Worst Nightmare

The New Journalist has pulished its "10 nightmare ministers" edition.

Government Information Office Chief Pasuya Yao has topped the list. They arrived at the list of the 10 most unsuitable Cabinet ministers through interviews with 166 legislators.

According to the United Evening News last night, lawmakers cited Yao as being "unprofessional, careless, lazy, rude, and ill-tempered."

No argument here. I was telling this to a GIO employee last night and he said, "They missed arrogant."

Apt comparison

PFP legislator Sun Daqian compared his party today to "a piece of toilet paper with a historical mission."

I'll go along with that.

Michael Turton has posted about Why the DPP Lost the Election. I agree with much of his analysis, but I also think that the DPP's attempts to capture the middle have also contributed to their problems.

Taiwan and the US are similar politically in that the vote is pretty much split down the middle. The DPP has been following an outdated strategy used by Clinton and Blair in the 1990s to reposition leftist parties back in the mainstream. But what Karl Rove has realized is that without a true left and with parties split down the middle, the key is to energize your base.

The blues, who have lost two straight presidential elections, are energized with the emergence of a viable candidate. Ma energized them even further by threatening to resign as KMT Chairman if the KMT did poorly in Saturday's 3-in-1 elections.

The greens, however, are alienating, rather than mobilizing their base by their attempts to move to the center. Taiwanese nationalists feel let down by a party that fired them up with calls for a new constitution and a new name for the country and then turned around and told them to forget about it.
There's also a lively discussion of Michael's post over on Forumosa.

Dog Day Night

Every dog has his day … and DogOfTheSouth had his Friday night. I have to say it was some of the best Chinese wedding banquet food I have had. And I was introduced to the magnificence of Maker’s Mark. I learned that Jack Daniel’s is not bourbon. All in all, a very productive evening.

I think we can excuse Dog for reduced posting frequency in consideration of nuptial-related activity … and Congratulations!

Watching America


This article came with my Google news search email (keywords: Taiwan and Media).

It turns out the the editor William Kern used to work as an editor at the Taiwan News.

The idea is interesting - to provide articles in translation from around the world to show Americans an unvarnished view of how America is portrayed abroad. According to the article linked above, they only provide articles in translation and not English-language editions of foreign publications. However, I believe the articles from People's Daily are just the English-language versions. I'll keep my eye out for interesting Chinese-language articles they might be interested in publishing ...

Mahjong Defamation?

I’ve been asking colleagues about this Lee Teng-hui defamation verdict. Lee was ordered by the court of first instance to pay NT$10m to James Soong for saying he went to play mahjong during a post-election rally last year. The verdict apparently hinged on whether or not Lee made it clear he was referring to Soong. Two pan-green lawmakers got off the hook because they didn’t make it clear. Am I the only person who doesn’t understand how Lee’s comment can be construed as anything other than satirical?

My colleague just explained to me that Soong left an April 10, 2004 rally for 30 minutes and so there was no way he could have played a round of mahjong, which would take at least 90 minutes? So Lee exaggerated. The remark he made – “one went home to sleep [presumably Lien Chan] and one went to play mahjong [presumably Soong]” – seems to me quite offhand and not intended to be taken seriously. I asked if the “playing mahjong” is code for something else. Apparently not. But the fact that one gambles while playing mahjong puts a negative cast on it. Would this count as defamation in the West? I’d appreciate any explanations.

GIO Position

The GIO has posted its position paper on the TVBS case onlne. One has the immediate impulse to stop reading at the first paragraph.

In an interpellation on October 7, 2005, Legislator Tseng Tsahn-deng raised evidence of forgery and withholding information on foreign shareholdings by Liann Yee Production Co., Ltd. (widely known as TVBS) when obtaining its business license, and demanded that the Government Information Office (GIO), the authority in charge of radio and television affairs, investigate whether any unlawful practice was involved.

The pan blues are also asking the GIO to act on FTV's shareholding structure, but will the GIO act in this case? Why not? The only answer seems to be that the GIO is not acting to preserve the rule of law, but in order to punish its enemies. See Michael Turton's post from yesterday. The View from Taiwan: GIO Budget Slashed

Yeaooooow!

This dialectic between the Taipei Times and Su Chi is shaping up to be a real cat fight.

It's not hard to believe that Su Chi actually peruses the English-language newspapers daily. There are enough small errors in his letter yesterday to believe it was written by a non-native speaker (and not edited by a native speaker), but it's quite readable. Too bad he can't seem to get his facts straight.

Media BS

My colleagues tell me that the reason the GIO didn’t renew the ETTV News S license back on Aug. 2 was to send a message to all news channels that they had better slant their bias in favor of the DPP in upcoming city and county elections here in Taiwan. I had thought the non-renewal was an honest and ill-conceptualized attempt to force news channels to adopt higher standards. I am starting to think my colleagues are right.

For the GIO to say, “we’re simply doing our job” is predictable and an understandable rationalization for considering the revocation of TVBS’s license on the grounds that it is foreign-owned (by Hong Kong interests). A DPP lawmaker was quoted in the Taipei Times today as saying “We refuse to tolerate any intimidation exerted by a media outlet that is entirely controlled and financed by Chinese investors” (article here). The way I read this, he is saying that the GIO is being asked to put pressure on TVBS because it dares to criticize the government (and by extension, the DPP). To all who share this view, I say: Grow some more layers of skin and learn to truly respect the freedom of the press. Taiwan simply won’t be taken seriously internationally if it fails to exhibit sincerity when it claims to embrace press freedom.

I’m not taking a stand on whether or not TVBS should be licensed in Taiwan, but the way this issue was raised is all wrong.

Update (a few minutes later): I just finished posting this and immediately came across this article in Chinese. It says that President Chen said today that no media outlets were going to be pulled on his watch – as an expression of his commitment to press freedom. That’s more like it. I hope DPP rank and file politicians take note.

Update (11/8): This is a bit dated, but it’s the first I’ve noticed of an international press freedom organization mentioning the TVBS situation. In this case the International Federation of Journalists. I have to say I’m not that impressed with the accuracy of IFJ and RSF (Reporters without Borders) commentaries.
     

NCC - Built for Deadlock


The Pan Blues have done it again. They’ve passed an incoherent bill that will create more problems that it solves. This China Post article seems itself to be a paradigm of incoherence, but the process it describes matches the descriptions in Chinese media. Parties will nominate a total of 15 people to the National Communications Commission. The Cabinet will nominate an additional three for a total of 18 nominees. An 11-member legislative panel will confirm 13 nominees through a vote. The interesting wrinkle is that a nominee needs at least 60 percent of panel votes to be appointed. Given the current legislature’s record on cross-party cooperation, this virtually guarantees the NCC legislative panel will be deadlocked: based on the current legislature, five members would be pan green and six would be pan blue. Do the math. The pan blues won’t be able to push through nominees unless at least one pan green panel member is absent during a vote. How likely is that?

There are all kinds of “what if” scenarios right now. For example, what if the panel actually decided to confirm all the nominees by the same vote count (say 11-0)? What would happen to the five excess appointees? However, the biggest question is what kinds of obstacles the administration and pan greens will put up. There are several options, beginning with recalling the bill and asking for a constitutional interpretation (with a strong argument that the bill that has been passed goes against the principle of the NCC being an independent commission). The only good thing about yesterday’s legislative antics is there was no blood on the floor.

Lee Speech
Lee Teng-hui gave a hell of a speech in LA Friday evening. Here's the full text in English. Lee gave the speech in Taiwanese.

Usually when Taiwanese politicians give speeches, they try to say as little as possible while pushing the correct buttons. This speech worked in reverse: Lee said a lot, but his rhetoric was pitched in a cold war register that will make tough for US Democrats and other people on the left to hear what he is actually saying. That's unfortunate because Taiwan would attract more sympathy and support from a wider slice of the American political spectrum if would stop pandering to its supposed friends in the Neocon movement.

I also wish he would stop calling the Chinese government 'communist' when they have obviously abandoned Marxism and replaced it with a form of nationalist authoritarianism. Despite its extensive labor camps, China is also not a 'slave state', as Lee claims, any more than Taiwan was in the 1960s and 1970s when Taiwan developed without paying much attention to labor conditions. Lee is trying to say that China is a new Soviet Union just as baby boomers in the US keep insisting that Iraq is another Vietnam.

While his comparison to the Soviet Union is misguided, Lee is absolutely correct in his central theme which he states forcefully: China is a major threat to freedom. He also makes some excellent points about why people don't see this. Lee argues that the West applies a double standard to China when it is assumed that China is not 'ready' for democracy or human rights. He also right about the way China presents two faces to the world rather than the simple face of intimidation that the Soviet Union showed.

I think perhaps he might have also added the war against terrorism to this list. People in the US don't see China as a problem because they are so worried about terrorism. It's hard to worry about two problems at once, but because China is a state commited to modernity (unlike the Islamic mullahs who are resisting modernity), we tend to overlook its threat to freedom.

A Price to Pay for Rice Bombing

Chaos at the Taipei District Court today after Taiwan’s rice bomber was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison after planting several “rice bombs” to warn Taiwanese away from imported rice. Friends and relatives of Yang Ru-men gathered for a noisy protest, saying the sentence was too harsh. Yang’s lawyer said the convict was expecting five years and that he’ll appeal the sentence. I wonder whether there’s broad public sentiment here that a self-confessed bomber should get off relatively lightly. The bombs were not powerful – and most of them were found intact – but my sense is the person who planned and executed these acts should expect to be punished. Maybe I’m just getting intolerant in my middle age.

UPDATE (10/20): Here’s an article on the sentencing from the Taiwan News to augment the scant details I provided on the rice bomber.


UPDATE (10/26): Here's an opinion piece from the Taipei Times that discusses some of the issues surrounding popular support for the rice bomber.

Lily Livered KMT Chairman

One has to wonder about Ma Ying-jeou’s willingness to push the envelope to any extent at all. Today, he criticized the Presidential Office for selecting LY President Wang Jin-ping to represent Chen Shui-bian at an APEC summit. In this Chinese-language article, Ma is quoted as saying that you need to do a backroom deal first; then you make the announcement. This comes just a day after Ma and the KMT gave their blessing to Wang’s trip (Shortly afterward, Beijing said they opposed Wang's appearance at the APEC summit; Ma found out through KMT-CPC channels that the PO knew Beijing's position before announcing Wang would go to Busan).

Lee Teng-hui and then Chen Shui-bian have been strategically pushing the envelope in various kinds of announcements. The result has been that Beijing no longer reacts strongly to certain kinds of statements and Taiwan has more international leeway. Sure, Wang may never have had a chance to represent Chen, but if you don’t try to advance your position, you certainly won’t get anywhere. I hope that when Ma is elected president, he won’t take such a spineless approach as he seems to be advocating now.

Panda diplomacy

A gesture of goodwill indeed. Panda spies, I say! According to this article, a nine-person team has whittled down the field of eligible pandas to 11. They plan to match the pandas to their destination based on “physiology, psychology, behavior, appearance, genetics and age.” Right. It’s clear to me they’re choosing pandas that are likely to make good operatives. Note that a couple of the males are described as having big mouths. Fat chance they’ll be finalists. They’d spill the bamboo shoots before Taiwanese interrogators even pulled out their instruments of panda torture.

According to the Chinese source, 70 percent of Taiwanese are in favor of accepting the pandas. I’m not saying I’m against it, but let’s remain vigilant and not give away any state secrets while within earshot of these enemies at the gates (of their enclosures)!

A historic American visit

Nat Bellochi’s reminiscence of Lee Teng-hui’s famous 1995 visit to Cornell in the Taipei Times today takes me back. At that time, I was living in Kunming and immersing myself in socialism with Chinese characteristics. Every once in a while, I would pick up a copy of the International Herald Tribune that some running dog left behind at the Journey to the East coffee shop. But for the most part, my news of the world came from the cankao xiaoxi, a Chinese-language compendium of wire stories that the CPC felt told the truth about the world. Mostly, the stories were critical of Western governments at the time - as one could imagine. There wasn’t really a whole lot about Lee Teng-hui’s visit to Cornell that I recall, but all of us in China were regaled with glorious footage of the military exercises that are now known as the Taiwan Missile Crisis.

Bellochi says he was the one who suggested the “elongated transit” for Lee that still serves as a model for unofficial visits in the United States by Taiwanese leaders. IMHO, in his honor we should start calling them Bellochi transits. In any case, it’s notable that these transits are no longer a big deal. In fact, President Chen placed so much importance in his last scheduled San Francisco transit stop that he went to the United Arab Emirates instead. As Bellochi notes, it will be interesting to hear what Lee has to say this time around on his visit. It will be even more interesting to see whether Taiwanese leaders will be officially welcomed in Washington a decade hence.

History 101

Sigh!

Keith Bradsher from the New York Times writes:

The history of tea itself reaches back to ancient times in China. The earliest known literary references date back nearly 5,000 years, when Emperor Shen Nung is said to have discovered the infusion when leaves dropped into his hot water by chance.

Nonsense. China's oldest book, the Book of Songs (Shijing), may have sections that are 3,000 years old. And Shen Nung doesn't appear in Chinese literature until the late Warring States period (c. 475 BCE to 221 BCE). There's just no way that "[t]he earliest known literary references date back nearly 5,000 years."

Civics 101

This comment to the Asia Times by Chin-Hao Huang contains the following glaring error.

Chen has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ability to dissolve the diet and in turn win a snap election. Chen appears tempted to make a similar call as a way out of the current political deadlock in Taiwan's legislative yuan. However, doing so would further polarize domestic politics and cause more unrest in Taiwan's unconsolidated democracy. Chen ought to be mindful not to sacrifice the long-term goal of political stability for short-term political gain.

Chen can't make a similar call. The Constitution doesn't allow it. For this to happen, the legislature would have to pass a motion of no confidence against the cabinet. Only then could Chen dissolve the legislature. In effect, this means that the legislature would have to dissolve itself and risk new elections, something the pan-blue coalition would never dare do given their behavior over the past year.

Et tu, Google?

The China Times is reporting that Google Maps calls Taiwan "Taiwan, Province of China." You can see for yourself by typing 'Taiwan' in the search field at http://maps.google.com/. Seems that Google's "Don't be evil" code of conduct excludes the aspirations of the Taiwanese people to remain free.

Turton on weapons purchase

Rank does not have time to join the fray today, but hats off to Michael Turton over at The View from Taiwan where he destroys a recent commentary in the Washington Times by one Jeff Logan about Taiwan's supposed unwilligness to buy weapons from the US. As Michael pithily explains:

The Pan-Blues oppose the weapons purchase not because they have faith in the US to defend Taiwan, but because they support Beijing and not Taiwan -- they oppose it because because it helps Taiwan defend itself.

People in Washington seem to be incapable of understanding that the KMT-PFP alliance represents a serious threat to US interests in the region. If the US is not careful and Ma Ying-jeou becomes president, Taiwan may go the way of South Korea--a supposed ally that in reality is doing everything it can to realize its nationalist goals at the expense of US interests.

One disturbing note that Logan also hits is criticism of Taiwan for 'excessive' social spending. While Taiwan probably should spend more on defense, there are still significant segments of Taiwan's population that need help and don't get it. Just because Taiwan's government doesn't want to reduce have-nots in Taiwan to the kind of desperate poverty we saw in New Orleans doesn't mean that Taiwan isn't serious about its defense.

So Mr. Logan, in between those sips of wine that is older than you are, have a heart and think for a minute about the old people who would go hungry or the aboriginal kids who couldn't go to school if you got your way and Taiwan scaled back on social spending.

Trial by Taiwanese Media

See Taiwanese entertainer Peng Qiaqia taking a popular brand of stomach medicine at a tearful press conference where he revealed that a much-rumored sex CD was actually just Peng masturbating. Peng has been in big trouble with the mob for a year or so since he allegedly made a pass at a gangster's girlfriend. Peng's problems have apparently gotten worse in the last few weeks and he had been in communicado for the last week until yesterday's press conference. Peng claims the VCD was secretly taken while he was high on a quarter tab of FM2 and he doesn't remember what happened. With his weeping wife by his side, Peng described the video as " a 48-year old man with a big belly naked just like a white pig jacking off on his bed."

I can't upload the picture (of the press conference of course. What is the matter with you people!) for some reason, but check out the shirt the guy on Peng's right is wearing. If you still not sure what taike means, this guy has got it down.