Friday Odds and Ends

What was the best article you read on Taiwan and its international relations this year? A friend wants to know....

A few days ago I linked to a poll from CLSA using "Gallup Marketing Services Corp". There is no Gallup organization in Taiwan, and I confirmed with the counsel for Gallup that this poll is not by Gallup USA, but apparently from a local illegally using the Gallup name. This is a constant headache for the US firm.

Got this in my email:

Please distribute this wonderful opportunity to potential applicants you may know.  Any graduate or undergraduate student with U.S. citizenship may apply for this full-immersion Mandarin and cultural program in Taiwan for July and August, 2012.  (Familiarity with Mandarin language and Chinese/Taiwanese culture is not required.)

Check out www.taiwanusalliance.com, and feel free to send inquiries (taiwanusalliance@gmail.com).

I know nothing about this organization, so can't vouch.

On the Presidential Ballot, DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen is number 1, President Ma is number 2, and what's-his-name is number 3.

A Taipei Times article notes the DPP's goal to squeeze every vote out of the South in order to offset the KMT's massive margin in the North. The central area is a battleground, but only in the sense that the numbers should be close.

UPDATE: SY left a marvelous comment below:

The so-called "Taiwan Gallup Market Research" was founded and is being run by a KMT old-timer Timothy Ting (丁庭宇), who is currently alsojobbing as a Taipei City Deputy Mayor.

This illegal behavior has been going on for many years. "Taiwan Gallup" (often, "Taiwan" is dropped in their self-identification within Taiwan) generally has been acting like a TVBS in the polling sphere.

Another instance is the so-called "ROC Red Cross", which is not at all affiliated with International Red Cross. The so-called "ROC Red Corss" is run by KMTers and is a place where KMT politicians often seek political "refuge" after leaving a post often due to political troubles, such as

1. Hau Lung-pin (after leaving his post in the then DDP government; the linked piece is a TVBS propaganda for him), 

2. Wang Ching-feng (immediately after being sacked from the post of minister of justice in 2010)

3. the wife of Ma Ying-jeou (after resigning from her HSBC post, an act necessitated by Ma's inauguration three weeks earlier.) 

And many more.

Basically, it acts as a career buffer for KMTers. The director (since 2000) Chen Chang-wen, a KMT lawyer closely associated with Ma Ying-jeou, is famous for inventing the so-called "Reservoir Thesis", which argues that Ma's private bank account is associated with his Taipei city treasury account like two linked reservoirs; thus, he argued (successfully) that Ma was "innocent" in being confused about how the money flew between the two accounts.

Its Wkipedia entry contains a section narrating it meeting the conditions to be recognized except for "Taiwan not being a signatory power to the Geneva Conventions" (yes, here, they use "Taiwan"; "ROC" is momentarily forgotten.) This is a very KMT way of admitting that they are not part of IRC and have no communication with IRC.

The most alarming aspect regarding "ROC Red Cross" is its uses, non-uses (retention) and reassigned uses of donation as well as its dubious administration cost. Bascially, when you donate money you don't know where, how much and when your money goes. They may retain it for a few years and give out some of it for a cause not of your designation and not within the timeframe of your desire, at their own discretion. See this web page (scroll down to read the text) for a glimpse.

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Daily Links:

• Dork from China attempts to raft over to Taiwan to view elections, is stopped by Coast Guard, deported back home, says Taiwan democracy is "horrible." (NYT) ROFL.
• HTC banned from the US? An outside possibility.
• Haha. The China Confucius Peace Prize goes to Vladimir Putin, following its award to Lien Chan the previous year. 
• Frozen Garlic looks at a local Taipei legislative race.
• Battle of Fisherman's Wharf with Part 4 of his series on the Yoizuki Hell Ship.
• Taichung set to spend US$200 million on a tower in the city.

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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.