DPP Chairman Discussions

Sign of the rising price of metal: One of my neighbors is an artist who works in various metals. This weekend he surprised a thief attempting to make off with some metal which he had kept as parts for his work. The thief had stolen one basket and was surprised when he came back for another. The first basket was not recovered, alas.

Speaking of rusty old parts, the DPP continues to discuss the direction of the party, which might be made into a Hollywood sequel entitled Any Which Way But Forward. Yesterday the Chinese language papers were speculating that Frank Hsieh, the failed presidential candidate and caretaker chairman until May, was seeking to ensure the position for Lee Ying-yuan. Lee may or may not make a good chairman -- the last time he got elected to anything was 1998, as Feiren pointed out when I asked him about it -- but the key issue is that Hsieh wants Lee because Lee is his close friend -- not because Lee is a veteran political strategist, can communicate well with the foreign media, has experience in party operations, is a good coalition builder, or any other particular quality important to a Chairman at this critical moment in the party's history. They say defeat is a great teacher, but even in politics, good teachers still require good students....

The Taipei Times had a couple of articles on the DPP chairman search today. The first said that Su Tseng-chang, Frank Hsieh's vice presidential candidate, denied he was interested in becoming chairman:

Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) dismissed media speculation yesterday that he would run in the election for party chairman in May.

Su was not the only senior party member to show a lack of interest in running for the position. Others whom media had speculated could be interested in the position but who rebuffed the rumors include Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun.

Su told reporters outside his residence yesterday that he would not run in the race on May 25, nor would he strike alliances with any individual or faction within the party.

"The most important thing at the moment is to respond to the people's [wishes] and learn from them," he said. "We should not be concerned with fighting for positions. I don't think Taiwanese want to see that."

The party's charter stipulates that the head of state should lead the party when it is in power and that party members should directly elect the chairman when it is in the opposition.

It should be noted that Su might be playing coy, waiting for that "invitation." Remember when Ma Ying-jeou was out of politics and had to be "begged" by his father to re-enter and run for Taipei mayor?

It's a measure of how screwed up the DPP is that when it needs a wholesale reconstruction that people are mentioning Annette Lu or Yu Shyi-kun. The article observes that it is in the DPP charter that when the party controls the head of state, the head of state must be the Chairman. That curse is a practice the DPP picked up from the KMT, and shows how one of the DPP's problems is that its only real model for how to be a political party is the KMT. Like an abused child, the DPP in adulthood simply recapitulates the errors it was taught when young....

A second report is a CNA report on the DPP's internal reform process, quite brief. I quote the relevant portions:

DPP legislative whip William Lai (賴清德) said the caucus had started work on creating an ad hoc group that would push for structural reform within the party and serve as a platform to ensure a smooth process.

Over the next week the caucus will solicit the opinion of its members, other DPP members, party supporters and the public on the reform plans and a proposal could be drafted before the next DPP caucus meeting scheduled for April 11, Lai said.

During a DPP caucus meeting on Friday, DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said in a written statement that the party should revert to the basic political line that defined it before it came to power, Lai said.

DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said the DPP should address the problem posed by figurehead party members and consider building a system to regularly recruit and nurture party members, Lai said.

"Figurehead party members" referred to above would appear to be party members kept by local factions affiliated with the DPP for the purpose of vote buying (sometimes known as nominal party members -- 人頭黨員). More importantly, the DPP legislator observes that the DPP ought to consider building a system for recruiting and nurturing party members.

Yes, you read that right. At the moment, the DPP does not have a party machine that scoops up people, especially young people, and brings them into the party. The KMT has many avenues, from the China Youth Corps to the farm, fishing, and irrigation associations, to informal social groupings such as clubs and other associations. The KMT's Leninist background gives it a huge advantage in mobilization over the DPP.

What we need, in a nutshell, is a Chairman who is a professional without personal interest in high position, with excellent organizational and coalition building skills, who can communicate in English effectively with the foreign media, and so on. What we don't need is someone's buddy, or someone selected because they are ideologically pure....

[Taiwan]

Hsieh Win: Media Round-Up

WaPo hosts an article by Annie Huang of the AP:

A former Taiwanese premier who has pushed for better relations with rival China will head the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's ticket in 2008 elections, the party's presidential candidates said Monday.

.....

When Taiwan held its first direct presidential election in 1996, he ran as the vice presidential candidate on the DPP ticket, which got trounced. He was mayor of Kaoshiung, the island's second-biggest city, from 1998-2005.

Many believe Hsieh might be more flexible and pragmatic with China than President Chen Shui-bian, who has been unable to forge a breakthrough in relations with Beijing during his eight years in office.

China is one of the most important campaign issues because the mainland is one of Taiwan's largest trading partners but also the island's biggest security threat. Beijing insists that Taiwan is part of China, but the self-ruled island has been resisting Communist rule for more than five decades.

The take on Hsieh is that he is "flexible and pragmatic." Note how "flexible and pragmatic" are defined in relation to Hsieh's China stance, not in terms of his success in Kaohsiung. I wonder what the media will do when Hsieh wins, and China refuses to talk to him. Will the foreign media label Hsieh "inflexible?" I'm taking bets now......

I also love that construction in the last sentence: "...the self-ruled island has been resisting Communist rule for more than five decades." It makes a neat common cause between the democratic and authoritaritarian governments, one that is plainly false. The current government is resisting rule by China, not rule by Communism. Although it does make a nice slogan: Taiwan: Resisting Communist Oppression for 50 years.

Another interesting thing is that the Washington Post drastically shortened this article. On Sunday night it had a longer version (still online here, another long version at IHT) that noted that Hsieh was witty and sharp-tongued, and that he had tried to build bridges to China, and also discussed some of the exchanges in the primary. By Monday morning my time that article had been cut down to the current bare bones version.

The China Post, the pro-KMT English newspaper, report that foreign investors welcomed a Hsieh win:

Foreign investors welcome Frank Hsieh's Democratic Progressive Party primary win.

Hsieh, a former premier, yesterday all but clinched the right to bear the ruling party's standard next March. His win, however, will be formally made public after an in-house poll May 9-11.

He is more proactive in handling relations between Taiwan and China, a foreign investment analyst said. "If elected president," he pointed out, "he will further relax restrictions on trade and investment across the Taiwan Strait."

A relaxation of restrictions will benefit foreign investors in Taiwan.

"That's why his victory in the primaries is welcomed," the investment analyst said.

Premier Su Tseng-chang, who lost the primaries, is inclined to adhere to President Chen Shui-bian's policy of rigid control over trade and economic exchanges between Taiwan and China.

Does Chen have a rigid control over trade and economic exchanges? With a million Taiwanese businessmen doing business in China, its rigidity is arguable. Perhaps a less ideological word might have been found....

Taiwan News reported on the withdrawal of the other candidates:

Well before the final results were announced, both of Hsieh's leading rivals announced their acceptance of the results.

In a news conference called at his Taipei City headquarters at 6:40 p.m., Yu stated that "the results of the party member vote were not as expected" and announced that "I accept this result."

Yu also stated that the primary constituted "a victory for the DPP" and contrasted the fact that the DPP had chosen its candidate through a democratic process with the opposition Kuomintang, whose nominee former KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was chosen without opposition by his party's Central Standing Committee.

The DPP chairman also related that the primary process also allowed open discussion and debate on critical issues such as policies on Taiwan's future national definition, education, culture, economics and transitional justice that will be beneficial for Taiwan's national development and social justice.

Speaking in a news conference held at his Taipei City headquarters at 7:00 p.m., Su stated that the result "manifested the will of the party membership and we acknowledge and respect this result." He added that "for the sake of party unity and the party's future victory and so that Taiwan can definitely win, I have decided to withdraw from this primary and will fully support the candidate that won the primary election and hope that everyone from the top to the bottom in the party will also fully support the winning candidate," Su declared.

However, DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told reporters that he had held a telephone discussion with Vice President Lu who affirmed that she "will resolutely complete the primary process."

Well, not Annette Lu. She'll stick it out because she narrowly failed by a mere 30% of the vote. Go Annette! Meanwhile Taiwan Echo, in comments on the previous post on this issue, noted that Su has strong support and that he may attempt to contest this result somehow. So although it seems pretty much over, it might not be.

Hsieh has a few skeletons in the closet. A Next Magazine report claimed it had a leaked a prosecutor's document....

On Wednesday the magazine published a copy of what it said was an official document signed by Kaohsiung Prosecutor Lo Chien-hsun (羅建勛) that had been sent from the Kaohsiung bureau to the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau on April 3.

The magazine said that Lo thought Hsieh should be indicted on corruption charges on suspicion of accepting illegal donations from a Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp board member and others during his term as mayor of Kaohsiung.

A more detailed Taipei Times report is available here. This is pretty much par for the course -- we can expect a steady stream of "corruption" claims -- a similar campaign was conducted against Chen Shui-bian by the tycoon Chen Yu-hao, now in hiding in China, and a close associate of Shih Ming-teh, currently leading the anti-Chen protests in Taipei. Does anyone pay attention to corruption here? Well, it certainly makes a nice thing to bash one's opponents with, but voters do not seem particularly moved by it.

Before we get too excited, though, the faltering economy might well prove problematic for the DPP in the upcoming election cycle. As the Taipei Times notes, the wholesale price index is rising faster than the Consumer Price Index, indicating that producers are absorbing price increases due to the fiercely competitive market. However, sooner or later those price increases will be passed on to consumers here in Taiwan, further impacting stagnant consumption levels and real incomes. With the Taiwan dollar actually slipping against the US dollar -- which has no bottom -- and interest rates at lows in Taiwan, the DPP is facing limited and not very powerful policy choices. If the economy tanks as 2007 goes on, it could severely affect the DPP at the polls.

Viewed in this light, the KMT's strategy of blocking the budget now becomes clearer. Taiwan's budget is quite weird, the Taipei Times explained the other day (thanks, Frank).

However, the hype surrounding the stalled budget obscures the fact that, unlike many countries where a stalled budget would mean a government shutdown, the law allows the government to continue operating normally even if its budget isn't passed. Only funding for new construction projects cannot be released.

Therefore, of the NT$1.6 trillion requested by the government, 99.96 percent of the funds -- all but NT$70 billion for new construction -- can be spent, even without legislative approval.

The government just keeps going on, whether or not it has legislative approval. However, the sole exception to that principle is billions of $$ in new public construction, which the government still needs legislative approval to execute. All over Taiwan, local level businesses and local governments are awaiting that funding. As long as the KMT and its legislative allies block that funding, the DPP doesn't get that economic stimulus to get the economy moving and reward local level links. Since the KMT has more resources and a better presence at the local level, it can probably outlast the DPP with this strategy. In other words, it may be that the KMT is bashing the local economy to bring down the party in power. Or it may be that they are just intransigent shits. You make the call.

[Taiwan] [Democracy] [DPP] [KMT] [Annette Lu] [Washington Post] [Frank Hsieh]

Letter: absolutely the last word on AP and Lu

The Taipei Times was kind enough to run my letter on the AP's use of the "scum of nation" in describing Vice President Lu:

What AP Did

The recent "scum of the nation" flap, and the response to it from the Taipei Times, Associated Press (AP) and other organizations, shows that the media still do not understand why Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) -- along with those of us who follow international media coverage of Taiwan -- find the story so offensive.

The issue is not, as the Taipei Times framed it in a recent editorial ("Annette Lu tames the world press," March 10, page 8), one of naive bias on the part of CNN and AP. Nobody is accusing either organization of slanting stories to favor China. Rather, the issue is the foreign media's uncritical incorporation of propaganda from Beijing into its reporting on Taiwan in a way that is automatic and unconsidered, allowing those opinions to shape its discourse on the nation, instead of developing a robust understanding of Taiwan in its own context.

(more)

For historical purposes, here is the paragraph on the assassination attempt in its entirety as originally written:

"Near the end of the article the writer refers to the assassination attempt by a pan-Blue supporter on Chen and Lu in 2004, noting "The opposition alleged the shooting was staged to win sympathy votes." Fundamentally, there was no reason to mention the shooting; it is irrelevant to Lu's presidential candidacy. The use of "the opposition" coyly refuses to name the KMT (the failure to use "Chinese Nationalist Party" as the correct name of the KMT is widespread in the international media). The writer also failed to mention that no evidence supports the opposition claims, making a hollow pretense of the sound journalistic ethic of balance in ssigning equal weight to nonsense claims, and using the phrase "the police said" as if no investigation was conducted and no chain of evidence was followed. Note that opposition's claim is set off in a sentence of its own, and that it comes last in the discussion of the assassination attempt. It goes with saying that Beijing supports the opposition on that one."

The editor was forced to shrink it a little; my habit of writing long sentences filled with parenthetical comments doesn't really work in the newspaper context. One thing I could kick myself for was forgetting to mention how the Scum of the Nation flap illustrated yet another silly habit of the international media -- its reliance on people based in Beijing and Hong Kong for commentary on Taiwan. As Tetsuo at Forumosa put it, commenting on another blog, that is like asking your Washington DC correspondent for a report on what is going on Canberra.

[Taiwan] [media] [AP] [Annette Lu]

CNN Channels Beijing in describing Lu

The DPP is now officially overflowing with candidates for the 2008 Presidential elections as Annette Lu tossed her fur scarf into the ring. Hardly was she out of the gate when CNN came under fire from all over for its ridiculous story that repeated insulting Chinese characterizations of Lu:(UPDATE: As the comments below pointed out, this is an AP story taken up by CNN. ).

The Presidential Office expressed concern yesterday over a story run by the Associated Press (AP) that described Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) as "the scum of the nation."

With the headline "Taiwan's `scum of the nation' runs for president," the story said Lu was an outspoken vice president that "China has called `insane' and the `scum of the nation.'"

The headline was later changed to a more moderate tone that read "Lu seeks to be first Taiwan woman president" after the Presidential Office expressed concern.

Lu said last night that she would send a letter of protest to CNN and demand an apology or an interview in order to safeguard the country's dignity.

Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (李南陽) said the AP told him that CNN, which is an AP subscriber, had changed its original headline to make it sound more sensational.

CNN's error illustrates once again how the US media thoughtlessly replicates Beijing's discourse on Taiwan. The CNN article also prepares us for the Mad Annette scenario:

She has repeatedly angered Beijing with her support for Taiwanese independence, and tensions with China would likely rise if she were elected.

On Tuesday, she again challenged Beijing's sacred view that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. "Taiwan is a Pacific country, not an affiliate of China," she said.

Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since the Communists won a civil war and took over the mainland in 1949. Beijing insists Taiwan must unify eventually or face a devastating war.

We can only shake our heads at the kind of reporting that straightfacedly argues that "tensions will rise" if a pro-democracy politician is elected President. Apparently, as with virtually all reporting on the island, tensions are not affected if Chinese packs the Strait with missiles. Can anyone pass me an MSM article that forthrightedly states that China's rising military budget is increasing tension across the Taiwan Straits?

What are Annette's chances? The CNN article cites a political analyst at [National] Taipei University:

Political analyst Chiang Min-chin of Taipei University said Lu would likely lose her ruling Democratic Progressive Party's primary. Most party members dislike her because she isn't a team player.

"Lu has good vision and a blueprint for ruling the country," Chiang said. "But many people have misunderstood her because of her uncompromising character. As a highly conceited person, she has never bothered to clarify her stance."

It is interesting that Lu can have "a good...blueprint" but be a person without a clear stance. I hope next time CNN quotes an analyst who is able to put things in more distanced terms "but many feel she is conceited" or "there is a widespread perception that Lu has a problem with arrogance."

In the main, though, Lu should have little chance of winning a primary. Still, it is good to see her hat in the ring, a reminder of how many quality politicians the DPP has.

Lu's original reaction to being the "scum of the earth" was reported by Time a while back...

TIME: Beijing directed some pretty nasty words at you last week. How did you feel being the target for such verbal abuse?

Lu: They made me famous. I took it as a compliment--targeting me like that has made me internationally well-known. Actually, I'm used to that kind of treatment. Some of the language reminded me of what the Kuomintang (KMT) accused me of 20 years ago. The KMT put me in jail for six years, but they never thought that 20 years later they would have to transfer their regime to me on behalf of the freedom fighters.

TIME: What do you think Beijing's intention was in attacking you?

Lu: I think it reflects a deliberate and considered strategy toward Taiwan. It indicates that they are running out of patience and rationality. Singling me out also shows they were trying to divide me and the President-elect and to undermine our relationship, and to press him to make a more favorable inaugural statement on May 20. Also, to criticize me was a way for them to criticize the President-elect as well, so yesterday Chen Shui-bian urged all DPP colleagues to maintain solidarity. He did not find any fault with me. He said I was being attacked on behalf of him, and that nothing could spoil the relationship between him and me. There are many internal problems in mainland China. Before they enter the World Trade Organization, so many state enterprises have to be privatized. Therefore many people will become jobless. As a result, there have been riots and internal disturbance. So in order to cover up their problems, China is trying to play up nationalism, and certainly to crack down on so-called Taiwan independence is a good excuse for them to take some irrational action. Furthermore, [Beijing] by announcing that they would be watching what the President-elect says and does before May 20 will only cause world leaders to waste some valuable time waiting for his speech. The President-elect has already cautioned that people shouldn't have too high an expectation about the speech; one speech certainly can't resolve such a long and complicated conflict. Putting everything on hold between March 18 and May 20 may just give the PLA time to prepare for something. I believe that no matter what kind of statement President Chen makes, it won't be satisfactory to China unless we surrender. Once the statement is made and the Chinese leaders express their disappointment--and use it as an excuse to take some irrational action--it will be too late. So I urge those who are concerned about peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait to please apply whatever preventive diplomacy is possible, such as expressing concern over the issue to Chinese leaders as soon as possible. I urge them not to underestimate the seriousness of the matter.

[Taiwan] [DPP] [Annette Lu] [CNN][2008 Presidential Election]