Be there if you can!

The Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government is planning to sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA, 經濟合作架構協議) with Taiwan's untrustworthy authoritarian neighbor China on June 29. That's next Tuesday, despite the fact that even polls by media which favors Ma and his party show that a majority of Taiwanese oppose the agreement and that people of all political stripes support holding a referendum on the issue.

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.


Citizens demand a referendum [on ECFA] and oppose the "one-China" market
June 26 [2010], gather at 3 PM @ Wanhua Station and Dinghao Plaza
(Click to slightly enlarge)
Wednesday's Taipei Times has the important details about the 626 protest in English:

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.

[...]

The party said demonstrators would be split into two groups — an "anti-'one China' market" group and a "referendum on an ECFA" group.

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.

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.

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.

The protest is scheduled to finish at 7pm, the party said.

How 'bout we make it 200,000?

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.

Lest ye forget!
And I want to remind readers once again what Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said about ECFA being one step toward "complete unification of the motherland [sic]":

0:35 YouTube video: "DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles"

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Posters: Taiwan, 台灣, protest, 抗議, ECFA, 經濟合作架構協議, referendum, 公投

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: ECFA, protest, referendum, Taiwan, 公投, 台灣, 抗議, 經濟合作架構協議

Gangsters and police hand-in-hand -- and so much more!

On Friday, May 28, 2010, the shooting murder of gang leader Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) which took place in broad daylight in the presence of (at least) four police officers in Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Taichung City pulled back the curtain on so much of what is wrong in Taiwan today.

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).

Surveillance video from the interior of the crime scene exists, but over a week later, not only has this video footage not been shown to the public to help identify and capture the shooter -- it is said to have already been partially erased. UPDATE: That page has ironically disappeared, but I fortunately saved an image of the web page. [/update]

Could somebody be hiding something, y'think? Can you say "accessories to the crime"?

Were the police officers there simply "drinking tea," as has been reported, were they "playing mahjong," 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 claimed that they "didn't know" Wang.

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 now admits that he knew Wang, though he claims he "didn't know him well," and he says he invited the other four to the location. Tsk, tsk!

How long will it be before the story changes again?

Taichung Police Commissioner Hu Mu-yuan (胡木源) has already resigned as a result of this scandal. However, the re-election campaign of Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) -- a Chinese KMT 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.

Mayor Hu has repeatedly "declared war" on gangs, yet according to the National Police Agency (警政署), Taichung's crime rate has been the highest in the nation during the past six years.

This sure doesn't look anything like the "clean" Chinese KMT promised by Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in his 2008 presidential election campaign.

The undemocratic Referendum Review Rejection Committee
In news about Taiwan's disappearing democracy, to no one's surprise, the Referendum Review Committee rejected the second proposal for a referendum on the current government's plan to sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China. Even a poll by the deep-blue TVBS tells us that support for such a referendum increased from 48% to 55% [104 kb PDF file] since March 2009.

So why can't Taiwanese have a say in this matter? Referendum Review Rejection Committee chairman Chao Yung-mau (趙永茂) is claiming that "The TSU's proposal does not meet the qualification of 'approving a government policy' as stated in the Referendum Act."

This is just another of the Chinese KMT's word games which treat the Taiwanese as idiots.

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?

Radical (and mendacious) anti-Taiwan media
In a report on the latest rejected referendum, the frequently-mendacious news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) refers to the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) -- whose "spiritual leader" is former president (then-Chinese KMT) Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) -- as "a radical pro-independence party." More word games.

While I have previously complained about the TSU being infiltrated by Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) redshirts, there are only two groups which would consider the party itself to be "radical," and those groups would be the Chinese KMT and the CCP.

Why isn't anyone in the media referring to those two parties as "radical"?

China proves Ma to be a liar (How will he explain this away?)
After Ma's repeated claims that signing an ECFA with China would open the door for Taiwan to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries, Chinese officials are ironically the ones who have been more forthcoming:

On the China trade issue, Taiwan protested on Wednesday after a mainland foreign ministry spokesman said Beijing "resolutely opposed" official contact between its diplomatic allies and Taiwan.

Does it matter what Chinese officials say about this? Will that stop other countries from signing FTAs with Taiwan? Read what Franck Varga says about that below.

US Congress listens to Ma's critics, not to Ma
(and Ma listens to no one but China)
A recent report by Congressional Research Services (CRS) titled "Democratic Reforms in Taiwan" has expressed "concern" over "the prolonged detention of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as a result of complaints by writers and scholars whose open letters (see link below) have been previously covered on this blog.

An article in the June 4, 2010 edition of the Taipei Times also has this to say about the report [highlights mine]:

"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.

[...]

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 freedoms for all the people in Taiwan, including the majority Taiwanese."

The report says that a sustainable democracy helps Taiwan to guard against "undue" Chinese influence as cross-strait engagement has intensified under Ma.

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 possibly understand"), but their logic doesn't hold up to the facts. That doesn't seem to bother them in the least.

But remember this: When the Chinese KMT says "up," you should think "down" -- way down -- and check things out for yourself.

Related reading:
* David Reid of David on Formosa blogs: "Rejection of referendum is a denial of democratic rights"

* Ben Goren blogs on Letters from Taiwan: "Pants on Fire"

* Franck Varga blogs about gangsters, Chinese KMT hypocrisy, and more. 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…"

* Michael Turton blogs on The View from Taiwan about Beijing slapping Ma in the face, noting Bonnie Glaser's Nineteen Eighty-Four-like "logic."

* Look back at what Jason Hu told the Taipei Times back in 2001 when he was running for mayor.

* Taiwan Echo writes about the return to days of dictatorship -- and beyond: Ma to Send More Military Instructors to Campus -- Elementary Schools Included

* Part 13 of my series of posts on "the erosion of justice in Taiwan" contains links to all the open letters, the responses, and my earlier comments.

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Facially-tattooed tears: Taiwan, 台灣, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Taichung City, 台中市, Jason Hu, 胡志強, gangs, 黑道, police, 警察, ECFA, 經濟合作架構協議, referendum, 公投

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: ECFA, gangs, Jason Hu, Ma Ying-jeou, police, referendum, Taichung City, Taiwan, 公投, 台中市, 台灣, 經濟合作架構協議, 胡志強, 警察, 馬英九, 黑道

Be there, or watch it live

Approximately 60% of Taiwanese of all political stripes support a referendum on the so-called "cross-Strait" [sic -- it should be between two countries] 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.

If you can't be there either today (Thursday, May 20, 2010), tomorrow, or Saturday, you can watch the protest live via Ustream:
Online video chat by Ustream
For more info visit the ECFA Referendum Alliance (ECFA 公投行動聯盟) site directly.

And never forget what Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said about ECFA being one step toward "complete unification of the motherland [sic]":

0:35 YouTube video: "DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles"

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Ballots: Taiwan, 台灣, Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, 經濟合作架構協議, ECFA, referendum, 公投, protest, 抗議

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: ECFA, Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, protest, referendum, Taiwan, 公投, 台灣, 抗議, 經濟合作架構協議

With free English translation by Tim Maddog

Taiwan's DPP has a great ad to enlighten the public about the lies being told by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) about an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) which his government insists will be signed with China. See what Ma says about "sovereignty," and compare it to the direct words of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) about "complete unification" [sic -- the correct word is "annexation" (併吞)]. Cringe in horror as you hear Taiwan's Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) "explain" why he can't talk about the details of this ECFA.

Here it is with English titles (original version below):


0:35 YouTube video: "DPP ECFA referendum ad - with English titles"
Here's the original version in Mandarin:


0:35 YouTube video: "DPP ECFA referendum ad"
For a more complete description (in English) and more links, go to the YouTube pages for either video (links below each video).

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A peck of pixeled peppers for Peter Piper to pick: Taiwan, 台灣, DPP, 民進黨, Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, 經濟合作架構協議, ECFA, referendum, 公投, YouTube, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Liu Chao-shiuan, 劉兆玄, Wen Jiabao, 溫家寶, annexation, 併吞, sovereignty, 主權

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: annexation, DPP, ECFA, Liu Chao-shiuan, Ma Ying-jeou, referendum, Taiwan, Wen Jiabao, YouTube, 併吞, 公投, 劉兆玄, 台灣, 民進黨, 溫家寶, 經濟合作架構協議, 馬英九

Getting graphic

The Sunday Taipei Times has the election results online in graphic form, available as a PDF download.

There are also three articles on the two failed referendums:

* Referendums fail to meet thresholds

* ANALYSIS: Referendum failure could bring necessary reforms [plus a graphic containing translated ballots and pie charts]

* Torn ballots, some arrests reported as the nation votes

The short story is that because of the Chinese Nationalist Party''s (KMT) on-again, off-again boycott of both referendums, the threshold was not met for either one. Therefore, even though 94.01% of the ballots cast for the DPP said "yes" to their proposal to join the United Nations (UN) using the name "Taiwan," and more than 84% of those cast for the KMT-proposed/-boycotted referendum to "'rejoin' the international body using the name 'Republic of China' or any other 'practical' title that would uphold the country's dignity" also said "yes," both referendums failed. There's also the issue of the US government's "denunciation" of the referendums.

Much more info behind those links, including some partisan arrests for suspected vote buying which was nothing like the discussions in non-hushed tones that happened right in front of me yesterday.

The tautology of not throwing hissy fits
Another article gets the headline "Foreign observers laud peaceful poll." Duh! The simple reason it was peaceful is because DPP supporters don't riot when their candidates lose elections, unlike the KMT, which has done so many times before. Be sure not to miss Lien Chan's (連戰) low-class hissy fit described within that very article.

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Ballots, not bullets: Taiwan, 台灣, United Nations, 聯合國, Taiwan 2008 Presidential Election, 2008年台灣總統大選, referendum, 公投

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: 2008年台灣總統大選, referendum, Taiwan, Taiwan 2008 Presidential Election, United Nations, 公投, 台灣, 聯合國

Who's gonna react to this?

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) is having DTs about the lack of martial law in modern Taiwan. Friday's Taipei Times gives us the money quote:

In another development, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday condemned the DPP for accusing him and Ma of "selling out democracy," and dared Chen to declare martial law.

The DPP carried an advertisement in several Chinese-language newspapers yesterday featuring a wanted poster for Wu and Ma, portraying them as heads of a ring of swindlers selling out the country's democracy by urging voters not to cast referendum ballots. [IMAGE]

The ad called on voters to support the DPP.

"The KMT refuses to cast referendum ballots in order to simplify the election process. I call on President Chen not to play dirty tricks," Wu said yesterday while campaigning for KMT legislators in Kaohsiung City. "I dare Chen to declare martial law and bring me and Ma to justice under military rule."

I might hanker for a hunk o'cheese now and then, but never for martial law like these true junkies and their "True Believer" followers do.

Y'think the pan-blue media and the pan-blue blogs will be all over him for this? Naaaah!

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Martial McLuhans: Taiwan, 台灣, martial law, 戒嚴, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Wu Poh-hsiung, 吳伯雄, referendum, 公投, legislative election, 立委選舉, 立法委員選舉

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT, Kuomintang, legislative election, martial law, referendum, Taiwan, Wu Poh-hsiung, 中國國民黨, 公投, 台灣, 吳伯雄, 國民黨, 戒嚴, 立委選舉

Down with Xia!

A piece with no byline on the web site of BBC News tells of the "recycl[ing]" of the former National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂). Then it tacks on some nonsense which the BBC seems to require by policy:

Chiang was the founding father of modern Taiwan, when his defeated army was driven from the Chinese mainland in 1949.

Many native Taiwanese resented this influx of mainlanders, and suffered human rights abuses during subsequent decades.

Mr Chen has sought to undo this legacy, and the re-dedication of the hall is the latest in a series of symbolic changes, the BBC's Chris Xia reports.

Most controversial is a plan to hold a referendum on joining the United Nations as the independent country of Taiwan.

This has provoked fury in Beijing, which still regards the island as a renegade province.

The name Chris Xia is mentioned within. S/He is the BBC's East Asia editor.

Get out your mediascopes
Let's take a closer look at what I quoted above.

"[M]odern Taiwan" is often described as a "vibrant democracy." Chiang, on the other hand, was a dictator (ranked number four in the book Tyrants: History's 100 Most Evil Despots & Dictators), so he can hardly be described as "the founding father of modern Taiwan." The BBC's East Asia editor, however, somehow allowed that to appear in the article. Oh, wait. Xia is the East Asia editor.

UPDATE: The first paragraph from the section quoted above now reads:

Chiang Kai-shek, who once governed all of China, fled with his Nationalist troops to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war to the Communists.

The rest remains as is. Note that the update could still be considered a pro-PRC position.


Screenshot from the Google cache of the page
(Click thumbnail to enlarge)
[/END UPDATE]

"Mr Chen" happens to be President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) (the article does call him "President" in its first line), but he's not seeking to "undo" [Chiang's] legacy." What the Taiwanese resented wasn't merely the "influx," but rather the treatment they got. The resentment that remains is directed specifically at the people who still "hate Taiwan" and treat it as if it were part of China (which it isn't) -- not at the immigrants who have made Taiwan their home and who identify with the people here.

As for the editorial comment about the referendum being "controversial," that sounds a whole lot like a line that could have been fed to Xia by a deep-blue supporter or politician. No wonder Xia doesn't quote a source.

On the web site of Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one can easily dig up the information that will shine some light on Xia's distortion:

According to a poll conducted by the Executive Yuan's Mainland Affairs Council in April 2007, more than 77% of respondents support using the name Taiwan to apply for membership in international organizations, the United Nations included. In the face of such clear-cut public opinion, democratically-elected government of Taiwan must respond accordingly. As such, we have decided to apply for UN membership under the name Taiwan.

Xia considers 77% support to be "controversial"? Feh! Have a look at a sampling of the BBC's own controversial reporting on Taiwan:

1) BBC gets Taiwan all wrong
2) BBC angers all who care about Taiwan
3) BBC still not getting Taiwan right
4) BBC continues Taiwan deception
5) BBC strikes again
6) BBC Taiwan Coverage: Pathetically Biased
7) BBC cooks up more nonsense about Chen recall bid
8) Who will observe the Taiwan observers?
9) BBC has news about Taiwan totally backwards

Finally, as for Beijing being "provoked," remember that it is a policy choice for them, and since the PRC flag has never flown over Taiwan, it couldn't possibly be a "renegade province," so stop saying that.

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Controversy generators: Taiwan, 台灣, media, 媒體, BBC, 英國廣播公司, Chris Xia, Chiang Kai-shek, 蔣介石, CKS, 蔣中正, United Nations, 聯合國, referendum, 公投

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: BBC, Chiang Kai-shek, Chris Xia, CKS, media, referendum, Taiwan, United Nations, 公投, 台灣, 媒體, 聯合國, 英國廣播公司, 蔣中正, 蔣介石

A hissy fit a day keeps democracy at bay
Just yesterday I compared the tendency of the opposition in Taiwan to throw hissy fits with the same tendency in the Republicans in the US. Both take constant advantage of the media to "catapult the propaganda" and avoid real discourse.

This silly image from the front page of Saturday's Taipei Times beautifully illustrates the hissy fits of Taiwan's opposition:


Somebody call the waaaaambulance!
(Click image to view full size.)
The large text across the middle of the picture reads "Referendum kidnaps the election." The pan-blues think that people are too stupid to know how to vote if they pick up all their ballots at once -- or at least that's what they say. I think the truth is that they're afraid that if the election is held in a fully democratic way -- that is, where thugs who are outside of the polling station watching who picks up their ballots can't see what voters are doing -- they'll certainly lose. The referendum to allow the public to show their approval for applying for UN membership using the name "Taiwan" will win, and any remaining credibility the pan-blues' grip on the media has allowed them to maintain will vanish like vapors do when fresh air is allowed to pass through a previously-stagnant space.

The above photo, by the way, accompanied an article informing readers that the Central Election Commission (CEC) delayed their announcement as to whether ballots will be distributed all at once or with separate steps for the referendum ballots and presidential ballots. Hidden by all the squealing going on are the DPP's "stolen assets" referendum and the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) "anti-corruption" one which the article tells us "aims to give the legislature the power to investigate allegations of corruption against the president and subordinates." Mixing the legislative and judicial branches of government contradicts what I learned in Civics class about "separation of powers" in a democracy.

Quiet riot? Don't deny it!
Chao Shu-chien (趙叔鍵), a CEC member recommended by the People First Party, is paraphrased in the article as saying that "distributing the ballots together could spark a riot." He is directly quoted as saying that "If no serious problems occurred last time when the ballots were issued separately, why should we change it?" The piece of the puzzle without which we can't see the truth of the matter is that the opponents of the method used in the previous referendum (that would be the pan-greens) are generally non-violent, while the opponents of the proposed method of giving ballots all at once (that would be the violent pan-blues) threaten violence at just about every turn. (Please follow that link if you have any doubts.)

Vote these bastards out of office soon, please, so we can get beyond this medieval madness!

FURTHER READING:
* February 26, 2004: An editorial in the Taiwan News reminds us that James Soong (宋楚瑜) once said that the "complexities" of collecting and casting three ballots will inevitably spark election conflicts and "riots." (Sound familiar? Didn't they riot anyway?)
* It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy! December 18, 2004: A LAUNDRY LIST OF PAN-BLUE VIOLENCE
* It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy! November 9, 2005: Topsy-turvy Taiwan

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Tangents along a circle: Taiwan, 台灣, United Nations, 聯合國, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, People First Party, 親民黨, pan-blues, 泛藍, pan-greens, 泛綠, referendum, 公投

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT, Kuomintang, pan-blues, pan-greens, referendum, Taiwan, United Nations, 中國國民黨, 公投, 台灣, 國民黨, 泛綠, 泛藍, 聯合國

(TM) Kaohsiung, Taichung, and points between

The correspondents
This past Saturday, Michael Turton and Craig Ferguson were together in Taichung scoping out the old fogeys and hired babes at the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) rally. Feiren and I were (separately) in Kaohsiung, as was Wally Santana of AP. The dateline on a Reuters piece o'crap by Ralph Jennings (a veritable king of loaded language) says he was in Taipei (345 kilometers away from Kaohsiung), and while Bloomberg's Tim Culpan wrote about it, too, he may as well have been phoning it in from an alternate universe beneath KMT headquarters. (Read on, and you'll see why I say so.)

Many participants in the SocialForce.tw discussion took part in overseas rallies, including ones at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York, the Federal Building in Los Angeles, the TECO office in El Monte, CA, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and many other places.

I can only wonder how many people around the globe took part in the day's events supporting Taiwan's entry into the UN.

From here to there
First, some details gathered on my personal adventure to Kaohsiung.

My wife and I boarded a Taiwan Railways train at the station in downtown Taichung, where there was a nice big "UN for Taiwan" banner hanging out front. (Be sure to also check out Michael Turton's impressive panorama of the same scene taken 2 days later when there were far fewer people.)


I didn't know if I'd see or be able to notice anybody aboard who might be headed to the Kaohsiung rally. Imagine my surprise when DPP heavyweight Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) got on my car in Chiayi (嘉義) wearing a green-sleeved "UN for Taiwan" jersey and sat a couple rows in front of me. He reclined in his seat and snoozed through most of the journey there, but before disembarking, a smiling supporter had grabbed his attention, so I didn't get the chance to say hello.

  
At the station in Kaohsiung, it was more crowded than Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving. I photographed a couple of the same kind of banners that Feiren saw there.


So that's why they call 'em "5-star" hotels!
Leaving the train station by taxi, my wife and I headed to our hotel -- a high-class joint a short distance from the start of the parade route. But we were both tired and hungry. I had hardly slept at all on Friday night because I was so excited about the upcoming rally. We looked for food, but of the two nearby places on the map the hotel provided, one was already closed for their afternoon break, and the other apparently no longer existed at that location. So, we went back to the hotel and ordered room service.

By the time we had eaten, the parade had already gotten underway, so we were trying to see how the media was covering it. When I turned on the tube, it was tuned to TVBS where Lee Tao was busy spouting his usual nonsense and looking like his head was about to explode. SET was missing in action. FTV was present and accounted for, so we stuck mostly with that channel.

The TV images showed huge crowds, and we were in an air-conditioned room sitting on a comfortable bed. But I didn't come all that way just to sit there!

    
Inertializing...
Since the parade was well on its way, we hailed a taxi and headed for Nong 16 (農16), which was the end of the parade route and the site of the evening rally. The ride was not short (costing NT$150), so I didn't regret skipping the long walk in that heat. We were able to get out just a short distance behind the big stage.

Pure energy
There was so much happening, I have to refer to my photos and videos to get everything in order. Also, even though I was trying to not to fill my memory cards with images, I filled 3 of them.

    
Miscellaneous observations
Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) had lots of energy with which to fire up the crowd. An aboriginal singer-rapper let the rhythms flow in an exciting rapid-fire manner, yet he carried a wonderful melody at the same time. There were many different kinds of T-shirts for sale. I got myself a special one with a design which I'll keep secret. ;-)

The crowd was composed of people of all ages. I saw a guy walking with an upside-down ROC flag hanging from a ragged broom. A man in front of me had flags from earlier pro-democracy rallies I'd attended (228 Hand-in-Hand, 326 Democracy/Peace/Protect Taiwan). There were people as far as the eye could see (with more and more arriving in droves). An Elvis impersonator sang "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," and other tunes. DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) led the crowd with inspiring cheers. I saw Robin Hood (AKA Robin Dale of "Formosa Lily" fame [see the original video]) in the crowd nearby, Vice-President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) implored the US government in English to understand Taiwan's dilemma. Cabinet spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) via satellite, live from New York kicked out something like a rap -- in Taiwanese:


1:14 YouTube video: "915 UN for Taiwan - Shieh Jhy-wey raps for Taiwan"
Camera/Editing: Tim Maddog
And how could I forget Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) chiding of Ma "Don't Paint Me Red" Ying-jeou:

你為什麼不給台灣一個機會？！

[Maddog translation]
Why can't you give Taiwan a chance?!

Coming up to the end of the event, when Cabinet Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) and Kuan Bi-ling introduced President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the crowd went abso-friggin-lutely wild. See for yourselves:


2:40 YouTube video: "Kaohsiung - 915 UN for Taiwan - Chen Shui-bian, unpopular?"
Camera/Editing: Tim Maddog
At the end of the evening, there were lots of fireworks, the sound system played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at high volume, lifting spirits even higher, people were enthusiastically chanting "Taiwan! Go, go, go!" and the evening, despite some small glitches, was one for the history books. The people of Taiwan, both at home and abroad, along with friends from nations around the world, had stood up and made their voices heard with a peaceful, positive message: "UN for Taiwan! Peace forever!"


A short while later when it was time to go, without necessitating any external pressure, the crowd dispersed in quite an orderly fashion, as they have at every single DPP event I've attended. It was a great end to an awesome evening.

Appreciation
During the rally, I got many smiles, thumbs up, expressions of gratitude, handshakes, and arms around the shoulder for my presence and support. As memorable as it already was just to be there, those things gave the experience an even more powerful flavor which I will forever carry with me.

The soreness
On the downside, my legs were killing me, so after grabbing some nourishment at a nearby bakery, we headed back to the hotel. The TV was strangely not saying a whole lot about the event, so it was time for a little more food, a shower, and sleep.

Rude awakening
The hotel breakfast was pretty bad, and by that, I mean 5-star awful! But equally bad was the China Times (中國時報) hanging on the door handle when we first went out. Perhaps that was the bad taste that lingered within me until noon.


To our surprise, when we picked up the Liberty Times (自由時報) (a "green" paper) from the nearest convenience store, the story wasn't on its front page. (It was on page A3 while the KMT's was on page A2.) However, its "sister paper," the Taipei Times reported it in the front page headline story which, in my opinion, was where it should have been.

The numbers game
First, all the wrong ones, and I'll start with an explanation of what I was alluding to in my earlier remark about Bloomberg's Tim Culpan reporting from "another universe." Head firmly up someone's ass -- perhaps his own -- he says that there were a mere "60,000" in Kaohsiung -- supposedly quoting [DPP] "organizers" -- and "100,000" in Taichung, quoting the KMT. Ralph Jennings of Reuters tells readers that there were "150,000" in Kaohsiung and "100,000" in Taichung. Wally Santana says "more than 100,000" were in Kaohsiung. Even the BBC says, quoting "police," that "At least 100,000 people" took part in the rally in Kaohsiung, and a later BBC story says "250,000." But you know what? They're all wrong -- every last one of them.

My own conservative estimate of at least 500,000 is based on: being there; walking through the whole site twice; actually counting large sections of people; and estimating how many such sections were present. Oh, and there are those photos and videos that I shot, in case you have doubts.



The usual BS
The above articles all contain the usual memes/errors/lies/distortions -- you know, the ones about Chen Shui-bian being "written off as an embarrassment" by his own party or of being "unnecessarily provocative" towards the US and/or China, the ones where the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has the "Chinese" part left off, the ones where Taiwan "split" from China in 1949, the ones where the economy is "sluggish," and so on and so forth, ad nauseum.

Readers of Taiwan Matters should certainly know better than to believe any of that kind of nonsense.

UPDATE: Reuters' "The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Editor" has issued a "correction," apparently a short time before I published this post (see also this) which reads:

China has seen self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than as a separate country since the island broke away from China in 1949 when Mao Zedong's Communists came to power.

Uh, not unless you equate both 1949 Taiwan and 1949 China with the KMT, eh? [/ END UPDATE]

The little surprises
Heading over to Chichin Island (旗津) early Sunday afternoon where the crowds were totally unaware of a "sluggish" economy, my wife almost immediately spotted something exciting -- a green sticker on a light pole reading in white calligraphic script "台灣國" (Taiwan Nation). Thumbs up!

  
But it felt hotter and more humid than the sauna in hell's kitchen, so after stopping at a juice stand across the road, and passing by several of what my wife and I both perceived as being practically identical seafood eateries (no obvious specialties, just the same 50 or so items at every place?), we opted instead to head straight to La Mambo café, where the jingji (經濟, economy) seemed actually rather jingqi (景氣, or bustling).



We were volunteer "lab rats" on the "choo-choo of (potential) death"


Yep, that's right! We returned to Taichung on Taiwan's relatively new High Speed Rail. It was our "first time," and in contrast with what the Consumers' Foundation (Chinese Taipei) would have had us believe, nearly everything about the HSR was easy-breezy.

  
In contrast with what the pan-blue media had been telling me, there were lots of people buying tickets. We got to the station so early (as a precaution) that our wait was actually longer than the trip itself! We walked around the station and checked out the shops, the signage, etc.


Read number 4, and tell me if the TVBS reporter who blowdried their ticket was just a dumbass or was trying to create a story where there was none.
The trip home was fast. It was smooth. I was oblivious to just how much danger I was supposed to be in.


Zuoying HSR Station
Home, sweet potato home
Back in Taichung, I started putting all the photos and videos onto the hard drive, writing this post, editing videos, uploading and tagging photos, looking for others' experiences with the rallies. It took way too long, but I hope I've given you a view that you wouldn't have otherwise seen.

Even more RELATED INFO:
* A guest post from October 11, 2005 by Jerome F. Keating, PhD, on The Peking Duck blog: Should Taiwan have a seat on the United Nations? Most of the important details related to Taiwan's bid to join the UN can be found within that single post.
* Shieh Jhy-wey in New York with more of his "rap."
* A rockin' slideshow from Canberra and Sydney, Australia accompanied by a song called "相信台灣出英雄" (Here are the lyrics) performed by 水龍頭樂團.
* Strangely, a Hong Kong news report gives one of the highest crowd estimates I've seen ("400,000") and has a great image of the parade participants (14 seconds in).
* A musical interlude with video of the twinkling Taipei 101 Tower "UN for Taiwan" display
* Video from the Taiwanese Association in Belgium (Bruxelles/Brussels) in Taiwanese, French, and English
* A video called "UN for Taiwan--Voices from UK" has a couple of members of the UK Parliament speaking out on Taiwan's behalf.
* EuroNews (who seems to have deleted all their online articles) says "Hundred thousand rally in Taiwan over UN bid
." Never mind the inaccurate number in the title -- see for yourself.
* More from EuroNews: "Hundred thousand rally in Taiwan over UN bid, Part 2." This one shows the climax of the evening rally.
* A slideshow of scenes from Vancouver with the song "She [Taiwan] is our baby." Contains some of the same photos linked near the top of this post.
* People from Berkeley to San Francisco "Represent!" their support for "UN Membership for Taiwan."
* Plenty more pictures from New York and Kaohsiung
* A supporter of UN for Taiwan takes a subversive approach to spreading the message.
* More photos from Kaohsiung
* Yushan TV has lots of video (WATCH THE VOLUME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) including this one from the Kaohsiung rally (which contains many of the same scenes visible in Feiren's pictures) which shows that DPP supporters are not only 「一高二低」 ("old, uneducated, and low income"):

Online Videos by Veoh.com
* Here's a video from Taiwan Nathan ("Taiwan Nation" with a lisp?) (WATCH THE VOLUME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

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Fast tracks: Taiwan, 台灣, Kaohsiung, 高雄, Republic of China, 中華民國, ROC, United Nations, 聯合國, referendum, 公投, democracy, 民主, BBC, 英國廣播公司, YouTube

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: BBC, democracy, Kaohsiung, referendum, Republic of China, ROC, Taiwan, United Nations, YouTube, 中華民國, 公投, 台灣, 民主, 聯合國, 英國廣播公司, 高雄

Get your maps, info, and reasons for going to Kaohsiung



Two rallies will be held tomorrow in support of 2 separate referenda. The DPP's, which supports joining the United Nations (UN) under the name "Taiwan," is important in that it will let the world know some very important things:

1) Taiwan is a democratic nation.

2) Taiwan is not part of China.

3) Taiwan's citizens do not want to be part of China.

4) Taiwan's citizens want their nation to be recognized as a a participant on level ground with the international community.

5) Taiwan wants freedom from the perpetual pressure from the US and China to bow to their whimsies.

Here's the content of the DPP's petition:

全國性公民投票案連署人名冊格式

主文：1971年中華人民共和國進入聯合國，取代中華民國，台灣成為國際孤兒。為強烈表達台灣人民的意志，提升台灣的國際地位及參與，您是否同意政府以「台灣」名義加入聯合國？

[Tim Maddog translation:]
Primary text: In 1971 the People's Republic of China joined the United Nations, replacing the Republic of China, and leaving Taiwan as an "international orphan." To strongly convey the will of the citizens of Taiwan and promote Taiwan's international standing and participation, do you agree or disagree that the government should use the name "Taiwan" to join the United Nations?

[More info here.]

Background
Neither the PRC, which now holds the "China" seat at the UN, nor the ROC, which once held the same seat, have ever done anything to give real representation to the people of Taiwan. The PRC flag has never flown over Taiwan. While the ROC flag has done so, the makers of that flag lost their "China" (of which Taiwan was not a part) to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); hence, the ROC claim that Taiwan is a province of "China" is about as slippery a drop of mercury on a Teflon™ cliff. Nevertheless, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still clings to the fantasy that the country from which Mongolia became independent in the early 20th century and which they lost entirely in 1949 still exists. For the ROC to "rejoin" the UN would mean that the PRC doesn't exist.

Foreign backing
The KMT is desperately seeking foreigners to use as campaign props in their own "anti-referendum" rally in Taichung.

I would recommend, instead, that you head to Kaohsiung for the DPP's forward-thinking rally and show your heartfelt support for a democratic Taiwan with a brighter future than the KMT and CCP combined could (and would) impose upon it. If you've never been to such an event, I can't tell you how much the locals will appreciate your participation. If you have, then see you there!

The details
Here's the parade route, via the web site of the DPP:


Click thumbnail to enlarge

Here's a Google map where you can see the rally location -- the big grassy area at center right.

Here's a map I built on Wayfaring.com which shows the route, etc. (Hover on the yellow "bubbles" for notes.):


Click once on the map to change to "satellite" or "hybrid" view, zoom, etc.
I've been seeing contradictory information about times and parade routes, but the latest, most reliable info I have says that people should meet at 3 PM at the intersection of Chungshan 1st Road (中山一路) and Minsheng 2nd Road (民生二路), and the parade will start moving toward "Nong 16" (農16, a large grassy area) at around 4:15 PM. According to my Wayfaring map, the route is 2.44 miles (3.93 kilometers) long. Whatever happens, it shouldn't be too hard to find. There's sure to be a big crowd.

Come together, right now, on the green!
So, get on the ball! Many hotels are already booked to capacity for Saturday night. And if you're watching it on TV from either side of the globe, the climax should be happening at 9 PM Saturday Taiwan time (9 AM Saturday, US east coast time).

UPDATE: Info on the New York rally

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Roots and routes: Taiwan, 台灣, Republic of China, 中華民國, ROC, China, 中國, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, Taidu, 台獨, sovereignty, 主權, democracy, 民主, United Nations, 聯合國, referendum, 公投

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: China, democracy, referendum, ROC, sovereignty, Taidu, Taiwan, United Nations, 中國, 中華民國, 主權, 公投, 台灣, 台獨, 民主, 聯合國