Buried in this article about US complaints regarding China's refusal to permit Taiwan to participate in global anti-terrorist organizations I found this tidbit about the anti-American Patriot Act:The report also noted that the Minister of Justice has drafted a new "antiterrorist action" law modeled on the US Patriot Act. The Executive Yuan is reviewing the draft.
A visiting US Admiral said that China could not take Taiwan, and that the US will defend it.China's military capability is not sufficient to allow it to take over Taiwan by force, the former commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command Admiral Dennis Blair said yesterday.Blair was in town to watch the Han Kuang No. 22 wargames, which focused on the problem of defending the island if China acquired control of the air. Initial reports actually had the simulation focused on a Chinese occupation of the island, but the final simulation tested how long the military could hold out.
He made the remarks in a speech delivered at a forum on national defense hosted by the Institute for Taiwan Defense and Strategic Studies, a private think tank.
Blair said that US officials, including himself, had repeatedly told Chinese officials that it was impossible for Beijing to force unification on Taiwan because of the limited capabilities of China's military, and that the US would not shrink from a cross-strait military conflict.
"This year's Han Kuang computer exercise will simulate a cross-strait war breaking out in 2008, with the Chinese military successfully landing [troops] in Taiwan after launching full-scale missile and air attacks on the country, and an intense ground battle breaking out," ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Wu Chi-fang (吳季方) said yesterday.
The simulation envisions the military mobilizing more than 3 million active and reserve service members to confront Chinese ground troops, a ministry press statement said, adding that a simulated battle for Taipei City would be fought.
This year's computer exercise would continue until the Taiwanese military had lost all of its fighting capabilities, the statement added.
The ministry said that through the exercise it would learn how long the military would be able to resist a Chinese assault, and how many military personnel, including reserves, the country required.
The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday quoted an unnamed official as saying that the ministry estimated that the military would be able to hold out against a Chinese invasion force for more than two weeks, or even a whole month, provided the military and the public maintained the will to fight.
But if Taiwanese lack that determination, the country could be in China's hands in three days, the paper quoted the official as saying.
During the 1980s I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Meru District, near the town of Kangeta, where the world's best miraa is grown, doing my personal bit for US hegemony in Africa. Like so many people who visit the staggeringly beautiful land of Kenya, I still pine for my house on the equator from which both sets of polar stars could be seen...David Lamb in The Africans records a joke then current in Africa that the Whites were the WhenWe tribe, since all their sentences begin with "When we were in Africa...."
Chinese President Hu Jintao has signed an important oil exploration agreement with Kenya during his trip to Nairobi.
Six other deals have also been signed on malaria, rice and roads. Mr Hu is also due to visit wildlife parks that are eager to attract Chinese tourists.
Kenya is keen to secure Chinese investment deals in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors.
Mr Hu is in Kenya on the final leg of his week-long Africa tour, during which he has tried to boost trade links.
The president's trip has focussed on deals to expand Chinese investment in Africa's natural resources, especially oil, to satisfy China's energy-hungry economy.
Linda Arrigo sent me these notes from her interview with a former member of the Ministry of Justice who worked during the 1980s as an investigator. It gives a glimpse into a world of political intrigue and authoritarian control, corruption, arbitrary arrest and abuse of power, and the extraordinary capacity of humans for change. Linda has graciously consented to me putting them up here. So enjoy!
Sorry about the hiatus. Traveling...
I was wondering if you had an online image of the pamphlet/cartoon that Chen's defense minister sent out declaring "A cup of pearl milk tea for national security." I'd really like to get a look at the image, because I have been doing some research regarding the subtle political implications of Bubble Tea.
The last installment of this was the one from Lee Teng-hui discussing the problems of investment in China and how it has slowed Taiwan's economic growth and worsened its income equality. This week's talks about other issues...In 1990, the differentiation of products exported to the U.S. by South Korea and of products exported to the U.S. by China stood at 75.2. At the same time, the differentiation between Taiwanese and Chinese products stood at 72.5 (a differentiation of 100 means that two products are completely different), which shows that back then there was not much of a difference between Taiwan and South Korea in terms of product differentiation. However 13 years later in 2003 the degree of product differentiation between South Korean and Chinese exports to the U.S. still stood at 59.1, while Taiwan’s had narrowed to just 31.2, because our companies due to their cost-reduction strategy and over-investment in China were unable to transform and upgrade, only producing goods at low costs. If products do not differ and also cannot compete on price, then they will be easily substituted.
From 2001 to 2004 Taiwan’s domestic investment accounted for less than 20 percent of GDP. Many people think that investment activity was not really thriving because of the international recession. I will especially take the situation of other countries for comparison to see how differently the international slump affected the individual countries. We will then take a look to see how much the international economic situation affects Taiwan. The three other small Asian dragons South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore were affected by the international slump during the same time as Taiwan, but their domestic investment rate was higher than Taiwan’s. Even in the U.S., Japan and Italy the domestic investment rate was higher than in Taiwan during the same period. This shows that the international slump is definitely not the only reason why Taiwan’s domestic investment rate is low.
Where does the problem lie? After the year 2000 the Economic Development Advisory Conference reached consensus to implement an “active opening, effective management” policy toward investment in China, but it failed to come up with concrete methods of adequate management. From 1993 to 1999 when President Lee Teng-hui was in power appropriate controls and norms were in place regarding commercial and trade contracts between Taiwan and China. As a result Taiwanese investment in China remained always at around 0.5 percent of GDP. But after 2000 this figure kept rising so that by 2004 it had already soared to 2.4 percent. These Mainland Affairs Council figures are still rather conservative, because they only include investments that went through the legal application and approval process, while investments that were made clandestinely are not factored in. Therefore the 2.4 percent figure is still underrated.
First I would like to define “excessive investment in China.” There are two indicators, one of which is the amount that Taiwanese entrepreneurs have invested in China, which accounts for too high a proportion of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Taiwan usually ranks among the first three top investors in China worldwide. The second indicator is the share of Taiwanese investment going to China, which accounts for too high a proportion of our overseas investment. In the course of globalization Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea usually invest 60-70 percent of their total overseas investment in countries that are at an equal level of development such as Europe, the U.S., and Japan. They use such investments as an opportunity to obtain certain technologies or for acquisitions. But Taiwan does exactly the opposite by investing 70 percent of its overseas investment in China. Why do we invest in China? This is probably related to the size of our companies, our past successful experiences and our business philosophy. What our companies have adopted is a cost-reducing strategy. If everyone adopts a strategy of reducing costs, Taiwan’s economy will be severely affected.
WaPo reports today on the evolving decision by the Vatican to switch ties from Taiwan to China. This has become inevitable now that Taiwan has become a democracy. The interesting thing about this is not the rapproachment between two closely related forms of Authority-worship, Catholicism and Communism, but the hypocrisy with which I am certain this will be viewed with by the rest of the world. The Post observes:Apart from Taiwan, the other main dispute between Beijing and the Vatican, over the power to choose Chinese bishops, has moved close to resolution as well, according to Ren Yanli, a specialist in church-state relations at the government's Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Under an informal system, he said, the Chinese government has taken to naming clerics it knows already have been named by the Vatican.
"And especially the newer bishops," Cardinal Zen said in an interview. "Everybody knows they were appointed by the Holy Father."
Vatican and Chinese diplomats could swiftly work out a formula acceptable to both sides if they received instructions to do so from senior leaders, Ren predicted. Only a few bishops from among the 120 active in China would have to be retired as part of a formal Vatican-Beijing agreement, he suggested. They include those most closely associated with the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, a government-sponsored group that refuses the pope's authority, and perhaps some veteran clerics who have taken sharply anti-government stands during their years in the underground church movement.
But getting back to my question "Why blog?" I Googled the question and got over 800,000 hits. I also Googled "Why write a diary?", and got 99 hits. It seems I am not alone on this one. I often find myself thinking about something I want to write, but then hesitate for fear that the "wrong people" will read it. I have no illusion as to the readership of this blog, but I don't feel free to really rant about work, family and friends as I would with a diary, for example. Daniel wrote about that in one of his posts. So why? It's part narcissism, part reverse-voyeurism. But as Nebulon Fry states, it's also a quest. So far it has been a selfish thing, and I suppose this will always be elemental. But from the very start, I found a community of interesting and more importantly, interested people. My initial attempts at networking turned into very pleasant, stimulating and rewarding personal meetings, which I look forward to again. But in the back of my mind, I can't help but wonder: is the continuity of fleshy encounters contingent on blogospherical quotas? What if I can't keep up with the bloggy Joneses?
On the 2002 visa the word Taiwan, or even Taipei, doesn't appear anywhere (in Chinese or English). There is only "Republic of China" and "ROC".
The 2006 visa is quite a contrast. At the top of the visa it says "Republic of China (Taiwan)". Although Taiwan is in brackets it is actually written in a larger font size. In the background there are two images of Taipei 101 and a map of Taiwan. There are also the words "Welcome to Taiwan" and "Taipei 101 - the tallest building in the world".
It is actually difficult to figure out what country the 2002 visa is from or to easily confuse it with China (the PRC). There are no such doubts in 2006.
In the past, I have written quite critically of business education programs that claim to be bringing accessible education to people of impoverished parts of the world. I have said that there are no unaccredited programs that are any good - or at least I have not seen even one. While these programs are busy taking people's money, there are schools earnestly working at developing programs whose goals and organization will have a real impact on this part of the world. The IMBA at National Cheng Kung University is one of these.Prior to the Blogger Round Table, I had the chance to speak to the dean of the IMBA program, Dr. Henry Wu. Dean Wu is a graduate of the Kaohsiung Normal University. In addition to a PhD from Oklahoma State University, Dean Wu spent almost 10 years at the China Steel Corporation. He has been teaching at NCKU since 1992 and has been the Dean of the Institute of Management since 2001 (You can find Dr. Wu's Chinese bio here).
That's c-h-i-l-i, no two l's in this word (sorry Illinois). See? Only one sentence and I've already raised some hackles - if I'm doing my job right. Let me see. Tomatoes? Ciao baby. This is chili, not Ragu or even ragout. Beans? Ha! Blasphemous teat-suckling mama's boy. Meat? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. Truthfully and sadly, though, most people will put either tomatoes or beans in their chili, and the truly evil will use both (even in my beloved Texas). I believe in the Texas Trinity of Fat, Fire and Meat with chary use of other additions. Some will argue that chili came to Texas from the Canary Islands, but most evidence points to the Islanders exporting their Mojo sauce (vinegar, chiles and spices). Whether the addition of meat as the main ingredient was by them or others living in Texas, what we now know as chili was most probably done first in the Lone Star State. The point is not so much as who or where, but what. The absence of tomatoes and beans in early recipes is striking.Karl reports on the results:
it is with considerable regret that I report to the world that evidently, Texans do not know the first thing about Chili, having crashed and burned in spectacular fashion to the white chicken chili recipe from Minnesota.
Commentary: Despite the indignities suffered by Hu Jintao, I don't think any tops the regular Chinese news broadcasts in which Bush's name is mispronounced to sound like the word "dishonest" and how they made him wear a dark traditional tunic during Bush's first visit (normally reserved for the dead nowadays). But Bush left a day early, promptly from China, without giving any real reasons why, which diplomatically means unsatisfaction.
Well, we clearly have a group of dissatisfied legislators. But the big question is “What will (or can) they do?” Michael Turton has also written on this and thinks it adds up to a crisis for the KMT, but I’m not convinced. Although there are plenty of people who dislike Ma high up in the KMT, there’s not a lot they can do about it. Ma is secure in his job - it’s the legislators who aren’t secure in theirs.I think if Ma can make it through these elections, implement this system, develop a broad base, outflank the party insiders, nuetralize his rival legislative speaker Wang, and win the election, then -- my fingers will be worn off writing about it.....in the meantime I noted:
As David at jujuflop pointed out the other day, Ma has to tread carefully to avoid offending these legislators, so that more of them will return home to the KMT. They are all potential Ma supporters -- as militant pro-Blue politicians they will never permit a Taiwanese to become head of the party or ROC President ever again, after the "betrayal" by the hated Lee Teng-hui, a native Taiwanese who rose to become Chairman and President of the KMT. It just so happens that Wang Jin-pyng, Ma's rival, is a Taiwanese. Ma may have his eye on a legislative majority, but Ma's strategy of catering to their interests may also be aimed at Wang as well.
ROC citizens across Taiwan have been dragged into their district government offices en masse for their new national ID cards. There’s a strange, new symbol of the Republic of China prominent in the background of the actual id, which is conveniently blocked by big SAMPLE letters on the online version of the card. I certainly have never seen it before, and it bears no relationship to any of the ROC symbology that I’ve ever seen.
Last Thursday I went for a walk around this 'student equipment store' (SES) in Jhungli called "Bright South." I have to make up a term for this because we don't have anything like it in the US--a store that sells video games, comic books, backpacks, CDs and DVDs, and student stationary goods. This SES was packed with teens and middle-schoolers and a lively, bustling atmosphere. As usual, I was there looking for some manga to read, so I kinda lolly-gagged around for a couple of hours checking out the recent titles. To my disappointment, there weren't that many, and what's more, I noticed the comics section was the least crowded section of the store. The students were all jammed into the video game section or else looking for erotic DVDs to buy. My wanderings in the SES inspired the following melancholy reflections on the demise Taiwan's comics culture.Comics. Loved 'em when I was a kid....
What would it take to invade Taiwan? How many troops? What would the United States do? Could Taiwan counter-strike? Would it be a Normandy-style invasion or a surprise decapitation strike?
Grappling with those kinds of questions makes this is a disturbing book. Educated conjecture about ways to destroy a country, particularly one in which you live, makes for chilly reading.
Editor Steve Tsang, an Oxford University scholar, brings together some of the top specialists on the Chinese military for a readable analysis tackling policy framework, China's capacity to use force, and the potential economic costs. In his introduction, Tsang cautions the reader that though many pundits argue that China would refrain from a conflict due to concerns about the economic ramifications, they ignore how the powerful emotional appeal of Chinese nationalism will impact upon how China policy makers deliberate. In addition, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) increasingly hollow claim to legitimacy, traditionally based on lofty Marxist-Leninist ideology, now relies on a skewed nationalistic vision that redirects the citizenry's anger and frustration from the CCP's inept bureaucracy and corruption towards Taiwan, Japan, and the United States.
Boris Johnson Suggests Another Way to Look at China and Taiwan
Saturday April 22, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.
Many academics and many journalists go to China and on their return write the perfunctory words on how the PRC is not perfect on human rights, democracy etc. but the government cares for the people, things are improving and the West just does not understand these rulers and their elite. While such writers refrain from being too critical, their caution is understandable. They are conscious of who are the gate-keepers that control their return invitations (all bills paid of course). What is refreshing about Boris Johnson is his disregard on whether he will be invited back to the latest popular feast or not. I quote his writings in entirety so that readers can catch both his humor and critical analysis of his own (British) system. Further however, many of the issues addressed within will be topics of future posts of mine to come. For example, readers can ask the basic question, why are groups like the Falun Gong such a danger and threat to the stability of the government in an autocratic one party state like China but they practice freely with no harassment in the democratic state of Taiwan.
Someone on the FAPA listserv sent this set of pictures out this morning, each featuring a word in the "Martian" (火星文) language that the kids in Taiwan seem so crazy for these days, and how to use the word in a sentence.
Taiwan awoke to the "Martian" invasion a couple months ago after it was found that the Ministry of Education tried connecting with the hep chicks and cats of the Instant Messaging Generation by including questions on the meaning of popular IM phrases (later nicknamed "Martian") on a standardized exam. (Cue "Political Shitstorm Concerto in B Major", please).
The questions may have since been replaced, but "Martian" remains a popular way for students to confuse their parents. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I find it faintly annoying that my Taiwanese convenience store chain of choice, FamilyMart/全家便利商店 put these out with the motto "Everyone Spells English" in the lower right corner. Foreign English teachers, beware; your jobs are about to get a whole lot harder.
I’d been working on a post about the cards and miniature magnets given away at Family Mart (Quánjiā / 全家) convenience stores with purchases of at least NT$75 (about US$2). But Jason at Wandering to Tamshui beat me to it yesterday with a post showing all of the cards, so I’ll keep this short.I had no idea those stupid magnets were so interesting.These are particularly interesting because of the use of Taiwanese as well as several other languages, though everything here is labeled “Yingwen” (English). As Jason wrote, “That faint sound you hear is a thousand foreign English teachers slapping their foreheads in despair.”
The series, labeled Quánmín pīn Yīngwén (全民拼英文), is probably meant to counter rival 7-Eleven’s popular Hello Kitty button series. Although few take on Hello Kitty and live to tell the tale, I think the alphabet cards are doing fairly well.
The Taipei City Government has released the results of a Mandarin proficiency exam administered to 31,145 sixth-grade students.
According to the results, more than 40 percent of those tested are unable to use so-called radicals (bùshǒu, 部首) to find Chinese characters in dictionaries. This, of course, comes as no great surprise to me. Ah, for the wisdom of the alphabetical arrangement of the ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary!
Furthermore, the Taipei Times reports that the person in charge of the testing, Datong Elementary School Principal Chen Qin-yin, said that although most students received good grades, the essay test revealed weaknesses in writing ability, including a limited use of adjectives.
I also think that we underestimate how difficult specific mental skills are. I've given students the kind of group exercises that I've done in corporate interviews and training courses ("Lost in the Desert", "Choose country A, B, C or D for our company's new office"), but if a student finds these hard, well, that shouldn't be surprising if this is how the Bank of England or Deloitte & Touche weeds out candidates (in their first language, too). Interview technique is a skill, looking good in group exercises is a skill, finishing in-tray exercises on time is a skill, and debating is a skill. In fact, aren't they more performance than mental challenge, a way of acting and decision making that one picks up by practice, much like a monkey learning to press buttons - they are not natural powers, and someone in Taiwan might have never needed to perform like that before. I couldn't do them either, when I finished Uni, but a year later, and a lot of graduate job interviews later, I had become pretty slick.
Shit has been fully assimilated into everyday English and carries no real potency anymore, either as a noun (I am going to take a shit), a verb (I like to shit) or an adjective (this movie is shit). Similarly, the great sexual vulgarity fuck is rapidly becoming entwined into the mass lexicon and I fear that in a few years time it will be as powerful and offensive as the quaintly British expression bloody (as in 'bloody hell' or 'bloody awful weather we're having what?'). It will be a lamentable day. The multifunctional versatility of fuck makes it one of the true greats. As an emphasizer or strengthener, it is peerless. It is not merely hot today, nor is it very hot, nor exceptionally hot. It is fucking hot. In it's interjective form it expresses a similar meaning to damn and the verb, to fuck has no adequate synonyms that convey the same strength, implication and connotation. 'To screw' is too casual for my tastes, 'to make love' is too limited to a certain form of sexual intercourse and 'to get laid' too cheap. it is fuck and fuck only that presents that sweaty, dirty act and if it were not a vulgarism then I suspect it would be meaningless and redundant.
