The Foreigner in Formosa

Confucianism Making Comeback In China

Geez, this sounds like some kinda Chinese madrassa:

"The teachings of Confucius are the first thing we begin teaching the children," said Feng Zhe, director of the Confucian School, which opened six months ago. "Each child should recite the Confucian texts 1,000 times until their spirit is imprinted completely. This is a graduation requirement." [Emphasis added]

[...]

So far 46 students below the age of 14 have enrolled in the school which is based on learning through recitation.

I sure pity those kids.

A Few Links

Defending Taiwan: U.S. Naval drills

Chinese micro killer satellites?

Slow but steady:  Chinese development of nuclear submarine technology

Strike A Pose, There's Nothing To It

Any particular reason why the mainstream media is showing us the photographic self-portraits of a mass murderer, depicting him as some kind of kick-ass comrade of Neo and Trinity aboard the Nebuchadnezzar?

Oh, we all know why you do it
Sometimes you even slow it down
You're giving out some bad ideas here
I can't believe that you don't realize

You must be evil
You must be evil
Evil...

-Chris Rea, "You Must Be Evil"

Hats off to the local English media, which has thus far declined to be the propaganda organs of a publicity-hungry killer.

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POSTSCRIPT:  Jim Treacher at the Daily Gut expresses irritation with some of the reaction:

According to MSNBC: "South Korea's Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences, saying that there was no known motive for the shootings and that South Korea hoped the tragedy would not 'stir up racial prejudice or confrontation.' "  You know what?  How about just expressing your condolences?  If a white American guy shot a bunch of people in South Korea, would we tell the grieving families that we hoped it wouldn't stir up racial prejudice?

On a personal note, I've been approached by a couple of Taiwanese within the last few days and asked if I know how to distinguish between Taiwanese and Koreans.  I admit I probably can't, though I make sure to ask the questioners in turn if THEY can tell the difference between Frenchmen and Poles.

I tell them that I can't, either.  But most people ARE able to distinguish between dead homicidal maniacs and people who, by a sheer accident of birth, happen to share the same nationality.

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CORRECTION:  It was Jim Treacher and not David Gutfeld at the Daily Gut who was unhappy about the South Korean government's initial response to the Cho Seung-Hui shootings.  Apologies for that; the error has been corrected.

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UPDATE:  Maybe I should have read today's papers before writing this post, because two local English papers DID print Cho's pictures.  The Taiwan News printed the one with Cho raising a claw hammer with two hands - which isn't that objectionable because it just makes him look demented.  Taiwan's China Post on the other hand, printed the one where Cho looks like an Asian gangsta-rap version of the Shadow.  Fortunate that they're not trying to glamorize him, or anything...

Meanwhile, a couple of lawmakers with mental-health issues of their own showed up at Virginia Tech's sister university in Taipei with the local media in tow, and staged an impromptu terrorism drill by reporting a false hostage-taking incident to police.  Needless to say, much hilarity ensued:

At a classroom where students were studying, [one of theTaiwanese nationalist lawmakers] walked in and held up a fork, saying it was a submachine gun, and pointed it at the students while asking them if they knew how to deal with such a situation.

Several minutes later, the legislative duo [and class-full of students] were confronted by dozens of police officers wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying 9mm pistols and M-16 assault rifles, who had been sent from nearby Daan Precinct.

Teach-errr, can we do the midterm NEXT week, instead?

Closing this little round-up, it looks like the Taiwanese who talked to me aren't the only ones concerned about being mistaken for Koreans:

...some Taiwanese students in the US had asked Taiwanese compatriot organizations or their families to send them clothes or hats with the word "Taiwan" or "Taipei" or stickers of the national flag in a bid to help distinguish them from South Korean nationals after Monday's killings.

I don't mean to belittle other people's concerns or fears, but I don't for a minute believe Southerners are going to lynch ANYBODY over this.  Frankly, I think it's a little little insulting to suggest that they might.

UPDATE (Apr 21/07):  The View from Taiwan has a more in-depth discussion of the phony terrorism drill at National Taiwan University in Taipei.

UPDATE (May 15/07):  South Korean newspapers apparently indulged in some schadenfreude immediately after the killings, printing editorial cartoons slamming American society. After learning that the shooter was Korean, however, they quickly pulled the cartoons.  (Hat tip to AsiaPundit)

This Is Not About YOU, John Chiang

Earlier this week, John Chiang, an illegitimate descendant of former Taiwanese dictator Chiang Kai-shek, launched a lawsuit over the dismantling of his grand-dad's statue by the city of Kaohsiung:

"I can't bear to see the statue of the late president being disassembled.  I demand Mayor Chen publish an apology in the islands three main Chinese-language newspapers and pay a symbolic NT$1 in compensation [for] the city's rude behavior..."

"I shed tears when I saw on the TV that it (the city government) disassembled the [Chiang Kai-shek] statue into more than 200 parts * ..."

The fact is that while John Chiang shed tears, others cheered.  I know of no moral calculus that says John Chiang's displeasure must weigh more heavily than the approval of others.

There is, I believe, only one instrument with which the conflict between Chiang supporters and critics can be resolved:  Democracy. This is where Taiwan's China Post gets their "Cultural Revolution" analogy all wrong.  Unlike Mao's China, Taiwanese mobs are not  roaming the streets smashing Chiang statues.**  Instead, the people of Taiwan chose known anti-Chiang politicians to be their leaders, and those politicians are enacting that part of their program.  When pro-Chiang politicians are elected to executive positions, I will take that as evidence that the Taiwanese wish Chiang to remain in his place of honor.

Some might object that anti-Chiang politicians were elected for other reasons, pointing to poll numbers to support that claim.  Fair point, though I notice that Chiang defenders are not quite so confident about their numbers as to call for a democratic referendum on the issue.  Guess it's easier to bluster about Chiang's "solid support" in Taiwanese society than it is to risk a humiliating loss at the polls on the question.

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* While it was initially reported that the Chiang Kai-shek statue in Kaohsiung was broken into 200 pieces, the correct number was quickly established to be 79.  For emotive purposes, John Chiang continues to use the inflated figure.

** There was however, one troubling case of arson directed against one of Chiang Kai-shek's holiday villas recently, and it's my hope that the perpetrator will be found and punished harshly.   De-Chiangification must take place under the rule of law and under democratic auspices, not according to the whims of individuals with butane lighters.

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UPDATE (Apr 21/07):  The difference between John Chiang and Cho Seung-Hui's grandfather could not be starker:

John Chiang: "I shed tears when I saw on the TV that [the city government] disassembled [my grandfather's] statue into more than 200 parts."

Cho Seung-Hui's grandfather:  "Son of a bitch.  It serves [my grandson] right he died..."

Sorry, Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan

The boys in the lab say you don't exist:  Alien plants unlikely to be blue in color.

(Zhaan image from Ambrosiasw.com/~jchamplin)

Losing It

The Foreigner wins a new fan.  Really takes me back to the old Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio program:

I'll have you all hung, drawn, and quartered! And whipped! And boiled...until...until...until you've had enough!  And then I'll chop you up into little bits!  And when I've finished, I'll take all the little bits, and I'll JUMP on them! And I'll carry on jumping on them until I get blisters, or I can think of something even more unpleasant to do...

Thanks for the memory, dude.

Delusions Of Grandeur

Alonso Quixano...or the Knight of the Rueful Figure?

Joshua A. Norton...or His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Norton I of the United States?

Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon III...or the Duke of France?

And, dare I say it:

Taiwan, the country...or the One, True China?

Taiwan Drills For Attack On PRC Aircraft Carrier

From Tuesday's Taiwan News:

Taiwan is performing a computerized military exercise which for the first time focuses on attacking a Chinese aircraft carrier, it was reported yesterday.

The scenario of a five-day drill - part of a military maneuver codenamed "Han Kuang 23" is that in 2012 the People's Liberation Army launch a blitz on the island after they acquire their first aircraft carrier...

In the drill beginning yesterday, the Taiwanese navy armed with home-made "Hsiungfeng II" ship-to-ship missiles and the improved version of supersonic "Hsiungfeng III" missiles is to simulate launching its arsenal against a Chinese aircraft carrier...

The Taiwan air force's F-16 fighters would also simulate attacks on the carrier using U.S.-made Harpoon missiles...

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UPDATE (May 17/07):  This is an update which really should have been done about a month ago.  The April 22nd edition of the China Post reveals that this report was false:

The simulated war games didn't cover the use of nuclear weapons or Taiwan military attacks on China's aircraft carrier battle groups as some media outlets had speculated, the sources said.

The Taipei Times emphasized the positive, final outcome of the computer simulation:

The complex simulation involved a scenario of China invading Taiwan in 2012.

[...]

In the simulation, Chinese ships ferry forces to the island, backed by heavy missile barrages and pinpoint air strikes on Taiwanese military bases and other strategic facilities.

The "invaders" then establish beachheads along Taiwan's west coast, though their arrival is delayed for days by Taiwanese missile strikes on Chinese military bases and by Taiwanese navy counterattacks.

The simulation saw western Taiwan radar stations, missile bases and airports suffer heavy damage, but ground forces held down casualty numbers by taking cover in specially prepared areas.

After two weeks of fierce fighting, Taiwan's army corners and destroys the Chinese invaders.

[...]

The computer simulation envisioned no role for the US in the fighting, [Marine Lieutenant  General Hsu Tai-sheng] said, despite expectations that Washington would assist Taiwan if China attacked.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's China Post played up the devastation angle:

In the mock counterattacks, Taiwan's troops struck coastal Chinese military targets and cities with such weapons as cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles.

[...]

In the first three days of the simulated Chinese invasion, Taiwan incurred severe human and material losses from China's saturated ballistic missile assault, as well as its naval and aerial bombardment.

However, Taiwan's armed forces managed to get up to steam to stage counterattacks on China's coastal military targets and its major cities, causing heavy human casualties and major destruction.

In the warfare scenario, the military strikes not only take a heavy toll on the economic well-being of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, but also adversely impact the global economy and cause a worldwide panic.

In the end, the United States and other Western countries jointly mediated a ceasefire.

Of course, the U.S. probably wouldn't be in a position to mediate a ceasefire if it were to come to Taiwan's aid.  At any rate, U.S. officials were present, and presumably spoke to a few of Taiwan's armed forces to try to get a handle on troop loyalty:

Meanwhile, the sources said, the U.S. observation group focused in particular on assessing the Taiwan military personnel's "combat spirit" to see whether their morale has been affected by the prolonged political infighting that has cast a long shadow over society since the transition of power between different political parties back in 2000.

In weighing the military's "combat spirit," the sources said, the U.S. delegation wanted to determine whether Taiwan would likely lean toward China and whether any advanced U.S.-built weaponry systems or sophisticated defense strategies would end up in the hands of the Chinese communists.

A Woman Named Taiwanna

The  China Post featured this Dutch woman's story.  Which reminds me:  Ever since I, Claudius, I've been kind of partial to the name, "Germanicus."

Probably a good thing I don't have any kids.

English Proficiency Requirement For Taiwanese Presidents?

It must have seemed tempting.  The Chinese Nationalist Party's presumptive presidential nominee speaks fluent English, while most Taiwanese nationalist candidates for the job don't.  So...why not just write an English requirement for the presidency into law, thereby ELIMINATING most Taiwanese nationalists from the political competition?

(Given the smaller pool of eligible candidates, the over-all quality of the final Taiwanese nationalist candidate would likely suffer as well.  From the KMT's point of view, a win-win proposal all around.)

A few days later though, the Chinese nationalists dropped the idea.  It's a pity the English papers didn't give us too many of their comments as to why, however.  Now, perhaps they abandoned it because it was undemocratic and limited the Taiwanese public's right to choose.  (I will not exclude that possibility.)  Or perhaps there was another reason - one more rooted in long-term self-interest.  Because surely someone at the Chinese Nationalist Party must have considered that one language requirement might someday beget another.  And by that, I mean one for Taiwanese.

A Taiwanese requirement for the R.O.C. presidency would make at LEAST as much sense as an English requirement - 60% of Taiwanese speak it to one degree or another, for crying out loud.  Enacting one would do to the Chinese Nationalists exactly what they so transparently tried to do to Taiwanese nationalists: Put them at a severe electoral disadvantage.  Well, a Taiwanese requirement wouldn't hurt all KMT members - just the dominant Mainlander faction that only speaks Mandarin.  Still, it's hard to imagine those fellas maintaining dominance over the party once the highest office of the land becomes closed to them, all nice and legal-like.

A language requirement for the presidency?  If I were a Mainlander belonging to the KMT, that's definitely one sleeping dog I'd prefer to let lie.

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UPDATE (Apr 24/07):  The View from Taiwan points out that that soon afterwards, Taiwanese nationalists tried to cater a law aimed specifically at Ma Ying-jeou, the probable KMT presidential candidate for 2008.  Joe Hung at the China Post discusses this case as well.

Meet The Newest Nuclear Rogue State On The Block

From Friday's Taiwan News:

Few experts doubt that Iran's uranium-enrichment program would do irreparable damage to the non-proliferation regime.

Fair enough.  Just see if you can spot the odd man out in the next sentence, though:

If it goes unpunished, it will encourage other countries to follow suit, especially states on the nuclear threshold such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Argentina and Brazil.

Canada?  Eh?  Did the Russian author add that just to see if the reader was still awake, or something?  'Cause I rather doubt Canadians (or their leaders) want the Bomb, no matter how close to the nuclear threshold they happen to be.  And I surely must have missed reports that the mad mullahs of Ottawa one day hope to wipe St. Pierre and Miquelon off the map.

The Pigeon Game

I did a post about pigeon racing in Taiwan sometime back, and David on Formosa was good enough to leave a suggestion that I watch a National Geographic program called "The Pigeon Game" on that very topic.  Missed it, but caught it several months later.  Great stuff.

Anyways, National Geographic is showing it twice again tonight: at 8 pm and at 2 am.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

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UPDATE (Apr 15/07):  A column by someone who holds that Taiwan should legalize gambling on pigeon racing, rather than on horse and auto racing.  Interesting idea, although I'm not sure that pigeon racing has as much international tourist appeal as the author claims.  Unlike horse and auto racing, pigeon racing isn't a spectator sport - the races can take a few days, and the participants reach the "finish line" (actually, finish coop) within 20 minutes or so of each other.

The Lost Golden Age Of Dictatorship

(Cartoon from the Apr 2/07 ed of the Taipei Times.)

Pitiful, really.  From last Saturday's pro-Chiang march:

The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) staged a march in Taipei near the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon to protest a government campaign attacking the legacy of late President Chiang Kai-shek, 32 years after he died in 1975.

[...]

During the rally, former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou, who is considered the frontrunner in the 2008 presidential race, conceded Chiang had made errors, but told the protesters that historical figures must not be unfairly judged.

"No historical figures were perfect, and we could reassess Chiang's legacy but must not deny all of his accomplishments," Ma said.

"He wasn't a saint, he was like you and me and [could] make mistakes, which we will review," he said. "But don't write him off completely because of them," Ma continued.

Now, I done some bad things in my time.  Never sentenced men that I knew were innocent to political prisons or death, though.  So in that sense, Chiang wasn't EXACTLY like me.  And in all likelihood, he wasn't like any of you, either.

A Taiwanese independence group held a less flattering protest at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial a day later, performing mock funeral rituals:

Traditionally, sealing the coffin -- when family members hammer nails into the lid to seal it -- is the last part of a funeral before burial.

Wang presented a sharp metal stake with a sign that read "Site for future Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" and asked all participants to hammer it into the ground.  [Taiwan's president is trying to rededicate the Chiang memorial as a Democracy hall - The Foreigner]

As he hammered, a member of the crowd shouted: "Let's seal it so the evil spirit of Chiang Kai-shek will never be able to get out again!"

Undeterred, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held yet another pro-Chiang rally a few days later, on the anniversary of the former dictator's death.  "Destroy Taiwan independence" was one of their slogans.  (Given the party's obstruction of the special arms bill, I'd say they're doing a bang-up job at that.)

After the initial rally, the Taiwan News had some food for thought about one of Chiang's reputed accomplishments:

The common myth that the  [KMT] takeover saved the Taiwan people from "the Chinese Communist bandit regime" [after World War 2] is merely a historical "what if" that excludes numerous other possibilities, such as United Nations trusteeship or the granting of independence to a government formed by the Taiwan people.

Precisely.  Though there is another, more depressing, possibility.  Had the KMT not come to Taiwan, the Taiwanese might have foolishly welcomed re-unification, even with the communists.  They did, after all, cheer during the early days of post-war re-unification, prior to the KMT's depredations.  What really would have happened is unknowable, by both Chiang defenders and detractors.

The Taiwan News also described the KMT's unhealthy nostalgia:

...the event's real aim was to "review the good fortune and prosperity brought to Taiwan in the era of the two Chiangs [Chiang Kai-shek and his son, Chiang Ching-guo - The Foreigner]," according to KMT Acting Chairman Chiang Pin-kin.  Another KMT spokesman openly expressed the hope of restoring the "golden age" allegedly experienced by Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to the "two Chiangs."

Chiang surely did SOME good for Taiwan, but in the final analysis, it doesn't matter.  No democratic country ought to glorify former tyrants, build statues in their name, or speak of "golden ages" of dictatorship.  That's bad - no, DANGEROUS - for that country's democratic soul.  When certain parties in Taiwan make a fetish out of the "oneness of purpose" that existed prior to democracy, they shouldn't be surprised when the youth of Taiwan subsequently begin forming Hitler fan clubs out of admiration for the even greater unity that existed in Nazi Germany.  For it is their example which leads the way.

Opportunity Costs

What will life be like without you, Fidel?

In [Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's] article, the 80-year-old revolutionary asserted that US President George W. Bush's support for using crops to produce ethanol for cars could deplete corn and other food stocks in developing nations, putting the lives of [3] billion people at risk [for hunger] worldwide.

The story in the Taipei Times doesn't mention that Cuba was forced to embark upon a biofuel program of its own after it stopped receiving heavily-subsidized oil shipments from the Soviet Union.  El Jefe would presumably defend this, arguing that Cuban biofuels don't come at the expense of food production, since they're made from bagasse, a non-edible byproduct of sugar extraction.

At this point, one could observe that Cuba produces tobacco, which is grown on land that could otherwise be used to grow SOME kind of foodstuff.   So Cuba's tobacco production takes food out of people's mouths too, does it not?  Furthermore, Cuba has single-dwelling homes which could be razed (the inhabitants being first moved to high-rise apartments), and the land upon which they stand could be converted to agricultural use.  That would certainly feed more people, too.  In fact, if Cuba really wanted to, it could help feed that 3 billion Mr. Castro cares so much about by simply taking the land, labor and capital that's currently being used to make OTHER THINGS and diverting it into food production.

I'm not recommending any of this.  But what I AM saying is that I fail to see how American biofuels are somehow any less moral in the grand scheme of things than Cuban cancer sticks.

Taiwanese Generals Setting Up House In Communist China?

"Chiang Kai-shek would definitely have these people executed if he were alive."

-DPP legislator

From Friday's Taipei Times:

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused a number of retired generals of having relocated to China or purchased real estate there while accepting life-time monthly paychecks from the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The legislators named names - names of citizens who've presumably retired from public life - so they'd better have the goods, or there's going to be a set of monster libel suits.  As well there should be.  A lot of irresponsible accusations get made here, and they're not always confined to one side of the aisle.

That said though, the charges do have a ring of truth about them.  I've no doubt that some former Taiwanese officers (not necessarily the ones in question) WOULD voluntarily move to the glorious Fatherland they'd always dreamt of retaking.

Great Headline

From the Taiwan News:

Former kangaroo skinner receives nine months at Guantanamo Bay

Why, looky here.  Chumley's learned there's more than ONE way to skin a 'roo.  And maybe a few other bipeds along the way, as well.

(David Hicks photo from No Pasaran!)

R&D Desperately Needed

...for more advanced whale-sinking technology.

Hat tip to TheExplodingWhale.com

(A previous post on a similar topic can be found here.)

Trojan Horse TV

Since I don't understand Mandarin, I cannot intelligently comment upon Taiwan's TVBS news station, and it's supposed bias against Taiwanese nationalist parties.

(If anyone knows of a good blog post or newspaper column on the subject, I'll happily link to it.)

From what I understand, TVBS has been highly critical of the current Taiwanese president.  And that, of course, is the media's job.  The fly in the ointment is that the majority of TVBS shares are held by Hong Kong concerns, so some fear that TVBS is being used as a propaganda arm of the Communist Party of China.

Taiwan's China Post is rather dismissive of that possibility:

While it is true that the TVBS network is majority owned by persons and entities from Hong Kong, we simply do not accept the proposition that such ownership is somehow seditious.

While TVBS' owners have worked through a legal loophole to retain ownership of the network, the fact remains that the loophole is perfectly legal.

Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.  It may be apropos to recall here that during World War II, Axis Powers were not permitted to own media within the U.S.  Perhaps there was a time, when a loophole in the law might have allowed Vichy France or Franco's Spain to own American newspapers or radio.

But if such a loophole DID exist, I imagine it was closed quite quickly.

Tomb-Sweeping Day

The story of Keith Richards snorting his dad's ashes with coke made the papers here, and just in time for Tomb-Sweeping Day.  Lordy-be.  I can only imagine what Taiwanese make of us Westerners after THAT little show of filial piety.

For those who don't live in Taiwan, Tomb-Sweeping Day is a holiday set aside to pay obeisance at the tombs of one's ancestors.  People typically trim away vegetation that has grown over family graves over the course of the year; in subtropical Taiwan this can entail quite a bit of work, particularly for children from urban centers who may've never handled a pruner or hedge-trimmer in their entire lives.  A good piece on Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday can be found here.

Joe Hung also wrote an interesting column on modern observances of this holiday.  I was unaware that the holiday used to be unfixed (the 15th Day of the Spring Equinox, so it fell on either Apr 5th or 6th).  It was fixed on Apr 5th by late Taiwanese dictator Chiang Ching-guo in order to honor his father, Chiang Kai-shek, who died on that day.  As part of a recent de-Chiangification campaign, it has been suggested that the holiday become unfixed again.

I don't know if Tomb-Sweeping Day will be returned to its TRUE Chinese roots and become unfixed again, but I beg to differ with Dr. Hung on one point.  De-Chiangification is NOT de-Sinicization - unless one starts with the proposition that dictatorship is an inherent and essential part of Chinese-ness.

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UPDATE:  The Taiwan News reports that Richards was joking about his dad's ashes.

UPDATE (Apr 7/07):  Good pic of the day's observances from Friday's Taipei Times:

Frankly, I'm a little surprised to see this picture at all.  Last time I showed some Taiwanese friends a couple pictures I'd taken of local tombs (mixed in with other photos - I'm not THAT morbid), they were horrified.  Said the ghosts were going to follow me now.

Guests Of The Ayatollahs

None of us knows with 100% certainty whether the 15 Brits were captured in Iraqi or Iranian waters, though the cartoonist at the Taiwan News was pretty sure on March 26th that he knew the score:

It may be particularly unwise for people in Taiwan to defend those with a well-known predilection for hostage taking. Because one of these days, the Chinese may pull a stunt like that, too.  Rather than lob off a missile, just snatch a few Taiwanese servicemen.  Demonstrate there are no Taiwanese waters - only CHINESE waters.

Fortunately for Taipei, a diplomatic solution will be graciously offered.  Anything is negotiable, under the "One China" principle...

As Honest As The Day Is Long

Ma Ying-jeou, the likely Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nominee for the Taiwanese presidency in 2008, began his embezzlement trial on Monday with a great campaign slogan:

"We all know that, in terms of the Criminal Procedure Law, a defendant is innocent until ruled guilty after three trials.  [One trial, followed by 2 appellate court trials - The Foreigner]  So I am still innocent and there should be no problem for me to run for the presidency."

The legislative whip of a minor Taiwanese nationalist party cynically noted that winning the presidency might be Ma's best legal strategy, since Taiwanese presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.  Which is fine for Ma, but members of his party must be out of their minds to nominate a man whose only defense against the charge of embezzlement of public funds is that everybody else did it.

The KMT has one year - ONE YEAR - to find a clean candidate before the election.  Rather than do that though, they'd rather while away the time making excuses for the current front-runner.

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UPDATE:  A good background editorial from the Taiwan News.

Inalienable Rights

A new Taiwanese constitution was tabled for consideration recently, and Taiwan's China Post has trouble with the preamble:

...the professors wrote into their draft constitution Taiwan and China are two different countries and the people in the former have the final say in their country's future. Any change to the political relationship between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China must be decided by negotiations between the two sides and subject to approval of the people of Taiwan, they added.

Do they have to state in the constitution the universally acknowledged inalienable right of the people to determine the future of their country?

How can a paper call something a "universally acknowledged right" if it doesn't recognize that right itself?  The China Post has specifically rejected calls for referendums should a future Taiwanese president sign a sovereignty-related treaty with Communist China.  In one of his columns not long ago, Dr. Joe Hung derided as "naive" those who would call for a referendum in such a case, quoting the current constitution, which says that that power belongs ONLY to Taiwan's political class, and NOT the people.

What the paper really objects to then, is taking the power of surrender away from a future KMT capitulationist.