Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Links for Wed

FTVDay2_88
A few links.....
Bonus links... I found that I forgot to post these links from Monday, Feb 25, 10 days ago. Sorry! So enjoy.


BLOG:
MEDIA:

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Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

The DPP risk doing themselves some credibility damage in regard to absentee voting. In theory, absentee voting is a good thing and is something that all mature democracies allow. Allowing it in Taiwan should be a no-brainer. According to this article in the Taipei Times http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/03/07/2003556481 they are proposing allowing it only in Taiwan and not to overseas voters. While they would undoubtedly benefit the DPP, it wouldn't be to the benefit of voters, and therein lies the risk to their credibility. The KMT can easily spin that to suggest the DPP only cares about themselves and not the people of Taiwan. Absentee voting needs to be available to all, not just voters within the country. After all, it's relatively easy for someone in Taiwan to return to their hometown to vote (although I personally think it's ridiculous that they don't shift their household registration to where they actually live), but it's much harder and more expensive for voters in other countries to return to Taiwan for elections. An argument could be made that people outside Taiwan have a greater need for absentee voting than those within, and the DPP should be including them in any proposals even if they aren't likely to be DPP supporters. That's if the DPP wants to comment on the issue with any credibility, that is.

Bob

Michael Turton said...

The DPP's response is that the absentee voting outside would simply be an invitation to China to mess with the vote and to punish firms and owners in China that vote pro-Taiwan, since you know as well as I that the vote in China cannot be secure.

I'm not really convinced that KMT spin since no matter what position the DPP picks the KMT will attempt to spin it.

Michael Turton said...

sorry, should say that I am not really convinced KMT spin is all that important, since they will spin anything anyway.

Anonymous said...

Still not sure what you mean by Delenda Est, since Taiwan is neither Rome nor Carthage...

Anonymous said...

It'd be unlikely that Beijing would allow Taiwanese to vote from China anyway, but if they did, it would be possible to make it fairly secure. Setting it up with international observers on hand in a polling center for example would safeguard against China meddling. And if China doesn't allow that, then absentee voting wouldn't be allowed in China but would in every other country.

Michael Turton said...

I hope that happy outcome of China blocking absentee voting could occur, since they don't want to set an example for the locals. But if the Chinese were smart they'd permit it but not allow international observers. Such observers would be useless since it would be easy to enforce/tamper. I remember the "international observers" in the early 1990s certifying the elections while all sorts of shenanigans went on, so they are basically just tits on a bull as far as ensuring the safety of the vote. But they'd be great pro-democracy propaganda!

Michael

Michael Turton said...

Still not sure what you mean by Delenda Est, since Taiwan is neither Rome nor Carthage...

March 7, 2013 at 9:07 AM


Just think of it as my little joke.

Michael

Anonymous said...

Just think of it as my little joke.

What's the punchline?

Marc said...

Isn't it a no-brainer that to exclude "overseas" Taiwanese access to absentee voting means that it's designed to be used by those in China (that's not overseas, right?) who are most likely to vote Blue? I smell a rat.

Anonymous said...

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_22740766/experts-taiwans-new-visa-free-travel-boon-southern?source=rss

Here's another daily link, about the implications of Taiwan's new visa free travel to the US for southern California, that refers to China and Taiwan as two countries.

"While the two countries are at odds politically, business-to-business relationships are all about making money."

Anonymous said...

Here is a short but interesting link to an article on Taiwan's newest radar system.