slush Fund
Friday October 06
Listening to the negative messages of Shih Ming-deh is like listening to the broken record of an aging, complaining hippy, a man past his prime clearly striving to reclaim the limelight of a past age. He rants on about "the man," (conveniently ignoring that the political party he previously criticized as "the man" now pays his bills). He rants about how his own and the people’s freedoms are constantly abused in Taiwan, (ignoring the fact that Taiwan has just received the highest ranking from Freedom House for civil liberties in free countries), and he rants about corruption (again ignoring that the parties and people that support him are rife with convicted corrupt officials). In his quest of self-aggrandizement, he chooses in essence to waste Taiwan taxpayers' dollars. (Taiwan’s police force and trash collectors have to constantly do overtime to clean up the mess left by Shih’s Red Guard supporters.) To the listener, after all his hyperbole and after all the hackneyed stock phrases, as Shih nears the end of his harangue, you have the sinking feeling that sooner or later this man is going to ask you for a job or a handout. ...