The Foreigner in Formosa

Myanmar or Burma?

After the transition in Taiwan to democracy, name rectification became a topic of discussion here.  But in the case of Burma, the transition ran in the other direction.  So the question is, if a junta, rather than a democratic government, engages in name rectification, should foreigners legitimize the new official names by accepting them?

Some thoughts by James Fallows at The Atlantic.

Burma, not Myanmar

It's Myanmar, a reader objects

Confusion in the media re: Burma / Myanmar

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UPDATE (Sep 30/07):  Yesterday's China Post also featured a story on this subject:

"The democratically elected but never convened Parliament of 1990 does not recognize the name change, and the democratic opposition continues to use the name 'Burma.' Due to consistent support for the democratically elected leaders, the U.S. government likewise uses 'Burma,'" the State Department Web site says.

UPDATE #2:  Over at The Corner, Jonah Goldberg had a thought:

Wouldn't it be smart for everyone [in Burma] to wear monk robes and, I suppose, shave their heads? The images would have enormous impact, the troops wouldn't know who is and who isn't a monk, and it would give a thrilling "I am Spartacus!" narrative twist to the uprising.

Ma's Misdirection

I commented on this story from the Taipei Times a few weeks ago, but there was one thing there I neglected:

[Ma Ying-jeou, the KMT presidential candidate said that if] elected next year,... he would not allow China to demand that the country cover national flags or pictures of Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) during cross-strait exchange events in Taiwan.

"Such incidents happened frequently after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power. I will not accept it and won't let it happen again if I am elected," he said.  [emphasis added]

One of the beauties of blogging is that it can make fact-checking a whole lot easier.  No more digging through piles of newspaper clippings - if you blogged on the subject, the post is still waiting for you in black-and-white.  And as it so happens, I discussed one of the incidents Ma refers to back in the early days of this blog. 

In all honesty, it was kind of a lame entry, so let's go to the original Taipei Times story instead.  It was November 15th, 2005, and China's tourism official Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉) had just finished a 10 day visit to Taiwan...

When Shao visited, the KMT pulled pull down the flag of the Republic of China and portraits of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at facilities he toured -- which DPP officials called a humiliation of the nation's dignity.

Picture this:  In 2005, the KMT, under Ma Ying-jeou's chairmanship,*  pulled down ROC flags in order to curry favor with a Chinese official.  Two years pass, and Ma now pretends he and his party had nothing to do with it - it was obviously somebody ELSE'S fault!

Please, sir - don't insult our intelligence.  You DID accept it, and you DID let it happen.  The only question now is whether Taiwanese can be trust you not to do it again in the future.

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* According to Wikipedia, Ma Ying-jeou was elected chairman of the KMT on July 16, 2005.

Commoners Insult King!

It's often said that sports builds not only the body, but character as well.  Part of the reason why children are encouraged to play sports is to teach them something about the value of individual effort, teamwork, determination and sportsmanship.  Somewhere along the way, they probably learn that criticism is part of the game, and sometimes criticism is unfair.  Just ask any 10 year old who misses an easy fly ball because the sun got in his eyes.

Remarkable that 10 year olds figure this out, while Taiwanese politicians do not:

Taipei judges made a decision on Wednesday that two Web sites did not need to pay compensation to former Taipei deputy mayor King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) over criticism of him posted on the companies' blog sites.

The argument arose after King discovered that Internet users "freemanh" on yam.com.tw and "YST2000" on udn.com had posted entries on their blogs criticizing King for "humiliating Taiwan" during the International Children's Games in Thailand last year.

King led a team of athletes participating in the games in Thailand in August last year. As Taiwanese medalists walked to the podium to collect their medals, Chinese delegates rushed up to them and snatched away the Taiwanese flags they were carrying.

[...]

Back in Taiwan, Internet users used their blogs to complain about King's behavior and his reaction to the incident. Several said that King had "humiliated Taiwan's national flag" as he failed to prevent Chinese representatives from grabbing the flags.

King then filed a civil lawsuit against the two Web sites.

He requested NT$1 in damages from both companies and asked for a full-page apology to be placed in all local major Chinese-language newspapers.

King Pu-tseng struck out at the plate - he was head guy at the scene when the Chinese snatched the flags.  For that reason, some folks in the bleachers call him a bum.  Others, (like myself) defend him, saying this was a speedball no one could've hit. 

But here's the thing:  If King were a baseball player, he'd have to take the good with the bad, and let all that negative criticism roll right off his back.  Instead, he's a Taiwanese politician - a Mandarin who isn't accustomed to taking lip from uppity coolies.  So he sues blogging companies for libel, threatening freedom of speech itself for nothing more than his own personal vanity.

And vanity, it is.  Because an entire YEAR has passed since the International Children's Games.  A whole TEAM of Taiwanese kids had flags snatched out of their hands by Chinese goons, and all King can think about is how HE was hurt.  Hurt by a few stupid comments from a bunch of know-nothings.  Yes, I know Taiwan has a whole Confucian-face thing going on, but if the place is to remain a democracy, its politicians really need to to get over themselves.  In a democracy, people are ENTITLED to their opinions even when they're wrong.  King should console himself with the knowledge that virtually nobody remembers, or cares, what a few bloggers wrote about him a year ago.

I know.  Trust me on this one.

Perhaps Haywood Hale Broun spoke true when he said, "Sports do not build character.  They reveal it."  It was with his eagerness to stifle public criticism, not the flag-snatching episode, that King Pu-Tseng revealed his character.  And THAT was how he humiliated Taiwan - and himself.

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UPDATE (Sep 27/07):  Upon reflection, I regret having characterized fellow bloggers as "know nothings".  Holy smokes, who am I to talk?  I'm not a native.  I'm not an expert on Taiwan.  Heck, I don't even speak the language.  Talk about throwing stones in a glass house!

That said, I'm not a big fan of blaming the victim.  When China lures away one of Taiwan's allies, I don't blame President Chen or his party.  I wouldn't blame a KMT president or his party if it happened on his watch, either.  China does what it does, simply BECAUSE it can. 

Now, most decent people would never DREAM of snatching a flag out of a kid's hands.  And only someone with a very, VERY low opinion of the Chinese would have believed that they're the kind of people that would.  Obviously, that's a failure of the imagination, because they did.

But even if those present HAD suspected the Chinese would be on their worst behavior, they still faced the problem of having to be on their guard EVERY MOMENT of time against EVERY TRANSGRESSION that might have been committed.  And that's a tough - maybe even an impossible - thing to do.

Happy Moon Festival

It has come to my attention that due to tightened health rules, hairy crabs from China will not be imported into Taiwan for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival.

In lieu of these tasty crustaceans, I give you something even better - a YouTube clip of The Swedish Chef and the Lobster.

Zhong cho jeh kwai le, y'all.

Sure-Fire Vote-Getters

Opposition to Taiwan's attempt to join the U.N. from the local China Post:

The KMT has been...mimicking the DPP [Taiwan's main independence party] in every major political initiative, including such crucial issues as the U.N. bid and what the United States has branded an "ill-conceived" plan to hold a national referendum on U.N. membership under the name Taiwan.  Apparently out of electoral considerations, the opposition KMT has chosen to follow, rather than oppose, the DPP's move for fear of losing votes.

Taiwan's 23 million people do not deserve U.N. membership.  They should gain membership to have their voice heard and to contribute to the world organization.  [emphasis added]

Picture the electoral chances of some poor boob from the KMT who takes the Post's advice and proclaims, "My fellow Taiwanese:  You SHOULD gain U.N. membership...but you don't DESERVE it!"

(Pity we aren't given the reasons WHY Taiwan's people don't deserve it.  Are they too stupid?  Too fat?  Too ugly?  Killed puppies in their previous lives?  What, exactly?)

To the China Post, the issue is an unwelcome distraction from badmouthing the economy as a means of persuading people to hitch Taiwan's economy even further to China's:

But there are issues more important than the U.N. bid, which is a non-starter in the first place.  The KMT should have the courage to initiate campaign issues of its own, issues that concern the public interest.

One of the more comical aspects of the KMT's recent rally in support of its U.N. referendum question was its half-heartedness.  Taiwan should try to join the U.N. under the Republic of China name, or some other practical name.  That was supposed to be the event's major theme, anyways.  But the march's organizers couldn't resist throwing all manner of economic complaints into the stew, even going so far as to request that supporters wear blue flip-flops as symbols of their destitution under President Chen's administration.

The result was a diluted message.  Hey everybody, we're FIRMLY committed to Taiwan joining the U.N..  (But please notice we'd rather talk about all this OTHER stuff instead!)

In a similar way, the paper sought to dismiss the value of U.N. membership by trotting out the example of one country that's doing very well on its own outside of the U.N., thank you very much:

The U.N. membership is important to be sure, but it is not everything.  Switzerland is not a U.N. member for instance.  It is rich and prosperous.

Of course, the effect of this argument is somewhat blunted by the fact that Switzerland DID become a U.N. member.  Back in 2002. 

(And regardless of its recent date of entry, the Swiss had long played host to a number of U.N. organizations in a little town known as Geneva.)

From Beijing's lips to the China Post's presses, the next one's wrong as well:

Taiwan's U.N. bid, initiated in 1993 when Lee Teng-hui was in power, was a political move to deceive the people.  The hidden purpose was to promote the cause of Taiwan independence...

By that reasoning, East Germany and North Korea's entry into the U.N. were also crafty moves designed to promote those respective countries' independence.  Funny, but it didn't exactly work out that way for East Germany.  And I dare say it won't for North Korea, either.

The piece concludes on an optimistic note, best paraphrased from Homer J. Simpson: "Taiwan, you tried your best and you failed miserably.  The lesson is, never try."

Now, 15 years has elapsed [since Taiwan first attempt to rejoin the U.N.] and the bid has become more hopeless than ever.  Yes, Taiwan can keep trying next year and every year "to let the world know the absurdity" of the issue.  But is it wise to do so when there are more pressing issues at home?

What I would dispute here is the notion that Taiwan can't walk and chew gum at the same time.  Is it really so difficult, so costly, for Taiwan to apply to the U.N. that resources can't simultaneously be channeled towards other domestic problems? *  Just how much time does it take for President Chen to draft a few letters to the Secretary-General?  How hard is it for Taiwan's overseas diplomats to petition its allies for help?  I mean, that's their JOB, isn't it?  It's what they're PAID to do.  The government isn't going to wake up tomorrow and say, "Hey!  We've got more pressing issues at home!  Let's recall all those good-for-nothing diplomats of ours and put them to work in Allen-wrench factories instead!"

There are plenty of countries that are worse off than Taiwan.  Far worse off.  But relative poverty has not been an excuse for them to put off joining the U.N..

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* Sunday's Taipei Times put a price tag on Taiwan's recent U.N. bid:

Which brings us to the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) threat last week to sue the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for spending an estimated NT$100 million (US$3 million) on its UN campaign. Though the exercise failed in its primary objective, it was immensely successful in promoting Taiwan and engendering debate all over the world. Rarely has Taiwan been discussed so extensively in newspapers, from the US to Denmark, or had rallies -- from San Francisco to Vancouver -- held in support of the nation.

To put things in perspective, the DPP's campaign only came at one-fifteenth of the cost of an F-16 aircraft. From a PR point of view, that NT$100 million was a wise investment.

Quite an apropos comparison to make, between the cost of the U.N. bid and part of Taiwan's defense expenditure.  For three million dollars, Taiwan energized some of its international supporters, and those supporters made their backing public.  Such visible support, in some SMALL way, makes an attack on Taiwan less likely, because it makes the point clear to Beijing that any attack would not be yawned at by members of the international community.  It lets the Chinese know there may be unpleasant international consequences for them if they ever take aggressive action against the Beautiful Isle.

I'd be the first to say that the significance of this deterrent value should not be overestimated.  Given that though, I'd also ask whether an additional one-fifteenth of an F-16 would have provided Taiwan with much more deterrence at the margins.

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

Terrific set of editorials in Taiwan's China Post on Monday - from a blogger's point of view, anyways.  Both deal with issues of Taiwanese sovereignty.  The first, "Did Taiwan give up sovereignty over the Tiaoyutai Islands?" makes the case those islands belong to Taiwan rather than Japan, then takes the government to task for not pressing Taiwan's claim assertively enough:

Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration appears reluctant to confront Japanese patrols over the Tiaoyutai [known to the Japanese as the Senkaku Islands - The Foreigner], where Yilan* fishermen now often get caught for "intrusion" into Japanese "territorial waters."  Activists have been forbidden to make any protest trips there...

You want an international incident...over THIS???

(Image from twhistory.org)

The second editorial, "What's in a name?" ridicules President Chen Shui-bian's efforts to have the country named "Taiwan" rather than "Taiwan, China":

[President Chen] is obsessed with the idea of getting Taiwan to accede to the United Nations under its rightful name. His government bristles whenever anything from Taiwan shown abroad is said to be from Taiwan, China.

That's why the Government Information Office lodged a complaint with the organizers of the Venice Film Festival, who, under pressure from Beijing, listed Taiwan-produced films as entries from Taiwan, China. Among them was "Se Jie (Lust Caution)," directed by Ang Lee of "Brokeback Mountain" fame. It was originally described as a production from "USA and China" for it was shot in both countries. It was later changed to Taiwan at the request of its producer. That in turn drew complaints from China. Then the name was settled as "USA/China/Taiwan."

[...]

All this sounds like silly gags in a bad TV sitcom. Can't we try just to forget whatever name other countries in the world choose to attach to our island nation?  [emphasis added]

Ironically enough, the Post's conclusion is contradicted by the very example it provides.  The Venetians didn't "choose" to list Taiwan-produced films as originating from "Taiwan, China"; they were PRESSURED by Beijing into doing so - by the China Post's own admission.

Be that as it may, we're still faced with the question:  Is this, as the Post claims, just a silly semantic quibble?  Isn't the whole "Taiwan" vs. "Taiwan, China" vs. "Chinese Taipei" debate on par with arguments over tomayto-tomahto or Germany-Deutschland?  Shouldn't Taiwan just get a life and ignore trivialities?

What's amusing is that a paper that spilt so much ink complaining about the renaming of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall would have the face to turn around on a dime and subsequently ask its readers, "What's in a name?"  Let me guarantee you, the China Post wouldn't be nearly so philosophical about that question if Tokyo started referring to Taiwan as JAPANESE-Taipei.  Nosiree - the China Post would be the first to regard THAT as an attempt to de-legitimize Taiwan.

No Czech newspaper would nonchalantly ask, "What's in a name?" if Berlin started talking about "Sudetenland, GERMANY" once more.  Not if it didn't want to appear treasonous, it wouldn't.  And papers in the Baltics wouldn't give little sermons about semantic freedom if Vladimir Putin had pressured other countries into referring to Lithuania as RUSSIAN Vilnius.

No, in both cases, the Czechs and Balts would be swift to recognize their own self-interest.  They'd instantly see those names as something sinister, as preludes to future attacks upon their national sovereignty.

Maybe now you can see why I was so impressed that the China Post printed both those editorials on the same page.  Because recognizing that the second piece calls upon Taiwan to surrender its sovereignty in one arena, the writers compensated by defending it in another.

Now, I may be one of the world's worst chess players, but even I know that as a general rule, the key to success in that game is to protect your important pieces, while sacrificing your unimportant ones.  Yet, the China Post counsels the exact opposite.  The Post would have Taiwan defend the sovereignty of the Senkakus - risking war through "confrontation" with Japanese patrols ** - over a relatively insignificant group of islands 7 square kilometers in size, on which not a single Taiwanese lives, or ever HAS lived.  That, while ignoring Chinese threats to the sovereignty of Taiwan Island itself - an island 36,000 square kilometers in size and populated by 23 MILLION people.

There are only two possible conclusions here.***  Either those guys are even worse chess players than I am...or, this is a game they deliberately want Taiwan to lose.

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* Yilan is a county on Taiwan's north-east coast.

** A Taiwanese confrontation with Japan over the Senkakus risks war with not only Japan, but America herself:

The 1960 US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security applies to territories under the administration of Japan, including the Senkaku Islands. In November 1996, Assistant Secretary of Defense Campbell stated that the basic position of the US is that the Japan-US security treaty would cover the Senkaku Islands. Secretary of Defense William Perry reconfirmed this fact on 03 December 1996.

A conflict is, perhaps, what the China Post hopes for.  Stir up Chinese nationalist sentiment in Taiwan and provoke a war with Japan and its ally, America.  Chinese nationalists then have their excuse to renounce America, and openly ally themselves with their communist brethren across the Strait.  From twhistory.org:

But the fight for sovereignty of the Diaoyutai [Senkakus], even to the extent of debating Taiwan's international position and legitimacy, has been continuously examined and contended, with some people [in Taiwan] even advocating a United People's Republic of China, or so-called Overseas Chinese, fighting together for the sovereignty of the Diaoyutai...  [emphasis added]

With the strategic goal of uniting Taiwan with the PRC accomplished at last, the victor in any war for the Senkakus' would be largely besides the point.

*** Actually there is a third possibility.  While as a general rule the good chess player protects valuable pieces and sacrifices weak ones, he sometimes does the opposite in order to BAIT his opponent.  Parenthetical point #2 above represents an example of what this might look like.

The opponent in such a case would be none other than the Taiwanese people, who, if misled into taking the bait, would be lured away from a democratic ally and into the arms of authoritarian one.

Japanese Election: Who Do'ya Root For?

In an editorial on Monday, Taiwan's China Post described Yasuo Fukuda, the front-runner in the upcoming Japanese election for prime minister.  While the Post's editors didn't directly endorse Fukuda, one can assume his policies would meet with their approval:

Fukuda, 71, an advocate of a less U.S.-centric foreign policy, stressed he would not visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by many Asian countries as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. He is also critical of Abe's proposal for a "broader Asia" partnership of countries that would include India, the U.S. and Australia - but not China.

From the point of view of a Chinese nationalist, any Japanese P.M. who'd give China more of a free hand by weakening Asian alliances is a P.M. "devoutly to be wish'd."

Meanwhile, the Taipei Times came out in favor of Fukuda's rival, Taro Aso:

There are already too many leaders who are willing to cozy up to Beijing -- and what good has that done Taiwan or Tibet, or the countless Chinese locked up in jail for seeking human rights?

Aso, perhaps, isn't such a leader, and therein lies a tremendous opportunity for Taiwan.

The reason for the Times' optimism has something to do with a statement he made in 2006:

Taiwan's "democracy is considerably matured and liberal economics is deeply ingrained, so it is a law-abiding country," then Japanese foreign minister Taro Aso said in March last year, adding that "in various ways, it is a country that shares a sense of values with Japan."

Aso said Taiwan is a law-abiding COUNTRY?  Not too hard to see why supporters of Taiwanese independence would like him.  Not coincidentally, today's Taipei Times and Taiwan News both featured stories portraying Aso as a sort of political version of Hiro Nakamura from the TV series Heroes:

An avowed booster of "manga" comic books and animation known as "anime," Aso has won the support of fans - called "otaku," or nerds - for his promise to promote Japanese pop art overseas.

"Aso is a true nerd. He should be prime minister!" said Asami Suzuki, a 20-year-old college student shopping for comics in Akihabara.

"He understands that manga and anime are so important to Japan's image," Suzuki said.

(Hiro Nakamura:  "I can bend the space-time continuum.  Just like Mr. Spock!")

(Hiro Nakamura image from Vividrealism.com)

Unfortunately, the truth is that Aso's not quite as lovable as Hiro:

While Aso was the presumed successor until quite recently, he is widely disliked by powerful figures in the LDP and is prone to gaffes. (Referring to a fellow Diet member, descended from members of Japan’s once-untouchable caste: “That burakumin can’t be Prime Minister,” which would be kind of like a GOP presidential candidate in the US replying, “That [N-word] can’t be President,” when asked about Barack Obama. Referring to the Korean slaves who worked for his father prior to and during World War II being forced to adopt Japanese names: “Most Koreans wanted Japanese names anyway.”)

So, one more time.  Who do you like in the Japanese election?  The polite guy who'll be no friend to Taiwan, or the politically-incorrect jerk who will?

Save The Last (Lap) Dance For Me

Goodness knows I rag on Taiwan's China Post a lot, but there ARE things I like about the paper.  They've got a good Taiwan travel page, for one.  Come tax time, the China Post prints advice for foreigners - advice that was certainly helpful to me the first few years I was here.  And those Hubble photos of nebulae, etc. - man, now those are just GREAT.

A few months ago though, fellow blogger Michael Turton mentioned something I'd never considered before.  Namely, that the China Post features very nice slice-of-life in Taiwan stories.  Case in point: the story of the dead man whose buddies treated him to one final lap dance.

"We had our tea party for six at his home," Lai said. "I asked him to quit drinking, but he didn't listen."

He said Lee didn't want to give up drinking and blurted out, "Hey, if I die, would you let me enjoy a strip-tease dance by myself?"

"Of course we will," Lai promised Lee on behalf of all five friends at the party. Three days after the party, Lee passed the way of all flesh, and now it was up to the friends to keep that promise. The remains of the departed soul were transferred to a public funeral parlor at the seat of the southern Taiwan county as soon as he had expired. The funeral service was scheduled for Sunday morning. That gave Lai some trouble. It's against the law to perform a strip-tease show in a public place.

"There's an obscenity law that makes such a show punishable by a NT$3,000 fine," said Captain Chen Chao-chin, head of the police precinct that has jurisdiction over the district where the municipal funeral parlor is located.

So Lai made an end-run. The show took place on late Saturday night, in front of the coffin where Lee was laid. And his four friends stood watch for a possible police raid.  [emphasis added]

As the grandfather of rock 'n' roll once sang:

So when they plant my body 'neath the sod
Please don't take it so hard
'Cause when I'm coppin'
That eternal nod
I'll be the happiest cat in the graveyard.

- Louis Jordan, I'll Die Happy

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UPDATE (Mar 7/08):  A couple days ago, the Taipei Times printed a photo of a similar celebration.

Meteor Lake

A few years ago, an acquaintance showed me photos of a lake high up in the Taiwanese mountains, which she said was formed after a meteor strike.  SPECTACULAR photos.  At the time, she told me the Mandarin name of the lake, but I promptly forgot it.  And I've been trying to remember it ever since.

Anyways, today's China Post and Taipei Times both had pictures of Chia-ming lake on the front page, and I instantly recognized it.  From the Sep 18/07 edition of the Taipei Times:

Did a quick check on the net for more images:

Chia-ming lake pictures

Interestingly enough, I ran across the English-language blog of Barking Deer Adventures, a tour company that arranges hikes there.  Says it's a three-day hike, "Suitable for the reasonably fit," so that kind of rules me out.  Even WITH the new porter service.  :-(

But it's good to know the name, now.  Makes it POSSIBLE for me to go.  Maybe someday...

Danes For Taiwan

Long-time readers will know that this blog has had a soft spot for Denmark ever since that country came under assault from global Islamic totalitarianism last year.  Pleasing to see that Taiwan received some support from Denmark recently:

The Jutland Post contributed a half-page in last Tuesday's edition to publishing readers' letters in support of Taiwan. Most of the letters were written to rebuke Jin Zhijian (金智健), a counselor with the Chinese embassy in Copenhagen, who claimed in a letter published in the Post dated Sept. 6 that "according to the Cairo Declaration [1943] and the Potsdam Proclamation [1945], Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China."

Jin wrote to the Danish daily in response to Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳), who published an article in the Post on Aug. 25 about the nation's bid to enter the UN using the name "Taiwan."

Now, I'm not sure that one foreign paper publishing a few pro-Taiwan letters qualifies as news, but the story concludes on an intriguing note:

Also responding to Jin's claim, Pia Kjaersgaard, chairwoman and cofounder of the Danish People's Party -- the third largest political party in Denmark, which regards itself as center-right -- almost immediately issued a statement saying that Jin's letter to the newspaper was an attempt to cover up the fact that the People's Republic of China's sovereignty has not for a single day extended to the island of Taiwan.

Kjaersgaard said that from now on, the Danish People's Party would extend every assistance to help Taiwan be accepted as a normal member of the international community.

Kind of makes me wonder exactly how many other foreign political parties are Taiwan-friendly.  Of course, I realize that it's easy for opposition parties to adopt pro-Taiwan planks; it's a whole lot harder to hold that position once you've won an election and the Chinese ambassador starts pounding his shoe on your desk, threatening your country's commercial interests.

Still, the Danes showed a lot of guts in not caving to Muslim boycotts during the Battle of Khartoon.  It's not inconceivable that they might someday stick to their guns in the face of Chinese bullying as well.

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Postscript:  A quick google reveals that the Jutland Post is the English name of Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper which first published the Mohammed cartoons in 2005.

Pearly-White Terror

Got a hot date with the drill coming up, and, discretion being the better part of valor, The Foreigner will NOT be engaging in political argument at the clinic:

Dentists form group to support [Chinese Nationalist Party]

Chen Shui-bian's a bum, Chiang Kai-shek was the greatest thing ever, and the KMT's Taiwan's only hope? 

Rrrrrr-AIR-rrrrrr!

"Ahhtever you shay, Doc!"

Raising the Flag

It was only a few months ago that Chinese nationalist news media in Taiwan berated President Chen over the government's refusal to allow the Olympic torch relay to set foot here.  Chen (not China!) was politicizing sport; Taiwan should just take whatever humiliation China throws its way and be thankful that Big Brother China allows Taiwan to participate at all.  If I remember correctly, the China Post even concluded one of its editorials by growling that Chen had "better not dare boycott the 2008 Olympics."

(Exactly what humiliations am I referring to?  China wished to officially designate Taiwan as "Taipei, China" - an appellation that suggested Taipei is a possession of China.)

Well, what a difference a few months can make!  Because suddenly, I see Chinese nationalists jumping on the Chen Shui-bian bandwagon, threatening all manner of boycotts themselves:

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has vowed to defend the right of audiences at sports games to carry national flags, adding that if he were elected next year, his government would cancel any games where Chinese teams refused to cooperate.

A brief explanation is in order here.  Several years ago, China twisted enough arms at the International Olympic Committee to get Taiwan banned from the Olympics.  Taiwan was eventually permitted to take part in them again, but only after signing an agreement that it would not display its national flag or play its national anthem during the Games.  Taiwan was forced to sign similar agreements to allow it to participate in other international games as well.

(Republic of China flag image from Taiwandc.org)

Now, there are two interpretations of this deal.  Most Taiwanese accept a narrow interpretation that stipulates that there cannot be any OFFICIAL displays of Taiwanese flags.  Say a Taiwanese athlete wins a medal.  In such a case, most Taiwanese accept that their flag can't be shown on the podium, and their national anthem can't be played.  They're not happy about it, but they know that's the best deal Taiwan could get from the Butchers of Beijing.

The Chinese however, interpret the agreement more broadly.  No Republic of China flags - PERIOD.*    You, a private spectator, bring an ROC flag to an Olympic game?  The Chinese will INSIST you be expelled from the premises:

During the 2005 Asian Figure Skating Trophy at the Taipei Arena, the [Taiwanese] audience was banned from bringing the national flag and the Taipei City Government -- while Ma was mayor -- failed to defend the audience's right, arguing it was not the organizer of the event.

A similar situation arose during the Taiwan Auto Gymkhana Grand Prix at the Taipei Tobacco Factory in 2005, in which the national flag was not allowed to fly.

But that's not the half of it.  Now the Chinese are demanding that Taiwan forbid the display of the ROC flag during a a possible Olympic torch run here.  And all at once, even Taiwan's capitulation-minded Chinese nationalists are growing spines and saying this is all a bit much.

Kinda nice to see the Taiwanese rallying around the flag in the face of Chinese insults for a change, instead of the usual sad spectacle of local Chinese nationalists reflexively siding with Beijing.  Of course, it's easy to be cynical about Chinese nationalists' sudden defence of their country's flag, it being PURELY COINCIDENTAL that legislative and presidential elections** are less than a year away.  But the Taiwanese demos is rightly PO'ed, and politicians are taking note.  For once, it feels like the system is actually working.

One final thought.  Last year, Chinese nationalists in Taiwan were cosying up to China, and they began to openly espouse a triangulation strategy between Beijing and Washington.  Taiwan was to become a neutral country, based upon the dubious theory that Taiwan isn't a piece of real estate greedily coveted by China, but rather, a preference-less bystander trapped between two great powers. 

Thanks to this latest act of arrogance on Beijing's part, selling that triangulation strategy to angry Taiwanese voters may not be quite as easy as Chinese nationalists had once hoped.

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*  I've often thought that there are obvious ways around the ban.  Stadium security would certainly have a difficult time expelling a thousand spectators who had taken it upon themselves to secretly bring Republic of China flags to the venue.  It'd be one of those, "I'm Spartacus," kind of moments.  Or alternatively, audiences could respect the ban on Republic of China flags at international sporting events, and bring another one in its stead.

After all, the deal says nothing about Republic of TAIWAN flags, now, does it?

(Proposed Republic of Taiwan flag image from Taiwandc.org)

** I may be wrong, but I'm not sure whether the issue of allowing local spectators to bring ROC flags to international sporting events held here is really a presidential issue at all (except in a tangential way, which I'll explain in a moment).  To begin with, I'll assume that stadiums in Taiwan receive SOME sort of tax breaks and / or government grants from municipal and national legislatures.  At least, that's the way it usually works back home.  Furthermore, I'll also point out that it's legislatures that control the purse, and it's legislatures that make the rules governing eligibility for those tax breaks and government grants. 

Now, over the last 7 years, we have seen the Chinese nationalist-dominated legislature threaten to cut off funds of numerous government agencies that it felt were not following its directives.  And sometimes, those threats were not empty ones.  Given that history then, one might have expected similar legislative activism on behalf of Taiwanese spectators denied their right to bring ROC flags into local stadiums.  Or rather, one might have expected this, if the legislature had deemed this to be something worthy of its concern.

Since I honestly don't know what executive powers the Taiwanese president has to deal with problems such as this, I tend to think this is more of a legislative issue than a presidential one.  But it IS a presidential issue in one sense:  the lack of prior legislative action serves as an indictment of the priorities of the legislature's former leader, Ma Ying-jeou.

And that would be the very same Ma Ying-jeou who is now running for the Taiwanese presidency, on the Chinese Nationalist Party ticket.

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UPDATE (Sep 15/07):  Over at Taiwan Matters!, Tim Maddog has a good background on Ma Ying-jeou's "evolving view" of the issue.

Why China Airlines Should Keep Its Name

Been gone for a month, so I'm woefully out of touch with local events.  About the only things I heard about are the big typhoon and the airplane that blew up on the runway in Japan. Didn't see footage in the foreign media of the former, but there sure was plenty of the latter.

(Image from Aug 21st ed of the Taipei Times)

One thing I DID notice was that none of the foreign media bothered to mention that China Airlines is in fact a TAIWANESE airline.  And with some new Chinese product or another being recalled every 3 or 4 days, it suddenly dawned upon me that here was ONE reason for not renaming the company that Taiwan's China Post managed to overlook.  Here goes:

China Airlines should not be renamed "Taiwan Airlines" out of a simple desire to maintain Taiwan's good reputation.  After all, when a China Airlines jet blows up on the tarmac, isn't it better from Taiwan's perspective that foreigners mistakenly take it to be a Chinese, rather than a Taiwanese, company?

Heh.

Anatomy Lesson

The wheel bone's connected to the - brake bone,
The brake bone's connected to the - handle bone...

(Taoyuan scooter image with unacceptably high contrast level by The Foreigner)