Catching up comments and links...

Missing Taitung....

I was going to blog yesterday, but then my kids turned on Stranger Things 2. So much for Friday and Saturday....

GOOD NEWS FROM THE US: Longtime Taiwan expert Shirley Kan writes thoroughly and cogently on the President's transit through the US this weekend...

Since then, there has been a need to correct the misperception — part of China’s political warfare — that Lee “provoked” the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “respond” to a “surprise visit” with military exercises and missile launches in the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1995 to 1996.

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) military threat to Taiwan has been growing since the early 1990s, not just because of Lee’s visit.

PRC rulers had by 1993 already decided on a new Main Strategic Direction that built military capabilities to target Taiwan. In 1994, the PLA conducted a command post exercise that used the scenario of an invasion of Taiwan.

WOOHOO! Finally: Washington's Asia people are abuzz with the news that:

A former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs nominated by @POTUS to be Assistant SecDef for Asia/Pacific.

Yep. longtime Taiwan supporter Randy Schriver will be working Dept of Defense [FIXED ERROR]. Congrats! Taiwan News reports further.

ENERGY: Taiwan's unstable and unreliable nuclear power plants are once again in the news. The New Lens observes, as I did in August...

The major reason for the drop in the power reserve is the unavailability of several of the nuclear power units. Taipower has 5,144MW of installed nuclear power in its system, some 12 percent of the total. But with three of six reactors currently offline for various reasons, nuclear now supplies only 2,845MWh, less than 9 percent of total generation. This past June 10, following the closure of the Jinshan power plant and prior to the restart of Kuosheng reactor-1, nuclear power fell to as low as 3 percent of Taiwan’s power generation when maintenance problems at the Maanshan plant took one of its reactors offline for weeks.

...and the Taipei Times had a good piece on the idiotic fourth nuclear power plant, a mess from the start, and as a special bonus, built in a tsunami and earthquake zone. It observed:

Besides, before the Longmen plant was mothballed, it had numerous incidents like fires, waterlogged equipment, bad workmanship and illegal alterations to its design, and even after it was mothballed, there was an incident involving overflowing pipes.

Considering all the malfunctions, the price to be paid if the plant is commissioned might not be just an economic problem, but a matter of health and safety; it could even constitute an existential threat to the nation.

Furthermore, 597 pieces of equipment from the plant’s No. 2 reactor have been permanently transferred to reactor No. 1, which was short of spare parts, and its fuel storage racks have been transferred to the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) to refurbish that plant’s spent fuel pool.

The plant cannot be opened, yet is still sucking down funds. The whole thing looks increasingly like a scam from beginning to end... and of course, the Cabinet chickened out again on desperately needed electricity price hikes. The lack of emphasis on conservation is appalling.

DON'T MISS: Paul Barclay's new book Outcasts of Empire: Japan’s Rule on Taiwan’s “Savage Border,” 1874–1945 is downloadable for free in e-book format. Can't wait to read it. Revisit his translations of Kondo among the Atayal and Sedeq peoples, 1896-1930 at the top of this blog.

MEDIA:  Reuters taking stenography reporting from Beijing on Beijing's whining about Tsai's stopovers in the US. How can Xinhua compete with this?

China suspects Tsai wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a red line for Beijing. Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan’s democracy and security.

Note how the word "says" seems to confirm China's "suspicion". Well, that Tsai, she SAYS she wants peace, but she's a sly one! The action of "suspecting" is assigned to China (not "Xi" or "authorities in Beijing") but Taiwan's resolute defense of its democratic rights is assigned not to Taiwan but to Tsai, as is the action of "pushing for formal indepedendence". Let's put everyone at the same level...

China suspects Taiwan wants to push for formal independence, a red line for Beijing. Taiwan wants to maintain peace with China but will defend its democracy and security.

What if Reuters reported what is actually going on:

China seeks to annex Taiwan, but few in Taiwan want the nation to become part of China. Instead, the majority hope to make the island an independent state some day.

or, with some sympathy for an allied democracy, which would certainly be the case if we were talking about Estonian resistance to Russia's dreams of annexing it...

Taiwan suspects China's authoritarian government seeks to annex Taiwan by force. A democratic and independent state, Taiwan has stated it will defend its people resolutely.

May as well wish for unicorns and rainbows... Let's not even get into how the word "suspect" makes it seem as if Taiwan is doing something wrong. As always, the negative agency is assigned to Taiwan, never to China.
___________________
Daily Links:

• News Lens analyzes the new draft law on foreign talent
• Taipei's perfect universiade games
• Another 19 alleged Taiwanese scammers sent from Cambodia to China. This is what happens when you don't punish scammers yourself. I hope the bastards rot for decades.
• Diplomat piece asks why Taiwan doesn't make political movies, yet never mentions that it is because the film industry is dominated by pro-China mainlanders. D'oh.
• Singapore PM says a stalemate might be best for China-Taiwan relations. D'oh.
• China not interested in invading Malaysia. Nope, it's just interested in stealing its islands.
• Huang Guo-chang recall driven by hate of gays.
• Steve Chabot (R-OH) says US should upgrade its relationship with Taiwan in opinion piece in The Hill
• Lee Teng-hui all set to market his... beef.
• 19 Taiwanese hold political and military posts in China
• VOA piece on Southbound Policy. Ends with negative note, of course.
• William Lai rebukes KMT legislators on China tourism policies by noting that Japan and US don't want to kill Taiwanese and annex their island. Also, they spend more, Mr Lai. 
• Nov 8: Women and Leadership in Taiwan 
• Another capital case overturned in Taiwan
• Ross Feingold, one of the sharpest observers of Taiwan I know, has a piece on casinos coming to Kinmen. Hope not...
• Tsai points out the DPP's role in the 1987 opening to China
• The Diplomat on India's Taiwan gambit
• Businessman apologizes for calling Taiwanese who have never been to China "uneducated".
• Is now the golden age of Taiwan Studies? Yes, of course, it can't be a coincidence that this blog opened and then the golden age of Taiwan Studies occurred....

_______________________
[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!