Yomiuri Shimbum Interview with Chen

I just ran across this interview. No time to comment.

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Friday stressed his determination to draft a new constitution that would better suit Taiwan's present situation.

"I'll drive forward the formulation of a new constitution based on legal procedures," Chen said during an exclusive interview with Kiichiro Harano, international news editor of The Yomiuri Shimbun, at his presidential office in Taipei.

The statement reflects his pro-independence stance and is sure to anger the Chinese government. On Monday, Chen abolished a policymaking body set up to study the issue of unification with China. He also scrapped 15-year-old symbolic guidelines on eventual unification.

"It'll be difficult, but not impossible, to formulate a new constitution by 2008 [when my presidential term ends]," Chen said. By this, he meant that introducing a new constitution would depend on the results of a parliamentary election due at the end of 2007.

[Taiwan] [Chen Shui-bian] [Taiwan Independence]

Vice President Lu Says Women in Taiwan Making Advances

The Veep says women in Taiwan are making advances. I say Great! Speaking as a man, I get tired of having to always take the initiative in relationships.........


Ok. So it's been a long day, and I am a little giddy from overwork.

[Taiwan]

Someone in need of a spanking

This one was picked up by one of the Taiwan News services. If you have a minute, have some fun handing this fledgling pro-KMT jerk his head. Highlights

The truth is, Taiwan is becoming another Kenya. Taiwan is turning into another African country, where the leaders suck out all the money and treat the country's economy like their cash cow. All the Taiwanese president, Mr. Shui Bian Chen does is to take bribes and trigger China's temper on the TV. Taiwan's stock market keeps on going down except for the ones that his wife owns. His hobby is to openly talk about Taiwan's independence to the media.

I've lived in Kenya...and it ain't no Taiwan.

[Taiwan]

China's Thought Police Aid Taiwan Independence

ESWN has an article on the internal politics of internet control in China whose writer is using Taiwan independence as a foil to attack certain government organs. ESWN writes:

[Permalink] How The Central Publicity Department Is Accelerating Taiwan Independence (03/05/2006) The front-page subject of this week's Yazhou Zhoukan (Asia Weekly) was on the ramifications of the Freezing Point incident. In the feature article (partially translated in Critical Reading In China), the theory was advanced that the unofficial Critical Reading group is allowed to function because it offers plausible deniability to the senior government leaders. Thus, when something goes wrong, the senior leaders can step in to reverse the decision and show that they are decent and tolerant (see Comment 200603#004). But the problem is that something can go terribly wrong, as in the case of Freezing Point when Lung Yingtai published the open letter to Hu Jintao: Please Use Civilization To Convince Us. Now all of a sudden, the unification of China-Taiwan is bundled with the freedom of speech issue in China. This is made explicit in the YZZK editorial statement for this issue (via ChineseNewsNet):

The letter says:

ESWN translation] The Chinese thought police are the best friends of the Taiwan independence folks. They destroy the image of openness and reform in mainland China and they allow the forces of Taiwan independence to become bigger. Does political power affect thinking, or does thinking influence political power? That is a tricky debate, and a challenge that China faces right now.

The intellectuals and media in China today have actually gone past the control of the official news organizations. Following the rapid development of economic and social forces and communication technologies, Chinese society has developed it own communication network. SMS, email, blogs, MSN and Skype (free from eavesdropping and firewall-penetrating), the traditional Leninist "Thought Police" is no longer in control ...

These "Thought Police" are the best friends of the Taiwan independence. The more media organizations are shut down in China, the stronger the Taiwan independence movement grows. They can justifiably claim that the freedom of expression is so backwards that Taiwan society cannot possibly consider unification with China as an option.

Here's a clue: even a democratic China probably would not be much use in garnering the support of current TI-ers for annexing Taiwan to China. Why would anyone in their right mind, who already possesses a robust local democracy and strong local identity, want to become the property of a faraway capital with little interest or knowledge of local needs, however democratic?

[Taiwan] [China] [Taiwan Independence]

Asia Research Papers from Nat U of Singapore

Geoff Wade at NUS alerted H-Asia to this collection of online papers from NUS. Two will probably be of interest to Taiwanophiles.

Did it Really Help to be a Japanese Colony?: East Asian Economic Performance in Historical Perspective
Anne Booth Full Text

"Doing Chineseness": Taiwanese Capital in China Shen Hsiu-hua Full Text

The historical stuff is really great too.

[Taiwan] [Asia]

A Democratic China would be a bad thing

You'd think such a statement would be parody, but no, an Aussie think tank has actually made it in all seriousness, according to this CS Monitor report:

In an Australian Strategic Policy Institute report, economist David Hale warned that the peaceful, predictable economic engagement policies of the current Beijing could be undone by the greater democracy the next generation of Chinese leaders might bring, writes Agence France-Presse.

"When a fifth generation of leadership assumes power in ten to fifteen years, China could become more open and tolerate greater dissent," the report said. "Such a political opening could then open the door to forces such as nationalism and populism. There is no way to predict exactly how Chinese politics will evolve in a more democratic era, but it is a development which could produce new challenges for the countries of East Asia after 2020.

"An authoritarian China has been highly predictable. A more open and democratic China could produce new uncertainties about both domestic policy and international
relations."

The "political opening could then open the door to forces such as nationalism..." No shit? Really? Thank God China's not nationalistic now, eh? He goes on to say:

Such uncertainties could include military threats to other nations in the region, Hale writes, though he notes that such threats would be likely only if "domestic political instability... produced an upsurge in nationalism and a search for external scapegoats."

Domestic political instability? Upsurges in Nationalism? Threats to other nations? Searches for external scapegoats? Boy, I'm so glad we don't have any of that now!

Evidently this fellow is getting paid to smoke crack while doing analysis. It's incredible that people can write garbage like this. Sign me up! I'll do it for half of what he is doing, and twice as good as well. In the meantime I am off to fall down laughing at the suggestion that it is better that a billion people live in a corrupt authoritarian nightmare because otherwise their foreign policy might become "unpredictable."

Well, unpredictable, at least for people for whom realpolitik has become simply a word for clueless cynicism combined with gross ethical blindness. Since China is so predictable now, perhaps the good Mr. Hale will instruct us on what its next moves will be in the current NUC crisis.

[Taiwan] [Democracy] [China]

The Politics of Fourth Grade

How do I hate fourth grade? Let me clout the babes....

My wife told me this morning of another harrowing tale of fourth grade, Taiwan style. CL, my daughter's friend with the learning problems, has no one to protect her in the afternoons because we only let my daughter go a half-day. One afternoon last week when my daughter was away, seven of the other students took CL's bookbag, dumped out the stuff and scattered it, and then filled it with trash by the simple expedient of upending the garbage can into it.

One of CL's problems is that she cannot put together a comprehendable narrative of the events in her life -- she can answer a question like "Is your mother here?" but cannot communicate what happened to me yesterday -- so her mother is unaware of when things go wrong. Eventually it came to her attention, and naturally she took it up with my daughter's teacher. My daughter's teacher told her to take it to the principal. No biggie.

Those of you who are apt to feel that in the US we overreact to little things should ponder events like this. The seven suffered no punishment for a severe and degrading act of bullying that others also witnessed but did nothing to stop. The student harmed had not provoked the act in any way, except in being learning disabled, no more than the do our dogs, whom our neighboring kids regularly torture in small ways. There is an unwritten rule in Taiwan's authoritarian social culture that if I can bully you because you cannot stop me, I should bully you.....the culture of impunity, learned young.

[Taiwan]

Meet up on Saturday

I'll be at the meet up tomorrow at Swenson's in Taipei. Expect to see you all there!

Sat Mar 4 Swenson's Meet-Up


[Taiwan] [Taiwan Blogs]

What's China Up To?

Local and international papers are reporting that China has done two very interesting things. First, it has asked the US to "rein in" Chen, and second, that China has appealed to the UN to do something.

The hypocrisy of these two moves is obvious and the subject of much commentary in the media and on the net. China has long said that Taiwan is an "internal affair" and excluded Taiwan from world bodies, and world bodies from Taiwan. Now it is literally asking the US and the UN -- a body China has long blocked Taiwan from entering -- to intevene in its "internal affairs."

Great nations never mind looking like flaming hypocrites (look in the dictionary under IRAQ, US invasion of) but China has now established a precedent -- the interference of others in its "internal affairs" -- that will give it trouble in later dealings with Taiwan. The question is: why is China harming a propaganda line it has worked for the last three decades to establish?

You don't give up precious and patiently-constructed leverage for nothing. These events suggest that China is up to something, something serious. It is hard to tell what is going on -- but the fact that the opposition is considering a recall motion in the legislature might suggest that it is going to coordinate its actions with those of the pro-China parties in Taiwan.

The appeals to international entities also suggest that China is attempting to create the impression that it has exhausted all routes in attempting to rein in the crazed whacko Chen Shui-bian, who everyone knows must be off his rocker because he wants to live in an independent democracy and not under yet another in the string of colonial governments that have ruled Taiwan since the Dutch. What do you think China will do with this illusion of restraint and rationality it is busily creating?

[Taiwan] [US] [China] [Chen Shui-bian] [US Foreign Policy] [Taiwan Independence] [Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)] [TRA]

John Tkacik is Da Man!

Thanks to Jason at Wandering to Tamshui for passing me this one: John Tkacik is my new hero:

++++++++++

Chen Lets off Steam

By JOHN J. TKACIK, JR.

The Wall Street Journal (Asia)

March 1, 2006

It's fashionable in some quarters to suggest that the Bush administration is exasperated with Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's supposed attempts to "provoke" China. And that Monday's announcement that a cross-strait reunification body known as the National Unification Council "will cease to function" has caused further anger in Washington.

The truth is rather different. The prevailing sentiment in the Bush Administration is to sympathize with President Chen's frustration that, after six years of policy concessions and diplomatic outreach to Beijing, he has gotten nothing in return. People in the administration working on China say that Monday's symbolic decision -- the council is not being formally disbanded and, in any case, for all practical purposes ceased to function many years ago -- "has not happened in a vacuum." In particular, they point to last year's enactment of China's anti-secession law, mandating the use of force to take the island, and the luring of Taiwan opposition leaders Lien Chan and James Soong to the mainland on high-profile visits designed to isolate President Chen.

See? I knew the Nelson Report that Bush was personally furious was a crock. Glad I said so too.

"China surrounds this guy and is closing in on the last piece of metaphysical territory he controls," one told me. "They try to isolate him and beat him down. What do they expect?" Add in Beijing's military buildup, with an estimated 800 ballistic missiles now targeted against the island, and its relentless efforts to deny Taiwan any access to international bodies -- even over matters of life and death, such as a possible avian flu outbreak -- and it's clear which side the provocations are really coming from. Beijing "can't constantly increase the pressure on someone and not expect it to blow," said one China-watcher in the Bush administration.

Tell it like it is!

It's not just the White House that understands President Chen's dilemma. He is caught between unbearable pressure from Beijing -- aided by the pro-China Kuomintang and People First Party in Taiwan -- and pro-independence forces within his own Democratic Progressive Party, as well as the avowedly pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union. Within that context, President Chen has steered a clever path, making repeated concessions to allay any concerns Washington might have initially had about Monday's move.

Just what I've been saying all along, that Chen is a pragmatic politician. None of that Chen-is-crazed nonsense that one reads in the pro-KMT propaganda that leaks into the international media. After observing that Chen convinced the White House envoys things weren't so bad, and promised not to mess with the four "No-s", Tkacik goes on to note:

That won't, of course, stop Taiwan's pro-China politicians from trying to cause trouble over the issue. They risk seeing one of their most important cards -- the charge that Mr. Chen is "jeopardizing Taiwan's ties with its most important ally" -- undermined by Washington's relaxed reaction to Monday's announcement. No wonder then that opposition leaders are already trying to stir up controversy by calling for a symbolic "recall" vote in the Legislative Yuan and threatening a mass demonstration on March 12. The possibility this could degenerate into the same sort of violence seen during the protests that followed President Chen's narrow re-election in March 2004 cannot be ruled out, and the Bush administration would be well-advised to prepare for this eventuality. But hopefully reason will prevail, and Taiwan's pro-China politicians will realize that such an overreaction is unlikely to gain them support among Taiwan's voters or any sympathy in Washington -- where it would only cast doubt on the opposition parties' commitment to democracy and rule of law.

The pan-Blues are "Pro-China politicians." PRO-CHINA! In print, baby! In the Asian Wall Street Journal. Yowza! This dude is channeling me! John Tkacik, if I ever run into you in Taipei, I am definitely buying you dinner. And lunch. And breakfast. In fact, you can marry my daughter. Just what I've been saying all along about the Blues -- even the same phrase. I also like the way he points out the blowback from the Blues' pro-China policy in Taiwan as well. No one has yet said in print that the "protests" in Taipei after Chen's election in 2004 were stage-managed for the international media -- which fell for them completely -- and that many of the protesters were paid, but Tkacik sure looks like he is moving in that direction. Go John!

He closes with something I say quite a bit too -- that Taiwan is an opportunity to be grasped, not an annoyance to be dealt with:

Given a few weeks of quiet, Washington and Taipei can turn their attention to these issues -- and Taipei will once again have a chance to show that it is a more reliable and valuable U.S. partner in Asia than Beijing will ever be.

It's not often that you see something in the international media that isn't at least faintly pro-KMT. What is the sound of one island clapping? I hope Tkacik can hear it.

In the meantime, let's sit back and enjoy our favorite flatpeter politician, Ma Ying-jeou, doing the Ma Shuffle (that's one step forward and a step to each side, then a 180 degree turn and do the same thing) as we wait for Beijing to indicate its ire in more concrete ways.

[Taiwan] [US] [China] [Chen Shui-bian] [US Foreign Policy] [Taiwan Independence] [Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)] [TRA]

Incident at the Train Station

On Tuesday while we were waiting at the train station in Fengyuan for Daniel to arrive, a saleswoman walked over to my wife. Saleswomen are always bothering my wife, for she has freckles, which foreigners consider cute, but which locals think are hideous. There are numerous creams out there that claim to reduce or remove them, and armies of salespeople tramp the island to hawk them, stopping people in department stores, train stations, or even in traffic, as happened to a stunningly gorgeous foreign friend of mine in Kaohsiung who has freckles. Apparently any sort of cheek coloration is bad, for Daniel reported to me that a plastic surgeon had offered to remove the red spots from his cheeks. Since Daniel is much better looking than I am, and the red spots are inordinately cute, I was all for this policy of reducing the pulchritude gap, but for some reason Daniel just wasn't buying. Broke my heart, he did.

The salesman who accosted my wife wasn't after the freckles, but was instead offering a fountain of eternal youth, in the form of diet supplements, a common scam in every nation. She pretended to do a survey and then attempted to sell my wife some stuff that would keep her looking young. My wife, who is XX* but looks at least a decade younger, listened patiently but politely kept saying "no" to each request. Phone number? No. Address? No. Age?

My wife told her.

The woman gave a loud squawk and there was a long pause. She looked around conspiratorially, and then her voice dropped about 50 decibels as she leaned in closer to my wife.

"So," she asked. "What are you taking?"

[Taiwan]
*This information has been censored in the interests of marital harmony.

Balance and Taiwan

Simon World had some interesting Taiwan links yesterday. John Tacik, longtime Taiwan watcher and friend of Taiwan, writes in the Weekly Standard:

Beijing's so-called "Anti-Secession Law" last March was an open-ended declaration of a casus belli against Taiwan. Since 2001, Taiwan has opened direct links between China and the offshore islands of Kinmen and Matsu, licensed direct charter flights to China, relaxed investment rules, and begged for military-to-military "confidence-building measures." China has rebuffed every call from Taiwan for cross-Strait dialogue. Chinese Communist party leaders will deal only with opposition parties in Taiwan that "adhere" to the "one China principle" and oppose Taiwan's defense spending. Beijing even refused to allow a Taiwan representative to attend the December 30 funeral of Wang Daohan, Beijing's most eminent Taiwan negotiator.

In short, China has done nothing to requite Taiwan's outreach. By the time of his November visit to Beijing, President Bush had become so dismayed that he inserted a paragraph praising Taiwan's democracy into his Asia policy speech in Kyoto--a paragraph that surprised every China watcher in Washington, including those in the White House. The president, it seems, was personally trying to maintain the balance.

I know Tacik is a strong supporter of Taiwan, but I think he has hit the edge of the dartboard rather than nailed one in the center. The US position has tilted toward China, and the President is not trying to maintain the balance, but maintain a credible front that the US would intervene if China tried to annex Taiwan by force. The dynamic is that as the US tilts toward Beijing on the question of Taiwan's independence, it essentially requires itself to become even more hardline on the issue of violent annexation, in order to compensate. More on that in another blog post.

Meanwhile fumier opines:

China has asked the US to take action against Taiwan for the island's scrapping of guidelines on reunification with the mainland. Since, according to the PRC, China is one and indivisible, isn't this tantamount to asking the US to interfere in China's own internal affairs?

The article from Forbes fumier cites notes:

China has urged the United States to take firmer action against Taiwan, following a muted response by Washington to the island's scrapping of guidelines on reunification with the mainland.

'We are urging the United States... to take concrete actions to oppose Taiwan's secessionist activities for independence,' foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, according to Agence France-Presse.

China also wanted the United States to avoid sending 'any wrong signals to the secessionist forces for Taiwan independence,' he said.

Liu was speaking after Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian formally scrapped the National Unification Council and guidelines that were set up 15 years ago to work towards an eventual reunification of Taiwan with the mainland.

Let's see. China uses the US to manage Taiwan, the US uses Taiwan to put the dampers on Chinese expansionism, and Taiwan uses the US to manage China. Rock, scissors, paper.....

[Taiwan] [US] [China] [Chen Shui-bian] [US Foreign Policy] [Taiwan Independence] [Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)] [TRA]

Buddhist Retreat in Taiwan

H-ASIA
March 1, 2006

Buddhist Retreat for College Students Summer Program, Taiwan

From: H-Net Announcements


Buddhist Retreat for College Students Summer Program

Date: 2006-07-01
Date Submitted: 2006-02-24
Announcement ID: 149975

Study Buddhism at a Traditional Chinese Monastery!
Introducing the 5th Annual Humanistic Buddhist Monastic Life Program
for Summer
2006. Now accepting applications!

1. Spend one month at the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2. Experience the monastic lifestyle firsthand
3. Study Buddhism and Chinese culture
4. Open to undergraduate and graduate students
5. No fee! All living expenses are covered for the duration of the
program.
6. $500 grant to assist with travel costs!

View more information and download an application at:
http://www.woodenfish.org

yifa
The University of the West
1409 Walnut Grove Ave.,
Rosemead, CA91770
Email: yifa@uwest.edu
Visit the website at http://www.woodenfish.org

H-Net reproduces announcements that have been submitted to us as a free service to the academic community. If you are interested in an announcement listed here, please contact the organizers or patrons directly. Though we strive to provide accurate information, H-Net cannot accept responsibility for the text of announcements
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[Taiwan] [Buddhism]

NUC Decision

ESWN has saved me a lot of trouble by rounding up a number of articles and opinions on Chen Shui-bian's scrapping of the NUC in both the world and Hong Kong papers.. One piece discusses the political opinions of Hong Kong newspapers. He also rounds up some of the Hong Kong newspaper stuff, including an op-ed in the Hong Kong Apple Daily that appears to be somewhat understanding of Chen's position. The writer argues:

Besides, it is still the mainstream in popular opinion in Taiwan and the political forces in Taiwan to maintain the status quo. It is still the mainstream to have neither unification nor independence and avoid any deterioration in relationships. Even if President Chen Shui-bian and the Democratic Progressive Party hope to try harder to advance Taiwan independence, they will not have the support of the Legislature, they will not have the support of the other political parties and they will not be able to pass through all the political and constitutional hurdles. In the end, Taiwan will still remain in the balanced state of neither unification nor independence. In other words, Mr. Chen Shui-bian and the Democratic Progressive Party government are only able to create a bit of noise and inconvenience without causing any material impact to the state of relationships between the sides of the strait. The Beijing government ought not react strongly to these little movements by Mr. Chen and the Democratic Progressive Party, and they should not abandon the efforts to promote exchange and improve relationships between the two sides.

Actually, the more ideal and progressive way is for the Beijing government to begin communication with the Democratic Progressive Party and even Chen Shui-bian without any pre-conditions and to begin a dialogue. It can be seen that Mr. Chen and the Democratic Progressive Party are making all these small movements because they have strong Taiwan independence leanings, but more because they have been excluded and marginalized in the communication and dialogue between the two sides of the strait. So Mr. Chen and the Democratic Progressive Party had to make various kinds of noise and different kinds of small movements in order to show that they are a force that must not be ignored. If the Beijing government continues to treat Mr. Chen and the Democratic Progressive Party as "absent" (冇 到 ) and shut them out of the communication, the latter can only create even more noise and trouble. Even if these noises and troubles may not trigger off conflicts, it will make it hard for cross-strait relations to de-froze and turn for the better fully.

I think it is comical to refer to Beijing's "efforts to promote exchange and improve relationships between the two sides" as though any such efforts actually existed. Beijing, as the next paragraph concedes, won't even talk to Chen, and continues to build up its military to attack Taiwan. It would be nice if it did make an effort to improve relations, but it is hard to see how, since China's ultimate goal is to blot Taiwan out, while Taiwan's ultimate goal is to live in an independent nation with a democracy. That twain won't meet, ever. ESWN also cites three polls on the topic, but regrettably uses a Chinese-owned foreign rag, the Apple Daily, and two KMT-supporting papers for his sources.

Meanwhile, here in Taiwan, some deft diplomacy seems to have placated the US. The Taipei Times says:

The US said it was satisfied with the way that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) dealt with the National Unification Council and guidelines on Monday, saying that his action in mothballing the council did not amount to a unilateral change in the status quo, thus satisfying Washington's main concern in relation to the dispute.

"We welcome President Chen's reaffirmation of his administration's commitment to cross-strait peace and stability, and Taiwan's commitment to the pledges that President Chen made in his inaugural address to not unilaterally alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in Washington.

Chen's decision "did not abolish the National Unification Council," McClellan said.

Somebody in Washington must have realized that their response to a US$30 budget item was slightly crazed, compared to the Anti-succession Law and 800 missiles, while it seems to have dawned on Chen what he was gambling with. Meanwhile, back in Wonderland:

According to Ereli, Chen's words amounted to "freezing" the unification mechanism, an acceptable compromise between the conflicting desires of Chen and Washington.

So everyone can go home, the US can imagine that Chen hasn't abolished the NUC, Chen can behave as if it is abolished, and the Emperor can get a whole new set of clothes, even better than the ones he just paraded around in.

One interesting assessment of the NUC and National Unification Guidelines (NUG) came in this article from Taiwan News:

Chang Jung-feng, vice president of the China Institute of Economic Research, said the NUG and NUC were initiated by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in 1990 to facilitate Taiwan's democratization, constitutional reform aimed at ending a state of war with China, and expanded cross-strait exchanges that started after Lee assumed the presidency.

Chang, who was engaged as CIER vice president after retiring from the post of deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council (國家安全會議), said the NUG and NUC are no longer necessary after Taiwan has attained those goals.

In fact, Beijing was once critical of the NUG and NUC, pointing to them as major obstacles to China's unification with Taiwan, and as efforts by Taiwan to push for its memberships in international organizations as an independent political entity, Chang said.

According to the NUG, cross-strait exchange may start after the two sides no longer deny each other as political entities, and direct cross-strait links may be realized after the two sides have set up official channels for their communication. Cross-strait relations would not have been so close if the NUG were enforced, Chang said.

The international media basically echoed all this. K. Hille over at the Financial Times, reported the same line:

Officials said the statement was the result of close consultations with the US, and the government did not expect Washington to reprimand Mr Chen for his step.

“The State Department might re-state their China policy and remind both sides not to unilaterally change the status quo, but they will not criticise us,” said a senior official.

“And I don’t expect US president George W. Bush to come up with anything harsh against Taiwan when he meets with Hu Jintao next month.”

Mr Chen’s move is a step towards strengthening Taiwan’s de-facto independence against growing challenges, officials said.

Most interesting was this last comment in the above article from Joseph Wu...

Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s top China policy official, said that after China enshrined its sovereignty claim over and its threat of military force against Taiwan in an “anti-secession law” a year ago, the balance across the Strait had continuously tilted in the mainland’s favour.

“Taiwan is in danger of being sucked into China’s orbit, and the mainland has adopted a ‘creeping annexation’,” he said.

“By trying to adopt a harder approach, we are trying to counter this and Beijing’s tactics not to deal with our elected government.

“If we are successful, China might see that their united front tactics may not work for the rest of the president’s remaining time in office.”

The term "United Front" of course refers to the time when the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party cooperated against the invading Japanese in WWII. Wu is engaging in a subtle pointing out, and putting down, of current KMT coordination of its policy with Beijing.

At the moment, things seem to have blown over. We'll see what the April visit of Hu to Washington brings, and whether in the meantime China makes some small anti-Taiwan gestures in response. As Jason at Wandering to Tamshui pointed out to me in a private email, both the NT$ and the stock market went up after the announcement. So perhaps we can all amuse ourselves watching Ma Ying-jeou making dumb, contradictory comments.......

[Taiwan] [US] [China] [Chen Shui-bian] [US Foreign Policy] [Taiwan Independence] [Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)] [TRA] [Democracy] [DPP]

Daniel from Suitcasing celebrates 2-28

Daniel from the blog Suitcasing came down from Taipei yesterday to eat, drink, and be daring on the Big Board. We passed a wonderful afternoon chatting about life and blogging -- two topics that in my case have a nearly 100% overlap -- boozing, eating my wife's cookies and playing Axis and Allies.


Daniel decides on a move.

We ate lunch at the weirdest place, a decent pseudo-Italian restaurant with a nifty little pond and fountain, a kilometer from our house, on Fenghsing Rd, an otherwise dull four-lane between Taichung and Fengyuan lined with the usual forgettable lot of gas stations, small machine shops, auto repair joints, and betel nut girls. The food -- what in a classier place they would call "fusion" but in a mid-range place like this the term "Taiwanified" is probably closer to the truth -- was OK and the prices reasonable -- NT$1,400 for 5. They have a little grocery there too, though they don't sell much. No parmesan cheese, more's the pity. Pics of the place follow.




Thanks for coming down, Daniel, and tearing me away from my blog for a few hours!

[Taiwan] [Taiwan Blogs] [Suitcasing]