Those Meddlesome Taiwan Diplomats

The China Post published a denial from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it had helped to purchase an election in St Lucia:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday denied accusations made by the main opposition party of St. Lucia that ambassador Tom Chou (周台竹) was meddling in the Caribbean ally's internal affairs.

The MOFA clarification came amid a recent report published by the Caribbean Media Corporation last week that quoted opposition leaders as accusing Chou of being involved in an election controversy in St. Lucia.

Kenny Anthony, the opposition St. Lucia Labor Party (SLP) leader, has called for the resignation, reprimand and recall of Chou because of his alleged interference in local politics, the report said.

Accusing Chou as being “a political operative” of the ruling United Workers Party (UWP), Anthony urged the envoy to waive his diplomatic immunity to allow investigations into allegations that Taiwanese funds have made their way into the pockets of UWP lawmakers.

In response, Chou has described the allegations as “lies” and said that Philip Pierre, deputy leader of the SLP, should “bring the evidence or be quiet,” the report said.

However, Anthony has warned that the SLP will “in the coming days and weeks” present evidence on the “misuse” of Taiwanese funds.

A quick search dragged up an article detailing the allegations, which seem rather too pat:

It is a development now very much in the public domain and involves the allocation by Taiwan of some US$3.8 million a year for expenditures in the 11 constituencies won by the UWP's parliamentarians at the December 2007 general election when it defeated the then governing Labour Pary of Dr Kenny Anthony.

An extension of this most interesting political development in the coming electoral battle for state power in St Lucia presents an interesting example of what should not be tolerated in the form of contemptuous foreign political interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state in any region of the world.

The hot point in this poisonous politics is the bizarre example it offers of expression of "gratitude" by a foreign government—namely Taiwan's—for having secured diplomatic relations with St Lucia in 2008 with a UWP administration in Castries.

Following the death of her father, who became seriously ill shortly after the December 2007 poll, Compton successfully contested the Micoud North constituency that has long been a stronghold of the UWP.

Subsequent internal divisions within the UWP, that also included monies flowing from Taiwan, via its embassy in St Lucia, to the 11 UWP parliamentarians, were to result from Jannine Compton's disclosure in parliament of EC$1 million (approximately US$350,000) being allocated to each of the ruling party's MPs to spend as considered appropriate in their respective constituencies.

St Lucia recognized Beijing until 2007 when it shifted relations to Taipei (2007 article on the fight in St Lucia). The opposition contends that the alleged funds are a reward for the switch in diplomatic recognition (another report)(another). As the China Post back story notes, the opposition apparently supports relations with Beijing. A review of China-Caribbean relations notes:

In the case of St. Lucia, the competition between China and Taiwan veered into the theater of the absurd as the debate became heavily polarized along political lines leading up to the 1997 election of Dr. Kenny Anthony as prime minister. As a result, recognition of China became a domestic issue with Anthony’s party, the St. Lucia Labor Party, supporting Beijing while Sir John Compton, leader of the United Workers Party (UWP), favored Taipei. These internal divisions are often rooted in ideological differences but enhanced by the “dollar diplomacy” practiced by both China and Taiwan in the Caribbean. When Anthony was elected prime minister in 1997, he switched allegiance from Taiwan to China within the first four months of his administration. During his administration St. Lucia was the recipient of much Chinese aid, especially in preparation for the Cricket World Cup, hosted by the West Indies in 2007. Four key Chinese aid projects, including the construction of a national stadium and a psychiatric hospital were used to woo the tiny nation out of Taiwan’s dwindling fold. Nonetheless the extent to which China’s “internal affair” with Taiwan was a domestic issue in St. Lucia became clear when the island’s most recent electoral results provoked a change in recognition of the “One China” policy.

The general election of December 11, 2006 saw a return to power of two-time Prime Minister Compton, and St. Lucia’s position on the Taiwan question was once again in play. With a population of almost 170,000 and an estimated GDP of $1.8 billion, the tiny nation emerged as a key fighting ground in the geopolitical battles for diplomatic recognition between China and Taiwan. On April 30 2007, St. Lucia formally recognized Taiwan and within a few days China withdrew its diplomatic corps (New York Times, May 2, 2007). In reality, St. Lucia’s switch does not represent a turning of the tides back to Taiwan but instead merely re-emphasizes the fact that recognition of China or Taiwan in the Caribbean is not an ideological issue, but instead one fueled largely by economic opportunism.

Moreover, St. Lucia’s flip-flop represents an exception, as most other English-speaking Caribbean states have moved decisively toward recognizing Beijing.....

Earl Bousquet, who used to head the St Lucia-China Friendship Association, scathingly describes the revitalizing effect of Taiwanese aid in a recent opinion piece on the upcoming election. MOFA's local denial in St Lucia is online here.
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Daily Links:

• Chinese troops reportedly enter Indian territory.
• Gordon Chang: Ma's Surrender Tour to Beijing
• China Post says Thai Shrimp Pancakes are actually a Taiwanese dish.
• My friend Adarsh's company Food Jing wins big at startup competition.
• Taiwan leverages environmentalism to ease South China Sea tensions.
• State Department to skip US-Taiwan defense conference for first time ever.

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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.

Washington on the move: The Taiwan Policy Act of 2011

A view of the Beinan Cultural Park outside Taitung city. The mock-up house was used by young boys of the Beinan people, I think. They were sent to live there for three years as part of an initiation rite. 

Important legislative actions afoot in Congress. In addition to the Taiwan Airpower Modernization Act introduced by Sens. Coryn and Menendez (text of bill), this week Cong. Ros-Lethinen has introduced the Taiwan Policy Act of 2011. According to the Formosa Foundation, which hosts the text of the bill here, it represents an attempt to significantly upgrade US relations with Taiwan. Terri Giles, the Executive Director of the Foundation, sent this around:

The Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ileana Ros-Lethinen (R-FL), today introduced a significant piece of legislation that clarifies the United States policy toward Taiwan and enhances its oversight in the implementation of the Taiwan Relations Act. The Taiwan Policy Act of 2011 is cosponsored by Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Mario Diaz Balart (R-FL), Robert Andrews (D-NJ) and Dan Burton (R-IN).

The Taiwan Policy Act of 2011 aims to “strengthen and clarify the commercial, cultural and other relations between the people of the United States and the people of Taiwan, as codified in the Taiwan Relations Act, and for other purposes.” The bill underscores the policy of the United States is to “support Taiwan, Taiwan’s democracy, and the human rights of its people.” Notably, the bill states that it shall be the policy of the United States to strengthen the Defense of Taiwan, to revitalize trade and investment ties with Taiwan, to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international organization, and to encourage visits by cabinet level officials between both countries.

Taiwan is strategically essential to the United States and this piece of legislation is a vital step in reinforcing our commitment to our democratic partner and ally.

The Formosa Foundation has worked closely with Congresswoman Ros-Lethinen and other members of Congress to bring the important issues of Taiwan policy to the top of the agenda in Washington and to the attention of the American people. In June, Ros-Lehtinen assured over two hundred participants at a Formosa Foundation community event that “it is strongly in America’s national interest to re-energize and upgrade relations between our two peoples and our two great democracies. In my capacity as chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I hope to do just that in the weeks and months ahead.” Today she put her words into action.

We are extremely grateful that Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has introduced this historical bill to call attention to Taiwan’s important to the United States. We urge you to contact your House representative asking for their support of the Taiwan Policy Act of 2011.

DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen spoke at AEI the other day (video). I heard that Sen Inouye, Chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, showed up to greet Tsai at a reception in the Rayburn Room that evening. Could bode well for Congressional movement on the F-16s, and on Taiwan in general. Remember that though it is highly probable no F-16s will be sold, merely working on the issue helps raise Taiwan's profile.

The news of growing pro-Taiwan momentum in Congress was given new urgency by yet another F-5 crash in Taiwan yesterday. This time two of the ancient aircraft were lost. Taiwan's entire fleet of 60 F-5s was grounded as a result.

Apropo: Dean Cheng at Heritage observes the gap between DOD and the Obama Administration in assessing and responding to China's rise. Regrettably, Cheng does not put his finger on the real, urgent problem: ending our wasteful, stupid wars in the Middle East that are literally making the US trade a losing war in Afghanistan for Taiwan. Criminally stupid.
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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.

ECC-FAUGH at 1

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the ECFA coming into effect. Focus Taiwan carried an Economic Daily News piece on that day that will live in commentary. The piece argues that...

-- recent gains in position in the WEF, BERI and other rankings are due in large part to the ECFA signing.

-- "Official statistics" also show the impact of ECFA early harvest program:

For instance, China's customs tallies showed that imports of Taiwanese products on the "early harvest" list posted 22 percent annual growth in the first seven months of this year, far higher than the 9.6 percent growth of overall imports from Taiwan during the same period. Similarly, Taiwan's imports from China also increased significantly in the same period, particularly those on the "early harvest" list.

Anyone got a problem with them sourcing Chinese stats on the success of a pro-China program? I'd like to see the counterpart stats from Taiwan as well as some independent analysis.

-- benefits have not reached the majority of the population. Indeed the previous week DGBAS, Taiwan's main gov't economic statistics office, reported that agricultural incomes had fallen to their lowest levels in five years. Declining farm prices are hitting farmers, say observers, and such income growth that farmers experience comes from non-farm incomes.

As for agricultural profits for farming families, after the Council of Agriculture modified the DGBAS figures, the figure stood at NT$193,000, declining 8 percent in about two years and representing NT$3,000 less than last year.

Assuming 3.5 persons for each farming household, per-person income did not amount to NT$55,000 last year, the report said, adding that accounting for those who had left their fields fallow all year, income on agricultural products was only NT$130,000 annually, with total family income at NT$869,000.
Huang Kun-pin (黃崑濱), better known as “Uncle Kun-pin,” said farming was a profession that was “hard both during a good harvest and a bad crop,” adding that if it were not for the NT$6,000 farmers’ subsidy, he did not know what he would live on.

Turning to comments by Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Yu-tsai (黃有才), who has said that “farmers only work an hour a day,” Huang Kun-pin said he would invite the deputy minister to experience first-hand how farmers live.

Chuang Yu-chih (莊有志), an award-winning rice farmer, said while he had turned 62 this year, he was the youngest farmer in the village.

ECFA had contained sweeteners aimed at farmers, as Beijing crowed, and at convincing southerners to give up their objections to becoming a colonial holding of Beijing after being a colonial holding of Taipei for so long. These have not been successful, as the numbers indicate. It seems intuitively logical that if market share is expanding but incomes are falling, the benefits must be going to middlemen. Or the stats are wrong because Beijing is lying or (more likely) there are lots of fake Taiwan agricultural products in China.

The Economic Daily News editorial also pointed out that further negotiations have stalled. Worse, Taiwan's share of the China market is falling, and the inbound investment ECFA promoters promised has not materialized. Instead, as many of us pointed out, it has simply accelerated investment from Taiwan into China -- which, after all, was one of Beijing's goals for the agreement.

No FTAs as of yet -- remember when we had to have ECFA so we'd avoid being left behind? Now we have ECFA but are losing market share in China. Sure.
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Daily Links:

• DPP Chair and Prez candidate Tsai Ing-wen will speak at AEI in DC. With livestream.
• Taiwan's pariah state status makes it a giant hole in global non-proliferation efforts. No shit, guys.
• J Michael's comments on Canadian victim of Chinese honey pot.
• Taiwan stocks take beating
• Poetry contest on science, medicine or health: win $500!

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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.

Random Pics from Hectic Trips

Spent this week running around southern Taiwan, Taitung and Kenting. I caught this centipede crossing the road outside Dulan in Taitung on Friday morning.

At last I found a belt that captures my true inner nature.

Truth in advertising.

Nanwan beach on Mid-Autumn Festival weekend. Ouch. But the roads in Kenting away from the beaches were empty.

The Green House, a beautiful bed and breakfast we saw in Taitung.

Have fun captioning this picture.

Note name of cake shop.

Not sure how to interpret this sign.

Windsurfers near the port of Gangzai on the east coast of Kenting.

Rode the Kenting Loop 199-26-200 again this week (map). Here my friend Ellen screams up 151 on our way to 199.

This group of cyclists came down from Taichung; a couple of them had seen me on the local roads in the Chung before. They all had gorgeous, expensive road bikes totally inappropriate for the riding they were doing. Ellen easily caught them on the hills on her cheap Giant bike.

A fruit vendor and his son share a moment.

The story house in Taitung city.

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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.

"Cornyn, Menendez Push to Mandate Sale of F-16 Fighters to Taiwan"

Sen. Coryn's office issued this press release:

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Cornyn, Menendez Push to Mandate Sale of F-16 Fighters to Taiwan

Legislation Would Bolster Ability of Our Longstanding Strategic Partner to Defend Itself

WASHINGTON –U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today introduced legislation to require the Obama Administration to sell 66 new F-16C/D multirole fighter jets to Taiwan. The Taiwan Airpower Modernization Act of 2011 will help bring the United States into compliance with its legal obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 to provide Taiwan with the military equipment it needs to maintain its self-defense capabilities.

“This sale is a win-win, in strengthening the national security of our friend Taiwan as well as our own, and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S.,” said Sen. Cornyn. “Saying no here would mean granting Communist China substantial sway over American foreign policy, putting us on a very slippery slope.”

“Providing the military resources Taiwan needs is in the vital security interest of Taiwan, the national security interest of the United States, and is compelled by the Taiwan Relations Act,” Sen. Menendez said. “Taiwanese pilots flying Taiwanese fighter aircraft manufactured in the United States represent the best first line of defense for our democratic ally, and delaying the decision to sell F-16s to Taiwan could result in the closure of the F-16 production line, which would cost New Jersey 750 manufacturing jobs.”

Several recent letters to the President have demonstrated overwhelming bipartisan congressional support for the sale of new F-16C/Ds to Taiwan. On August 1, 181 bipartisan House members sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to approve the sale of F-16 C/Ds to Taiwan. On May 26 a bipartisan letter signed by 45 Senators called on President Obama him to quickly notify Congress of the sale of 66 F-16C/Ds to Taiwan. Two other Senators have also written letters to the Administration in support of this sale.

A recent study done by a private consulting firm estimates that the sale of 66 new F-16 aircraft to Taiwan would generate approximately $8.7 billion in economic output and nearly 88,000 ‘person-years’ of employment across the U.S.

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Reuters report.
Text of bill
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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, Sept 12, 2011

In Hengchun this weekend there were a number of performances, including this one of Spanish guitar and dancing....

Out for a week in Taitung and Kenting, traveling and biking in last week of freedom before the semester begins. Hard to get back to the grind....

BLOGS:

• Craig: it pays to wait (photo)
• 1960s Taiwan report for incoming US service personnel
• Far Eastern Sweet Potato on yet another dorky western public official caught in honey trap. 
• Cycling Round Taipei
• Asia Eye Under the Radar News
• Wikileaks musings from Far Eastern Sweet Potato
• Hanjie on Taijiang National Park. 
• OzSoapBox on private eyes doing marital investigations in Taiwan
• Yet another fire at Formosa Plastics in Mailiao.
• Drew on the ultimate Taiwan bike by James at 185 Warehouse. 
• ETRC on latest figures on Taiwan's manufacturing
• Houlung, history and pig intestines.
• Return to Keelung Island, with great pics. Now on my list of must-go-to places.
• Journal of a Recovering Taiwanoholic

MEDIA:

• Jens on the overproduction of PhDs in Taiwan
• South Korea is slowly discovering the North is too different for unification. Ring any bells?
• Commonwealth looks at the cities of Taiwan and how locals rate them as places to live.
• Wikileaks shatters Ma's image. Lin, like everyone else commenting on the green card issue, simply doesn't understand how difficult green card cases are.
• DPP's Tsai off on US visit.
• Ma could visit China if he wins in 2012. The Nobel Prize Tour is still on! 
• Ranking Dem rep says sell F-16s to Taiwan.
• More polls. Read at own risk.
• New shark species found in Taiwan fish market. 
• US-China Power Play Puts Heat on ASEAN
• Eurasia Review: South China Sea, India, and China
• Bonnie Glaser and Nancy Tucker call for strengthened US commitment to Taiwan. Yeah!

EVENTS:

• Legacy of Seediq Bale exhibition

Soccer/Football:
2011 AFC President's Cup Finals in Kaohsiung National Stadium
Free of Charge: Bring your drinks and having a party with your friends at the stadium
The 2011 AFC President Cup Final Stage is coming to Taiwan. The six-team Finals will be played in Kaohsiung National Stadium from September 19 to 25.


Neftchi (Kyrgyzstan), Phnom Penh Crown FC (Cambodia), Yadanarbon (Myanmar), Istiklol (Tajikistan), Taiwan Power Company (Chinese Taipei) and FC Balkan (Turkmenistan) have qualified for the AFC President’s Cup Final Stage.
Free Tickets collection at Kaohsiung National Stadium 2 hours before kickoff.
19 September 2011 16:00 PHNOM PENH CROWN FC (CAM)-NEFTCHI KOCHKOR - ATA (KGZ)
19 September 2011 19:00 FC ISTIKLOL (TJK)-TAIWAN POWER COMPANY (TPE)
21 September 2011 16:00 FC BALKAN (TKM)-FC ISTIKLOL (TJK)
21 September 2011 19:00 YADANARBON (MYA)-PHNOM PENH CROWN FC (CAM)
23 September 2011 16:00 NEFTCHI KOCHKOR - ATA (KGZ)-YADANARBON (MYA)
23 September 2011 19:00 TAIWAN POWER COMPANY (TPE)-FC BALKAN (TKM)
25 September 2011 19:00 Winner Group B-Winner Group A
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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.

Friday Musings

Had a lot of fun the last few weeks working on an English consultant gig for the central and local governments. Traveled in Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taoyuan, and Taitung. Really a lot of fun, met interesting people, saw a lot of the island.

I know many local expats are incredulous when they see how awful the English translations can be here, but in fact the locals I met all wanted to do a good job, but they seem to lack imagination as to how to go about it. A common issue I ran across with at least three local governments was blatant fraud on the part of local translation firms. In several different cases the local government contracted with a local translation firm to provide translation, and was told that a skilled native speaker would do the work. It was obvious from the final product, however, that the jobs had all been done by a skilled second language speaker and contained tell-tale, typical Chinese native speaker grammar and usage errors. Despite this common issue, there did not seem to be any policy in place for review of translation work that was paid for, either formally or informally. It was accepted and posted without further trouble.

Another common problem was the fundamental marketing failures of so many of the little restaurants, shops, and bed-and-breakfasts we visited. Like not having even a single sign outside in English with a basic "We Speak English" to reassure foreign tourists that they can get English language services (we repeatedly ran into locals with excellent English skills). Like not even having a sign on the main road to point visitors to their location, in any language, let alone a foreign one. How do people find you? I'd ask. "The internet" was the common refrain -- people blogging on their experiences at a given place. Basically, word of mouth.

One of the privileges of being a foreigner here is meeting people in high places. This week I met the Deputy County Chief of Taitung County. Informed, energetic, and extremely kind, he showed us around his county and was a font of information. He pointed out that when he was in college, Taitung had 280,000 people. It has lost 50K people since that time. The city is revitalizing its center now that the train station has (insanely) been moved out to the boondocks, and he told us how much of the old infrastructure is becoming art, culture, and leisure parks, bike trails and similar. For those of you who know Miaoli, he was the architect of that County's preservation policies, including places like Mingde Reservoir and the Longteng Broken Bridge. Kudos to him, those were great jobs. He also took us out to the Museum of Prehistory, well worth a visit. The displays are professional, the staff helpful, and the area it covers is vast.

Have a good weekend! Hope to see you out and about The Beautiful Island.
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Daily Links

• Sri Lanka and China: Deepening links
• Douglas Paal, who is usually anti-DPP, turns in a surprisingly even-handed piece on the DPP and the upcoming elections. Paal does mention how Beijing used Washington to suppress Chen Shui-bian.
• Tsai trails in recent poll
• Sadly, lower GDP growth predicted.
• Tsai picks Su Chia-chuan as her running mate.
• Taiwan set to become number 3 machine tool exporter, behind Japan and Germany.

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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.

Wikileaks and Taiwan

I've been ignoring the Wikileaks stuff coming out in a great gush of blood from the bleeding wound of American diplomacy, partly because I'm deeply uncomfortable with the exposure of US diplomacy, since secrecy is necessary to diplomacy, and partly because the "revelations" are anything but.

There are a couple of interesting nuggets, like this on one the split between different wings of the PRC's diplomatic corps on the "diplomatic truce," but in the main the Wikileaks revelations have discussed things that everyone knew already. Yes, we already knew that Beijing was using ECFA to push the annexation of Taiwan. We already knew that Lien Chan's APEC appointment was approved in Beijing; he's their boy. We knew that ECFA's impact on FTAs was wildly overstated. We knew that the major KMT politicians don't like each other. What's surprising, in its way, is how conventional the AIT reports are. If you follow Taiwan politics and read the news, you already knew what was going on. The reports show that US diplomacy had different public and private faces, but we already knew that too.

What's also conventional is how the WL reports have played out in local politics, showing once again how The Foreigner Validates and how The Foreigner Doesn't Understand. The DPP has used the Wikileaks revelations to bash the KMT; where the KMT has been embarrassed, it has mumbled that foreigners don't understand Chinese well enough to get what was said. The principle of Foreigners Validate can always be countered by the principle of Only Chinese Can Understand Chinese.

I think it's important to remember that the AIT reports are written by highly intelligent individuals who are on temporary assignment to Taiwan, who may have their own agendas -- and are in some cases pathologically anti-Taiwan -- and should be treated as just another information resource with a respectable potential for bullshit.

Sadly, since these are out, you can be sure that US diplomats will be getting a cold shoulder from key policy-makers around the world, a great handicap for US information gathering efforts.
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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, Sept 5, 2011

Drew and I went over to 137 in Changhua yesterday for another look at all the different historical sites there.

Sorry I couldn't get to the Daily Links last week. This week there's lots of good things to read.

BLOGS:

• Eyedoc compares Japanese policy in Taiwan and Japanese policy toward the Ainu on Hokkaido.
• Drew's report on our ride on Sunday through Changhua and Nantou.
• DPP position on romanization
• The slowing of China tourism may have repercussions for the election
• Fili tours Taiwan factory in China
• Old US army newsreel: the army in Taiwan
• Taiwanese-Americans increase
• New Taipei City takes Big Brother to a whole new level.

Many of the old houses along 137 feature interesting tile work above the doors.

MEDIA:

• MOFA continues to insist that Taiwan and the Penghu belong to the ROC. The DPP needs to go on the attack here.
• Seediq Bale is rocking the box office.
• WantChinaTimes says more Chinese scholars visiting Taiwan to observe the elections.
• Fearing loss of competitive edge, Taiwan hunts for talent.
• Ma slightly ahead of Tsai in recent poll.
• Taiwan economy may take hit from slowing global economy
• Banyan: the perilous politics of arming Taiwan
• Hiking in Taroko from Vancouver paper
• MND sends "clarifying statement" to WSJ about spy allegations.
• Recycling old headlines: Gov't to crack down on vote buying ahead of election
• Econ statistics don't tell the whole story.
• Taiwan navy to re-invent itself as a sea denial force

A Christian mausoleum? Christians converting an old Earth God shrine? Or what?

EVENTS:

• Taiwan Photo Challenge: this week's theme is music.
• Daniel Pearl Day of Music and other events see left sidebar!

Country road, take me to the historical homes.....
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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 Administration takes another step back to the 1950s

Very scary news reported the other day in the Taipei Times. The National Security Council (NSC) has ordered that Taiwan students be taught that the Senkaku Islands, which are currently part of Japan, actually belong to China.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has caused a stir with its recent directive that elementary and junior high schools teach that the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) “have been a part of China since ancient times,” and consequently belong to the Republic of China (ROC).

Critics called it “brain-washing under the guise of education.”

Huang Chi-teng (黃子騰), head of the ministry’s Department of Elementary Education, said the directive was sent after an interministerial meeting convened by the National Security Council (NSC), in which it was decided that the ministry would give schools a paper for use as reference in teaching “the relations between the Diaoyutai Islands and Taiwan.”

The paper, which includes comments such as “Japan stole the Diaoyutai Islands,” places China and Taiwan on the same side opposing Japan, using the claim that “the Diaoyutai Islands have belonged to China in the past” to argue that sovereignty over the Diaoyutais belongs to the ROC.

The position that the Senkakus belong to "China" is an invention of both Chinese governments since the late 1960s (Ampontan has a long post discussing this, with many maps and references). Prior to that time, both governments regarded the islands as uncontroversial Japanese territory. The claim to the Senkakus is thus another item in the long wave of Chinese territorial expansion that Asia has witnessed since the 1930s, which follows the typical pattern of Chinese making claims to a given territory based on some interaction that the government has followed in the past.

On so many levels this is scary. For one thing it is bound to peeve Japan. It shows that the KMT continues to regard education as a process of ideological indoctrination. It also gives a glimpse of the Party-State mentality that continues to drive the KMT's interactions with the rest of society. It shows how the KMT Administration regards itself as "Chinese." And finally, as many of us noted at the time, it is a prophecy of conflicts to come.

Will Taiwanese voters notice? Perhaps the DPP can somehow make them pay attention....

This directive coincided with a forum between scholars from China and ROC scholars from Taiwan at which a MOFA official declared that the Senkakus (Diaoyutais to the Chinese) belonged to China.

Earlier at the forum, Wu Jinan (吳寄南), director and senior fellow of the Department of Japanese Studies at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, Shaw Han-yi (紹漢儀), a research fellow at the Research Center for the International Legal Studies at National Chengchi University, as well as other Chinese and Taiwanese academics, presented papers to rebut Japan’s claims to sovereignty over the islands.

Examining related legal claims and historical evidence under international law and traditional East Asian order, the academics concluded that the Diaoyutais belong to “China.”
Asked to comment on the conclusion, Shaw Yu-ming said he did not find it problematic saying the islands belong to China as opposed to the ROC.

“Like I said, the Diaoyutai Islands were incorporated into the Kavalan Prefecture administration office in 1837. At that time, the ROC had not been established. Furthermore, the ROC is also part of China. China is the generic term for the ROC and the People’s Republic of China [PRC]. This case shows why the ‘1992 consensus’ is necessary. For us, it’s the ROC, and for the mainland, it’s the PRC. Together, it’s China,” he said.

Shaw Yu-ming said he agreed to the suggestion made by several Chinese academics at the forum that “China shall publicly declare its position that the Diaoyutai Islands belong to Taiwan.”

“If we say that the Diaoyutais belong to ‘China,’ it would lead some people in Taiwan to wonder why they need to fight for sovereignty of the islands. But if China declares that the Diaoyutai Islands belong to Taiwan, which I think it would not oppose because Taiwan is part of its territory in China’s view, the problem would be solved,” Shaw Yu-ming said.

Frighteningly, this official envisions Taiwanese boys dying to make the Senkakus safe for Beijing's expansion. Fortunately China will never declare that the Senkakus belong to Taiwan, but the mentality exhibited here is scary.

Note also the use of terms like "stolen territory." Many Chinese believe that Okinawa is similarly "stolen territory". The public rhetoric suggests a revanchist position that will make it difficult to avoid conflict between Japan and China. This rhetoric also shows how Taiwan, the Senkakus, and Okinawa are all basically linked in Chinese minds and thus, how expansion into any one area will lead to more expansion into the others. Brrr......

I took a short look at Shaw Han-yi's long piece on the Senkakus here. It is simply a sophisticated bit of ultra-nationalistic historical exegesis that utterly fails to establish its case, but gives a good look at how such things are constructed.
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Daily Links:

• Steve Yates, former Bush Administration official, in Mandarin, on Taiwan-US relations (video)
• Jamestown Brief on the latest White Paper from the Ministry of National Defense.
• Taiwanese-American California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu's swearing in speech
• Drew blogs on our ride along historic 137 today. We swung around Bagua Shan on 152 and then went the length of 137 back to Changhua City. Really an enjoyable ride, 125 kms for me in total.

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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 Artfully Moves

Public Art in Nantou on Rte 3 just north of Mingjian.

The wily James Soong, head of the People First Party (PFP), a spin-off of the KMT, is keeping himself in the news for the next few weeks during the run-up for the election with a clever PR move:

In an interview with ERA TV last night, Soong said he would pick up the petition form at the commission between Sept. 16 and Sept. 20 and start collecting signatures from supporters on Sept. 22. However, he refused to confirm whether this would be an indication that he was “determined” to run for president.

The number of signatures required to qualify for registration as a presidential candidate is 250,000. Soong, 69, said he would not join the election unless he collects at least 1 million signatures.

This way the "signature drive" will keep him in the news and in front of the public while he assesses his chances and maneuvers for leverage against his chief rival, the KMT itself. He may or may not actually enter the Presidential race, but either way, a smart move. Note that he only has to hand over 250,000 signatures to the CEC in order to qualify for the race, meaning that he could collect a pile of signatures, hand in 250K, and tell everyone he got a million.
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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: Why China Will Never Rule the World

Why China Will Never Rule the World: Travels in the Two Chinas
Troy Parfitt
Western Hemisphere Press 419 pp US$20.95

In Why China Will Never Rule the World, Troy Parfitt, who sent me a copy of the book to review, presents a journey of discovery through China to determine what China's rise really is, with Taiwan offered as a kind of commentary on China, but more importantly, as a place explored in its own right.

After a prologue in which he sets out the aims of his quest:

"I wanted to know what lay behind the headlines and images..... I needed to know the truth. More precisely, I needed to know my own truth."

....Parfitt travels all over China, engaging with all sorts of individuals. And indeed comes to his own truth.

Nietzsche once observed that people with character have their defining experience, which occurs repeatedly, and so it is with Parfitt. The stereotypical chapter opens with Parfitt visiting some location in China or Taiwan. A review of history, often quite informative, follows. Then Parfitt meets people -- boys, girls, tour groups, taxi drivers, book authors, other foreigners, fellow students, a cross-section of ordinary people going about their ordinary lives in China. These are presented in lively and economical language. Parfitt then usually asks those he meets what China has to offer the world, or what they know about the world around them, frequently eliciting various forms of error, apathy and ignorance.

As a travelogue this book is often quite enjoyable, with many pithy observations: "As a rule of thumb in the Chinese universe, the more something is said, the more you can assume it to be untrue." It gives an honest portrayal of how locals in China might interact with foreigners, and Parfitt usually reports interactions without open judgment. Speaking as someone who knows a lot about Taiwan but less about China, the section on China, which occupies about 90% of the book, was more useful and interesting than when he discusses Taiwan, writing which exhibits errors, misunderstandings and just plain strangenesses. There's plenty of history in the work, but it could have benefited from greater exploration of the anthropological and sociological literature that could have shed a deeper, brighter light on the behaviors that Parfitt was witnessing.

If you are looking for a tale of personal travel in China, Parfitt's book will definitely suit. How that will fit into the reader's understanding of what China is or will become, is up to the reader.
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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.

How many calories in a 粽子?

Ever wonder how many calories were in a sticky rice dumpling/粽子? This place I stopped at in Tainan said they sent theirs out for a calorie count. And they call them "tamales", a notable improvement over the totally misleading sticky rice dumplings.
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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.

The Old Sugar Refinery in Sinying

If you are ever in Sinying in Tainan with nothing to do, the old sugar refinery there might be just the ticket for an hour or two, depending on how much breaking and entering you feel like doing (satellite view). Many's the time I've seen it from the train line and said to myself that I really have to get in there with a camera. By great good luck, a group of us had an hour to kill in Sinying today and we wound up there.

As a Taiwan amusement park it's quite sickly; not a concrete dinosaur in sight and the vendors were all closed. But there is a the germ of an awesome kitsch experience in place: a little sugar line train ride. Taiwan Sugar Corp lists this as a culture and leisure park. So stay tuned, I'm sure Totally Unique Souvenirs are on the way. The outdoor exhibits consist of a few old sugar line locomotives; there's a small exhibit room as well.

There's tons of wrecked and rusting metal to photograph as well as a slew of buildings dating from the thirties through the fifties. If you are into industrial ruins, want to film a post-apocalypse flick, or are searching for video sites for a death metal tune, this place is heaven.

On this side of the main road they store all the train cars.

Some working engines are present.

The complexity of the track network is amazing.

A memorial to the completion of the engineering in 1948.

The old administrative buildings and dorms are still around, though the housing units next to the site are falling apart and seem to be slated for demolition. Be sure to walk toward the large engine house in view across the main road from the toy train and then walk along the paved roads to view all the old buildings, processing tanks, and administrative structures for the full experience.
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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.

DPPers found innocent

Just thought I'd list a few cases recently that hadn't been very prominent in the press:

Another set of DPPers cleared, reports the Liberty Times. The former director of the National Palace Museum and four of his associates during the Chen Administration were all found not guilty of irregularities in the south site construction for the museum. The court characterized the charges as ridiculous.

Su Chih-fen, Yunlin County Chief, found innocent of bribery charges in a similarly ridiculous case.

Chen Shui-bian found innocent of embezzlement and the courts ruled the seizure of his assets by the Special Prosecutors was illegal. Also found innocent of another set of bribery charges, in connection with a banking merger. Oh yeah, the bribery charge that he's in jail for? The testimony was made out of fear, said the family in another case. Remember that indictment of Chen that a judge said was "a shoddy mishmash of evidence without a morsel of credibility."

TT: "The Taipei District Court yesterday found former National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and former deputy foreign minister Michael Kau (高英茂) not guilty of embezzling diplomatic funds during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) term in office."

The only strange one is the case of Dr Hsieh of the Tainan Science Park (old Taiwan Matters post), which after Hsieh was found innocent and innocent again on appeal, the higher court sent back down for retrial of several issues. Whatever for?

Then there are the cases that have vanished. What happened to Lee Teng-hui's case? How about the 36,000 missing documents that the Ma Administration charged the DPP had illegally taken?

Of course, KMTer Diane Lee had her fraud conviction quashed by the High Court. Her case often co-occurs in the media with Chen Shui-bian's.

And all those DPPers smeared in the local and foreign media. Haven't seen much reporting on these not guilty verdicts.
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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.