Beijing tames the shrew?

Now that Beijing has tentatively agreed to see Lien Chan, the chairman of the KMT, to talk about cross-strait relations, one has to wonder what the KMT thinks they'll get out of this. At this juncture even the most naive of us have to ask why the KMT seems intent on rewarding Beijing's belligerence--after China passed the anti-secession law--with talk of thawing realtions. If anything, the KMT's behavior will reinforce the CCP's thinking when it comes to Taiwan; prove you're a tyrant and be rewarded with supplication.

The KMT will have to make a choice soon, whether its members would prefer to draw their power from the people in Taiwan, or instead try to curry favor from the ghoulish lot at Zhongnanhai.

Here's something on ducks and necrophilia.

Important research from Holland.

Here's something I desperately need ...

Clocky.

Food poisoning sucks ...

After having holed up in the bathroom for well over eight hours, and recovering in bed for another 24, I say stay away from ice cream.

On a brighter note, we'll see on Saturday if President Chen Shui-bian can get a million marchers to the streets to protest the anti-secession law. I for one am hoping that the numbers go through the roof. Of course such a protest won't change Beijing's mind, but it might remind China's martinets that their ham-fisted approach to Taiwan leaves something to be desired.

More to the point ...

Moral indignation is certainly edifying; you can snort and stomp like a rhinocerous. With all the hand wringing over the French push to sell arms to Beijing, US officials are lashing out at Gallic hypocrisy. At first glance, one can hardly blame them. Indeed French efforts to lift the arms embargo on China stink of avarice and blandishments that flow like the Loire.

Yet waving the fist may be premature. This Asia Times article describes a US$5 billion loan, approved by the US Export-Import Bank to China National Nulear Corp. If true, the US is bankrolling China’s growing nuclear ambitions as Janus-faced US officials berate Beijing for its cavalier approach to proliferation. The Times’ sources say that Chinese officials have assured the US that proliferation is a thing of the past. If Washington takes such statements at face value while castigating France for its naivite in dealing with China, then something other than principle is afoot. At this juncture, the US’ argument with France is one of style, not substance.

The late Edward Said once wrote: “One of the shabbiest of intellectual gambits is to pontificate about abuses in someone else’s society and to excuse exactly the same practices in one’s own.”

Let's cut to the chase; everyone wants in on the game. Australia has floated the idea of exporting enriched uranium to China. The US has pulled off a back-door deal at the behest of American nuclear firms. Russia’s planned joint military exercises with China is more about Moscow’s desire to show off the hardware to a prospective buyer than it is to strengthen ties. Ukraine has admitted to selling ballistic missiles to China. France’s true sin, it would seem, is that he asked first if he could kiss the girl.

What happened?

Well, I suppose I should at least say a word or two about why I haven't been posting much this week. I've caught another severe cold, and it has taken all the energy I could muster just to make it in to work. (It was deadline week at the magazine.)

I'm also about to pull a variation of the much-hated Josh Marshall here by telling you that I have written a post that I think should be seen, but I have to give it further consideration, because by posting it, I could adversely affect a friendship, so I may not. How's that for a lame tease?

Big News.

The beginning of the week was a smashing success if you think of bad news as a house party. The Central Intelligence Bureau (CIB) announced that they apprehended, ahem, a dead man, Chen Yi-hsiung, who, according to the CIB tried to kill President Chen Shui-bian last March. It's not always good news when you get your guy, especially if he is as stiff as a board and can neither defend nor incriminate himself. This end is just grist for the mill for the die-hard conspiracy lot. And die-hard they are; their raison d'etre is to find the "truth," which means getting the public to swallow their scurrilous lies.

Then China leaked some of the language contained in the "anti-secession" bill, a bill that reinforces China's threats to invade Taiwan, while reminding the world that Beijing would prefer the international community to treat China's belligerence toward Taiwan as an internal matter. The story got good play in the press, and CNN trotted out its China-Taiwan expert who parroted a number of Beijing's characterizations of Taiwan. Sigh.

Changes.

It looks like Rank is about to have a new blogger aboard. Dog of the South has expressed an interest in writing on Taiwan, which should give the blog more focus than it has had up until now. I'll let him fill you in on what he's about.

In addition, I've altered the masthead, intend to fix the uppercase lettering of the blog's title and have changed the weekly archives to monthly now that the blog is beginning its sixth month. I'm also looking into getting an RSS feed set up.

"My own mind is my own church."

The US wasn't founded on Christian values. More here.

Moo now means more than we thought ...


Just read the article.

Hammering the point home.

I just got back from the videoconference held here in Taipei at the Presidential Office where President Chen Shui-bian spoke with members of the European Union's Parliament in Brussels. What was eminently clear (a redundancy I know, but hell, I'm tired) was the fact that Chen had one point he wanted to get across; the European Union member states, by lifting the arms sanctions on China, was abandoning its universal values such as democracy and human rights, to serve national interests. Without being explicit, he implied that the EU member states were being hypocritical. And he made the point over and over again. No EU MP could have left that meeting without having an idea of what Chen wanted to say.