Words of Wisdom for Monday

A small lake up in Hsinshe.

My father in law, 85 years old. Has been falling down in the bathroom lately, but he is an indomitable soul, and despite two broken ribs from this latest episode, went out to the park to work out. He comes back, exhausted, and wants to go to the market with my mother in law. He gets halfway and says he can't walk. "Why don't you use a cane?" she suggests, in her exasperated wife-of-many-years voice. "Because then everyone will think I'm old," he replies.

Great comment on the post below about Chu's house being renovated by the Culture Bureau.

Thanks for sharing. This house mini-scandal is going to haunt Chu because (1) it's so easy to explain to the average person (2) it'll be brought up by everyone in New Taipei who tries to save a historic site from KMT developmentalism (3) as a nascent project it's sure to come back if there's a cost overrun or an attempt to initiate phase 2, and most importantly (4) the KMT's now invited DPP bureaucrats and Taoyuan journalists to go on an Easter Egg hunt through Chu's Taoyuan record.

Running unopposed for chair, by the way, may be a curse in disguise because it leaves Chu unable to score a clear victory over political opponents the way Ma beat the 主流派 by besting Wang Jin-pyng for chair. Instead they'll be lying in wait to muck things up for him later.

Speaking of Chu, AFP reports that Chu, running unopposed for the KMT Chairmanship, will continue the KMT's China policy, even though that policy appears to have cost it in the local elections. As I said before, the "reform" is going to be limited to the party core reasserting control over, and binding itself more tightly to, its local networks. Reform of its pro-China mindset, its privileged access to resources (like Cultural Bureau funds to renovate ancestral homes), and its culture of top-down authoritarian control isn't going to happen.
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Daily Links:

• The Gripen Solution for Taiwan's fighter problems: Strategic Views
• Another call from the pro-KMT papers for scrapping the capital gains tax on big trading firms.
• J Michael addresses the problem of Taiwan's shrinking access to US weapons
• Taiwan requests the hundreds of millions from Switzerland in connection with the Lafayette case.
• Whoever leads Taiwan faces the economy's many problems.
• Extra good: Brian Hioe at New Bloom analyzes the Chen Wei-ting candidacy for the legislative seat in Miaoli
• Classic KMT Bullshit: Ben Goren on the Post Office's ridiculous move to get closer to the people
• In Taiwan, the Times they are a changin'
• BBC interview with Confucius Institute head. Watch someone lie through their teeth. This review of the conference on CIs in China is also useful.
• Don't miss: Dr Dafydd Fell of SOAS is going to present on The Space for Small Parties in Taiwan's System in Taipei on Tuesday afternoon.
• The Japanese media breathlessly reports that China is building military on the Nanji Islands off of Wenzhou, "only 300 kms" from the Senkakus. Pretty sure these are the right islands: Map link, judge the threat for yourself.

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