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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!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Riding, walking, driving photos
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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!
The closer we move to Beijing, the farther we move from democracy
Taiwan News with another awesome editorial on how things are moving here. This one is on the PRC boycott of southern Taiwan, the KMT's client-agent relationship with China, and the obvious political nature of the economics relations with China...."Ten Conditions of Love" on exiled Uighur rights activist Rebiya Kadeer this month. It is important to note that the Dalai Lama made no inflammatory statements during his visit to Taiwan and neither the content of "Ten Conditions of Love" or any public or reported statement by Rebiya Kadeer have manifested "propaganda for war" or contained "advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred."As Taiwan's dependence on China increases, so will this kind of pressure. On a related issue, the Supremes today said that the change of judges in the Chen Shui-bian case was constitutional. Juxtapose that with some over events: last month a KMT legislator complained when William Stanton, our new AIT director, pointed out that some learned Americans were concerned about the judicial system here (Good work, Mr. Stanton!). President Ma is currently calling for an extradition treaty with the US, but I have heard that there is quiet concern in the halls of Congress about the fairness of the judiciary in Taiwan. This is delicately hinted at in Jerome Cohen's piece in SCMP earlier this week responding to KMT attacks on his criticism of the decision not to permit Kadeer to enter Taiwan....
Doubts over the veracity of reports by Kaohsiung hotel operators of a retaliatory boycott by PRC tourists were dispelled this weekend when Taiwan's own Tourism Bureau revealed that 9,500 Chinese visiting Taiwan later this month under the auspices of Beijing-based Pro-Health Company would not visit the south.
Responding to a question by the PRC state-owned China News Service, the TAO spokeswoman confirmed the boycott and its political motivation. "There are some forces in Kaohsiung which have joined together with 'Tibetan independence' and 'Xinjiang independence' splittist forces and manufactured some incidents which impact on core mainland interests and hurt the feelings of mainland compatriots," said Fan, who added that "it is very natural that mainland masses are dissatisfied with these actions" According to a transcript on the TAO website, Fan declared that "stopping the alarm requires someone to hit the button," presumably a demand that the Kaohsiung City government apologize for inviting the Dalai Lama or cancel the KFF showings of "Ten Conditions of Love."
Fan's statement made explicit a trend which has been obvious since the KMT took office last May and implemented a China-tilting policy of KMT-CCP "reconciliation" and cross-strait economic "deregulation."
To put the matter in "economic" terms, Beijing is using its control over the flow of Chinese tourists to force the Taiwan government, at both central and local levels, to act as its "general agent" for the exportation of PRC's draconian restrictions on freedom of speech and expression to Taiwan and impose these CCP - made standards on our own citizens.
The comment by the TAO spokeswoman also exploded months of pollyannaish propaganda by the Ma government that the ECFA "only concerns economics" and will not "impinge on sovereignty" since it constituted an open declaration of Beijing's intent to use commercial interests to dictate the standards of human rights of Taiwan citizens in direct violation of our national sovereignty.
The TAO action demonstrates that Beijing absolutely does not "separate politics from economics" but, on the contrary, fully intends to use any and all market openings or deeper business relationships to intensify political pressure on our society and government. While the DPP and other Taiwan-centric groups have denounced the PRC's move to "use business to pressure politics," the KMT government has so far remained mum, with the exception of a meek complaint by Mainland Affairs Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan that Fan's statement had "hurt the feelings of the Taiwan people." Such a response is woefully inadequate because what Beijing aims to hurt is not our feelings but undermine the most fundamental "core interest" of the Taiwan people, our democratic freedoms.
Indeed, the International Covenant on Civic and Political Rights, which President Ma Ying-jeou signed into Taiwan law earlier this year, commits its signatories, to "respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant," including the right of free expression.
The Taiwan government is therefore legally obligated to defend the right of free expression of our citizens and must no longer bow to Beijing's pressure if it wishes to retain its own political legitimacy.
Indeed, as any police officer knows, caving into blackmail never leads to outpourings of "goodwill" by the blackmailer toward the victim but only paves the road for even more ruthless extortion by exposing the weak will of the victim to resist.
The Ma government must now decide whether it is willing to act as Beijing's official agent or show some backbone and suspend further cross-strait consultations pending a public apology by the PRC authorities.
Informative government responses to foreign critics also benefit domestic audiences. What I had actually criticised was not the Taiwan government’s decision to ban Kadeer’s visit but the explanation offered by Interior Minister Jiang Yi-huah. He might have followed the precedent set by his government last December when temporarily declining a visit by another figure opposed by the mainland government, the Dalai Lama. It had simply noted that the timing of the visit was “inappropriate”, the unspoken but understood premise being that the visit would strain the sensitive new effort at cross-strait reconciliation.Cohen does not follow through the consequences of his logic: if it is democracy that attracts the US to defending Taiwan, then it follows that in order to annex the island to China, it must be made hollow. That will have a twofold payoff: reducing US interest, and reducing local opposition.
Whether or not one agreed with that decision, the explanation given was honest, respectful of audiences in both Taiwan and abroad, and not harmful to anyone. Jiang’s explanation, by contrast, linked Kadeer to terrorism. At least at this juncture, that accusation seems inaccurate and unfair. It echoed Beijing’s as yet unproven claims rather than the conclusions of many democratic governments – including that of her host, the US. Worst of all, it appeared to defame a person who enjoys wide respect for her struggle against the mainland government’s oppression of her ethnic group.
To be sure, every country imposes restrictions on entry. The US itself
maintains an overly broad barrier against Taiwan’s highest leaders, in order not to cast doubt on its recognition of the People’s Republic as China’s only legitimate government. But such barriers restrict domestic audiences’ democratic rights to interact with important speakers and must be frequently challenged. Another recent case of an unfortunate Taiwan reaction to foreign criticism occurred when William Stanton, the new head of the “unofficial” US mission in Taipei, pointed out that many learned Americans were concerned about the fairness of former president Chen Shui-bian’s criminal trial. This led some of Taiwan’s legislators and media to label his remarks impermissible foreign interference in the administration of justice.
Taiwan’s minister of justice, Wang Ching-feng, however, rejected this charge. She is more aware than most of the importance to Taiwan of American perceptions of its legal system, since she is attempting to negotiate an agreement that would require the US to extradite fugitives to Taiwan.
The US, like any nation contemplating extradition, has a valid interest in the quality of justice in the country that is requesting it and a right to express reasonable concerns. More generally, as President Ma Ying-jeou has emphasised, despite his efforts to improve relations with the mainland, Taiwan cannot afford to neglect its military defence. That defence relies implicitly on the security guarantees of the US Taiwan Relations Act. They, in turn rest, on the American people’s continuing belief that the island is worth defending, even at the cost of nuclear war. While Taiwan was once valued mainly for its strategic location, its thriving democracy and developing rule of law are now seen to deserve protection in and of themselves. Its leaders and people should keep this in mind.
More importantly, Cohen still has not made the connection, at least publicly, that connection that Beijing has openly with this latest "boycott" of the south: that the "reconciliation" between the KMT and the CCP can only be made over the dead body of the island's democracy. The economic closeness that US Establishment analysts laud and Cohen has played cheerleader for can have only one outcome, Beijing has made that clear. It's time for US critics to stop mixing their signals.
Note also how the Chinese tourists finally give Beijing the leverage it needs to affect Taipei openly and publicly. As I have observed many times, Beijing always makes noise whenever Taiwan does something pro-Taiwan, but it could never take action against Taiwanese in China, since that would harm itself. Hence it attempted to browbeat the US into hacking on Taiwan, transferring the costs of harming Taiwan to the US-Taiwan relationship, something that the Bush Administration was only too happy to comply with. Now, with the tourists, it can dispense with the middleman, and directly punish Taiwan. Scary.
Finally, as a human being outraged at my own nation's inexcusable behavior, I can only add that for the US to express reservations about another country's judicial system, after secretly kidnapping foreign nationals abroad and depositing them in third countries to be detained and tortured, as well as to torture human beings and detain them indefinitely in US prisons overseas, is to raise hypocrisy to high art. Please, let's get our own house in order so that our comments actually have teeth.
REFERENCE: J Michael's paper on prospects for Chinese espionage in Taiwan.
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Daily Links:
- Supreme Court says change of judges in Chen Shui-bian case was constitutional (Chinese).
- Dan Bloom's piece on Woodstock memories in Taiwan on his website, in conjunction with the release of the Ang Lee film.
- John Pomfret on US-China military links.
- Can Beijing save the Taiwanese president?
- Restrictions on exports of US missile tech to China eased? It's from the Washington Times, take with grain of salt.
- NYTimes article on the new government's attempts to dismantle the construction-industrial state in Japan. Should shed new light on our state here, and show how difficult it is to change the structure of that construction-industrial state.
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Mirror, Mirror: If they treated India like Taiwan
I was reading this BBC article on how China is making noises about the Indian territory of Arunachal Pradesh because the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, visited the state earlier in October. Suddenly, as I read, a random transporter beam caused by a failure in the neutrino displacement grid due to a flux distortion storm bouncing off a resonating FTL damper, flung me into an alternate universe where every nation around China was treated like Taiwan. Ignoring the scantily clad paan girls in brighty-lit glass booths lining the streets, I made my way to the nearest सात-ग्यारह where a clerk with a neatly-trimmed goatee sold me a paper with this story....China ire over India border visit
China has strongly criticised a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the north-east Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, currently administered by India, saying that India had ignored its concerns and that Singh was "gambling with the interests of his compatriots."
China claims Arunachal Pradesh, which split from China in 1951 following China's liberation of Tibet. The territory has been governed separately ever since.
On Tuesday US State Department officials warned India that it was "unnecessarily" provoking China. The US remained silent on what India claimed was a large-scale military buildup across the border.
Trade between India and China has reached all time highs amid warming relations, but tensions remain. Longtime Asian affairs commentator Tom Plate observed that for China, "Arunachal Pradesh is the last piece of the puzzle" and praised Hu Jin-tao for being a "suave, gentlemanly leader." A leading business association in New Delhi said that Manmohan Singh was a "radical" whose failure to pursue closer business links with China had led the economy to crash in the last few years. "It's time to shelve these senseless disputes over sovereignty, which everyone knows Singh only does to get elected, because if we only move closer to China, our economy will boom."
Chinese officials said that the government was mulling an Ante Succession law, which would give it the legal right to attack any government of any territory which at any time status quo ante, may have succeeded to ownership of a territory now governed by a state that once sent a mission to Beijing. Stocks were mixed in reaction to the proposed law.
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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!
Taiwan Cycling excellent, says China expat on visit
As my dear readers know, lately I've become a cycling enthusiast. I urge you to become one too! Taiwan is in many ways ideal, with plentiful stops for food and water along most routes, beautiful mountain scenery easily accessibly from any of the major cities, and year round cycling possibilities. The following was posted to a discussion forum about cycling here. The comments about traffic and littering are especially delightful.++++++++++++++
To: TEFLChinaLife@yahoogroups.com
My 30 day cycling trip around Taiwan last summer holiday.
I was not very enthusiastic about visiting Taiwan, I did not expect there to be much difference to the mainland, I also did not know much about the island.
But what a very pleasant surprise, it's been great.
The people very helpful, friendly & so different to mainlanders.
Chinese are a group culture, whereas Taiwanese are far more like foreigners - more individualists. They are adventurous & willing to try new things.
The media is very strong & I can access all overseas news channels.
The food is also more international, offering a lot of western food both in restaurants & in supermarkets. The food is also of a high quality, with many vegetables & fruit I have not seen before. I love mangos & they are so good here.
The island is kept very clean, with everybody concerned about the environment. Many Taiwanese carry their own metal chop sticks so disposable ones are not used. Lots of picnic spots with good facilities provided & very clean.
Banking, transportation, shopping, etc is all handled very efficiently. Changing RMB to Taiwanese dollars is so easy & quick.
The people are VERY law abiding, traffic is not at all chaotic with everybody staying on the proper side of the road for the direction they are travelling in, so I don't have to worry about people travelling on the wrong side of the road & nobody crosses a red light.
The scenery is breathtaking, a stunning coastline & incredible mountains. The sky & sea is so blue, the rivers so clear, the trees so green. When you are on the top of a mountain you can see everything so clearly as no pollution (this is on the eastern side of the island).
Taiwan is the perfect cycling destination, everything is great. Taiwanese are really into cycling in a big way. Everyday I see 100's of Taiwanese cyclists going the opposite direction, about 30% being female. They all look like bank robbers with their faces totally covered up, only sunglasses showing. They all wear cycling clothing & wear helmets. They don't worry that it's 30 - 38 degrees, they just get out & explore their island.
Every town has a 7-11 shop which is open 24 hours a day, that's the cyclists meeting place. Giant bike shops everywhere, even hotels for cyclist. All police stations offer toilets, washing facilities, water & a compressor for pumping tyres.
Cycling is the latest fashion & whole families are on the road, all masked up. Everybody waves & motorists are careful. Nobody breaks the traffic rules.
They have home stays called Ming Su, that are cheaper than hotels but very clean.
So much cycling gear & gadgets for sale.
I could happily come back here again & strongly recommend a cycling trip to Taiwan
I cycled from Nanning to Guiyang. The mountain scenery is very good, better than Guilin but very tiring. As soon as I managed to cross a mountain, there's another one waiting for me. Some roads were atrocious, dirt, rocks & just too steep to cycle. I didn't meet another cyclist (which is normal on the mainland).
Strangely from arriving in Nanning to Guiyang I have seen no foreigners & found very little English spoken in Guizhou, which is very polluted.
Hotels are very good & so cheap (some not so good in Guizhou).
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Daily Links
- NYTimes covers a Hong Kong movie about the White Terror: "Mining Taiwan's Darker History."
- Jon Adams in Global Post on the joint China-Taiwan art exhibition.
- Assoc. for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia releases its report on its carbon disclosure project, which has some discussion of Taiwan's IT industry and its carbon policies.
[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!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Falling Birth Rates to kill universities?
Taiwan's universities will shrivel in a few years if they don't have more warm bodies, Taiwan Today article from the China Times warns:In 2008 there were 59,000 unfilled vacancies for first-year students. The Ministry of Education said the total will exceed 100,000 in 2021 if steps are not taken. The ministry has decided to reduce the total enrollment quota by 2 percent every year. Even so, with the influence of the baby bust, it is estimated that enrollment will still fall short by 71,000 students.When supply of something vastly exceeds demand, look for the subsidy. The reason there are too many universities is because it is profitable for construction and other companies to open them, due to the generous subsidies. Now legislators are concerned that important cash cows in their districts may wilt -- hence the pressure by university administrators to permit Chinese students to come -- the China Cargo Cult, academic version. That gusher of warm bodies from across the Strait can save us!
Kuomintang Legislator Huang Chih-hsiung pointed out that currently there are 164 colleges and universities (excluding military and police schools and National Open University). With people having fewer and fewer children, it is predicted about one third of all colleges, or 60 schools, will go out of business, leaving only 100 or so colleges in operation.
The smart thing would be to shut down the lowest 80 or so universities, but that would lead to screaming from local legislators and from local PHDs, for whom the universities are little more than a jobs program (Taiwan churns out more than it needs, of course). In fact this year the government has quietly been handing out subsidies to local universities to take on more educated assistants -- our department hired a slew of masters degree holders under this program, for one year.
The Ministry of Education is currently working on regulations to permit universities to exit the market, covering land use, taxes, and so forth. According to another piece on this issue:
Quotas slashed? Taiwan's universities have their intakes controlled by strict quotas based on a complex formula involving number of professors, facilities, etc. At one university I worked at part time, Arkham Institute of Technology, for example, the Applied Foreign Languages Dept was limited to 100 students for its annual intake, in two classes of 50 each. Thus each year 100 students joined the four year program in theory. In reality we usually had slightly more as students transferred in from elsewhere. Because the quota restricted the intake, and because the intake was treated like a layer cake, with the top scoring students on the college entrance exams going to top universities, the second best students to the second best schools, and so on down the line, in the 1990s and early 2000s the student body in any given department at Arkham was remarkably uniform in talent and ability.Under the new regulations, universities that fail to recruit up to 70 percent of their officially approved student numbers for three consecutive years will have their annual quotas cut by between 10 percent and 30 percent.
As a result of the regulations, no local universities will see their student quotas slashed until the 2011 school year, which critics say will hold back domestic education reforms.
However, the MoE used to regard unfilled quotas as a bad thing, and thus a trend many in the universities took hold as the number of warm bodies dried up: universities began poaching from the ranks below their quota limits. Thus at Arkham over the years I began to notice that the first 60 or so students were of the old quality, but the next 40 were not up to snuff -- they should have gone to less awesome schools. This process went on at many universities, and universities at the bottom of the ladder soon found themselves with no students at all, their students having been stolen by the universities ahead of them in the queue.
Hence, the MoE's decision to relax quota punishments means that low tier universities may continue on life support until 2011. Probably it will squeeze out another year, since 2012 is an election year and the body politic is not going to want to hear that Little Snowflake can't go to college....
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Daily Links
- An article in Journal of Current Chinese Affairs by two local deep blue academics which offers an overview of Chinese policy toward Taiwan.
- Chen Shui-bian now says he was victim of trickery by Roger Lin and never supported the lawsuit against the US government that claimed Taiwan was a US holding.
- AIG sells Nanshan Life to Hong Kong outfit for $2.1 billion.
- Global warming to triple rain over Taiwan: "number of days with 'excessive heat'" over 36 degree Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) has doubled since 1961...." In fact before WWII it frosted every few years in the Taipei basin and bananas could not be grown 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!
Next Meet Up: Oct 17
Jerome announces next meeting: short notice -- it is this Saturday!!!! Notify Jerome if you are going: "Jerome Keating Ph.D." +++++++++++++++
To all,
This is short notice for a meeting this coming Saturday, but a special speaker has just happend to be in town for a week.
He is
Dr Nicola Casarini
Marie Curie Research Fellow
Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
European University Institute
and his topic is 'Taiwan in EU-China Relations'
Dr. Casarini has recently published a new book
"Remaking Global Order: the Evolution of Europe-China Relations
and its Implications for East Asia and the United States"
To reference it go to You can check it out at the following website: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199560073.do.
Dr. Casarini will address how Taiwan fits into that equation.
The time is 10:00 AM
The venue is back to our normal breakfast place.
The meeting location is the restaurant 婷婷翠玉 at 174 AnHe Road, Section Two. (rough translation of name is Tender, Pretty Green Jade.) You will be able to tell the restaurant by the lace curtains on the window--it was used in a TV commercial a while back. (We will have the downstairs room--breakfast cost will range between NT$100 and NT$200. Phone if lost 2736-8510.
Restaurant is between Far Eastern Plaza Mall/Hotel and HePing East Road--about a half a block north of the corner of HePing East Road Sec. 3 and AnHe Road. or a half a block south of Far Eastern Plaza on the AnHe Road side.
Take the MRT Mucha Line to the Liuchangli Station exit there, and walk west on HePing East Road 3/4 of a block till you reach where AnHe Road dead-ends into it.Then go north on AnHe Road; it is a half a block up on the west side of that street.
Or take any bus down HePing East Road and get off at the first stop that is east of Tun Hua South Road. That will put you at the corner of HePing and AnHe.
You can also take a bus down Tun Hua South Road to the stop right across from Far Eastern Plaza and walk over to AnHe Road.
Or if you take the 235 bus east, it turns off of HePing onto AnHe Road and the first stop is right across from the restaurant.
(There may be some construction in front of the restaurant--remember a year or so ago we replaced the square sidewalk blocks with long rectangular ones;
now it seems we are replacing the long rectangular ones with square ones--don't ask me, I just pay my taxes.)
I know this is short notice, but please let me know if you plan to be there so I have an idea of the headcount.
Two good future speakers to finish out the year:
Dr. Joseph Wu, Taiwan's previous representative in Wash. DC will speak on "Taiwan and its Sovereignty Issues."
Also another friend James Spencer who had worked for Christies Auction House and is now curator in charge of the Chang Foundation Collection of Chinese Art;
James will speak on "Collecting Chinese Art".
Cheers,
Jerome
"Jerome Keating Ph.D."
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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!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Daily Links, October 12, 2009
- Save the Taiwan Humpback Dolphins says stop the Erlin Science Park, even as the EPA refuse to let environmental activists attend meetings because they are disruptive.
- Taiwanese: more online friends than offline.
- Barking Deer on trails re-opening on Yushan.
- Sponge Bear goes out to a ball game here.
- Ben Goren admonishes Apple Daily for bus crash pics showing dead bodies. Apple Daily: if it bleeds, it leads.
- Danshui history blog goes to the Danshui history museum.
- Hanjie discovers Changhua. With pics.
- Longtime activist Su Beng gets prison time.
- Stocks and Politics looks at Ma's Double Ten speech.
SPECIAL: NHK documentary on Japan's colonial rule in Taiwan sparks controversy led by local Paiwan people.
EVENTS:
- Save the Changhua Coast (Wild at Heart), Oct 25. 1000 people needed.
- Craig offers photography workshops and portrait deals.
- One more month to see Pixar exhibit on animation in Taipei, says a hungry girl
[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!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Paper on Parade: Taiwan: Baseball, Colonialism, and Nationalism
Baseball in Taiwan is growing in international stature. Several of the major league teams have scouts here, and Taiwan is now regularly sending players to the major leagues. If you haven't been to a local baseball game, you're missing an important part of Taiwan culture.But where did it all come from? Andrew Morris' excellent book chapter, Taiwan: Baseball, Colonialism, and Nationalism, provides an engaging discussion of the history of baseball in Taiwan, and its connection to the various nationalisms and colonialisms that have shaped the history of Taiwan...
President Chen’s attention to the game marks only the latest chapter in the history of Taiwanese baseball, a game that has become much more than just a sport. It is a colonial legacy that was planted and sunk deep roots during the fifty-year Japanese occupation of the island from 1895 to 1945. The professional version of the game in Taiwan is a reminder of the profound influence of transnational capitalism on Taiwan.Baseball began, of course, in the Japanese colonial era. The game was already established in Japan by the 1890s, and was imported to Taiwan as early as 1897. By 1915 there were 15 all-Japanese teams on the island. In the early 1910s, however, locals were already being encouraged to participate. In the 1925 a team composed entirely of Amis went to Japan and gained great fame, winning 4 of 9 games against Japanese school teams. Then came the Chiayi years....
Taiwan’s complicated history has given rise Taiwan’s complicated history has given rise to the need to present and understand Taiwan as part of the world community in its own right, not as part of the People’s Republic of China (prc). Much of contemporary Taiwanese culture, thus, emphasizes both the global and the local, and the blending of the two. Professional baseball in Taiwan is a perfect example of this self-conscious, ideological combination of the cosmopolitan and the provincial, the international and the Taiwanese. The history of professional baseball in Taiwan, in many ways, is nothing more or less than the history of the effort to create a “baseball culture” that could speak to both of these striking and complementary aspects of Taiwanese life.
The most famous of all Taiwanese baseball traditions was that born at the Jiayi Agriculture and Forestry Institute (abbreviated Kanô) in the late 1920s. Under the guidance of Manager Kondô Hyôtarô, a former standout player who had toured the United States with his high school team, Kanô dominated Taiwan baseball in the decade before the Pacific War. What made the Kanô team special was its tri-ethnic composition; in 1931 its starting nine was made up of two Han Taiwanese, four Taiwan aborigines, and three Japanese players. Kanô won the Taiwan championship, earning the right to play in the hallowed Ko¯shien High School Baseball Tournament, held near Osaka, five times between 1931 and 193 . The best of these, the 1931 squad, was the first team ever to qualify for Ko¯shien with Taiwanese (aborigine or Han) players on its roster. Kanô placed second in the twenty-three-team tournament that year, their skills and intensity winning the hearts of the Japanese public, and remaining a popular nostalgic symbol even today in Japan. This team of Han, Aboriginal, and Japanese players “proved” to nationally minded Japanese the colonial myth of “assimilation” (dôka)—that both Han and aborigine Taiwanese were willing and able to take part alongside Japanese in the cultural rituals of the Japanese state. Of course, the irony is that the six Taiwanese players on the starting roster probably also saw their victories as a statement of Taiwanese (Han or aborigine) will and skill that could no longer be dismissed by the Japanese colonizing power....there's so much to this wonderful paper -- from details like the death of the founder of the Amis team in 1947 in 2-28, to the broad sweep of history: the incorporation of baseball into the service of the KMT state, and later, into the service of US Cold War transnational capitalism.
My favorite part is his discussion of how Taiwan's little league teams in the US became a battleground for pro-Taiwan and pro-China groups:
....In 1969 frenzied Taiwanese fans shouted upon the Golden Dragons’ victory, “The players are all Taiwanese! Taiwan has stood up!” Taiwanese supporters soon raised the stakes in this implicit protest against the Guomindang government. In 1971, as the Tainan Giants swept to a world championship, Taiwanese independence activists at Williamsport hired an airplane to fly over the stadium towing a bilingual banner reading, “Long Live Taiwan Independence, Go Go Taiwan.” The Taiwan teams’ games attracted fans from all points of the political spectrum, so each Taiwan independence flag or banner was matched by pro-Nationalist fans waving flags and cheering for the “Chinese” team. The pro-state fans had an advantage, however, in the dozens of New York Chinatown thugs hired by the Guomindang to identify and rough up Taiwan independence activists at the games. The 1971 championship game was interrupted when a dozen of these toughs ran across the field to rip down a banner reading in English and Chinese, “Team of Taiwan, Go Taiwan.”Explore this one yourself, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
In 1972, when the Taibei Braves challenged for the world title, the Guomindang was better prepared, renting every single commercial aircraft for miles around to keep the Taiwan independence crowd from repeating their coup. Some seventy to eighty roc military cadets training in the United States were also recruited to Williamsport to, as they shouted while beating Taiwanese male and female supporters with wooden clubs, “Kill the traitors!”...
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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!
Sarcasm Circulating among the Taiwan blogs
A friend sent me this sarcastic description of Taiwanese life that has been circulating in the Taiwan blogosphere....
+++++++++++++++++
在台灣 ..
In Taiwan...
有資歷與學歷的人當官員，有財力與火力的人當議員。
People who possess both working experience and a diploma become government officials. And those with the power of money and the gun become legislators.
不怕死但最後一定會死的人當小弟，很怕死但最後絕不會死的人當大哥。
People who aren't afraid of death, but will eventually die become “little brother” bag-carriers. And for those who are afraid of death, but won't die in the end become “big brother” gangsters.
說謊不打草稿的當大官，說謊必須看稿的當小官，看稿還說不出謊的沒官當。
People who lie all the time even without preparing what they will say make themselves “big officials” in the government ranks. And those who lie but read their prepared speech anyway become little officials. Those cannot lie even when reading a prepared script have no post in the government at all.
女生長得好看什麼都會的當明星，女生長得好看什麼都不會的當脫星。
Naturally beautiful and capable girls become celebrities. Beautiful but incapable girls become strippers.
挨老師打之後才知道自己犯錯的是小學生，打了老師之後才知道自己犯錯的是中學生，根本就不知道自己犯了什麼錯的是大學生。
Those being punished by their teachers and then realize their mistakes are elementary school pupils. And those hitting their teachers and then realizing their mistakes are junior/high school students. And those not even knowing what the mistakes are are college students.
什麼都知道但最好別亂開口的，當財經官員。什麼都不知道但拼命亂開口的，當教育官員。 Those who know everything but keep their mouths shut are government officials working in the Ministry of Finance. Those who know nothing but boast every now and again are working in the Ministry of Education.
什麼都知道但被命令不能開口的，當教育人員。什麼都不知道所以一句話也不敢吭的，什麼官都能當。
Those who know everything but are ordered to keep their mouths shut are Education Ministry staff. Those who know nothing at all and have nothing to say have no post in any department.
有腦筋有能力的人當院長，有腦筋沒能力的人當部長，沒腦筋有能力的人當局長，沒腦筋沒能力的人當家長。
People with brains and ability become directors in the department. And those with brains but no ability become junior directors in the department. And those without brains but with ability become head of the office in the bureau of the department. And, last but not least, those without brains nor ability are parents in their own house.
想賺錢的就當醫師，想出名的就當律師，想活活氣死的就當老師，
If you want to be rich, be a doctor; if you want to be famous, be a lawyer; and if you want to die from rage, become a teacher.
阿..........想累死的就當工程師。
And, ahhh...if you want to die from work, be an engineer!
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Saturday, October 10, 2009
Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize and other Saturday observations
Yesterday night I got on Facebook and saw that everyone was talking about Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, which, like probably everyone else at first encounter, I thought was some brilliantly wicked viral internet joke. I'm not going to comment on the award itself; from the Taiwan perspective, what interests me is the Prize Committee's rationale, which only partly appeared to reference Obama's accomplishments, but also appeared to be aimed at encouraging him to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as rally support for his policies in the world. Given while the work is in progress and the issue still in doubt.
This is very suggestive, because here in Taiwan the KMT and the CCP are negotiating for a "peace agreement" whose ultimate purpose is to annex the island to China. The "process" is still ongoing. Anyone see how the Prize Committee's rationale applies here? "Let's give'em an early Nobel to keep the peace process moving along." Yes, I think we just moved a step closer to the Hu-Ma Lovefest Male Pattern Baldness Nobel Prize Tour of 2011.
Meanwhile lots of fun this week in Taiwan. The Taipei City government has decided to change the name of the unlucky Neihu MRT line, because in local culture, you can change your luck by changing your name....
Following a similar practice, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin is considering changing the name of the newly added MRT line whose streak of bad luck seems to be continuing without an end in sight.This is actually not uncommon -- I blogged on another case of this a few years ago. Again, it shows how fate in Taiwan is regarded as deterministic and changeable by human action, like a river whose course can be diverted, but if left untouched, will cause disaster. One also has to admire the poetic invention of the geomancer. If only real poets were paid as much....
The bad luck line is now known as the Zha-Hu line from Muzha, where Taipei City Zoo is located, to Neihu via Songshan Airport. The last syllables of Muzha and Neihu make up Zha-Hu, which is a homophone of the Chinese word of “cheating at the Mahjong table.”
Hau and his Taipei MRT executives are convinced the bad name of the line is bringing bad luck. The line has been plagued by frequent problems since it opened on July 4.
One of the new names they are considering is the Wen-Hu line. Wen is the first syllable of Wenshan, the district where Muzha is located, meaning Literary Mountain. The district is known for the good tea it produces.
.....
Asked why Zha-Hu has had so many problems, the source quoted a geomancer as stating Zha, which means wood barrier, is on the waters of Hu, which is “lake.”
“Wood on lake waters drifts,” the geomancer intoned. “It's only natural that the drifting causes many and frequent delays,” he claimed.
Turning serious, in Hualien county there are now three KMTers running for the county commissioner position, but only one is party-approved. The other two are renegade local politicians. Though Kinmen split, in Taitung and Yilan the party averted splits. It wouldn't surprise me if the KMT actually emerged stronger from this streamlining, cramming scores of local factions into far fewer elected positions, like an airplane entering a tunnel and emerging looking like a train. The adjustment process will get an easement when the municipalities are upgraded next year -- the county commissioners will preside over an increased government workforce, which means new positions will open for appointees from their parties -- pals from local factions. And even if a renegade is elected, there will not be fundamental changes in things. Moreover, nothing has happened to the party's grip on the flow of monies out of the central governments and into local faction coffers. Perhaps the DPP will pick up a seat here and there as the factions fall out among themselves....(KMT plans to discipline splittists)
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Daily Links
- The possibility of China's heavily state-linked telecom services getting a piece of Taiwan telcos just went up as Chunghwa Telecom wants into the China market.
- Bike Hugger on bike culture here. Yes, it's time for YOU to get a bike.
- David on ethnographic films from Taiwan
[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!
Friday, October 09, 2009
More on the Chen Detention Decision
AP has an interesting summary of the decision on detention in the Chen case by the Supremes....Taiwan's Supreme Court ordered a lower court to hold a new hearing later Thursday on former President Chen Shui-bian's monthslong detention and questioned whether he was a flight risk.The Supreme Court points out that the High Court has not "made it clear what evidence they have" that Chen has a case stash overseas. Pretty amazing statement. How long can this sudden burst of reason and logic last in such a case?
The move comes two weeks after the High Court ordered Chen to remain in a suburban Taipei jail while he appeals his life sentence on wide-ranging graft charges.
......
The High Court's decision said that Chen was a flight risk and that he was still hiding significant assets overseas. But on Thursday, the Supreme Court questioned those arguments.
"The High Court has not made it clear what evidence they have to say Chen is still hiding money abroad," it said. "As a former president, Chen will also be protected and watched by National Security Bureau details when he is free, so he should not be able to flee the country."
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Daily Links
- Global Post Special Report on Taiwan's health care system. Long, detailed, excellent.
- Ma gets bounce in the polls, as expected
- September piece from Commonwealth on Taiwanese fear of links with China. The poll data is in, and it doesn't support Ma. Here's a longer study of the issue.
[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!
Rome is the wrong empire
Mark Twain once remarked that while history does not repeat, it does rhyme. It has become the rage in recent years to compare the US to Rome, the model of what an empire should be in western minds. It was mighty, it was huge, it was holy, and in the end, it fell to internal decay and outside attacks. This reading of Rome into the current domestic and international decline of the US, however, is merely the search for a flattering comparison that is deaf to the rhymes of history.There is another Empire, far more like the current US. Driven by an ideology whose ethics utterly failed to enlighten its overseas behavior, this empire plundered the underdeveloped world. It smashed up local governments, attempted to supplant their cultures with its own, and imposed its language and administrative practices on theirs. It traveled about the world in total ignorance of faraway places, convinced that it alone had the key to salvation and the right and power to order the world. Under the aegis of the leading transnational organization of its day, it divided the world between itself and a rival power. Using the wealth it had plundered from the vast lands under its sway, it inaugurated a new era of trans-Pacific trade that brought the products of the Far East to Europe and the Americas, trading specie and plate for porcelains and spices. Borrowing against that wealth, it embarked on a series of wars using what was then the most feared army on earth to retain its authority in its home regions and expand its power abroad in the name of its globe-hungry ideology. It borrowed too much to pay for its ever increasing list of foreign wars; some years the treasure fleets did not arrive; its ruling classes and national life stagnated under poverty, debt, and the conservatism, insularity, and rigidity of its elites. Under the weight of crushing debts, it slid irrevocably into bankrupcty and decline, falling behind the other European powers in industry and influence, its empire breaking into nation-states that remain plagued by the worst features of that nation's political life. A century later it was an unrecognizable shadow of itself.
I'm talking, of course, about Spain, whose authoritarian Catholicism, stripped of its inner meaning, served as ideological justification for adventures abroad and the suppression of dissent at home. In the cries against immigrants in the US are the echoes of the Edicts of Expulsion; Washington's indebtedness to China for its defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan is merely the distorted replay of Philip II's borrowings from the great banking houses of Europe to finance his reckless, stupid wars against England and in the Low Countries. Even as Spain squeezed Europe and the Americas more tightly in its grip, the future slipped through its fingers -- the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, and the Enlightenment, occurred elsewhere.
But Spain was confronting another rising hegemon, its power still in its infancy, one that had been riven by is own cultural revolution that pitted brother against brother, forcing many into death and exile. Like China, this nation too was an empire, but not one to conjure with like the matchless holdings of the Spanish Throne. It too was an Empire struggling to become a state. That nation would rise to garner global admiration for its culture, its generals, its industries and its armies, its unprecedented influence. That empire too coveted the lands around it, creating "Courts of Reunification" to award itself spurious title to neighboring countries. Its rise would trigger a sprawling series of hegemonic wars that ended at Waterloo, with the victory of yet another Throne whose Empire never saw a sunset. France it was that struggled to modernize even as it sought to expand, whose merchants and thinkers helped spur the Enlightment and the Industrial Revolution in a way that Spain, hidebound and exhausted, could not.
The world is not replaying the Fall of Rome and the barbarians are not at the gates. We are instead reprising the decline of Spain and the rise of France, rhyming the terrible panoply of the 17th century, with its hundred year struggle between an increasingly bankrupt and irrelevant Spain, warring not merely against its rivals but against the future itself, and France, Holland, and England over those geographic expressions known as Italy and Germany, and over lands far away. In the end, as it always does, history had the last laugh, and all the lands Europe conquered would be independent states within two centuries.
So Philip's dreams of Catholic empire were dashed on the rocks of northern England with the destruction of his Armada, so the US faces the same choices in Afghanistan and Iraq. The future is out here, in Asia, but our decision-makers are squandering the national future chasing the petroleum dreams of yesteryear. The US is not Rome and Obama is no Aurelian; rather, he is more akin to Philip III, that ineffective ruler controlled by his servants, whose only virtue was his complete lack of vice, and whose reign was constrained by the empty treasury the previous ruler had left him.
Even now the thunder of history moans in the distance, the spectre of the future moves in the darkness, our ignorant armies clash across the continents. Will our leaders be able to hear the call of the future above this din? I wouldn't bet on that for all the plate of Potosi.
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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!
Events and Announcements
Stuff happening around Taiwan, conference on democracy Oct 14, call for papers from EATS, and the design expo in Taichung:The Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi Univ. will soon inaugurate the MacArthur Center for Security Studies thanks to a grant from the MacArthur Foundation.Great, another pro-Blue quote maufacturing house. The European Association of Taiwan Studies is putting out a call for papers....
The center will be devoted to security studies with a view to promoting peace and understanding across the Taiwan Strait, according to an NCCU press release.
Seventh Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS)
Call For Papers
The European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS) will hold its seventh annual conference on 8-10 April 2010. The conference is co-organized by Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT), School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS).
Venue: Tübingen, Germany
The organizers particularly welcome abstracts on the following themes:
1. The Phenomenon of Bentuhua in Taiwanese Society I & II. These two panels focus on different aspects of the cultural and political change in the late 1970s and the 1980s known as bentuhua (indigenization). Preference is given to papers with a multi-disciplinary perspective. We also welcome papers that examine the legacy of thebentuhua movement in contemporary Taiwan following the recent change in political leadership and subsequent cultural policies.
2. Popular Culture in Cinema, Music and Online. Cinema and pop music is heavily influenced by mass media. Taiwan has been a pioneer in the new technologies of information and communication, playing strong societal influences in gaming, cosplay, BBS, and BLOGs. This panel employs a comparative approach to evaluate Taiwan’s recent developments.
3. Economic Integration and the PRC. Taiwan has been severely affected by the global economic crisis. In order to find a solution to this crisis, the new government has been trying to sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China. This panel aims to explore the possible effects, benefits, and risks of such an agreement, and also examine alternative ways in which Taiwan is seeking to deal with the situation.
4. Archival Materials Revisited. Archives located in Europe and Asia provide abundant resources on Taiwan. These archives support the uplifting of cultural consciousness in Taiwan’s historical process. This panel considers papers from any disciplinary or theoretical perspective that position the use and contribution of archival materials in the discipline of Taiwan Studies.
5. Language Policies in Historical and Contemporary Perspective. Language policies under the different regimes of Taiwan history have been aimed at different political goals. This panel examines the problem in a comparative perspective and aims to disclose the deeper relationships between contemporary authorities, its agencies and society.
6. Literature. The panel is open for papers that focus on textual and contextual analysis of Taiwanese literary writings, the evaluation of writers and their literary work, as well as new aspects of Taiwanese literature’s historical contexts. The panel is not limited to any particular historical period or topic.
7. Taiwan History with special attention to the Indigenous Past. This panel examines the aboriginal past and explores how it interacts with the specificities of Taiwanese history. We consider papers that focus on the description of indigenous cultures and Austronesian languages, as well as their significance vis-à-vis history, identity questions and the processes of modernity.
8. Internet and ICT. E-governance and e-commerce is widely used in Taiwan, but little attention has been focused on theses issues in the Western language research. This panel will critically question their effectiveness and usability. Comparative perspectives in Asia are encouraged.
9. Placemaking, Multiculturalism and the City. This panel invites new empirical work and contrasting theoretical approaches on how communities create a sense of place. What is the role of the state and commerce in city place-making defined as modern, global and corporate? How do individuals in their daily lives make a sense of place? How do virtual places produce new possibilities for place-making around different forms of identity?
10. Domestic Politics. Two years into the re-election of the KMT, this panel examines changes and continuities in the realms of party- and party power politics, public policy, reform of (local) government, constitutional reality, and inter-ethnic relations
11. MA Panel. Masters students enrolled in a Taiwan Studies Programme or working on a dissertation focused on Taiwan at a European university are particularly encouraged to apply to present their research in the EATS MA panel.
Panel proposals are not accepted. Please indicate the theme panel you submit your abstract to. The conference will start on Thursday afternoon and finish on Saturday evening.
In addition, we will consider outstanding submissions in the following disciplinary areas:
1. Economics and Business
2. Anthropology and Religion
3. Law, Finance and International Relations
4. History and Geography
5. Cultural and Area Studies
6. Cross-Strait Relations
7. Linguistics
Please submit a A-4 ONE PAGE (500) word abstract by 15 November 2009. Please upload your abstract to the URL http://eats-taiwan.eu/annual-meeting
We will announce the accepted abstracts on 1 December 2009.
Participants who present papers and affiliated with European institutions will be eligible for travel grants. Details will be announced.
Next week there is a conference on democracy, held in Taipei, of course.
Democracy Building in Asia
Taipei, Taiwan
A Symposium Featuring Practitioners and Experts on Democratic Development
Co-Hosted by
The Heritage Foundation, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Institute for National Policy Research
Keynote address by President of the Legislative Yuan, ROC (Taiwan)
Speaker Wang Jin-pyng
The Heritage Foundation, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, and Taiwan’s Institute for National Policy Research are collaborating on a symposium aimed at generating constructive, practical conversation about the requirements of democratic reform. The one-day conference will feature panel discussions with speakers from the United States, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Australia, sitting members of legislatures in the region, government agencies, and scholars. Topics will include legislative optimization and tools of democracy; free and fair elections; ensuring liberal freedoms; and judicial reform and rule of law.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel – Taipei, Taiwan
Democracy Building in Asia
Taipei, Taiwan
0830-0900 Registration
0900-0930 Welcome by Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, President, The Heritage Foundation (U.S.)
Welcome by Dr. Tien Hung-mao, President, Institute for National Policy Research (Taiwan)
0930-1100 Legislative Optimization and Tools of Democracy
Chair – Dr. Tien Hung-mao, President, Institute for National Policy Research (Taiwan)
Daniel P. Mulhollan, Director, Congressional Research Service (U.S.)
Dr. Shaw Yu-ming, Chairperson, Coordination Council for North American Affairs (Taiwan)
Hsiao Bi-khim, former member, Taiwan Legislative Yuan (Taiwan)
CV Madhukar, Senior Fellow and Director, PRS Legislative Research (India)
1100-1115 Break
1115-1245 Free and Fair Elections:
Chair – Lorne Craner, President, International Republican Institute (U.S.)
Dr. Liu I-chou, Professor, Department of Political Science, National Chengchi University (Taiwan)
Damaso Magbual, Chairman, Asian Network for Free Elections (the Philippines)
Pupung Suharis, Member, DPR (Indonesia)
1300-1430 Luncheon Keynote Speaker: Wang Jin-pyng, Speaker, Taiwan Legislative Yuan, and Chairman, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
1445-1615 Ensuring Liberal Freedoms:
Chair – Walter Lohman, Director, Asian Studies Center, The Heritage Foundation (U.S.)
Dr. Lin Wen-cheng, President, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (Taiwan)
Dr. Kuo Cheng-Tian, Chairperson and Professor, Department of Political Science, National Chengchi University (Taiwan)
Theo Sambuaga, MP (Indonesia)
Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, President, National Human Rights Society (Malaysia)
1615-1745 Judicial Reform and Rule of Law:
Chair – Richard Gordon, Senator (the Philippines)
Dr. Chu Yun-han, President, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation (Taiwan)
Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal, Chairman, The Amarjargal Foundation (Mongolia)
Dr. Joseph Wu Jaushieh, Research Fellow, National Chengchi University (Taiwan)
John Roskam, Executive Director, Institute of Public Affairs (Australia)
1745-1800 Concluding Remarks by Representatives of TFD, INPR, and The Heritage Foundation
Events ongoing: the Bluesman with great pics from the design expo held in Taichung last weekend. Currently hosted by the former Wine Bureau winery, it goes on to the 18th.
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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!
Taichung: No more full of Sh*t
My heroic hometown of Taichung is always on the cutting edge, with our Virtual Metro (Slogan: In planning since the Stone Age), our numerous bike paths (Slogan: Never even thought of since the Stone Age), and our clean, smooth flowing rivers (Slogan: Never seen a river that didn't need more concrete). From our visionary planning committees comes this tale of a new plan to clean up our fair city:狗大便也能夠變成禮券！台中市政府為了維護市容，鼓勵民眾撿拾路邊的隨手杯、塑膠袋和狗大便，只要累積1公斤就可以換100元的禮券，創全國首例，有民眾聽到認為是賺外快的好機會；不過，要怎麼證明狗大便是路邊撿的？恐怕很難舉證。Hmm...now our house has two large dogs, and if we feed them extra food....
Dog feces can also become a voucher! Taichung City Government, in order to maintain the city, is asking people to pick up cups, plastic bags, and dog feces along the roads. When 1 kg is accumulated, it can be swapped for 100 NT vouchers, creating thefirst such program in the nation. People who have heard this think it is a good opportunity to earn extra money. However, proving that the poop you've picked up was taken from the roadside might be difficult.
UPDATE: ...and I have two teenagers I can put to good use. I think I will be positively cheerful this weekend...
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Thursday, October 08, 2009
Breaking: SC says Chen Detention unnecessary =UPDATED=
UPDATED: Nope, forces of sanity won't prevail, detention to continue.
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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!
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