Chiu Tai-San Election HQ

We drove over to Fengyuan today to see the most recent Harry Potter. I have never liked any of the movies, because it is the CW in Hollywood that audiences don't like character exposition, so it goes out the window. So it was basically a "greatest hits of the fourth book" movie, with lots of special effects, and most of the stuff I enjoy in the books gapped out. I gave it 3 stars out of 5.

Before the movie we went shopping and noticed this funky error in the signs that advertize for the latest Willy Wonka movie:


Charlie and Mike are different in English and Chinese. Oops.

After the movie we dropped by the election headquarters of Chiu Tai-san, the DPP candidate for Taichung County Commissioner, to pick up some election stuff to decorate our house.


Election Headquarters


Inside the smoke-filled room


Election paraphenalia. If you vist they will shower you with stuff. We scored mouse pads, banners, flags, notebooks, and a bunch of other stuff.


Zeb strikes a pose.


We picked up this large banner for our house.


Dan-dan gets scores some election stuff.

My wife and I found it a pain to locate the HQ, and we ask why none of the signs had contact information. The volunteer there explained that if there is no contact information on the sign, the sign falls under the jurisdiction of the laws governing election paraphenalia. But if you put contact information there, it is legally an advertizement and is thus governed under different laws. That's why all those millions of signs fail to give useful information to voters.

If you want stuff as a souvenir or to spread the good word, by all means visit the local election HQ of your candidate.

[Taiwan] [DPP]

Updates to Election Ads Page

I've added a few more photos to my election ads page. Enjoy!


[Taiwan]

Taiwan to host interfaith Conference

This item featuring the Museum of World Religions caught my eye. Apparently it is hosting an interfaith conference.

IsraelNN.com) More than 50 religious leaders from around the world, representing Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism, will meet in Taipei, Taiwan, between November 28 and December 1, 2005 to collaborate on contemporary issues facing all leading religions. Of particular focus at the meeting will be youth suicide and developing efforts - begun at the first such conference in Seville, Spain, in 2003 - to address the increasing secularization of society.

My kids and I went there in August after attending a Robin Gibb (Bee Gees) concert. We weren't impressed. Glad to see them talking about teen suicide.

[Taiwan] [Religion]

Exports surge, China moves to number 1 position

Taiwan's exports have climbed in recent months, thanks to the NT's decline, and China brags that China is now the island's chief foreign market.

[Taiwan] [China] [Trade]

Elections in the Media At Home and Abroad

The International Herald Tribune hosts an article from Reuters that argues that these local elections are a test of Chen's governance.

Opinion polls favor the opposition even in some of the DPP's traditional strongholds. In Taipei County - the island's largest constituency with a population of 3.7 million, which the DPP has controlled for 16 years - the DPP candidate Luo Wen-jia was trailing behind the Kuomintang's Chou Hsi-wei by about 15 percentage points.

"I feel as disappointed, and frustrated, with the DPP as everyone else," Koo Kwang-ming, an adviser to Chen and an influential pro-independence stalwart, said in a half-page newspaper advertisement this week.

But he said an opposition victory would be alarming and would encourage China, which has ignored Chen but feted opposition leaders when they visited Beijing earlier this year.

The local elections are not as important as the legislative elections next year. The DPP has never done well in them, so they will be less of a barometer than many think. The main loss will be Taipei County, from which the DPP pulled popular and competent C. C. Su to promote him to another post, a stupid move that will result in the loss of that area to the pro-China parties. The DPP simply does not have enough quality administrators and officials, a problem that has plagued the party since its inception. And promoting them to the government where they will be eaten up by the scandals of their useless underlings is a bad idea.

Meanwhile a number of articles in the local papers have remarked on the mudslinging and technology that has become a staple of local electioneering. The China Post notes:

Taiwan's traditionally down and dirty politics is taking a new turn ahead of next month's crucial municipal election _ high-tech blogging designed to draw large numbers of politically alienated voters to the polls.

Mudslinging and cyberspace seem a natural combination for this leaf-shaped island of 23 million people, where technological innovation competes with vitriolic politics as the national sport.

As in past Taiwanese elections, cable news stations are broadcasting partisan press conferences and campaign ads virtually round the clock, leaving none of the major parties unscathed.

But this year they have been joined by state of the art computer attacks to add spice to the already piquant broth.

The newcomer is the addition of blogs, which I suspect will become more influential as time goes by. In the US bloggers have become particularly effective as both attack weapons and as motivators and coordinators.

[Taiwan] [DPP] [KMT]

I am Famous. Not.

One of my many passions is New Testament studies. I am winding up a book on the Gospel of Mark, and am searching for a publisher at the moment. I also participate in several discussion groups and scholarly NT studies lists. Thus I thought at first some Bible nut had noticed this when someone kindly sent me this link to a very far gone site on the Bible with my name in it:

http://www.michaelturton.blogpsot.com/

Note the misspelling at the end there: "psot"

However, it appears that anyone who mistypes that URL gets sent there. You can type anything in there:

http://www.meizhongtai.blogpsot.com/
http://www.turnmeondeadman.blogpsot.com/

...and get sent to the same site. A sign from Above, I guess. Repent now!

New NYT Q&A on Taiwan issue from CFR

A Q&A on Taiwan-China issues from the New York Times came out a couple of days ago. It is OK but for two errors:

The United States officially recognizes only one China --including Taiwan --and urges a peaceful resolution to the Taiwan question. However, Washington is also bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to aid in Taiwan 's defense, including selling the island the weapons it needs to defend itself against China.

US policy is ambiguous with respect to whether Taiwan is part of China. Further, the Taiwan Relations Act DOES NOT bind the US to lift one finger in the event of China attacking Taiwan. All you have to do is read the damn thing (I discussed this point earlier in regard to Simon Tisdall's misguided piece in the Guardian earlier this year).

[Taiwan] [Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)] [TRA] [China] [US] [US Foreign Policy] [New York Times]

LDP Draft Constitution Out; Expands Military

WaPo reports:

The revision also opens the door to a broader interpretation of the constitution, permitting what some call "collective self-defense" -- or coming to the military aid of other countries. The most likely beneficiary would be Japan's closest ally, the United States, which has urged Japan to adopt such measures. Changes in Japan's constitutional status would have major significance in the region, particularly in the event of a conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan.

"In addition to activities needed for self-defense . . . the defense forces can take part in efforts to maintain international peace and security under international cooperation, as well as to keep fundamental public order in our country," the draft says.

The revised constitution, released on the 50th anniversary of the LDP's founding, faces major hurdles and may not be approved for at least a year. Parliamentary approval requires a two-thirds vote by both the lower and upper houses, and the debate is likely to be highly emotional. New Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner since 1999, favors new clauses and refinements, rather than major changes, in Article 9 of the constitution, which deals with the military.

The Cold war ends, a new one begins. As always, such developments put me square between the obvious need of Taiwan to be defended, and the obvious conclusion that another Cold War is insanity. We fiddle while the ice caps melt....

UPDATE: Japan and Russia mend fences, sort of...

[Taiwan] [Japan]

Japan Focus: Article on Taiwan and Japanese Colonial Rule

Japan Focus, which has good essays on a regular basis, serves up several good ones this week. One asks: Whither East Asia? Reflections on Japan's Colonial Experience in Taiwan. After sifting through issues of identity and imperialism, it concludes:

Not surprisingly the commemoration that Nishida describes is as much about contemporary debates over the historical understanding of the modern nation-state as it is about reconciliation. The take-home message, however, is that nineteenth-century debates about whether East Asian states should enter the Western-dominated international system have been superceded by twenty-first-century debates that pit the history of national identity against the history of imperialism. The annual visits of the Japanese Prime Minister to Yasukuni Shrine, and the predictable responses they provoke both inside and outside of Japan, are a good example of how these debates usually play out. The persistence and repetitiveness of the ideological clashes between Japan, China, the Koreas and Taiwan over how to address the legacies of World War II and the Japanese empire suggest that, no matter what nation is dominant in East Asia, debates based on irreconcilable points of view about the history of imperialism and national identity will be a stable, long-term feature of the post-Cold War order.

One interesting theme that has emerged in all the literature on both Left and Right is this optimistic observation and conclusion:

The biggest difference in the geopolitical context, of course, is that all the states in the region, with the possible exception of North Korea, are committed to operating within the international system and they have developed a measure of economic interdependence. These factors will mitigate the possibility of armed conflict in the future.

Apparently no analyst out there in the world has heard the phrase "familiarity breeds contempt." I'll be blogging soon on this problematic bit of optimism, and its oft-heard but never-seen cousin: growing economic integration will lead to peaceful political integration. Economic interdependence is too narrow a gauge of railway to haul the long-term loads that peace requires.

Another essay at Japan Focus this week was a piece that was written quite some time ago, on the Japanese expedition of 1874.

Many of you out there will also enjoy this piece on demonstrations in China:

Almost all Chinese perceive that economic disparities are growing and are aware of the protests, but they do not think that the government is threatened with collapse.

The rising number of protests is a sign of "economic struggles" rather than "political strife." The cause of the demonstrations is public anger over lost economic benefits, such as compensation, that people have not received because of corruption. Because this is the case, if municipal and Communist Party officials provide the expected compensation and punish officials accused of corruption, the protests will subside. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/GJ21Cb01.html

It is thought that many demonstrations grow out of strikes organized by labor unions demanding higher wages and "negotiating" over prices. Just as labor unions demanding higher wages from companies do not seek to topple the companies, people who are calling for compensation from the government are not attempting to bring down the Communist Party.

[Taiwan] [Japan] [China]

Rummage Sale in Taipei for Charity

Today's email brought me:

注意：轉寄信件已夾帶
Hi everyone,
The parent group I am in is organizing a rummage sale
next weekend (Dec. 3rd). If you know people with
children or people who are going to have children
soon, please tell them about our sale. Information is
all in English, but you/they are welcome to call me on
0935020590 to get information in Chinese.

We are:
1. looking for donations
2. going to sell lots of great things for as little as
TWD10.
3. going to donate the money raised to a welfare group
in Taiwan.

Katrina


Katrina's Online Store
Little Wonders brings Taiwan FB cloth diapers, Jack&Lily shoes,
English-language storybooks and other nice things for children:
www.littlewonders.com.tw

Katrina's Author Site (for information about her children's books)
www.katrinabrown.com.tw

[Taipei] [Taiwan]

Wapo Editorial says Bush Weak on China

The Bonsai President comes in for some limp criticism from the Washington Post:

Yes, Mr. Bush did attend a church service, and he did offer some perfunctory remarks encouraging China "to continue making the historic transition to greater freedom." In a speech in Japan last week, he called on Beijing to meet "the legitimate demands of its citizens for freedom and openness." But political liberalization was nowhere near the top of a bilateral agenda with President Hu Jintao that was focused on trade and economic issues and North Korea's nuclear program. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman probably was accurate when he reported that "human rights issues made up a tiny, tiny, tiny part of the meeting between the leaders of the two countries."

The United States has always had to balance economic, security and political priorities in relations with China, and Beijing doesn't respond readily to pressure from Washington. But Mr. Bush's light touch with Mr. Hu is disappointing because the Chinese president, far from continuing a "transition to greater freedom" during his three years in power, has been moving his country in the opposite direction. The Chinese media, academia, religious groups and the local Internet are all more tightly controlled now than they were when Mr. Bush last visited China, in 2002. More than a dozen journalists and writers have been imprisoned in the past year; lawyers seeking to defend them have been disbarred. Plans to expand local elections and allow foreign newspapers have been frozen, and Hong Kong has been denied the free elections that were promised when Chinese sovereignty was restored.

There are so many problems with this editorial it is hard to see where to start. First, the US no longer has the moral authority to upbraid anyone, thanks to the conduct of our war in Iraq. When you yourself torture, detain indefinitely, detain in secret prisons, use chemical weapons, curtail democratic social norms and civil rights, hand out lucrative contracts to cronies, assail one's critics for being traitors, attempt to gain control of the media and academic discourse, and advocate state-supported religion, you are not in a position to lecture anyone else for being more successful than you are at doing eaxctly the same things. The Bush Administration's handling of The Middle Kingdom reflects the steadily weakening US moral position. Further, the Post's brain-dead support of the Iraq War and lazy reporting of Administration propaganda claims as facts during the propaganda blitz prior to the war gave the President credibility and helped put the US in a position where it has no moral high ground. Thanks, WaPo.

It should also be mentioned that the post's own writing on China has been less than balanced. In the 2000 election I wrote them a letter taking their correspondent in Beijing, John Pomfret, to task for portraying longtime authoritarian and then-Presidential candidate James Soong as a "democratic reformer." When the Post writes on China and Taiwan, it frequently does so from a pro-China position, like here. Pot, kettle, and all, WaPo.

In all, I think Bush's modest visit, modest goals, and modest achievements suited both the currently impaired political, moral, and military position of the US, as well as the modest gifts of the Bonsai President. China is on the rise, and the US is still feeling its way around in dealing with Beijing. Until the direction of history is clearer and there is more consensus among US policymakers -- and until such a time when the US recovers its lost moral and political authority -- a low-key approach is probably not a bad idea.

UPDATE: Articles summarizing Bush's visit courtesy of Anti-War:

Few Gains for Bush in China
Bush Has Little to Show for Asia Trip
US-China Ties Claimed to Be 'Perpetual'
China Shrugs Off Human Rights Criticisms
Bush Skirts Rights Issue in China
All Is Not Well in Sino-US Ties: Analysts

UPDATE: This diary at Kos made some interesting observations on Bush's itinerary.

[Taiwan] [US] [China] [DailyKos] [Bush] [US Foreign Policy] [Washington Post]

Bonsai Association Exhibition in Taichung

Those of us who live in Taichung AKA The Desert of the Real, where we can't even go cow-tipping because there are no cows, can get a little splash of culture this week at the Bonsai exhibition over at my end of town. My family and I spent a pleasant hour wandering around the exhibition today and marveling at all the beautiful old plants. Here's a sample of the handiwork of many years of patient work (directions at bottom):

































Directions: Head east out of town on either Wen Hsin Road or Sung Chu Road. When you get to Jun Gong Road (past the railroad tracks, past Han Hsi Hsi Road), turn left (north) and head up Jun Gong road. The bonsai exhibition is right before the fork that takes you to either Ivy English School or Fengyuan (Feng Hsing Rd), on the west side of Jun Gong Road, about 600m past the intersection of Jun Gong and Sung Chu. The Exhibition runs through Sunday.

[Taiwan] [bonsai] [Taichung]

The Weekend

Had a great time this weekend. Saturday I stopped over at Karl's for another round of Axis & Allies. This was a depressing game that featured the German navy dominating the Atlantic, which is about as probable as Karl suddenly showing a sincere interest in becoming a devotee of the Maharishi Yoga Center. Naturally my Russians faltered at the gates of Berlin.

I left Karl's and bopped over to Little Italy, the new one near the Shin Kwang Mitsukoshi off of Hweichung Rd. It was not easy to find, being on a road with no obvious name, and having no prominent sign out front. It was basic Italian restaurant food, nothing to write home to mom about, but the company was great: several of my former students (pic, above). One of the most delightful things about being a teacher is watching your students build lives for themselves, although it is true that much of the delight comes from the adrenaline rush of having your heart in your throat all the time as they go about it. Nevertheless, I am happy to say that they are all gainfully and legally employed, in professions actually related to their college training.

++++++++++++++

Sunday was a gorgeous cool day, so I took time away from blogging spent some quality time with the family and took a walk up Ta-ken hiking trail number 8. Ta-ken has plenty of wonderful trails (John Qubti was up one a couple of weeks ago) and we are lucky that number 8 is right next to our house. Pictures follow....


Taiwan has great flowers.


The wind-blown stone. This stone used to rock when the wind blew, but after the 9/21 earthquake it became unstable, a sign on the site informs us. Swiftly taking action, the government "restored the stone to its natural state" by cementing it in place and surrounding it with an enormous steel belt. Personally I consider that sign to be the single funniest on the whole island.


The top offers some great views of sunset over Taichung.



The kids naturally complained about walking, but took to it with enthusiasm once we actually did it.


Of course I had to have a spider shot, but the light and wind made it impossible to get any clear shots.

Coming back down, one goes down this crazy stairway/ladder designed by the brain-dead spawn of a lonely hunter and a mutated mountain goat.

Hope ya'll had a good weekend!

[Taiwan] [Axis & Allies] [Axis and Allies]

"Chinese-Taipei" gaining currency

Peter of The Wilds of Taiwan passed me this evidence of the growing currency of the odious construction "Chinese-Taipei", which, he says, is now becoming widely-used by airlines.

Lin Hsin-I, senior advisor to the president of Chinese Taipei, has attracted attention at APEC.

APEC participants from all over the world have evaluated the former corporate leader highly.

Lin arrived in South Korea Wednesday as a stand-in at APEC for Chinese Taipei President Chen Shui-bian,

At home, Lin has dual roles as convener of the Presidential Economic Advisory Panel and chairman of the renowned Industrial Technology Research Institute.

Reputed as 'the Lee Iacocca of the local auto industry,' he became the first corporate leader to serve as a government minister. Since 2000, he has occupied the posts of economics minister, chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development and vice premier.

Lin received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from National Cheng Kung University in 1970. From 1991 to 2000, he served first as president and then vice chairman of Chinese Taipei's largest automotive manufacturer, China Motor Corp.

Lin's achievements during his career in the private sector have been recognized with numerous awards and honors.

He will leave South Korea tomorrow morning.

Revolting. Taiwan needs to oppose this stuff wherever it crops up.

[Taiwan] [China] [Chinese Taipei]

Indian MIG-21s and Su-30s Beat US-flown F-16s

Here's some food for thought on a potential China-Taiwan clash, collected on another blog. If Taiwan F-16s face Chinese Su-30s...

Here's a quick bit of defense-wonkishness, which I simply couldn't resist. No-one's saying so officially, but after the shock of having their F-15s kicked around the sky last year by the Indian Air Force in Russian jets, the USAF must have been hoping to even the score in this year's US/India air exercises.

The thing is, the only reports so far (and admittedly they are Indian reports) suggest they got another shock.

This year the USAF took F-16s - the very jet the US is hoping to sell to both Pakistan and India- while yet again they were flying with and against Indian Air Force Migs and Mirages.

UPDATE: CNN said a few days ago that Hugo Chavez of Venezuela had threatened to send some of his nation's F-16s to China.

[Taiwan] [US] [China] [F-16] [Su-30]