Blast from the Past: China, Political, Commercial and Social... 1847

From China: Political, Commercial, and Social in a report to Her Majesty's Government by R. Montgomery Martin, published in 1847.
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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.

Daily Links, December 10, 2012

The flower of a sensitive plant.

BLOGS:

• Eyedoc strikes gold: the first appearance of the language term Hoklo in the West.
• Global Voices on the Student Protests against Next Media
• Far Eastern Sweet Potato shows once again how China manages US policy makers through the deployment of "anger" which is not a visceral reaction, but calculated policy used to manage relations with foreign nations. Taiwanese F-16 pilots had a chance to participate in realistic military exercises with the US, but it was canceled by Washington policymakers because -- you know what is coming next -- China might get angry. ZOMG! Wouldn't it be great if instead we read how Beijing feared Washington's anger? There's a US-Beijing hotline; perhaps DC foreign policy greats can simply call Beijing up and meekly ask permission next time and save the trouble of tiresome efforts like policy meetings or doing boring stuff like reading history or thinking about the effect of our actions on our allies. Will someone pass the canapes please?
• The riverside pottery park of Yingge.   
• Iron Goddess Tea, Taiwan
• Trademark law in Taiwan from Winkler Partners
• Takuran Airdrome, in Jhoulan. Excellent post, TAP.
• Far Eastern Sweet Potato on Vietnam deploying special force to the South China Sea.
• ...and also, the Potato observes a widely remarked on event: Palestinians can get UN status. Taiwan? Nada.
• Fagan rides.
• Haha. Ministry of Culture rolls over on Chinese Music Awards Announcement.
• Hey! Don't forget my post below on riding in Pingtung this weekend.

MEDIA:

• Taiwan vows to spend $20 million to make....TV shows.
• China nudges up South China Sea tension. With Taiwan quiescent under Ma Ying-jeou, the lack of "tension" in the Strait leaves China free to ramp up tension elsewhere. Ma did not "reduce tension." He merely enabled Beijing to displace it. 
• Dennis Engbarth's excellent piece in the Asia Times on the Next Media deal.
• Yes. D'oh. The claim to Okinawa is connected to the Senkakus.
• Bus disasters: yesterday a bus backed off the road into a ravine in Hsinchu on the way to Smangus. 13 dead. Today one wrecked on Alishan, 16 injured. 
• Costs of Taiwan's early warning radar skyrocket.
• SANITY BREAK: Dave 2X's bird photos, many from 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! Delenda est, baby.

Biking Weekend in the South

Went offline for a couple of days to visit friends down south and test my new toy, my Tokina 100mm macro as a travel lens. We're heading for Sabah again in February, perhaps to ride the length of North Borneo (if you'd like to come, contact me), so I thought I'd see how the lens worked on the road. Meanwhile had a great time revisiting some nifty little places I'd enjoyed two years ago when I did Pingtung County for the County government. Click on the READ MORE for more more more.

Not for Vegetarians

My friend Paul S sent this to me. Thanks man!
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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.

Thurs 13 Dec: Seminar on "The Myth of Greater China? Hong Kong as a prototype of Taiwan for reunification"

This came into my mailbox:

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Dear all:

The Taiwan Research Programme at the London School of Economics is pleased to announce a new Seminar on Taiwan in Comparative Persective.

All are welcome to attend, please see details below.

Regards
Dr Fang-Long Shih
Co-Director, LSE Taiwan Research Programme

Title: The Myth of Greater China? Hong Kong as a prototype of Taiwan for reunification....

Round Up: Student Remarks about Minister Upset Social Order, Cause Earth to Crash into Sun

Just picked up a Tokina 100mm macro lens. Sharp and built like a panzer, I'm going to have a ton of fun with it.

Well, you'd think the earth was crashing into the sun, anyway. FocusTaiwan rounded up some of the comments in the media on Tsinghua U's Chen Wei-ting scolding Minister of Education Chiang for being a hypocrite and a liar who never apologizes....

The staidly pro-KMT China Times was the most restrained and insightful:

Renowned local writer Chang Ta-chun said the biggest problem of the students is not that they were being impolite but that it was their "empty" remarks that led society to lose the main point of the movement.

He also said the education minister was "dumb" and did not listen properly to the demands of the students.

Richard Chia-Tung Lee, an honorary chair professor at NTHU, said that "the behavior of Chen led me to think of the Cultural Revolution in China, in which the red guards scolded society's elite."

The statement issued by NTHU that apologized "on behalf of Chen for his misbehavior" also drew angry responses from the school's student communities.

NTHU's Student Association, Graduate Student Association and Student Council issued a late night statement Tuesday saying they "do not agree with the way the school interpreted Chen's behavior".

Chang Ta-chun raised an important point: the student's comments enabled the pro-KMT media to shift the media focus to the behavior of the students rather than to the behavior of the government in permitting the Next Media buyout, which concentrates at least 40% of the media in the hands of a single pro-China plutocrat.

In addition to the student association's disavowal of the apology and criticisms of campus authorities (blogged), photos posted to Facebook showed that Tsinghua U (NTHU) students held a protest on campus to protest the university's apology for the behavior of Chen Wei-ting.

The rabidly pro-KMT United Daily News went after Chen Wei-ting with guns blazing, hosting a couple of pages of articles. This one at the KMT news site said:

Freedom is not only a right but also a responsibility. Freedom is not a free lunch. Freedom is a severe test of a person’s abilities.

On December 3rd, several college students were invited by three DPP legislators to attend a committee meeting for the exclusive purpose of listening to a report by the Education Minister. The students pointed their figures at the Education Minister while reproaching and scolding him. The Legislative Yuan is a mechanism to exercise “freedom” and students also have “freedom” of expression. However, the December 3rd meeting stirred a controversy in society. The question is: College students have the right to express their opinions freely, but do they have the ability to “exercise freedom”?

Freedom can reveal a person’s good side as well as a person’s bad side. Freedom allows for all possibilities but it is not the content of freedom. In a free society, a freeman has the right to express opinions. As a consequence, the person has to have the ability to be responsible in exercising “freedom” and should not become a person who is disabled to exercise freedom.

During the authoritarian era under the Martial law rule, people pursued “the right to exercise freedom,” and “opposition to authority” became synonyms for “freedom.” Moreover, even “opposing for the sake of opposition” had legitimacy. However, in today’s free society, more than twenty years after the lifting of Martial Law rule, people have “the right to exercise freedom.” Consequently, people should pursue the “ability to exercise freedom” instead, because freedom is not a free lunch, and freemen have to be responsible in exercising freedom.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has become a party made up of “people who have become disabled to exercise freedom.” The college students who attended the committee meeting acted like “DPP legislators” because the words and gestures they used were almost the same as those used by DPP legislators. The students seemed to be “disabled to exercise freedom.” The students’ behavior sacrificed their freedom as intellectuals and almost made them parrots. We praise the college students for bravely exercising freedom, but we hope in the future the students will pay more attention to their ability to exercise freedom.

In fact, many in today’s media have also become “disabled to exercise freedom.” The college students were concerned about the media’s disability to exercise freedom of speech. The students might believe that they were justified; therefore, they should pay more attention to their ability and responsibility in exercising the freedom of speech.

This article presents common anti-democracy propaganda themes of right-wingers everywhere, which boil down to the observation that freedom is good unless it is actually used. The idea that freedom = anarchy is one aspect of a pervasive cultural ideal here in Taiwan that social order = sameness. This is particularly held among KMTers. I've noticed over the years that if a local expresses the idea that society is falling into anarchy, they are usually pro-Blue.

The pro-Green Liberty Times observed:

Chinese dissident Wang Dan, who is currently a Visiting Chair Professor at NTHU, posted on his Facebook page that "it is amazing how the United Daily News publishes two pages of stories just to scold the students."

"The students' demands and the inappropriate conduct of the ministry are dismissed as minor points. Instead, the 'impoliteness' of the students is being magnified."

"The way the media reported the story shows that it is taking sides."

"Students are young. Of course they cannot be as eloquent as politicians. Why is society being lenient toward the authorities but critical of students who actively participate in public affairs?" he asked.

KMT Deputy Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu said students have no right to question officials at legislative sessions. Even if they hold different opinions on an issue, they should follow the "pecking order" and respect their seniors.

The Taipei Times translated Wang Dan's remarks much more pithily:

“I’m wondering why society is so tolerant of authority, yet so critical of young people who participate in public affairs,” he said.

As noted above, the Next Media buyout has vanished from the discourse. The Ministry of Education's behavior has also vanished from the discourse. Now the focus is on the behavior of students.

The Diplomat just keeps getting better and better. The fearless and perspicacious Ketty Chen and Julia Famularo scribed excellently on the rejected Dalai Lama visit to Taiwan in The Diplomat this week. What's the connection? This mentality of "freedom is great as long as it isn't exercised" also underlies the Taiwan government's decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa:

In President Ma’s post-reelection inaugural address last May, he discussed his plan to further cooperation between China and Taiwan. Ma stated at the time: “In the next four years, the two sides of the strait have to open up new areas of cooperation and continue working to consolidate peace, expand prosperity and deepen mutual trust. We also hope that civic groups on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will have more opportunities for exchanges and dialogue focusing on such areas as democracy, human rights, rule of law and civil society, to create an environment more conducive to peaceful cross-strait development.”

The Dalai Lama had been invited to Taiwan by exactly those kind of civic groups Ma apparently lauds in his speech, but their initiative was refused. The context is identical -- China relations. Like so many other campaigns in Taiwan society under the current Administration, movement is permissible, provided it is in a pro-China direction....

REF: Chinese netizens react to student criticism of Minister.
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Daily Links:

• SPECIAL: Pivot continues: 70,000 US army troops for Asia?

  The Marines, no change in Marine Corps presence west of the international dateline, despite the fact that the Marine Corps is going to be reducing in size at the end of the Iraq/Afghanistan war. No change to Marine Corps west of the international dateline. And in fact, they -- they'll be seeing more of the Marines in the Pacific, and the Army too. Why? Because they're not in Afghanistan. The Army itself plans to align 70,000 troops to the Asia Pacific region as part of its new general regional alignment, which heavily weighs the Asia-Pacific region.

• Japan Times: Fisheries talks add new wrinkle to Senkakus mess
• Taiwan dollar falls on fears of central bank intervention to stop rise
• Cancer claims longtime Taiwan expert Nancy Berghoff Tucker
• Taiwan, Indonesia ink MOU to develop island
• Not Taiwan: Aussie PM is Ausome

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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.

Student Protesters Push Back Against Ministry

Taichungers: been to the gourd shop outside of Dongshi on Rte 8 (somewhere in here)? Some lovely gourd art there.

NewTalk reported on National Tsinghua University's attempt to rein in its student protesters.

清大今天發出聲明，對於陳為廷昨天在立法院的不當行為「深感痛心」，也對蔣偉寧及社會大眾所造成的傷害致上最深的歉意。

National Tsing Hua University today issued a statement yesterday in the Legislative Yuan, saying that it was "deeply saddened" by the inappropriate behavior of [student leader] Chen Wei-ting and offering its deepest apologies for the harm caused to [Minister of Education] Jiang Weining and the community.

....

陳為廷稍早也在臉書發表聲明，澄清自己昨天是受立委之邀前去「備詢」，立委本來就有職權邀請公民到場提供意見，他不認為自己的言行有錯；他也強調，昨天的發言只是陳述個人意見，並沒有要質問、要求蔣偉寧回答的意思，很遺憾被外界錯誤解讀。

Earlier on Facebook Chen Wei-ting issued a statement to clarify [his words from yesterday at the Legislative Yuan,] .....he stressed that yesterday's speech was a statement of personal opinion, and was not intended to interrogate Minister Chiang and demand an answer. It is regrettable that it was misinterpreted by outsiders [he said].

Tsinghua University was responding to comments by Chen Wei-ting in a session of the legislature yesterday in which he and others criticized Minister of Education Chiang for the Ministry's email which asked universities to "care for" students protesting. To many ears it sounded like a coded authoritarian message. The Taipei Times reported on the legislative session in which Chen Wei-ting spoke:

While legislators across party lines asked Chiang to apologize for the e-mail, he repeatedly said the ministry would engage in “profound reflection.”

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) said the school regulations of 22 of the 37 universities included in the e-mail still included punishments for students who hold assemblies and protests, adding that the ministry should have showed concern by eliminating such rules.

DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said that Chiang should at least apologize for the ministry’s inability to show real concern for students, even if he would not for its misguided wish to monitor them.

“We think the ministry’s words of concern are hypocritical,” said Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), convener of the Youth Alliance Against Media Monsters and a National Taiwan University graduate student, adding that the minister could have approached the students when they were protesting in poor weather, or called the premier to tell him about the students’ demands.

“Minister, I think you are full of lies, a hypocrite and a minister that does not know repentance. I don’t think you are qualified to be a minister. Please apologize to us,” said another convener of the alliance, Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), a student at National Tsing Hua University.

Many pixels have been launched along the intertubes about the generational change within the two major political parties, but in a sense this evolution reflects a tremendous social transition: the students in their twenties now grew up in the democratic era, while those who sit in judgment on them are relics of the authoritarian period, in many cases formally and informally vetted to ensure they had proper political views when they entered the system back in the 1980s. The two sides speak to each other out of completely different cultural worlds.

This generational clash is particularly profound at the universities, which are structured to prevent students from engaging in exactly this kind of political activity. The universities do not overtly pursue political students but the structures remain in place, latent. Workloads are heavy, students have limited choice. The nation's universities are famously paternalistic, an attitude that is always threatening to shade into outright authoritarianism, and almost alone among the major institutions of society they have failed to adopt the best practices from abroad (compare that to major Taiwanese firms). There is an almost visceral fear of student political activity; people like Chen Wei-ting and Lin Fei-fan must send shudders coursing up the System's backbone. Moreover, the students quoted in the last couple of days in the media come from sectors long known for pro-Taiwan and pro-democracy political activity: National Taiwan University, frequently described as very Green, and doctors.

Students in every society have a kind of moral force that other protesting groups are often perceived as lacking. Leaders fear this moral authority. In Taiwan student protesters have to contend with what they often describe as a wearisome partisan divide -- they struggle to keep their protests about issues of civil society and human rights that are neither Blue nor Green, to prevent their protests from becoming discredited as merely partisan action. It is to the credit of both sides' legislators, and to the students who struggled to straddle that divide, that legislators of both parties demanded an apology from the Ministry of Education for this apparent attempt to intimidate the protesters. Sadly, no forthright apology was issued....
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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.

Daily Links, Dec 3, 2012

My man Michael Cannon tests a recumbent bike at a factory in Da-an.

Links for this week.... enjoy!

BLOGS:

• Drew recounts our awesome ride up Alishan on Day 2. Really wish you could have come along.
• Jenna visits a drag show.
• Under the Radar News from AsiaEye
• Craig Ferguson's December calendar
• Letters from Taiwan on the MoE's attempt to pressure students not to protest
• Traveling Taiwan goes to Ershui. Not a bad little town.
• Richard on hiking outside Taipei: don't litter and other pleas...
• Filipino worker in dispute about pay forcibly deported? 
• Hozan Airdrome. It's such a crime that nothing is left of the old Japanese airfields in southern Taiwan.
• Memorial vandalized in Keelung
• Two relics from the Taiwan Bronze Age and Placing Taiwan on megalith map
• Taiwan as laboratory for currency imperialism under the Japanese. Details please!

MEDIA:

• MoE EMAIL ABOUT STUDENT PROTESTERS: Student leader interviewed, Academics protest. Hilariously, the Minister of Education denies he ever meant to intimidate students, blames staffers, said he is hurt. 
• High speed ferry route between Taiwan and Fujian to open next month.
• China Post profiles the awesome Richard Saunders. Go Richard!
• Taichung city is getting a penguin exhibit. The idea is that those flows of Chinese tourists getting off in Taichung harbor will linger in the city, rather than heading for Sun Moon Lake and other places, thus dropping tourist dollars here in The Chung. Yes, you read that correctly. Penguins.
• IPS' Dennis Engbarth on the Next Media buyout
• Illegal Chinese fishing in Korean waters, bogus Beijing claims to Korean islands. Where have we heard this before.
• Chinese managers announce music awards will take place in Taipei without consulting anyone, cause furor
• Taiwan plans smart mines for use against invading Chinese
• Taipei Times on indictments of Chaiyi, Nantou county commissioners.
• Fallows on the crazed announcement by Hainan authorities that China might board vessels in the South China Sea.
• Beijing signals harder line on Hong Kong. Taiwan's democracy must vex them no end.
• Locals protest waste in Hsinchu River
• Taiwan engineers find solution for weakness in flash memory.
• Taiwan donates for infrastructure construction in St Lucia.
• Longtime Beijing correspondent John Pomfret's review of an important new book on China's modern history.

SPECIAL: Reuters best photos of the year. If Germany can live without nukes, so can Taiwan.

BOOKS: Check out Taffy Canning's Moving to Taiwan guide!

EVENTS:

To order tickets, volunteer, or donate an auction item, please contact River Chen at 04-2471-5933 or by email at coordinatoramchamtaichung@gmail.com. Additional information can be found on the website at www.amchamtaichung.org.

Also, don't forget....

• Call for Papers, European Assoc of Taiwan Studies. 
• US-Taiwan Forum on Sustainable Cities and Ports, Dec 10-12. 
• Wilson Center on Taiwan's Economy Dec 13.

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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.

China Consumes Taiwan's Agriculture

Moon and raindrops

Several times on this blog I've noted that one of China's longterm goals is to hollow out Taiwan's productive industries, since Taiwan's strong economy is a powerful support for independence. This move has multiple prongs, including getting its industries to move to China, and stealing the island's production technology. A legislative report notes the effect of the latter effort on Taiwan's agriculture (Taipei Times):

It added that some Taiwanese strains of agricultural products grown or raised in China have also dealt a blow to Taiwanese farmers, as the farmers’ products have been sent back to the country because they were still prohibited from entering China. They included red carrots, pineapples, groupers, black tiger shrimps, abalone, butterfly orchids, carnations and mushrooms.

In the six years since 2006, China has acted “in a more systematic way” to lure Taiwan’s farming sector, with a total of 29 “Development Parks for Taiwan Farmers” established in 14 provinces as of this year, in addition to nine “Cross-Strait Agricultural Cooperative Experimental Zones” that have been set up since 1997, according to the report.

China not only offers Taiwan-funded enterprises in the agricultural parks a set of incentives in land acquisition, tax credits and lending, but also encourages and invites award-winning Taiwanese farmers to visit China through organized tours, or offer them money in exchange for seeds and techniques, the report said.

The report said that the 3,000 hectare Zhangping Yongfu Development Park for Taiwan Farmers, one of six in Fujian Province in southeast China, is being planted with oolong tea, all by Taiwan farmers from Nantou County, a famous tea-producing area, and is being developed into what China calls the “Alishan (阿里山) of China.”

It was estimated by Chinese research institutes that their annual production of oolong tea, which is under cultivation in the Zhangping Yongfu park, could be as high as three-fifths of the amount of high mountain oolong tea produced in Taiwan annually, the report said.

I've blogged on this before including this post from Nov 2011 on the bogus numbers on Agricultural Exports to China and this post on an enthusiastically awful NY Times piece. This month the government in Taiwan also moved to create a uniform fast track for agricultural exports. Why?

Local exporters have complained that without the mechanism, their products have often been detained in customs at Chinese ports pending quarantine checks, making it nearly impossible to get the products on the market while they are at their freshest.

This functions as an informal barrier to agricultural exports from Taiwan. Is it deliberate? Well, the old saw runs that you should never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. Smuggling of agricultural goods from China, which has been going on for more than two decades, is almost never covered by the media. Sadly.
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Daily Links:

• Things I Did Not Know #490: Reeves' Muntjac, from Taiwan, is an invasive pest in the United Kingdom.
• Peter Lee argues that China is waging economic warfare against Japan
• CoCo Fresh from Taiwan takes over the world
• FAPA calls on government to stop Next Media sale
• Taiwan dollar likely to rise.
• M Taylor Fravel on Hainan province's recent declaration that ships in the South China Sea will be subject to boarding, says not to panic, but Taiwan concerned.
• Japan-Taiwan fishery talks continue to stall

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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.

=UPDATE= Ministry of Education Launches White Terror Tactics Against Next Media Student Protesters?

This is flying around Facebook and the bulletin boards in Taiwan, hotter than hot right now. The email above is said to have been circulated by the Ministry of Education (MoE). The last sentence is ambiguous to me, but apparently it reads either that the MOE is looking for lists of registered students so it can see who was absent and presumably at the protests, or else it has attached a list of such students for the schools to handle. After noting that it has been raining and cold for several days, it asks that "...university officials care for the health of the students..." and "each university more deeply understand and care for the students". The subtext is obvious to anyone who grew up in Taiwan, especially during the martial law era. The students are engaged in their own subversive response, but this sort of thing is also aimed at the parents. That way the parents will put pressure on the students not to engage in such activities. That also happened during the Wild Strawberry protests about the Assembly and Parade Law a couple of years ago.

The email goes out to many universities all over Taiwan. It asks "區內學校" to spread the word. "區內" appears to be a reference to "Taiwan Region." Ugh.Nope, just a reference to the districts the universities are in.

If you read Chinese, there are some hilarious comments on this popular bulletin board system. The "689" appears to be a coded reference to the number of people (in millions, 6.89) who voted for Ma Ying-jeou as well as the 689 votes by which Leung Chun-ying won the Hong Kong chief executive election.

Expect updates as new information comes in.

UPDATE: Excellent Taipei Times report showing how the students understand "concern".

On the other hand, in the context of student movements, the term “concern” is often associated with threats and attempts by schools to bar students from taking part in demonstrations.

“For example, some universities would impose stricter curfews in student dorms because they are ‘concerned’ about students’ safety at night. CGU cuts the Internet connection at dorms at midnight because the school administration is ‘concerned’ that students may stay up all night playing online games,” Chang said. “Moreover, school officials or on-campus military education officers talk to students when student newspapers publish articles critical of school or government policies, saying they only want to show their ‘concern.’”

The term “showing concern” has always had a negative connotation among students, he said.

Great work, TT.
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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.

=UPDATED= Next Media Parceled Out to Five Buyers

Tea pickers on the slopes of Alishan

UPDATE: I'm moving this to the top. Finally heard the reason for the fifth buyer. By adding the fifth buyer, they can separate the print and TV portions of the deal, meaning that the NCC can't impose the same condition of separation of cable TV and print they tried to before. The new deal also reduces Jeffrey Koo Jr's holding to just below the threshold required by the FSC. Next Media, as a friend observed, had the most powerful investigative team in the business. How much longer do you think that will remain true?

Student protests in front of the FTC and the legislative Yuan all day too. But the number is too small to gain international media attention, judging from the photos.

Adventures in Charity, episode #249:
I'm buying tickets at the Chiayi train station on Sunday with a big pile of 100 NT notes. A girl behind me in line leans forward and asks if I could loan her $100. I said sure, no problem, and slipped her a 100 NT note. She then asked me how she could pay me back. "What's your phone number?" "Forget it," I said, "I don't live here. You don't have to pay me back." Suddenly she looked at me crossly. "Hey!" she barked. "What kind of attitude is that?"

I put that tale there because you'll need some light humor to deal with the Next Media deal. A friend summed up the five buyers of Jimmy Lai's Next Media thusly:

• Chinatrust Charity Foundation chairman, Jeffrey Koo Jr.
• Formosa Plastics Group chairman, William Wong
• Want Want China Times Group chairman, Tsai Eng-meng
• Lung Yen Life Service Co. chairman, Lee Shih-tsung
• Taiwan Fire and Marine Insurance Co. chairman, Lee Tai-hung.

Businessweek explained the deal, inked in Macau for tax purposes:

Next Media will sell its Taiwan print assets to four investors including Want Want Chinatimes Group President Tsai Shao-Chung, William Wong of the Formosa Plastics Group, Chinatrust Charity Foundation Chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr. and Lung Yen Life Service Corp. (5530) Chairman Lee Shih-tsung, Simon said.

Lai, known for criticizing the Chinese government, is exiting most of his Taiwan businesses after battling regulators for licenses and distribution rights. The investment by Tsai, son of Want Want China Holdings Ltd. (151) Chairman Tsai Eng-meng, may raise regulatory concerns as Lai’s Apple Daily and the Tsais’ China Times will have a combined newspaper market share exceeding 45 percent, according to National Chung Cheng University’s Kuang Chung-Hsiang.

...

Lee Tai-hung, chairman of Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (2832), replaces Tsai in the group buying the television assets, Simon said. The pacts were signed yesterday, he said.

The deal requires approval from the Fair Trade Commission, the National Communications Commission, and the Financial Supervisory Commission. Each may find reason to balk. The FSC had objected to Jeffrey Koo Jr's 7% stake in a financial firm (blogged). The Fair Trade Commission may not like the 45% share of the media market it gives the Tsai media operations. The National Communications Commission, you may recall, gave tentative approval but required Tsai to sell off his cable TV operations. Tsai gave the NCC the digitus impudicus, and the case is now in the courts.

The articles in the international media tended to (wrongly) frame the issue as a pro/anti-China affair. For example, the AP article on the deal is solid as far as it goes, but it wrongly characterized the student protests as anti-China when they are pro-democracy. The business publications covering the story pointed out that it is likely that the Tsai-owned media will go soft on China's territorial expansion and other problems, but failed to mention that Apple and Next Media also provide independent coverage of domestic corporate shenanigans, including environmental stories that other media don't publish.

Also, I heard tell of a rumor running around that one of Taiwan's online media outfits, NOWNEWS or ETTODAY, is going to be bought by a Chinese firm. Take with NaCl.....

ADDED: Taipei Times editorial on the sale.
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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.

Beijing Does Damage Control on Passport Map

A whip scorpion. 

UPDATE: China announces it will begin boarding and turning back ships in the South China Sea.

Pushback has begun...first, the problem (Guardian):

The map, in China's newly designed passport, claims ownership of the entire South China Sea – parts of which are also claimed by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia – as well as disputed areas on the China-India border and two Taiwanese tourist destinations.

The Philippines, Vietnam, India and Taiwan have all vehemently protested against the new microchip-equipped passport, which essentially forces neighbouring countries to validate China's position on contested regions.

Vietnam and the Philippines lodged formal complaints last week with Chinese embassies in Hanoi and Manila, respectively. India's external affairs minister, Salman Khursid, called the map "unacceptable".

"China has ignored the truth and sparked disputes," said a statement from Taiwan's mainland affairs council.

Washington also criticized the move, saying it raises tensions. A mild criticism of Beijing! Be still my beating heart.

The sad part is that the ROC government on Taiwan agrees that all these things belong to "China" -- the "truth" ignored by China is that this China is the ROC, not the PRC.

Meanwhile Beijing attempted to downplay the issue...(VOA)

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei tried to downplay the issue, telling a Wednesday briefing that the Chinese passport map should not be over-interpreted. He said Beijing wants to maintain contacts with neighboring countries to promote what he calls the healthy development of personal exchanges.

Reuters:

“The issue of the maps in China’s new passports should not be read too much into. China is willing to remain in touch with relevant countries and promote the healthy development of the exchange of people between China and the outside world.

LOL. Anyone can recognize this classic riposte: If there's a problem, it's your problem. You guys are just too sensitive. In "response", Philippines and Vietnam have stopped stamping the passport, while India is issuing visas to Chinese showing an Indian map with the correct territorial distribution.

In response? It's curious that the passports have been out there for quite some time, but no one has said anything until now. Manila and Hanoi were willing to overlook the map until the light of publicity shone upon it. Taipei obviously doesn't care; its maps are even more expansionist than the PRC's. Still, what this map says is that negotiations with China on the issue will not be possible; it will simply remain obdurate until its demands are met. Or there's a war.....
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Daily Links:

• Donghe Bell Tower in Taipei from MKL. Had no idea this existed until I saw it on MKL's blog.
• Russia also putting a finger into the South China Sea. Returning to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam?
• Ocean acidification is already threatening US oyster yields. How long before it threatens Taiwan's cherished oyster omelets?
• MOI supports increase in the amounts individuals can donate to political parties, since the 2014 elections are going to see enormous sums spent. And what a coincidence, both parties, KMT and DPP, are now supporting delays in the capital gains tax. Smart position -- the Finance Ministry is going to implement them, it says, meaning that it costs the two parties nothing to oppose something that is going to happen anyway.

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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.

Wilson Center on Taiwan's Econ, Dec 13

Wilson Center Event, including the excellent Peter Chow:

Staying Ahead of the Economic Curve:

Taiwan and Its Rivals in East Asia and Beyond

December 13, 2012 3:30 to 5:30 pm

Technology dominates Taiwan’s economy, and the sector is the bedrock of the nation’s growth engine. Yet companies across the Taiwan are facing numerous challenges, not least increased competition from China, Vietnam, and beyond, while the profitability of the technology sector at large remains in question. What policies, if any, can Taiwan pursue to ensure that it remains a technological powerhouse? Can the government do more to improve its investment climate, or has it already fallen behind Singapore and other rivals? How will the ongoing territorial disputes in northeast Asia impact foreign investors’ interests in the region?

Speakers:
Alejandro Espinosa-Wang
Private Sector Development Specialist, International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group

Rupert Hammond-Chambers
President, US-Taiwan Business Council

Peter C.Y. Chow
Professor, Department of Economics and Business, City College of New York

5th Floor Conference Room
Woodrow WilsonInternational Center for Scholars

RSVP to the Asia Program at asia@wilsoncenter.org.Please allow for routine security procedures when you arrive at the Center.A photo ID is required for entry. The Center is located in the southeastwing of the Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington,D.C. The closest Metro station is Federal Triangle on the blue and orangelines. For detailed directions, please visit the Center’s website, www.wilsoncenter.org/directions.
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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.

Taoyuan vs the Aborigines

The gorgeous 159A between Shijhuo and Chiayi.

Meant to get this up yesterday, but sooooo busy... An interesting situation sheds light on one of the reasons for the upgrades to municipalities that several counties have undergone in the last few years (TT):

“At the moment, Fusing Township (復興) in Taoyuan County is designated an Aboriginal township with a mayor and a council elected by all residents, and based on the law, the post of mayor can only be filled by an Aborigine,” Yabu Eyo, a representative from a Fusing-based Atayal Aborigines self-help organization, told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday morning.

“When Taoyuan County becomes a special municipality, Fusing Township would become merely a district, with the head of the district being appointed by the mayor — and we would lose our council as well,” he said. “We are worried that the appointed district chief may not understand Atayal culture, customs and traditions.”

As I noted two years ago....

TheNorth-South income disparity is an important driver of the island's political life; but now emerging is a growing clash between the municipalities and the counties. For years, Taipei and Kaohsiung commanded a huge chunk of government money, with Taipei getting the majority of that. To counter Taipei's massive advantages, Taipei County, Kaohsiung and its county, Taichung and its county, and Tainan and its county have decided to upgrade to municipality status in order to collect a bigger share of the government budget. Recall that in the ROC system a municipality is the equivalent of a province whereas the counties remain merely local administrations. The result is a worsening of urban-rural budget issues.

This clash over resources, which manifests itself in the two key faultlines of counties vs. municipalities and north vs south, has fallout for other political issues. To wit:

The new upgrades will result in new development and new land speculation, which will in turn bring in new monies into the pockets of officialdom. It will also result in a vast expansion of government payrolls, since a municipality has the right to employ thousands more people in the local government -- meaning new opportunities for political patronage that will help cement the grip of the party in power on the local governments. The expansion also allows for new appointees to committees and boards.

ADDED: Apple below observes:

There is another way of looking at the upgrade/merger of counties and cities to special municipalities. It could be considered part of a process of relocating the ROC to Taiwan. The effective abolition of the Taiwan provincial government has necessitated an ongoing reorganisation of the ROC government system. As provinces no longer have any role in the government, the government is creating special municipalities to fill their place.

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Daily Links, yesterday's version:

• SPECIAL: Oz Soapbox has a wonderful post, perhaps his best ever, on the destruction of the Shida Night Market. Great pics and observations. 
• East Asian History back issues to 1991 now online.
• Taiwan's place in Australia's Asian Century by Joel Atkinson
• J Michael comments on foreign meddling in the Chen Shui-bian imprisonment and health issue
• Philippines, Taiwan to address issue of excessive payments from Filipino workers for work 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! Delenda est, baby.