Kerry Brown in The Diplomat

Kerry Brown's piece in the The Diplomat argued that the PRC is Biggest Obstacle to Unification with Taiwan. He writes:

This second issue is where the hope lies. Taiwan’s political evolution remains a great inspiration for change on the Mainland, a political transition within a Chinese cultural polity which was stable. For this reason, while Xi’s comments might unsettle people in the short term, in the long term they just expose the great secret about modern cross-Strait relations: that the People’s Republic of China’s political system is the greatest barrier to reunification. A reformed polity in China that was more pluralistic, open, based on the rule of law and accountable, whether the Communist Party is at the heart of it or not, would pose much harder questions to opponents of unification in Taiwan.

The last line is rank nonsense. J Michael Cole observes of it:

This is the author’s assumption and, if I may be so blunt, it is an unproven one. Similarity of political systems, values, languages, culture certainly facilitate exchanges, but by no means do they guarantee willingness for any form of political union. Based on this premise, we would immediately conclude that if the U.S. democratized (I couldn’t help it; after all, as the great Canadian bard Leonard Cohen once said, democracy is coming to the U.S.A.), somehow Canada would agree to become part of it. Nationalism is a river than runs far deeper, and after more than 100 years-plus of separate existence, we simply don’t know whether Taiwanese would agree to become part of China. My informed bet is that they wouldn’t, for reasons similar to those that differentiate Americans from British, New Zealanders from Australians, or Belgians from French. Hell, the Czechs and Slovaks dissolved Czechoslovakia in 1993 after the country had once again become democratic!

Cole asks why not consult the polls? and points out that poll data show most Taiwanese favor independence, especially if you give them the choice between independence or annexation (pro-KMT TVBS' most recent poll!). But in fact there is credible poll data on this issue. Emerson Niou's paper on this topic observes:

Q4. If only small political, economic, and social disparity exists between Mainland China and Taiwan, do you favor or not favor Taiwan unifying with China?
Not Favor: 56.4%    Favor: 36.4%    NA: 7.2%

Less than 40% want to annex Taiwan to China even if disparities disappear. The only thing keeping Taiwanese even interested in the issue is the military threat from China. If China did not threaten to maim and murder and spark a regional war over its desire to annex Taiwan, no one in Taiwan would be talking about annexing Taiwan to China.

This raises the real issue, whether a democratic China would change its militant stance toward annexing Taiwan. My feeling is no (think a democratic China will give up Tibet or Xinjiang? How many in the UK wanted to give up the empire in the 20s and 30s?). Democracy doesn't make nations less belligerent (far from it; it appears to legitimate belligerence by giving it a widespread popular basis). The Chinese have been raised on the idea that Taiwan is "theirs" as are the territories of other nations. What is really needed is not democracy, but culture change, changing the way people in China think about what "China" is.

Brown makes another egregious move, reproducing the propaganda claim that Chen Shui-bian "provoked" China:

...As long as the leadership in Taiwan did not stray towards the dreaded territory of asserting its independence, anything else was tolerable. And with Ma’s election in 2008, the provocations from the Chen Shui-bian era at least stopped.

There were no provocations of the Chen Shui-bian era. What happened was that China made noises and complained whenever Chen did something, hoping to marginalize him and get him and the Taipei government treated as a bunch of radicals, especially in the international media. This strategy was effective in part because US officialdom cooperated, not the least because so many in the policy community have lucrative consulting and other work with Beijing (here, for example). The PRC chooses to be provoked, because being provoked is a policy choice that Beijing executes to manage its relations with Taiwan.

The state of international media discourse and diplomacy is such that if you imprison religious cultists and political dissidents, suppress speech, loot life, land, and labor from ordinary people, and otherwise run an intolerant, oppressive authoritarian state while threatening war with most of the nations on your border, you are not a provocative radical but statesmanlike and important, but if you host a referendum and carry out democratic politics, you're provocative and radical and making a victim of poor, put-upon China. Those of us on the pro-Taiwan side can't do anything about the moral fecklessness and worship of power of international editors, but we can at least refrain from catapulting Beijing's propaganda. Chen Shui-bian was a perfectly normal democratic politician operating in a completely mad media and political context, period. That needs to be said more often....
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Daily Links:

• Taiwan travel to US at 20 year low. Of course. Most of the major US airports suck -- LAX, point of entry for so many, is like a dystopian nightmare city -- and our security madness has repercussions for international travel. Why would anyone want to go to a place where they are made to feel so unwelcome? And then there's the gun issue...
• Thanks, Taiwan paparazzi, for making it so much harder to get movies filmed here.
• Cole on Taiwan-China relations and what can be learned
• WSJ on the blowback from China's aggressive drive to annex the Senkakus
• Another oil maker caught in scandal. Good thing all these food scandals hit coincidentally just as the Chief Prosecutor is being indicted for leaking secrets. I sure wish I hadn't seen headlines like this repeatedly since coming to Taiwan.
• WaPo summary of interview with President Ma Ying-jeou. LOL. 
• More beef problems. Currently there is no real irritant in US-Taiwan relations. Look for that to change.
• Shoe-hurling is so common that President Ma travels with nets. Ma is a useful lightning rod for Taiwan's policy-making elites.
• Face up to the national wage decline

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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!

Chen Shui-bian back to the DPP?

Snack time in the alleys across from NTU.

Several months ago I asked foreigners who were wasting their time appealing for the medical parole of Chen Shui-bian to stop and think about what they are doing. I then observed:

Were Chen ever to get out, he would go back to seeking the limelight, encouraging splits within the DPP in order to aggrandize his own faction and friends, and so on. Both the China Post and Taipei Times pieces essentially say the same thing even though they disagree. When Chen gets out he is going to re-enter pan-Green politics, sucking up time, effort, resources, and funds that could be going directly to the DPP and meaningful and important pro-Taiwan groups and causes. He'll be constantly pursued and goaded by the pro-Blue media for inflammatory quotes, further dividing rather than uniting.

Chen's application to re-join the DPP -- he withdrew in 2008 -- is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. The Taipei Times article gives a taste of his effect on the party, beginning with remarks from former DPP Presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen....

Tsai on Saturday said that Chen, who is serving a 20-year sentence for corruption, “would have to make a lot more effort to win back society’s respect,” since DPP members are divided over the ramifications and implications of Chen rejoining the party.

Tsai’s comment drew heavy criticism from Chen’s supporters, in particular his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), who wrote on his Facebook page that he could not understand the remark and begged to disagree with Tsai, adding that it was she “who has to work a lot harder for the presidential nomination in 2016.”

Former Northern Taiwan Society director Janice Chen (陳昭姿), a staunch backer of Chen Shui-bian, said Tsai took the stance to try to garner support from independent voters and had betrayed the former president’s support for her during his presidency.

“Chen Shui-bian worked hard enough during his eight years in the Presidential Office [and deserves the full support from his former party comrades],” said DPP Legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), convener of the One Country, One Side Alliance group, which was founded by the former president.

Others said that Tsai had made a good point, although the issue of Chen Shui-bian’s return had not been on the agenda at the congress.

“While many people, include myself, believed that Chen Shui-bian was politically persecuted and that he deserves medical parole, A-bian himself admitted he had made mistakes that disgraced his party. Tsai’s comment was fair because she was not addressing whether A-bian was guilty or not,” Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) wrote on his Facebook page yesterday.

Why does Chen want to rejoin the DPP? Because he is committing to supporting the party? Because he wants to humbly participate in party politics? Naw. It's all about the Family. Note the reference to Chen's son Chen Chih-chung. Some of you may recall that the Chen lad ran as an independent against the DPP in the Kaohsiung legislative elections, losing and splitting the pan-Green vote, which likely handed the victory and the legislative seat to the KMT.

Chen Shui-bian is still out there supporting his son, and rejoining the DPP is apparently part of his strategy for doing so, some DPP insiders say. The media sensation caused by his possible return is apparently part of his strategy for elevating his son's profile and chances of winning the next election. Thus, not only has Chen Shui-bian's move split the DPP, he's apparently using that split to advance his own agenda.

Like I said, international pro-Taiwan folks, quit wasting your time on Chen Shui-bian. He's only going to repay your efforts with division and chaos. Let the locals who support him handle the effort.
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Daily Links:

• Paul Sharpe on his first ride on the NE coast after blowing out his knee months ago.
• Commercial Times: figures reveal Taiwan's economic plight:
  

  Private-sector investment as a percentage of Taiwan's gross national product was only 14.9 percent in 2012 and 15.4 percent in 2011. The figures not only were lower than the levels of 17-18 percent recorded before the global financial crisis but also far inferior to South Korea's 24 percent.

• Cool: write-up of visit for Robotics contest (h/t to Red A)

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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!

A couple of interview Links

Blossom of a sensitive plant.

Michael Richardson interviewed several people on a recent trip to Taiwan, including....

• Interview with Jerome Keating on the subject of Chen Shui-bian and his unfair trial. 
• Judge Hong Yin-hua interview on why trial of Chen Shui-bian was unfair.

Meanwhile, my post from last month: Free Chen Shui-bian? Think about it...
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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.

Will Taiwan Independence Rock the World in 2013?

Love getting out in the morning to see what bugs are hanging. Alas, he spun just as I hit the shutter.

Michael Mazza, longtime commentator and observer on things Taiwan, argues in Foreign Policy that in 2013 Taiwan independence could be an issue that rocks the world, with three other similar "surprise" issues:

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Taiwan Independence

.......But while Taiwan's businesspeople enjoy closer ties with China, the average Taiwanese voter continues to move toward independence. Over the last 20 years, the portion of citizens of Taiwan identifying as "Taiwanese" has increased from 17.6 percent of those polled in 1992 to a whopping 53.7 percent today; those identifying as "Chinese" has declined over the same period from 25.5 percent to just 3.1 percent today. Support for independence has nearly doubled over the last two decades, from 11.1 percent to 19.6 percent. Support for immediate or eventual unification, meanwhile, has more than halved, from 20 percent in 1992 to 9.8 percent in 2012.

Economic integration is apparently failing to halt what Beijing sees as a troubling trend. With a cross-strait trade agreement and a slew of other, easier deals already on the books, Beijing now expects Ma to discuss political issues. But Ma doesn't have the domestic political support to pursue political talks -- in March 2012, two months after his reelection, 45 percent of those polled said the pace of cross-strait exchanges was "just right," but the share of respondents answering "too fast" had increased to 32.6 percent, from 25.7 percent before the election. Any Chinese shift toward a more strident Taiwan policy could portend a new crisis in the Taiwan Strait sooner than many expect, as a lack of progress on these issues may buttress hawks in the new Xi Jinping administration. And America would surely be dragged in: Even low-level coercive measures against Taiwan -- a top 10 U.S. trading partner and security ally -- could throw U.S.-China relations into a tailspin.

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Taiwan independence makes a sexy title component, but the real issue is that Beijing wants to annex Taiwan. Mazza here correctly if subtly identifies the problem: Beijing may well get impatient with the lack of progress toward annexation under the Ma government, and take some kind of more militant position.

Mazza's numbers for support of Taiwan independence are too low. Other polls show it at 70% or more (for example).

The interesting thing for me here is the Ma Ying-jeou factor. During the Chen Shui-bian Administration Beijing pursued the tactic of declaring Chen "provocative" and accusing him of disturbing Taiwan-China relations. One purpose of this was to discredit Chen internationally. Sadly, the international media gleefully piled on. But another purpose of that tactic was to transfer the tension in the Beijing-Taipei relationship to the Washington-Taipei relationship, enabling Beijing to manage Washington using the policy of "anger".

But...it can't do that with Ma Ying-jeou. Because Ma is ostensibly Beijing's ally and chosen one, they can't attack him the way they attacked Chen Shui-bian. Ma actually constrains Beijing's freedom of action on Taiwan even when he is cooperating with it (though as we have seen, he permits Beijing to ramp up tensions elsewhere since it has Taiwan well in hand). Ma also highlights the continuing problem Taiwan's democracy poses for the CCP: he has little public support, let alone public support for political talks. Moreover, the flow of opinion polls and other data is open and public, meaning that no one can fool themselves or others as to the extent of Ma's weakness.

Taiwan's democratic politics thus restrains Ma in two key ways. First, it prevents him from taking public action to annex Taiwan to China. Second, Beijing no doubt hoped that Ma would do something about Taiwan's democracy. Suppressing Taiwan's democracy, a daily reminder that people in the Chinese cultural sphere are as capable of democracy as any people, is surely a key policy goal. If Taiwan were taken into the Chinese empire, Beijing would have to make all kinds of tough decisions. Two systems? Then its other territorial holdings would clamor for democracy (why should Taiwan be different?). Yet, as the experience of Ma for the last few years has shown, Taiwan's democracy, however imperfect, is often robust and capable of defending itself. Ma is thus limited internationally and domestically.

Be careful what you wish for...
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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.

Free Chen Shui-bian? Foreigners, Think about it

K-town by night.

China Post editorial today puts its finger on a problem:

He wants to found a new political party to succeed an aging former President Lee Teng-hui as godfather of the Taiwan Independence Movement.

Mr. Graft had his son Chen Chih-chung, a first-term Kaohsiung municipal councilman summarily disqualified for involvement in his father's money laundering, broach the news that a new party will come into being at a time “favored by Heaven and benefited by Earth.” This is to be achieved by a unity of purpose among his “One Country on Each Side Alliance” faction of the DPP, and by rallying hard-core independence supporters, who are members of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), of which Lee is the spiritual leader.

Well, there won't be any such time any time soon.

There isn't any doubt that A-bian still commands allegiance of a couple of million supporters in Taiwan. Aside from eight members of parliament, his OCESA faction boasts 34 county and city councilors, but the majority of them are not very much interested in bolting from the DPP to join his new party, if it is founded before 2014. They have to run for re-election two years from now, and it's much better for them to stick with the biggest opposition party for much better odds to get re-elected. The parliamentarians? They don't have to worry about re-election for more than three years. The TSU? It's Lee's exclusive fan club, and there won't be many defectors.

Childishness like "Mr. Graft" aside, the China Post calls attention to the impossibility that a parole or pardon for Chen would "heal Taiwan" as (among others) longtime Taiwan supporter and former US diplomat Nat Bellocchi argued a while ago. A close reading of the Bellocchi piece shows that it contains no concrete, positive, Taiwan-centered arguments for Chen's release, nor are there any references to Chen's likely post-release behavior. It shows how weak the argument for pardon/parole is. Sadly, Ford's pardon of Nixon did not heal the US as Bellocchi argues, but rather, helped lay the ground for the current two-tiered criminal justice system in the US, as Glenn Greenwald points out so eloquently. Similarly, if Chen is pardoned or paroled, many Taiwanese aren't going to see that as a healing act. Instead, it will confirm their perceptions that a different law applies to powerful males who commit crimes.

The fact that both the China Post editorial and the Taipei Times' simultaneous refutation of the claim that Chen wants to start a new party make clear is that a parole for Chen will heal nothing in part because Chen's own personal characteristics make it impossible. He's shrewd, charismatic, energetic, likes to be the center of attention, likes to be in control and on top, and says whatever his audience wants to hear. In a politician these are all useful traits; in a would-be pardoned political prisoner and saintly healer they represent liabilities.

Were Chen ever to get out, he would go back to seeking the limelight, encouraging splits within the DPP in order to aggrandize his own faction and friends, and so on. Both the China Post and Taipei Times pieces essentially say the same thing even though they disagree. When Chen gets out he is going to re-enter pan-Green politics, sucking up time, effort, resources, and funds that could be going directly to the DPP and meaningful and important pro-Taiwan groups and causes. He'll be constantly pursued and goaded by the pro-Blue media for inflammatory quotes, further dividing rather than uniting.

In sum, the Free Chen! crowd doesn't appear to have considered the probable consequences of releasing Chen Shui-bian for Taiwan and for the DPP. They won't be benign. Especially at election time, when he is likely to congeal pan-Green support among key independent and Light Blue voters.

It's really, really, really time to stop wasting urgently needed outside and public resources like the attention of US Congressmen and international human rights groups, or space on the Taipei Times' editorial page, on Chen Shui-bian. Chen has made it crystal-clear that he is not going to show a reciprocal humility when he gets out of jail. Instead, he's going to burn the pan-Greens coming and going, draining resources to get him out of jail and then diverting them again once he is out. His family has money, and he still has many supporters in Taiwan. Let them work on getting him out of jail. Once again, I hope instead that Chen supporters overseas will use their valuable and limited resources to support more pressing and relevant causes, causes that meaningfully affect many lives here in Taiwan.

...like, for example, our declining media environment, in need of urgent attention. Just today: SET TV host leaves over alleged pro-China censorship by senior management.

UPDATED: See this commentary in TT that explains how Chen can grow a new party. One of the KMT strategies for keeping the DPP out of power is funding third-party candidates to siphon votes from the DPP. Here is Chen planning to do that without any KMT help at all, using pan-Green resources.
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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.

My Letter on Chen Shui-bian Incarceration Issues

Letter on Chen Shui-bian incarceration in Taipei Times today. My thanks to the editors for printing it. They cleaned up a typo and strengthened the beginning. Title is also better than I could have thought of...

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Focus on urgent issues

William Cox’s letter (Nov. 26, page 8) is obviously well meant, but illustrates several major problems with foreigners commenting on former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) medical issues. Such foreigners frequently err, as Cox does.

For example, Chen has a desk and does not write on the floor. Errors like that enable opponents to discredit pro-Chen foreigners as well-meaning fools who know little about Taiwan. Cox also appears to be unaware that prisoners in Taiwan are generally treated the same way as Chen is, and that, in fact, his incarceration is good by Taiwanese standards. For example, he was sent to one of the best hospitals in the nation for treatment, a privilege no ordinary prisoner would have received.

Few Taiwanese share this strange desire to help Chen. Most see him as, at best, a traitor to the pro-Taiwan cause; at worst, as a thief. Chen’s son recently admitted that their homes in the US were purchased with campaign funds. While converting campaign funds to personal use is legal, that money belongs to the Democratic Progressive Party on behalf of all people who worked to put him in power, as well as those murdered during the Martial Law era. Yes, Chen is a political prisoner. However, his incarceration might have been avoided had Chen behaved in a modest and ethical manner.

The truth is that the issues surrounding Chen’s detention are a minor issue not worth well-meaning outsiders’ time. Foreigners who want to help Taiwan should be focusing on more urgent issues that affect many lives, such as the forced conversion of farmland to industrial parks, the environment, carbon dioxide emissions, traffic, official corruption, human trafficking, the north-south divide, the plight of foreign workers, farmers, fisheries, urban livability, deepening democratization and so on.

If Chen comes up, it should only be as a minor poster boy for an urgently needed general program of prison reform. Taiwan-supporting foreigners, please stop wasting your time with a man who abused and betrayed your trust and whose case will merely divert your energy and impair your credibility as a speaker in Taiwan.

Michael Turton
Greater Taichung

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The last sentence pretty much encapsulates how I see Chen, which is why I almost never discuss him on this blog anymore.
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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.

Next Media Mess

Last month the big deal went through: publisher Jimmy Lai of Hong Kong decided to sell off his NextMedia's print and television operations in Taiwan. The buyer at that time was Jeffrey Koo, Jr. The sale was widely seen as a blow to media independence in Taiwan, since Next Media does a great job throwing light in dark places, and Apple Daily, despite its front pages splashed with sex and gore, did manage to establish itself as a relatively non-partisan news source.

New wrinkle emerged this week: the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is balking at the sale to Jeffrey Koo, Jr. The China Post observes:

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC, 金管會) yesterday ruled that Chinatrust Charity Foundation Chairman (中信慈善基金) Jeffrey Koo Jr. (辜仲諒) is not eligible to run Next Media or be the representative of signatories to buy the group.

Although Koo has only 7 percent of the shares of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co. (中國信託), the FSC ruled that his position as director of that company, and his father Jeffrey Koo Sr.'s (辜濂松) position as chairman, means he is prohibited by law from running Next Media.

FSC regulations stipulate that financial institutions cannot step into the operation of companies in other industries.

According to the report, another prominent Taiwan magazine, Wealth Magazine, reported that Tsai Eng-meng (Robert Tsai), the fanatically pro-China owner of the WantWant Group, is one of the backers of the purchased. Tsai denies this, but many media reports have put his name on this purchase. Wealth Magazine said that Tsai would put an end to Next Media's habit of investigative reporting. Koo has stated publicly that he would respect the magazine's editorial independence (take cynical comment as read). In response to the FSC's disapproval of Koo, Formosa Plastics, also allegedly part of the deal, is alleged to have raised its stake in the deal.

Some of you may be scratching your head over Koo. That's the same Koo who was on the lam from authorities. Hilarity will ensure when this Taipei Times report reminds you....

One of the financial scandals in which Koo was involved was Chinatrust Financial’s flawed bid for rival Mega Financial Holdings Co (兆豐金控) in 2006 — known as the Red Fire Case (紅火案), after the name of the offshore company used to conduct the illegal transaction. He had evaded an arrest warrant and hid in Japan for two years before returning to Taiwan in 2008. He was the vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial at the time.

Chen Hsiao-yi (陳曉宜), organizer of the alliance, said Koo Jr was not fit to run a media business because he had been sentenced to nine years in jail by the Taipei District Court in 2010 for the illegal takeover bid for Mega Financial in violation of the Securities Exchange Act (證券交易法) and the Banking Act (銀行法).

So...the FSC thinks that a guy with a 7% stake in a firm is in violation of the rules preventing finanicial firms running media operations, but that it is perfectly ok for this same fella who has been convicted of illegal financial transactions and has been sentenced to nine years (case is on appeal) in slammer to be running a charity foundation and be a director of a ChinaTrust Financial. Probably this has nothing to do with the fact that the Koos are a powerful pro-KMT family.

Interestingly enough, the Taipei Times article did not mention that the reason Koo returned to Taiwan in 2008 was to testify in the Chen Shui-bian case (last year Koo was one of the factors in the lawsuit from 26 civic groups about the Chen case). Yes, that's right -- you can get sentenced to nine years in jail and confess to involvement in bribing the President, and the FSC will still accept you as a director of a large charity concern and a trust company and object to your owning a media firm on the grounds that you are involved in running a trust company -- not because you are a convicted crook.
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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.

Chen Shui-bian's health deteriorating

Former President Chen Shui-bian, now in prison, was released temporarily as he is suffering from numerous health problems due to his confinement.

Rejecting Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu’s (曾勇夫) claim that psychiatric medication was administered to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) with Chen’s consent, Chen’s family and his office yesterday demanded an explanation of why he was given the medication without his knowledge.

The both the former President's spokesperson and the Chen family deny that Chen ever asked for such medication or knew he was being given it.

The Formosan Association for Human Rights, one of the oldest pro-Taiwan organizations, issued a statement calling for the "inhuman" conditions of Chen's imprisonment to be mitigated. An excerpt that describes his situation:

After being imprisoned over 1,200 days, Chen’s health has begun to rapidly deteriorate. The doctors at Taoyuan General Hospital attribute his poor health to long-term deprivation of sunlight, lack of exercise, and an inactive life style. Chen’s son, Chen Chih-chung, pointed out that his father has been jailed under an inhuman conditions and was allowed only 30 minutes each day for outdoor activities. Earlier this year, for nine straight days, he was even denied his daily exercise time. Unlike other inmates, who can work eight hours a day in prison factories, his father is essentially confined to a damp and undersized cell of about 70 square feet, 24 hours a day. Chen is not even allowed a desk and is forced to write on the floor. Such conditions are a direct violation of the minimum requirements for prisoners sanctioned by the UN, which requires that “every prisoner who is not employed in outdoor work shall have at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily if the weather permits.” Ironically, the Minister of Justice in Taiwan cited security concerns as well as respect for a former head of state for barring Chen from working in the prison factory.

The FAHR statement also said that prostate cancer was discovered during his visit to the hospital for the emergency heart treatment. I've included the FAHR statement at the end of the post.
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Daily Links:

• The Badlands of A-lien...
• Sponge Bear visits home in Xiluo with pics and commentary.
• Montana shuts down Taiwan trade office, mayhap in exchange for access to China
• Chinese journalists complain about restrictions on their reporting in Taiwan.
• New grads expect slightly lower salaries.
• Taiwan's elderly suffer from changing social mores.
• Tobie O in an Aussie paper on betel nut girls.
• Taiwan papers go wild as Canadian paper says Taiwan is cyclist paradise. Yes, but not because of the often pointless and stupid government-installed bike paths.

Click READ MORE below for the complete FAHR statement:

Chen Shui-bian and family found guilty on appeal, more appeals to come

The Taipei Times reports:

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was yesterday sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Taiwan High Court for taking bribes in relation to a series of bank mergers during his eight years in power, fined NT$180 million (US$5.95 million) and stripped of his civil rights for nine years.

His wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), was sentenced to 11 years and fined NT$102 million in the same case and stripped of her civil rights for eight years.

The ruling overturned a ruling in November last year by the Taipei District Court, which cleared the former president and his wife of all charges over merger approvals during the second phase of his administration’s financial reforms, based on a lack of evidence that they received bribes from financial holding companies to ensure the mergers went in their favor. Chen and Wu’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), and daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), were also acquitted in that ruling.

TT reported today that his son is also appealing this decision. One observer remarked that the decision appears too early to affect the election. It will be more difficult to make an issue of Chen this time around; the KMT silenced him in detention -- had they let him speak, he might have caused chaos in the DPP and seriously impeded the party's recovery. No doubt the KMT will do what it can to use Chen to rally the base, but his case has receded into conventional wisdom, old and neutered.

Meanwhile Jeffry Koo, who testified that he bribed Chen in connection with a land case was allowed to leave the country on a huge bail even though he is a known flight risk. Chen was detained, ostensibly for being a flight risk. The Koos later repudiated this testimony in court. I have not heard anything about how that has affected the case.

If the verdict is the result of political interference, it has been well handled. The lower court decision gives the process a veneer of impartiality, while the higher court returns the desired decision. But bear in mind that every judge involved in Chen family cases knows that a previous judge was removed for ruling the "wrong" way.
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Daily Links:

• Brahma Chelleny on China: the Water Hegemon. 
• Dean Cheng strikes again with an excellent analysis of the F-16 deal and China's airpower at Heritage 
• Jenna discusses the recent posts on foreigners.
• Taiwan Echo's post on polls and the GV shutdown. READ IT.
• I am not the Michael quoted in this BBC thing. 

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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.

Su Chih-fen found innocent; Chen Acquitted in Final Appeal

A temple god watches over the onion fields of Kenting.

Lots of good news out of the court system this week. First, Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen, one of the DPPers swept up in the wave of political prosecutions during the waning months of 2008, was found innocent of accepting a bribe:

Su had faced charges of accepting NT$5 million (US$174,845) in bribes to speed up approval of a landfill in the county by skipping an environmental assessment. Prosecutors had argued for a 15-year sentence and an eight-year suspension of civil rights.

“There’s nothing happy about this ruling today. I have been innocent from the start in this case,” Su somberly told hundreds of supporters after the verdict was announced. “I have never accepted even one dollar in bribes.”

Suggesting that the decision relied on testimony from a key witness, Su said that she would like to thank a special person that “stood as firm as a mountain.”

“There are many things that I will not be able to disclose publicly, but I would like to especially thank a special friend,” Su said. “I especially express gratitude to you and am especially thankful for you.”

The ruling was keenly watched after Su and other DPP politicians said that prosecutors were on a “political witch hunt” to find misconduct connected to the Yunlin County commissioner.

The arrest of Su, who had a reputation for integrity, was especially outrageous and one was of a series of events that prompted the first Open Letter from Scholars on the situation in Taiwan. Jon Adams had a good article on the arrests at the time.

(Parenthetically, the KMT's recent obsession with Nat Bellocchi, whose name appeared first on the list of signatories of the most recent letter, took another twist this week with a hit piece from a KMTer who is a retired envoy to Washington. As I noted when the first KMT attacks came out, Bellocchi's name is first on the list not because he is the sinister leader of events but because the list is in alphabetical order. D'oh! And if you examine that list in the first letter, his name is there first as well. D'oh! One could do a PhD thesis on what this reveals about KMT attitudes toward the US.)

At the same time Chen Shui-bian was found not guilty of embezzling $330,000 from the special diplomatic funds in the third and final appeal. Prosecutors went 0-3 on that one. The first time he lost they claimed an acquittal was "against the public's conception of the law." This has been a consistent KMT strategy -- try the cases in the media, then claim that the DPPers lost there to put pressure on judges, then when the judiciary acquits, claim that the courts have disappointed the public. As I noted way back when:

But let's recall -- how was public opinion in this case even constructed? Oh yeah -- the infamous skit that showed Chen Shui-bian as an AIDS victim. Remember that? The Ministry said it was OK because it reflected the sentiment on the island. And then there were the leaks about the case from the prosecutors, which caused the local judicial reform foundation to slam the prosecutors back in Dec of 2008. And remember when 8 prosecutors called a press conference to announce that they would pursue the Chen case to get a conviction right to the bitter end, which I said at the time was basically an admission that they had no evidence? Then there was the flow of new charges... This constant churning of the media by the prosecutors, as well as the baying for Chen's blood in the pro-KMT press, has of course had a profound effect on public opinion. "Trial by media," the South China Morning Post, no friend of the DPP, called it. But the prosecutors citing public opinion in their appeal, the public opinion that they themselves helped nurture through their own questionable actions, is surely a new low.

The second act of this trial-by-media approach is to use the attacks on DPPers to whip up votes for the KMT.

Remember what the judge said about the diplomatic affairs case? Just in case you've forgotten, let's refresh your memory:

Chen was indicted Sept. 22, 2009 for withholding US$30,000 from a sum of US$100,000 given to him by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for discretionary spending during each of his 11 overseas trips as president between August 2000 and September 2006.

The prosecutors charged in the indictment that Chen wired the funds -- a total of US$330,000 -- to his son Chen Chih-chung, who was studying in the United States at the time.

But the judges dismissed the indictment as "a shoddy mishmash of evidence without a morsel of credibility."

They said the prosecutors contradicted themselves by claiming in their indictment that the spending of the allowances was "totally under the control of the Foreign Ministry and the president had no say in the matter, " but in the same breath, the indictment said that "the allowances were meant to finance the president's unexpected spending on state affairs."

The judges also criticized the prosecutors for using the testimony of Wu Wang-hsia, mother of ex-first lady Wu Shu-jen, against her daughter, despite being fully aware that Wu Wang-hsia was not of sound mind and actually misidentified her son as her husband occasionally in her deposition.

Furthermore, the judges said, there were long gaps between the times Chen Shui-bian wired funds to Chen Chih-chung and the times he allegedly embezzled the diplomatic funds, making the prosecutors' claims allegedly embezzled the diplomatic funds, making the prosecutors' claims that the ex-president used the diplomatic funds to finance his son's studies

This means that, in addition to a couple of cases still pending, Chen is in jail for two things -- accepting a bribe from Diana Chen case (see this post) and the Koo family land case bribe. The Koos were in court last week in connection with a different case when this came out.

台灣高等法院昨天開庭審理中信金控前副董事長辜仲諒的紅火案，律師陳明、金延華均作證指出，紅火公司獲利的新台幣三億元並未流進陳水扁家，因辜仲諒擔心返台被押，才會幫辜做出不實陳報狀。

Don't read Chinese? It says that a $300 million NT bribe that was allegedly given to the Chen Shui-bian family never went to them. Read the first page of this Commonwealth article to get a feel for the claim(s). Testimony in the Chen case was also collected from  Jeffrey Koo, another Koo family scion, who was on the run from authorities, came back to Taiwan to "testify" in connection with the alleged bribe and was interrogated for two hours but notes only covered a half-hour, and then sent out of the country again. No deal was made, claimed prosecutors. Chen case coverage here.

David on Formosa offered an excellent post on the Su Chih-fen case with a statement from DPP Presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen:

Tsai Ing-wen posted the following comment on her Facebook page regarding the verdict in Su's case. My translation in English follows.

今天下午，蘇治芬縣長在一審獲判無罪，在等待判決的這段期間，我相信雲林鄉親和我一樣，對蘇縣長個人能力、操守一直抱以高度的肯定和信任，現在司法還給蘇縣長清白，也還給所有的雲林鄉親一個公道，個人感到相當欣慰。

同時，檢察系統動輒政治辦案，濫刑起訴、濫權收押，侵害人民司法人權的嚴重狀況，已經到了不得不全面檢討、改革的地步，這也將是未來我們推動司法改革的重點。]

[This afternoon Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen was found not guilty in the first hearing. During the period of waiting for the verdict I believe that the people of Yunlin County have always kept their trust in the ability and personal integrity of Su just like I have. The justice system has returned Su's state of innocence. It has also given the people of Yunlin County a sense of justice. Everybody can have a sense of feeling gratified.

At the same time, the prosecutors have easily politicised cases, indiscriminately filed charges and excessively used pre-trial detention. The situation of judicial rights is serious and infringes on everyone. It has reached the point where there is no choice but to make the promotion of a comprehensive review and reform of the justice system a key focus in the future.]

I was disappointed by Tsai's weak response to my question about the death penalty at the meeting last Saturday. However, her comments about judicial reform in response to another question were much more impressive. I think these comments show that Tsai realises judicial reform is a task of the utmost importance if she is elected to the presidency. However, despite her legal background this is a task that Tsai cannot complete on her own. She needs strong support from the legal community and all those who support human rights and justice in Taiwan.

In related news, the Taipei Times had another editorial on the revolting saga of the Hsichih trio.
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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.

TT: Judge who ruled pro-Chen indicted

The Taipei Times reported on another suggestive event today -- suggestive in that, rule for Chen, and you'll find yourself on the short end of the administrative stick:

A Taipei District Court judge who found former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), not guilty in a bank merger case was indicted yesterday by Taipei prosecutors on suspicion of negligently leaking the name of a witness to the public.

Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) and his secretary, Liu Lee-ying (劉麗英), were charged with malfeasance for being negligent in the disclosure of a witness’ name who was involved in a case involving illegal drug production and transportation heard by Chou, Taipei prosecutors said.

Chou and Liu were found to have failed to seal a classified document which had witness names on it. As a result, after a lawyer for the defendant in the case, surnamed Lu, read the document and told Lu about the matter, the witness was threatened and beaten by Lu, prosecutors said.

Last month, Chou became the target of some pan-blue political commentators when he, citing insufficient evidence, acquitted Chen and Wu of charges that they laundered money and took bribes from bankers in exchange for manipulating bank mergers.

Chou said in the Chen-Wu -ruling that the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例) states that a public official violates the law by taking bribes in exchange for decisions or policies that favor the bribers, but according to the Constitution, the president’s duties do not include overseeing bank mergers, so Chen therefore would have been unable to receive money from banks and reciprocate by helping their merger proposals.

What happened to the man who allegedly bribed Chen Shui-bian in the Longtan land deal? Nothing, of course (reading the first page of that article will make your blood boil). What happened to the prosecutors who leaked information to the media? Nothing, of course. Chen's lawyer, Cheng Wen-lung, was hit with disciplinary charges, though. What happened to the prosecutors involved in the crazy skit attacking Chen Shui-bian (Jerome Cohen) Nothing, of course. Remember the group of prosecutors who held a press conference to announce that they would pursue the Chen case to the bitter end -- an apparent admission that not only were they involved in a vendetta, but that they did not have any evidence either. Nothing happened to them too.

But don't worry, there's no pattern here.

UPDATE: Judge critical of procedures in the Chen case, and published article criticizing the swapping of judges in that case, found unfit to be a chief judge.

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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.

Chen Found Guilty Again

How do like that anti-corruption rally the KMT has slated for Nov 21 for Taipei, that city where the higher levels of the KMT administration's officialdom have been eviscerated by charges of....what was it? Oh yeah. Corruption.

I was going to write another long blog post on the Chen trial situation. Former President Chen was convicted of taking bribes in connection with the Diana Chen case and the Longtan land case. And I was going to say a few things about the record speed with which the trial of Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu for neglect of duties was commenced the other day -- incredibly fast and what a coincidence, just in time for the election. The irony of trying Chen Chu for absurd crime of taking a nap during a typhoon compared to the lack of trials for the KMT government's monumental failure in Morkat would not have been ignored either. Wanted to toss in a few pithy comments intertwined with the promise from Ma's inaugural speech not to interfere with the judiciary.

But then a friend posted this link to the KMT news org's press release with a threat to sue Formosa TV's Boss Talk for discussing President Ma's recent comments and the independence of the judiciary.

My, there's a chill in the air today.
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Daily Links

• Hsichih Trio found not guilty: justice at last?
• China uses Soviet tactic of confining dissident to psych hospitals.
• Current Chinese Affairs: The movement for independent judiciary reform in Taiwan.
• Excellent piece by Jens Kastner and Wang Jyh-Peng: Ma Letting Taiwan's Military Whither
  

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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.

KMT still blowing the Chen Shui-bian dog whistle

Conflicting reports.

Former President Chen, his wife, and a horde of co-defendants were acquitted this week on bribery charges.

Citing insufficient proof, the Tapei District Court yesterday acquitted former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), of charges that they laundered money and took bribes from bankers in exchange for help manipulating bank mergers.

Nineteen co-defendants were also cleared of charges of money laundering, breach of trust and insider trading because of a lack of proof, Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) said yesterday afternoon.

and also:

Chou’s ruling added that since the money the Chen family received was not a bribe, bank officials who later helped the family transfer the funds overseas therefore did not violate money laundering rules, because money laundering only takes place when transferring money resulting from crime or corruption.

Note what the prosecutor's spokesman said:

SIP Spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) said the “verdict is against the public’s concept of the law” and that prosecutors would appeal to the Taiwan High Court.

"Against the public's concept of the law." What an interesting take on it -- not against the law, or unconstitutional, or an ethical violation. Nope, the public doesn't like it, so it must be appealed. Since when does public opinion decide court cases?

But let's recall -- how was public opinion in this case even constructed? Oh yeah -- the infamous skit that showed Chen Shui-bian as an AIDS victim. Remember that? The Ministry said it was OK because it reflected the sentiment on the island. And then there were the leaks about the case from the prosecutors, which caused the local judicial reform foundation to slam the prosecutors back in Dec of 2008. And remember when 8 prosecutors called a press conference to announce that they would pursue the Chen case to get a conviction right to the bitter end, which I said at the time was basically an admission that they had no evidence? Then there was the flow of new charges... This constant churning of the media by the prosecutors, as well as the baying for Chen's blood in the pro-KMT press, has of course had a profound effect on public opinion. "Trial by media," the South China Morning Post, no friend of the DPP, called it. But the prosecutors citing public opinion in their appeal, the public opinion that they themselves helped nurture through their own questionable actions, is surely a new low.

Meanwhile, another important function of Chen Shui-bian was on display as the KMT called on voters to express their disapproval of the verdict by voting KMT.

Reaction to former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) acquittal in a bribery trial appeared to fall along political lines yesterday, with the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) mayoral candidates urging voters to show their discontent with the ruling with their ballots on Nov. 27, while their Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opponents played down the case.

Nice try, but I doubt that Chen will have much effect on the voters come Nov. 27. The KMT has chosen to keep him in jail and muzzled, meaning that he cannot impact the public's perception of the DPP, nor hog the limelight, nor sour light Greens and independents on voting DPP, nor change the focus of the voters on the KMT's performance to whatever Chen Shui-bian has done. Once again, thanks, KMT, for giving Tsai the breathing space to consolidate the DPP.

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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.

Pair 'a Dicey Islands

The Foreigner opines:

Story at the Taipei Times. The press in Taiwan is still mum though, on how much the irredentist president's gunboat diplomacy has cost the nation -- not only in precious taxpayer NT dollars, but in squandered international credibility as well.

One need not speculate what world reaction would have been had Ma instead dispatched 12 Taiwanese coast guard vessels into CHINESE waters. So that a "civilian" fishing boat could attempt to raise the Republic of China flag on P.R.C. soil Because the answer is clear: the world would have regarded it as an outrageously dangerous provocation.

A very REAL provocation, quite unlike any of the phony "provocations" the previous Chen administration was accused of.

The CNA had a timely article on the Dongsha islands on the other side of Taiwan in the South China Sea. In that case Taiwan is following the Chen Shui-bian policy of environmentally-defined peaceful development. Note that the ROC insanely claims the entire South China Sea:

Ger said that he doesn't expect major conflict in the region in the near future and that Taiwan hopes all claimants will set aside disputes and collaborate on management and conservation.

"Our appeals remain the same, " he said. "We claim full sovereignty over the South China Sea and hope to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue. The Taiwan government maintains channels for dialogues with all parties involved in the issue -- although they're mostly unofficial.

But these claims are not "provocative". No, "provocative" is when Chen Shui-bian has a referendum or a campaign to enter the UN.

It's so difficult not to descend into about six paragraphs worth of snark at this point....

I'd like to explore The Foreigner's point, though. Remember this incident, mentioned in the article above?

In 2008, former President Chen Shui-bian visited the Spratlys to inaugurate an airstrip, sparking protest from the Philippines and Vietnam.

How was Chen's airstrip visit covered? Consider Wapo's piece on Chen's visit:

Andrew Yang, secretary general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei, said Chen's trip to the islands was designed as a "political message." He said Chen was asserting leadership after his Democratic Progressive Party suffered a humiliating loss in legislative elections three weeks ago, a defeat many observers said was encouraged by his confrontational style.

"He is trying to emphasize that he is fully in control," Yang said.

The Reuters piece also cites Andrew Yang, whose political allegiance should have been made clear to readers, and -- of all people -- Su Chi, Ma's former NSC head and a KMT heavyweight. As with the WaPo piece the tone is of course entirely negative and little attempt is made to explore Chen's and/or Taiwan's policy. The Asia Sentinel piece on the event is similarly judgmental: Chen is up to "mischief-making". For a more Taiwan-centered view on the event, try the Taiwan News piece. For a review of Taiwan's Spratly policy in the Chen Administration try this old Asia Times piece. The airfield was actually announced in 2005. What's striking about so much of this "reporting" is how normalized a kind of tone of knowing negativity about Chen became in the media. If you can find the AP piece, compare its dry and relatively non-judgmental tone to the other reports.

Note that while the Chen visit to the Spratlys is portrayed in most of the pieces as pure political posturing prior to the election -- merely motivated by cynical domestic political calculation -- I can't find any media source that has written that way about sending 12 coast guard vessels to confront Japanese vessels in "disputed waters." Apparently only Chen Shui-bian has cynical political calculation related to domestic politics -- even when Ma's popularity is at Chen-like levels and even when we are two months away from key elections.

Of course, the coast guard vessels were not there to confront the Japanese so much as to make sure the "activists" didn't do anything stupid, right? The China Post, the KMT's English-language cheerleader, described the situation as:

When Huang and Yin's “Kan En No.99” fishing boat was blocked by seven ships from Japan, which claims the islets as its exclusive economic zone, an unprecedented number of 12 CGA ships provided protection and shielded the protest boat from being attacked.

The pro-Green media says the same thing: the coast guard was "protecting" the fishing boat. Here's the story about what happened from the Taipei Times:

Taiwan lodged a protest against Japan on Tuesday after a Taiwanese fishing boat heading to the islands to declare Taiwanese fishermen’s fishing rights was turned back by seven Japanese patrol vessels despite the protection of 12 Coast Guard Administration vessels.

Japan’s move prompted about 100 people, led by the Chung Hwa ­Baodiao Alliance, to burn the Rising Sun Flag — a symbol of Imperial Japan that is used by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and the Maritime Self-­Defense Force in modified forms — and to throw dead fish at Japan’s Interchange Association in Taipei in protest.

The Taiwanese government expressed “deep dissatisfaction” with Japan following an hours-long standoff between the Taiwanese fishing boat, coast guard vessels and the Japanese patrol boats.

Huang Hsi-lin (黃錫麟), chief executive officer of the alliance and one of the activists on the fishing boat, criticized the Taiwanese government as being “weak” about protecting Taiwanese fishing boats.

Wu yesterday said the government had taken an “unprecedented” hard-line stance to deal with the matter by dispatching 12 coast guard vessels to protect the fishing boat.

Wu said the government’s resolution to protect Taiwanese fishermen and the nation’s territory would remain unchanged, adding that the government will continue to take a “hard-line” stance on the issue.

I'd love to know where that language of "protecting" comes from. The media's nationalistic interpretation, or a government spokesman? The China Post story appears to imply that it comes from coast guard spokespersons, implying that the idea of "protecting" which inevitably meant confrontation with Japanese ships was in fact government policy. Hopefully I've misinterpreted that....

Must....not...snark.....

The Taipei Times also reported that the Mainland Affairs Council appears to be strangely reluctant to complain to China about Chinese vessels encroaching on the Senkakus...almost as if they were cooperating with China or somethin'. Nah. Wu even says that the government will take a "hard line" on the issue. At the same time, the media reported that the activists said the government made it difficult for them to rent a boat, threatening to revoke the licenses of any owners who rented the group a boat. Clearly the "hard line" appears to be for domestic media consumption -- but that's impossible because we know that only Chen Shui-bian "provokes" for cynical domestic political reasons.

Must....not...snark.....

Of course, the miniature confrontation in the Senkakus was overshadowed by China/Taiwan cooperation in rescue mission drills for the first time:

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) conducted a joint maritime rescue drill with its Chinese counterpart Thursday, marking the first time Taiwanese and Chinese coastal patrol agencies have held joint marine exercises.

Let's see that timing again: on Monday President Ma's government has coast guard vessels confront(?) Japanese ships in Japanese waters. On Thursday China and Taiwan have coast guard drills together. Surely on monday the government knew that on thursday it would be having coast guard drills with Beijing.....
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Daily Links

• A commenter gave me this link to a fascinating blog post full of interesting maps and texts that show that the Senkakus don't belong to Taiwan (Chinese).
• That post led me to this way cool set of maps that show how the administrative districts of Taiwan evolved through the centuries.
• A Dean from Taiwan at St John's U, Cecilia Chang, is busted for embezzling donations from, among others, a Saudi prince. Said embezzlement being hilariously transparent. Honorary degree recipients from St John's include Mrs. Lien Chan, fugitive legislator Liu Sung-pan, and John Chiang. There is also a Chiang Ching-kuo memorial hall on campus. Hmm.....
• Hsu decides not to split DPP by running in Tainan mayoral election.
• On the China-Japan fishing boat dispute. Interesting: article claims a US attack sub designed for shallow water operations has been re-assigned to Yokusaka in Japan.
• Diamondbacks could still open MLB 2011 here in Taiwan.
  

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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!

Judges Take Taiwan Another Step Forward

Last month we saw some amazing work by Taiwan's judges in forcing the government to maybe kinda think about honoring its environmental laws and declarations in the central Taiwan science park expansion case. This week Judge Chen Ssu-fan gave the Assembly and Parade Law a thwack! on the head. Taipei Times notes:

In a stunning turn of events in a 23-month-long court battle, a judge has decided to suspend the hearing and ask for a constitutional interpretation on whether illegal restrictions have been placed on the public’s right to assembly and on freedom of speech.

Taipei District Court Judge Chen Ssu-fan (陳思帆), presiding over a case where a university professor was arrested for holding a sit-in without a permit, said on Thursday night that the controversial Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) would be passed on to the Council of Grand Justices to determine the constitutionality of several of its clauses.

The judge said in the meantime he did not have enough information to make a ruling in the case against National Taiwan University assistant professor Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), a leader of the Wild Strawberries student movement in 2008.

On Nov. 6, 2008, the sociology professor led dozens of university students as they held a two-day sit-in at Liberty Square in Taipei to protest a police crackdown on the display of the Republic of China (ROC) national flag and the playing of Taiwanese songs during a visit by Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) earlier that week.

The always awesome David on Formosa has the background:

The Assembly Law was enacted in January 1988, only six months after Martial Law came to an end. It has been widely criticised by civil society groups for restricting freedom of speech and giving police too much power. The law came into the spotlight during the visit of Chinese official Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to Taiwan in November 2008. The heavy handed tactics of the police during that time gave rise to the Wild Strawberry Movement. One of the movement’s key demands was to amend the Assembly Law which they claimed limited freedom of speech.

The Taipei Times further stated:

Article 4 and Article 6 of the act state that protesters cannot speak in support of communist or pro-Taiwanese independence activities and that protests cannot take place near certain government buildings, airports, military installations and embassies.

The act also states that permits for protests must be applied for in writing with local police departments beforehand and that protests can be canceled or moved by the government because of adverse weather conditions or other “serious events” — without further elaboration.

After martial law was revoked the KMT government passed a bunch of national security laws that were martial law in all but name, of which this law is one. The judge recognizes the clearly authoritarian nature of the law and sent it up to the Supremes for review. Judicial spine is something Taiwan needs more of; kudos to Judge Chen for showing some.

I talked to some of the Wild Strawberry protesters in Tainan in 2008 about the Assembly and Parade Law. They said:

First, we hope that President Ma and Premier Liu will apologize for the recent police violence. Our second goal is that the heads of the National Police Administration and the National Security Administration step down. Third, we hope that the Assembly and Parade Law will be revised. We ask that it be revised in four directions. First, we'd like to change the application for a parade permit to a notification system, just like in the US, where you just notify the police that you will march, instead of asking permission to hold a march. That way the police will not be saying who can protest and who can't. The second thing we want changed is the Police Administrative Judgment authority. At present the police can decide when they will go arrest people and when they won't. [drowned out by traffic and crowd noises.] The third change we want is that at present violations of the Assembly and Parade Law are criminal acts under the law and determined under criminal law, so you can be sent to jail for a year or two years, for example. We believe that this is against the freedom of the people. We want that changed so that violations fall under the administrative laws and only fines are handed out for violations of the Assembly and Parade Law, so you won't get a year or two for violations of the law. Finally, we want them to lift the restrictions on places where assemblies and parades can be held. These restrictions are a violation of the basic rights and freedoms laid out in the Constitution. Now [the Assembly and Parade] law is clearly of lower status than the Constitution, but it has [unintelligible] the Constitution. So we think it should be revised.

Such cases remind that the democratic transition is still ongoing in Taiwan. It is interesting to contrast this progressive, democracy-oriented ruling with the sick failure of the judges in the US to support democracy in the case in which the higher Court allowed the Obama Administration to invoke State Secrets to prevent lawsuits on the kidnapping and torture program of the Bush Administration. Shameful.
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Daily Links

• Jamestown Brief with a slew of good stuff today: (1) Taiwan beefs up its indigenous capabilities; (2) China's evolving approach to US carriers; and (3) Ryukyu Chain in China's strategy.
• AIT: American footsteps in southern Taiwan exhibition.
• Taiwan's government recommended bike routes. Like Drew, I recommend that you avoid them on weekends. It's far safer to ride on the road.
• Chaon is awesome.
  
• The Senkakus continues to be a testing ground for cooperation among Chinese right-wing nationalists in Taiwan and China.
  
• Swiss Court serves Beijing in shameful tossing out of Taiwan ISO case.
• Koran Burning: Jason Linkin with an awe-inspiring demolition of America's Golden Retriever Media reporting on that terrorist nut in Florida who wanted to burn Korans. Glenn Greenwald with an awesome piece on the media's selectivity in reporting who has blood on their hands. Juan Cole finishes the trifecta. The failure of the US media over the last three decades has been nothing short of catastrophic for the United States.

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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!

Wednesday News Round Up: FSC, EPA, MND

Lots of things out and about this week... First, the Financial Supervisory Commission stopped the Nanshan deal.

The proposed takeover of Taiwan’s Nanshan Life Insurance Co. Ltd. by Hong Kong-based Primus Financial Holdings Ltd. was vetoed by the Investment Commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs Aug. 31.

......

In October 2009, AIG signed an agreement with Primus Nanshan Holding Co. Ltd., a PFH subsidiary created specifically for the deal, for the Hong Kong group to take over AIG’s entire Nanshan stake for US$2.15 billion. Had it been greenlighted, the deal would have been the biggest merger on record in the Asian insurance sector.

......

FSC Deputy Minister Wu Tang-chieh pointed out that the deal was rejected as the FSC has concerns over PFH’s financing capabilities and the buyer’s long-term commitment to running the business in Taiwan. “The decision was based on an objective and professional evaluation of the current state of affairs,” Wu said.

.......

According to the FSC, Nanshan has about 4 million clients and more than 37,000 employees in Taiwan. The firm’s financial statements reveal that it has total assets of NT$1.73 trillion (US$53.89 billion), accounting for 15.32 percent of the local insurance sector. The firm’s net value amounts to NT$140.3 billion, or more than one third of the sector’s combined net worth. (THN)

An amazing and highly connected cast of characters dominated the Chinese side. Ma Ying-jeou was strongly backed in 2008 by the big global financial houses, and I expected deals like this would soon become the norm. But the public showed great interest in the deal, which, on the Chinese side, became ever more difficult to pin down, according to the KMT news service -- and politically explosive, especially as Ma's ratings have plummeted and the KMT program of putting Taiwan into China's orbit is not popular in Taiwan. That second paragraph is the kicker:

The public paid close attention to this deal because the investment capital was suspected of coming from the Mainland. Vice Economics Minister Hwang Jung-Chiou yesterday stated that the Investment Committee had conducted a thorough investigation into the background of each shareholder in the consortium through the national security system, Taipei missions abroad, and even private credit-reference companies. The consortium was forced to change the list of its shareholders because Taiwan financial authorities had adopted strict examination measures to go through the backgrounds and sources of the capital of the shareholders.

Officials close to the case disclosed that the consortium’s first list included 44 shareholders, but the number increased to 52 afterwards, and later the number of shareholders had changed several times. “Whenever the media revealed that some the shareholders appeared to have connections to the Mainland, the list of shareholders was immediately revised,” forcing the Investment Committee and the FSC to restart their investigations from the beginning. The official said that the most bizarre occurrence was that the consortium deleted 23 names from its shareholder list on August 4, the deadline for submitting the complete application.

The review period had lasted 8 months, with supplementary documents having been submitted 13 times and 3 consultation meetings having been held. The complicated procedures were indeed unusual in Taiwan’s financial history.

There's been a lot of discussion of the back story, but that second paragraph tells an important story. A second consideration was widespread fear of mass layoffs if the unit were sold. Yet another factor is that ChinaTrust, the big local financial firm, has also expressed an interest in buying the unit.

Note that the decision may be appealed, meaning that it may be reversed. After the November election, of course.

A second piece of important news was that the EPA shoved through the environmental impact assessment for the science park expansion:

The environmental impact assessment for the controversial third-stage development of the Central Taiwan Science Park was passed by the Environmental Protection Administration Aug. 31.

The National Science Council may now resume its expansion project at the Qixing Farm site in Houli, Taichung County, EPA officials said.

After a five-hour long meeting, the Environmental Impact Assessment Committee ruled unanimously at the end of the day to conditionally pass the plan without requiring a phase-two impact assessment.

This despite protests from activists outside the EPA. The project had been halted due to an injunction from the Taipei High Court on Aug 2. The park was given a list of pollution conditions which, if not met, will cause it to be fined. ROFL.

Third, despite ECFA, despite the President's gutting of the nation's independent foreign policy, despite the close and warming ties between the KMT and the CCP, the Ministry of National Defense released a report today noting that China's military threat toward Taiwan remained unchanged: they still say they will maim and kill the island's citizens if Taiwan is not annexed to China. There was much speculation this week regarding a possible political deal -- China will remove the missiles facing Taiwan if the nation agrees to political talks.

Interestingly, Taiwan's military budget is now at its lowest level in five years, according to the Taipei Times, after Ma had repeatedly promised during and just after the election to raise it to 3% of GDP. In fact the Taipei Times report claimed that the current level is "the level it was at before the Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2000." You can argue that, well, the threat of Chinese invasion is reduced because of the KMT-CCP lovefest but the MND says, nope, not true. Moreover a direct conflict over Taiwan is not the only way Taiwan could become embroiled in a conflict in the region -- see islands, South China Sea, for example. If Taiwan wasn't doing enough to defend itself in the Chen Administration, what about now, when China is becoming more militant by the day?

Which reminds me.

I know it is a stupid question. I realize it is pointless to ask it. But I'm going to ask it anyway: where are all the voices who whined during the latter years of the Chen Shui-bian administration that Taiwan was not doing enough to defend itself? The defense budget continues to slide, yet a vast silence reigns, bereft of apology or acknowledgement.

Cowards.
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Daily Links

• Reuters on a double (popular with Chinese tourists) for dictator Chiang Kai-shek who ruled Taiwan "singlehandedly". I guess that means without even a secretary to help him!
• AEI's Gary Schmitt with a wonderful piece on the craven use of "Chinese Taipei" in Little League broadcasting.
  
• GM helps China corner the market in magnet technology.
  
• Taiwan Link hits one out of the park on the issue of retired officers from Taiwan visiting China.
• Frozen Garlic asks: what is the ROC?
• Date of November elections officially confirmed: Nov 27, along with number of seats in the new city councils
• Chris Taylor, long-termer from Taiwan, now in China, interviewed about his first book.
  

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