Cyclists and Pedestrians: be careful! Sign on a tourist bridge in Dasi township.

DPP statement on the South China Sea. The second paragraph makes a very important point: Taiwan should not serve as China's pawn in the South China Sea disputes. It also calls for multilateral solutions -- note that China has pursued bilateral negotiations, since China is much bigger than any single regional state, giving Beijing a huge advantage. Taiwan's own status hovers in the background -- China wants a bilaterial solution to that, and local pro-Taiwan types want to internationalize (multilateralize it).

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Democratic Progressive Party

Statement re.

The South China Sea

7/23/2011

In light of the recent disputes in the South China Sea and the draft agreement on the guidelines for the implementation of the Declaration of Conduct between China and ASEAN, the DPP issued a statement reiterating its position: issues related to the South China Sea must be dealt with in a multilateral framework. Additionally the important principles with regard to environmental protection, sustainable development and peaceful resolution must be in line with: the 2008 Spratly Initiative (proposed by the former DPP administration), the United Nations Charter, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the 2002 Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

Furthermore, despite several calls from China for “cooperation between the two sides of the strait” on the South China Sea issue, the DPP urges President Ma Ying-jeou’s Administration to take part in multilateral talks with all parties involved in order to serve Taiwan’s best interest and to preserve regional stability. When he served as Deputy Chair of the Mainland Affairs Council in the 1990‘s, President Ma stated that the two sides of the strait must set aside sovereignty differences and work together on the South China Sea issue, dealing with outside parties in a unified way. The DPP strongly opposes this proposal as we believe that bilateral talks alone will not help in resolving disputes in the region, and will send the wrong message to the international community. 



The DPP believes that disputes in the South China Sea will not be effectively resolved solely through bilateral negotiations as we have already seen the escalation of tensions in the region due to military exercises conducted by China, Vietnam, the Philippines and the United States. The DPP believes that only open communication channels, through a multilateral cooperation framework, are the best solution to insure the common interests of all relevant parties and to maintain peace and stability in the region. 



DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen has already indicated that Taiwan has its own viewpoint regarding the Spratly Islands – one that is different from China’s claims over the territory. Taiwan should not be restricted to a cross-strait bilateral framework. Only an open multilateral framework will prevent unnecessary tension or potential conflicts in the region. 



The DPP reiterates its four core standpoints regarding the South China Sea, which are: to ensure sovereignty; to ensure peace and stability in the region; to enhance multilateral cooperation; and to promote sustainable development. These points are in accordance with the Spratly Initiative proposed by the DPP government in February 2008. The initiative proposed by the DPP advocates for environmental protection, setting aside sovereignty disputes, promotion of sustainable development versus exploiting natural resources, and resolving differences through peaceful means.

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Ma: Old Whine about new Blottos

To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law--though I myself am not under the law--to win over those under the law.

Here we go again.....(Taipei Times)

Since Ma was elected in 2008, the GIO and the Presidential Office have filed complaints with the El Sol de Mexico, the Wall Street Journal, CNN and The Associated Press, either saying that the president was misquoted or clarifying remarks ostensibly taken out of context.

The previous disputes took place after Ma conducted interviews in English, leading lawmakers from both camps to demand that future sessions take place in Mandarin over fears of misinterpretation to an international audience.

Conducted in Mandarin through a translator, the Yomiuri Shimbun report quoted the president as saying that he would “not rule out engaging China in political negotiations” or signing a cross-strait peace deal on the issue of unification with Beijing.

The Presidential Office transcript confirmed Ma as “not excluding” the two touchy subjects, but Government Information Office Minister Philip Yang (楊永明) maintained that the president did not talk about either the matter of unification or acceptance of the “one China” principle.

This is the common pattern -- Ma makes statements on key issues of sovereignty and policy to foreign audiences that are at odds with what he tells the home crowd. He then claims that he was misquoted.

After this has happened so many times, it should be obvious this is policy and not error. This way Ma gets to play the victim card while browbeating the foreign press, while being all things to all men. Nice.
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Daily Links

• Only one link: Danny Bloom's great piece in Reuters on the film Night Market Hero

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Discuss: CNN for 50 best food list has no Taiwan food

CNN produced a list of 50 of the world's top foods. Inevitably, it included no Taiwanese dishes. Inevitably, it made an error with the only dish commonly-associated with Taiwan, stinky tofu. Inevitably, Taiwanese were affronted that there were no Taiwanese dishes on the list. Taiwanese netizens, you need to get out more.

Arguably, there are several really ridiculous choices. WTF were they doing ranking the incomparable masala dosa at 49? Below ketchup (and ketchup instead of chili sauce or salsa!)?! 神經病! How could a list of the top 50 foods contain no cheese? No kimchi? And two British foods to one French? List parma ham but not spaghetti in any form? Etc etc etc.

Does anyone at CNN ever eat out?

But all that said, there is one indisputably Taiwanese food that has taken the world by storm in recent years, and could well have been included on the list: pearl milk tea.

What would you put on the list from Taiwan, if anything?
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

KMT wealth management

The incomes of the two major parties in Taiwan were revealed yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior:

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) made NT$3.5 billion (US$121.5 million) last year, primarily on business investments, far outpacing the amount made by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), information from the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) showed.

Stock dividends accounted for almost NT$2.9 billion last year and made up more than four-fifths of the KMT’s total earnings, raising concerns about the extent to which the party depends on earnings from its assets and not donations.

The figures, published on Thursday by the ministry, reveal that political contributions to the KMT amounted to NT$240 million, or 6.9 percent of its earnings. It also earned NT$251 million in vote subsidies and an income of NT$76 million from party dues.

The DPP, meanwhile, received NT$192 million in political contributions and a total income of NT$626 million.

The article points out that the bulk of the investment income comes from two party-owned investment companies. President Ma, currently Chairman of the KMT pledged years ago to get rid of the party assets, which the KMT claims have been placed in trust. These assets were accumulated during the martial law era when the KMT ran the KMT party-state. The party should have been stripped of them years ago.

If the KMT made $2.9 billion from stock dividends, then, given a 5% return on investments, the KMT must have something like $60 billion NT, or $2 billion US, in investment assets.

One wonders which companies are the target of those investments. As a friend of mine pointed out to me yesterday, the people and party running the current cross-strait economic interaction -- which largely benefits big business -- are also the people and party running the KMT. But there's no conflict of interest there, of course. The assets are in trust. In fact the KMT even forgot they had them.... damn the DPP for reminding them during every election....
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Sanity Break

Sanity break: my friend Russ McClay posted this to Facebook, saying:‎ "1400 or so photos I shot off my balcony this afternoon. Strung them together like a string of beads to make this 24fps clip. Funny how the clouds are very active but they don't really go anywhere....One photo every 5 seconds. 1 hour = 720 images. 720 frames @ 24fps = 30 seconds. The video is about 1 minute...so about 2 hours."
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

An Old Whine In New Bottles: Ma to "fight corruption" with new Agency

Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy. -- Peter Ustinov

Big news this week as President Ma has created a new anti-corruption commission. Here's the news:

Revisions to the Court Organic Act that were passed earlier this year will see Taiwan emulating Japan and South Korea by setting up a new special investigation unit under the Taiwan High Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutors with a high level of integrity and strong investigative skills will be assigned to this unit and will exclusively pursue investigations of major corruption and economic crimes that involve legislators, government ministers, high-level military officials, the heads of the five yuan (major branches of the central government), and the president and vice president. In preparation for the establishment of this unit, Counselor Shen traveled to South Korea at the end of October to gain experience by observing how prosecutors there conduct anti-corruption activities.

WHOOPS! Oh wait! SORRY! That was 2006 (here). Let's try again from the Taipei Times.....

“After the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel [SIP] revealed a serious scandal involving several Taiwan High Court judges, I decided to establish the nation’s first anti-corruption agency,” Ma told the ceremony.

The purpose of the AAC is to prevent corruption, because prevention should precede crackdowns, he said, adding that its creation should deter public servants from engaging in corrupt activities.

“As the agency investigates corruption cases, one precondition is that it must collect sufficient evidence [of corruption] before it makes an indictment [of a public servant],” Ma said, adding that this should increase the conviction rate.

A great idea, having sufficient evidence of corruption before indicting someone. Is Ma saying things were different when he was the Minister of Justice?

What he appears to mean, though, is that the SIP simply lost too many cases against DPP politicians....

Yes, it's looking like the rewind button, as the DPP noted after the commission was announced:

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it feared the new agency could represent a “second wind for the SIP, which has become a tool for the current administration to carry out political oppression.”

It's not difficult to see what is going on. The Special Investigations Panel (SIP) has basically gone dead in the water. It is now being sued by 26 civic groups for its handling of the Chen Shui-bian case:

A group made up of 26 civic organizations yesterday sued the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP), accusing it of forging documents, subornation of perjury and abuse of judicial power.

Led by Taiwanese National Party (TNP) Chairman Huang Hua (黃華), the groups filed the lawsuit with the Taipei District Court against the SIP, which they said cut a deal with former -Chinatrust -Financial Holding Co (中信金控) vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) to testify against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in an attempt to imprison him.

Koo, who was involved in a scandal over Chinatrust’s bid for rival Mega Financial Holdings Co (兆豐金控) — known as the Red Fire Case (紅火案), after the name of the offshore company used to conduct the illegal transaction — returned to Taiwan in 2008 after evading an arrest warrant and hiding in Japan for two years.

The banker testified at the time that he had donated about NT$300 million (US$10.4 million) of his illegal profits to Chen, currently serving a 17-and-a-half-year term for corruption and money laundering, as a kickback.

Koo’s lawyers told the Taiwan High Court in May that Koo did not remit the money to Chen, adding that he testified out of fear of being detained upon his return to Taiwan.

I blogged on that testimony a little while back (a good post, if I do say so myself). The prosecutions against the DPPers mostly ran aground -- Yunlin County Chief Su Chih-fen was found innocent, the embezzlement charges against Chen Shui-bian were laughed out of court, and now the Koo family has testified that their testimony in the conviction of Chen for taking bribes from them was extorted by the prosecutors. The Special Investigation Panel was also behind the laughable investigation into Su Tseng-chang for allegedly running off with 36,000 documents from the government files.

In other words, the SIP has basically become a worn out tool that couldn't get the job done, so it looks like the KMT is now going to add another unit to go after "corruption" in the government which of course was the task of the SIP.

The Taipei Times ripped this move this week, arguing that: "In all likelihood, the AAC will become the AADPPC, or the Agency Against DPP Corruption, especially in the lead-up to January’s presidential election." More tellingly, they identified the Administration's real attitude on "corruption":

Just how determined is the Ma government to stamp out corruption? Recent moves regarding the rampant and ongoing practice of vote buying are telling. From December 2008 to May last year, 26 local officials belonging to the KMT were indicted around the nation for vote buying. How did the government reward Hsin Tai-chao (邢泰釗), the chief prosecutor at the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, who is credited with being Taiwan’s leading prosecutor against the practice of vote buying? He was transferred to Kinmen Island. That shows real determination.

Today the DPP complained that Ma had appointed two biased individuals to head up the new AAC, confirming the worst fears of the pro-Taiwan opposition. In some one-party states I know, slander is the tool. In Taiwan, it is looking like accusations of corruption are the charge de jour.

However, the new AAC will have to move fast if it is going to affect the elections -- they are just six months away....

This is a twofold pattern -- first the typical pattern of authoritarian inefficiency, in which overlapping bodies are created to carry out identical tasks, partly because of Authority's dissatisfaction with the original and partly to keep everyone divided and competing against each other for the approval of Authority. Instead of reforming and strengthening the SIP, which is what should be done....

The other pattern is the formation of bodies to carry out tasks of political control when the original ones fail to please their masters. A good example of this pattern is the creation of the National Communications Commission (NCC) in 2006. The tasks it was charged with were already being carried out by the telecoms bureau and the Government Information Office (GIO). However, that was during the Chen Administration and those organizations were not sufficiently servile towards the KMT even though, even under the Chen Administration, the rank and file were predominantly pro-Blue bureaucrats. Hence the KMT-controlled legislature went ahead and created the NCC under its control to shape the media's presentation of politics....(from this old post):

The irony of the move against the NCC is that the NCC was created under the Chen Administration in 2006 by the KMT controlled legislature to bring mass media under the control of the government. The Executive Branch, then controlled by the DPP, argued that it should have the authority to appoint NCC commission members, but the legislature clearly intended that it would have the last word on who the commission members were. Since the legislature was controlled by the KMT and its allies, the intent of the law was obvious: it was a legislative end-run around the DPP controlled executive branch intended to restore KMT control over the media and chill pro-Taiwan speech by centralizing control of the media oversight in KMT hands.

As a commentator in the Taipei Times observed, even the utterly pro-KMT NCC was still too independent. And now the SIP, a recent invention, is being marginalized by a new body. How long before that one is tossed by the way side?

ADDED: A friend reminds me that "Mr Clean", Chen Ding-nan, who was Chen Shui-bian's first minister of justice, pushed for the establishment of an independent anti-corruption commission along the lines of Hong Kong`s ICAC almost as soon as he got into office. This proposal (raised in various forms by various DPP premiers) was of course totally boycotted by the KMT.
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Daily Links:

• A very theoretical look at the South China Sea vs Senkakus. Meanwhile recent agreement between the claimants in the South China Sea is incomplete. Not that it matters because Beijing will promptly violate it.
• Nat Bellocchhi's excellent piece on the Lee Teng-hui indictment
• Far Eastern Sweet Potato looks at the relative decline of Taiwan's Navy
• David goes to the DPP rally on Thursday and comes back with good pics.

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

CONFERENCE: Small Islands, Big Issues: Ireland and Taiwan in Comparative Perspective

Just as long as they don't compare the beers.....

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Title: Small Islands, Big Issues: Ireland and Taiwan in Comparative Perspective
Location: University College Dublin
Dates: 1-4 September 2011

Principal organizers: Dr Brian Jackson (UCD John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies), Rev John Scott (LSE Taiwan Research Programme) and Dr Fang-Long Shih (LSE Taiwan Research Programme)

Full details, including speakers and abstracts, can be found on the conference website. Booking details for attendees will be available from next week:

http://www.irelandtaiwanproject.net/

This is the first ever conference on Ireland and Taiwan, and it will break new ground in mutual understanding between the two locations. Both are small islands adjacent to powerful neighbours with which they have had complex histories. In both locations we can see histories, politics, and cultures marked by contested subjectivities and identities, as well as struggles over democracy and human rights. A focus on the human situation in both places invites the application of discursive categories such as colonialism and post-colonialism; globalization and localization; and nationalism and hybridity. It also invites explorations of the goals, problems, and limits of sovereignty and independence in the context of sub-ethnic and religious divisions, as well as of the complex relations with a nearby metropolitan "other" and of diaspora experiences in the era of post-national globalization. At the same time both contexts resist the straightforward appropriation of such categories and demand their sophisticated reworking. This is the rationale for the conference.


There are 11 panels planned, and around 32 scholars are planning to participate (currently 9 from the UK mainland, 10 from Taiwan, 8 from Ireland, 2 from the USA, 1 from China, 1 from Hong Kong, and 1 from Northern Ireland). A number of particularly distinguished scholars will be involved.


We 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! Delenda est, baby.

Polli Sigh for the KMT

Dasi, an old trading post on the Dahan River, retains an old Taiwan feel. There are many stores with long histories in the town.

Global Views Survey Research Center with a couple of things out this week that make Ma look less than impressive. First, the satisfaction survey. Ma's approval rating is down to 32%; the negative evaluation stands at 55%. My own theory is that there is a sort of baseline approval for Presidents here that hovers around 30% to which the polls return unless something major is going on.

The legislature also has low evaluations but the public will return them all anyway. I'd love to see those figures for Ma broken out by voter type (KMT voter, DPP voter, independent).

The same center's poll has Ma and Tsai neck and neck at 37.3 vs 37.2, respectively, for 2012. Lots of undecideds. The Taipei Times has an article on it today:

A total of 73.8 percent said they had no knowledge of Tsai’s cross-strait policies, while 52.5 percent agreed that the DPP should adopt a more open policy toward cross-strait affairs.

The poll was conducted with a sample base of 1,229 voters, with a margin of error of 2.8 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent.

Ma’s campaign office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) said the Ma camp would take all poll results into reference, adding that the administration would continue to focus on giving the public a solid performance.

DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the recent indictment of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) could have also contributed to the results of the poll, adding that there was growing public recognition of a political witch hunt against Lee Teng-hui.

Chen added that he believed Tsai’s election prospects would continue to rise, as support for the KMT in central and southern Taiwan weakens.

Speaking on the party’s internal surveys, DPP poll director Chen Chun-lin (陳俊麟) said: “We have also noticed a similar trend in Ma’s support ratings, which are especially pronounced in Taiwan’s central and southern farming districts.”

The question about Ma's views on the future of Taiwan drew some interesting answers -- 5.3% thought he supported independence, while only 33.6% thought he supported annexation. Weird.

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Daily Links

• Amendment of Sense of Congress on F-16 and sub sales. Very supportive.
• Think six Japanese tourists would not want to pay for two taxis?

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

DPP Nuclear Power Policy Paper

Spent this week in Dasi. The town still has many buildings from the 1920s and 30s lying around; here is the facade from one. The stylized lions are really great.

Here is a short policy paper the DPP sent around outlining their Nuke-free Homeland Policy. Hope they realize the coal and oil plants will also all have to go over the next decade or so as well.

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2025 Nuclear Free Homeland Initiative

Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan

Policy Paper 2011

What is the "2025 Nuclear-Free Homeland Initiative"?
The "2025 Nuclear-Free Homeland Initiative" aims to decommission the First, Second and Third Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan and to prevent the commercial operation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. Taiwan will be able to reach its goal of obviating the need for nuclear energy by using other alternative energy sources, improving the power generation efficiency, energy conservation, industrial restructuring, and the liberalization of the electricity industry.

Why 2025?
It’s difficult to give up nuclear energy immediately since it requires the consensus of the whole society. 2025 is the deadline for decommissioning the Third Nuclear Power Plant, but Taiwan has to strive to change the power structure so as to stop using nuclear power by 2025.

How could Taiwan replace nuclear power?
(A) Increase the proportion of renewable energy: the DPP’s initiative calls for increasing renewable energy by about 6.5% of total electricity generation by 2025.
(B) Improve the efficiency of thermal power: In addition to increasing power generation efficiency, invest in thermal power plants in order to reduce the amount of carbon emissions.
(C) Construction of natural gas power plants as priority because natural gas is a cleaner energy, and future power plants should give priority to using natural gas.

What are other methods to reduce power consumption in the long-term?
(A) Energy Conservation: the Government can encourage people to use energy-saving products.
(B) Adjust industrial structure: instead of just focusing on economic growth, we should encourage green policies among energy-intensive industries.
(C) Liberalization of the electricity industry: the government should liberalize the electricity market, which not only alters the issue of Tai-Power’s monopoly, but it also encourages the development of the renewable energy industry

Why should Taiwan completely give up using nuclear power?
Of all the world's 564 nuclear power plants in operation, six of them have experienced accidents, and the probability of more accidents is approximately more than 1%. Japan and Taiwan are both in earthquake-prone areas. For this reason, what happened in Fukushima may also occur in Taiwan. If a severe damage happens in one of the three nuclear power plants near Taipei, tens of millions of people will have to be evacuated, which is a plan that cannot be implemented. Also, it may result in the paralysis of state capital. The cost of shutting down the government and rebuilding the damaged area and the risk of trade and economic loss is too high a price to pay for Taiwan.

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Short Links For Wed

Way to busy to write a blog post today. So some links for your perusal:

FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY: What is with Brookings lately? Another strange piece, this one from an NCCU person on cross-strait relations. A few observations in it are dead on, but..... My favorite sentence is the reference to the "present euphoria" with regard to cross-strait relations.

WHOA: Senators Webb and McCain warn China on the South China Sea. Webb recently said that the US will soon face "a Munich moment."

D'OH 1: Taiwan falling behind China in cross-strait military balance.

D'OH 2: Beijing Kitty Hawks (here) Canadian politician attempting to suck up to CCP by J Michael Cole.

TRES INTERESTING: How Japan is leveraging Taiwan expertise and firms to enter China market. The Diplomat explains why China wants the whole South China Sea. The superb James Holmes on Sen. Webb's Munich Moment remark.
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Soong of Ice and Fire

There are no men like me. There's only me.

Like Lazarus beckoned from his tomb, People First Party (PFP) Chairman and former KMT heavyweight James Soong has risen from the political dead. Despite being defeated for president in 2000, for Veep in 2004, and buried in 2006 for Taipei mayor,  merely by combining the words "President" and "me" in the same sentence, Soong has performed Cardio-Presidential Resuscitation on himself.

First came the untrammeled joy in the pro-Taiwan camp. The Taipei Times reported with barely restrained glee on the will-o-wisp of Soong running as an independent presidential candidate.

Concerns mounted yesterday about an emerging rift in the pan-blue camp amid speculation that People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) could run for election in January.

Facing a tough battle next year, some members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) fear Soong’s entry on a separate ballot would take votes away from the party’s legislative candidates.

Soong, who came within 320,000 votes of winning the presidency in 2000, has refused to say whether he would run next year as a district or at-large legislator, but PFP officials have confirmed that the idea is being considered.

Soong's party, the PFP, has been making noises about running its own slate of legislative candidates against the KMT in heavily pro-KMT districts. This might actually hurt the KMT, maybe even more so than a Soong run for the Presidency -- he's nearly 70, got clobbered in the last election he ran in, and his party is an afterthought to the KMT among the pan-Blues. Can't even say "the pro-China side", as the PFP appears to follow the Han Solo Creed: Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, Princess.... In the city council election last year, of 314 city council seats at play in the five major municipalities, the PFP won a whopping.....four. That is not the sign of a surging political banner....

That canny politician former President Lee Teng-hui even fanned the flames of the Soong Revival, saying that Soong was qualified to pursue a higher position in politics than legislator. Soong has been playing coy, saying he is considering running for President....or maybe just legislator in Hualien. Hualien has been sturdily pan-Blue since the Deluge; the current County Chief, Fu Kun-chi, is an ardent pan-Blue even though he is technically independent since for some corruption thing he had to leave the KMT and run against the KMT candidate in the last election [yawn]. Fu also came out this week in support of a Soong run for local legislator, saying he did not want to see a split in the pan-Blue side.

Soong is obviously seeking some kind of leverage for something he wants -- a run in Hualien would be a guaranteed pan-Blue seat, so Soong would get elected if there was no competition from the KMT. Yet it is difficult to see him actually getting that seat for promising not to do something -- once he publicly announced he wasn't running for president, his leverage would disappear, and the KMT might still play hardball and run a candidate against him in Hualien, removing him forever from political circulation if Soong is defeated.

Nor would his PFP candidates pack their tents if he ordered; they need those legislator positions to feed and water their patronage networks. If Soong wants to keep the PFP viable, this election has to be taken seriously by the PFP; the KMT has nearly iced the party, reclaiming its politicians or cannibalizing its seats.

Ma and Soong are often said to detest each other and it is easy to fantasize about him running just to spite Ma -- yes, that's right, spending millions of dollars and gallivanting around Taiwan for six months just to be a thorn in Ma's side. Sorry. Can't see that.

Nope, if Soong doesn't get something important out this and then doesn't run for President, no one will ever take the talk of a Soong presidential run seriously again. This. is. it.

Hard to say at the moment, but I am going to go out on a limb here and argue that Soong is trying to gain leverage to keep the PFP alive in the legislative elections. Simply by combining "president" and "me" in the same sentence Soong has riveted the attention of both the pan-Blue and pan-Green camps (thankfully diverting everyone from the unseemly sight of two DPP politicians at each other's throats over allegations of sexual misbehavior). He has also gotten plenty of free PR from Taiwan's Golden Retriever media, always eager for a new story. Smart move by a politician whose name is often paired with the word "canny".....
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Daily Links, July 18, 2011

What's being harvested on the blogs out there?

BLOGS:

• Ben Goren contacts the WTO and finds that Taiwan has still not submitted an English version of ECFA.
• Koxinga's wife Lady Tung, pt 2.
• YFFM on Princess Syndrome among the femmes in Taiwan. I think it is meant satirically. Also Floyf looks at Taiwanese men vs Western men.
• Drew on our ride on Sunday in Miaoli. The weather was amazing.
• LiefinTaiwan with another collection of excellent photos, this time from Wutai.
• "The most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen"
• Steven Crook on Sandimen
• The Writing Baron goes to a soil and water conservation park
• A Hungry Girl's restaurant roundup
• Chinese media aren't going to educate their people about Taiwan

MEDIA:

• June Teufel Dreyer's testimony at the recent hearing on Why Taiwan Matters
• Dutch firm to redevelop derelict port district in K-town.
• A nimble Taiwan can counter the assassin's mace of Chinese missiles.
• Academic with some good observations on the independent travelers from China, including the comment that Chinese tour firms owe Taiwanese $173 million. If Taiwan makes a billion gross from China annually in tourism, at a 5% return that's basically the industry profit since Ma boosted the tourism numbers.
• AmCham also reviews travel guides for Taiwan
• China offers a few scraps on South China Sea, so long as you do what it wants. Sound familiar?
• Deception by the boatload: As Brahma Chellaney reminds, the Chinese promised that carrier wouldn't become a warship when they bought it. Stop believing China.
• Taiwan tries to slow the disgusting practice of shark finning
• Is ECFA working? from The Economist
• WantChinaTimes on the freeing of an alleged rapist on bail -- who promptly fled. Who could have predicted that?
• Taiwan wins world under-12 baseball championship
• Inflated abortion figures used to argue that women's bodies should be more strictly policed, lest they make their own decisions. As the better China Post coverage notes, the issue is the economy and costs of child-rearing, not that the laws permit women take charge of their own bodies.
• DPPers accuse each other of consensual sex. If only people were concerned about public policy, and not desperately worrying about what other people are doing in private with their bodies, what a different and better world we'd live in.
• CIER predicts Taiwan's annual growth at 5.02%. That's .02, not .01 or .021. CEPD also expects 5% growth this year.
• US heat wave shows no signs of abating. If only there were some theory with 150 years of scientific research behind it, supported by virtually all climate scientists, and all the world's major scientific organizations, that could help us explain the unusual weather.....

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Book Review: Bradt Travel Guide, Taiwan

Taiwan
Bradt Travel Guide
by Steven Crook
344 pages
www.bradtguides.com

Steven sent me this book for review a few months ago, and I set it aside to use on my trip to Pingtung in March and April so that I could test it under genuine travel conditions. I am happy to report that it passed beautifully: it's useful, informative, beautiful, and comprehensive, an excellent companion for anywhere in Taiwan.

The book is well organized. It is divided into two major sections, one an overall guide to Taiwan's history, culture, food, religion, and similar. This section also provides basic travel information, and suggests itineraries and budgets. The discussion of Taiwan's history and culture is well-balanced and properly nuanced; the information provided in the travel section is comprehensive and useful. It is aimed at travelers in the brackets above the budget travel that the Lonely Planet guides are focused on. Thus, it seldom lists the myriad el cheapo flophouses available all over the island, but instead lists places to stay that have some unique feature to recommend them, such as a good view or interesting architecture. For example, in Kenting it lists the Chateau Beach Resort, Mykonos, Bossa Nova, and Moon Shy Boutique Lodge, among others.

The sections devoted to individual towns and regions do a good job of including anything an outsider might reasonably want to visit, mostly major tourist spots. For example, for Keelung it points visitors to the Miakow Night Market, the Qingan and Dianji Temples, the French cemetary, and Heping Island. Around Keelung it sends you to Jinguashi, the Gold Ecological Park, and Jiufen. It also gives a good rundown on Keelung's history, including its mini-civil war in the 19th century between rival immigrant groups and its long interaction with outsiders that make Keelung such an interesting place to hang out, hike, and photograph.

Similarly, the section on Tainan not only offers a rich view of history, but concise and informative descriptions of its many historical sites, divided by period: Han settlement, Koxinga, and Japanese. The guide gives information in English and pinyin (with tone marks which I have omitted) so the non-Chinese reader can at least take a stab at the placenames. A typical entry:

Wind God Temple (Fengshen Miao) (8 Lane, 143 Minquan Rd, Sec 3, 0700-2100 daily) This is the only temple devoted to the wind god in Taiwan, which is perhaps surprising given the frequency of typhoons. The Wind God is believed to have influence over all the give elements: earth, fire, metal, water and wood. Smaller icons depict the Thunder God, who holds a hammer in one hand and a nail in the other, and his wife the Lightning Mother, who carries a pair of circular mirrors. At the time of the temple's founding in 1739, the ocean was a stone's throw away (the walking maps posted on street corners show the old waterfront) and the Government Reception Archway (Jie Guanting) was where VIPs arriving from the mainland would disembark. Take a close look at this stone archway and you'll find carvings of dragons, lions, and sages.

Although all aspects of this book are outstanding, including its luscious color photography sections stuffed with gorgeous color imagery of Taiwan, but as a Taiwan history buff, I most enjoyed its rich and detailed presentation of local history. I highly recommend this useful and informative text; both first-time travelers and long-time expats will find this a rewarding addition to their library on Taiwan.
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

China's soft power hard at work

A brilliant day in Miaoli today. Even the butterflies wanted to be photographed.

I've blogged on those disgusting intelligence and propaganda organs of the Chinese, the Confucius Institutes, several times before (most recently and in-depth). From Australia comes heartening news this week:

A petition with more than 4000 signatures tabled in the upper house of the NSW Parliament calls for the government to remove the Confucius Classroom Program from the schools where it operates: Chatswood Public, Fort Street High, Mosman High, Kensington Public, St Marys Senior High, Kingsgrove North High School and Coffs Harbour High.

The government has confirmed that controversial topics, including the Tiananmen Square massacre and China's human rights record, will not be discussed in the program, raising questions about China's influence over content.

The article also notes how little spending was necessary for China to reap propaganda and intelligence gains:

China pays NSW schools more than $200,000 to promote its language and culture through the Confucius Institute, based at the Education Department's Ryde office.

There's not much more you can say about this.
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Daily Links:

• Taiwan makes it to the big time: Andrew Sullivan takes notice of Taiwan's funeral strippers.
• Taiwan Church News on the Lee Teng-hui indictment.
• Scaffolding collapse in Taichung injures 12. David on Formosa was downtown and grabbed several good photos. Start here.
• Farmers rally against land seizures. Expropriations and the Farmer's lot
• Taiwan defeats Cuba in baseball.

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

Huffpost Completely Misrepresents Taiwan's Status and History

Huffington Post totally misrepresents Taiwan's status and history in a slide show of nations not recognized. Taiwan's status is tricky, but it is possible to get it right with a little research. Clearly that was too great a hurdle.
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.