Economist stinks on Dalai Lama visit

No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.

As many news reports have related, the Dalai Lama will be in Taiwan soon (w00t!). He is getting a visa as a foreigner, not an entry permit as an overseas Chinese as in 1997, too. The move was a nifty one by the DPP, not only making President Ma squirm and the Chinese bluster, but also reminding the world that Taiwan exists and even more crucially, once again drawing attention to the disaster here -- which is still ongoing and still requires donations (after all, the Dalai Lama has a global following who donate to worthy causes). This was a great move by the DPP, and its payoffs go beyond politics.

There was much media commentary on this, some of it quite good, but the normally excellent Economist published an inexcusable piece on the upcoming visit of the Dalai Lama to Taiwan. I'd say it was crap, but I have no desire to slight honest fertilizer. This is one of the worst pieces they've put out on Taiwan in some time. Let's take a look....

After eight years of worsening relations under President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), now the main opposition, even a Taiwan-China summit has become conceivable. Now that Mr Ma is also chairman of the ruling Nationalist party, the Kuomintang, or KMT, such a meeting could be held with Hu Jintao not as China’s president, but as the head of its Communist Party.

The "worsening relations" propaganda theme seems to have acquired a tenacious hold in the media -- which is hardly surprising, since that is the only place where relations worsened. In the real world the busiest air route on the planet was between a city in China and one in Taiwan, and hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese had invested billions in China, a sum that grew yearly under the DPP Administration, which legalized investments. Indeed, relations got so bad that the two sides negotiated direct charter flights, student exchanges, informal police agreements, academic exchanges, and other items too numerous to list. None of these things existed under the Lee Teng-hui Administration (except for the factories moving to China) or previous KMT administrations, but never mind that. If Beijing says relations worsened, the Economist will dutifully say so too.

Thus, when investments grow and exchanges expand, relations are worsening, if you're from the DPP. And when Chinese missiles accumulate, relations are worsening, but it is the DPP Administration's fault, and has nothing to do with China's desire to annex Taiwan even at the cost of a regional war. It is hard to think of anything more stupid, more shitty, more anti-democracy, more completely retarded, than this "eight years of worsening relations" horse shit, and I devoutly hope never again to see it in print.

Pardon my rant. Why after four years am I still dreaming that facts can somehow insert themselves into discussions of cross-strait relations under the DPP?

But further observe how that in this construction China has vanished as a player -- relations get better or worse based solely on what Taiwan does. China is merely the passive recipient of Taiwanese action. This media construct is not merely wrong but actually upside down -- the determinant of cross-strait relations is China's attitude, and it didn't like the fact that the DPP defended the island's sovereignty and economy, and dickered hard with it. Finally it ceased to talk to the DPP (the DPP wanted good relations with China). Relations are "better" because Ma does Beijing's bidding, since in this calculus "better" is defined as what makes China happy -- and of course, as I have ceaselessly noted on this blog (example), the KMT has given away the shop on Taiwan.

Onward and upward....

So it seems astonishing that Mr Ma has jeopardised all this by doing the one thing most calculated to upset China: accepting a visit to Taiwan from the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, whom China reviles as a “splittist” when it is polite and “a jackal in monk’s clothing” when it feels cross.

China's control over this writer is so powerful that he apparently believes that Ma has jeopardized his China Kowtow and 2011 Hu-Ma Nobel Peace Prize Lovefest Sell-Out Tour. Not a chance. Does this writer seriously believe that China is going to expel a million Taiwanese and $200 billion worth of investments? Cut direct flights? Cancel ECFA? Start bombing immediately? Take away the er nai of Taiwanese businessmen in China? In any case -- it is worth repeating and I haven't said it in a while -- cross-strait relations are being run by KMT elites who detest Ma, not Ma himself. Ma will make a convenient whipping boy for all involved, but as reported today, China finessed the whole issue anyway by bloviating at the DPP, and the sellout will go on regardless even as the audience sits entranced by all the political theatre. It's not like ECFA, the real goal of the current Administration, will be slowed even one minute by this.

The Economist then goes on to give three reasons why the DL's visit couldn't be turned down this time as Ma did before, and continues...

China has of course responded angrily to Mr Ma’s decision to accept the Dalai Lama, as it does when any foreign government gives house room to the Tibetan leader—or these days to Rebiya Kadeer, an exiled activist from China’s ethnic-Uighur minority.

It is noticeable, however, that China has directed its fiercest criticism not at Mr Ma, but at the DPP, which favours Taiwan’s eventual formal independence from China. It accused the party of trying “to sabotage the hard-earned positive situation of cross-straits relations”.

Note that the point of view Beijing expresses here is the one the Economist has actually adopted in presenting this article -- that the DPP "worsens" relations (remember those eight years of worsening relations).

Did you catch that gross error there? Instant replay:

.....at the DPP, which favours Taiwan’s eventual formal independence from China.

Hey but (1) Taiwan isn't part of China now and (2) thus the DPP does not favor independence from China but simply independence, period. Taiwan independence supporters do not believe that Taiwan is part of China. Once again Beijing adumbrates the writer's presentation of affairs.

This indicates both the greater sensitivity China has shown in recent years to Taiwan’s internal politics, and the dilemma its policy always faces there. If it punishes Mr Ma by introducing sanctions or slowing down the pace of rapprochement, it would undo his government’ s main achievement. And the biggest beneficiary of this would be the DPP, China’s enemy.

Beijing-centric again -- the DPP is described in terms of China, and in terms that China would approve of -- the DPP is not China's enemy ("The DPP's evil motives will definitely be opposed by compatriots across the Taiwan Straits," Beijing howled today). The government of China, rather, is the enemy of Taiwan independence and democracy, just as it is the enemy of democracy in its own land.

I was talking about this on the net with a long-time observer of Taiwan affairs, who recalled that years ago The Economist printed a Leader advocating Taiwan independence. But The Economist was made of sterner stuff then.

UPDATE: Excellent comments below

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Daily Links

• Jon Adams explains why Ma permitted the DL to come to Taiwan
• Ralph Jennings of Reuters reports on Ma attempting to salvage his reputation after Morakot.
• China Daily gives the propaganda rundown from the Empire. The article is actually an interesting mix of distortions, disinformation, truths, half-truths, and lies. Great work.
• NYTimes says that China opposes the DL's trip to Taiwan. No kidding? And in other news the Raj opposed Gandhi's visit to India, and Apartheid advocates resolutely rejected attempts by Mandela supporters to get him out of jail. If the Dalai Lama wants better press, he needs to set up 1,400 missiles opposite a democracy, demand that it be annexed to Tibet, and then threaten to plunge the region into war if he doesn't get his way.
  

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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!

FAPA press release on Sen. Kennedy's death

Although today it is not widely known, during the '80s Sen. Kennedy was a leading supporter of the island's democratization in the Senate. As a result he has earned the lasting thanks of the Taiwanese-American community and all who love Taiwan. FAPA sent around a press release this morning, with a letter to Congressman Patrick Kennedy:

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FAPA mourns death of Senator Edward Kennedy, lauding his contributions to Taiwan's democracy and human rights

In a letter to Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), the son of Senator Edward Kennedy, FAPA president Bob Yang sent condolences to the whole Kennedy family upon the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). While the late Senator left imprints on major pieces of legislation advancing social justice, civil rights and healthcare for generations of Americans, FAPA best remembers the late Senator's instrumental efforts and leadership in championing Taiwan's democracy and human rights in the U.S. Congress in the 80s.

Together with the late Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), former Congressmen Jim Leach (R-IA) and Steve Solarz (D-NY), Senator Kennedy met with FAPA members and listened to their concerns about the lack of human rights in Taiwan and the then authoritarian government's suppression of freedoms. These four Members of Congress introduced resolutions, wrote letters and issued statements, laying the foundation for democratic reforms in Taiwan and the abolishment of martial law. They were endearingly dubbed "The Gang of Four" for their work on behalf of Taiwan's human rights.

At a press conference on May 20, 1982 on the occasion of 33 years of martial law in Taiwan, the late Senator stated: “…it is clear that too many citizens are jailed in Taiwan for expressing their political views and defending their human rights. I therefore call on the leadership of Taiwan to take immediate action to release political and religious prisoners and to improve the human rights situation on the island.”

FAPA President Bob Yang says: “Ted Kennedy was not just the ‘Last Lion in the Senate,’ to us, Taiwanese Americans, and to the people of Taiwan, he was unquestionably the ‘First Lion for Taiwan's Democratization’ in the U.S. Congress."

LETTER:

The Hon. Patrick Kennedy August 27, 2009
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515

Dear Congressman Kennedy:

On behalf of the full membership of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), a world-wide non-profit organization that promotes freedom, human rights, democracy and self-determination for the people of Taiwan, I write to you today to express our condolences to you and the entire Kennedy family on the passing of your father.

In the Taiwanese American community and in Taiwan itself, he will be especially remembered because he stood up for human rights and democracy in Taiwan when it counted.

For instance, in the early and mid-1980s, your father played a crucial role in Taiwan's transition to democracy. Working closely with Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) and Representatives Jim Leach (R-IA) and Stephen Solarz (D-NY), he initiated hearings and held press conferences to highlight Taiwan's martial law – which had been in force since 1949 – and Taiwan's lack of democracy. Together, they were affectionately referred to as the "Gang of Four" in support of democracy and human rights in Taiwan.

He also frequently called on the Kuomintang authorities to release the political and religious leaders who were imprisoned after the Kaohsiung Incident of December 1979, including reverend Kao Chun-ming of the Presbyterian Church, and then Provincial Assembly member Lin Yi-hsiung, whose mother and daughters were murdered when he was in prison.

At a press conference on May 20, 1982 on the occasion of 33 years of martial law in Taiwan, your father stated: "…it is clear that too many citizens are jailed in Taiwan for expressing their political views and defending their human rights. I therefore call on the leadership of Taiwan to take immediate action to release political and religious prisoners and to improve the human rights situation on the island."

The efforts by your father and his colleagues in the US Congress helped bring about the transition to democracy on the island and strengthened the democratic opposition, which coalesced and led to the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party in September 1986, and the end of martial law on July 14th 1987. However, it wasn't until 1992 that democratic elections were held for all seats in the Legislative Yuan, and not until 1996 that the Taiwanese were able to directly elect their own president.

The Taiwanese-American community and the people in Taiwan fondly remember your father as one who stood with them in one of the most difficult periods in the island's history.

We will miss him.

Sincerely yours,


Bob Yang, President
Formosan Association for Public Affairs

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Paper on Parade: The Power of Cuteness

You know the experience -- you ask that lovely young lady at the counter for a tapioca pearl milk tea and she replies in a voice two octaves too high, through the nose. I just want to throttle her. Yes, I hate cute. I'd like to see the expression hao ke ai! nuked out of the universe. So naturally, this episode of my irregular feature Paper on Parade looks at a paper that repeatedly uses that odious term....

This paper explores an issue that has become much discussed in Taiwan in the last two decades -- infantilization, in this case, with respect to females. The Power of Cuteness: Female Infantilization in Taiwan by Tzu-i Chuang, argues that

It appears that as a style and manner, cuteness in Taiwan is slowly shifting from unconsciously embodied “habitus” to a kind of performance. In other words, whereas in the past cute behaviors conformed closely to the social expectations of women and were second nature, in recent years similar behaviors are often displayed with a certain level of playfulness or even cynicism due to growing awareness among Taiwanese women of the social implications of acting cute.

In other words, whereas before women were become unconsciously but fully acculturated to acting cute, now they act cute because of the power it gives them over men, and because they are aware of the social advantages.

Chuang begins:

"The Chinese word ke’ai, usually translated as cute or cuteness, literally means “lovable” or “adorable.” In general understanding, ke’ai is embodied in a person, animal or small object that arouses feelings of pity, tenderness, and a desire to take care of it. Linguistic anthropologist Catherine Farris describes the word ke’ai as one among many vocabularies that are covertly marked as feminine."

She notes that ke'ai has a broader range than cute in English, covering anything small, diminutive size being a key concept in it. Thus both puppies and insects can be ke'ai.

Drawing on Farris, she observes that "cuteness is believed by many to be intrinsic to the female sex and so expected of all women, especially of those who are at an age for courtship and marriage." Both the models of cuteness and the high regard for it, are unconsciously inculcated in the social identity of local females, reflecting, but also naturalizing, their asymmetrical status in Taiwan society. Children learn the necessary behaviors early. Again following Farris, Chuang writes:

Native speakers understand such behavior as sajiao, which has two related meanings: (1) “to show pettiness, as a spoiled child,” and (2) “to pretend to be angry or displeased, as a coquettish young woman.” Elaborating further on the definition, sajiao can be referred to as “a communication style that spoiled children of both sexes, and young (particularly unmarried) women engage in when they want to get their way from an unwilling parent/boyfriend/husband.”

Sajiao has its own voice quality:

the “standard woman’s voice” observed by social linguists often tends toward “the young and immature, warm and respectful, sometimes having bashful overtones or even a petulant air.”

..and of course, sajiao speakers nasalize final vowel particles. Ugh. An additional feature is unnecessary duplication of syllables -- calling a dog gou gou or a car che che.

Chuang locates the cultural logic of modern female cuteness in the Confucian ideal that women must be "humble, yielding, and reverential" in relation to men. She notes:

Since the early 1900s, such an ideal is embodied in the nationally celebrated image of xianqi liangmu, meaning “good wife and virtuous mother.” The discourse of xianqi liangmu preached the importance of women’s education in the belief that educated women make better wives and mothers, better housekeepers and citizens. Thus the major purpose of educating women was to enable them to teach and rear children more effectively instead of helping them pursue self-fulfillment.

As an aside, this discourse offers one-half of the Madonna/Whore pairing so common in honor/shame cultures like China's. In Taiwan the KMT continued to celebrate International Women's Day until 1996, when, during the transition from a six-day work week to a five-day work week, it was folded into Children's Day to make Women and Children's Day -- quite a comment on the status of women in Taiwan.

As we all know, modern women in Taiwan now work to find their own life goals, and frequently do not marry well into their thirties. Many career females no longer live with or remit money to their families. Chaung argues that this rising objective social equality with males poses a problem for a society where social relations are supposed to be patriarchal and hierarchical, and one solution for females is to act cute, to engage in "the symbolic gesture of acting like children." In other words, consciously or unconsciously, women have become aware of the uses of cuteness in social situations. Chuang adduces the case of Ms. Lu:

For example, Ms. Lu, a 26-year-old sales representative in a medical care products company, explained to me that it is necessary for a female employee like her to act a little cute at work. “It is like a lubricant” she said, “it helps us get along with people better and makes things easer.” In her opinion, a woman who does not know how to sajiao or act cute would be disadvantaged at work, because people would think that she has a personality problem.

For Chuang, Ms. Lu articulates the new female consciousness of the power of cute, a tool for furthering her own goals in a complex, male-run society. To wit:

As more and more women self-consciously utilize a cute manner for their own benefit, it seems no longer appropriate to view cuteness as simply part of a habitus that reproduces hierarchical relations. What becomes excluded in this conceptually reproductive cycle is the shifting socio-historical circumstances which may create slippages between the habitus and reality, and as a result generate ambivalence, conflicting consciousness, and reflexivity in the subjects. I believe the trend of cuteness in Taiwan testifies precisely to this process; that is, it is slowly extricating itself from unaware conformism and entering into conscious maneuvering and self-redefinition.

She also points out that the large number of powerful women, such as Sisy Chen, who act cute, or who appropriate the imagery of cute, are not trying to reassure their audience. Rather, they are consciously redefining the meanings and boundaries of cuteness....

Similarly, Chen’s self-appointed title xiaomeida, meaning literally “little sister big”, emphasizes the power she has as a non-threatening female. By fusing two opposite concepts in one word, it implies that there is indeed no contradiction between the little and the big. Rather than saying “I am smart and powerful, but don’t worry, I am also cute,” Chen imparts the confident message that “I am cute, and I am smart and powerful.”

Another aspect of the way cuteness is losing its meaning as a marker of weakness and femininity is the way it is being taken over by male politicians. She uses the example of Chen Shui-bian, who liked appearing in costumes dressed as Santa Claus or Peter Pan, and had cute dolls of himself made and distributed during the election. One could adduce many other examples, such as the popular Mayor of Taichung, Jason Hu, who also likes appearing in cute costumes.

Summing up, she neatly stands the idea of cuteness as weakness on its head:

Statistical studies have shown that Taiwan exhibits significantly greater gender equality than Japan in all areas of comparison, including educational attainment, labor participation, and wages. The cuteness trend and avid consumption among Taiwanese women are thus not so much a compensation for the lack of power as an affirmation of power. With ongoing socioeconomic changes plus increasingly powerful and gender-neutral presentations of cuteness, some unintended transformations regarding gender relations will most likely follow.

The rise of cute is everywhere. Anyone notice how cute characters appear on warning signs on construction sites, highways, trains, and other public infrastructure? And then there's the men becoming cute....
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Daily Links:

• The opening sentence in an SI article a friend alerted me to...

  Bobby Abreu spends part of every offseason in Asia, hop-scotching from China to Japan, Hong Kong to Vietnam, Taiwan to Taipei.

  Maybe the writer is just really hip to local politics and knows how Taipei isn't The Real Taiwan....
• Penghu residents go to the polls on Sept 26th to approve referendum on gaming.
• Usually Taiwan is leading investor in Vietnam. Now it is the US.
• Coming of age rites in Tainan.
• Taiwan death toll even higher than we thought.
• Foreign media attention unwelcome for Ma, who usually gets good press.
• Will China send troops into Afghanistan?
• TIME: Postcard from Cishan
  

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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!

DPP invites Dalai Lama to visit disaster areas

UPDATE: It's official, the DL will be permitted to come and has accepted "in principle", says AP.

DPP politicians in hard-hit southern Taiwan have invited the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan, as Bloomberg reports:

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, whose popularity has plummeted over his response to the deadliest storm in five decades, faces a new challenge after opposition politicians invited the Dalai Lama to visit typhoon- hit areas.

Local government politicians in the opposition-controlled areas worst affected by Typhoon Morakot said they plan to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader to bless the land and people, Sunny Jien, spokeswoman for the Kaohsiung city government, said today.

The DL is widely revered in Taiwan and his previous visits packed stadiums. The DPP has a cordial relationship with the Tibetan freedom movement as well (blogged here). President Ma, as the Bloomberg piece notes, previously indicated that the "time was not right" for a DL visit. From a previous post:

Wondrously, President Ma made this announcement even though the Dalai Lama hasn't actually asked to come here....

Since the question was hypothetical — the Dalai Lama hasn’t applied for permission to visit — Ma could have avoided controversy by simply pointing this out. Instead, he chose to say the Tibetan spiritual leader would not be welcome. His statement was clearly aimed at currying favor with China. Even if such a visit had been in the cards, Ma could have stressed that it was purely for religious reasons, and that he would not meet the monk. Instead, Ma caved in completely.

Fortunately, KMT legislative speaker and Ma rival Wang Jin-pyng, always happy to stand on Ma's shoulders when he is drowning, has suggested that local religious organizations invite the Dalai Lama to Taiwan in his capacity as a religious leader. The Chen Administration made great strides in cultivating ties with Tibet, (blogged here), and succeeding in bringing the Dalai Lama to Taiwan several years ago, to great public acclaim.

A tour of the south is likely to bring the DL into contact with Master Hsing Yun, the aging pro-annexationist, pro-KMT monk who runs Foguangshan, the massive temple complex between Kaohsiung and Pingtung (most recent post) near some of the affected areas. Indeed, with so many of Taiwan's Buddhist temples and organizations openly pro-KMT, the politics of this visit, should it come off, will be fun to watch.

From a media standpoint the piece is rather interesting. On one hand, it conventionally presents the "thaw" in relations between "Taiwan" and "China" (not the KMT and the CPP) as the result of Ma...

Under Ma, relations with China have thawed, with the two sides striking agreements on investment and travel. China views the Dalai Lama, a figurehead of movements to free Tibet, as a divisive force.

...with Beijing as the passive recipient of Ma's actions, rather than the "thaw" actually resulting from Beijing's approval of a President who wants to annex Taiwan to China. On the other hand, it actually says that the DL heads up the movement to "free Tibet". It is also an unusually long piece.

Interesting news, and a challenge flung in the face of President Ma Ying-jeou, and more importantly, Beijing. What will China and its allies in Taipei do?

And how will the international media handle this conjuction of the freedom movement in Tibet, which it is sympathetic to, and Taiwan's pro-independence forces, who are (it goes without saying) "radicals" who "provoke" Beijing.

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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!

Ma Administration Typhoon Shock Doctrine

In The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein writes extensively on how governments use economic, natural, and social shocks to carry out social engineering that benefits elites while leaving ordinary individuals amid wrecked societies with decaying infrastructure, a smaller share of wealth, and diminished future prospects.*

I've made this point before, but it is worth making again: the Ma government's response to the typhoon disaster in the south is identical to its response to the economic crisis last year. The only difference is in the speed of events. As I noted then, the crisis had been used by the Ma Administration in a classic shock doctrine way, as leverage to get the shellshocked public to accept an accelerated approach to the ECFA sell-out agreement with China. Now, argues Taiwan News in today's editorial, the current typhoon disaster is being used to force through new legislation that would enable widespread social engineering in disaster-hit areas. After comparing the new legislation to the 921 Earthquake recovery laws, the editorial observes:

Article 12 would give central government and local governments the power to compulsorily order the removal of villages, naturally almost exclusively of indigenous peoples, from designated areas with no provisions for consultation with village assemblies or communities.

Article 13 would permit the resettlement of disaster victims without regard to laws or regulations concerned with urban or rural planning, national park management, environmental impact assessment, water or soil conservancy or "other related laws," including the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law.

While Liu has stated that the principles of national land recovery will guide the effort, the fact that the KMT-controlled legislature boycotted the draft national land planning law and the draft national land recovery statute proposed by the former DPP government for over four years gives scant cause for optimism that the Liu Cabinet will promote this principle. In addition, the absence of city and county mayors and disaster victim or indigenous peoples representatives on the proposed national reconstruction commission has given rise to suspicions that the KMT government will bypass DPP city and county mayors and directly disburse funds and projects without hindrance from any civic monitoring, to township governments, most of which are run by KMT commissioners, in the run-up to year-end county elections.

Liu's declaration Sunday that donating conglomerates and businesses should participate directly in the process of deciding the utilization of reconstruction funds has sparked fears of a replication in southern Taiwan of the disastrous "reconstruction" of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina which witnessed the massive privatization of public services through top-down "shock capitalism" instead of bottom-up community based rebuilding....

The law allows for compulsory resettlement of indigenous people, and permits resettlement without regard for any other considerations -- environmental, water management, or the aboriginal basic law. Conglomerates and corporations are to determine how reconstruction funds are to be used, while the proposed Morakot Reconstruction Committee excludes (DPP) city mayors and county chiefs. Stripped of the fine verbiage, the legislation basically gives the funds directly to the construction-industrial state, with the added proviso that it can now move whole villages around without concern for what anyone says, and without concern for environment regulations or local culture. Disaster capitalism at its finest. The Committee...

.....which will be chaired by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), will have 30 officials from different government agencies, plus the heads of Delta Electronics, Uni-President Enterprises Corp, Taiwan High Speed Rail, China Steel and one university president and four professors.

In other words, the national-level Typhoon Reconstruction Committee will be composed of the central government and powerful corporations.

The Taipei Times report notes that the legislation was not reviewed by the Executive Yuan and was being accelerated through the process for a vote tomorrow. The paper also has an extensive collection of comments from aboriginal groups in this piece, in which one aboriginal representative points out that the survey work has long been done and safe areas for resettlement in the mountains have already been identified.

The green light to forced resettlement without aboriginal participation has obvious implications for expansion of the construction-industrial state. In many areas local indigenous peoples are strongly against local public works projects even though they trickle down some funds to the community. As I wrote last week, there is much opposition to the massive Tsengwen Reservoir Diversion in the area, and the project is blamed for flooding that began even before this one -- after typhoon Kalmaegi last year many of the houses in Siaolin were mildly inundated with mud and water. Forced resettlement of indigenes will also removed one claimant to area resources such as land and timber. There will be fewer objections to illegal use of forest resources by Han farmers. Of course, removal of aboriginals will simply create an even larger pool of landless laborers living in marginal areas to help hold down local labor costs.

The Taipei Times drives home this point in an editorial today:

Mountain-dwelling Aboriginal people are likely to be the biggest losers. For more than 100 years, Japanese and Chinese governments have moved these villages closer to plains areas so that they could be better governed and controlled; in many cases these people were moved into the plains while still being administratively defined as “mountain Aborigines.” All throughout, Han officials took over management of most of the land for forestry, agricultural and tourism purposes, among others, frequently to the environment’s detriment.

Supporting this line of thinking are racists and speculators who want Aboriginal reservation laws repealed so that the land can be bought up, developed and sold; and Buddhist charity officials, whose otherwise faultless conduct has been stained by asking the largely Christian Aboriginal community to “return the mountains and forests to Mother Nature.”

Sadly, the present crop of Aboriginal legislators cannot be trusted to defend the interests of affected Aboriginal communities on matters of this gravity — and certainly not Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), who is essentially an ambassador for Beijing — and even in the unlikely event that they mobilize to defend their constitutents, in all probability they will be ignored by party bosses.

May Chin took a $3 million check from Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office for disaster relief.

The new National Reconstruction Commission, with its power to dispense funds to bypass county and city mayors in the affected areas and perhaps give them directly to township chiefs, highlights a couple of issues. For one thing, the possibility of direct money handouts to local township chiefs are reminiscent of the direct money handouts through consumer vouchers -- an apparent vote buying program -- and for another, it also highlights how the "Green" south isn't really "Green" but is actually a melange of Blue and Green at different levels of government. Whether or not the DPP government levels are bypassed, note that the money will be arriving in hard-hit communities just before the December election, among ethnic groups (aborigines in the mountains, the Hakkas of Chiadong and Linbian) with long-time support for the KMT.

UPDATE: SY has some great comments below -- and latest news is that the destruction reconstruction bill passed today.

*Mike Davis' awesome Late Victorian Holocausts is another must read in this area.
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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!

US defense effort not first since 1979

Wendell Minnick in Defense News:

Despite local media reports that this is the first time U.S. military forces have entered Taiwan since 1979, the U.S. government official noted that every year sees at least one visit by a military aircraft, usually to ferry in congressional visitors.

"Also, we have in the past quietly sent in U.S. military aircraft to support disaster relief operations in Taiwan," he said, including Typhoon Aere in 2004 and the 9-21 earthquake in 1999.

It's a shame that they were sent in 'quietly' in those earlier disasters, but it was good that they were.
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Daily Links:

• RTI's fabulous blog Hear in Taiwan has a great translation of a blogger who witnessed a ceremony in Siaolin village. Thanks, Angelica.
• Looking for a place to rent in Taiwan? Look here.
• Claudia Jean with excellent post on how the KMT screwed up the DPP water management bill
• 6-3-3! 6-3-3! Real earnings hit 1996 levels, according to the DGBAS.
  

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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!

Daily links, August 24, 2009

Lots of stuff packed and ready to go on the blogs this week....

• Far Eastern Sweet Potato comments on arrival of UN team in Taiwan.
• The Hungry Cyclist tours Taiwan.
• The Forgetful on the new bicycle lanes in Taipei: as bad as you imagine.
• Yet another reason not to use MS Bing.
• Darren M photos Chthonic.
• With an opening line like this: "For landslide scientists Taiwan has an almost mythical status,..."
• Kaminoge rips Tom Plate talking about Taiwan. Alas, untrammeled failure is no bar to continued syndication in the international media.
• Letters from Taiwan on how the KMT built loyalty among the aborigines. Great work, Arthur.
• Ma Ying-jeou, the Syncophant syndrome, and the KMT by Jerome Keating
• Todd visits Tzude Temple.
• TaiwanAir Blog has pix of the US relief effort in Taiwan.
• Far Eastern Sweet Potato on Koo Kuan-yin's latest attempt to form coherent thoughts.
• David goes to Smangus again.

MEDIA: UN team to arrive to assess situation following typhoon. They claim Beijing was not consulted. Kyodo news observes that Taiwan's Japan envoy was also on vacation in Europe when the typhoon hit. Apparently everyone the KMT appointed was on vacation when Morakot broke down our gates. Taiwan News calls on DPP to show what it is made of. Jon Adams at Gobal Post reports on the possibility that the Tsengwen Reservoir Diversion project had a hand in the burying of Siaolin village. Another globalist argument that Taiwan's banks should be privatized, in Forbes. Apparently no one has noticed that during the heyday of 8% growth, all of the local banks were state-owned. Could there be a lesson in there? Naw. DPA reports on Apple Daily reports on Thai surrogate mothers being barred from entering Taiwan since surrogacy is illegal in Taiwan. Can someone explain to me why a Council of Agriculture official is quoted for that fact? Also, Apple claims 1 in 7 Taiwanese couples are infertile. Another take on the surrogacy issue. 32 years fixing sewer pipes in Taiwan. Taiwan News on the PRC's $3 million check for aid to "aboriginal legislator" May Chin. The Taipei Times notes the foreign media focus on Ma was most unwelcome. Lenovo to spend $3.3 billion in Taiwan as our jobless rate reaches record high (Ma save us!) and our income inequality also reaches record high (Ma save us!). US agonizes over Taiwan arms sales. As nations draw closer to China, they should resist Chinese bullying, says CFR piece. Be still my beating heart: Asia Times business writer actually notes CIER simulations of ECFA that say bad things about it.

MULTIMEDIA LINKS: Pro-Taiwan economist Peter Chow on VOA (audio link at VOA good for one week, youtube six parts good for two months: one, two, three, four, five, six). Also on Youtube is this wonderful mocking of the slick election ad Ma Ying-jeou: The Strength to Change: Ma Ying-jeou: The Strength to Disappoint. Classic.

EVENTS: Formosa Betrayed screening. The movie's promoters sent this around:

As I know, many of you are eagerly awaiting information about where you can see FORMOSA BETRAYED!

Our next screening will be:
Montreal World Film Festival
Montreal, QC, Canada
Thursday, September 3rd -- 7:20PM
Friday, September 4th -- 12:20PM
Saturday, September 5th -- 2:40PM
All the screenings will be held at the Quartier Latin Cinema Complex, Venue 13.
http://www.ffm-montreal.org

Go to their website to purchase tickets and all that jazz, and if you're north of the border or have friends in the Quebecois hood, we hope to see them there!

And it gets better! Writer/Actor/Producer Will Tiao will hold a Q&A session after each screening, and one of our stars Wendy Crewson, who plays Susan Kane, an American diplomat stationed in Taiwan, will join Thursday night. Director/Producer Adam Kane will have the Q&A with Will as well after the Saturday screening.

And of course, lots of news to come at our main website, www.formosathemovie.com. Check the SCREENINGS tab there for more information as soon as it comes out.

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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!

Northern Cross Redux

Fishing boats in the early morning in I-lan waters.

This weekend I went back for another trip across the Northern Cross Island Highway (Riding the Northern Cross in June, Google maps with the route map from the Yongning Metro here).

Beginning the ride outside of Sanxia in Taipei County.

The climb begins. The first day is actually the hardest, opening with a long climb followed by a 9% grade out of Fuxing. After that climbing is steady but the grade is not difficult.

Clear skies, flowing water, green mountains. It doesn't get any better than this.

We cross the river on the lower suspension bridge.

Got some nice pics of the lovely red bridge.

After lunch, we puffed up the road next to chasms on one side and rock faces on the other.

Jeff (left) and Michael take a break from climbing.

Logged out area.

My son Zeb snaps a pic as Chris looks on.

Endless vistas....eying such sights, Chris opined that he'd never think of "Taoyuan County" in the same way.

This amazing rock face, layer upon layer of rock rising hundreds of meters above the river, brought everyone to the side of the road to take a picture.

Chris and Michael admire the view.

Small communities everywhere, yet we wondered how they could survive floods and slides.

A dam destroyed by flooding a while ago.

Chris poses jauntily on the suspension bridge going into Baling, where we stopped for the night at the CYC Hostel.

The suspension bridge offered lovely views of the lilac car bridge right next to it.

The rivers race, but the race for gravel always wins.

Entering Baling at 600 meters of altitude.

In the morning we arose to find this moth waiting for us.

My son takes his bike out of the hostel, which not only offers cheap sleeps, but also washers/dryers, and lets you store the bikes inside.

The second day requires an opening climb of 680 meters in ten kilometers, but offers amazing views of cliffs, chasms, and rivers.

Lots of roadkill, including bats and this strange mole/rat. We also found a viper run over by a car. It was moving, but only because ants were dragging it.

Lala Shan, the famous resort, is above the bridge where we stopped for breakfast.

The view from breakfast.

In the bright sunlight and clean air, all sorts of sounds wafted over to us, from hymns at the local Church, to the sound of someone's water boiling.

Here's where we had to cross the landslide last time.

An awesomely gorgeous day.

The little orange dot across the chasm on the road there is my son.

Plenty of bugs, as always.

....and a spider or two.

Descending into I-lan, lovely views of the plains below.

The Lanyang River and beyond it, I-lan town.

Monday morning we raced back up the coast to Keelung.

At 8 we arrived at the old tunnel cutting off the peninsula south of Fulong. A favorite of rental bikers, it is crowded on weekends. We waited for the tunnel to open at 8:30 (actually 8:45). The old Japanese train tunnel, 2 kms long, is an enjoyable break from the sun on the way up to coast.

As always, fisherman are out early.

We then took the bike path out of Fulong, crossing yet another suspension bridge, this one under repair.

The bike path.

Fog still lingered as we drove north.

And the stunningly clear day made it another unforgettable ride. Definitely coming back on this route next month -- and hope to see you there!
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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!

Help! AIT is Rogering Our Women!

The tabloid Apple Daily ran a couple of stories today on -- wait for it -- an alleged AIT guy who had sex with a local girl (story). Imagine it -- two consenting adults boinking in the privacy of his place. That just never happens in Taiwan, and is certainly news when it does.

The sordid story is quickly told. According to the article, which consists entirely of her side, he picked her up on Tagged.com, which as insiders know, is a great place to find Taiwanese femmes who want to have sex with foreigners. They met a couple of times, boinked once at his place, then she asked the guard at the building where the man's apartment is about the guy, and the guard said he worked for AIT and was always bringing home girls. She hid out, busted him with another femme, and a fight in the street ensued. He also took naked pictures of her, which she wants back. The article discusses how he was identified as working at AIT though -- how convenient for all involved -- he isn't in Taiwan.

Note to pick up line collectors, dude has classic, according to our tattler: 我要愛妳，想要與妳做愛...因為我們都經歷地震瀕臨死亡，我不想浪費任何一天。 "Let's make love -- we both came close to death in an earthquake, and I don't want to waste another day." One wonders how anyone who would fall for a line like that could get into Political U.

Fun with the media: note the report detail -- NT$150K a month in rent, it breathlessly says, thus stimulating both our class resentment and our salacious instincts. A twofer!

What's going on? Long experience in Taiwan says that when locals want to take down The Foreigner, an appeal to the trope They're Rogering Our Women! is a common method. Some of you might remember the tale from June of 2007, when a West Point cadet was apparently set up by a woman who felt "uncomfortable" after sex, and decided that notifying a UDN reporter was a good way to discharge her ill feeling. That occurred after some positive news about the first Taiwanese woman to graduate from West Point hit the media. Quick! They're Rogering Our Women!

Similar situation here, my paranoid suspicious side says. A glance at the news shows that the US has been in the news in a positive light -- our aircraft are here delivering aid to the locals. Lookin' spiffy and doin' the right thing, garnering praise and positive views for the US. Can't have that! This time it is Apple Daily with the negative news about the US to counterbalance the good news, whose subtext says: They're Rogering Our Women! Oversexed and over here, those Americans.

To drive home the point that They're Rogering Our Women! and it is a bad thing, Apple Daily offers its -- "readers" is too elevated a word -- customers an in-depth analysis by an "expert" of how the sense of inferiority among Taiwanese women drives them into the arms of foreigners. And the special bonus insight of one "Kelly" who says 90% of the foreigners here are losers -- although the losingness of foreigners hasn't prevented her from adopting a foreign name. Sense of inferiority? You make the call, but unless you have an urgent need to throw up silently in your mouth, I'd skip the analysis.
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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!

Financial Integration Deepens

Xiaolin Village, before and after.

The South China Morning Post reports that Taiwan ETFs have now opened in Hong Kong:

....chief executive Paul Chow Man-yiu expects more exchange-traded funds to be cross-listed in Taiwan and Hong Kong and hopes to see ETFs cross-listed on the Hong Kong and mainland bourses.

Speaking after a listing ceremony for the first ETF cross-listed in Hong Kong, the Polaris Taiwan Top 50 Tracker Fund (HK), Mr Chow (right), said: "This is a good debut because Taiwan and Hong Kong regulators have worked out a framework to allow Taiwan-listed ETFs to list in Hong Kong and vice versa.

"We can expect more Taiwan ETFs to list here in future."

The ETF ended yesterday down 6.98 per cent at $9HK.86 after making its debut at $10HK.50, its high point for the day. A total of $824HK.4 million worth of the ETF changed hands.

This was the first cross-listing of a Taiwan ETF in the city since the Securities and Futures Commission signed a memorandum of understanding in May with the Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission to facilitate cross-listing of ETFs in the two markets.

Two Hang Seng Bank-issued ETFs from Hong Kong listed on the Taiwan stock exchange last Friday under the agreement.

Mr Chow said he hoped to see an accord between mainland authorities and the SFC to work out a framework for ETF cross-listings between the Hong Kong and mainland markets.

Exchange Traded Funds (Wiki) are basically funds that may be traded like stocks, but hold as their contents a representative set of stocks that enables them to track the movements of a particular stock index. They are vehicles for large institutional investors, and apparently have been criticized for having potential to manipulate market behavior. Remember that Chinese "institutional" investors are often State-owned....

This is just a signal of the deepening financial integration between Taiwan and China -- Beijing is going to permit cross-listing of ETFs between Hong Kong and China -- and the kind of thing the big boys in the financial industry wanted to see when they backed Ma Ying-jeou in the election last year. But as a Chinese scholar Li Fei (李非), deputy director of the Taiwan Research Center at Xiamen University, said last week at a cross-strait forum in Taiwan, China’s promotion of cross-strait economic exchanges is to accelerate annexation. Other benefits are nice, but not necessary.
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Daily Links:

• Economist with good summary of post-Morakot political fallout
• Paul Katz at China Beat with another excellent post on Siaolin Village, with pics.
  
• Chinese Learn Online: list of all centers in Taiwan teaching Chinese
• Fun Videos: Secretary-General's Father's Day and 台灣的Super 救命兒
• Jon Adams in Global Post: seven days after Morakot
• Ryan pitches in in Pingtung with pics.
• The Hsu girls sing traditional Taiwan song to raise money for Morakot victims. With donation links.
• Taiwan Matters says Ma is worst.president.ever. With links to other good stuff.
• VOA says military tensions between Taiwan and China as bad as ever.
• Taiwan shows balance of payments surplus, meaning more $$ are coming in than going out.
• Ocean temperatures break record. Apparently our elites really don't give a damn whether their grandchildren have a planet.

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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!

Cabinet reshuffle in the offing?

The other day Taiwan News called for the resignation of practically everyone in the Ma Administration in sentiments similar to the ones it expressed previously:

Moreover, as has been observed by numerous disaster response professionals and former related KMT and DPP government officials, the central government disaster response established after the Sept. 21, 1999 earthquake and progressively rationalized under the former DPP administration are still in place but "vanished" after Typhoon Morakot struck Aug. 8. The reason for the deteriorating function of these mechanisms beginning with Typhoon Fung-Wong last July and worsening in Typhoon Morakot lies in the identity of the new leaders at the helm of our disaster response system from President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Liu down.

No matter how "professional" or "competent" KMT senior leaders believe themselves to have been in the 1980s and 1990s during KMT one-party rule, their ingrained bureaucratic, passive, secretive and hierarchal mentality has proven to be dysfunctional in Taiwan's democratic society in the 21st century.

There can be scant hope for the renewal of public confidence in the central government's capability to respond to crises until Liu and other incompetent leaders, including at minimum the ministers of defense, interior economics, foreign affairs, agriculture and justice along with the secretary-generals of the National Security Council and the Executive Yuan. Moreover, the lack of both empathy and political morality displayed by Ma and other KMT leaders will only undermine confidence in their future leadership.

Many Taiwan citizens recall that then Democratic Progressive Party vice premier Yu Shyi-kun resigned office immediately nine years ago after the death of four construction workers who were swept away in a flash flood in the Pachang River after the then KMT-run Chiayi County government, the National Fire Administration and the Air Force failed to coordinate a rescue effort. The subtext in the message sent yesterday by Ma's scarcely veiled hint that Liu and his Cabinet will remain in office indefinitely will be quite clearly read by the rest of the KMT bureaucracy and by Taiwan's public.

That message is simply that while a DPP vice premier resigned after the tragic death of four Taiwan workers, Ma and the ruling KMT do not believe there is any obligation for a KMT premier to step down from office after the deaths of over 400.

As the article observers, so far only the Deputy Foreign Minister has resigned and been accepted -- not because he failed the people of Taiwan, but because the Administration suffered embarrassment in its relations with the outside world. Note that not only did Vice Premier Yu resign over the botched Pachang River rescue but then KMT premier Tang, serving under President Chen, also offered to resign (Tang offer). But that was then...

Ma is in a somewhat awkward position -- during the campaign one of the criticisms he made of the DPP administration was the constant reshuffling of the cabinet. But it has become apparent that heads must roll, as confirmed by Premier Liu yesterday in the news conference:

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan stated yesterday afternoon that his Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) administration will experience a "comprehensive re-examination and reorganization in September" in the wake of intense public criticism of its performance in responding to Typhoon Morakot, whose torrential rains and landslides left over 400 dead and over NT$10 billion in agricultural damage.

For some months several long-time observers I know have been arguing that Ma would restructure the cabinet to bring in a more Taiwanese-oriented crew to address the elections at the end of the year. This typhoon has handed them the perfect excuse.

And no, I don't think the failures here will have much effect on the elections. People here vote locally for local reasons, and flows of cash, patronage networks, and party structure on the ground will outweigh the effect of this mess on the KMT. But hopefully I will be wrong.
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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!