2009 - 2nd Quarter
Ma-Ying-jeou'sw Flexible Diplomacy, ECFA and Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
All politicians seek a catch word or phrase to use for spin and glorification of their policies. Ever since Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration, one phrase Taiwan and the world have regularly heard bandied about is how "Ma has Flexible Diplomacy." Whatever that means has been anyone's guess but with the recent happenings in Honduras things suspiciously took a turn for the ...
How Many Protests Must Be Made Against the KMT Abuse of Justice in Taiwan?
Justice continues to be abused in Taiwan; human rights are ignored on a regular basis; transitional justice never happened; the Legislative Yuan has always been controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and yet Ma Ying-jeou (whose reputation as the "phony pony" grows by leaps and bounds) wants us to believe that all is well in his lah-lah land. Ma ...
Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society Active in June
Taiwan abounds with the multiple histories of its complex past. This June has proved to be a typical example, for it was an active month for the Taiwan Prisoner of War (POW) Camps Memorial Society. On June 6, we dedicated the Toroku Prison Camp Memorial at the Gou-ba Elementary School in Douhlio. Then on June 20, we dedicated a memorial ...
Peng Ming-min's New Book, Does Taiwan Need to Escape from Ma?
Peng Ming-min is a man who has not only talked the talk, but more importantly walked the walk for Taiwan. A life long advocate of Taiwan's right for self-determination, he recently came out with a new book, "A Perfect Escape." The book recounts how in early 1970 Peng, still under house arrest for publishing the "Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation" (1964), ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Mentor Remains Depressed Over What He Sees in Taiwan
One has to wonder, how many times must Ma Ying-jeou's mentor and former law professor have to criticize Ma's government before they get the picture. Twice he has spoken out on the corruption and the violations on human rights as well as the injustices prevalent in Taiwan. Yet in the short span of six months Jerome Cohen has felt compelled ...
Wu Poh-hsiung: Tears, Just Desserts, Or the Simple Inevitable Slap in the Face?
One can almost feel sorry for Wu Poh-hsiung as he steps down or is pushed off the stage as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman by Ma Ying-jeou. I say almost, but that is as far as it goes. Wu is one of those strange Hakka who have a rightful place to be masters in their own land of Taiwan, but ...
Tianamen Square Twenty Years Later: the Memory Lives for Those Who Care
Tomorrow we commemorate the massacre at Tiananmen Square, a massacre that many pretend never happened and others wish would go away so they could go on making money off the tainted goods of China. For those who live in the democratic nation of Taiwan, it is particularly poignant because the country to our west has designs on our economy and ...
Taiwan, Asia's Supposed Voldemort, That-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named
Shades of Harry Potter, but the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) continues to place Taiwanese in the Chamber of Secrets. Secrets? Yes and we are talking about more than just Ma Ying-jeou's refusal to provide any transparency on EFCA, the mythical savior to salvage his failed economic policies. As he gives the farm away, Ma wants Taiwanese to blindly trust his ...
Ma Ying-jeou Completes his First Year as Justice and Human Rights Continue to Erode in Taiwan
Ma Ying-jeou has completed his first year as president of Taiwan and the reviews of his performance are far from favorable to say the least. The economy remains poor but Ma as a "one-trick pony" risks endangering the nation¡¯s sovereignty by professing that his only salvation is in China. Those countries eager to profit off of China's cheap labor and ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Police State? A Follow Up on the 5/17 Protest "Accident"
Imagine that you are speeding along at 80 km per hour on a city street where the speed limit is around 30 to 40 km per hour. Imagine further that two elderly gentlemen in their sixties slowly cross the street in front of you. They are from a protest that you have been monitoring. You may be annoyed at them ...
Taiwan and the WHA, a Gift Horse to be Examined?
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) just does not get it. They cannot understand why the people of Taiwan are fed up with their continued condescending paternalism. They fail to realize that the people see through the KMT's pretense to love Taiwan as Taiwan. They cannot fathom why their colonial beneficence is seen as just that, rehashed colonialism. The most recent ...
Emboldened Police Car Runs Down Two Anti-Ma Ying-jeou Protesters in Taipei
The current Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) President Ma Ying-jeou had promised that he would return the streets to the people after his election. But as always with the hypocritical Ma, one must watch what he does rather than what he says. During the People's Republic of China (PRC) Chen Yunlin's visit, Taiwan witnessed how thousands of police were mobilized to ...
Taiwan: Problems in Paradise under Ma Ying-jeou
Taiwan and Kaohsiung are bracing for the protest marches on Sunday May 17th. They promise to be colorful with plenty of creative signs and slogans as the people voice their discontent with Ma Ying-jeou's poor leadership in his first year as president. There will be plenty of photos following on the web to give ample evidence that all is not ...
Taiwan's Injustice, How Can I Protest? Let Me Count the Ways, but First Sign Up
On May 11, I posted below on how injustice has continued to erode in Taiwan and gave specific reference to the trial of Chen Shui-bian. Someone has since made available a place to sign up and voice your protest. ...
Jason Yuan, Another KMT Case of Deceit and So-So Loyalty to Taiwan?
Remember the weeks and months of denials and protestations of innocence we had to endure in the recent case of Diane Lee's loyalty to Taiwan? Well, Lee, the illegal member of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan kept saying she did not have a US passport etc. etc. till she finally resigned and ran off with over US$3 million dollars of illegally earned ...
Taiwan Stands up to be Counted: Protest in Taipei on May 17
Are you fed up with the erosion of justice in Taiwan? ...
Injustice Continues in Chen Shui-bian's Trial
Injustice flows from granting too much power to an agency or government and that continues to be the case in Taiwan. The collaboration of prosecutors and witnesses, plea discussions and immunity negotiations continue to easily lead to a fabrication of evidence where the intimidated witnesses say what the prosecutors want them to say. Professor Jerome Cohen's critical remarks of Taiwan's ...
A New Perspective on Taiwan's Identity: Doris T. Chang's "Women's Movements in Twentieth Century Taiwan"
In addition to its unresolved status, a second pressing issue for Taiwan is its identity. Doris T. Chang's new work, "Women's Movements in 20th Century Taiwan" addresses that issue from a totally unexpected perspective, the role of women. Dr. Richard C. Kagan, Professor Emeritus at Hamline University, shares his review of that work and its importance. Kagan cautions that the ...
A New Book: Nancy Bernkopf Tucker's "Strait Talk" on Taiwan's Unresolved Status
Taiwan's status after World War II remains unresolved, how true. Yet while Dennis Wilder of the US State Department could say this, Japan's representative to Taiwan, Masaki Saito, recently got into trouble for saying exactly the same thing. Rebuked and admonished by both the Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), Saito was nevertheless applauded by ...
Taiwan's Tung Blossoms: Take Time out to Appreciate the Flowers
From mid-April to mid-May, in central and northern Taiwan, the mountains come alive with the blossoming of the Tung tree. This fast-growing tree (genus paulownia) has been imported to Taiwan from China and prospered here. Not needing much water, it is a good economical tree known for its lumber and seeds and of course the beauty of its blossoms. ...
Justice, Human Rights, Free Press Continue to Erode Under Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou
There is a nauseating sickness that overtakes anyone in Taiwan who has had to listen over the years to what some call "the mealy-mouthed hypocrisy" of its president, Ma Ying-jeou. While Ma tries to pretend all is well under heaven in Taiwan, Freedom House in its latest announcement has just dropped Taiwan in its global ranking to number 43 from ...
An Unusual Cemetery Houses Many of Taiwan's Forgotten Dead
Situated on a small mountain overlooking Taipei Medical University and in the shadow of Taipei 101 is a cemetery. That there would be a cemetery there is not necessarily unusual but what makes this cemetery unique is the strange and unusual mixture of graves within it recalling different periods of Taiwan's historic and often tragic past. ...
Dumb and Dumber, the Naming of Chinese Taipei and its Acceptance
Chinese Taipei, now that is really a dumb name. I don't know whose brainchild it was but if you really analyze it, it is insulting and misleading. How many countries would want to suffer a similar degrading nomenclature? Such an imposition represents the residue of the last colonial ethnic group to seize that land and that last colonial group's language. ...
Taiwan, You Gotta Love This Place!
Taiwan, you gotta love this place! Have you ever wondered why Taiwan's economy under President Ma Ying-jeou continues to be in the doldrums? Well it seems that Ma's minister without portfolio and chief economic advisor, Chu Yun-peng, often cuts out during work hours to go on dates with his girlfriend. Just what Taiwan needs? Caught on different occasions by Next ...
Jerome A. Cohen, Ma Ying-jeou's Mentor, Again Highlights the Erosion of Justice in Taiwan
In a recent South China Morning Post article ("Lesson in Integrity for All", April 18, 2009) http://www.cfr.org/publication/19148/ , Jerome A. Cohen, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Asia Studies nailed it once again. In November 2008, Cohen, President Ma Ying-jeou's former mentor at Harvard, had questioned the neutrality of Taiwan's judiciary. Now he has come out stronger pointing to the continuing erosion ...
Jackie Chan and the Utter Failure of Confucianism
Speaking at the Boao Forum in the Middle Kingdom of Pollution, Poison and Propaganda, Jackie Chan gave forth with some unusual alleged personal insights. In reality they were statements in support of the authoritarian rule/dictatorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chan declared "We Chinese need to be controlled." And further "If you're too free, you're like the way ...
The Blood of Taiwan's Patriots: Dang Nylon--One of Many
Thomas Jefferson is known for the quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." In Taiwan's quest for liberty and democracy, too many of its patriots have shed their blood for it but not enough of its tyrants. And it is high time that we honored those patriots who ...
A Kafkaesque System of Justice: The Plight of the Poor in China
When you live in an authoritarian state where corrupt courts reign supreme and judges are often feted by the wealthy, local magistrates, what chance does the little man have? In China local justice is rarely available so what happens? In the imperial past, the little man could petition the emperor if he felt he did not get justice locally. This ...
Kinmen and Matsu, Where Do They Belong? To Taiwan or China?
In my posting of March 7, "Taiwan Was Never Part of China's Civil Wars, Part II," and "Taiwan, Samoa, US Passports for All? Who Knows?" (February 5) I mentioned the recent case of Lin/Hartzell that was before the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC. Well the Court of Appeals issued its verdict yesterday, and while it denied Lin/Hartzell's cause, ...
Corruption Taiwan Style: It Depends on Who You Know?
Yu Wen, Ma Ying-jeou's secretary from the days when Ma was Mayor of Taipei has just gotten out of jail. Yu had embezzled nearly a half million dollars (US$) from the Taipei Mayor's fund and put it into Ma's account. Yu denied any charges of corruption, "I did not take one cent." OK, fine but that leads to the next ...
Taiwan Needs Resistance Art: Where are the Taiwanese Artists Who Can Meet That Need?
If you ask a dozen people what the purpose of art is, you will get a dozen answers. For some art should stand for something, for others it communicates feelings, ideas, thoughts, expressions etc. Still for others it is there to inspire, to pacify, to heal, to make us think, to give us experience, to memorialize, to symbolize, to beautify ...