Thursday shorts

Lots of stuff to comment on...

The Washington Times ran a story on the latest call for war by the Global Times, a Communist Party paper in China.....

The lead article the Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times on Tuesday contained an alarming call for a declaration of war against Vietnam and Philippines, two nations that in recent weeks launched the loudest protests against China’s sweeping maritime sovereignty claims over the South China Sea.

Headlined “The Time to Use Force Has Arrived in the South China Sea; Let’s Wage Wars on the Philippines and Vietnam to Prevent More Wars,” the article was written by Long Tao, a likely pseudonym literally translated as “The Dragon’s Teaching.” The name refers to the third chapter of the famous Chinese ancient military classic “Six Secret Military Teachings” that, among other things, promotes the idea that the best way to establish military awesomeness is to kill the highest-ranked dissenters.

This is not the first time, but whether or not it was meant as a call for war, it can't help but send a signal that calling for war is ok. A longtime Taiwan observer remarked that the late Jim Lilley said once that China always telegraphs its intentions.... [article is here i think]

Mainichi reported earlier this week that Chinese were reacting angrily to Seediq Bale, the film about the aboriginal uprising against the Japanese.

On the Internet, Chinese who have read foreign reviews of the film or seen the film's advertisements have slammed it, claiming that the "culture of headhunting" the film shows the aborigines practicing is "barbaric," and calling the scenes of tribespeople's attacks on the Japanese "cruel killings."

In a private discussion my friend Jerome Keating remarked that the reason the Chinese dislike it so much is that it accurately depicts the plain historical fact that these areas were never under Qing control. The first government to control the whole island was in fact the Japanese.

In a State Dept reply to the Obama Administration official's intervention in the local election, AIT sent 5 officials to the DPP's 25th anniversary activity in Taipei this week, the TT reported.

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) sent an unprecedented five officials, including AIT Director William Stanton, to the DPP’s 25th anniversary reception, Wu told reporters on the sidelines of the celebration at the W Hotel in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).

The move represented the US’ respect for the DPP, Wu said, adding that he had never seen more than two US officials at similar events.

It appeared as though the US was trying to “balance out” the negative impact caused by a Sept. 15 article by London’s Financial Times which was seen as an attempt to influence the election in favor of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), he said.

The article quoted an unnamed Washington official — believed to be National Security Adviser Tom Donilon — as saying that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had left US President Barack Obama’s administration with “distinct concerns” about her ability to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait.

The US was apparently attempting to show it isn't taking sides. Great move, AIT, my heartfelt thanks.

Meanwhile, the Ma campaign continue to march forward into the past with Ma rolling out a Confucian classics-driven ad campaign:

On the eve of Confucius’ birthday on September 28, “Taiwan Go, Go, Go!,” President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office released its fourth television advertisement, highlighting the study of the Four Books and Five Classics (四書五經), classics of Confucian teachings. The television advertisement depicts a Confucian classics reading class at a Confucius temple, a strong symbol of Confucianism, and describes Taiwan’s success in promoting the reading of Confucian classics on the Mainland in order to demonstrate Taiwan’s efforts to champion Chinese culture.

Yin Wei (殷瑋), spokesman of Ma’s re-election campaign office, stressed that “Taiwan is an exporter of universal values and also the helmsman of Chinese culture, which we need to promote to the world.

This is a rather strange topic considering that Confucianism is not all that popular -- the gov'ts attempt to re-impose Confucianism in local schools is not at all well-accepted. I think it is another clue to the ideological identity of Ma, who is a pro-China ideologue, variety ROC. Those of you inclined to doubt that might want to take a close look at his speech last year for Retrocession Day (a blatant lie itself). The text is one long wallow in ROC mythology, and nearly every paragraph contains major historical falsehoods. As the friend who sent it to me pointed out, it represents what Ma says when he is talking to like-minded people when he thinks no one else is listening.

I will end with today's words of wisdom from my students, from a paragraph about Kenting: "When you finish those activities you can clean your thing with the beautiful sunset."

I'm offline until Monday night. Have a great weekend!
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Daily Links:

• The Taiwan Oyster, a new expat flick
•  Richard Halloran with an excellent piece in the Taipei Times the other day on how China is like 1930s Japan, an argument I've made many times. 
• An excellent analysis of China' naval strategy.

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[Taiwan] 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.