"It was far easier for you as civilized men to behave like barbarians than it was for them as barbarians to behave like civilized men."Last year, while returning home from Tainan, I suffered a strange transporter accident that deposited me in an alternate universe. Today, as I was reading the Financial Times, my computer overloaded and a blast of radiation overwhelmed me.
I woke up to find myself in an alternate universe where everyone had a goatee, the food was spicy, and the woman muscular. Not knowing how much time I had before my counterpart in my universe yanked me back home, I quickly went to the nearest subetheric communicator. Using my knowledge of the ubiquitous Linux operating system, I scanned the nets for any news about Taiwan. Sure enough, I found another priceless historical artifact on the Zhang Mingqing affair, which I was able to smuggle back in my shoe. I post it here for posterity's sake:
Just as I finished downloading, I felt a burst of energy and found myself back in front of my computer. It was a relief to be back in my own universe after experiencing the biased reporting in that alternate universe.CHINESE ENVOY ACCOSTED BY PROTESTERS IN SOUTHERN TAIWAN
(Times of Finance: Taipei) Pro-independence protesters yesterday accosted China's number two man at the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), the organization charged with negotiating the annexation of Taiwan and other Taiwan-China matters as they may arise. The incident occurred as he was visiting Tainan, in southern Taiwan, a hotbed of Taiwanese nationalism, just weeks before a major visit to Taiwan from the head of ARATS.
Zhang Mingqing, the second highest official at ARATs, was visiting Tainan as part of an academic symposium. Led by Tainan City Councilor Wang Ding-yu from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the protesters surrounded Mr. Zhang while he was sightseeing at a local Confucian Temple. During the fracas, Mr. Zhang fell or was pushed. No other violence was offered to Mr. Zhang, and he was immediately helped to his feet by one of the protesters. As he attempted to leave, a man whose connection to the pro-independence protesters was unclear, jumped on his car, damaging the roof. The current ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has long been accused of using gangsters to commit violence at pro-democracy rallies to discredit the opposition.
Officials of Taiwan's pro-China KMT government also condemned the protesters' behavior but said it would not interfere in ongoing negotiations between the KMT and Beijing. Beijing condemned the attack as an act by "extremists" that had "seriously harmed" Mr. Zhang's "personal safety and dignity". "We express our strong indignation and stern condemnation of this barbaric violence and call for the severe punishment of the perpetrators," China's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement. China has frequently been the site of violent anti-foreign protests in recent years.
Mr. Wang denied pushing Mr Zhang, saying that Mr. Zhang had tripped. Videos clearly show that Mr. Zhang fell backwards as protesters shouted and pressed upon him, though they are not clear on why he fell.
Mr. Zhang has a history of making inflammatory, violent statements against Taiwan, including promises to "smash the separatist schemes of the Taiwanese independence movement at all costs.” The morning of the incident he had once again inflamed independence supporters by saying that if there was no independence, there would be no war, an apparent threat to local lives and property. Local citizens have also been upset over the melamine scandal and China's refusal to apologize or provide compensation.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) has claimed Taiwan since 1949, when the KMT retreated to the island after it lost the Chinese civil war to the Communists. However, postwar treaties make no mention of the final recipient of the island's sovereignty, and legal experts consider China's claims doubtful at best.
Saying he was "unwell, " Mr. Zhang returned to China the following day after filing charges in connection with the incident. “I believe those who behaved violently do not represent Tainan residents or the 23 million people of Taiwan,” he said.
[Taiwan]
I've heard this alternative universe can also be reached via a secret door in the Tainan Confucius Temple.
ReplyDeleteSaying he was "unwell, " Mr. Zhang returned to China the following day after filing charges in connection with the incident. “I believe those who behaved violently do not represent Tainan residents or the 23 million people of Taiwan,” he said.
ReplyDeletejust like a typical Chinese politician, he has no fucking clue what the people want. it's going to be a rude awakening for China, and for the first them they'll have 23 million "unruly" (read: free) people who think for themselves, to deal with.
this is perhaps the best defense - to make Taiwan so unappealing and troublesome that it's not worth the effort to gain. Taiwan would require a full time occupation that would cost billions.
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ReplyDelete.
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I feel like I'm in an alternate universe with this new commenting system.
Anyhow, I truly hope some of the corporate media read this post and are truly ashamed of how shoddy their work really is. But alas, that would be an alternat universe, too.
Great job, Michael. This might be an interesting angle to approach some diaries on DKos. Throw reality in their faces within the framework of the corporate media prose.
BTW, how do i get my avatar back?
- STOP Ma.
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That's a tremendously effective example of how a balanced piece could be written on the Zhang Mingqing incident rather than just building in the views of the Pan-blue media. The dirty little secret on English-language reporting on the incident is that I would wager 10 scottish ales that no English-language journalist covered the event. Every single word written on it in the English press has been second hand.
ReplyDeleteOne small update. The Liberty Times and Central News Agency are reporting that the guy who jumping on the car was Lin Jin-xun (林進勳). Lin has been a DPP party member since 1986 and apparently is well-known in Tainan for his confrontational activism.
Lin apologized to the DPP and Taiwanese society for his actions but refused to apologize to Zhang Mingqing, who Lin says is an "enemy." Lin asked the party to discipline him but said that he would fight for Taiwan's sovereignty and called on the people of Taiwan to stand up against the KMT's alliance with the CCP to sell out Taiwan.
"The People's Republic of China (PRC) has claimed Taiwan since 1949, when the KMT retreated to the island after it lost the Chinese civil war to the Communists..."
ReplyDeleteThat must've been some good stuff that the writer smoked because the last time I checked, the Communists did not pursue the KMT after they had fled to the island and Taiwanese people have neither paid taxes to the PRC government in Beijing nor adopted the same currency system as China for the past 59 years. Consequently I am not certain how the PRC has "CLAIMED" Taiwan?!! How ironic too that the guy who has been threatening Taiwan with violence can dish it out but cannot take a little rowdy protest! Now he is filing charges?! Well, get it line buddy, 'cuz we've got quite a few folks who'd like to queque up to file charges against Sanlu Group's melamine milk!
A couple of things that are less reported about this whole incident that I think are really worth thinking about:
ReplyDelete1) Zhang filed charges in Taiwan. What was he thinking? Besides being ridiculous (basically someone might have pushed him but he was walking backwards to begin with), he's implicitly recognizing the "Taiwanese authorities". How do you press charges unless you recognize Taiwan's government?
This is especially noteworthy given how out of the way that China goes to make sure any indirect acknowledgments of Taiwanese sovereignty are eliminated and consistent with China's position, i.e.s calling Hainan Island China's second largest island, very thoughtfully (aww...) saving that number one spot for Taiwan.
2) Zhang showed himself to be a crybaby. He kept saying that he was moved by how well he was taken care of (after being shouted at and falling of course), but I think he kept crying because he's never firsthand experienced Taiwanese people saying what they really think. When you're some Chinese official just watching Taiwanese TV, you can always say those independence sentiments are just some tiny minority. When Ma wins by such a large percentage, you only receive more undue confirmation that what the Taiwanese people _really_ want is to unify with their "motherland". But when you're walking around, and a crowd comes up and tells you what they really think of all those Chinese missiles pointed at Taiwan and shouts in your face that Taiwan is independent and that yeah, those poisoned milk products we don't want that shit, you have a new perspective on reality completely different from the nicely protected media bubble of China.
How do you resolve the contradiction?
Maybe the protest really did accomplish something. Next week's protest I think will be even more of a shock to the by now, closely watching "Chinese authorities".
嗯.. Mr. M.T. are you serious in your comment? You of all foreigners in Taiwan should know that this Zhang incident had nothing to do with protesting X, Y, or Z issues. It was all about Wang using a mob and a manufactured "protest" to position himself for the upcoming DPP primary for the Tainan City Mayoral election 台南市長. 人算不如天算, Wang 秀過頭了 & it got out of hand! lol..
ReplyDeleteBTW, here's another 愛台灣 DPP politician's hypocrisy in plain display (Yeh happens to be competing for the DPP nomination for the Tainan County Mayor 台南縣長). People like Wang and Yeh are truely Taiwan's "democratic miracles"-「民主奇蹟」。
登陸為台灣！ 葉宜津夫婦造訪、進修只為「知己知彼」？(2008/10/23 12:25)
大陸海協會副會長張銘清21日在台南遭到推打，民進黨立委葉宜津曾說對「敵人」不用客氣。不過，現在葉宜津卻被踢爆，不但她本人去過大陸，連她的丈夫也曾經在上海復旦大學念EMBA，國民黨立委質疑，葉宜津夫妻此舉難不成是在「通敵」？對此，葉宜津回應說這個不是通敵，是叫做「知己知彼」。
第一時間聽到張銘清被攻擊的消息，葉宜津的反應是「打倒敵人沒關係」。事隔兩天，葉宜津的陳年往事卻被挖了出來，國民黨立委李慶華指出，「她(葉宜津)自己2003年訪問大陸還接受招待，先生趙哲鴻還在2003.2004兩年到大陸留學，去鍍金。」
對於李慶華的爆料，葉宜津倒是大方承認，她表示，「我只去過南京跟北京，我之所以會去是因為一個非常重要的議題，讓我覺得就算是虎穴我也要去，那就是雛妓引渡。」、「關於我的先生到上海復旦大學念EMBA，是因為他是一個執業律師，有許多台商的客戶要求他要知道他們在那邊所遇到的困難。」
坦承夫婦倆都曾去過大陸，葉宜津強調兩人所為都是為了「愛台灣」。她表示，「蔣介石先生他去日本念書，但是他一樣抗日；蔣經國先生他去俄國念書，但是他一樣抗俄，這個叫做知己知彼、這個叫做更加了解。」
張銘清造訪台灣被說成是「侵門踏戶」，台灣立委跑到大陸卻叫做「知己知彼」，葉宜津的邏輯，讓不少人都諷刺還真是見證了台灣的「民主奇蹟」。(
Thanks, Feiren!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to get the avatar back. Sorry man.
Mostly I wrote this because once again the foreign press coverage omitted crucial facts. We never learn from it the threats that Zhang made. We are often not told why the protesters accosted him. Wang Ding-yu's defense is not presented. The ambiguity of the videos is not made clear to the reader. The reader is not informed of the significance of Tainan. And then there are the factual errors....
Michael
Quit being an idiot, 不藍不綠. Do you think all the protesters there were running for mayor?
ReplyDeleteI heard a good one about Zhang from a client:
ReplyDeleteZhang unwell? I guess the protestors were like antibodies--attacking and eliminating whatever it was that invaded the healthy body.
Geez, you really have been to the alternate universe...
ReplyDeleteWhen I followed your link, I was led back to the normal universe
Chinese envoy attacked in Taiwan temple
I guess the star gate has since closed.
Anyway, thanks for the post.
Anyhow, I truly hope some of the corporate media read this post and are truly ashamed of how shoddy their work really is.
ReplyDeleteWhen did you become a conservative Republcan, Stop ma?
The bias of the press has been well known for years and very little is done about it.
"...the Communists did not pursue the KMT after they had fled to the island and Taiwanese people have neither paid taxes to the PRC government in Beijing nor adopted the same currency system as China for the past 59 years. Consequently I am not certain how the PRC has "CLAIMED" Taiwan?!! "
ReplyDeleteThey don't bother with claiming Taiwan by any conventional methods. Their claim to Taiwan is pretty much just based on race.
不藍不綠, I've been reading your comments for a while now... Rather than taking either a blue or green perspective depending on the subject, it seems that your idea of being 'neutral' is to challenge things that you construe as being green, which makes the majority of what you say come off as blue. It's about time to change your name to 不綠不綠, which if you say it fast enough, is pronounced Blue Blue.......
ReplyDeletehahaha... you are so funny to interpret 不藍不綠 as being 'neutral'. 不藍不綠 could mean orange or RED 喔.... 小心共匪就在你身邊喔 (wink. wink..)
ReplyDelete不藍不綠, anyone else in Taiwan would take your name as trying to be neutral. You are disingenuous when you claim that you are not misrepresenting yourself.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess you aren't the only one. Many Blues that long for the authoritarian past in Taiwan all represent themselves this way.
Yes, RED would be appropriate.
ReplyDeleteIs it true that Wang is running for Mayor? If so, it's highly possible that he bused in the protesters to appeal to the pan-green activist camp by showing his hate for anything mainland Chinese.
ReplyDeleteWhen those missiles could come raining down any minute (gag), there's no low that people wouldn't stoop to...
channing, you and the Blues are so arrogant. I don't understand the "Green politicians manipulation" argument.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you guys ever contemplate the possibility that people are honestly pissed off, scared, and anxious about Ma's pro-China policies? Why is it always about manipulation? Your comment came after Saturday's protests. So, 400,000-800,000 people protest and you are going to say that it's just all about pan-Green manipulation? People running for office and tricking people into protesting? You and Blues that commonly make this argument are off your collective rocker.
When the Ma-Liu government's reaction to melamine is to attempt to use it as an opportunity to build Taiwan-China organizations (a food inspection mechanism) instead of treating the problem, how do you think people are going to feel?
Just look at the latest surveys. Ma's in a jam and if all the Blues can do is blame pan-Green politicians running for office, then there is no hope for this government and this will boil over until real, riot violence happens...
Channing you have no goddamn idea how angry people are...
Anon, I'm not denying any of your points and even I have my reservations about Ma's performance. However, you didn't answer my question, and by sidetracking me by calling me nasty names, you're not really presenting much of a case against me.
ReplyDeleteAnd you want to tell me what I know and do not know...let's start with a chill pill, shall we?
I am afraid that the source that you based your blog on was one sided. I did see the video, from udn and other news sources. He did "inadvertently" pushed him and instead of apologizing when you "accidentally" bump into someone like a civilized human being he said "Nothing wrong with hitting the enemy". This is still a civil war. Yes Taiwan has its own sovereignty and by Chang pressing charges, he recognized that.
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked, the last time a democrat/republican hit each other they apologize or go to jail for battery and assault.
Yes, UDN is not one sided. LOL.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Democrats and Republicans belong to and love the same country, whereas Zhang belongs to the country that has tried to annex this one, and has personally threatened to murder Taiwanese on several occasions if they disagree with him.
Your analogy is stupid, and your source is completely biased. Where is the link to the UDN video?
Michael
Is it true that Wang is running for Mayor? If so, it's highly possible that he bused in the protesters to appeal to the pan-green activist camp by showing his hate for anything mainland Chinese.
ReplyDeleteLet's see...your non-argument amounts to: A could possibly be true, then B could possibly true. Although A remains unproven, and B unsupported. If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some eggs.
Why don't you argue more persuasively that if Wang is staging a stunt because he is running for mayor, the other protesters there that day must also be running for mayor.
And of course, since Wang is clearly staging a stunt, he can't possibly hold the political belief that China's annexation of Taiwan is wrong. He clearly has no morals at all, and has simply attached himself to the DPP because it is by far the most powerful party on Taiwan, with a massive money advantage over the opposition, and control of legislature and the executive. If only all politicians were as bravely disinterested as Zhang Mingqing!
Michael
"And of course, since Wang is clearly staging a stunt, he can't possibly hold the political belief that China's annexation of Taiwan is wrong."
ReplyDeleteDPP politicians who are in power now are not the same TI idealists that you have in mind. These are political opportunitiest. BTW, Wnag just pulled another stunt..lol… this guy just won’t go away quietly!!
"He clearly has no morals at all, and has simply attached himself to the DPP because it is by far the most powerful party on Taiwan, with a massive money advantage over the opposition, and control of legislature and the executive."
This line provides an interesting insight into your thinking and lack of understanding of Taiwanese.. You sound so naive and really don't understand the core of Taiwanese politicians whether they belong to KMT or DPP. Yes, there were the idealists in 美麗島事件 and in the very beginning of the DPP. However.... let me put it this way- Politicians who joined DPP in the last 20 years are like people who chose to work for startup companies instead of trying to get into Fortunate 500 companies. 1. Small name and little capital, yet the payoff (stock options) could be much much higher. 2. Fewer corporate ladders to climb & it suits some people better.
ROFL. I clearly do understand them very well, thank you. Believe it or not, being a politician is not incompatible with deeply held beliefs, and deeply held beliefs are not incompatible with political stunts. I prefer to understand people as complex and multiply motivated rather than through cynical caricature templates.
ReplyDeleteMichael