tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56173832024-03-14T14:46:53.720+08:00It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!"Pay <i>close</i> attention to that man behind the curtain!"Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comBlogger512125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-3400383996511023592016-02-28T00:00:00.000+08:002016-02-28T00:00:10.382+08:00228 Massacre redux<b>Words do mean things</b><br>
<br>
The language that people use to write about Taiwan is a touchy subject, and many people can't get it right. Or they <i>can</i>, but they <i>won't</i>. There are many examples, but I just want to talk about one today: The 228 Massacre.<br>
<br>
I used to say "228 Incident" myself, but when someone corrected me in 2007 and pointed out that I should instead refer to the tragedy as a "massacre," I immediately changed, and I'll never use that term again. I can't count the times since then that I've come across writings about the massacre which refer to it as an "incident," and some recent encounters with the latter term made me want to write about it.<br>
<br>
It's particularly disturbing that the <i>Taipei Times</i> has recently been avoiding use of the word "massacre." The paper <a href="https://www.google.com.tw/search?q=site:www.taipeitimes.com+%22228+massacre%22" title="Search for [site-taipeitimes.com ''228 massacre'']">previously</a> seemed to prefer the term to describe the historical event, but recently, there have been too many instances where <a href="https://www.google.com.tw/search?q=site%3Awww.taipeitimes.com+%22228+incident%22+-massacre&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F2016%2Ccd_max%3A2%2F29%2F2016&tbm=" title="Search for [site-taipeitimes.com ''228 incident'' -massacre]">the word "massacre" has been left out entirely</a>. So I have to wonder why. Are the editors asleep, or do they just not care anymore?<br>
<br>
When soldiers shoot down civilians in the streets with machine guns or collect large groups of people and bury them alive — when it happens to between 18,000 and 30,000 people (<a href="http://www.taiwandc.org/hst-1947.htm" title="''Formosa killings are put at 10,000 — Foreigners say the Chinese slaughtered demonstrators without provocation''">10,000 in just the first month</a>) — it's not a mere "incident," and describing it that way is unbelievably coldhearted.<br>
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I hope that you, the reader, will not fall prey to the bad habit of describing the horror of the 228 Massacre as a mere "incident" or just by the number "228," and I hope you can help to rectify the situation by teaching others to follow your example.<br>
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<b>Flashback</b><br>
Here are a couple of my older posts about the 228 Massacre.<br>
• February 28, 2011: <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.tw/2011/02/my-thoughts-on-february-28-2011.html" title="''Lest we forget the 228 Massacre (二二八大屠殺) of 1947''">My thoughts on February 28, 2011</a><br>
• February 28, 2007: <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.tw/2007/02/remembering-two-228-incidents.html" title="''First, the one less talked about''">Remembering two 228 [Massacres]</a><br>
<hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2016/02/228-massacre-redux.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-24297708120937877112011-08-03T03:21:00.000+08:002011-08-03T03:22:26.293+08:00Ma Ying-jeou government under fire again<b>As time moves forward, Ma's administration moves backward</b><br /><br />A group of 39 observers of Taiwanese politics from around the world -- many of whom were part of an earlier series of open letters on the erosion of justice in Taiwan under the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government -- is in the news yet again. This time, they're <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/print/2011/08/02/2003509715" title="Tue, Aug 02, 2011 - Page 8: ''Open letter to President Ma''">focusing on the indictment against former president Lee Teng-hui</a> (李登輝).<br /><br />Here's some of the main content [highlights mine]:<blockquote>Dear President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九),<br /><br /><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">We the undersigned, international academics, analysts and writers from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, have for many years been keen observers of political developments in Taiwan</span>. We were delighted when Taiwan made its transition to democracy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and we continue to care deeply for the country and its future as a free and democratic nation-state.<br /><br />However, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">during the past three years, many of us have felt it necessary to address publicly our concerns to you about the erosion of justice and democracy in Taiwan</span>, most recently in April this year regarding the charges of the "36,000 missing documents" against a number of prominent former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials. <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">We raised these issues as international supporters of Taiwan's democracy</span>.<br /><br />At this time we express our deep concern about the charges against former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), often referred to as "the father of Taiwan's democracy," who was indicted on June 30 on charges of allegedly channeling US$7.8 million from secret diplomatic funds into the Taiwan Research Institute. <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">These charges and their timing raise a number of questions that are related both to the case itself and the integrity of the judicial system in Taiwan</span>.</blockquote>After detailing the specific questions (which you can read at the link above) -- the first of which mentions that the charges stem from events which took place about 15 years ago -- the letter continues [highlights mine]:<blockquote>Mr President, as head of state you bear overall responsibility for the state of affairs in Taiwan. In democratic systems, proper checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judiciary branches are of the utmost importance. The executive and the legislative branches have a responsibility to exercise oversight and to balance activism in the judiciary, just as the judiciary serves a similar role with regard to the executive and legislative branches. Stating that your government abides by "judicial independence" is therefore not enough. <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">It is essential that all participants in the judicial process — prosecutors, judges and lawyers — are fully imbued with the basic principle that the judiciary is scrupulously impartial and not given to any partisan preferences</span>.<br /><br /><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">We</span>, as members of the international academic community, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">are left with the impression that the indictments and practices of the judiciary in Taiwan over the past three years reflect a judicial system that is increasingly influenced by political considerations</span>. There has been a regression in the accomplishments of Taiwan's momentous democratization of the 1990s and 2000s. As good friends of Taiwan, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">we are deeply unsettled by this. It undermines Taiwan's international image as a free and democratic nation</span>.<br /><br />Mr President, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">we therefore urge you and your government to ensure that the judicial system is held to the highest standards of objectivity and fairness</span>. Taiwan has many challenges ahead of it and it cannot afford the political divisions created by the use of the judicial system for political purposes.<br /><br />Respectfully yours,<br />[the undersigned]</blockquote>You can say that again (and they probably will)!<br /><br /><b>Some of the prequels</b><br />Don't forget the earlier parts of this long-running series, listed here in chronological order:<blockquote>* <b>November 6, 2008:</b> Scholars and writers from around the world publish an "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/11/06/2003427918" title="By scholars and writers from around the world">Open letter on erosion of justice in Taiwan</a>." The same letter -- <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/10/--if-gte-mso-9xml-wworddocument-wviewnormalwview-wzoom0wzoom-wpunctuationkerning" title="You can, too!">as an online petition</a> -- was signed by more than 2,000 people. (The petition is now closed.)<br /><br />* <b>November 25, 2008:</b> Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/11/25/2003429508" title="Their actions, however, betray their words">calls the open letter "inaccurate."</a><br /><br />* <b>December 2, 2008:</b> "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/12/02/2003430120" title="The writers and scholars reply to Wang Ching-feng">Eroding justice: Open letter No. 2</a>" counters Wang Ching-feng's claims.<br /><br />* <b>January 8, 2009:</b> Over a month later, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/01/08/2003433246" title="'Response No. 2 on justice'">Wang Ching-feng comes up with "clarif[ications]"</a> regarding the open-letter writers' so-called "misunderstandings."<br /><br />* <b>January 21, 2009:</b> "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/01/21/2003434326" title="The number of writers and scholars is growing">Eroding justice: Open letter No. 3</a>" is addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou.<br /><br />* <b>January 24, 2009:</b> Two more "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/01/24/2003434533" title="Randall Schriver and Michael Yahuda">US-based Taiwan experts add [their] names to open letter [No. 3]</a>."<br /><br />* <b>January 25, 2009:</b> President Ma <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/01/26/2003434660" title="We've come full circle, eh?">claims the public had gained confidence in the judiciary in 2008</a> -- the exact opposite of what <a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=832380&lang=eng_news&cate_rss=news_Politics_TAIWAN&pg=2" title="'Judicial group calls for reforms': ''According to recent surveys conducted by Academia Sinica and the Web site Yahoo! Kimo, over 50 percent of the people do not believe in Taiwan's judicial system and over 75 percent have no confidence that the Judicial Yuan will undertake judicial reform''">this <i>Taiwan News</i> article tells us they actually felt</a>:<blockquote>According to recent surveys conducted by Academia Sinica and the Web site Yahoo! Kimo, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">over 50 percent of the people do not believe in Taiwan's judicial system</span> and <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">over 75 percent have no confidence that the Judicial Yuan will undertake judicial reform</span> [...]</blockquote>* <b>May 22, 2009:</b> An estimable group of scholars and writers -- 26 in all, and each one with a deep understanding of Taiwan and the surrounding facts -- has composed <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-open-letter-for-president-ma.html" title="''Another open letter for President Ma: Justice and human rights continue to erode''">an open letter addressed directly to President Ma Ying-jeou</a> (馬英九). The letter addresses the ever-increasing problems with judicial fairness, press freedom, the lack of transparency in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) rapprochement with China, the loss of Taiwan's sovereignty, and the loss of human rights. The argument the letter makes is rock solid. It is based on demonstrable facts.<br /><br />* <b>November 9, 2009:</b> Then there were 31. The <i>Taiwan News</i> publishes an "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars</a>" which reminds us that "a decrease of tension across the Taiwan Strait would indeed be welcome, but [...] that this should not be done at the expense of the hard-won democracy" and that "Taiwan should be more fully accepted by the international community as a full and equal partner." (Here's <a href="http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1258042024" title=".''Ma's Poor Performance Draws Yet a 5th Letter of Protest from International Scholars''">a version with 31 names</a> on the web site of one of the signatories, Jerome F. Keating, Ph.D.)<br /><br />* <b>December 13, 2009:</b> Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) submits the "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/18/2003461189" title="Dude, you guys *don't* ''enjoy[] the firm support of [the] citizenry''">GIO response to Nov. [9] open letter</a>" to the <i>Taipei Times</i>.<br /><br />* <b>December 25, 2009:</b> Richard Kagan, professor emeritus at Hamline University in St Paul, Minnesota and one of the signatories of the November 2009 letter, replies to Su Jun-pin's silliness in "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/25/2003461780" title="''From a historical perspective, Su is engaging in the colonization of his country by an empire. No mater [sic] how pure the pearl is, when it lands in stomach of the predator, it no longer shines.''">GIO's response misses the point</a>"<br /><br />* <b>January 8, 2010:</b> Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) churns out <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/01/08/2003462956" title="Does Su see any ''misperceptions and specious claims'' when he looks in the mirror? Naaaaaaaah!">A GIO response to Richard Kagan</a> (one of the signatories of the November 9, 2009 "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars</a>") in which Su compares apples and oranges by imagining that other people don't know that <font color="#FF0000">China</font> wants to annex Taiwan while the Taiwanese people don't want to be part of <font color="#FF0000">China</font>, ignores what has happened to Hong Kong in the past 12 and a half years, talks about the "double-taxation" issue as if <font color="#FF0000">China</font> won't still get those taxes from Taiwanese businesses, pretends to forget that Taiwan's Straits [sic] Exchange Foundation (海峽交流基金會) chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) referred to himself as a "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/12/31/2003462285" title="''[Chiang] told the legislative committees yesterday that he was just a 'rubber stamp' and that his job was only to sign the cross-strait agreements''">rubber stamp</a>," complains that his government has no control over anything, ignores the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>'s <a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1149078&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng" title="''President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government appears to have finally succeeded in its drive to take control over the Taiwan's Public Television Service Foundation (PTSF), which manages the Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) on behalf of our nation's citizens.''">continued attempts to take over Taiwan's Public TV</a> (PTS, 公共電視), confuses gains in local elections with a balanced legislature and a president who listens to majority opinion without oppressing minorities or stupidly saying out loud that he "sees them as humans," and completely omits the fact that the talks regarding an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) -- which <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> officials say "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRcpCyfrlHw" title="DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles">will certainly bring about complete unification of the motherland [sic]</a> -- have been anything but transparent and have not been subject to legislative oversight. These things, Mr. Su, are clear signs of an erosion of both justice <i>and</i> democracy.<br /><br />* <b>February 9, 2010:</b> Michael Danielsen, one of the signatories of the <a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou</a> last November, rebuts Su Jun-pin's <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/01/08/2003462956" title="Does Su see any ''misperceptions and specious claims'' when he looks in the mirror? Naaaaaaaah!">response to Richard Kagan</a> last month by pointing out that <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/02/09/2003465527" title="''Su seems to have a different understanding of democratic involvement than others. Based on his words, cross-strait relations are only important to the legislature if they are related to law, and the public should only have involvement between elections via the media. However, the agreements involving China and Taiwan deal with the key issue of Taiwan's future and its existence as a free and democratic nation, and for that reason the agreements are always important to the legislature and the public because of tensions with China and that country's obvious threats to Taiwan.''">Democratic liberty is fundamental</a>, "look[ing] forward to actual steps [by Su and the Ma government] that go beyond mere words."<br /><br />* <b>April 11, 2011:</b> <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/print/2011/04/11/2003500429" title="''We the undersigned, academics and writers from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, are writing to you to express our concerns about a recent new development: the charges by your government that 17 former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials violated the National Archives Act (國家檔案法) and two other laws by 'failing to return' about 36,000 documents during the DPP administration.''">Another open letter</a> criticizes the government's charges that 17 former <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> officials are responsible for "'failing to return' about 36,000 documents during the DPP administration" which ended almost three years earlier.<br /><br />* <b>April 14, 2011:</b> In what is hard <i>not</i> to perceive as intimidation, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/print/2011/04/14/2003500687" title="''The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking into a petition by 34 foreign academics and former government officials that criticized President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration over government accusations that 17 former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials failed to return 36,000 official documents.''">the Foreign Ministry says it's going to probe this latest open letter</a>, with Ma officials implying along the way that some of the writers were not of sound mind.<br /><br />* <b>April 17, 2011:</b> The Chinese-language <i>Liberty Times</i> (自由時報) notices the intimidation factor: "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/print/2011/04/17/2003500940" title="''Hearing the tone of this statement, one would be excused for thinking that we have returned to the authoritarian era. […] This attitude is no different from the attitude of autocratic China. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) do not have even the most basic understanding of how democracy, liberty and human rights are universal values and not a domestic issue that foreigners are poking their nose into.''">The Liberty Times Editorial: KMT uses law as a political weapon</a>."<br /><br />* <b>April 22, 2011:</b> The <i>Taipei Times</i> draws a similar conclusion: "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/print/2011/04/22/2003501358" title="''[I]n its sharp response to the letter, the Presidential Office sounded no different from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) called it 'unfair' for foreigners who knew little about the situation to 'recklessly interfere in and criticize' the legal means the Ma government is using to address the matter. Basically, Lo called Bellocchi, University of Miami professor June Teufel Dreyer, Stephen Yates, a former deputy assistant for national security to former US vice president Dick Cheney, and many other experts on Taiwan nothing but 'ignorant foreigners.' ''">EDITORIAL: Government starts to sound like PRC</a>."</blockquote>I can already imagine how the Ma government will respond the latest letter.<br /><br />How long can this continue? As long as Taiwanese allow the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> to hold political power, it will just keep going and going and going.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Unsealing utensils: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/open+letter" rel="tag" title="Dear Citizens of the World, read this, and open your eyes">open letter</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/公開信" rel="tag" title="open letter">公開信</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/erosion+of+justice" rel="tag" title="What happens when authoritarians use money and terror to obtain and hold power">erosion of justice</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/侵蝕司法" rel="tag" title="erosion of justice">侵蝕司法</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ma+Ying+jeou" rel="tag" title="Wants KMT-tler Youth to 'produce another Hu Jintao'">Ma Ying-jeou</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/馬英九" rel="tag" title="Ma Ying-jeou">馬英九</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Chinese+Nationalist+Party" rel="tag" title="Lost China, but kept the name">Chinese Nationalist Party</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國國民黨" rel="tag" title="''I want my ROC!''">中國國民黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Kuomintang" rel="tag" title="The Nationalist Party of *China*">Kuomintang</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/KMT" rel="tag" title="'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/國民黨" rel="tag" title="X is to Taiwan as Nazis were to Austria?">國民黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Lee+Teng-hua" rel="tag" title="Taiwan's first Taiwanese president, AKA 'Mr. Democracy'">Lee Teng-hui</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/TAG+NAME" rel="tag" title="Lee Teng-hui">李登輝</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2011/08/ma-ying-jeou-government-under-fire.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-53919376989055396572011-02-28T23:18:00.002+08:002011-03-01T01:00:42.118+08:00My thoughts on February 28, 2011<b>Lest we forget the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/228_Massacre" title="Estimates of the number of deaths vary from 10,000 to 30,000 or more. The Incident marked the beginning of the Kuomintang's White Terror period in Taiwan, in which thousands more inhabitants vanished, died, or were imprisoned.">228 Massacre</a> (二二八大屠殺) of <a href="http://www.taiwandc.org/hst-1947.htm" title="Formosa killings are put at 10,000 - Foreigners say the Chinese slaughtered demonstrators w/out provocation">1947</a></b><br /><br />What am I thinking about on this 64th anniversary of one of the most horrific events in Taiwan's history?<br /><br />I'm remembering with dismay that the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) is still in power -- even after behaving as colonizers for over six decades -- because they still use illicit methods to get elected. Here are some examples:<blockquote>* Vote buying is rampant even <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/09/26/2003483786" title="''The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday elected 32 Central Standing Committee (CSC) members, calling back several former members who had their election status revoked last year because of bribery claims. Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教), one of those who lost his election status as a CSC member last year because of election bribery, received 1,079 votes and topped the election list.''">within their own party's Central Standing Committee</a>, but they keep putting the guilty ones right back in.<br /><br />* In the January 2010 legislative by-elections, "Two of the three seats up for grabs […] in Taoyuan, Taichung and Taitung counties were left vacant by former KMT legislators found guilty of vote-buying," reminding us of their <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/01/05/2003462704" title="''The Taoyuan County Second District spot became vacant in October after the KMT's Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) lost his seat following a conviction on vote-buying charges. […]] The Taichung legislative by-election will fill the seat left vacant when former KMT legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) lost his seat, also on vote-buying charges.''">"tradition of buying votes."</a><br /><br />* Lee Min-yung (李敏勇) reminds readers: "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2004/07/22/2003179952" title="Taipei Times - Thu, Jul 22, 2004 - Page 8: ''Vote-buying has roots in one-party dictatorship''">The roots of vote-buying</a> can be found in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) long hold on power and its system for distributing the spoils of government."<br /><br />* Laurence Eyton enlightens in a 2004 piece in the <i>Asia Times Online</i>: "[The <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>] has traditionally used its wealth to engage in what it calls <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FL01Ad03.html" title="''Taiwan's 'post-election stress syndrome'''">'traditional electoral practices', ie vote buying […]"</a></blockquote>I'm reminded that the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> still uses thuggery to maintain their power. Here are some examples:<blockquote>* When disgraced former Toronto-based Government Information Office (GIO) official Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) returned to Taiwan, he was picked up at airport and "assisted" by <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/04/01/2003439943" title="Taipei Times, Wed, Apr 01, 2009 - Page 1: ''Clashes, car chases dog Kuo's return''">thugs in black shirts assigned by Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) gang leader Chang An-le (張安樂)</a>.<br /><br />* <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/tainan-police-turn-blind-eye-to-thug.html" title="Monday, May 04, 2009, Taiwan Matters: ''Tainan police turn blind eye to thug violence''">People wearing black T-shirts and vests bearing the name of the Matsu Temple</a> (大天后宮) physically remove college students from a protest against the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government's policies regarding students from China.<br /><br />* Despite denials by police, experience should tell you who <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/02/27/2003496893" title="''Dozens of young men dressed in black came out yesterday in support of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), closely following him as he made his way to a university in Yunlin County. Local politicians and some of the protesters at the scene said the young men, most of whom looked like high school or college students, were connected to local gangs, although the reports could not be confirmed.''">the guys in the black shirts helping to defend <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> envoy Chen Yunlin</a> (陳雲林) are.<br /><br />* Read <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/formosa-betrayed-powerful-story.html" title="''* David Wu Da-wei + James Lee Shin-shen (the killers) = Chen Chi-li (陳啟禮) and others.''">my post about the movie "Formosa Betrayed,"</a> which dramatizes real incidents involving the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>, including their use of gangsters to carry out the assassination of a political dissident on American soil.</blockquote>I'm reminded that the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> is still distorting history. Here are some examples:<blockquote>* A <i>Taipei Times</i> editorial reminds readers about Ma's empty promises: "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/07/02/2003447611" title="Taipei Times - Thu, Jul 02, 2009 - Page 8: ''EDITORIAL: The memorial hall whitewash''">So much for saying that the memorial hall [renaming] issue was 'not a pressing matter.'</a>"<br /><br />* Here's a photo of a display from the renovated 228 Memorial Museum which <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/twimitv6/20110218#5574955255116982130" title="Picasa photo album: ''獨立媒體TWIMI.NET - 2011.02.18 二二八紀念館重啟 歷史被竄改''">paints former dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) as "recovering … order"</a> instead of as being the perpetrator of the massacre.<br /><br />* <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/02/20/2003496332" title="''What can our children learn about the tragic 228 Incident when all they see is a beautiful room filled with music, great photos of [former dictator] Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and documents that portray the demonstrators as mobs?''">Exhibits at the newly-renovated museum</a> paint peaceful protesters as "mobs."<br /><br />* President Ma <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/02/21/2003496414/2" title="''Taking Germany as an example, Ma said Germans faced up to the history of the Nazis after World War II and changed the world's perception of the country. The German government -honestly dealt with its past, apologized to the victims and their families and admitted the mistake they made, he said. 'Frankly speaking, not many countries can do that,' he said. 'Some countries decide to erase their past rather than face it. The Republic of China government, however, chooses to face its past.' ''">pretends that the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> has "dealt with its past"</a> to the same extent the government of Germany has done since World War II.<br /><br />* On the blog of Taipei City councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) you can read some of the details (Hanzi) and see photos (containing Hanzi text and a little bit of English) and video (Taiwanese and Mandarin audio, Hanzi text and a little bit of English) <a href="http://www.yuyen.tw/2011/02/blog-post_17.html" title="簡余晏部落格: 二二八歷史重新改寫,蔣介石英姿恢復台灣秩序">detailing some of the changes to the museum</a>.</blockquote>And I'm reminded that while <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> chairman Ma Ying-jeou -- elected as Taiwan's president in 2008 on a promise of "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/01/21/2003398185" title="''a clever spin-off of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) long-standing 'three noes' -- no Taiwan independence; no 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan' and no Taiwan membership in organizations where statehood is required''">no unification, no independence and no use of force</a>" (不統、不獨、不武) -- has long <i>claimed</i> to support democracy, he <i>still</i> doesn't. Here are some examples:<blockquote>* Remember the days when <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/print/2004/01/29/2003096609" title="Taipei Times - Thu, Jan 29, 2004 - Page 3, ''Ma's democratic credentials queried''">Ma was publicly <i>against</i> direct presidential elections</a>.<br /><br />* Remember when the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> <a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/191821,taiwans-opposition-party-to-boycott-controversial-referendum.html" title="Earth Times - Wed, 12 Mar 2008, ''Taiwan's opposition party to boycott controversial referendum''">boycotted <i>their own</i> referendum</a> about Taiwan's participation in the United Nations.<br /><br />* The Executive Yuan's (行政院) Referendum Review Committee (公投審議委員會) <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/01/06/2003492788" title="''[C]ritics claim it is a trap by Beijing to lure Taiwan into an eventual political merger with China.''">turned down proposed referendums on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with <font color="#FF0000">China</font> <i>three times</i></a>, despite (or perhaps <i>because of</i>) the fact that it had more than enough signatures and support in polls!<br /><br />* In mid-2009, the <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/chinese-nationalist-party-hates-taiwans.html" title="Taiwan Matters! - Saturday, May 30, 2009 - ''The Chinese Nationalist Party hates Taiwan's democracy: Goodbye democracy, hello dead-dictator worship''">Ma government reverted the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (臺灣民主紀念館) to its former name</a>: the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (蔣中正紀念堂).</blockquote>And I wouldn't be able to forget, no matter how hard I tried, that while Ma is in office as president of <font color="#005500">Taiwan</font>, he primarily serves <font color="#FF0000">China</font>. Here are some very recent examples:<blockquote>* Ma wants people to <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/02/08/2003495360" title="''under the principle of 'one China […]'''">stop calling <font color="#FF0000">China</font> "China"</a> and to call it "the mainland" or "the other side."<br /><br />* A short time later, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/02/24/2003496648" title="''Yang Yi (楊毅) said that Chinese officials had seen reports of Ma’s comment on the matter and they welcomed the move wholeheartedly.'' (And according to paragraph 8, Taiwan and Mongolia would be part of the same country. Ridiculous!)">Beijing "praises" Ma</a> for this.<br /><br />* The Philippine government deports 14 Taiwanese suspects to <font color="#FF0000">China</font>, basing the decision on a "one China" policy, yet <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/02/10/2003495504" title="''The Philippines' decision to send 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China for trial was made in observance of Manila's "one China" policy, Philippine Presidential Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr said yesterday.''">Ma places <i>zero</i> blame on <font color="#FF0000">China</font></a>.</blockquote>People of Taiwan, when are you going to stop this from ever happening again?<br /><br />If you have additional relevant examples to include in the topics above, please submit them in the comments below this post on <i>Taiwan Matters!</i> (use the HTML above the comment submission box for links) or via e-mail.<br /><br /><b>Further reading:</b><br />* <a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/liautiamding/1556724&page=3" title="''(置頂)二二八大屠殺死者名單照片大搜尋(無版權, 麻煩大家幫忙轉貼)''">Names and faces of some of the victims of the 228 Massacre</a> (Hanzi)<br /><br />* Wednesday, February 28, 2007 on <i>Taiwan Matters!</i>: <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2007/02/remembering-two-228-incidents.html" title="''On February 28, 1980, while Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄) was in prison on charges stemming from the Kaohsiung Incident, his seven-year old twin daughters and his mother were brutally murdered while their home was under 24-hour surveillance by secret police under the rule of Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).''">Remembering two 228 Incidents</a> (written before someone pointed out the obvious: that it should be referred to as the "228 Massacre" instead)<br /><br />* Monday, March 1, 2004 on <i>It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!</i>: <a href="http://indiac.blogspot.com/2004/03/hand-in-hand-for-peace.html" title="''[U]up to 2 million people -- perhaps more -- joined hands forming a 500-kilometer long human chain to protest the [then-]496 Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan and to urge the world to wake up and take notice of this sovereign country -- which is not a 'province of China.' Despite the international media's lack of coverage, I am quite proud to have been part of that chain.''">Hand-in-hand for peace</a> (about my participation in the "228 Hand-in-Hand Rally" at 2:28 PM on Saturday, February 28, 2004)<br /><br />* Monday, February 21, 2011 on <i>Strait Talk: It's Taiwan, not China... Tales from Formosa, The Beautiful Island</i>: "<a href="http://stephenanelson.blogspot.com/2011/02/formosa-displayed-formosa-betrayed.html" title="DESCRIPTION">Formosa Displayed, Formosa Betrayed: Taiwan's 228 Museum Rewriting History?</a>"<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Dates with disaster: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/228+Massacre" rel="tag" title="20,000 - 30,000 civilians killed is not *just* an ''incident''">228 Massacre</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/二二八大屠殺" rel="tag" title="The 228 Massacre of 1947">二二八大屠殺</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/228+Incident" rel="tag" title="KMT: ''But Mainlanders were killed, too''">228 Incident</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/二二八事件" rel="tag" title="The 228 ''Incident'' of 1947">二二八事件</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ma+Ying+jeou" rel="tag" title="Wants KMT-tler Youth to 'produce another Hu Jintao'">Ma Ying-jeou</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/馬英九" rel="tag" title="Ma Ying-jeou">馬英九</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Chinese+Nationalist+Party" rel="tag" title="Lost China, but kept the name">Chinese Nationalist Party</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國國民黨" rel="tag" title="''I want my ROC!''">中國國民黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Kuomintang" rel="tag" title="The Nationalist Party of *China*">Kuomintang</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/KMT" rel="tag" title="'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/國民黨" rel="tag" title="X is to Taiwan as Nazis were to Austria?">國民黨</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-thoughts-on-february-28-2011.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-37929271023013198052011-02-02T22:07:00.002+08:002011-02-03T03:26:04.854+08:00Lunar New Year in Taiwan: 2011<b>In Taiwan, you can even call it "Taiwanese New Year"!</b><br />I'm back from a long break in blogging with a slight variation of the "traditional" New Year post. To kick things off this time around, here's a musical video wishing you a Happy <font color="#005500"><i><b>Taiwanese</b></i></font> New Year (brought to my attention on Twitter by <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/cyrixhero" title="''Cyrix,台灣嘉義人,SOHO接案族。專長&研究領域:手機網路程式開發、資訊系統管理、空手道與公民資訊政治。''">cyrixhero</a>):<br /><br /><center><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WXl2AFMsXcU" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">3:58 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXl2AFMsXcU" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">快樂台灣年 Happy Taiwanese new year </a>"</font></center><br />Thursday, February 3, 2011 (That's tomorrow!) is New Year's Day as celebrated by the citizens of several Asian countries as well as by many other people around the world. Too many English-speaking people use the term "<font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> New Year" to describe the holiday, despite the fact that the direct back-translation "中國新年" is rarely used by Mandarin speakers. Chinese people usually call the holiday "Lunar New Year" (農曆新年) or "Spring Festival" (春節).<br /><br />Furthermore, the holiday doesn't belong solely to the <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font>.<br /><br /><b>Start with the person in the mirror</b><br />Why should you change the way you speak? Here's an example for your consideration.<br /><br />Have you ever heard of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/228_Massacre" title="''Estimates of the number of deaths vary from 10,000 to 30,000 or more.''">228 Massacre</a>? Like many others, I used to refer to it as the "228 <i>Incident</i>," but when someone reminded me about how that diminishes the fact that the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) killed countless Taiwanese in that "incident," I immediately made the change in my speech and writing. What I don't get is how some people who I am <i>certain</i> are pro-Taiwan somehow cling to the phrase "<font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> New Year."<br /><br />Are you that kind of person? If so, I hope you can ask yourself why you do that and if you can change.<br /><br /><b>Simplicity</b><br />Here's a clear and simple list of reasons to help you decide to make that change:<blockquote>1. Lunar New Year is not exclusively <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font>.<br /><br />2. Even Chinese people call the holiday "Lunar New Year," so you won't be hurting the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese by using that name.<br /><br />3. Since you're reading this blog, there's a good chance that you are in Taiwan or that you are Taiwanese. (Maybe neither of those things applies to you -- you might just be interested in doing something to help Taiwan.)<br /><br />4. Way too many people already do things which confuse others into believing that Taiwan's culture is a subset of <font color="#FF0000">China</font>'s.<br /><br />5. You don't have to do things just because others do them or because they're habits.</blockquote><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_is_a_virus" title="Wikipedia's disambiguation page mentions the song by Laurie Anderson, the William S. Burroughs novel ''The Ticket that Exploded,'' and Richard Dawkins' theory about ''mimetics''">Language is a virus</a> (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZkjoXyexKk" title="LAURIE ANDERSON - LANGUAGE IS A VIRUS (on YouTube)">from outer space</a>)</b><br />For some more background (you'll have to follow the links and do some more reading), here's a recap (with some spelling changes) of a couple of my earlier posts related to why many people prefer to call this holiday "Lunar New Year" (<b>Taiwanese:</b> Lông-li̍k sin-nî; <b>Hanzi:</b> 農曆新年; <b>Hanyu pinyin:</b> Nónglì xīnnián):<blockquote><b>It doesn't just belong to the Chinese</b><br /><br />Nor is it just "politically correct." Read about it in <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/02/17/2003349427" title="Make a 'demented trade unionist' cry">English</a> and/or <a href="http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2007/new/feb/17/today-o7.htm" title="via the Feb. 17, 2007 edition of the Liberty Times">Chinese</a>.<br /><br />Happy Lunar New Year! 萬事如意! [bān-sū jû-ì! / wànshì rúyì!]<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b><br />Being in a bit of a rush to begin my vacation, I missed these links (all are presented in both English and Mandarin):* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349475" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: Vietnam 亞洲新年 - 越南">Vietnam</a> celebrate Lunar New Year* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349477" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: South Korea 亞洲新年 - 南韓">South Korea</a> celebrate Lunar New Year* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349478" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: Singapore 亞洲新年 - 新加坡">Singapore</a> celebrate Lunar New Year* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349479" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: Malaysia 亞洲新年 - 馬來西亞">Malaysia</a> celebrate Lunar New Year</blockquote>And here's an update on the Taiwanese Romanization which I derived by using <a href="http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/tw/index.htm" title="''教育部 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典''">a dictionary on the web site of Taiwan's Ministry of Education (MOE)</a>:<blockquote>Lông-li̍k sin-nî khuài-lo̍k! (農曆新年快樂!) Bān-sū jû-ì! (萬事如意!)</blockquote>If you're Taiwanese, stop inadvertently diluting your own culture. Remember (Ē -kì-tit/Ōe-kì-tit [要記得]): Every time you say "Lunar New Year," you're saying "No!" to those who want to promote <font color="#FF0000">China</font> while diminishing <font color="#005500">Taiwan</font>.<br /><br /><b>Related reading:</b><br />* Check out the <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/%22Lunar%20New%20Year%22" title="Twitter search (with quotation marks) for the phrase ''Lunar New Year''">Twitter search results for "Lunar New Year."</a> I'm seeing Tweets there by people from Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/FreddyLim/status/32655475916939264" title="Here's one by @FreddyLim of ChthoniC (閃靈樂團)">Taiwan</a>, and other countries around the globe!<br /><br />* See what Taiwan's <a href="http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/culture/lunar-NY/" title="The word ''Chinese'' appears only *once* on that page.">Government Information Office</a> (GIO) says about Lunar New Year.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Distinguishables: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/China" rel="tag" title="NOT part of Taiwan!">China</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國" rel="tag" title="A mere part of 'mainland' Asia">中國</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Lunar+New+Year" rel="tag" title="Celebrated in many places besides China">Lunar New Year</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/農曆新年" rel="tag" title="This term is widely used even in China">農曆新年</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/lunar-new-year-in-taiwan-2011.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-18160772771137205812010-12-04T23:30:00.007+08:002010-12-06T00:50:21.152+08:00Taiwanderful's Best Taiwan Blog Awards 2010<b>Another "election," but without the noise trucks</b><br /><br />It's time for the third annual Best Taiwan Blog Awards, put on by <a href="http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/" title="Taiwan's most famous Australian bicycling researcher-photographer-blogger, David Reid">David</a> and <a href="http://www.filination.com/blog/" title="An Israeli perspective on Taiwan and Asia">Fili</a> of <a href="http://www.taiwanderful.net/" title="Taiwanderful is an English-language community website about Taiwan and Taiwanese culture, providing useful information for anybody living or traveling in Taiwan.">Taiwanderful</a>. One of the purposes of these awards is "community building and linking" among Taiwan bloggers.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.taiwanderful.net/taiwanblog/taiwan-matters" title="Taiwan Matters! @ Taiwanderful"><IMG SRC="http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/4528/taiwanblogawards.png" WIDTH="440" HEIGHT="84" ALT="Taiwanderful Best Taiwan Blog Awards 2010" style="border: 1px solid #fff;-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 20px #555; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 20px #555;box-shadow: 0 0 20px #555;" /></a><br /><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">Click the image above to go to the page where you can directly vote for <i>Taiwan Matters!</i><br />where it's all Taiwan politics 24/7/365.<br />Once there, click the plus (+) sign to vote.</font><br /> 拜託!拜託!</center><br />You can <a href="http://www.taiwanderful.net/taiwan-blogs" title="Taiwan blogs @ Taiwanderful">vote for your favorite Taiwan blogs</a> (<i>Anyone</i> can vote for as many blogs as they'd like -- no registration required!) by clicking the plus sign (+) below the number in the box just below the name of any blogs you like. Follow the link at the beginning of this paragraph to see a list of Taiwan blogs, background info, and links.<br /><br />Follow this link for <a href="http://www.taiwanderful.net/blog/voting-2010-taiwan-best-blog-awards" title="Voting in the 2010 Taiwan Best Blog Awards">more info about the awards</a>. Get to know more Taiwan blogs, and let's all help each other show Taiwan's unique aspects to each other and to the rest of the world!<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Badges: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/taiwanderfuls-best-taiwan-blog-awards.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-16425633269228437732010-11-28T21:20:00.002+08:002010-11-29T16:31:20.584+08:00Taiwan's 2010 municipal election results<b>TVBS vs. reality (again)</b><br /><br />Another election in Taiwan appears to have left the country with the same old political landscape. <a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/W1/000000000000000.html" title="Results via the Central Election Commission web site: ''Municipal Mayors Election''">The winners were</a>:<blockquote><b>Taipei City</b> (台北市): Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌, <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>, incumbent)<br /><b>New Taipei</b> (新北市): Eric Chu (朱立倫, <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>, same party as incumbent)<br /><b>Taichung</b> (大台中): Jason Hu (胡志強, <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>, incumbent)<br /><b>Tainan</b> (大台南): William Lai (賴清德, <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr>, same party as incumbent)<br /><b>Kaohsiung</b> (大高雄): Chen Chu (陳菊, <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr>, incumbent)</blockquote>But it's not exactly the "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/11/28/2003489613" title="Taipei Times, Nov. 28, 2010: ''Voters confirm 'status quo'''">status quo</a>" which even the <i>Taipei Times</i> calls it in a headline on news of the election results.<br /><br />While the number of <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> vs. Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) mayors remains the same (2:3) as it was before yesterday's election, the vote totals tell a different story.<br /><br /><b>Who got the most votes?</b><br />Adding <a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/PC/000000000000000.html" title="numbers via the Central Election Commission web site">the ballots for all five municipalities</a>, the <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> got a total of 3,772,373 votes (49.87% -- very nearly an absolute majority) compared to the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>'s 3,369,052 (44.54%). The combined total of all other candidates' votes was a mere 422,692 (5.59%). While this analysis doesn't change the outcome of the election one bit, it does indicate that the <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> have "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/11/28/2003489613" title="''Compared with the 2008 presidential election […] the KMT has lost more than 1 million votes in the areas this time, while the DPP gained more than 340,000 votes in the five municipalities, raising speculation that the KMT may be in crisis even though it won more mayoral seats.''">gained more than 340,000 votes in the five municipalities</a>" (compared with votes for their candidate in the 2008 presidential election). At the other end of the political spectrum, the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> -- in contrast with <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AQ10Q20101127" title="Ralph Jennings says that ''Wins in three of five mayoral seats gave the Nationalist Party, or KMT, a clear shot at retaining the presidency'' and repeats Chinese KMT claims about Chen Shui-bian's shooting being ''staged'' without any factual balance or proof to back up the claim.">what the international media wants you to believe</a> -- is failing in policy, governance, and strategy, and has <b>lost more than a million votes</b> in these municipalities.<br /><br />But what I really want to focus on in this post is certain pre-election surveys and how they are regularly wrong.<br /><br /><b>Oops! They did it again!</b><br />Let's compare the pro-blue (pro-unification/pro-<font color="#FF0000">China</font>/pro-<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>) <i>TVBS</i>' final pre-election surveys for all five electoral areas with the actual results of these elections. If most of their surveys were at least close to the margin of error, they might be trustworthy. But they are not.<br /><br />In particular, I want to focus on the survey numbers for <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> candidates compared to the actual results.<br /><br /><center><table border="1"><tr><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><b>Municipality/</b><br /><b>candidate</b></td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><b><i>TVBS</i></b><br /><b>survey results</b></td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><b>Actual</b><br /><b>election results</b></td></tr><tr><td width="133" align="center" valign="center">Kaohsiung<br />Chen Chu<br />(陳菊)</td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/doshouldo/201011/doshouldo-20101110184846.pdf" title="November 7, 2010, TVBS">41%</a><br /> </td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/PC/500000000000000.html" title="November 27, 2010, Central Election Commission web site">52.8%</a><br />(+11.8%)</td></tr><tr><td width="133" align="center" valign="center">Tainan<br />William Lai<br />(賴清德)</td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/yijung/201011/yijung-20101126150029.pdf" title="November 4, 2010, TVBS">47%</a><br /> </td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/PC/400000000000000.html" title="November 27, 2010, Central Election Commission web site">60.41%</a><br />(+13.41%)</td></tr><tr><td width="133" align="center" valign="center">Taichung<br />Su Jia-chyuan<br />(蘇嘉全)</td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/rickliu/201011/rickliu-20101116155856.pdf" title="November 2, 2010, TVBS">43%</a><br /> </td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/PC/300000000000000.html" title="November 27, 2010, Central Election Commission web site">48.88%</a><br />(+5.88%)</td></tr><tr><td width="133" align="center" valign="center">New Taipei<br />Tsai Ing-wen<br />(蔡英文)</td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/rickliu/201011/rickliu-20101112152435.pdf" title="November 9, 2010, TVBS">49%</a><br /> </td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/PC/200000000000000.html" title="November 27, 2010, Central Election Commission web site">47.39%</a><br />(-1.61%)</td></tr><tr><td width="133" align="center" valign="center">Taipei City<br />Su Tseng-chang<br />(蘇貞昌)</td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/doshouldo/201011/doshouldo-20101112185652.pdf" title="November 11, 2010, TVBS">39%</a><br /> </td><td width="133" align="center" valign="center"><a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/PC/100000000000000.html" title="November 27, 2010, Central Election Commission web site">43.81%</a><br />(+4.81%)</td></tr></table></center><br />Only one out of the five surveys above was within its margin of error (3.1 percentage points). And you know something? One out of five equals two out of ten, and <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2005/10/31/2003278183" title="''[S]how host Lee Tao (李濤) stated publicly that if only two out of every 10 opinions aired on the show are fact, that would be enough''">two out of ten is good enough for <i>TVBS</i> host Lee Tao</a> (李濤).<br /><br />Could such inaccuracy be on purpose -- done to fill certain voters with hope, others with despair?<br /><br /><b>Further reading:</b><br />* <a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/en/index.html" title="That's 'gov.tw,' not 'gov.cn' where they can't get an election">English version of the Central Election Commission web site</a><br /><br />* <a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/zh_TW/index.html" title="中央選舉委員會">Hanzi version of the Central Election Commission web site</a><br /><br />* Although they only hold a majority of city council seats in Tainan, the <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> made some gains at that level, too: "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/11/28/2003489630" title="Compare DPP:Chinese KMT ratios on p. 2 of this one">2010 ELECTIONS: KMT, DPP each claim 130 city councilor seats</a>"<br /><br />* The <i><font color="#FF0000">China</font> Post</i> says that "<a href="http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2010/11/28/281631/Pollsters-wrong-footed.htm" title="This had *little if anything* to do with the Taichung election…">Pollsters wrong-footed by unexpected shooting</a>."<br /><br />* Singapore's <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_608118.html" title="''KMT sweeps elections''"><i>Straits Times</i> paints the election results as a sunny day</a> for the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>.<br /><br />* The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/world/asia/28taiwan.html" title="When the Chinese KMT *barely holds onto* seats they already have, the NYTimes says that they ''captured'' them!"><i>New York Times</i> fluffs the Chinese KMT</a> by saying that the elections "reaffirm[ed] national support for a party that has made improved relations with the Chinese mainland the center of its political agenda."<br /><br />* <i>BBC</i> absurdly says that the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> were "<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11854553" title="'Taiwan: Ruling Kuomintang boosted in mayor elections'">boosted in mayor elections</a>" and that "<span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Correspondents</span> say the results are seen as an endorsement of the KMT's push for warmer relations with China." Could those "correspondents" be anyone like Cindy Sui and her husband Ralph Jennings?<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Victims of the outcome: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/2010+municipal+elections" rel="tag" title="Greater Kaohsiung, Greater Tainan, Greater Taichung, Taipei City, and New Taipei City (formerly Taipei County)">2010 municipal elections</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/五都選舉" rel="tag" title="2010 municipal elections"> 五都選舉</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/TVBS" rel="tag" title="Bullshit TV!">TVBS</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/TVBS" rel="tag" title="AKA 'TVBS'">BS-TV</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Lee+Tao" rel="tag" title="stated publicly...if only two out of every 10...are fact, that would be enough">Lee Tao</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/李濤" rel="tag" title="Lee Tao">李濤</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/taiwans-2010-municipal-election-results.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-36765599629355335882010-11-04T02:21:00.002+08:002010-11-04T02:34:06.635+08:00Freedom of speech in Taiwan being oppressed again<b><abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> gov't to the people: "It's our party, and you'd better not mock it!"</b><br /><br />The latest example of Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) government infringing on free speech (see earlier examples at the bottom of this post) involves a video parodying a campaign ad by incumbent Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強). After mocking a candidate from the ruling party, the creator of the video -- Kuso Cat (AKA 廖小貓) -- was <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/11/03/2003487596" title="''Jason Hu's office had threatened to file suit, but prosecutors said it wasn't clear if the producers of the video spoof had broken the law''">threatened with a lawsuit by Mayor Hu</a> and is being watched by all sorts of government eyes, and the media has been reporting it incessantly as a top story.<br /><br />Here's the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuso" title="''the term used in East Asia for the internet culture that generally includes all types of camp and parody''">kuso</a> version of the video:<br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0YAV5Baztr8?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0YAV5Baztr8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">4:00 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YAV5Baztr8" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">台中胡錢豹九週年慶_唬屎狗_廖小貓出品</a>"<br />Translation: "Taichung Hu Qian-bao's [a play on the name of the <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=631&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=%E9%87%91%E9%8C%A2%E8%B1%B9+%E8%83%A1%E5%BF%97%E5%BC%B7&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=" title="Golden Jaguar">金錢豹</a> nightclub] 9th Anniversary - Hǔ Shǐ Gǒu [Bluff Shit Dog] - by Kuso Cat"</font></center><br />I don't completely agree with the <i>Taipei Times</i>' characterization that the video "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/11/03/2003487596" title="''2010 ELECTIONS: Prosecutors say no suit against altered Hu video''">portrayed the young women as working as hostesses at a nightclub in Taichung</a>." An important bit of context that's missing from the related coverage is this this October 29, 2010 news story about <a href="http://www.nownews.com/2010/10/29/91-2659428.htm" title="''拿錢包庇色情酒店 警調4人羈押''">police alerting the girls at a Taichung night club of an impending raid</a>. The video of the girls sneaking around fits perfectly. In both the original video and the parody, <i>Jason Hu</i> calls these girls "<i>Everybody's</i> girls!" Although the vehicle for the parody is the video and the girls seen within, its real target is the public figure they're promoting: Jason Hu.<br /><br />David Reid has a detailed intro to this incident and several related links in a blog post titled "<a href="http://davidonformosa.posterous.com/kuso-and-freedom-of-speech-in-taiwan" title="''a brief translation of some key points about the 'Hu's girls incident' for people who can't read Chinese''">KUSO and freedom of speech in Taiwan</a>."<br /><br />The sort of attention the government is giving this video (despite prosecutors' <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/11/03/2003487596" title="''2010 ELECTIONS: Prosecutors say no suit against altered Hu video''">denial that there will be an indictment</a>, the kinds of threats implied in <a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/5139340510_6e9a18b5d4_z.jpg" title="Here's an image of it hosted on Flickr">the Ministry of Education's letter asking National Taiwan University to "carefully monitor" the political discussions</a> on PTT's "Gossiping" forum) provides yet another example of how things that are critical of <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> politicians draw swift attention from the law while <a href="http://www.nownews.com/2010/11/03/327-2660736.htm" title="''教育部要PTT「收斂」 網友諷:酸扁8年都沒事''">attacks against politicians from the pro-Taiwan/pro-democracy DPP are ignored</a>. Because Taiwan suffered for decades under the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law#Taiwan" title="''the longest period [almost 40 years!] of martial law in modern history''">martial law</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_%28Taiwan%29" title="''the suppression of political dissidents and public discussion of the 228 Incident in Taiwan under the martial law period from May 19, 1949 to July 15, 1987. It's the longest martial law in the world - it lasted for 38 years, 57 days.''">White Terror</a> (which ended not so long ago), and since so many setbacks to Taiwan's democracy have occurred so rapidly since Ma's inauguration in May 2008, it's easy to get the impression that we're very quickly returning to that kind of rule.<br /><br /><b>Questions to counter the media memes</b><br />* Who "portrayed the young women as working as hostesses at a nightclub in Taichung" first? Or should I say <i>Hu</i> "portrayed the young women as working as hostesses at a nightclub in Taichung" first?! (Hu: "<i>Everybody's</i> girls!")<br /><br />* How could these girls -- who claim to have made this video just "with friends" -- get the chance to sit down with Mayor Hu and record him saying the things he says while their video camera is rolling?<br /><br />* When businesses like the <a href="http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=631&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=%E9%87%91%E9%8C%A2%E8%B1%B9+%E8%83%A1%E5%BF%97%E5%BC%B7&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=" title="Golden Jaguar">Golden Jaguar</a> (金錢豹) are still flourishing -- despite promises by Hu that he would clean Taichung up -- doesn't this kind of parody practically write itself?<br /><br />* Isn't the period of time just before an election the most likely time someone would mock a campaign ad? What kind of person would think there's anything at all "unusual" about the timing of the kuso video's appearance?<br /><br />* On November 27, 2010, who will the citizens of Taichung elect to be their mayor for the next four years?<br /><br />Remain alert!<br /><br /><b>Compare this!</b><br />Here's the source video for comparison. Note the multiple double entendres in the original title, including the play on Hu's Mandarin name:<br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LDE0dpX7MLA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LDE0dpX7MLA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">3:14 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDE0dpX7MLA" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">Hu's Girl MV-胡志強招募青年志工 </a>"<br />Translation: "Jason Hu recruits young volunteers"</font></center><br />David Reid's post (linked above) also contains a video of Taiwanese bloggers in support of Kuso Cat.<br /><br /><b>A <i>small</i> sample of related incidents:</b><br />* <b>December 9, 2008:</b> The <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> "blatantly launched <a href="http://en-gb.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=9972406518&topic=8906" title="Can't link the original article, but a copy can be seen here">a drive to control the news reporting and programming of Taiwan's Public Television Service Foundation</a> (PTSF), which manages the Taiwan Public Television Service (TPS) on behalf of our nation's citizens." TPS includes Taiwan Public Television, Hakka Television and Indigenous Television, and the China Television Service.<br /><br />* <b>December 10, 2008:</b> <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) -- bastard son of Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) -- speaks at Tainan's Chengkung University (成功大學), ROC flags are removed because <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> students are present, a Taiwanese student protests, Chiang tells the student to "be open-minded" and LIES, saying that there wasn't a flag to begin with. But <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbfw0z7XWww" title="成大學生會活動發生的撤國旗事件">the removal of at least one flag</a> was already captured on video. A woman on the stage asks the student to "be respectful" -- but what happened to respecting the students of the university who are citizens of Taiwan?<br /><br />* <b>December 11, 2008:</b> Just four hours after Human Rights Day has ended, 200 or so police round up the Tibetans sitting in Liberty Square (自由廣場) and take them -- some who can't speak Mandarin -- off <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/12/12/2003430879" title="'Wild Strawberries forced to vacate Liberty Square'">to the hills of Neihu and Guandu</a>. The police also evict the students from the Wild StrawBerries movement (a group of students protesting the outdated Assembly and Parade Act [集會遊行法]) from the square. Check out some of <a href="http://taiwanstudentmovement2008.blogspot.com/2008/12/20-mins-video-clip-on-1211-incident.html" title="''[20 mins Video Clip on 1211 Incident] When WS and Tibetans were forced away''">the police violence that was caught on camera</a>.<br /><br />* <b>December 17, 2008:</b> The home of Chen Tsung-yi (陳宗逸) -- manager of the recently-demised <i>New Taiwan Weekly</i> (新台灣週刊) -- is <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/12/20/2003431601" title="Taipei Times, Dec. 20, 2008: ''KMT, police accused of intimidation''">searched by agents from the Taipei City branch of the Criminal Investigation Bureau</a>. Chen claims that the agents attempted to intimidate him, and were deceptive about what they were looking for.<br /><br />* <b>December 19, 2008:</b> The Wild StrawBerries' live broadcast disappears from the Justin.tv web site. A notice says that it was "for violating the Terms of Service." An inquiry I sent to Justin.tv gets me only a form letter reply.<br /><br />* <b>January 16, 2009:</b> The large teapot-shaped object in Taipei which just over a year ago was renamed the "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" (國立台灣民主紀念堂) is retrogressing to its original name of "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" (蔣介石紀念堂) to honor the late dictator and mass murderer that the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> still worships. Here's a related editorial cartoon ("<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/photo/2009/01/16/2008033895" title="This is how the Chinese KMT rolls now and has *always* rolled!">Out with the new, in with the old. More authoritarianism, less democracy</a>.").<br /><br />* <b>March 6, 2009:</b> An 18-year-old senior high school student in Chiayi shouts at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), telling him to "step down" (下台). He is <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/03/12/2003438262" title="DPP slams police in student case">taken in and fingerprinted</a> by police. Taiwan Echo has <a href="http://echotaiwan.blogspot.com/2009/03/high-school-student-arrested-for-asking.html" title="'High School Student Arrested for Asking Ma to Step down'">another post on the subject</a>.<br /><br />* <b>March 29, 2009:</b> <a href="http://www.yuyen.tw/2009/03/blog-post_30.html" title="From the blog of Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (DPP)">Police with video cameras</a> intrude upon a private meeting of bloggers demanding personal information from attendees. The police were <a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/billypan101/14375778" title="並請問警察是依照哪條法令執行勤務,但警察沒有回答">unable to explain their presence</a>, and superiors denied having ordered the intrusion. Despite police "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/04/01/2003439941" title="'Police sorry over blogger incident'">apologies</a>" two days later, incidents which indicate a return to the days of White Terror continue to occur all-too-frequently.<br /><br />And these were just a few examples I already had conveniently available…<br /><br /><b>The natural conclusion</b><br />Unless you pay close attention to these kinds of incidents, they will continue to happen, and your freedom of speech will continue to rapidly erode.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Pixel chillers: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Kuso+Cat" rel="tag" title="Netizen, video artist">Kuso Cat</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/廖小貓" rel="tag" title="Kuso Cat">廖小貓</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Jason+Hu" rel="tag" title="Former Min. of Foreign Affairs, Taichung mayor">Jason Hu</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/胡志強" rel="tag" title="AKA Jason Hu">胡志強</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Hu's+Girl" rel="tag" title="A friggin' weird campaign ad!">Hu's Girl</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/唬屎狗" rel="tag" title="Sounds kinda like ''Hu's Girl,'' but consists of Mandarin words meaning ''bluff,'' ''shit,'' and ''dog''">唬屎狗</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/White+Terror" rel="tag" title="Just keep saying 'It's only a movie'...">White Terror</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/白色恐怖" rel="tag" title="White Terror">白色恐怖</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/martial+law" rel="tag" title="We can kill you!">martial law</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/戒嚴" rel="tag" title="martial law">戒嚴</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/freedom-of-speech-in-taiwan-being.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-17203630547232209602010-08-08T23:20:00.002+08:002010-08-10T15:31:10.761+08:00Formosa Betrayed, a powerful story<b>This can't possibly be the same film Ian Bartholemew reviewed Friday</b><br /><br />The film <i>Formosa Betrayed</i>, whose screenplay amalgamates the tales of the 1980s murders of Carnegie Mellon University professor <a href="http://www.twhistory.org.tw/20010702.htm" title="真相‧緝兇‧追思: 陳文成事件二十週年祭 Truth, finding the perpetrator, and recollection: The 20th anniversary of the Chen Wen-chen incident">Chen Wen-chen</a> (陳文成) and writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Liu" title="Via Wikipedia: ''[Liu] was most famous for writing an unauthorized biography of Chiang Ching-kuo […] On 15 October, 1984, Liu was shot to death in the garage of his home in Daly City, California.[1] His killers fled the country, returning to Taiwan. They did not face trial until the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered a tape made by chief hitman Chen Chi-li implicating Republic of China military intelligence in the killing, whereupon they began to pressure the government to bring Liu's killers to trial.[2] According to Chen's testimony at his trial in Taipei, Wang Hsi-ling of Kuomintang intelligence ordered the assassination.[3] A month after his conviction, Chen retracted this statement. However, Tung Kuei-sen, another one of the killers, corroborated this fact at his own trial in the United States in 1988, stating that the order for Liu's death had been given by the Taiwanese government. Tung (who had previously been cleared of racketeering charges related to the assassination) was convicted.[1][4][5] The assassination became a major political scandal in Taiwan and American officials were critical of the Kuomintang for orchestrating an assassination on United States soil.''">Henry Liu</a> (劉宜良, AKA Chiang Nan [江南]), has been <a href="http://www.chinatownconnection.com/william-tiao-formosa-betrayed.htm" title="From Nov. 12, 2006: ''The film's storyline concerns the murder of a Taiwanese professor in 1982, and the subsequent investigation by a US detective. As the detective pursues the case, he finds that the killing was part of conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of the US and Taiwanese governments.''">discussed publicly for almost four years</a>, and it finally made it to general release at cinemas in Taiwan on Friday, August 6, 2010.<br /><br />Yet <i>Taipei Times</i> movie critic <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2010/08/06/2003479708" title="Did Ian Bartholemew even watch the film, or was he paid *extra* to write this crap?: ''Formosa Betrayed is loosely inspired by the book of the same title published in 1965 by George H. Kerr, a US Foreign Service staff officer in Taipei at the time of the 228 Incident in 1947. The book is a mixture of history and memoir that examines the events around the retrocession of Taiwan to Chinese rule and America's not altogether honorable role in the process.''">Ian Bartholemew seems to think it was based upon the George Kerr book</a> of the same name (it was <i>not</i>), that it was about the events surrounding the <a href="http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/228_Massacre/" title="''[KMT troops] attacked Taiwan massacring nearly 30,000 Taiwanese and imprisoning thousands of others. The killings were both random and premeditated as local elites or educated Taiwanese were sought out and disposed of.">228 Massacre</a> (二二八大屠殺) of 1947 (even though that event -- which happened 36 years prior to our story -- is mentioned within, it's <i>not</i> part of the plot of this movie), and that "Retrocession" [sic] is the proper term for the occupation of Taiwan by the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) (it is <i>not</i>).<br /><br /><center><a href="http://a.imageshack.us/img444/7030/formosabetrayedposteratg.jpg" title="Formosa Betrayed movie poster outside of Taichung's Tiger City -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://a.imageshack.us/img444/5844/formosabetrayedposterat.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="360" BORDER="0" ALT="Formosa Betrayed movie poster outside of Taichung's Tiger City"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial"><i>Formosa Betrayed</i> movie poster<br />outside of Taichung's Tiger City<br />Photo by Tim Maddog<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></center><br />I had awaited this film's arrival in Taiwan for such a long time, and having seen so many previews, reviews, and interviews, I was a little bit worried that there wouldn't be very much left for me to experience anew when I saw it in a movie theater. Fortunately, I was wrong.<br /><br />Before I get to anything involving spoilers, let me tell you a few things about the movie in general.<br /><br /><b>It is what it is</b><br />So, what is <i>Formosa Betrayed</i>? The story centers around FBI Agent Jake Kelly (played by James van der Beek) and his search for the two gangsters who murder Taiwanese-American professor Henry Wen. The evidence brings Jake to Taiwan, where he meets waiter/independence activist Ming (明, played by Will Tiao [刁毓能], who also co-wrote and produced the movie) and uncovers more truth than his superiors ever wanted him to. The events take place in 1983, during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Terror_%28Taiwan%29" title="''The White Terror describes the suppression of political dissidents and public discussion of the 228 Incident in Republic of China (Taiwan) under the martial law period from May 19, 1949 to July 15, 1987. It's the longest martial law in the world - it lasted for 38 years, 57 days. It takes its roots in the anti-Communist White Terror in mainland China and the 228 Incident in 1947. During the White Terror, around 140,000 Taiwanese were imprisoned or executed for their real or perceived opposition to the Kuomintang Party (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) government led by Chiang Kai-shek, according to a recent report by the Executive Yuan of Taiwan.''">White Terror</a> period and four years before the lifting of the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>'s 38-year-long imposition of martial law on Taiwan.<br /><br /><b>This is thriller</b><br />Beyond the film's historical implications (being <a href="http://taiwaneseamerican.org/ta/2010/02/24/a-message-from-will-tiao-producer-of-formosa-betrayed/" title="''Formosa Betrayed is the first American film to ever deal with US-Taiwan relations and explore the issues of democracy, identity, and justice during the White Terror period in Taiwan.''">the first American film to deal with Taiwan-US relations</a>"), we are propelled through the story by our concern for the protagonists, Jake and Ming, by their struggles against bureaucracies, gangsters, police agencies, and even military officials, and by the hope that they will succeed and survive. It shouldn't matter if you are American, Taiwanese, or neither -- unless you hate one or both of those countries, you'll probably care for both characters, and you will feel their pain as you watch horrific events unfold.<br /><br />The antagonists are everywhere. Watch the movie and see how almost every time Jake tries to do the right thing, someone delays him, finds his "target" before he does, or tries to bring him great harm. You might not even realize whether some characters are the good guys or the bad guys until near the end of the flick.<br /><br /><b>Production values</b><br />The film -- directed by Adam Kane (<i>Heroes</i>) and photographed by Irek Hartowicz -- has a gritty, desaturated look throughout much of it, creating an atmosphere appropriate to both the period and the content. The first image we see -- Jake's blood-splattered face in very shallow depth of field -- sets the tone for what's to follow.<br /><br />The score didn't draw much attention to itself, remaining mostly way in the background except in some especially tense scenes. Two or three times during the film, I got quite a jolt from the audio-visual-story combo -- an excellent reason to see the film in a theater.<br /><br />Other reviewers' complaints about the film being shot in Thailand instead of Taiwan drive me nuts. <a href="http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/w_apa/showarticle.aspx?articleID=14706&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1" title="''Taiwan has developed so much since 1983, that it doesn't look like it did back then. So it was easier to take parts of Bangkok and make it look like Taiwan used to. The second reason is budgetary, because of the exchange rate and the fact we were told that [if we shot in Taiwan], we'd have to import equipment from either China, Hong Kong, or Australia, and that would of doubled or tripled our cost right there.''">The reasons for it happening have been explained again and again</a>, and even more detail has come out quite recently <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/31/2003479274" title="The movie studio had turned to the National Development Fund (NDF), a Cabinet agency, for funding, a process that started in 2007, one year before shooting began and when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party was still in power. […] While in Taiwan, studio representatives, including Tiao, gave a closed-door presentation to the NDF. At that point, a little more than US$5 million had been raised for the production. […] The producers' hope was that the NDF would almost match the money already raised. 'We were tentatively approved,' Tiao said. 'We were very excited about the fact that we would be able to shoot in Taiwan.' However, while studio representatives were in Thailand, which they had included as a backup, they learned that although the proceedings of the NDF presentation were supposedly confidential, a staffer who was present had contacted ***a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator*** and 'told him what had happened in the room.' The ***KMT legislator***, whose identity Tiao would not reveal, then allegedly contacted the Chinese-language ***United Daily News***, which printed a story about the movie and the application with the NDF. […] 'When we came back to Taiwan after scouting in Thailand, we were told flat out that our budget was being held,' Tiao said. Without that money, Taiwan no longer was an option.">about the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>'s involvement</a>. My wife -- Have I mentioned that she's Taiwanese? -- didn't have any complaints about the locations not looking enough like Taiwan in the eighties, so I have a hard time accepting that particular gripe.<br /><br />Some of these complainers may merely wish to discredit <i>Formosa Betrayed</i>. Others may have unthinkingly been influenced by such thoughts and are repeating them. Whatever their reasons, it's as if everyone suddenly forgot how to suspend their disbelief for this particular motion picture. (Pssssst! You're actually sitting in a chair in an air-conditioned theater in the year 2010 in a city which may or may not be Taipei!) With the budget limitations, I would guess that telling the story took priority over adding a CGI recreation of Taipei.<br /><br />So, while it may not be a state-of-the-art spectacle, it does a great job of doing what people go to the movies for: it tells a powerful story.<br /><br /><b>It ain't what it's not</b><br /><i>Formosa Betrayed</i> is not an allegory. It's basically a straight-up dramatization of events related to Taiwan's history -- a story which has needed to be told for a very long time. And Will Tiao, Adam Kane, and the rest of the cast and crew have done a formidable job of it.<br /><br /><b>What will I learn?</b><br />* The <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> is <i>not</i> protecting Taiwan from <font color="#FF0000">Commie</font> bandits, and they never have.<br />* The United States' cooperation with the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> ignores/involves lots and lots of evil.<br />* Good people standing up for basic human rights get called "gangsters" and "terrorists" by those responsible for mass murder of innocent civilians.<br />* Taiwan is <i>not</i> <font color="#FF0000">China</font>, and despite frequent claims about the matter, Taiwanese are <i>not</i> treated like "brothers" by the <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font>.<br />* Others' admonitions which are supposedly "for your own good" are often ways for them to hold onto power while keeping you down.<br /><br /><b>Who should see this film?</b><br />Every single Taiwanese should see this film, whether they already know about this history or not. Anyone who has ever supported the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> should see this film and open their eyes widely. Americans should see this film to understand what their government has done (and continues to do) to Taiwan.<br /><br />If you enjoy thrillers, you should see <i>Formosa Betrayed</i> because it's an exciting story which, as <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100317/REVIEWS/100319985/1023" title="''We realize, somewhat to our surprise, that ''Formosa Betrayed'' is a thriller that's actually about something. Most thrillers are about the good guy trying to outshoot and outrun the bad guys, and their settings are incidental. This one has a bone to chew. One of the script writers is Will Tiao, who also plays Ming, the film's Taiwanese hero, an underground activist committed to regaining control of the island for its original Formosans.''">Roger Ebert says</a>, is "actually about something."<br /><br />If you don't like mainstream Hollywood flicks, see it for its independent style.<br /><br />If you don't fall into any of those categories, make like a Nike ad, and <i>just see it</i>!<br /><br /><b>Where to see it</b><br />I saw it at Tiger City in Taichung. Here's the page where you can <a href="http://www.vscinemas.com.tw/visInternetTicketing3/visChooseSession.aspx?visLang=1" title="in English">find showtimes for all Vieshow Cinemas</a> (威秀影城) in Taiwan. See it soon, as it probably won't be here for long.<br /><br /><b>Fiction vs. reality (SPOILERS)</b><br />Some people have said that the people and events portrayed in <i>Formosa Betrayed</i> are <i>entirely</i> imaginary. Those people are either lying or they're ignorant -- perhaps both. Here is a short list of some people/things in the film and the people/things they correspond to (or not) in real life:<br /><br />* Wen Ming-hua (溫明華, AKA Henry Wen, the murder victim) = Chen Wen-chen + Henry Liu.<br />* Guy with camera at student protest = Student spies funded by the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>.<br />* David Wu Da-wei + James Lee Shin-shen (the killers) = <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Chi-li" title="Wiki article, with sources: ''[Chen,] nicknamed King Duck, was a gangster from Taiwan, best known for heading the United Bamboo Gang.[1][3] His murder of dissident journalist Henry Liu in Daly City, California, USA, in 1984 has been described as 'the most prominent example of the [Kuomintang]'s co-operation with gangsters in upholding its dictatorship.' ''">Chen Chi-li</a> (陳啟禮) and others.<br />* Ming's sister, Maysing (美星): "Don't use your phone. They're listening." = Government phone tapping of political opponents/dissidents/competitors -- something which still happens quite frequently.<br />* The protest in Kaohsiung = The <a href="http://www.taiwandc.org/hst-1979.htm" title="provocation...exaggeration...coertion">Kaohsiung Incident</a> of 1979. (Note: Just a few months after <i>Formosa Betrayed</i> had completed filming, similar things happened during the protests against visiting <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> envoy, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin [陳雲林]. including <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsVJdYoUdU4" title="YouTube video: ''馬英久執政期間.鎮暴警毆媒體! 民視記者傷''">the brutal beating of an <i>FTV</i> [民視] reporter</a>. Also watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XyLbx8K_qM&feature=PlayList&p=61EE9B7AF7997450&index=0&playnext=1" title="with English subtitles"><i>Red Caution</i></a> to see what happened to Taiwan in the first few months Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] was in office as president.)<br />* The murder of Ming's wife and daughter in their home = <a href="http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1236085555/index_html" title="Who could it be, now?">The murder of Lin I-hsiung's (Lîm Gī-hiông, 林義雄) family</a> while their home was under 24-hour police surveillance.<br />* The way Ming's father was killed = The way many people were killed in the 228 Massacre: shot in the head and/or dumped in a river. (Others were <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asGKt2RcVDU&mode=related&search" title="English subtitled version of ''Taiwan 228 Massacre 60 Years On: 1947-2007 (紀念康阿裕)''">buried alive</a>.)<br />* Professor Wen and Ming being called "gangsters" and "terrorists" = A common tactic used by the gangster-affiliated <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>.<br />* 健康 (Health[y] brand cigarettes = The ironically-named <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNo6nwbJseV7OeAJMlxCDCmmYmyxpOG3j4SIkavt3ob0blD8naNA8-w5edzEZfaWS43wIGl3xbNx3HWyxIob5NuMkgN0UmbSWHBy9XNsxi4tsSFOmilMony6jM2cZ0CJXFd5xlg/s1600-h/%E9%95%B7%E5%A3%BD%E7%85%99-%E9%BB%83%E9%95%B72.jpg" title="Here's an image">Long Life</a> (長壽) brand of cigarettes.<br />* The movie ≠ The book by George Kerr. Although it's got the same title, and it's about the same country and the same party-state, it's a different story.<br /><br /><b>Other interesting tidbits (minor SPOILERS)</b><br />* Jake is assigned Room <b>228</b> (a reference to the <a href="http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/228_Massacre/" title="''[KMT troops] attacked Taiwan massacring nearly 30,000 Taiwanese and imprisoning thousands of others. The killings were both random and premeditated as local elites or educated Taiwanese were sought out and disposed of.">228 Massacre of 1947</a>) in his Taipei hotel.<br />* When Jake is at the airport leaving Taiwan, a voice is heard on the airport intercom announcing in English "China Airline[s] flight <b>1947</b> from Taipei to New York is now boarding…"<br /><br /><b>Just one thing…</b><br />As <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2010/07/gospel-according-to-will-formosa.html" title="'' Simply end with something like: 'Today no nation on earth recognizes Taiwan as an independent state.' ''">Michael Turton pointed out previously</a>, that onscreen title at the end… it's wrong, and it should be fixed because it undermines the message the rest of the film tries so hard to get across. It says [highlight mine]:<blockquote>Currently there are 23 countries that recognize <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Taiwan</span> as an independent nation.<br /><br />The United States is not one of them.</blockquote>The problem is that the countries which have official relations with "Taiwan" recognize Taiwan as the "Republic of China" and its associated claim to represent -- y'know -- <font color="#FF0000">China</font>. Because of the "one-China" policies of both the <abbr title="The ''People's'' Republic of China"><font color="#FF0000">PRC</font></abbr> and the <abbr title="Republic of China [or] Rat-bastards of Corruption"><font color="#0000CC">ROC</font></abbr>, <i>not a single one</i> of those countries recognize Taiwan's independence the way they should -- and <i>that right there</i> is the problem!<br /><br /><b>A whole spectrum of other reviews</b><br />* David Reid's review: "<a href="http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2010/08/formosa-betrayed-movie-review/" title="''the focus should really be on the story of how an American FBI agent discovers the truth about the true nature of the ROC regime on Taiwan […] [T]his process of discovery […] forms the central part of the story''">Formosa Betrayed: a quest for truth and justice</a>."<br />* Jerome F. Keaton's review: "<a href="http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1281002489/index_html" title="''Can one imagine deprivation if one has only known plenty? Can one imagine oppression if one has only known democracy? Can one imagine a one-party state violating people's rights unless one has experienced it? This is what Formosa Betrayed is about and these are some of the questions it raises for Taiwan's youth.''">The Film 'Formosa Betrayed' Though Different from 'Cape No. 7' is Important for Taiwan Youth</a>."<br />* Michael Turton's review: "<a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2010/07/gospel-according-to-will-formosa.html" title="''Like Agent Jake Kelly, the viewer has to immerse herself in the tale for a while before she finds a foothold in it. And like Agent Kelly, the viewer will find that much has been learned before the exit is reached.''">The Gospel According to Will: Formosa Betrayed</a>."<br />* Sheri Linden wrote <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/formosa-betrayed-film-review-1004070537.story" title="''more informative than cinematic […] refreshingly doesn't make the American's personal redemption more important than wide-ranging political revelations […] an eye-opening history lesson more than an atmospheric thriller. It's nonetheless chilling as it exposes the machinations between countries with no official relationship''">a fair-even-if-not-entirely-postive review</a> in <i>The Hollywood Reporter</i>.<br />* Despite the number of stars he gave it, <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100317/REVIEWS/100319985/1023" title="''We realize, somewhat to our surprise, that ''Formosa Betrayed'' is a thriller that's actually about something. Most thrillers are about the good guy trying to outshoot and outrun the bad guys, and their settings are incidental. This one has a bone to chew. One of the script writers is Will Tiao, who also plays Ming, the film's Taiwanese hero, an underground activist committed to regaining control of the island for its original Formosans.''">Roger Ebert seems to have liked it</a>.<br />* Ian Bartholemew wrote what could be <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2010/08/06/2003479708" title="Did Ian Bartholemew even watch the film, or was he paid *extra* to write this crap?: ''even given the time lapse of 50 years […] Retrocession […] the book''">the most uninformed movie review I've ever read</a>.<br />* Does Vancouver's Katherine Monk think that watching <i>Formosa Betrayed</i> is as bad as being colonized and placed under nearly four decades of martial law? Her excessively negative review is titled: "<a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Viewers+ones+betrayed/2782024/story.html?id=2782024" title="''*supposedly* based on actual events […] for most movie fans looking for some action on the Far East front, Formosa Betrayed will feel all too quiet''">Viewers are ones who are betrayed</a>."<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">MacGuffins: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Formosa+Betrayed" rel="tag" title="The movie">Formosa Betrayed</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/被出賣的台灣" rel="tag" title="Formosa Betrayed, the movie">被出賣的台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/movie" rel="tag" title="Flickering images that move the mind, the body, and occasionally, the spirit">movie</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/電影" rel="tag" title="movie(s)">電影</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Will+Tiao" rel="tag" title="Formosa Betrayed actor-producer-writer">Will Tiao</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/刁毓能" rel="tag" title="Will Tiao">刁毓能</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/White+Terror" rel="tag" title="Just keep saying 'It's only a movie'...">White Terror</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/白色恐怖" rel="tag" title="White Terror">白色恐怖</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/martial+law" rel="tag" title="We can kill you!">martial law</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/戒嚴" rel="tag" title="martial law">戒嚴</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/formosa-betrayed-powerful-story.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-75567662426866427802010-07-31T23:51:00.007+08:002010-08-01T02:06:22.225+08:00Taiwan round-up, July 2010; plus Ma Ying-jeou's nonsense<b>First, a bit of catching up is necessary</b><br /><br />A lot has been going on in July -- and I'm not just talking about the extra work that I get during this time of the year. Here are just a few of the more prominent news items I should have been writing about in more detail over the past month:<blockquote>* Despite not being in possession of the land titles, the Chinese Nationalist Party-led (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) Miaoli County government <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/01/2003476829" title="''Miaoli farmers plead for action''">destroyed the rice paddies of several farmers</a> in the Jhunan Township (竹南) borough of Dapu (大埔) and carted off the rich soil, replacing it with junk-filled dirt. Despite knowing that the current Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例) is unfair, the Ministry of the Interior vowed to <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/21/2003478471" title="''The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday dismissed the possibility of the government suspending all planned land seizures before relevant laws are amended.''">continue destroying these farmers' lives and property</a> with their right hand until their left hand is good and ready to change the law. As I've said many times, the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> doesn't follow the law -- the law follows the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>.<br /><br />* Michael Turton blogged on the protests in Taipei on July 17, 2010 which were related to the above land grabs: "<a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2010/07/miaoli-county-land-seizure-sparks.html" title="with plenty more links…">Miaoli County Land Seizure Sparks Farmer Protests</a>"<br /><br />* In Yunlin County, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/07/27/2003478945" title="''The fire did not cause a toxic chemical release,'' said Hsieh Yein-rui (謝燕儒), director of Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Department">a fire</a> (<a href="http://news.chinatimes.com/politics/0,5244,50204157x132010073001472,00.html" title="People have been denying that there was an explosion, saying it was ''just a fire,'' but even the pro-Chinese KMT China Times mentions ''explosion'' in this headline">explosion</a>?) on July 25, 2010 at Formosa Petrochemical Group's (FPG, 台塑石化) naphtha cracker No. 6 is followed by the appearance of <a href="http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT2/5751646.shtml" title="Hanzi report (with video) by United Daily News">dead ducks</a>, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/07/30/2003479156" title="''protesters…threw dead fish and clams that had been found days after a fire broke out in a residual desulphurizer at Formosa Petrochemical Corp's petrochemical complex on Sunday night''">fish, and clams</a> in the vicinity. (Yo, EPA! Is there an alternate explanation for what could have killed all these animals at this particular time?! If so, we'd all like to hear it!) An earlier <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2010/07/08/2003477392" title="''Formosa shuts down facility after fire hits No. 1 ethylene plant''">blaze had occurred at FPG's naphtha cracker No. 1 on July 7, 2010</a>. It took six days after the second conflagration within a month -- plus large protests by Mailiao residents -- before Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) paid a visit to the site and said they would <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/07/31/2003479254" title="Promises, promises…">temporarily suspend operations at the plant</a>. (How long do you think it'll be before that promise gets broken?) Oh, and there's the horrific tale of a dead runaway foreign laborer (who had been poisoned by unsafe working conditions) <a href="http://tw.nextmedia.com/applenews/article/art_id/32700653/IssueID/20100730" title="Hanzi: A prosecutor writes a letter to the Apple Daily">whose body was left outside the plant's perimeter after a much earlier incident</a> in an apparent attempt to… make the original situation even worse? (See this last item <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t3MsP9FQk4" title="大話新聞0730-12 ">discussed on the July 30, 2010 edition of <i>Talking Show</i></a> [大話新聞].)<br /><br />* Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) tries to do his own verbal "detour" after saying that already-endangered <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/14/2003477840" title="Wu Dumb-yih: ''It is well known that dolphins know how to detour when necessary. If not, dolphins kept in ocean parks would often run into the walls of the pool they're kept in.''">Taiwanese pink dolphins would "make a detour"</a> (轉彎) to avoid the planned Kuokuang Petrochemical plant scheduled to be built on coastal wetlands near the mouth of the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) in Dacheng Township (大城), Changhua County.<br /><br />* Remember that the most important thing about the following story has to do with the people making the accusation: Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), the son of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) who is currently running for a city council seat in Kaohsiung, is accused by Next Weekly (壹週刊) of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/22/2003478553" title="Read the details, and try to tell me it's not a setup…">soliciting a prostitute</a>, despite the lack of any hard evidence. While his car was photographed at the scene of the alleged crime, Chen Chih-chung himself was not. Politically motivated, y'think?<br /><br />* Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) was placed among "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/29/2003479098" title="''Ten Urban Leaders — Mayors Rethinking the Way Cities Expand, Move, Compete and Breathe''">the world's top [10] urban leaders</a>" by Monocle Magazine. Although some people say <a href="http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/jul/30/today-center18.htm" title="市政英雄?市府改口">the title of the piece makes the "honor" facetious</a>, <a href="http://pfge-pfge.blogspot.com/2010/07/blog-post_27.html" title="See the entire content here -- while it lasts…">the content -- which appears 100% serious as well as positive</a> -- tells me otherwise.<br /><br />* You may notice that the four links at the top of the blogroll in the <i>Taiwan Matters</i> sidebar -- the links to <i>Talking Show</i> (大話新聞) videos -- have been crossed out. That's because YouTube suspended all four of those accounts. Fortunately, someone new has dutifully taken over uploading the shows. Take a look at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/555victory555#p/u" title="Gimme five!">the uploads on user 555victory555's channel</a>.<br /><br />* After all that stuff <strike>President</strike> <strike>Regional Administrator</strike> (cough, cough) <i>Mr.</i> Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) told us about the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed with <font color="#FF0000">China</font> being purely economic and having nothing to do with unification, the legislature's Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau tells us -- in a report whose release people had complained since at least June 23, 2010 (nearly a week before the ECFA was signed) was being delayed (for over a month now) because it might give a negative impression of the ECFA -- that <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/07/29/2003479086" title="''China would likely offer preferential treatment in a bid to make a good impression on the Taiwanese and 'eventually force our government to begin cross-strait political negotiations under public pressure in a bid to realize its strategic goal of forcing [Taiwan] to accept unification'''">what Ma said was, uh, not true</a>.<br /><br />* On July 24, 2010, the U.S. Navy posted <a href="http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=89349" title="Official Website of the UNITED STATES NAVY">a photo taken during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010</a> captioned [highlight mine]: "The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan leads a formation of ships from Korea, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Taiwan</span>, Japan, Singapore, France, Canada, Australia and the U.S." A week later, that photo isn't showing up, but <a href="http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=89348" title="''Description: Ships from Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, France, Canada, Australia and the U.S. are underway in formation during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010.''">another photo with the same caption</a> can still be viewed.<br /><br />* Formosa Betrayed (the movie) will be showing in Taiwan in less than one week. With the domestic premier taking place Friday, August 6, 2010, producer/actor Will Tiao (刁毓能) is in town, and he reveals in an interview with the <i>Taipei Times</i> how <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/07/31/2003479274" title="''while studio representatives were in Thailand, which they had included as a backup, they learned that although the proceedings of the NDF presentation were supposedly confidential, a staffer who was present had contacted a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator and 'told him what had happened in the room.' The KMT legislator, whose identity Tiao would not reveal, then allegedly contacted the Chinese-language United Daily News, which printed a story about the movie and the application with the NDF. How the fund uses its money must be approved by the legislature, which back then, as now, was controlled by the KMT. 'When we came back to Taiwan after scouting in Thailand, we were told flat out that our budget was being held,' Tiao said.">the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> interfered with the filming process</a>. Jerome F. Keating, PhD also has a piece about the film: "<a href="http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1280565129/index_html" title="Censorship still exists in Taiwan">Still Not Free of KMT Bias, Taiwan Prepares for the Film, 'Formosa Betrayed.'</a>" In that post, he also links to an image of <a href="http://albums.tomoro.net/Jerome/protest_art/html/comic_f.html" title="Starring: Popeye as CKS; Swee'Pea as CCK">the famous comic strip by Bo Yang</a> (柏楊) which got the artist nine years in prison.<br /><br />* … and like I said, much more than I've been able to keep up with in great detail. I've probably missed a few important ones, but those are pretty much off the top of my head. <a href="http://twitter.com/TimMaddog" title="Bio: Taiwan blogger, counterpropagandist, and supporter of Taiwan's existing independence.">Follow me on Twitter</a> to see what I'm writing about in real time.</blockquote><b>No-brainer</b><br />Since Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) so frequently spouts nonsense which should get him laughed off the world's stage, I made a little video showing how audiences should react to such things:<br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/jwplayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars"value="height=390&width=480&file=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_hi/7e2aacbe-9340-11df-a2e2-003048d6740d_24_web_final_hi_web_finalhi-flv.flv&image=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_hi/7e2aacbe-9340-11df-a2e2-003048d6740d_24_web_final_hi_poster.jpg&link=http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6810597&searchbar=false&autostart=false"/><embed src="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/jwplayer.swf" width="480" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="height=390&width=480&file=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_hi/7e2aacbe-9340-11df-a2e2-003048d6740d_24_web_final_hi_web_finalhi-flv.flv&image=http://newvideos.xtranormal.com/web_final_hi/7e2aacbe-9340-11df-a2e2-003048d6740d_24_web_final_hi_poster.jpg&link=http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6810597&searchbar=false&autostart=false"></embed></object><object width="480" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/embedded-xnl-stats.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.xtranormal.com/site_media/players/embedded-xnl-stats.swf" width="1" height="1" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">2:05 Xtranormal video: "<a href="http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6810597/" title="Here's the original Xtranormal page with the video">The audience sees through Ma Ying-jeou's nonsense</a>"<br /></font></center><br />Here's the text spoken by Superzero Ma in the video:<blockquote>Hi, I'm Ma Ying-jeou, president of the Republic of China, here in Taiwan Province. As you can see, no one is pulling my strings. That's because Foxconn made a special long distance remote control for Hu Jintao to use on me! But since I am the president of the Republic of China, I am actually Hu Jintao's leader. And as president of the ROC, I am, therefore, also the president of Mongolia! Let me explain. Back in March 2008, after I made a campaign promise to the people of Taiwan saying "no unification," 7.6 million people there voted for me, making me the democratically-elected leader of the "unified" Republic of China's 1.3 billion people, right? Does that not make perfect sense to you? Okay, how about this? Without using your brain too much, see if you can repeat after me: "We are all part of the non-barbarian Zhonghua minzu family, blah blah blah." "The other side of the Taiwan Strait is our mainland region, blah blah blah." Or how about this? "I love Taiwan!" That one works best in the months before important elections. Do you have a question? I'm sorry. I can't hear you. Thank you for your comment. I must be going.<br /></blockquote><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Precipitates: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Dapu" rel="tag" title="A borough in Miaoli County where the farmers stood up against Liu Cheng-hung's illegal land grabs">Dapu</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/大埔" rel="tag" title="Dapu">大埔</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Formosa+Petrochemical+Company" rel="tag" title="''Progress'' at great cost to the environment of the beautiful island nation -- ''Ilha Formosa''">Formosa Petrochemical Co.</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台塑石化" rel="tag" title="Formosa Petrochemical Co.">台塑石化</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Wu+Den+yih" rel="tag" title="Former KMT Secretary-General, now Premier">Wu Den-yih</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/吳敦義" rel="tag" title="Wu Den-yih">吳敦義</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Chen+Chih-chung" rel="tag" title="Former president Chen Shui-bian's son">Chen Chih-chung</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/陳致中" rel="tag" title="Chen Chih-chung">陳致中</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Jason+Hu" rel="tag" title="Former Min. of Foreign Affairs, Taichung mayor">Jason Hu</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/胡志強" rel="tag" title="AKA Jason Hu">胡志強</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/07/taiwan-round-up-july-2010-plus-ma-ying.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-11592580343282174072010-06-25T03:53:00.001+08:002010-06-25T03:56:22.532+08:006/26 protest to demand referendum on ECFA<b>Be there if you can!</b><br /><br />The Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government is <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/06/25/2003476352" title="''SEF says ECFA to be signed on June 29''">planning to sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement</a> (ECFA, 經濟合作架構協議) with Taiwan's untrustworthy authoritarian neighbor <font color="#FF0000">China</font> on June 29. That's next Tuesday, despite the fact that <i>even polls by media which favors Ma and his party</i> show that <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/ralph-jennings-misreports-on-taiwan.html" title="''Should the government sign an ECFA with China?'' 42% say ''Yes'' while 44% say ''No.''">a majority of Taiwanese oppose the agreement</a> and that people of all political stripes support holding a referendum on the issue.<br /><br />Ten or twenty years from now, when you reflect back on tomorrow's rally to show the Ma government -- and especially the rest of the world -- what the people of Taiwan really think of this deal, will you be able to say "I was there!" or will you say "I was too busy/tired/apathetic, so I didn't go"? Think hard before you choose the latter.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/2439/626g.jpg" title="Citizens demand a referendum on ECFA, oppose 'one-China' market -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/1361/626small.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="235" BORDER="0" ALT="Citizens demand a referendum on ECFA, oppose 'one-China' market"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">Citizens demand a referendum [on ECFA] and oppose the "one-China" market<br />June 26 [2010], gather at 3 PM @ Wanhua Station and Dinghao Plaza<br />(Click to slightly enlarge)</font></center><br />Wednesday's <i>Taipei Times</i> has <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/06/22/2003476091" title="''DPP expects 100,000 to take part in Saturday's rally''">the important details about the 626 protest</a> in English:<blockquote>The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that 100,000 people are expected to take to the streets of Taipei on Saturday to demand that the government put its proposed plan to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China to a referendum.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The party said demonstrators would be split into two groups — an "anti-'one China' market" group and a "referendum on an ECFA" group.<br /><br />The "anti-'one China' market" route will start at Dinghao Plaza and travel along Zhongxiao E Road, Linsen S Road and Renai Road Sec 1.<br /><br />The "referendum on an ECFA" march, meanwhile, will begin at Wanhua Station and proceed along Monga Boulevard, Heping W Road Sec 2, Fuzhou Street, Roosevelt Road Sec 1 and Zhongshan S Road.<br /><br />Both marches will start at 4pm and converge on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office at 5pm, where a number of DPP officials are expected to make speeches.<br /><br />The protest is scheduled to finish at 7pm, the party said.</blockquote>How 'bout we make it 200,000?<br /><br />Remember to take pictures, record videos, and post them online so that when the media underreports the numbers or claims that the crowds were violent, people will be able to find out for themselves what really happened.<br /><br /><b>Lest ye forget!</b><br />And I want to remind readers once again what <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said about ECFA being one step toward "complete unification of the motherland [sic]":<br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRcpCyfrlHw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRcpCyfrlHw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">0:35 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRcpCyfrlHw" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles</a>"</font></center><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Posters: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/protest" rel="tag" title="Part of democracy">protest</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/抗議" rel="tag" title="Protest">抗議</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/ECFA" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">ECFA</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/經濟合作架構協議" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">經濟合作架構協議</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/referendum" rel="tag" title="The people say...">referendum</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/公投" rel="tag" title="referendum">公投</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/626-protest-to-demand-referendum-on.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-71226423794752471472010-06-20T22:37:00.004+08:002010-06-22T04:22:42.419+08:00"Mainland"? Which "mainland"?<b>An obvious symptom of brainwashing in Taiwan (and elsewhere)</b><br /><br />Because of the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>), for most of the past six decades, Taiwan's educational system has indoctrinated students with the concept that "my country" (我國/本國) includes Taiwan, the territory now controlled by the <font color="#FF0000">People's Republic of China</font> (<font color="#FF0000">PRC</font>), and Mongolia. As a result, certain words used by Taiwanese reveal how deeply this indoctrination has penetrated.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6344/benguodili.jpg" title="An old Geography textbook used in Taiwan -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7813/benguodilithumb.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="352" BORDER="1" ALT="An old Geography textbook used in Taiwan"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">An old Geography textbook used in Taiwan<br />Tim Maddog photo<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></center><br />While most elementary school students these days will state "Taiwan" (台灣) as the name of their country, and only an incredibly small minority will say they are from the "ROC" (中華民國), there's still a lot of deep-set confusion. As Professor Lee Hsiao-feng (李筱峰, AKA Jim Lee, of National Taipei University's Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture) explains in the piece I will translate below, the words we are exposed to on a daily basis affect our ability to see clearly and even to clearly form our own identity.<br /><br />Here it is, 「大陸」「大陸」,哪個大陸? ("<a href="http://www.jimlee.org.tw/article.jsp?b_id=100989&menu_id=4" title="- by Prof. Jim Lee">'Mainland,' 'mainland,' which mainland?</a>") [translations, text coloration mine]:<blockquote>俗話說「什麼人玩什麼鳥」,同樣的,「什麼人說什麼話」。在當前國家認同錯雜混亂的台灣,從每個人使用的不同用詞,就可以判斷他的國家認同和政治立場的差異。<br /><br />People say, "This kind of person plays with this kind of bird" and "This kind of person uses these kinds of words" [both meaning: "A person is defined by the words they use"]. In the past, Taiwan's national identity has been a jumbled mess. From the different words that people use, you can spot the differences in people's sense of national identity and political affiliation.<br /><br />記得蔡英文與馬英九進行電視辯論的時候,凡是對「中華人民共和國」的稱呼,馬英九一律把它改稱「大陸」,但是蔡英文則清清楚楚叫它為「中國」。全世界都知道,「中國」指的就是那個全名叫做「中華人民共和國」的國家。但是「大陸」呢?全世界沒有一個國家叫做「大陸」,倒是在地理上,有歐亞大陸、非洲大陸、美洲大陸。「大陸」,指的是哪一個大陸?馬英九不稱中國為「中國」,而稱「大陸」,為什麼?因為他所認同的國家就是中國,而且台灣是中國的一部分,如果他將對岸稱為「中國」,等於是將台灣置於中國之外,這是他無法容忍的。稱中國為「大陸」,表示兩邊都屬中國,而有「大陸地區」和「台灣地區」之分。所以將中國稱為「大陸」,其實是對台灣的矮化,是對台灣的貶損! <br /><br />Think back to the televised debate between Tsai Ing-wen and Ma Ying-jeou. Each time the <font color="#FF0000">PRC</font> came up, Ma consistently referred to it as the "mainland" while Tsai referred to it more clearly as "<font color="#FF0000">China</font>." The whole world knows that "<font color="#FF0000">China</font>" refers to the country whose full name is the "<font color="#FF0000">People's Republic of China</font>." But what about "mainland"? There is no country on Earth called "Mainland" [<b>Maddog note:</b> Though I've capitalized it here (as if it were the name of a country), it shouldn't actually be capitalized unless it's the first word in a sentence.] -- it's merely a geographic term which could variously refer to the Eurasian continent, the African continent, or the North and South American continents. So why say "mainland"? Because Ma identifies with <font color="#FF0000">China</font> and considers Taiwan to be part of <font color="#FF0000">China</font>. If he were to call the other side "<font color="#FF0000">China</font>," it would mean that Taiwan is something separate -- something Ma could never admit. By calling <font color="#FF0000">China</font> the "mainland," he means that the two sides belong to <font color="#FF0000">China</font> and that the "mainland area" and "Taiwan area" are both part of that <font color="#FF0000">China</font>. This actually belittles and disparages Taiwan.<br /><br />中國人馬英九稱中國為「大陸」,一點都不奇怪。奇怪的是,竟然也有自以為是獨派的人士,也習而不察,跟著人家把中國稱為「大陸」,這就自我矛盾了。 <br /><br />For Ma-the-<font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> to call <font color="#FF0000">China</font> the "mainland" isn't strange at all. What is strange is when supporters of Taiwan's independence use the word out of sheer habit, following others' use of "mainland" when they mean "<font color="#FF0000">China</font>" -- this is a contradiction of their own principles.<br /><br />最近台灣出現了一個名詞叫做「陸生」,其實也有一樣的意涵。所謂「陸生」,就是「大陸學生」的簡稱。把中國來台的留學生稱為「陸生」,和稱中國為「大陸」一樣是對台灣的矮化。中國來的留學生,當然簡稱「中生」,怎麼變成「陸生」? <br /><br />The word "<i>lùshēng</i>" has recently entered Taiwan's vocabulary. This contains a similar meaning. "<i>Lùshēng</i>" is merely a short form of ""<i>dàlùxuéshēng</i>" ("mainland students"). To call <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> students "<i>lùshēng</i>" is just as belittling and disparaging of Taiwan as using the word "mainland" instead of "<font color="#FF0000">China</font>." A more natural short form would be "<i>Zhōngshēng</i>." How did that become "<i>lùshēng</i>"?<br /><br />再者,近年來出現了一個不三不四的名詞叫做「阿六仔」。許多人把中國人稱為「阿六仔」,所謂「六」,當然是大「陸」的轉音。「阿六仔」這個名詞,本身帶有輕蔑的語氣,殊不知用這種輕蔑的名詞形容對方,其實是矮化了台灣,貶損了自己而不自知。 <br /><br />Another strange word which has appeared in recent years is "a-la̍k-á" [<b>Maddog note:</b> The pronunciation of that term is invariably Taiwanese, not Mandarin]. Many people call <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> (people) "a-la̍k-á" with the middle word "la̍k" ["six"] having the same pronunciation in Taiwanese as the "lù" in "dàlù." "A-la̍k-á" itself bears a pejorative tone, but actually one may not realize that using this kind of tone to describe others can also belittle Taiwan, disparage the user, and show self-unawareness.<br /><br />這種矮化台灣、貶低台灣的用詞還有很多,例如,將孫文(孫逸仙)先生稱為「國父」就是。所謂「國父」是哪一「國」的「國父」?當然是指「中華民國」的國父。不要說連孫文本人都不知道他被國民黨稱為中華民國「國父」,孫文如果知道台灣人竟然也稱他為「國父」,一定詫異萬分。因為孫文在過世前一年曾經呼籲日本應該讓「朝鮮和台灣兩民族」獨立自治,而台灣人竟然還在叫他「國父」,真是蠢蛋! <br /><br />There are many more words used to belittle and disparage Taiwan. For example, calling Sun Yat-sen the "nation's founding father." Which "nation" is he the "founding father" of? Of course that would be the "Republic of China [ROC]." Don't say that even Sun himself didn't know he was called "the nation's founding father" by the Chinese KMT, but if he could know that some Taiwanese still call him the "nation's founding father," he'd be completely amazed because a year before he died, Sun appealed to Japan to allow Korea and Taiwan to become independent. For Taiwanese to call him the "nation's founding father," they must really be morons!<br /><br />至於那些遊走對岸淘金的藝人,也跟著中國人將中華人民共和國稱為「內地」,那就不只是「蠢蛋」兩字所能形容了!日本殖民統治時代,台灣人稱日本本土為「內地」,清帝國時代則稱中國本土為「內地」,現在台灣不屬中華人民共和國,卻也稱呼人家「內地」。台灣人,你要自我作踐到幾時? <br /><br />As for entertainers who wander off to <font color="#FF0000">China</font> in search of money and who refer to the <font color="#FF0000">PRC</font> as the "heartland," not even the word "moron" can describe what they are! When Taiwan was a Japanese colony, Taiwanese referred to Japan as the "heartland." However, during the Qing Dynasty, [what we now call] <font color="#FF0000">China</font> was the "heartland." Present-day Taiwan doesn't belong to the <font color="#FF0000">PRC</font>, yet people still use the term "heartland." People of Taiwan: How long will you humiliate yourselves like this?</blockquote>One "mainland" which Professor Lee left out was Australia's. People in Tasmania will refer to the non-Tasmanian part of Australia as the "mainland" while people in New Zealand never do so -- because it's <i>a whole other country</i>. It's a good example to use with people who don't seem to "get it."<br /><br /><b>Related:</b><br />* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000687608695" title="莊哲">A guy I met later on Facebook</a> called in to <i>New Taiwan Go Go Go</i> (新台灣加油) to complain about so-called pro-Taiwan TV stations using the word "mainland." I posted the video on YouTube:<br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JX561z2Phxs&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JX561z2Phxs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">1:23 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX561z2Phxs&feature=channel_page" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">Mr. Chuang wants green media to stop saying "mainland"</a>"</font></center><br />* Hena (Taiwanese for erhu, 二胡) player Kenny Wen is one of those who sold his soul to Beijing and was "forced" to call <font color="#FF0000">China</font> the "heartland" (內地):<br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R7aJToYzldM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R7aJToYzldM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">9:00 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7aJToYzldM" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">Kenny Wen Teaches: How to sell your soul to the demons in Beijing</a>"</font></center><br />* A <i>Taiwan Matters</i> post with links to videos of the entire debate referred to in Lee's piece: "<a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/04/ralph-jennings-pushes-anti-taiwan-pro.html" title="Hurry! The debate's over! How can I kiss Ma's pigu?!">Ralph Jennings pushes anti-Taiwan, pro-Ma propaganda</a>"<br /><br />* If you need help with the videos linked in the post at the link above, the <i>Taipei Times</i> translated the entire debate between Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) into English:<br />- <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/04/26/2003471543" title="Tsai: '' You never persist in Taiwan's sovereignty and always refer to Taiwan and China as the 'Taiwan region' and 'the Mainland region.' ''">Part One: Ma, Tsai lock horns in ECFA debate</a><br />- <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/04/27/2003471594" title="I count at least 14 instances of ''mainland'' used by Ma -- Tsai uses the term only in the title of the ''Mainland Affairs Council''">Part Two: Tsai questions Ma on job losses from signing ECFA</a><br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Words which mean things: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/propaganda" rel="tag" title="(usu. neg.) ''info., ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm''">propaganda</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/宣傳" rel="tag" title="propaganda">宣傳</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/brainwashing" rel="tag" title="From the Mandarin ''xǐnǎo''">brainwashing</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/洗腦" rel="tag" title="brainwashing">洗腦</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Lee+Hsiao-feng" rel="tag" title="Professor at National Taipei University's Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture">Lee Hsiao-feng</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/李筱峰" rel="tag" title="Lee Hsiao-feng, AKA Jim Lee">李筱峰</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/mainland-which-mainland.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-86521479036423516352010-06-07T00:39:00.003+08:002010-06-07T00:44:23.851+08:00Ralph Jennings misreports on Taiwan again<b>Completely unacceptable</b><br /><br />On my Facebook wall, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1624797429#!/profile.php?id=1624797429&v=wall&story_fbid=134514303225717&ref=mf" title="''More BS from the notorious Ralph Jennings [...]''">Alex Raymond alerted me</a> to a Ralph Jennings piece from Saturday titled "<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65426720100605?type=politicsNews" title="Ralph Jennings - Taipei - Sat Jun 5, 2010 11:57am EDT">Taiwanese show guarded acceptance of China pact</a>."<br /><br />Do Taiwanese "accept" this so-called Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) at all?<br /><br />Take a look this particular paragraph of Jennings' article [emphasis mine]:<blockquote><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Political analysts said the size of the protest,</span> <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">a month after</span> a sit-in in Taipei attracted <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">only a few hundred</span>, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">was an indication that Taiwan's public accepted the deal</span>, wanted to know more details or believed the government was deaf to protests.</blockquote>The first problem there is that Jennings quotes unnamed "political analysts." Would it make a difference if these "analysts" were close to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the party he chairs, the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>)? Yes, it would. (See an earlier example of <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/12/media-mendacity-on-taiwan-december-24.html" title="''Jennings fails to answer some essential questions for the readers: [...]''">Jennings' use of similar tactics</a>.)<br /><br />The next problem is the simple lack of deductive logic. The first paragraph of the article claims that the size of Saturday's protest was "10,000" (and Jennings has <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2007/09/915-un-for-taiwan-i-was-there.html" title="Play close attention to the subsection titled ''The numbers game''">greatly underestimated the number of attendees</a> at previous protests by pro-Taiwan groups) and then tells readers of a sit-in that happened "a month" ago (which, in reality, was a 3-day protest which <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/taiwanese-demand-referendum-on-ecfa.html" title="''Taiwanese demand a referendum on ECFA''">ended just 15 days ago</a>) and which "attracted only a few hundred." Gee, according to <i>my</i> math, "10,000" is a much larger number, and 15 days is only <i>half</i> a month.<br /><br />While it may be correct to say that Taiwanese "believed the government was deaf to protests," note how it's not the single possibility which was placed in the headline. Despite the addition of the word "guarded," the one which does appear there (and <i>in</i> the article minus the qualifier) is the one which is the easiest to disprove.<br /><br /><b>Just what <i>do</i> Taiwanese think about this ECFA?</b><br />Let's look at <a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/doshouldo/201006/doshouldo-20100601201132.pdf" title="104 kb PDF file: ECFA公投民調">a poll from the pro-<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> <i>TVBS</i> which was released just this past Monday</a> (May 31, 2010) [104 kb PDF file] for some indications [translations, emphasis mine]:<blockquote>公投題目<span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">「是否同意政府與中國簽ECFA?」</span>:同意42% v.s.<span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">不同意44%</span><br /><br />Voting on a referendum which asks: <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">"Should the government sign an ECFA with China?"</span> 42% say "Yes" while <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">44% say "No."</span><br /><br />[...] 15%未表示意見。<br /><br />[...] 15% expressed no opinion.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />辦 ECFA<span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">公投</span>?<span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">民眾贊成的比例上升至55%</span>,不贊成則下滑到 30%<br /><br />Hold a <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">referendum</span> on ECFA? <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Public support increases to 55%</span>, opposition slips to 30%<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />若辦公投,六成(59%)民眾說會去投票 [...]<br /><br />If there is a referendum, 59% of the public says they will vote [...]</blockquote><b>Bias!</b><br />I don't trust <i>TVBS</i>, but remember that if there's any bias in their poll, it will be in favor of those pushing this ECFA with <font color="#FF0000">China</font>. So, I must wonder: Does Ralph Jennings hate Taiwan and the truth, or will he write <i>just anything</i> -- <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/u/uptonsincl138285.html" title="''It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.''">as long as he keeps getting paid to do so</a>?<br /><br />Don't just accept what you read, especially not when it's written by "pros" who repeatedly provide you with information that is as easily disputed as the stuff Jennings keeps shoveling.<br /><br /><b>Bonus</b><br />Check out how Reuters dissembles even more by using an image (with a caption that only appears as a pop-up) of <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-49073220100605?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11709" title="''Activists wave flags during a protest ***against*** the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) trade deal with China, in Kaohsiung June 5, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Stringer''">cheering Taiwanese atop this version of the article</a>.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Counterpoints: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/ECFA" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">ECFA</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/經濟合作架構協議" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">經濟合作架構協議</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ralph+Jennings" rel="tag" title="Reuters' professional prevaricator">Ralph Jennings</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/唐甯思" rel="tag" title="AKA 'Ralph Jennings">唐甯思</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/media" rel="tag" title="I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!">media</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/媒體" rel="tag" title="media">媒體</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/ralph-jennings-misreports-on-taiwan.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-1498844993512415402010-06-05T23:32:00.003+08:002010-06-09T04:08:57.901+08:00Taiwan under Ma Ying-jeou is a mess<b>Gangsters and police hand-in-hand -- and so much more!</b><br /><br /><div style="margin: 0pt 0px 7px 9px; float: right; text-align:center;"><a href="http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4182/sunmoonbiotechgangshoot.jpg" title="Sun Moon Biotech -- the scene of the May 28, 2010 shooting that took place in broad daylight in Taichung City, Taiwan in the presence of four police officers"><IMG SRC="http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/102/sunmoonbiotechgangthumb.jpg" WIDTH="275" HEIGHT="323" BORDER="0" ALT="Sun Moon Biotech -- the scene of the May 28, 2010 shooting that took place in broad daylight in Taichung City, Taiwan in the presence of four police officers"></a><br /><font size="-1">Sun Moon Biotech -- the scene of the<br />May 28, 2010 shooting that took place<br />in broad daylight in Taichung City, Taiwan<br />in the presence of four police officers<br />Photo by Tim Maddog<br />(click to enlarge)</font></div>On Friday, May 28, 2010, the shooting murder of gang leader Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) which took place in broad daylight <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/06/04/2003474577" title="''Four police officers were present at the scene of Friday's killing of gang leader Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠), and during the three minutes and five seconds it took the killer to commit his crime, they hid under a table. Afterward, they did not behave like hardened police officers, but instead rushed to flee the scene.''">in the presence of (at least) four police officers</a> in Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>)-led Taichung City pulled back the curtain on so much of what is wrong in Taiwan today.<br /><br />The two senior officers on the scene were Taichung City Police Traffic Chief Lin Chi-you (林啟右) and Criminal Investigation Corps' Third Division head Lin Wen-wu (林文武). The two lower-ranking officers there were Shih Chang-hsing (石長興) and Sergeant Tai Chih-hung (戴志宏).<br /><br />Surveillance video from the interior of the crime scene exists, but over a week later, not only has this video footage <i>not</i> been shown to the public to help identify and capture the shooter -- it is said to have already been <a href="http://news.chinatimes.com/realtime/0,5255,110101x112010060201269,00.html" title="Hanzi report in China Times Online ''還說錄影帶部分內容被消磁''">partially erased</a>. <b>UPDATE:</b> That page has ironically disappeared, but I fortunately saved <a href="http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8500/newsabouterasedvideoera.png" title="''還說錄影帶部分內容被消磁''">an image of the web page</a>. [/update]<br /><br />Could somebody be hiding something, y'think? Can you say "accessories to the crime"?<br /><br />Were the police officers there simply "drinking tea," as has been reported, were they "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/06/05/2003474724" title="''They were reportedly playing mahjong and hid under a table when Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) was shot.''">playing mahjong</a>," or is such speculation just a distraction from what was really going on? So far, we can only rely on the testimony of seemingly untrustworthy sources. Right away all four officers on the scene <a href="http://news.chinatimes.com/focus/0,5243,50105529x112010060200099,00.html" title="''四名官警昨天口徑一致表示不認識翁奇楠''">claimed that they "didn't know" Wang</a>.<br /><br />But just days later, the story changes slightly. Also at the scene was retired officer Chen Wen-hsiung (陳文雄, the one you may have seen on TV yelling about people making "groundless accusations"), who <a href="http://news.chinatimes.com/focus/0,5243,50105543x112010060300180,00.html" title="''翁奇楠遭槍擊案在場的前台中市警局少年隊副隊長陳文雄,昨天出面否認插股領薪。他說,三個月到翁奇楠處九次,純泡茶,絕無打麻將。他承認認識翁奇楠,但無深交,不滿名嘴稱他和黑道角頭泡茶,被說成十惡不赦,痛罵名嘴IQ低,「阿達馬空固力」(腦袋裝水泥),再汙蔑他就提告。''">now admits that <i>he</i> knew Wang</a>, though he claims he "didn't know him well," and he <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/06/03/2003474539" title="''Commandos arrive in Taichung''">says he invited the other four</a> to the location. Tsk, tsk!<br /><br />How long will it be before the story changes again?<br /><br />Taichung Police Commissioner <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/06/04/2003474637" title="Taichung police commissioner offers resignation">Hu Mu-yuan (胡木源) has already resigned</a> as a result of this scandal. However, the re-election campaign of Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) -- a <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> politician who has already held office since 2002 (thus having had plenty of time to do something about public order) -- is sure to suffer as a result of the constant attention being given to this matter.<br /><br />Mayor Hu has <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/06/02/2003474479" title="''Taichung deploys SWAT to fight crime''">repeatedly "declared war" on gangs</a>, yet according to the National Police Agency (警政署), <a href="http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/jun/1/today-fo4.htm" title="''警政署「犯罪指標犯罪率」統計顯示,台中市在全國所有縣市中,每十萬人口犯罪指標犯罪率,從九十二年起曾連續六年治安狀況吊車尾,直到九十八年才晉升一名,成為倒數第二。''">Taichung's crime rate has been the highest in the nation</a> during the past six years.<br /><br />This sure doesn't look anything like the "clean" <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> promised by Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in his 2008 presidential election campaign.<br /><br /><b>The undemocratic Referendum <strike>Review</strike> <i>Rejection</i> Committee</b><br />In news about Taiwan's disappearing democracy, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/06/05/2003474716" title="''Although it sparked an angry response on Thursday night, the Executive Yuan's Referendum Review Committee's decision to turn down a proposal by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) for a referendum on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China wasn't exactly a surprise. ¶ In fact, months ago members of the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan were telling this newspaper that they did not expect the referendum proposal would be accepted, even if it was perfectly legal and met all relevant benchmarks.">to no one's surprise</a>, the Referendum Review Committee <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/06/04/2003474657" title="ECFA referendum proposal rejected">rejected the second proposal</a> for a referendum on the current government's plan to sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with <font color="#FF0000">China</font>. Even a poll by the deep-blue <i>TVBS</i> tells us that <a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/doshouldo/201006/doshouldo-20100601201132.pdf" title="104 kb PDF: ECFA公投民調: ''相較於去年3月的調查結果,贊成的比例明顯上升7個百分點(48%:55%)[...]''">support for such a referendum increased from 48% to 55%</a> [104 kb PDF file] since March 2009.<br /><br />So why can't Taiwanese have a say in this matter? Referendum <strike>Review</strike> Rejection Committee chairman Chao Yung-mau (趙永茂) is claiming that "<a href="http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=105784&CtNode=414" title="Taiwan Today: ''ECFA referendum proposal thrown out''">The TSU's proposal does not meet the qualification of 'approving a government policy' as stated in the Referendum Act</a>."<br /><br />This is just another of the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>'s word games which treat the Taiwanese as idiots.<br /><br />The Ma government claims that the public supports ECFA, yet hundreds of thousands of signatures had been collected in support of this proposal. Could that number be the very reason the committee voted 12:4 to reject public opinion on something that could affect not only the economy but also Taiwan's sovereignty?<br /><br /><b>Radical (and mendacious) anti-Taiwan media</b><br />In a report on the latest rejected referendum, the <a href="http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&safe=off&q=AFP+Taiwan+China+%22split+in+1949+at+the+end+of+a+civil+war%22&fp=4b3bef2a60bd6aab" title="Google search for [AFP Taiwan China ''split in 1949 at the end of a civil war'']">frequently-mendacious</a> news agency <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agence_France-Presse" title="Wikipedia article">Agence France Presse</a> (AFP) refers to the Taiwan Solidarity Union (<abbr title="Taiwan Solidarity Union Party">TSU</abbr>) -- whose "spiritual leader" is former president (then-<abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>) Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) -- as "<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i-Jx-WqX8fLqfiMNBCH7FiDrMELQ" title="What's so ''radical'' about the status quo?">a radical pro-independence party</a>." More word games.<br /><br />While I have previously complained about the <abbr title="Taiwan Solidarity Union Party">TSU</abbr> being <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2008/04/pro-independence-politician-to-head-mac.html#comment-3903862128024376402" title="Commenting on Michael Turton's blog, ''The View from Taiwan''">infiltrated by Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) redshirts</a>, there are only two groups which would consider the party itself to be "radical," and those groups would be <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/photo/2010/06/05/2008046941" title="This Taipei Times editorial cartoon agrees…">the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> and the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Communist Party that wants Taiwan to submit to their evil will"><font color="#FF0000">CCP</font></abbr></a>.<br /><br />Why isn't anyone in the media referring to those two parties as "radical"?<br /><br /><b>China proves Ma to be a liar (How will he explain <i>this</i> away?)</b><br />After <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/01/23/2003464220" title="Ma: ''Once we ink an ECFA with the mainland, ASEAN countries will not reject the idea of talking with us.''">Ma's repeated claims</a> that signing an ECFA with <font color="#FF0000">China</font> <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/04/28/2003471681" title="''Other countries, which [Ma] did not name, have reportedly told his administration they would be willing to consider FTAs with Taiwan, but recommended he sign an ECFA with China first.''">would open the door</a> for Taiwan to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE65104X20100602" title="''Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Ken Wills''"><font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> officials are ironically the ones who have been more forthcoming</a>:<blockquote>On the China trade issue, Taiwan protested on Wednesday after a mainland foreign ministry spokesman said <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Beijing "resolutely opposed" official contact between its diplomatic allies and Taiwan</span>.</blockquote>Does it matter what <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> officials say about this? Will that stop other countries from signing FTAs with Taiwan? Read what Franck Varga says about that below.<br /><br /><b>US Congress listens to Ma's critics, not to Ma<br />(and Ma listens to no one but China)</b><br />A recent report by Congressional Research Services (CRS) titled "Democratic Reforms in Taiwan" has <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/06/04/2003474655" title="''CRS report notes concern over Ma administration''">expressed "concern" over "the prolonged detention of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)</a> as a result of complaints by writers and scholars whose open letters (see link below) have been previously covered on this blog.<br /><br />An article in the June 4, 2010 edition of the <i>Taipei Times</i> also has this to say about the report [highlights mine]:<blockquote>"A number of professors, writers, activists and ex-officials primarily in the United States have signed open letters on what they called the 'erosion of justice' in Taiwan," the report says.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />The US Congress has also helped, the report says, "by pressing the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] regime to end authoritarian abuses of power in favor of <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">freedoms for all the people in Taiwan, including the majority Taiwanese</span>."<br /><br />The report says that a sustainable democracy helps Taiwan to <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">guard against "undue" Chinese influence as cross-strait engagement has intensified under Ma</span>.</blockquote>Whenever people criticize things about the Ma government that anyone can see with their own eyes, the Ma government will have a response that treats you like you're imagining things (or perhaps that you're "not Chinese, so you couldn't <i>possibly</i> understand"), but their logic doesn't hold up to the facts. That doesn't seem to bother them in the least.<br /><br />But remember this: When the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> says "up," you should think "down" -- <i>way</i> down -- and check things out for yourself.<br /><br /><b>Related reading:</b><br />* David Reid of <i>David on Formosa</i> blogs: "<a href="http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2010/06/ecfa-referendum-rejected/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidOnFormosa+%28David+on+Formosa%29&utm_content=Twitter" title="David on Formosa">Rejection of referendum is a denial of democratic rights</a>"<br /><br />* Ben Goren blogs on <i>Letters from Taiwan</i>: "<a href="http://lettersfromtaiwan.blogspot.com/2010/06/pants-on-fire.html" title="''You know how Taiwan's President has been claiming that signing the ECFA with China will lead to FTAs with other countries? Turns out either he was a hopeless optimist or once again he lied''">Pants on Fire</a>"<br /><br />* Franck Varga blogs about <a href="http://fvarga.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/its-not-a-donkey-its-a-horse/" title="''It's Not a Donkey. It's a Horse!''">gangsters, <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> hypocrisy, and more</a>. As Franck points out, "They [the Ma government] want to let the Taiwanese believe that other countries will not be afraid of the Chinese reaction…"<br /><br />* Michael Turton blogs on <i>The View from Taiwan</i> about <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2010/06/ma-we-need-ecfa-for-other-ftas-beijing.html" title="''Ma: We need ECFA for Other FTAs Beijing: What are you talking about?''">Beijing slapping Ma in the face</a>, noting Bonnie Glaser's <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i>-like "logic."<br /><br />* Look back at <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/2001/08/14/98471/" title="''Elections 2001: Hu takes leap into Taichung politics''">what Jason Hu told the <i>Taipei Times</i> back in 2001</a> when he was running for mayor.<br /><br />* Taiwan Echo writes about the return to days of dictatorship -- <i>and beyond</i>: <a href="http://echotaiwan.blogspot.com/2010/06/ma-to-send-more-military-instructors-to.html" title="Taiwan Echo @ Echo Taiwan">Ma to Send More Military Instructors to Campus -- Elementary Schools Included</a><br /><br />* Part 13 of my series of posts on "<a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/debate-on-erosion-of-justice-in-taiwan.html" title="''Debate on erosion of justice in Taiwan continues: Part XIII''">the erosion of justice in Taiwan</a>" contains links to all the open letters, the responses, and my earlier comments.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Facially-tattooed tears: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ma+Ying+jeou" rel="tag" title="Wants KMT-tler Youth to 'produce another Hu Jintao'">Ma Ying-jeou</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/馬英九" rel="tag" title="Ma Ying-jeou">馬英九</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taichung" rel="tag" title="Taiwan's 3rd largest city, located near the west coast of central Taiwan">Taichung City</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台中市" rel="tag" title="Taichung">台中市</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Jason+Hu" rel="tag" title="Former Min. of Foreign Affairs, Taichung mayor">Jason Hu</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/胡志強" rel="tag" title="AKA Jason Hu">胡志強</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/gangs" rel="tag" title="Groups who use violence and threats thereof to control markets, earn profits, and play ''god''">gangs</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/黑道" rel="tag" title="gangs">黑道</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/police" rel="tag" title="Supposedly on the ''right'' side of the law">police</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/警察" rel="tag" title="police">警察</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/ECFA" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">ECFA</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/經濟合作架構協議" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">經濟合作架構協議</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/referendum" rel="tag" title="The people say...">referendum</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/公投" rel="tag" title="referendum">公投</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/taiwan-under-ma-ying-jeou-is-mess.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-77929961243754319382010-05-20T21:47:00.000+08:002010-05-20T21:49:10.601+08:00Taiwanese demand a referendum on ECFA<b>Be there, or watch it live</b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/05/19/2003473352" title="''About 60 percent of the respondents said a referendum should be held to decide whether the accord should be signed, against 33.3 percent who said it was unnecessary.''">Approximately 60% of Taiwanese of all political stripes support a referendum</a> on the so-called "cross-Strait" [sic -- it should be between two <i>countries</i>] Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA, 經濟合作架構協議) which President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) insists will be signed in June.<br /><br />If you can't be there either today (Thursday, May 20, 2010), tomorrow, or Saturday, you can watch the protest live via Ustream:<br /><center><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="400" height="320" id="utv710946"><param name="flashvars" value="autoplay=false&brand=embed&cid=4179564&locale=en_US"/><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><param name="movie" value="http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/1/4179564"/><embed flashvars="autoplay=false&brand=embed&cid=4179564&locale=en_US" width="400" height="320" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" id="utv710946" name="utv_n_399277" src="http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/1/4179564" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /></object><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/" style="padding: 2px 0px 4px; width: 400px; background: #ffffff; display: block; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Online video chat by Ustream</a></embed></center><br />For more info visit the <a href="http://www.ecfareferendum.tw/" title="Hanzi">ECFA Referendum Alliance</a> (ECFA 公投行動聯盟) site directly.<br /><br />And never forget what <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said about ECFA being one step toward "complete unification of the motherland [sic]":<br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRcpCyfrlHw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRcpCyfrlHw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">0:35 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRcpCyfrlHw" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles</a>"</font></center><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Ballots: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Economic+Cooperation+Framework+Agreement" rel="tag" title="Set to sell Taiwan up the Yellow River">Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/經濟合作架構協議" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">經濟合作架構協議</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/ECFA" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">ECFA</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/referendum" rel="tag" title="The people say...">referendum</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/公投" rel="tag" title="referendum">公投</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/protest" rel="tag" title="Part of democracy">protest</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/抗議" rel="tag" title="Protest">抗議</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/taiwanese-demand-referendum-on-ecfa.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-52905838465690625842010-05-15T02:17:00.001+08:002010-05-15T02:19:52.941+08:00Clarifying distortions about Taiwan's relations with China<b>Nat Bellocchi puts things in focus</b><br /><br /><div style="margin: 0pt 0px 7px 9px; float: right; text-align:center;"><IMG SRC="http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9364/natbellocchi.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="200" BORDER="0" ALT="Nat Bellocchi"><br /><font size="-1">Voice of America image of<br/>Nat Bellocchi via <a href="http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/b5/2009/11/13/a378579.html" title="國際學者專家致馬英九關注臺灣司法公正">NTDTV</a></font></div>Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Nat Bellocchi had an editorial piece titled "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/05/14/2003472895" title="Friday, May 14, 2010, Page 8">The myth about reducing tension</a>" in Friday's <i>Taipei Times</i>. In the eye-opening piece, Bellocchi deconstructs the illusion of the "reduction of tension" between Taiwan and China.<br /><br />It deserves to be read in full, so here's the whole piece [highlights mine]:<blockquote>In a world filled with political tension, cutthroat economic competition and even open warfare, many people long for a reduction of tension, leading to more peace and stability among nations. As such, it was no surprise that when the newly elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government started its policy of rapprochement with China in the spring of 2008, the US welcomed the "reduction of tension" across the Taiwan Strait.<br /><br /><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">The question is whether there really has been a long-term "reduction of tension"</span> and whether that means long-running disagreements might be resolved.<br /><br />It is a fact that <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">for the past two years the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been less bellicose than it was during the eight years of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration</span>. However, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">that is only true because China sees "Taiwan" as moving in its direction, increasing the likelihood that in due time it will be able to force Taiwan — through economic and political means — into some kind of political unification</span>. [<b>Maddog note:</b> While the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) is moving in <font color="#FF0000">China</font>'s direction, the people of <font color="#005500">Taiwan</font> are not.]<br /><br />The present "reduction of tension" is thus <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">artificial in nature</span> as it is <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">predicated on Taiwan capitulating under duress to China</span> in the long run. That is <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">tantamount to saying that law-abiding people giving in to mafia threats reduces tension</span>, when <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">in reality the underlying tension is caused by the aggressor</span>. Now, what will happen <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">if the Taiwanese decide</span> — for whatever reasons — <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">to not re-elect President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2012</span> and a DPP government returns to power? <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Such a government would want to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but at the same time retain Taiwan's hard-won freedom, democracy and independence</span>.<br /><br />It is easy to predict that <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">such a new policy would be labeled as "increasing tension" by the defeated KMT as well as by the PRC itself</span>. It is thus an ironic contradiction that <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">attempts to consolidate Taiwan's democracy and its acceptance by the international community may be seen in some quarters as "increasing tension."</span><br /><br />For those who study Taiwan and observe it closely, there are other seeming contradictions: Shirley Kan of the Congressional Research Service in Washington mentioned three of them during a recent seminar at George Washington University: one, if you want consensus, don't call it a consensus (referring to the so-called "1992 consensus" which has been a divisive issue in Taiwan); two, if you want independence, don't say so; and three, if the US wants to reduce the threat of conflict in the Taiwan Strait, it has to sell arms to Taiwan.<br /><br />Against this background, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">what should the US say or do? For one, it should be more careful in referring to the present trend as "reducing tension."</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">There can only be a true reduction of tension if China moves in the direction of accepting Taiwan for what it is — a lively democracy that wants to chart its own course and determine its own future without undue pressure from the Chinese side</span>.<br /><br />There is no evidence that China accepts or will ever accept this point. It continues its military buildup, has hardly moved on giving Taiwan international space and continues its attempts to lock Taiwan into a position of dependence through economic means.<br /><br /><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">The US thus needs to be more insistent on reducing the Chinese military threat against Taiwan and on the issue of increasing international space for Taiwan</span>.<br /><br /><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">A good start would be for the US to fully support Taiwan's membership in international organizations as stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act and to refrain from anachronistic statements that it only support membership in organizations "that do not require statehood."</span><br /><br />The US also needs to <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">do better at creating an atmosphere wherein efforts by Taiwan's government to consolidate democracy and increase its international presence are seen as enhancing long-term peace and stability</span> in the Strait — <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">in spite of possible objections from a still quite repressive government in Beijing</span>.<br /><br />The basic idea is that — <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">instead of Taiwan moving in the direction of Beijing — the PRC should move in the direction of freedom and democracy. Only then can there be any substantive "reduction of tension."</span></blockquote><b>Further reading:</b><br />* <a href="http://www.taiwandocuments.org/tra01.htm" title="(United States Code Title 22 Chapter 48 Sections 3301 - 3316) via the Taiwan Documents Project">Full text of the Taiwan Relations Act</a> (TRA)<br /><br />* September 3, 2007: <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ma-ying-jeou-seriously-misrepresents.html" title="''[...] having terminated governmental relations between the United States and the governing authorities on Taiwan recognized by the United States as the Republic of China prior to January 1, 1979 [...]''">Ma Ying-jeou seriously misrepresents Taiwan Relations Act</a><br /><br />* April 12, 2009: <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2009/04/taiwan-relations-act-at-30.html" title="''the US is not obligated to defend Taiwan by law [...] although the TRA includes language designed to discourage the use of force by the PRC against Taiwan, the TRA only obligates the US to consider arms sales under certain circumstances, period''">Taiwan Relations Act at 30</a> (Michael Turton points out a common misconception about the US' "obligations" related to the TRA.)<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Wiseguys: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Nat+Bellocchi" rel="tag" title="Former chairman of American Institute in Taiwan, special advisor to Liberty Times Group">Nat Bellocchi</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/白樂崎" rel="tag" title="Nat Bellocchi">白樂崎</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/memes" rel="tag" title="'Virulent' ideas which leap 'from brain to brain'">memes</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/大腦模仿病毒" rel="tag" title="memes">大腦模仿病毒</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/China" rel="tag" title="Hao zhan di Zhongguo">China</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國" rel="tag" title="A mere part of 'mainland' Asia">中國</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/People%27s+Republic+of+China" rel="tag" title="NEVER controlled Taiwan -- not for a single day!">People's Republic of China</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中華人民共和國" rel="tag" title="PRC">中華人民共和國</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/PRC" rel="tag" title="The 'People's Republic' of China">PRC</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/clarifying-distortions-about-taiwans.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-45125391336910802092010-04-26T01:54:00.007+08:002010-04-26T03:11:50.736+08:00Ralph Jennings pushes anti-Taiwan, pro-Ma propaganda<b>Inexcusable biases</b><br /><br />A problematic Reuters piece titled "<a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-47979420100425?sp=true" title="By Ralph Jennings">Taiwan president, opposition clash over China deal</a>" appeared online less than an hour after the close of a debate Sunday afternoon between Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The topic of the debate was the <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/04/24/2003471351" title="''The Presidential Office had originally wanted the two to have a 'dialogue,' but later agreed to debate issues related to an ECFA after the DPP insisted on holding a debate on ***the controversial cross-strait pact.*** ''">controversial</a> Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which Ma has been touting as "urgent" without providing any concrete details regarding the content to the public or to opposition parties.<br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XbpsxrMcJ5Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XbpsxrMcJ5Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">19:35 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbpsxrMcJ5Y" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">ECFA 第一階段申論</a>"<br />Translation: ECFA [Debate] Part 1: Introductory Remarks</font></center><br />A reader e-mailed me about Jennings' "false statement[s]" within [that's a <i>direct</i> quote]:<blockquote>The debate, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">a new step</span> in Taiwan's democracy, is <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">expected to sway public opinion towards</span> an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) set to be signed with China in June.</blockquote>You've got to be kidding me! Jennings -- who has previously labeled me as a "<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2009/06/19/sniper-blogger-gives-taiwan-reporters-a-grilling/" title="''Sniper-blogger grills Taiwan reporters''">sniper</a>" for calling out his lies -- has some nerve. He would have to be hiding under a rock to actually be unaware of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRqMQMG86W8" title="Here's a debate between Lien Chan and Chen Shui-bian in 2004">previous</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWLT1q2QxOU" title="Here's a debate between Frank Hsieh and Ma Ying-jeou in 2008">debates</a> between political adversaries in Taiwan. (Does he mean something else? Whether this so-called "professional" writer and/or his editors are trying to deceive us on purpose is uncertain.)<br /><br />But when Jennings -- working for a wire service whose reports get carried far and wide -- claims that this particular debate is "expected" to do just what Ma <i>wants</i> it to, this functions as the "carpet bombing" variety of propaganda. (My e-mail correspondent notes that the article is <i>already</i> being carried in the <a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/25/worldupdates/2010-04-25T162146Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-479794-1&sec=Worldupdates" title="the star online"><i>Malaysia Star</i></a> and the <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_519060.html" title="with the headline: ''Ma, Tsai clash over deal''"><i>Straits Times</i></a>.)<br /><br /><i>Who</i> is "expect[ing]" this kind of result from the debate? You might think Jennings would provide at least <i>one</i> example of who it is that thinks in a way which precisely benefits Ma. But he doesn't.<br /><br />The article also drops this unbecoming description of Ma's opponent in the very next paragraph:<blockquote> "If we don't do this deal, what else can we do? The rest of Asia is forming alliances," Ma said, his voice rising, as he stood beside <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">anti-China</span> opposition Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen.</blockquote>Why does Ralph Jennings hate neutral reporting? He could have noted how Tsai's party opened trade to <font color="#FF0000">China</font> (which <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37994220090213" title="Jennings: ''Taiwan says China has 1,500 missiles aimed at island''">Jennings knows is targeting Taiwan with over 1,500 missiles</a>) -- just without sacrificing Taiwan's sovereignty in the process.<br /><br />Jennings also "generously" (from Ma's perspective) provided this generalization near the bottom of the article:<blockquote>Television pundits were split on who fared better, giving the island's colourful media talk shows and staunchly divided public plenty to talk about.</blockquote>Which "television pundits"? Jennings doesn't/won't specify, but if you want to read about <a href="http://fvarga.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/taiwan-china-ecfa-and-my-birthday/" title="F. Varga later blogged what I Tweeted in real time">some numbers I saw during and after the debate about "who fared better,"</a> just follow that link. Unlike Jennings, I even <a href="http://twitter.com/TimMaddog/status/12811708666" title="''ETTV (pro-Chinese KMT) asks: Do you support ECFA? Yes: 6,762 (76%); No: 2,080 (24%)''">say</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/TimMaddog/status/12811781924" title="''CTiTV (pro-China/Chinese KMT) asks: Who's winning the debate? Ma: 31,573 (79%); Tsai: 8,490 (21%)''"><i>where</i> I</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/TimMaddog/status/12811980888" title="''ETTV + CTiTV's survey participants (48,905) = less than half of SET's (106,821). What does that tell you?''">found</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/TimMaddog/status/12812417794" title="''SET has started a new poll after the end of the debate: 'Who do you think did a better job?' So far it's Tsai: 15,983; Ma: 981.''">those</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/TimMaddog/status/12813469042" title="''SET's post-debate poll: 'Who do you think did a better job?' So far it's Tsai: 32,957; Ma: 2,786.''">numbers</a>.<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> Here's <a href="http://tw.news.yahoo.com/poll/poll_question.html?catid=578" title="If you have a Yahoo account, you can vote until Tuesday, April 27, 2010">an online poll by Yahoo</a> asking who did a better job in the debate. The <a href="http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/2803/yahoo1272219834522.png" title="Image captured with Screengrab 0.96.3">current results</a> are:<br />* Tsai Ing-wen: 3,682 (59.1%)<br />* Ma Ying-jeou: 2,333 (37.4%)<br />* Neither: 216 (3.5%)<br />[/update]<br /><br /><b>The craptastic conclusion?</b><br />That's anti-Taiwan Ralph Jennings for ya! Go see what other unappetizing things (e.g., positive descriptions of Ma and/or <font color="#FF0000">China</font>, unchallenged counterfactual claims, etc.) you can find in his "reporting."<br /><br /><b>Further reference:</b><br />Taiwan's <i>Public Television Service</i> (PTS, 公共電視) uploaded videos of the entire debate to YouTube. The first segment of the series is at the top of this post. Here are the remaining segments:<br />* ECFA 第二階段交互詰問(1) Translation: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLyoK3Xdar8" title="21:37">Segment 2, Q & A (1)</a><br />* ECFA 第二階段交互詰問(2) Translation: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3qGgexoTBk" title="21:27">Segment 2, Q & A (2)</a><br />* ECFA 第二階段交互詰問(3) Translation: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYxRJzJCnMU" title="21:09">Segment 2, Q & A (3)</a><br />* ECFA 第二階段交互詰問(4) Translation: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGtEkhPryVc" title="21:11">Segment 2, Q & A (4)</a><br />* ECFA 第二階段交互詰問(5) Translation: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_wJKtcAgfY" title="21:06">Segment 2, Q & A (5)</a><br />* ECFA 第三階段結論 Translation: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubfXc_SLAf8" title="14:13">Segment 3, Closing Remarks (5)</a><br /><br />* Perhaps <i>this</i> is the sort of place Ralph Jennings finds such "expectations." After the Sunday debate, the deep-blue <i>TVBS</i> did a survey of 906 Taiwanese over the age of 20. With a margin of error of 3.2 percent, it said that "<a href="http://www.tvbs.com.tw/FILE_DB/DL_DB/yijung/201004/yijung-20100425211445.pdf" title="ECFA雙英辯論後民調">support for ECFA increased by 3 percentage points</a>" [163 kb PDF file] since a survey four days earlier.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Ghouls and strangulations: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Reuters" rel="tag" title="Their editorial policies hurt Taiwan">Reuters</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/路透社" rel="tag" title="Reuters">路透社</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ralph+Jennings" rel="tag" title="Reuters' professional prevaricator">Ralph Jennings</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/唐甯思" rel="tag" title="AKA 'Ralph Jennings">唐甯思</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/propaganda" rel="tag" title="(usu. neg.) ''info., ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm''">propaganda</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/宣傳" rel="tag" title="propaganda">宣傳</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/ECFA" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">ECFA</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/經濟合作架構協議" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">經濟合作架構協議</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/debate" rel="tag" title="Blah? Blah! Bbbbringbbbring! Blah! Bbbbring!">debate</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/辯論" rel="tag" title="debate">辯論</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ma+Ying+jeou" rel="tag" title="Wants KMT-tler Youth to 'produce another Hu Jintao'">Ma Ying-jeou</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/馬英九" rel="tag" title="Ma Ying-jeou">馬英九</a> <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Tsai+Ing-wen" rel="tag" title="DPP chairwoman">Tsai Ing-wen</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/蔡英文" rel="tag" title="Tsai Ing-wen">蔡英文</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/04/ralph-jennings-pushes-anti-taiwan-pro.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-27224773160288459202010-04-06T06:04:00.003+08:002010-04-20T02:50:05.341+08:00Wu Den-yih and his medicine show<b>Is he, too, "selling snake oil"?</b><br /><br />The Central News Agency (中央社) reported about a week and a half ago (Thursday, March 25, 2010) that Taiwan's Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) (Chinese Nationalist Party [<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>]) <a href="http://www.cna.com.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=FirstNews&ID=201003250019" title="2010/3/25 下午 02:42:00">will start cracking down on fake medicines</a> [translation mine]: <blockquote>查緝偽劣藥 政院取締小組動起來<br /><br />Executive Yuan prohibition group initiates crackdown on fake medicines<br /><br />(中央社記者謝佳珍台北25日電)為打擊不法藥物,行政院長吳敦義今天指示成立聯合取締小組,加強稽查<span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">地下電台</span>、夜市、攤販、情趣商店等偽劣假藥販售通路,並請衛生署在3個月內修法加重販售偽劣假藥罰責。<br /><br />(CNA reporter Hsieh Chia-chen [ph], [reporting from] Taipei, [March] 25) In order to combat fake medicines, Premier Wu Den-yih established a task force to investigate <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">pirate ["underground"] radio stations</span>, night markets, street vendors, adult novelty stores, and other fake medicine outlets. He also asked the Department of Health to make stricter laws regarding fake medicines along with harsher punishments for violations.</blockquote>Here's the same story as covered <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/03/26/2003468971" title="''Special task force to fight fake drugs''">in the Friday, March 26, 2006 edition of the <i>Taipei Times</i></a>:<blockquote>A cross-agency task force will be established to combat counterfeit drugs and medical products sold via underground radio stations, the Internet and night markets, the Executive Yuan and the Department of Health announced yesterday.</blockquote>Sounds like a pretty good idea, right? The problem is that "underground radio stations" is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics" title="code words">dog-whistle politics</a> to <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> supporters:<blockquote>Dog-whistle politics, also known as the use of code words, is a term for a type of political campaigning or speechmaking which employs coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has a different or more specific meaning for a targeted subgroup of the audience</blockquote>To these folks, "underground radio" is equivalent to "southern <font color="#005500">Taiwan</font>," "pro-<font color="#005500">Taiwan</font>," ""pro-<abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr>," and/or "anti-<font color="#FF0000">China</font>," and words like those (and "fake medicines" -- which are often associated with the sponsorship of such stations) get them salivating. While a lot of discussion is already focusing on the upcoming (November 27, 2010) special municipality elections, this is an obvious attempt by the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> to stir up their base with irrational hatred.<br /><br />This is all a sham, as the following info will reveal.<br /><br /><b>The kicker</b><br />What do you think "legal" pro-<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> TV and radio stations do for whole days at a time? If you said, "Sell medicine," you'd be onto something.<br /><br />Take a gander at the following screenshots from some of those blue-affiliated TV stations (and see if you can spot a familiar face in the crowd):<br /><br /><center><table width="480" CELLSPACING="12"><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/203/labcoatmansaysithelpski.jpg" title="Buy this stuff for your kids. Their bones are at stake! -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/203/labcoatmansaysithelpski.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="Buy this stuff for your kids. Their bones are at stake!"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">I'm no pirate! I've got<br />a lab coat and a toupee!<br />(Does it make me a Dr?)<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/9961/naturalingredients.jpg" title="Would you put just any old ''natural'' thing into your body? Cat poop? Poison ivy? -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/9961/naturalingredients.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="Would you put just any old ''natural'' thing into your body? Cat poop? Poison ivy?"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">If you wouldn't eat cat<br />poop or poison ivy,<br />you should think twice<br />about taking this, too.<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/9250/grampssaystotakeitholly.jpg" title="Would you take just any old pills this man gave you? -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/9250/grampssaystotakeitholly.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="Would you take just any old pills this man gave you?"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">If I move a walker away<br />and stand up, will you<br />believe I used to need it?<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1941/randomlygavemedsettv.jpg" title="So he grabbed some FK23 and gave it to me, and I took it without even thinking! -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1941/randomlygavemedsettv.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="So he grabbed some FK23 and gave it to me, and I took it without even thinking!"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">Somebody gave me<br />FK23, so I took it. LOL<br />Could've been FM2!<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/1452/myjsfriendsaysnootherad.jpg" title="Does saying something has ''no *other* added chemicals'' mean it has none at all? -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/1452/myjsfriendsaysnootherad.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="Does saying something has ''no *other* added chemicals'' mean it has none at all?"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">Saying it's got no <b>other</b><br />chemicals doesn't mean<br />it has <b>none at all</b>.<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/725/myjsellsmedsstarmandari.jpg" title="Ma Ying-jeou helps his bud sell drugs -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/725/myjsellsmedsstarmandari.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="Ma Ying-jeou helps his bud sell drugs"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">Ma Ying-jeou endorses<br />the guy selling drugs.<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3533/preventh1n1hollywood.jpg" title="Would you trust this to ''prevent H1N1''? -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3533/preventh1n1hollywood.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="Would you trust this to ''prevent H1N1''?"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">Didn't trust Adimmune's<br />H1N1 vaccine? Would<br />you trust this?<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/1483/miraclecure.jpg" title="Cures everything for everybody! -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://imgcash2.imageshack.us/img28/1483/miraclecure.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="Cures everything for everybody!"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">This claims to help<br />high BP, diabetes, kidney<br />problems, enuresis,<br />impotence, and more!<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/96/onepilltodoitallgtv.jpg" title="One pill to fool them all! -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/96/onepilltodoitallgtv.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="113" BORDER="0" ALT="One pill to fool them all!"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">Whatever you've got, take<br />our pills. You might not<br />get better, but we'll profit!<br />(Click to enlarge)</font></td></tr></table></center>Wait! Is that <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr> chairman/President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) I see? By George! It most certainly is!<br /><br />And no, these aren't just commercials. Whole shows use questionable methods to sell these questionable products. (All of the screenshots above were captured between 2:53 and 3:51 PM on Saturday, March 27, 2010.) Do you think Wu's "crackdown" will affect these "above-ground" TV stations at all? Will President Ma be caught in their dragnet?<br /><br />Keep your eyes on this story, but don't bet anything of value on it.<br /><br /><b>Further reading:</b><br />For earlier examples of the use of this specific tactic, search for the word "radio" in these older posts, or at least hover on the links below for a preview (original posts have links to further information):<blockquote>* December 15, 2006: "<a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2006/12/10-or-so-sources-of-kmt-brainwashing.html" title="''The standard of education in Kaohsiung is rather low. These voters have been, er, brainwashed by many media outlets for a long time with ideas about local identity, especially by ***underground*** radio stations.''">10 or so sources of KMT brainwashing</a>"<br /><br />* June 2, 2007: "<a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2007/06/behind-china-posts-curtain.html" title="''* On Tuesday, May 29, 2007, Ocean Voice Radio (海洋之聲) -- an ***'underground' pro-green/pro-Taiwan*** radio station operating in a vast sea of legal and illegal pan-blue/pro-China media -- was shut down [English Google translation] by the pan-blue dominated National Communications Commission (NCC), a group which has ironically been proclaimed unconstitutional. Think they'll send 200 police to the offices of the China Post? (I don't either.)''">Behind the China Post's curtain ... lies a big conflict of interest</a>"<br /><br />* September 24, 2008: "<a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2008/09/ma-ying-jeous-survey-dips-to-new-low.html" title="''The opposition Kuomintang, convinced that it lost the last presidential election in 2004 because of a rumor spread by ***underground*** radio stations, is launching a counterattack. [¶] Wu Dun-yih, secretary-general of the Kuomintang, confirmed yesterday his party is asking 'licensed' radio stations to air its propaganda.''">Ma Ying-jeou's survey dips to a new low</a>"</blockquote>* The <i>Liberty Times</i> (自由時報) thinks Wu's "crackdown" is <a href="http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/apr/5/today-fo1.htm" title="掃蕩地下電台 削弱反ECFA火力?">an attempt to shut out voices opposed to ECFA</a>. (Hat tip to <a href="http://a-gu.blogspot.com/2010/04/pirate-stations.html" title="Pirate stations">A-gu</a>)<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Industry standards: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Chinese+KMT" rel="tag" title="'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國國民黨" rel="tag" title="X is to Taiwan as Nazis were to Austria?">中國國民黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Wu+Den+yih" rel="tag" title="KMT Secretary-General">Wu Den-yih</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/吳敦義" rel="tag" title="Wu Den-yih">吳敦義</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ma+Ying+jeou" rel="tag" title="Wants KMT-tler Youth to 'produce another Hu Jintao'">Ma Ying-jeou</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/馬英九" rel="tag" title="Ma Ying-jeou">馬英九</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/propaganda" rel="tag" title="(usu. neg.) ''info., ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm''">propaganda</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/宣傳" rel="tag" title="propaganda">宣傳</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/underground+radio" rel="tag" title="AKA ''pirate radio,'' these operators circumvent the expensive licensing demanded by those in power">underground radio</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/地下電台" rel="tag" title="underground radio">地下電台</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/04/wu-den-yih-and-his-medicine-show.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-81408301483510393642010-03-08T21:26:00.003+08:002010-03-10T02:10:57.015+08:00U.S. Census 2010: write in "Taiwanese"<b>Now's your chance: You be you!</b><br /><br />A group of Taiwanese-Americans produced this great video below as part of a campaign to address the problem of their group's underrepresentation and to fix it -- or to at least get the ball rolling -- in the United States Census 2010.<br /><br />In previous censuses, many Taiwanese -- including ones who wrote in "Taiwanese" -- were counted as being "Chinese." With your help, perhaps things can change this time around. Please spread the word, and encourage people affected by this situation to participate in the movement.<br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mcFLfw73O30&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mcFLfw73O30&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">2:38 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcFLfw73O30" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">Write in "Taiwanese" - US Census 2010 [PSA Full Version]</a>"</font></center><br /><b>Further reading:</b><br />* <a href="http://www.taiwaneseamerican.org/census2010/" title="10 MINUTES, 10 QUESTIONS, FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS. (More videos, more info)">United States Census 2010. Taiv✓anese! Be counted. Be recognized.</a><br /><br />* <a href="http://annawu.com/blog/2010/03/behind-the-scenes-census2010-write-in-taiwanese/" title="On the Anna Wu Photography | San Francisco Wedding Photography web site">Behind the Scenes of Census 2010: Write in "Taiwanese" | Passion Project</a><br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Choose one or more: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwanese" rel="tag" title="Not the same as ''Chinese''">Taiwanese</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣人" rel="tag" title="Taiwanese">台灣人</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwanese-Americans" rel="tag" title="Americans of Taiwanese birth or descent">Taiwanese-Americans</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台美人" rel="tag" title="Taiwanese-Americans">台美人</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/census" rel="tag" title="Stand up and be counted">census</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/人口普查" rel="tag" title="census">人口普查</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/03/us-census-2010-write-in-taiwanese.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-48334986997684919572010-02-27T22:30:00.002+08:002010-02-27T22:33:20.387+08:00Taiwan's DPP wins big in latest legislative by-elections<b>Three out of four ain't bad</b><br /><br />Today in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Chiayi, and Hualien, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (<abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr>) won three of the four elections which were held to replace legislators elected to other positions in <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/12/quick-analysis-of-taiwans-3-in-1.html" title="''A quick analysis of Taiwan's 3-in-1 election: DPP makes gains, but they aren't enough''">last December's 3-in-1 election</a>.<br /><br />Huang Jen-chu (黃仁杼) beat Apollo Chen (陳學聖) and two "independent" candidates in Taoyuan, Peng Shao-chin (彭紹瑾) beat Cheng Yung-tang (鄭永堂) in Hsinchu, and Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) summarily kicked Lin Te-jui's (林德瑞) ass and handed it to him on a plate (57,451 to 27,138) in Chiayi.<br /><br />In Hualien, which is known as a Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) stronghold, <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) came in second place, but she got an impressiive 40.8% of the votes running against the winner, <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr> candidate Wang Ting-sheng (王廷升), and "independent" Shih Sheng-lang (施勝郎).<br /><br />Here are unofficial numbers given by various TV stations after either victories had been declared or losses conceded in all districts.<br /><center><table width="480" CELLSPACING="30"><tr><td><center><a href="http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5886/1735ettv.jpg" title="5.35 PM results via ETTV -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5886/1735ettv.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="128" BORDER="0" ALT="5.35 PM results via ETTV"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">5:35 PM results via <i>ETTV</i><br />(Click to enlarge)</font></center></td><td><center><a href="http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/5492/1737cti.jpg" title="5.37 PM results via CTiTV -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/5492/1737cti.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="128" BORDER="0" ALT="5.37 PM results via CTiTV"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">5:37 PM results via <i>CTiTV</i><br />(Click to enlarge)</font></center></td></tr><tr><td COLSPAN="2"><center><a href="http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8779/1737ftv.jpg" title="5.37 PM results via FTV -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8779/1737ftv.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="128" BORDER="0" ALT="5.37 PM results via FTV"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">5:37 PM results via <i>FTV</i><br />(Click to enlarge)</font></center></td></tr><tr><td><center><a href="http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4605/1737tvbs.jpg" title="5.37 PM results via BS-TV -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4605/1737tvbs.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="128" BORDER="0" ALT="5.37 PM results via BS-TV"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">5:37 PM results via <i>TVBS</i><br />(Click to enlarge)</font></center></td><td><center><a href="http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/465/1739setn.jpg" title="5.39 PM results via SETN -- hosted by ImageShack"><IMG SRC="http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/465/1739setn.th.jpg" WIDTH="150" HEIGHT="128" BORDER="0" ALT="5.39 PM results via SETN"></a><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">5:39 PM results via <i>SETN</i><br />(Click to enlarge)</font></center></td></tr></table></center>So far, there have been no reports of losing <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr> candidates <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-EDS12AYp8" title="December 6, 2009: ''Shooting in Huwei, Yunlin by loser Chinese KMT candidate''">trying to shoot anybody</a>.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next elections in December 2010 so Taiwan's voters can clean things up some more.<br /><br /><b>Further reading:</b><br />* Here are <a href="http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/liveNews/news.php?no=335738&type=%E5%8D%B3%E6%99%82%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E" title="4席立委補選 得票數公佈">the vote counts for all candidates</a> via the <i>Liberty Times</i>.<br /><br />* Download MS Excel spreadsheets (Hanzi) of <a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/files/Z100227195718/990227.htm" title="第7屆立法委員桃園縣第3選舉區、新竹縣選舉區、嘉義縣第2選舉區、花蓮縣選舉區缺額補選結果">official results from the Central Election Commission</a> (CEC) web site.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Front row seats: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/election" rel="tag" title="Somewhat different from Internet polls by BS-TV">election</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/選舉" rel="tag" title="election">選舉</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/taiwans-dpp-wins-big-in-latest.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-50044403660194471782010-02-27T04:37:00.000+08:002010-02-27T04:38:28.565+08:00Open Letter from the producer of Formosa Betrayed<b>Putting Taiwan in the spotlight</b><br /><br />Will Tiao, the producer of the film "<a href="http://www.formosathemovie.com/" title="Inspired by actual events...">Formosa Betrayed</a>" (被出賣的台灣), which is being released across the United States today, sent this around [emphasis mine]:<blockquote>Dear Friends,<br /><br />This weekend, February 26-28, a new movie about Taiwan will be coming to theaters. Formosa Betrayed is <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">the first American film to ever deal with US-Taiwan relations and explore the issues of democracy, identity, and justice during the White Terror period in Taiwan</span>. The movie was largely funded by Taiwanese all over the United States and Canada, who invested over $6 million into the film. This makes Formosa Betrayed one of the largest pro-Taiwan projects ever funded by the overseas Taiwanese community. Most of these investors are not wealthy -- they are hard working individuals who came to America to provide a better life for their children.<br /><br />I am one of those children.<br /><br />My parents are from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. While growing up, they taught me to call myself <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">"Taiwanese," not "Chinese."</span> This caused them much hardship, which included being put on a blacklist. Some of their friends had worse things happen to them. In some cases, people were killed.<br /><br />The Taiwanese people have suffered at the hands of many over the last century, but these stories have rarely been told or heard. As a second generation Taiwanese American, I feel it is my duty to educate my generation, as well as the world, about the struggles and suffering of the Taiwanese. <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">We cannot allow Taiwan's history and its people's hardships to be forgotten. Once that happens, it only becomes a matter of time before these atrocities are repeated.</span> This is precisely why I dedicated the last five years of my life to bringing the story of Formosa Betrayed to the world.<br /><br />As the turbulent reaction to President Obama's recent arms sale to Taiwan shows, US-China-Taiwan relations is still a touchy subject that is greeted by fleeting interest, faint support, or --perhaps worst of all-- indifference by the American media. I am hoping the release of Formosa Betrayed will help <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">spur greater awareness and wider discussion about these important matters in the United States and abroad</span>. This is why I am urging you to see Formosa Betrayed this weekend with your friends and family -- to enlighten them about Taiwan's embattled legacy and its struggle for democracy.<br /><br />Thank you for your time and interest.<br /><br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Will Tiao<br />President, Formosa Films<br />Producer, Formosa Betrayed</blockquote>Remember that this film is based upon important real events in Taiwan's history, and do everything within your power to see it.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Daily rushes: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/open+letter" rel="tag" title="Dear Citizens of the World, read this, and open your eyes">open letter</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/公開信" rel="tag" title="open letter">公開信</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Formosa+Betrayed" rel="tag" title="A film with the same title as George Kerr's eyewitness account of KMT atrocities in Taiwan">Formosa Betrayed</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/被出賣的台灣" rel="tag" title="Formosa Betrayed">被出賣的台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/White+Terror" rel="tag" title="Just keep saying 'It's only a movie'...">White Terror</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/白色恐怖" rel="tag" title="White Terror">白色恐怖</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Chinese+Nationalist+Party" rel="tag" title="Lost China, but kept the name">Chinese Nationalist Party</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國國民黨" rel="tag" title="''I want my ROC!''">中國國民黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Kuomintang" rel="tag" title="The Nationalist Party of *China*">Kuomintang</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/KMT" rel="tag" title="'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/國民黨" rel="tag" title="X is to Taiwan as Nazis were to Austria?">國民黨</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/open-letter-from-producer-of-formosa.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-81857036442161032042010-02-13T05:12:00.001+08:002010-02-13T05:13:14.262+08:00Lunar New Year in Taiwan: 2010<b>A twofer holiday!</b><br /><br />In addition to being Valentine's Day, February 14, 2010 (Sunday) is New Year's Day as celebrated in several Asian countries. Many people use the term "<font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> New Year" to describe the holiday, despite the fact that the direct back-translation "中國新年" is rarely used; furthermore, it doesn't just belong to the <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font>.<br /><br />Here's something from a couple of earlier posts related to why many people prefer to call this holiday "Lunar New Year" (Taiwanese: Lông li̍k sin nî; Hanzi: 農曆新年; Hanyu pinyin: Nónglìxīnnián):<blockquote><b>It doesn't just belong to the Chinese</b><br /><br />Nor is it just "politically correct." Read about it in <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/02/17/2003349427" title="Make a 'demented trade unionist' cry">English</a> and/or <a href="http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2007/new/feb/17/today-o7.htm" title="via the Feb. 17, 2007 edition of the Liberty Times">Chinese</a>.<br /><br />Happy Lunar New Year! 萬事如意! [=van.su_ru.yi! / wàn shì rú yì!]<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b>Being in a bit of a rush to begin my vacation, I missed these links (all are presented in both English and Mandarin):* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349475" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: Vietnam 亞洲新年 - 越南">Vietnam</a> celebrate Lunar New Year* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349477" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: South Korea 亞洲新年 - 南韓">South Korea</a> celebrate Lunar New Year* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349478" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: Singapore 亞洲新年 - 新加坡">Singapore</a> celebrate Lunar New Year* How the people of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2007/02/17/2003349479" title="Lunar New Year in Asia: Malaysia 亞洲新年 - 馬來西亞">Malaysia</a> celebrate Lunar New Year</blockquote>And here's <a href="http://twitter.com/TimMaddog/status/8999419725" title="Tweeted just before Lunar New Year 2010">an update on the Taiwanese romanization</a> which I derived by using <a href="http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/tw/index.htm" title="''教育部 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典''">an online dictionary on the Ministry of Education (MOE) web site</a>:<blockquote>袂記得 [bē-kì-tit/buē-kì-tit]: Every time you say "Lunar New Year," a Chinese KMT'er cries. Lông li̍k sin nî khuài lo̍k (農曆新年快樂!) Bān sū jû ì! (萬事如意!)</blockquote>And as some people also say, Happy <font color="#005500">Taiwanese</font> New Year!<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Codecs: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/China" rel="tag" title="NOT part of Taiwan!">China</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國" rel="tag" title="A mere part of 'mainland' Asia">中國</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Lunar+New+Year" rel="tag" title="Celebrated in many places besides China">Lunar New Year</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/農曆新年" rel="tag" title="This term can be used even in China">農曆新年</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/lunar-new-year-in-taiwan-2010.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-68072700918026260552010-02-09T04:55:00.004+08:002010-02-10T21:23:19.006+08:00Debate on erosion of justice in Taiwan continues<b>Part XIII</b><br /><br />Michael Danielsen, chairman of Denmark's <a href="http://www.taiwancorner.org/" title="Taiwanhjørnet: ''The purpose of Taiwan Corner is to inform and spread the knowledge about Taiwan's history and society. We supports Taiwan's democracy, Taiwan's right to self determination and membership of all international organisations.''">Taiwan Corner</a> and one of the signatories of the <a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou</a> last November, rebuts Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin's (蘇俊賓) <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/01/08/2003462956" title="Does Su see any ''misperceptions and specious claims'' when he looks in the mirror? Naaaaaaaah!">response to Richard Kagan last month</a> with a piece in today's <i>Taipei Times</i> titled "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/02/09/2003465527" title="''Su seems to have a different understanding of democratic involvement than others. Based on his words, cross-strait relations are only important to the legislature if they are related to law, and the public should only have involvement between elections via the media. However, the agreements involving China and Taiwan deal with the key issue of Taiwan's future and its existence as a free and democratic nation, and for that reason the agreements are always important to the legislature and the public because of tensions with China and that country's obvious threats to Taiwan.''">Democratic liberty is fundamental</a>."<br /><br />Here are some excerpts from Danielsen's piece:<blockquote>[Su] states that the government will give "due attention to <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">possible flaws</span> in our judicial system" and continued by stating that it will "<span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">keep</span> pushing forward on these fronts."<br /><br />I look forward to <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">actual steps that go beyond mere words</span>. [...]<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />In its report, Freedom House refers to violations of the rights of defendants in criminal cases and other new restrictions on freedom of expression and news freedom. In addition, Jerome Cohen [<b>Maddog note:</b> Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) Harvard professor] and Chen Yu-jie (陳玉潔) stated in the South China Morning Post on Jan. 20 that now "it <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">[the government] is trying to introduce legislation</span> to punish 'obstructions of justice' <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">that will inevitably restrict defense lawyers' activities</span>." [<b>Maddog note:</b> <a href="http://www.usasialaw.org/?p=2630" title="U.S. Asia Law Institute: New York University School of Law">Cohen and Chen's unedited original letter</a>; <a href="http://www.usasialaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/2010-1-20-SCMP-Chen-and-Cohen-Under-Threat_A13.pdf" title="SOUTH CHINA MORNING POSTWEDNESDAY, JANUARY20, 2010">The edited version which appeared in the SCMP</a> (PDF); <a href="http://www.usasialaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/1.21.10CT.pdf" title="孔傑榮專欄-限制律師辯護 法務部別過頭">Hanzi version which appeared in the Taiwan-based <i><font color="#FF0000">China</font> Times</i></a> (<font color="#FF0000">中國</font>時報)]<br /><br />Thus, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">using history over the last two decades to showcase Taiwan's democratic development is deceptive</span>.<br /><br />Su seems to have a different understanding of democratic involvement than others. Based on his words, cross-strait relations are only important to the legislature if they are related to law, and <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">the public should only have involvement between elections via the media</span>. However, the <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">agreements involving China and Taiwan deal with the key issue of Taiwan's future and its existence as a free and democratic nation</span>, and for that reason <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">the agreements are always important to the legislature and the public because of tensions with China and that country's obvious threats to Taiwan</span>.</blockquote>Notice how Su doesn't admit to any "actual" flaws -- only "possible" ones -- and that his use of the phrase "keep pushing forward" implies that his government is <i>already</i> making improvements on the judicial system in Taiwan. Anyone who has paid any amount of attention to this administration will know that it is not so. Danielsen implies as much by saying that he'd like to see "actual steps" as opposed to "mere words." As usual, the retorts make much more sense than the responses from the Ma government have. Look at the reality, test the logic, and you'll see.<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> <i>Taipei Times</i> editor J. Michael Cole writes on his blog how the <a href="http://fareasternpotato.blogspot.com/2010/02/presidential-office-snubs-foreign-media.html" title="The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato">Presidential Office snubbed the foreign media on ECFA briefings</a> -- not a good indication of anything "improving" under Ma Ying-jeou:<blockquote>The Taiwan Foreign Correspondent's Club (TFCC) yesterday lodged a protest with the Presidential Office after being informed that foreign reporters would not be allowed to attend Ma's briefing. The directive is expected to apply to all subsequent monthly briefings. The TFCC was told that foreign correspondents would be able to watch in real time from the Presidential Office press room.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />I communicated this with Reporters Without Borders Asia, which responded by calling it a "disturbing development."</blockquote>How "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/02/10/2003465657" title="''Ma promises transparent ECFA talks''">transparent</a>" is that? [/update]<br /><br /><b>The prequels</b><br />Here are the 12 previous episodes of this long-running series, listed below in chronological order:<blockquote>* <b>November 6, 2008:</b> Scholars and writers from around the world publish an "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/11/06/2003427918" title="By scholars and writers from around the world">Open letter on erosion of justice in Taiwan</a>." The same letter -- <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/10/--if-gte-mso-9xml-wworddocument-wviewnormalwview-wzoom0wzoom-wpunctuationkerning" title="You can, too!">as an online petition</a> -- has been signed by more than 2,000 people.<br /><br />* <b>November 25, 2008:</b> Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/11/25/2003429508" title="Their actions, however, betray their words">calls the open letter "inaccurate."</a><br /><br />* <b>December 2, 2008:</b> "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/12/02/2003430120" title="The writers and scholars reply to Wang Ching-feng">Eroding justice: Open letter No. 2</a>" counters Wang Ching-feng's claims.<br /><br />* <b>January 8, 2009:</b> Over a month later, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/01/08/2003433246" title="'Response No. 2 on justice'">Wang Ching-feng comes up with "clarif[ications]"</a> regarding the open-letter writers' so-called "misunderstandings."<br /><br />* <b>January 21, 2009:</b> "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/01/21/2003434326" title="The number of writers and scholars is growing">Eroding justice: Open letter No. 3</a>" is addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou.<br /><br />* <b>January 24, 2009:</b> Two more "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/01/24/2003434533" title="Randall Schriver and Michael Yahuda">US-based Taiwan experts add [their] names to open letter [No. 3]</a>."<br /><br />* <b>January 25, 2009:</b> President Ma <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/01/26/2003434660" title="We've come full circle, eh?">claims the public had gained confidence in the judiciary in 2008</a> -- the exact opposite of what <a href="http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:Ayp4R2z1YOAJ:www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php%3Fid%3D832380%26lang%3Deng_news%26cate_img%3D83.jpg%26cate_rss%3Dnews_Politics+%22public%27s+confidence%22+%22over+50+percent%22+%22do+not+believe%22+%22judicial+system%22+site:etaiwannews.com&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk" title="'Judicial group calls for reforms'">this <i>Taiwan News</i> article tells us they actually felt</a>:<blockquote>According to recent surveys conducted by Academia Sinica and the Web site Yahoo! Kimo, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">over 50 percent of the people do not believe in Taiwan's judicial system</span> and <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">over 75 percent have no confidence that the Judicial Yuan will undertake judicial reform</span> [...]</blockquote>* <b>May 22, 2009:</b> An estimable group of scholars and writers -- 26 in all, and each one with a deep understanding of Taiwan and the surrounding facts -- has composed <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-open-letter-for-president-ma.html" title="''Another open letter for President Ma: Justice and human rights continue to erode''">an open letter addressed directly to President Ma Ying-jeou</a> (馬英九). The letter addresses the ever-increasing problems with judicial fairness, press freedom, the lack of transparency in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) rapprochement with China, the loss of Taiwan's sovereignty, and the loss of human rights. The argument the letter makes is rock solid. It is based on demonstrable facts.<br /><br />* <b>November 9, 2009:</b> Then there were 31. The <i>Taiwan News</i> publishes an "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars</a>" which reminds us that "a decrease of tension across the Taiwan Strait would indeed be welcome, but [...] that this should not be done at the expense of the hard-won democracy" and that "Taiwan should be more fully accepted by the international community as a full and equal partner." (Here's <a href="http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1258042024" title=".''Ma's Poor Performance Draws Yet a 5th Letter of Protest from International Scholars''">a version with 31 names</a> on the web site of one of the signatories, Jerome F. Keating, Ph.D.)<br /><br />* <b>December 13, 2009:</b> Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) submits the "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/18/2003461189" title="Dude, you guys *don't* ''enjoy[] the firm support of [the] citizenry''">GIO response to Nov. [9] open letter</a>" to the <i>Taipei Times</i>.<br /><br />* <b>December 25, 2009:</b> Richard Kagan, professor emeritus at Hamline University in St Paul, Minnesota and one of the signatories of the November 2009 letter, replies to Su Jun-pin's silliness in "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/25/2003461780" title="''From a historical perspective, Su is engaging in the colonization of his country by an empire. No mater [sic] how pure the pearl is, when it lands in stomach of the predator, it no longer shines.''">GIO's response misses the point</a>"<br /><br />* <b>January 8, 2009:</b> Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) churns out <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/01/08/2003462956" title="Does Su see any ''misperceptions and specious claims'' when he looks in the mirror? Naaaaaaaah!">A GIO response to Richard Kagan</a> (one of the signatories of the November 9, 2009 "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars</a>") in which Su compares apples and oranges by imagining that other people don't know that <font color="#FF0000">China</font> wants to annex Taiwan while the Taiwanese people don't want to be part of <font color="#FF0000">China</font>, ignores what has happened to Hong Kong in the past 12 and a half years, talks about the "double-taxation" issue as if <font color="#FF0000">China</font> won't still get those taxes from Taiwanese businesses, pretends to forget that Taiwan's Straits [sic] Exchange Foundation (海峽交流基金會) chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) referred to himself as a "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/12/31/2003462285" title="''[Chiang] told the legislative committees yesterday that he was just a 'rubber stamp' and that his job was only to sign the cross-strait agreements''">rubber stamp</a>," complains that his government has no control over anything, ignores the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>'s <a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1149078〈=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng" title="''President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government appears to have finally succeeded in its drive to take control over the Taiwan's Public Television Service Foundation (PTSF), which manages the Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) on behalf of our nation's citizens.''">continued attempts to take over Taiwan's Public TV</a> (PTS, 公共電視), confuses gains in local elections with a balanced legislature and a president who listens to majority opinion without oppressing minorities or stupidly saying out loud that he "sees them as humans," and completely omits the fact that the talks regarding an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) -- which <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> officials say "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRcpCyfrlHw" title="DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles">will certainly bring about complete unification of the motherland [sic]</a> -- have been anything but transparent and have not been subject to legislative oversight. These things, Mr. Su, are clear signs of an erosion of both justice <i>and</i> democracy.</blockquote>How long will this go on? Until the people of Taiwan kick the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) out for good -- that's how long!<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Cast of characters: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/erosion+of+justice" rel="tag" title="What happens when authoritarians use money and terror to obtain and hold power">erosion of justice</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/侵蝕司法" rel="tag" title="erosion of justice">侵蝕司法</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Su+Jun-pin" rel="tag" title="Dweebiest Government Information Office minister you've ever seen">Su Jun-pin</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/蘇俊賓" rel="tag" title="Su Jun-pin">蘇俊賓</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Michael+Danielsen" rel="tag" title="Chairman of Denmark's Taiwan Corner">Michael Danielsen</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/麥可丹尼爾森" rel="tag" title="Michael Danielsen">麥可丹尼爾森</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/debate-on-erosion-of-justice-in-taiwan.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-41300461113169041922010-01-26T05:28:00.002+08:002010-01-26T05:32:42.287+08:00ECFA is being signed under a one-China framework<b>In case you still had any doubts...</b><br /><br />It should be obvious to anyone not in a persistent vegetative state (and even that might not be enough of an obstacle to miss this) that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) being "negotiated" between the Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) in Taiwan and the <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> Communist Party (<abbr title="The *Chinese* Communist Party that wants Taiwan to submit to their evil will"><font color="#FF0000">CCP</font></abbr>) is annexing Taiwan to <font color="#FF0000">China</font>.<br /><br />Today's <i>Taipei Times</i> <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/01/26/2003464419" title="''Ma could cave in to PRC: opposition''">contains the money quotes</a>:<blockquote>MAC [<b>Maddog note:</b> the so-called "Mainland" Affairs Council] Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said that under the Act Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">the relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is "region to region."</span><br /><br />"The legislature passed the law in 1992 and since then such a legal status has never been changed no matter who is in power, including former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) or [President] Ma Ying-jeou," Liu said.<br /><br />"Such a <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">theory</span> is not something new invented by President Ma and <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">that is why the trade pact is called a cross-strait economic framework agreement</span>," he said.<br /><br /><span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">Liu made the remarks</span> after being asked by the Taipei Times at a press conference yesterday morning <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">to clarify Ma's comments describing cross-strait ties as being "between two regions."</span><br /><br />Liu also said the administration did not want to specify a timeframe for the signing of a free-trade agreement (FTA) with China within an ECFA.<br /><br />He did not say why, only emphasizing that <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">cross-strait ties were "special."</span></blockquote>One thing stands out here: The Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government is not treating <font color="#FF0000">China</font> like the <b>foreign (enemy) country</b> that it is.<br /><br />And in case you've forgotten how that <b>foreign (enemy) country</b> on the other side of the Taiwan Strait sees the ECFA, listen to their premier, Wen Jiabao (溫家寶):<br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRcpCyfrlHw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRcpCyfrlHw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><font size="-1" face="Arial">0:35 YouTube video: "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRcpCyfrlHw" title="Here's the original YouTube page with the video">DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles</a>"</font></center><br /><b>Further reading:</b><br />* Wikisource: <a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Act_Governing_Relations_between_Peoples_of_the_Taiwan_Area_and_the_Mainland_Area" title="Wikisource:Laws of the Republic of China">Act Governing Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area</a><br /><br />* GlobalSecurity.org: Remembering when (then-premier, now-VP) Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and (then-MAC Chairman, now-National Security Council Secretary-General) Su Chi (蘇起) <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/taiwan/1999/e-08-17-99-7.htm" title="GlobalSecurity.org: ''NO NEED TO RETRACT 'SPECIAL STATE-TO-STATE' THEORY: PREMIER''">agreed with (then-president) Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) "state-to-state" theory</a> of relations between Taiwan and <font color="#FF0000">China</font>.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">More red flags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Economic+Cooperation+Framework+Agreement" rel="tag" title="Set to sell Taiwan up the Yellow River">Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/經濟合作架構協議" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">經濟合作架構協議</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/ECFA" rel="tag" title="Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement">ECFA</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Mainland+Affairs+Council" rel="tag" title="''responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of policies between the Free Area of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China, which governs mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau''">Mainland [sic] Affairs Council</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/大陸委員會" rel="tag" title="The so-called ''Mainland'' [sic] Affairs Council">大陸委員會</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/MAC" rel="tag" title="The so-called ''Mainland'' [sic] Affairs Council">MAC</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Liu+Te-shun" rel="tag" title="so-called ''Mainland'' Affairs Council Deputy Minister">Liu Te-shun</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/劉德勳" rel="tag" title="Liu Te-shun">劉德勳</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ma+Ying+jeou" rel="tag" title="Wants KMT-tler Youth to 'produce another Hu Jintao'">Ma Ying-jeou</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/馬英九" rel="tag" title="Ma Ying-jeou">馬英九</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Wen+Jiabao" rel="tag" title="Premier of the authoritarian dictatorship known as the PRC">Wen Jiabao</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/溫家寶" rel="tag" title="Wen Jiabao">溫家寶</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/annexation" rel="tag" title="the swallowing up of one country by another, more powerful imperialist regime">annexation</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/併吞" rel="tag" title="annexation">併吞</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/ecfa-is-being-signed-under-one-china.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-77804060478552501092010-01-10T01:19:00.002+08:002010-01-10T06:15:37.718+08:00Big win for Taiwan's DPP<b>Sweeping those dirty counties clean!</b><br /><br />All three of yesterday's by-elections to choose new legislators in Taoyuan (桃園), Taichung (台中), and Taitung (台東) Counties -- all Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) strongholds -- were won by pro-Taiwan opposition Democratic Progressive Party (<abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr>) candidates, and won by surprising margins.<br /><br />While the Taitung by-election was held to replace Justin Huang (黃健庭), who resigned his legislative position before being elected as Taitung County commissioner, the Taichung and Taoyuan elections were held to replace <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> politicians whose elections were <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/12/30/2003462221" title="Taipei Times, Dec. 30, 2009: ''Ma to tour Taiwan until February to stump for hopefuls''">annulled due to vote-buying convictions</a>: Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) in Taoyuan and Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) in Taichung.<br /><br />Here are the numbers for the two major parties extracted from <a href="http://www.cec.gov.tw/files/F100109/20100109184004.doc" title="新聞稿:第7屆立委桃園縣第2選舉區台中縣第3選舉區台東縣選舉區缺額補選選舉結果">a press release (MS Word .doc file) available on the Central Election Commission (CEC) web site</a> (percentage calculations mine, "non-partisan" candidates' votes included in calculating totals):<br /><br /><center>Taoyuan: DPP = 53,633 (58.05%) / KMT = 36,989 (40.01%)<br />Taichung: DPP = 63,335 (55.02%) / KMT = 51,776 (44.98%)<br />Taitung: DPP = 23,190 (49.46%) / KMT = 21,215 (45.25%)</center><br />The Sunday <i>Taipei Times</i> has <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/photo/2010/01/10/2008043617" title="Taitung, Taoyuan, Taichung ballot counts">an English-language chart (in image format)</a> of the same numbers I show above, but including the other candidates.<br /><br /><b>Implications</b><br />The <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> now holds 30 legislative seats (compared to the <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>'s 74 seats), giving them the power to initiate recall proceedings against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) or propose amendments to the constitution.<br /><br />Considering the gains made by the <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> in last month's election and this one, I'm looking forward to <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/01/08/2003462971" title="''DPP's Hsiao Bi-khim to run in Hualien by-election''">the February 27, 2010 by-election</a> (to replace more legislators who were elected as county commissioners in <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/12/quick-analysis-of-taiwans-3-in-1.html" title="Taiwan Matters, December 6, 2009: ''A quick analysis of Taiwan's 3-in-1 election''">the December 5, 2009 3-in-1 election</a>) to demonstrate a real trend.<br /><br /><b>FURTHER READING:</b><br />* <i>Taipei Times</i>: "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/01/10/2003463119" title="''a landmark election success''">DPP wins all three seats in by-elections</a>"<br /><br />* <i>Taiwan News</i>: "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1151709&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng" title="'' a lack of citizen confidence in President Ma Ying-jeou`s right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government and shows the world that 'the voices of the Taiwan people cannot be ignored' ''">Sweep shows voice of Taiwan people, says DPP leader</a>"<br /><br />* <i>Taiwan News</i>: "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1151612&lang=eng_news" title="'' The DPP 'has become a more powerful opposition party' ''">DPP will not launch presidential recall at legislature</a>"<br /><br />* <i>Radio Taiwan International</i>: "<a href="http://english.rti.org.tw/Content/GetSingleNews.aspx?ContentID=93845" title="''the DPP now holds 30 seats, or more than a quarter seats in the legislature, enough to launch motions to amend the constitution or to recall the president''">DPP takes all three legislative by-election seats </a>"<br /><br />* <i>Straits Times</i> (Singapore): "<a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_475406.html" title="''a fresh election victory''">Taiwan opposition scores win</a>"<br /><br />* Reuters' Kelvin Soh and Ralph Jennings "report," Nick Macfie edits: "<a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-45270820100109" title="''Taiwan's anti-China opposition won all three legislative seats up for grabs in by-elections on Saturday, giving it more clout to propose bills in parliament and further pressuring the Beijing-friendly ruling Nationalists.''">Taiwan anti-China opposition gains legislative seats</a>" (Note the use of "anti-China" instead of "pro-Taiwan" -- putting the onus for the antipathy on the wrong side -- and so much more anti-Taiwan BS within.)<br /><br />* AFP: "<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jCWoMq-HlFp4xVwV9CFu1QFmfIBA" title="The phrase ''The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which favours independence from China'' hides the fact that Taiwan is *currently* NOT part of China.">Taiwan opposition scores fresh election win</a>" (Note the big <a href="http://www.zombiewatchnetwork.com/2008/10/17/the-zomblog-zombie-lies/" title="''the lies that just won't die''">zombie</a> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/13/18340/5758/205/371018" title="''no matter how many times they are killed''">lie</a> within the piece which says: "The self-ruled island and China split in 1949 after a civil war.")<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Participants: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/election" rel="tag" title="Somewhat different from Internet polls by BS-TV">election</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/選舉" rel="tag" title="election">選舉</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Democratic+Progressive+Party" rel="tag" title="Minzhu Jinbu Dang">Democratic Progressive Party</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/民主進步黨" rel="tag" title="Democratic Progressive Party">民主進步黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/DPP" rel="tag" title="Taiwan's 'Democratic Progressive Party'">DPP</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/民進黨" rel="tag" title="short form of 'Democratic Progressive Party'">民進黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Chinese+Nationalist+Party" rel="tag" title="Lost China, but kept the name">Chinese Nationalist Party</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/中國國民黨" rel="tag" title="''I want my ROC!''">中國國民黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Kuomintang" rel="tag" title="The Nationalist Party of *China*">Kuomintang</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/KMT" rel="tag" title="'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/國民黨" rel="tag" title="X is to Taiwan as Nazis were to Austria?">國民黨</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ralph+Jennings" rel="tag" title="Reuters' professional prevaricator">Ralph Jennings</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/唐甯思" rel="tag" title="AKA 'Ralph Jennings">唐甯思</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/big-win-for-taiwans-dpp.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5617383.post-76183353843912266242010-01-09T00:49:00.002+08:002010-01-09T00:52:23.229+08:00Taiwan's "Erosion of Justice" saga continues<b>A course in dissembling</b><br /><br />Beginning in November 2008, when former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was first jailed after a long trial by media, a series of open letters on the erosion of justice in Taiwan under the administration of current President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) began. Fourteen months later, the deceptive replies to these letters still come, and each time, they fail to honestly and logically address the issues within. Below, I will discuss the latest of these replies.<br /><br /><b>January 8, 2009</b><br />Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) churned out "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/01/08/2003462956" title="Does Su see any ''misperceptions and specious claims'' when he looks in the mirror? Naaaaaaaah!">A GIO response to Richard Kagan</a>" (Professor Emeritus of History at Hamline University and one of the signatories of the November 9, 2009 "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars</a>" who separately wrote <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/25/2003461780" title="''From a historical perspective, Su is engaging in the colonization of his country by an empire. No mater [sic] how pure the pearl is, when it lands in stomach of the predator, it no longer shines.''">a criticism of Su's nonsensical reply to an earlier open letter</a>). Kagan's letter appeared in the <i>Taipei Times</i> exactly two weeks prior but was not covered here on this blog.<br /><br />However, I must tackle this "response" which is riddled with problems and avoids addressing the facts in Kagan's letter head-on. I will put Su's response in blockquoted black text, and my comments will appear in full width. To distinguish the single quote from Kagan's letter which appears here, it will appear in <font color="#005500">green</font> blockquoted text.<br /><br />After a brief introduction, these are Su's second and third paragraphs:<blockquote>Professor Kagan expresses doubts about why a democratic country such as the Republic of China (Taiwan) would seek to develop closer relations with mainland China, which is not a democracy. As an historian, he surely must know that all members of the international community should and must develop relations with each other, regardless of differences in political systems or even bilateral disagreements over specific issues. The US engages in trade and security cooperation with non-democratic countries throughout the world, yet few question how this might affect US democracy.<br /><br />Similarly, the Republic of China needs to develop relations with all members of the international community to ensure the best interests of the people of Taiwan. It is an internationally accepted fact that mainland China is growing in economic and strategic importance. When the international community wishes to solve major international problems, it increasingly finds that it must engage with Beijing to help find a solution. The US is working more closely than ever with the mainland to deal with managing the global financial crisis, handling the North Korean situation and countering global terrorism. As an integral member of the international community, Taiwan needs to engage with mainland China for many of the same reasons, regardless of any cross-strait differences.</blockquote>Su is comparing apples and oranges by writing as if other people don't realize that <font color="#FF0000">China</font> wants to annex Taiwan while <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/10/support-for-taiwans-immediate.html" title="''Those in favor of unification add up to [ONLY] 8.3%.''">the vast majority of Taiwanese people don't want to be part of that authoritarian foreign regime</a> and that those in <font color="#FF0000">Beijing</font> hold great leverage over those in Taipei. The phrase "cross-strait differences" doesn't give you any idea that these differences entail the governments of two nations claiming to rule the entirety of each others territory -- dangerous claims which have hung over the lives of people in both countries (but mostly those in Taiwan) for over six decades.<br /><br />Note how Su says "a democratic country such as the Republic of China (Taiwan)" above, yet in nearly every other case he treats Taiwan as a mere region. How can anyone take him at his word?<br /><br />Here's Su's next paragraph:<blockquote>However, this is absolutely not in any way at the expense of Taiwan's hard-won democracy. This administration has consistently stressed since taking office that all its policies and interaction with Beijing shall be based on the principle of "putting Taiwan first for the benefit of the people." If improving ties had led to the appalling result Dr Kagan posits of Beijing controlling the dialogue and always getting what it wants, why was no double taxation avoidance agreement signed during the Chiang-Chen [Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林)] cross-strait talks in December, despite being on the agenda? The answer is simple: Disputed details in the wording of the agreement did not accord with the aforementioned principle, so we were not going to sign it, and did not.</blockquote>He ignores what -- despite promises from <font color="#FF0000">Beijing</font> -- <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2010/01/08/2003462905" title="In yesterday's news: ''Beijing warns HK about protesting [...] Beijing would send troops if things got out of hand'' (Who you callin' 'non-peaceful'?!)">has happened to Hong Kong</a> in the past 12 and a half years and talks about the "double taxation" issue as if <font color="#FF0000">China</font> won't still benefit by collecting those taxes from Taiwanese businesses. <font color="#FF0000">Beijing</font> loses <i>nothing</i> on that point, but Su has weakened the foundation of his own argument.<br /><br />Su also completely omits the fact that the talks regarding an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) -- which <font color="#FF0000">Chinese</font> officials say "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRcpCyfrlHw" title="YouTube video: DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles">will certainly bring about complete unification of the motherland [sic]</a> -- have been anything but transparent and have not been subject to legislative oversight. Su skirts around this just below with the phrase "involving domestic laws." Read carefully:<blockquote>The fact that these talks took place between the respectively authorized representative organizations of both sides — the SEF and ARATS — debunks the myth that the cross-strait dialogue is being conducted party-to-party, rather than government-to-government. The Legislative Yuan must approve any accord worked out with ARATS involving domestic laws. Only this administration, duly elected by the voters in Taiwan — and not any political party at either end of the political spectrum — sets cross-strait policy and speaks on behalf of the people of Taiwan.</blockquote>Minister Su acts as if no one heard that Taiwan's Straits [sic] Exchange Foundation (海峽交流基金會) chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) recently referred to himself as nothing but a "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/12/31/2003462285" title="''[Chiang] told the legislative committees yesterday that he was just a 'rubber stamp' and that his job was only to sign the cross-strait agreements''">rubber stamp</a>" in these so-called negotiations.<br /><br />There's also <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/08/31/2003452448" title="''EDITORIAL: Referendum decision bodes poorly''">the strange issue</a> of why the Ma administration <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/28/2003452214" title="''The Executive Yuan's Referendum Review Committee yesterday turned down a petition submitted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) asking for a referendum on the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that the government plans to sign with China.''">won't allow a referendum on the issue</a>, even though the number of signatures collected to initiate the process <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/07/21/2003449187" title="''The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday completed the first stage of its application to hold a referendum, delivering 150,000 signatures petitioning for a referendum on the government's planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China to the Central Election Committee's Referendum Review Committee. [...] The Referendum Act (公民投票法) stipulates that the signatures of 0.5 percent of eligible voters — about 80,000 people — must be collected to apply to hold a referendum.''">was nearly double the required threshold</a>. That's <i>not</i> "speak[ing] on behalf of the people of Taiwan," Mr. Su.<br /><br />While Su dished out some "tough" talk about how much control this government could exert just two blockquotes above, he does a 180 below and says that his government has no control over anything:<blockquote>Professor Kagan's letter also dwelled on the disingenuous complaint that using "Chinese Taipei" as the name of our country in international events and organizations signals a deliberate diminution of national sovereignty. Taiwan's participation in such events under the rubric "Chinese Taipei" during previous administrations did not diminish national sovereignty, nor can it do so now. This government has always sought and continues to vigorously seek the use of our official name, "Republic of China," or at least "Taiwan," in such situations. However, given Taiwan's unique international status, use of our national title is beyond our control. We warmly welcome support from Dr Kagan and his colleagues for the correct use of our national title by international events and organizations hereafter.</blockquote>It actually <i>is entirely</i> under your control whether you choose to participate using such names and whether <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/05/18/2003443908" title="''Please don't worry. We would take action if Taiwan's sovereignty were at risk of being compromised,'' Yeh said">you do so gladly</a> (as in <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/video-of-taiwanese-beauties-in-geneva.html" title="''Taiwan is already listed as 'China (Province of Taiwan)' on the World Health Organization (WHO) web site -- clearly the result of a 2005 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between China and the WHO. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) implausibly denies having any knowledge of this MOU.'' (Follow this link for the original, which contains two more links)">the World Health Organization [WHO] fiasco</a> which did damage to Taiwan's sovereignty) or <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/05/23/2003444330" title="''DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said the fact that the WHO regards Taiwan as part of China proved that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has failed to protect Taiwan's sovereignty. She said that in 2003, Taiwan successfully protested against the WHO when the health body lumped Taiwan and China together during the SARS epidemic. 'Taiwan was not even a WHA observer at that time, but the DPP government was able to persuade the WHO to rectify its mistake. Why is it that the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] has no problem submitting to China?' the lawmaker asked.''">under protest</a>, as the <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> would have done.<br /><br />Su's jeremiad continues:<blockquote>The mantra that democracy in Taiwan is less robust than before utterly conflicts with reality. Domestic political debate in Taiwan is as spirited and vigorous as ever. The local media scrutinize every action of this administration closely, and public demonstrations on political issues of every kind are commonplace. Any concerns that Taiwan is reverting to one-party rule were surely dispelled by the results of local elections held last month. KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] candidates for mayor and county magistrate posts received 47.88 percent of the nationwide vote, while DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] candidates garnered 45.32 percent. There is no clearer proof that the people of Taiwan have the absolute power to choose their government.</blockquote>Here, Su ignores the <abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr>'s <a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1149078&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_taiwan&cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng" title="''President Ma Ying-jeou's ruling right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government appears to have finally succeeded in its drive to take control over the Taiwan's Public Television Service Foundation (PTSF), which manages the Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) on behalf of our nation's citizens.''">continued drive to take over Taiwan's Public TV</a> (PTS, 公共電視). Furthermore, he confuses gains in city, county, and township elections with having both a balanced legislature and a president who listens to majority opinion without oppressing minorities or stupidly telling aboriginals out loud that "<a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2007/12/ma-ying-jeou-tells-aborigines-that-he.html" title="December 25, 2007, with video: 'Ma Ying-jeou tells aborigines that he sees them as humans'">I see you as humans</a>," as Ma did before being elected to office.<br /><br />Su ends his letter like this:<blockquote>The people of Taiwan have every reason to be proud of the democracy and freedom they have achieved. Taiwan continues to shape the debate on whether democracy is attainable in the Chinese-speaking world, even as cross-strait ties improve. We remain resolutely confident that the undeniable fact of democratic attainment in Taiwan will ultimately prove just as, or even more, powerful to spur positive developments on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait. That can only be to the benefit of the people of Taiwan and those of the mainland, as well as the world in general.</blockquote>Look at the language he uses: "Chinese-speaking world" is a culturally-imperialist phrase which ignores Taiwan's many other languages; "cross-strait" is an adjective which hides the fact that <i>two separate countries</i> are being discussed; and Su's repeated use of the word "mainland" (when he means "<font color="#FF0000">China</font>") also reveals how he see's Taiwan's status as a lesser entity. (I'm sure discerning readers can find even more to criticize in the above paragraph.)<br /><br />The minister also must think that you, the reader, have forgotten that while former President Chen has been in jail for over a year now, the Ma administration's "Ministry of Just Us" apparently still hasn't collected enough real evidence to convincingly convict him of <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/09/12/2003453376" title="September 12, 2009: ''The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife to life in prison after handing down a guilty verdict in the graft trial against the former first couple and 11 co-defendants''">the life sentence which has already been handed down</a> and is instead using <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/12/25/2003461767" title="Remember Ma Ying-jeou's recent ''joke'': ''investigators should not smoke when they [torture] suspects to elicit confessions from them''">judicial pressure</a> to try to get those close to Chen -- <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/01/06/2003462794" title="January 6, 2010: 'Former first family housekeeper charged with lying'">even his former housekeeper</a> -- to squeal.<br /><br />All of these things are clear signs of the continued erosion of justice, freedom of the press, <i>and</i> democracy, even if -- in Mr. Su's mind -- it's all sweetness and light.<br /><br /><b>Full Political Alchemist</b><br />Oh, and by the way, Su didn't dare address this important bit from Professor Kagan's letter which <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/25/2003461780" title="December 5, 2009: ''GIO's response misses the point''">demonstrates the GIO minister's lack of logical skills</a>:<blockquote><font color="#005500">Su claims that Taiwan's ranking in the report on 180 countries issued by Transparency International rose to No. 37. This statement reveals political alchemy at its best. For instance, Taiwan's score in 2007 was 34. Numerically it did rise to 37. But the higher a country gets, the greater the index of corruption. Somalia is rated at No. 180. In fact, Taiwan fell into greater corruption by three points.</font></blockquote>Can you say "fail"?<br /><br /><b>The prequels</b><br />Don't forget the earlier parts of this long-running series, listed here in chronological order:<blockquote>* <b>November 6, 2008:</b> Scholars and writers from around the world publish an "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/11/06/2003427918" title="By scholars and writers from around the world">Open letter on erosion of justice in Taiwan</a>." The same letter -- <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/10/--if-gte-mso-9xml-wworddocument-wviewnormalwview-wzoom0wzoom-wpunctuationkerning" title="You can, too!">as an online petition</a> -- has been signed by more than 2,000 people.<br /><br />* <b>November 25, 2008:</b> Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/11/25/2003429508" title="Their actions, however, betray their words">calls the open letter "inaccurate."</a><br /><br />* <b>December 2, 2008:</b> "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/12/02/2003430120" title="The writers and scholars reply to Wang Ching-feng">Eroding justice: Open letter No. 2</a>" counters Wang Ching-feng's claims.<br /><br />* <b>January 8, 2009:</b> Over a month later, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/01/08/2003433246" title="'Response No. 2 on justice'">Wang Ching-feng comes up with "clarif[ications]"</a> regarding the open-letter writers' so-called "misunderstandings."<br /><br />* <b>January 21, 2009:</b> "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/01/21/2003434326" title="The number of writers and scholars is growing">Eroding justice: Open letter No. 3</a>" is addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou.<br /><br />* <b>January 24, 2009:</b> Two more "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/01/24/2003434533" title="Randall Schriver and Michael Yahuda">US-based Taiwan experts add [their] names to open letter [No. 3]</a>."<br /><br />* <b>January 25, 2009:</b> President Ma <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/01/26/2003434660" title="We've come full circle, eh?">claims the public had gained confidence in the judiciary in 2008</a> -- the exact opposite of what <a href="http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:Ayp4R2z1YOAJ:www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php%3Fid%3D832380%26lang%3Deng_news%26cate_img%3D83.jpg%26cate_rss%3Dnews_Politics+%22public%27s+confidence%22+%22over+50+percent%22+%22do+not+believe%22+%22judicial+system%22+site:etaiwannews.com&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk" title="'Judicial group calls for reforms'">this <i>Taiwan News</i> article tells us they actually felt</a>:<blockquote>According to recent surveys conducted by Academia Sinica and the Web site Yahoo! Kimo, <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">over 50 percent of the people do not believe in Taiwan's judicial system</span> and <span style="background-color:#EEEEFF;">over 75 percent have no confidence that the Judicial Yuan will undertake judicial reform</span> [...]</blockquote>* <b>May 22, 2009:</b> An estimable group of scholars and writers -- 26 in all, and each one with a deep understanding of Taiwan and the surrounding facts -- has composed <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-open-letter-for-president-ma.html" title="''Another open letter for President Ma: Justice and human rights continue to erode''">an open letter addressed directly to President Ma Ying-jeou</a> (馬英九). The letter addresses the ever-increasing problems with judicial fairness, press freedom, the lack of transparency in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (<abbr title="KMT = Kuomintang, or 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">KMT</abbr>) rapprochement with China, the loss of Taiwan's sovereignty, and the loss of human rights. The argument the letter makes is rock solid. It is based on demonstrable facts.<br /><br />* <b>November 9, 2009:</b> Then there were 31. The <i>Taiwan News</i> publishes an "<a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1105620&lang=eng_news&cate_img=140.jpg&cate_rss=news_Opinion" title="The number grows...">Open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou by 30 international scholars</a>" which reminds us that "a decrease of tension across the Taiwan Strait would indeed be welcome, but [...] that this should not be done at the expense of the hard-won democracy" and that "Taiwan should be more fully accepted by the international community as a full and equal partner." (Here's <a href="http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome/1258042024" title="''Ma's Poor Performance Draws Yet a 5th Letter of Protest from International Scholars''">a version with 31 names</a> on the web site of one of the signatories, Jerome F. Keating, Ph.D.)<br /><br />* <b>December 13, 2009:</b> Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) submits the "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/18/2003461189" title="Dude, you guys *don't* ''enjoy[] the firm support of [the] citizenry''">GIO response to Nov. [9] open letter</a>" to the <i>Taipei Times</i>.<br /><br />* <b>December 25, 2009:</b> Richard Kagan, professor emeritus at Hamline University in St Paul, Minnesota and one of the signatories of the November 2009 letter, replies to Su Jun-pin's silliness in "<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2009/12/25/2003461780" title="''From a historical perspective, Su is engaging in the colonization of his country by an empire. No mater [sic] how pure the pearl is, when it lands in stomach of the predator, it no longer shines.''">GIO's response misses the point</a>"</blockquote>Don't expect this to end anytime soon.<br /><br />In the meantime, never let your guard down. Stay angry, and fight this injustice every chance you get -- whether it's writing a blog, attending protests, reminding your mother-in-law that not "all politicians are alike" (especially when it comes to Taiwan's two biggest parties), pointing out to your doctors that the lie-filled pro-Ma TV stations blaring in the waiting room aren't good for their patients' physical <i>or</i> mental health, or even just by actively using the name "<font color="#FF0000">China</font>" instead of "mainland" out of mere habit when referring to our bellicose neighbor.<br /><br />And if you're registered to vote in today's elections in Taichung, Taoyuan, or Taitung -- the first two of which are being held as the result of <abbr title="The *Chinese* Nationalist Party that 'Killed Many Taiwanese'">Chinese KMT</abbr> vote-buying convictions -- get out and vote for the <abbr title="Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party">DPP</abbr> candidate in your area.<br /><br />Good people must prevail against injustice.<br /><hr align="left" width="13%" size="1" color="silver"><font size="-1" face="Arial">Dockets for deliberation: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Taiwan" rel="tag" title="NOT part of China!">Taiwan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/台灣" rel="tag" title="不是中國的!">台灣</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/open+letter" rel="tag" title="Dear Citizens of the World, read this, and open your eyes">open letter</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/公開信" rel="tag" title="open letter">公開信</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Su+Jun-pin" rel="tag" title="Dweebiest Government Information Office minister you've ever seen">Su Jun-pin</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/蘇俊賓" rel="tag" title="Su Jun-pin">蘇俊賓</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Richard+Kagan" rel="tag" title="Professor Emeritus of History at Hamline University, author of ''Tawains Statesman: Lee Teng Hui and Democracy in Asia''">Richard Kagan</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/柯義耕" rel="tag" title="Richard Kagan">柯義耕</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/justice" rel="tag" title="Even though it sound a bit like ''just us,'' it's supposed to be ''for all''">justice</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/正義" rel="tag" title="justice">正義</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Ministry+of+Justice" rel="tag" title="... or is it ''Just Us''?">Ministry of Justice</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/法務部" rel="tag" title="Ministry of Justice (or is it the Ministry of ''Just Us''?)">法務部</a><br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/taiwans-erosion-of-justice-saga.html" title="A group blog on politics in Taiwan">Taiwan Matters!</a></font>Tim Maddoghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16943522529132663780noreply@blogger.com