Silly Frank (And a Rant about Dao)

Yesterday's China Times Evening Express ran a very silly picture of Frank Hsieh admiring a toy sword he was given at a press conference to announce that August 1 will be now be (get this) "Indigenous People's Re-designation Day" [sic] . Hsieh revealed that his great-grandmother was an aboriginal Taiwanese. Update: It gets better yet. In today's Taipei Times, Hsieh says that he is probably a Bunun because

...whenever I hear Bunun music I become excited and emotional.

Hsieh is truly the master of the silly sound bite. You still hear him talking about 'mutual symbiosis' as the ideal relationship between the DPP and the KMT. And since the essence of Taiwanese politics seems to be a race to see who can be the silliest, one can conclude that Hsieh must have an inside track on the presidency.

[begin rant]
Dictionary translations really bug me. The Taipei Times article I just quoted also has a picture of Frank holding what can only be described in English as a sword. But since the Chinese said 'dao', and the dictionary translation of 'dao' is knife, the translator dutifully entered knife into the copy cheerfully ignoring the visual evidence to his right. 'Dao' in the sense of sword has probably crept into Chinese from Taiwanese, but this usage is very firmly established now.
[end rant]

Turton on Arms Package

Michael Turton over at The View from Taichung has a very useful and detailed discussion of the arms package the US wants Taiwan to buy so badly. I'm beginning to feel that some critics of the arms package have legitimate issues with its content. But that does not change the fact that the KMT and the PFP oppose the purchase because they want Taiwan to remain militarily weak so that they can bring it more effectively into China's orbit.

Misrepresenting Taiwan

The New York Times ran a story about China's military buildup that had this misleading paragraph:


Administration officials said parts of the report were intended as a subtle reminder to Taiwan. Many administration officials are concerned that the Taiwanese are increasingly using their relationship with Washington as a shield against the Chinese military buildup. New weapons programs - many using technology sold by American firms - have been languishing in Taiwan's parliament. The report strongly suggests that Taiwan must take a greater role in building up its own defenses, an argument that the Taiwanese often say is a cover for American efforts to increase military sales.


The problem is the verbal slide with 'the Taiwanese' as if Taiwan, a nation divided, is speaking with one voice. Washington has protected Taiwan from China since Truman decided to save Taiwan from China at the beginning of the Korean war. The real issue is reforming Taiwan's military so that it can defend Taiwan until the US can come to Taiwan's aid. Unfortunately, the Chen administration simply does not have enough political capital to make kinds of qualitative reforms--like abolishing the draft--that Taiwan needs to make.

Washington cannot be held responsible for that lack of political capital, although the Washington establishment's unrelenting hostility to the Chen administration certainly hasn't helped.

The reality is that the 'Taiwanese' who are adamantly against building up Taiwan's defenses are the quislings in the blue camp who welcome China's rise and hope that the US will leave East Asia immediately.