The Foreigner in Formosa

What The 1940 Olympics Can Teach Us

Far be it for me to tell a guy with a PhD in history about his business, but this is the second column that Dr. Hung has gone on to talk about the 1940 BERLIN Olympics:

On the other hand, China knows full well that the Beijing Olympics won't be boycotted. The United States did not boycott the Olympics in Berlin in 1940.  [emphasis added]

Of course, the Berlin Games were in 1936, not 1940.  Didn't mention it the first time because I assumed it was just a typo or a misprint.  But in this second column, Hung tries to tell us America separated sports from politics, and sent athletes to Germany some time during the Battle of Britain:

What China wants is the esteem of the wider world as a peacefully rising power.  Chinese President Hu Jintao is doing what Adolf Hitler did shortly after Nazi Germany invaded Poland.  The world withheld respect to the Nazis, but refrained from linking the Olympics to foreign policy issues just to snub Germany.

Hey, to err is human.  But that got me to thinking:  Where WERE the 1940 Olympic Games supposed to be held?  Wikipedia had the answer:

The anticipated 1940 Summer Olympics, which were to be officially known as Games of the XII Olympiad and originally programmed to be celebrated between September 21 and October 6, 1940 in Tokyo, Empire of Japan, were cancelled due to World War II.  The Games were retracted from Tokyo by the IOC due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. They were awarded to the runner-up Helsinki, Finland, and were scheduled to be celebrated between July 20 to August 4, 1940.  When World War II broke out, the Summer Games were cancelled indefinitely - resuming in London in 1948.  [emphasis added]

Interesting, no?  The International Olympic Committee and the People's Republic of China all lecture us up and down that the Olympics are "a sporting competition" which "shouldn't be turned into a political forum." 

Yet in 1937, the IOC, on POLITICAL GROUNDS, found it within itself to WITHDRAW Japan's right to hold the Games!

(Which makes sense - the Olympics weren't intended to be merely "a sporting competition," but a celebration of peace as well.  A little hypocritical to pretend you're celebrating peace when the host country has just started a major war.  Perhaps the IOC should have found the guts to do the same to Moscow back in 1980.)

And so we find that Joe Hung's incorrect formulation:

The world withheld respect to the Nazis [during the 1940 Games], but refrained from linking the Olympics to foreign policy issues just to snub Germany.

Should actually read:

The world withheld respect to the Imperial Japanese, AND linked the Olympics to foreign policy issues to snub Japan.

Sounds like a precedent there.

Sour Grapes Over Spielberg's Resignation

From Joe Hung's Monday column, Don't try to mix sports and politics:

. . . Beijing could care less about Spielberg's quitting in protest. As a matter of fact, China has an array of outstanding movie directors who can do the job of the American.

Let's assume Dr. Hung is using the phrase "could care less" ironically -- which is to say, the Chinese government doesn't care at all.  Maybe that's true;  let's go back and check the reaction at the time:

Officially, the Chinese government has not directly criticized Spielberg by name, expressing only ''regret'' over his decision.

Yep, sounds pretty mild.  But what about the UNOFFICIAL reaction?  The reaction from Chinese Communist Party media mouthpieces?

There, the response was a bit less indifferent:

A biting front-page editorial Wednesday in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, blasted Spielberg for his decision.

''A certain Western director was very naive and made an unreasonable move toward the issue of the Beijing Olympics. This is perhaps because of his unique Hollywood characteristics,'' it said.

Over the weekend, the Guangming Daily, also published by the Communist Party, ran an editorial saying Spielberg ''broke his promise to make his contribution to the Beijing Olympics and betrayed the Olympic spirit.''

He ''is not qualified to blame China because he knows nothing about the great efforts the Chinese government has made on Darfur,'' it said.

An editorial in the China Youth Daily was equally scathing.

''This renowned film director is famous for his science fiction. But now it seems he lives in a world of science fiction and he can't distinguish a dream from reality,'' it said.

The unofficial reaction is all the more remarkable because Spielberg was NEVER tapped to be a director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the '08 Olympics.  His role was simply to be an artistic ADVISOR to Chinese director Zhang Yimou.

And yet, for withdrawing from such an apparently minor job, the Communist Party of China saw fit to order their media attack dogs to collectively lambaste Spielberg as a naive promise-breaking know-nothing who lives in his own little fantasy world.

Why say all that, if they're not in the least bit bitter?

A Redshirt Proves That Whole 'Goon And Thug' Charge Wrong

A Beijing booster peacefully rises -- and then kicks an unarmed man in the back.

(Image of Olympic Torch protest in Seoul, South Korea from the Taipei Times)

Remember:  These are the very same Chinese "students" Ma Ying-jeou, the KMT and the China Post want to import into Taiwan to have the run of the place. 

Of course, there'll be no such problems here.  Never, ever, ever. 

What makes you think otherwise?
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Postscript:  Think only Saddam Hussein or Al Qaeda use children as human shields?  Readers will receive only one guess as to who else does.

. . . the fierce display of nationalistic pride by a pro-Chinese crowd of up to 10,000 caught everyone [in Canberra] by surprise.

Ask Karuna Bajracharya, a 26-year-old Nepalese pro-Tibet supporter who now lives on the South Coast.

He says he was walking toward Parliament House when, "I saw a mob of Chinese men. They started yelling and hitting me with their flags.

"There was a father with his son who was about five or six years old and the kid was hitting me. His father actually said to him, 'Keep hitting him.'

"Then he said to me, 'if you don't like it, hit him in the head'. He wanted me to hit his son, so he could retaliate and the whole thing could get out of hand."  [emphasis added]

(Hat tip to China Rises)

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UPDATE (Apr 29/08):  Anyone notice the hypocrisy here:

China's oft-repeated mantra is that human rights are a domestic issue and other countries should not interfere in domestic politics . . .

China buses in its students to participate in pro-Olympic torch demonstrations in America, Australia, Japan and Korea.  Its mobs also use intimidation and force against anti-torch protesters who happen to be CITIZENS of those countries.

But can foreign students organize themselves to protest the torch on Chinese soil?  'Course not -- that'd be interfering in domestic politics!

UPDATE (May 4/08):  More on the victim here.

"We Love Tibet"

Ah, those were the words of pro-Beijing demonstrators in Seattle earlier this month. 

And here's a clip of some of their counterparts in Canberra, illustrating what they mean by "Love." (skip forward to about 1:30)

(Image from The People's Cube)

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UPDATE:  More here.

UPDATE #2:  Heh.  An ambush interview at a Chinese consulate in Aus.

A Trip To The Carrefour

DVD player on the fritz, so it was time to buy a new one.  Actually, before that I asked some Taiwanese acquaintances about repairing the old one, and to a man they all thought I was crazy.  Absolutely bonkers.

Think of the time, the expense, and the possibility that it'll break down again.  "Foreigner," they said, "don't you know?  New is better."

So off to Carrefour I went.*  When I got back home I checked through the blogroll, and ran across these videos of protests against the store over on the wrong side of the Taiwan Strait.  [UPDATE:  those particular clips have since been pulled from YouTube, but the site has others which can still be viewed]

Thursday's Taipei Times had this disturbing bit of news:

In the southern city of Zhuzhou, protesters reportedly attacked a young US teacher on Sunday evening after he emerged from a local Carrefour.

Happy to report that there were no protests against us foreign devils at the TAIWANESE Carrefour where I went.  Friendly service inside.  And outside?  Well, I guess there was ONE incident that I could mention . . .

Outside, a Taiwanese guy saw me and decided to impress his girlfriend with his machismo -- by showing her he had the guts to say, "Hi," to me.  In English.  And to me, ME!, a complete stranger.

Oh YEAH?  Well, TWO can play at THAT little game.  So I gave my snappy trademark, "Hi - Ni hao," right back at him!

Pretty scary stuff, let me tell ya.   Guess the locals aren't receiving enough of that Chinese patriotic edumacation.

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* I wasn't being a big ole pushover here.  The old DVD player's been fixed once before -- only a year and a half ago -- for the same problem it has now.  Hate to throw it away (it was expensive!), but I also hate to throw good money after bad, too.

Where Did The KMT Get Its Free-Market Reputation, Anyway?

Taiwan's KMT: solid supporters of the free market:

Yiin Chii-ming, named as [Taiwan's] new economic affairs minister, said that he will hike gasoline prices in one stroke after assuming his post May 20 because he believes that [the] free market mechanism is the best policy.

Err, scratch that:

The government of President-elect Ma Ying-jeou will immediately tackle the issue of ever rising oil prices with an energy tax . . .

Whew, problem solved!  Energy prices too high?  Let's FIX that by taxing energy consumption . . . so prices will be even higher! 

A day after that announcement, the Taipei Times reported Taiwan's servile press was lauding Ma for "challenging people's habits."  Mmm.  Ma's media shills can put all the lipstick they want on this pig, but July and 36 deg Celsius weather is just around the corner.  And no amount of spin is going to fool Taiwanese into ENJOYING all those artificially-high air-con bills they'll soon be receiving.

[Say, whatever happened to Ma's promise to subsidize fuel costs for Taiwanese fishermen?  Fuel SUBSIDIES for fishermen, fuel TAXES for everybody else -- no inconsistency there!]

The China Post mentioned this as well:

[Incoming president Ma Ying-jeou] also announced a formula of limiting the daily per capita water consumption to 250 liters from the present 290 liters is under review.

So let's encourage people to take mass transit, but DISCOURAGE them from taking showers.

That kinda ... stinks.

The War's Over. We Lost.

You just gotta figure some Taiwanese are thinking that after seeing the photo on page 19 of Wednesday's China Post.  The caption reads, ". . . mainland Chinese property tycoons [are guided] through land for sale on an old [Taiwanese] military base yesterday."  [emphasis added]

The exact photo that appeared in the print version isn't online, but the Post's web version includes three other related shots, so that's cool.

Less cool is this obsequious description in the third paragraph:

Included in the group are a number of self-made billionaires who have cashed in on China's breakneck economic growth over the past decade. 

Self-made like characters in a Horatio Alger story, they are.  Always inspirational to hear about Communist Party princelings who've managed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, leaving behind their former lives of privation and want.

Remember Little Wednesday Addams?

Sunriiise, sunset . . .

Chinese April Fool's Day Headlines

Unofficial -- I think.  They're, uh, high-larious.

Chinese Expats Protest Dalai Lama In Seattle

From Wednesday's Taipei Times:

In a showing of pro-China support, hundreds of demonstrators protested outside a college arena as the Dalai Lama spoke to students on solving problems through dialogue.

Thousands of people have flocked to Seattle to hear the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader speak since he arrived Thursday for a five-day conference on compassion, but the city’s Chinese community had remained largely silent until Monday.

[...]

Some [protesters] echoed Beijing’s stand that the Dalai Lama is behind the recent uprising against five decades of Chinese rule. Signs called the Dalai Lama a liar and a “CIA-funded militant.” Many people waved large Chinese flags.

The group chanted “We love Tibet,” “Stop lying” and “Dalai, your smiles charm, your actions harm,” as thousands of people filed into the University of Washington arena. A small plane flew overhead with a banner mirroring the chants.

Ah yes, they love Tibet.  Though not enough to march in favor of free speech or democracy there, I'll wager.

To paraphrase the old Soviet joke:  In America, Chinese are free to denounce the Dalai Lama.  While in China . . . they're FREE to denounce the Dalai Lama, too!

Taiwan Wins A Seat At The Kiddie Table

At an economic forum, China gives Taiwan's vice president-elect a chair beside "autonomous" areas Hong Kong and Macau.

Pro-KMT media in Taiwan all agree:  Yet another foreign policy victory for the incoming administration!

Aw, You're Breakin' My Heart...

Saturday's editorial from Taiwan's China Post:

This week, we have seen the sadly unsavory spectacle of the Beijing-bound Olympic torch being blocked and harassed while passing through London, Paris and San Francisco.

[...]

It is so ironic that the Olympic flame, which symbolizes peace, friendship and unity, has become the target of attack by those who wanted to make a political statement.

Yeah, it's a bloody outrage those uppity Tibetans want to make "political statements" - statements the Chinese government FORBIDS them from ever making back home.  Almost a million dead, six thousand monasteries destroyed, but hey, why can't those people let bygones be bygones and start pickin' up on all of that groovy "peace, friendship and unity" Beijing so generously provides 'em with?

(Incidentally, all the original Nazi Olympic torches from 1936 bore the company logo of the German arms manufacturer, Krupp.  A fact somewhat at odds with that whole "peace, friendship and unity" thing.)
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POSTSCRIPT:  Was some of the harassment staged by Beijing itself to gin up outrage back home?  Some evidence that the thug who tried to snatch the torch from the Chinese wheelchair lady in Paris may have been a plant.  (Hat tip to Instapundit)

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UPDATE (Apr 18/08): More on the Nazi origins of the Olympic torch relay.

** Irony Alert **

1999:  China trashes the Falun Gong sect, calling it, "An evil cult."

2000:  Beijing vilifies Taiwanese Vice-President Annette Lu as, "The scum of the nation."

2006:  The PRC blasts Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian as, "A destroyer of peace."

2008:  The Chinese government labels the Dalai Lama, "A wolf in monk's robes.  A devil with a human face, but the heart of a beast."

*
*

But the icing on the cake?  A headline on the front page of Monday's Taipei Times:  "Media 'demonizes' China, Beijing's UK envoy says"

LOL

More Of That Silent Diplomacy

You know, the kind where you're too gutless to even open your mouth.  From yesterday's Taipei Times:

Vice president-elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) arrived in China yesterday for the [economic] Boao Forum and is scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) today.

[...]

Meanwhile, the Taiwan Friends of Tibet group has issued an open letter to Hu and asked Siew to bring it to the Chinese president.

The letter urged Hu to “stop repression and all kinds of aggressive actions against the people of Tibet and start a sincere dialogue with the [Tibetan] government-in-exile led by the Dalai Lama.”

The group said an electronic copy was forwarded to [Siew's spokesman] Wang [Yu-chi], who accompanied Siew on the trip.

“I haven’t seen it because I don’t have Internet access here,” Wang told the Taipei Times via telephone. “I’ll probably not have it throughout the trip.”  [emphasis added throughout]

Yeah, I can see that.  After all, what cause have we to think that a technologically-backward country like China could provide INTERNET ACCESS for business travelers in any of its FIVE-STAR HOTELS?

(Or maybe China's upscale hotels DO have web access, but Taiwan's future V.P has gone a bit down-market, hoping to pinch a few pennies on his hotel bills.  Staying at the local YMCA then, is he?)

San Francisco Olympic Torch Protests

A terrific photo essay at PajamasMedia:

I arrived over an hour before the scheduled relay start time only to find, to my initial surprise, supporters of the Beijing Olympics lining the route. The fact that they all had identical oversized Chinese flags, souvenir t-shirts, and even little paper American flags led me to believe that the Chinese government had organized the whole scene.

Despite that, it looks like protesters (which included a "Hands Off Taiwan" contingent) outnumbered China's well-wishers.

(Later, things got interesting when it became clear that city authorities deliberately LIED to citizens about the relay route, and the torch was nowhere to be seen . . .)

(Hat tip to Instapundit)

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Last year I was remiss in not blogging about the KMT's abolition of the Taiwanese law which held minors responsible for the debts of their deceased parents.  Now it seems as though the KMT has made further changes to the law, exempting adult children as well:

 A committee of the Legislative Yuan approved yesterday the latest revisions of regulations to exempt adults from excess debts incurred by their parents or other family elders after inheriting assets from them.

The new rules added to the Civic Code by the Judiciary and Organic Laws Committee will allow the heirs to abandon the inheritance rights as a way to give up both the assets and debts if the debt amounts are higher than the value of assets they are entitled to.

I was astounded to learn that inheritance laws were so Dickensian here.  While I personally don't stand to benefit in any way from these reforms, I will say this:  Good on the KMT, and good on Ma Ying-jeou.  It's pretty outrageous to think of a person just borrowing a pile of money and wasting it all, secure in the knowledge that his kids will be the ones who'll have to pay for it.

(The banks are right about one thing though; this WILL cause creditors to tighten their loan policies.  But I would argue that it's good that banks should evaluate loans on the MERITS of the borrowers' proposals, rather than basing their decisions simply on the collateral of children's future labor.)

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UPDATE (Apr 26/08):  More details on this here.

Taiwanese Vitas

This is kinda fun.  A acquaintance here gave me a link to this YouTube clip of an amateur Taiwanese musician playing some Russian-style song.

(By the way, you'll notice a girl in the audience scrunch up her eyes and cover her ears around the 00:50 mark.  You might want to turn the volume down just about now, 'cause . . . well, you'll see.)

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UPDATE:  You can laugh, but the guy's a chick-magnet.

UPDATE (Apr 13/08):  Looks like the Taiwanese musician doesn't call himself "Vitas."  He's apparently performing an imitation of a Russian singer who bears that name.  (As for the song itself, according to Amazon.com, it's Opera No 1, while YouTube says it's Opera No 2.)

KMT Puts American's Life In Danger

Sending jackboots to rough somebody up is so 20th Century.  Much more "with-it" to cynically dupe thuggish supporters into serving as willing cats-paws:

Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairwoman Therese Shaheen has revealed that she received a warning from US officials and police in Taiwan of potential physical danger to her while she was in Taiwan for the presidential election, possibly from a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) stalwart fearful that she would drop a bombshell about KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that would swing the election in favor of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).

The warning came after Taiwanese newspapers and television stations reported rumors that Shaheen would attend an election eve rally for Hsieh and disclose damaging information about the issue of Ma’s US green card, which had been a major campaign topic.

[...]

[Shaheen] cited KMT officials quoted in a China Post story and other news outlets calling the statements they expected her to make a “nightmare” similar to the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on the eve of the 2004 elections.

Bravo, bravo.  Hesb Allah's got nothin' on today's "mellower" KMT and its Ma-llah.  (And no doubt if Shaheen had been injured or murdered, the lovers of the truth at the China Post would have remained true to form by suggesting that this scheming foreigner must have STAGED the assault upon herself in order to win sympathy votes!)

But to be fair, Shaheen also reserved criticism for Taiwan's main independence party:

“Frank Hsieh should have come out and made a strong statement that ‘We have not spoken to Ms Shaheen, there are no plans for her to speak at the rally, we have never talked to her about Mayor Ma’s green card,’” she said.

Hsieh probably did not “shelve” the story because deep green supporters “would have loved this to come true ... because people hoped” Shaheen would be a white knight and save the DPP’s campaign, she said.

Yep. Clearly, The Devil Himself.

Be good, kids.  You don't want this guy to chant a SUTRA at you, or anything.

(Dalai Lama photo from Yahoo News)

Here Comes The Goosesteppers

Guess the Chinese are hell-bent on showing the world a thing or two about crowd control:

China’s blue-clad flame attendants, whose aggressive methods of safeguarding the Olympic torch have provoked international outcry, are paramilitary police from a force spun off from the country’s army.

The squad of 30 young men from the police academy that turns out the cream of the paramilitary security force has the job at home of ensuring riot control, domestic stability and the protection of diplomats.

[...]

The guards’ task for the torch relay is to ensure the flame is never extinguished – although it was put out three times in Paris – and now increasingly to prevent protesters demonstrating against Chinese rule in Tibet from interfering with it.

But the aggression with which the guards have been pursuing their brief has provoked anger, not least in London where they were seen wrestling protesters to the ground and were described as “thugs” by Lord Coe.

The Olympic medalist and organiser of the 2012 Games was overheard saying that the officials had pushed him around as the torch made its way through the capital on Sunday. He added that other countries on the route should “get rid of those guys”.

“They tried to punch me out of the way three times.  They are horrible ... I think they were thugs.”  [emphasis added]

Not seeing much criticism coming from the International Olympic Committee about the Chinese goon squad.  What we DO get is this, though:

"I'm definitely concerned about what has happened in London and in Paris," Jacques Rogge said. "I'm deeply saddened by the fact that such an important symbol has been attacked. We recognize the right for people to protest and express their views but it should be nonviolent.  We are very sad for all the athletes and the people who expected so much from the run and have been spoiled of their joy."

Sorry to rain on your parade, Jacques.  I'd feel sorrier for you and your pals if you'd pressed the Chinese harder on free speech.  As it was, I saw an official from the committee on CNN International a few weeks ago telling viewers that he was engaged in silent diplomacy with Beijing with regards to human rights.  [UPDATE:  It might even have been Rogge himself on CNN; today's Taipei Times says, "Rogge has refrained from criticizing China, saying he prefers to engage in 'silent diplomacy' with the Chinese."]

OK, so maybe English isn't his first language, but c'mon.  SILENT diplomacy kind of makes it sound like you're . . . Not. Saying. ANYTHING.

(As for the Chinese government, hey, this is what happens when you outlaw all expression of dissent in your country.  Those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent protest inevitable, to spin the old phrase.  And let's keep this thing in perspective -- the violence of which Rogge speaks are a few attempted  cases of TORCH-SNATCHING.)

More from another IOC muckety-muck:

Other senior IOC officials who are in Beijing to prepare for the August Games spoke bitterly of the demonstrations that have marred China’s efforts to stage the most ambitious torch relay ever.

“All I can say is we are desperately disappointed,” IOC board member Kevan Gosper said.

“[Activists] just take their hate out on whatever the issues are at the time,” Gosper said.

Kevan Gosper . . . Now where have I heard THAT name before . . . Could it be the same Kevan Gosper who condescendingly slammed Taiwan last year for refusing Beijing's Olympic torch route offer?  Let's set the dials on the Way-Back Machine to April 28th of the year 2007:

"Given the special position we've delivered to Taiwan's national Olympic committee, to sustain their position in the Olympic movement alongside China, I think it behooves Taiwan to accommodate matters Olympic and particularly something as important as the torch relay," Mr Gosper said.

"They should go beyond how they feel about their regional position, recognise they have a special place in the Olympic movement and be gracious about being included in the relay."

Yep, that would be him.  Well Mr. Gosper, in retrospect it looks as though Taiwan did your organization a BIG favor and spared it a heap-load of embarrassment.  And as for your suggestion that Taiwan ought to just suck it up and take it like a man, well, you might want to consider following a little of that advice yourself!

(Meanwhile, Andrew Stuttaford at the National Review impishly proposes that if the IOC doesn't like Olympic torch protests, they could always make Pyongyang the Games' permanent home.  'Cause for a hitch-free relay, Kim Jong-il's your man.)

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POSTSCRIPT:  Looks like the Tibetan Freedom Torch run is progressing a little more smoothly:

. . . the only flame Tibetans carried Tuesday was the Tibetan Freedom Torch, which is passing through 50 cities from March 10 to August 8 — reaching Tibet on the day the Beijing Olympics begin, which should provoke an unseemly and badly timed response from China.

As protesters ranging from monks to Irishmen marched with the Tibetan torch — which, I might add, no one was chasing with a fire extinguisher — motorists going the opposite way on Van Ness Avenue stopped in lanes to take pictures, honked and flashed peace signs or, in the case of one Chinese woman I walked past, gave demonstrators the evil eye.

On a related note, John Derbyshire takes on the argument that the Chinese were liberators of Tibet.

Taiwan's Pearl Harbor Connection

I did not know this:

...Niitakayama, the Japanese name of Jade Mountain which is Taiwan's highest peak, was a code word for the launching of attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto received on December 7 the coded message: "Niitakayama nobore (Climb Mount Morrison, Jade Mountain's popular name known in the West)." American intelligence agents monitored the message but didn't know "Niitakayama" was the code for Pearl Harbor and "climb" meant "to attack."

(Taiwan's Jade Mountain a.k.a. Niitakayama a.k.a. Mount Morrison.  Image from NationsOnline.org)

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UPDATE (Apr 16/08):  Shan Ding-lu has photos from a hike in the Jade Mountain vicinity.  (Hat tip to David on Formosa)

Towards A Chinese Commonwealth: Putting Taiwan's Head In The Noose

Agreeing to the One-China policy isn't enough; Taiwan has to agree to eventual "reunification" with the PRC.  That's Joe Hung from his column, Ma said he would sign peace accord:

Ma Ying-jeou's "three-no" stance on relations between Taiwan and China cannot meet the fundamental requirement of Beijing "one China" principle as set forth in the consensus of 1992.  Ma wants "no" independence for Taiwan, "no" force of arms used across the Strait and "no" change in the status quo.  He has to add "eventual unification" to the trinity to dispel Beijing's suspicion.

Just how would the KMT president sell surrender to the Taiwanese?

As a non-Hoklo president, Ma may feel it difficult to make that pronouncement.  He does not want to expose himself to independence activists who will charge him with selling out Taiwan to China.  But he can easily neutralize any venomous attack by telling the Hoklo-Hakka majority that he visualizes relations between Taiwan and China in the future as those between Great Britain and Canada, or Australia or New Zealand.

These former British colonies, in the words of the Pronouncement of the Imperial Conference of 1926, are "autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations."  Internationally, these communities were recognized as separate states, entitled to have separate representation in the League of Nations and other world organizations, to appoint their own ambassadors, and to conclude their own treaties.  [emphasis added]

A similar arrangement can be made for Taiwan to be unified with China in the name of the Chinese nation.  That commits Taiwan to Beijing's fundamental "one China" principle.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Let's take a look at the part I've underlined, and put that into a "Chinese  Commonwealth" context:  These Chinese polities...are autonomous communities within the Chinese nation, equal in status, in no way subordinate to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to One China and freely associated...

1)  Taiwan and China would be equal in status in this hypothetical Commonwealth?  Really now.

2)  Taiwan would NOT be subordinate in Hung's wonderful fantasy land?  Uh-huh.

3)  The Chinese Commonwealth would be a FREE association?  Joe, put down that opium pipe!

Because the British Commonwealth is a free association, Australia has the liberty to LEAVE it.  Likewise, Canada can withdraw any damn time it wants to.  And New Zealand?  Why, tiny New Zealand can pack its bags TOMORROW, and not a single missile will be fired upon it in anger by a vengeful Great Britain.

Taiwan free to exit a Chinese Commonwealth?  Ehhh, not so much - and no amount of "visualization" on Ma Ying-jeou's part will ever change that.  The plain facts are that while the British Commonwealth is a voluntary organization, Joe Hung's Chinese Commonwealth would be a prison with no escape.  To suggest otherwise is to grossly misrepresent the world in which we live.

(One other hitch:  The British Commonwealth can EXPEL members for human rights violations.  Does Hung imply that mighty Taiwan will have the power to cast China out of his Commonwealth for, I dunno let's say, another Tiananmen massacre or further barbarism in Tibet?)

New readers might want to take a look at a post about this I wrote a couple of years ago.  A bit wordy perhaps, but it still holds up.  You can read it - or you can skip it.  That's FREEDOM.  Quite a different thing from being handed a Little Red Book at gunpoint and being ordered to memorize it in a Chinese re-education camp.

Freedom and compulsion.  Voluntary association and involuntary servitude.  Sadly, Joe Hung seems to believe these things are all one and the same.

Checking The Legislature's Power

From Tuesday's Taiwan News' editorial, New legislature must be watched:

While we respect the voters' decision, we also believe our society must develop effective mechanisms to monitor the functioning of "complete ruling" government led by the KMT president and to successfully check and balance the KMT's absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan to prevent it from abusing its powers.

[...]

Since the DPP delegation of 27 lawmakers can no longer delay the passage of ill-advised KMT proposed bills, we can expect the KMT's absolute majority to propose and approve a series of "pork-barrel" laws catering to local financial or other special interests linked with the KMT or its individual lawmakers.

The era of a "legislative monster" is indeed imminent.

[...]

Ultimately, the only alternative force to monitor or check and balance the future KMT legislative monster can only come from Taiwan's civil society.

A starting point is the formation of the "Citizens Congress Watch" by several civic reform leaders, which last week published a report on the worst 11 legislators rated for attendance in legislative meetings since the new Legislative Yuan took its seats in February.

[...]

If such monitoring can lead to effective boycotts by voters of poorly performing legislators, both the quality of the Legislature and the interests of our society will be advanced.

One other moderating check on KMT legislators that I don't believe I've seen mentioned is the threat they may be recalled.  The Depose Chen campaign of 2006 was the first time we saw this, when the KMT tried to bully Taiwanese independence party legislators by initiating recall petitions in their districts.  (Naturally, the DPP retaliated by trying to recall KMT legislators as well.)

While none of the attempts were followed through to the end, it certainly set a precedent for this in the future. 

Probably won't see the ball roll on this on a large scale unless there's some major KMT corruption scandal or the party screws up royally.  Might be a possibility for egregious individual cases, though.

Chinese Dyslexia

For the past few months I've been re-watching episodes of Heroes, and the dyslexic, mind-reading policeman character got me to wondering:  Do Chinese people suffer from dyslexia while reading Chinese ideograms?  Tuesday's Taiwan News featured a story which reminded me of my question, and answered it for me.  Yes, it appears that they do.

Chinese- and English-speaking dyslexics have different neurological deficits, according to a study released yesterday which suggests that dyslexia may be different brain disorders in the two cultures.

English speakers with the reading disability typically have functional abnormalities in posterior parts of the brain associated with reading and possibly less gray matter in these areas also.

In Chinese dyslexics, on the other hand, the functional and structural brain abnormalities related to reading correspond with the left middle frontal region of the brain, according to new research.

(Embarrassed to say I didn't Google the question - if I had, I would have come across this interesting 2005 column on the subject.)

Used Sesame Seed Salesmen

From Monday's China Post:

Someone, apparently a fanatic fan of Jolin Tsai, has paid NT$40,200 [roughly $1,200 US] to get 23 sesame seeds she was alleged to have dropped off on a paper napkin while she was munching her Kentucky Fried Chicken burger, the United Daily News reported yesterday.

[...]

But [the pop singer] denied through her agent she never ate at the chicken-burger outlet as was claimed. "It's a fake," Jolin was quoted by her agent as saying. "They (the sesame seeds) are not mine. I never visited that Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet."

Nice work if you can get it, I guess.  Now she knows how Koo Chen-fu feels.  Koo can insist the 1992 Consensus is a fake all he likes, but the KMT STILL sells it over his objections.

I never visited that Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet indeed.

He'd Like To Buy The World A Coke

From Monday's Taipei Times:

Recognizing Chinese degrees will lead to a greater number of Chinese students studying in Taiwan, [President-elect Ma Ying-jeou] said.

"When these young people who receive their education in Taiwan return home, they will become some of Taiwan's closest friends," he said.

Funny how that sometimes works out, Doctor Pangloss.

Star Wars Trivia

The segment in Return of the Jedi where Leia strangles Jabba the Hutt was inspired by Luca Brasi's death scene in The Godfather.  (From Laurent Bouzereau's Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, p 259)

Use this knowledge wisely, my son.

(Image from Joker.si)

Zimbabwean Dictator Emulates Taiwan's KMT

Robert Mugabe sends goons to burgle opposition political headquarters:

After four days of silence from the government, shadowy intruders ransacked MDC offices...

Interesting that Mugabe had the sense of shame to send UNIDENTIFIED men to do his dirty work.  Unlike the KMT, which of course made ITS attempt at office-breaking last month with four elected LEGISLATORS in broad daylight.

No Phallic Imagery There

Taiwanese President-elect with Chiang Kai-shek statue in background.  Image from the Taipei Times.

Will Ma Ying-jeou remember his own words next time he criticizes a Japanese official for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine?

Ma said he was not very concerned about any controversy over his visit to the tombs [of Taiwan's former dictators], adding that “everyone can hold different views on history.”

[...]

“Your views may be different from mine, but you cannot coerce me into adhering to your opinions,” said Ma, adding that the public should welcome differences of opinion.

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UPDATE (Apr 8/08):  Yesterday's Taiwan News has more on the Yasukuni angle.

UPDATE (Apr 9/08):  My favorite caption:  "Doctor Evil and Mini-Ma."

Compelling Evidence Why Tibet Is An Inalienable Part Of China

From yesterday's editorial in Taiwan's One-China Post: 

Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times.  In the seventh century, princess Wen Cheng, daughter of Emperor Tang Taizong was sent to Tibet, then called Tufan, to marry a Tibetan king in a political marriage aimed at cementing ties between suzerain China and the faraway dependent state.

I was going to write a snarky comment to the effect that Gordon Brown should start insisting France is British territory, because back in 1420 Henry V happened to marry Catherine of Valois, the daugher of the French king of the time.

But then a bit of fact-checking revealed:

Princess Wencheng ... was a NIECE of the powerful Emperor Taizong of Tang of Tang China ...  [emphasis added]

So, was she the emperor's daughter as the China Post claims, or his niece?  The sources I checked on Google seem to disagree, so I'm from Missouri on this one.

However, the Post's claims that the marriage was "aimed at cementing ties" seems a half-truth at best.  Again, from Wiki:

In 635 - 636 the Tibetan king's forces attacked and defeated the 'A zha people, who lived around Lake Koko Nor in the northeast corner of Tibet, along an important trade route into China. After a campaign against China in 635-6 (OTA l. 607) the Chinese emperor agreed to marry a Chinese princess to [Tibetan] king Songtsän Gampo as part of the diplomatic settlement.

Wikipedia also states that a large quantity of gold "accompanied" the princess to the Tibetan court. 

And the China Post says THIS was a "political marriage aimed at cementing ties between suzerain China and the faraway dependent state"?  Balderdash!  The Chinese were defeated in a series of military campaigns -- and chose to sue for peace by sending WOMEN and GOLD to the throne room of the victor.

Obviously, my initial sarcastic reaction was completely misplaced.  Perhaps instead, Nicholas Sarkozy should start asserting FRENCH sovereignty over Britain.  In this, he could follow the China Post's lead, arguing that 600 years ago, the English were forced by their SOUND DEFEAT at Agincourt ... forced, into giving Henry V's hand to the daughter of France's triumphant Charles VI!

Olympic Protests IV: PETA In The Age Of Pericles

[Click to read earlier Parts I, II and III]

Cool stuff, this.  From pages 124-128 of Tony Perrottet's The Naked Olympics:

It takes a serious leap of our modern imaginations to remember that the pagan Olympic Games were devoted first to religion and only second to athletics: every sporting contest was dedicated to Zeus, and sacred rituals took up as much time as sports.  In fact, asked to name the highlight of the Games schedule, a classical sports fan would not have chosen the chariot races, long jump, or even wrestling, but would instead have picked day three, when one hundred white oxen were sacrificed on a grand altar.  This rite, coinciding with the rise of the full moon, was the Greeks' most important national ceremony, as spiritually profound as witnessing the mysteries of Eleusis or consulting the oracle at Delphi...

[After the sacrifice,]  laborers would drag the remaining carcasses back to the Council House, where they were laid on slabs for an official named the "butcher-cook" to slice...At Olympia, the chunks were placed in giant roasting pits, with the sweetmeats on metal skewers, an incipient form of shish kebab...

It must have been an infernal scene.  The sights and smells -- blood soaking into the dry earth, the discarded skin and bone, the heat, the flies gathering in droves, the gore-covered attendants -- would probably turn the stomach of the modern observer.  But even in ancient Greece, there were vegetarians who rebelled against the slaughter.  The Western world's first known animal-rights protest was made on day three of the Olympic Games in 460 B.C. , by the the philosopher Empedocles, who made his own life-sized bull out of dough, garnished it with expensive herbs, and distributed it among the onlookers.  (Empedocles preached the doctrine of reincarnation, announcing that he himself had once been a fish and a bird, so that eating flesh was tantamount to cannibalism.)  [emphasis added]

Few Greeks were won over.  Meat was expensive, and sacrifices were the only time most citizens had the chance to savor it ... They could only hope for a small chunk of the sacrificial meat, and took whatever they were given, whether it was a mix of bone and gristle, a kidney, or a chunk of juicy filet mignon.  The deliberate randomness symbolically reflected the equality of Greek worshipers...

(Burger King Whopper-lover that I am, I find it hard not to like this guy.  Unlike Diogenes, he didn't disrupt an awards ceremony and rob athletes of their moment in the sun.  Instead, between events Empedocles made his case as best he could.  And fed a few people along the way.  Maybe there was a tinge of blasphemy to it all, but it was aimed at honest reform.)

Regardless of how we feel about Diogenes' message, or Empedocles', or any of the OTHER philosophers who brought controversial ideas to the Sacred Games, this much is clear: the ancient organizers tolerated their presence in a way that must seem inconceivable to the Butchers of Beijing.  From what you've read over the past few days, ask yourself this: How would the ancient organizers have treated the Dalai Lama, one of the premier moral philosophers of the age? 

Would they have sent uniformed thugs into the private rooms of his followers, arresting anyone who might possess nothing more offensive there than his PICTURE?  Or would they have WELCOMED him, with all the warmth that was shown to a thinker like Aristotle?

China's Olympics will be held in August, of that there is no doubt.  But as for Beijing's claims that it's upholding the SPIRIT of the Games, well, I'll let the reader be the judge of that.

Olympic Protests III: The Day Diogenes Came To Town

[click to go to Part I or Part II of this series]

The front page of yesterday's Taipei Times featured the story of two men in China who were sentenced to 3 1/2 and 5 years in prison for dissent.  Keep their fates in mind while you read about the leniency with which the ancient Greeks handled the original philosophical wild man, Diogenes the Cynic.

From pages 120-121 of Tony Perrottet's The Naked Olympics:

Some of the greatest intellectuals of ancient life were avid sports fans, comprising a virtual Who's Who of Western civilization.  According to many scholars, Plato got his nickname during his days as a virile young wrestler at the Isthmian games (from platus, probably meaning "broad-shouldered"; his real name was Aristocles).  The playwright Sophocles, as well as being noted in the ring, was a famous handball player; the [admiral] Themistocles, who defeated the Persians, came to the Games of 476 B.C.; the mathematician Pythagoras may also have been a revered sports coach.  But the Olympics did have their occasional critics.  There had always been a modest but vocal undercurrent of anti-sports feeling among Greek thinkers.  Understandably, in an age when Reason was paramount, some would argue the superiority of the mind over the body, and suggest that the national obsession with athletics was frivolous, even philistine.

The Cynic Diogenes, who traded repartee with Alexander the Great himself, was one of the most outrageous naysayers, and, in the fourth century B.C., he brought his attacks to the sports field itself.  His best-documented occurred at the Corinth games*, when he grabbed a victory wreath from the prize table and put it on his own head, claiming that he was the victor in the contest of life, and that spiritual rather than physical effort was more worthy of rewards.  "Are those pot-bellied bullies good for anything?" he asked a gathering crowd.  "I think athletes should be used as sacrificial victims.  They have less soul than swine.  Who is the truly noble man?  Surely it is the one who confronts life's hardships, and wrestles with them day and night -- not like some goat, for a bit of celery or olive or pine**, but for the sake of happiness and honor throughout his whole life."

Later, when he saw a sprinting champion being carried from the Stadium, Diogenes acidly noted that the rabbit and the antelope were the fastest of animals, but also the most cowardly.  He later ran off with another victory wreath and put it on the head of a horse that had been kicking another horse, proclaiming it the victor in the [no holds-barred  wrestling] contest.  Finally, Diogenes made reference to Hercules, the patron of athletes, who had cleaned the filthy Augean stables as one of the Twelve Labors -- then Diogenes squatted on the ground and emptied his bowels, suggesting that the competitors clean it up.

"At this the crowd scattered," we read, "muttering that Diogenes was crazy."

First of all, and let's just get this out of the way:  Diogenes the Cynic sounds like a world-class a-hole to me.  No pun intended.  I can certainly see why Plato described Diogenes as "Socrates gone mad."  But that's really besides the point.  What's interesting is what we DON'T read in this account.  Remember, the Isthmian Games in Corinth was one of the four Sacred Games in classical Greece.  These games were religious festivals first (though the athletics component came a not-too distant second).  Intentional public defecation at a RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL?  Sounds pretty darn sacrilegious to me.  Yet we don't read about fourth-century crowds calling for him to be beheaded, like the Muslim mob did with the Mohammed teddy bear teacher -- in the not-so-distant year of 2007.  We don't read that he sentenced to 3 1/2 or 5 years in prison, like those two poor bastards in China.  Nor was he sent to some god-forsaken re-education camp on a remote island in the Aegean, either.

In fact, from this account, it's rather difficult to figure out exactly HOW he was punished -- IF he was even punished at all!  He couldn't have been beaten to a pulp after the first time he grabbed the victory wreath, because we're told he was able to repeat that stunt a SECOND time.  So, was he detained?  If he was, it couldn't have been for long.  Because again, he was able to lay his hands on a victory wreath not once, but TWICE.

My own guess is that he was restrained, and maybe tossed out on his ear.  After which, he snuck back in to work more of his mischief.

Like I said, Diogenes the Cynic strikes me as a pretty unlikable showboat.  But the thing that most strikes me here is the tolerant spirit of the organizers of the games.  The organizers could have come down like a ton of bricks on this guy...BUT THEY DIDN'T.  In fact, the Wikipedia entry on Diogenes states that after his death, the Corinthians went ahead and built a MONUMENT in the philosopher's honor.

As far as I'm concerned, it's that kind of generosity and magnanimity which makes the Corinthian organizers of the games the real unsung heroes of the story.

[next: PETA in the Age of Pericles!]
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* Now strictly speaking, this isn't an Olympic Games story at all, because it took place at the Isthmian Games in Corinth.  But the Isthmian Games, along with the Olympics, WERE one of the four Sacred Games of Greece, and there's no reason to believe that the organizers of the ancient Olympics would have treated similar conduct any differently.

** Diogenes makes reference here to the victory wreaths awarded during the Sacred Games.  Wreaths given at the Nemean, Pythian, Isthmian and Olympic Games were composed of celery, laurel, pine and olive, respectively.

Olympic Protests II: An Ancient Marketplace For New Ideas

[Part I of this series can be found here.]

Picked up The Naked Olympics near Taipei's Warner Village back in November or December last year, and it was quite a good read.  The writer, Tony Perrottet, vividly describes the ancient games, in all their sacredness and profanity.  On pages 88-89, he tells how non-athletes discovered the Olympics could be the ideal forum for the savvy up-and-coming writer or philosopher:

The first to fully grasp Olympia's PR potential had been Herodotus, the revered "Father of History" who around 440 B.C. wanted to promote his newly written account of the Persian Wars.   Why go on an epic book tour around Greece, Italy and Asia Minor, he pondered, when one could get the same exposure overnight at Olympia?  As Lucian recounts it, Herodotus waited until all the notables had arrived at the festival -- this appears from the sources to have been the afternoon of day one --- then, "behaving less like a spectator than an athletic contestant," he went inside the crowded Temple of Zeus and began to read his work aloud.  It was a smash hit.  The audience was mesmerized.  As Lucian relates, "It was not long until he was better known than the Olympic victors.  There was not a man in Greece who hadn't heard the name of Herodotus, either because they had been at Olympia, or were told about him by returning spectators."

A tradition was begun -- appearing at Olympia, preferably on the first day for maximum impact, became the literary "short-cut to fame."  In Herodotus' audience was a young aspiring wordsmith named Thucydides who, according to legend, was moved to tears, and would later write his majestic history of the Peloponnesian Wars (and naturally debut it at Olympia).  Other writers soon followed suit.  Inspired poets took to the temple steps in snow-white tunics and sang their works while strumming a lyre with an ivory pluck.  Some were hailed with cries of Euge! -- "Bravo!"  Others were mocked.  Greek audiences were discerning, and were not distracted by displays of wealth.  The tyrant Dionysius of Sicily had his verse read by professional actors, but it was so bad that the crowd looted his tent...

Whoa!  Tough crowd, tough crowd...

Philosophers quickly seized the potential:  soon every soapbox orator in Greece was converging to add his voice to the chorus.  In an early show of antisports snobbery, Diogenes said that it was his social duty to speak to athletics fans:  "Just as a good doctor rushes to help in places full of the sick, so it was necessary for a wise man to go where idiots proliferate."  His fellow Cynic philosophers, who reviled all the trappings of civilization, became a fixture at the Games.  Antiquity's hippies, they wore their hair unkempt, dressed in rags, mooched meals, and railed against every Greek sacred cow.  But the heroes of Greek philosophy also put in appearances, and geniuses like Aristotle even had their statues raised at Olympia alongside those of athletes...  [emphasis added throughout]

Kinda sounds like dissent, and TOLERANCE of dissent, weren't antithetical to the Games - they were an essential part of it!  Something to keep in mind in August of '08, when Chinese authorities display THEIR understanding of the ancient Olympic spirit by busting heads and arresting harmless folk with placards in Tiananmen Square.

[more on Diogenes in Part III]

Olympic Protests I: British Qualms

I really shouldn't overgeneralize like that.  One Brit at The Guardian hears the talk, and is anxious that a bad precedent is being set - a precedent that could bite the U.K. when it hosts the Olympics four years from now.  Here's Peter Preston:

You can write much of the script for London 2012 already: the tube strikes, the cost over-runs, the security computers that won't work and the Kazakh weightlifters lost in Heathrow Airport's Terminal Five. Factor fat helpings of familiar chaos. But the real problem for the Olympic games we thought we wanted to host is beginning to emerge from the smog over Beijing. Boycotts, boycotts everywhere, and never a pause to think.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has given in already. She won't be going to China this summer, like the Polish prime minister and Czech president.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is wandering down the same lightly principled path. Expect more European political defections, plus threatening talk from the US would-be leaders in election year. Darfur began the chat and Tibet has turned it to hubbub; this year will be a time for tender consciences to stay away - and 2012 can't fail to catch the same virus.

[...]

Cue London 2012. Cue all the other freedom warriors who have seen what attention protest can bring. Don't think that the tiger won't be pulled by its tail again. But surely we are different: Everyone loves us, don't they? Not when Stratford provides such a splendid world stage. Not when mushy precedent is set. Prepare, alas, to be very disappointed.

I can see where he's coming from.  For causes ranging from Northern Ireland to Scottish independence to, heck, the Iraq War for all I know, professional protesters will see 2012 as their golden opportunity.  And while Preston & myself would probably both agree there's a time and a place for dissent, I think he completely misses the point with regards to Tibet.  Because for Tibetans, there IS no time or place they're permitted to protest.  If they're not to march now, then when?

Let's be clear here.  The Republican in Northern Ireland is free to argue for his cause with a letter to the editor.  The Scot can agitate for his by starting a blog.  The anti-war protester in London can receive a permit to march almost any time he wants one.

And the native of Tibet?

Well, he's free, too, in a fashion.  Free to shut his mouth, or be sent to a re-education camp somewhere.  By presenting him with this stark choice in the past, the Chinese government made it more, not less likely that he would stand up now.  Because at any other time, Beijing could have done whatever it wanted with its prisoners, confident in the knowledge that the world would quickly lose interest.

But now, the Olympics are but a few short months ahead.  And the world is watching, and wondering.  Nosy foreign reporters are asking if the accused are all right, and the impertinent fellows are even asking to be allowed to SEE these dastardly splittists.

What's Beijing gonna do with the detainees now?  Line 'em all up and have 'em all shot?

It's interesting Preston should bring up the issue of precedent with respect to Olympic protests.  He might be surprised to learn that protests have long been a part of the Games, even in ancient times...

[to be continued]

Estonia To Host NATO Cyber-Defence Center

From Yahoo News:

Almost a year after falling victim to a "cyber-war" blamed on Russian hackers, the Baltic state of Estonia is now piloting NATO's efforts to ward off future online attacks on alliance members.

After this week's NATO summit in Romania, Estonia and seven other alliance partners will set up the "Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence" in Tallinn next month.

The United States, Germany, Italy, Spain and Estonia's fellow ex-communist NATO member states Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia will spearhead the project.

Be nice if Taiwan could establish some kind of unofficial channel to the new center.  Leaving aside the political problems, it'd still be a tall order - must be tough finding Taiwanese IT personnel who speak Estonian.

Methinks He Doth Protest Too Much

Yesterday's China Post headline:  [KMT President-elect] Ma proclaims love for Taiwan

And the story in today's papers?  Ma Ying-jeou asks the Taiwanese Postal Service to delay releasing a set of stamps featuring his portrait alongside the word, "Taiwan."

Hey, give the guy a break, everybody.  It should be obvious Ma LOVES Taiwan ...  He just doesn't want to be caught dead having his picture on ANY stamp which bears the stinkin' name!

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UPDATE (Apr 4/08):  Apparently I wasn't the only one who had that reaction.  From today's Taipei Times:

A group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday criticized president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) after he expressed reservations over the use of the word “Taiwan” on postage stamps, and accused him of discarding the name “Taiwan” like “toilet paper” after using it to win the March 22 election.

[...]

The DPP legislators said Ma had expressed no such reservations when he used the slogan “Taiwan marches forward” in his election campaign.

The Strongman In Short Pants

Heh.

'Bout time you kids started singin' the same tune.  And y'all sing LOUDLY now, or new class disciplinarian Ma Ying-jeou WON'T HESITATE to single you out with that dreaded finger of his.

We Condemn Chinese Repression In Tibet - Just Don't Ask Us To Put It In WRITING

From Wednesday's Taipei Times:

Asked to comment, Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), acting secretary-general of the KMT caucus, said that the DPP's draft resolution [on China's crackdown on Tibet] was too harsh.

"The KMT supports the DPP's position, which is that violence and violations of human rights should be condemned...," Hsieh said.

So you AGREE Chinese brutality in Tibet should be condemned?  Surely then, we'll hear about that in the KMT's resolution, won't we?

The KMT's draft, meanwhile, states that: "The human rights of Tibetans should be defended. The Chinese government should respect the value of human rights and ensure that human rights are protected in Tibet."

Nope, not a word there from the brave, the brave, Sir Robin!

The Machete Man Vanishes*

From Monday's Taipei Times:

Armed with nationalism and the Internet, young Chinese abroad have launched a wave of attacks accusing Western media of bias in reporting on unrest in Tibet and defending Beijing's crackdown.

[...]

One [pro-communist Web site] complained that several news outlets showed photos of police in Nepal scuffling with protesters and misidentified the security forces as Chinese.

It accused US-based CNN of improperly cropping a photo of Chinese military vehicles on its Web site to remove Tibetan rioters who were pelting the trucks with rocks.

Those young 'uns might want to re-direct some of that criticism a little closer to home.  'Cause it turns out their government has been distributing photoshopped pictures to news outlets (after a machete-wielding "Tibetan" in one shot was positively IDed as a Chinese agent provocateur).

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* With apologies to the author of The Commissar Vanishes.  A great book, by the way.