2011 - 3rd Quarter
China's "Confucius Peace Prize," the Prize You Are Not Quite Sure You Want to Win.
Recall last year when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was about to win the Nobel Peace Prize, many of China's loyal professors and academics decided they would show the world that they too could offer a peace prize, the "Confucius Peace Prize." They then awarded it to Lien Chan of Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) who thought twice about it, and ...
Western Misreading of Diaspora and Taiwanese Identity in the Taiwan Strait
In much of Western thinking and commentary about the "Taiwan problem" and peace in the Taiwan Strait, is based on a gross misunderstanding of the root of this problem. Leave aside for now the hegemonic ambitions of China that by possessing Taiwan it will have blue water access for its submarines and be able to control the flow of traffic ...
Taiwan is the First Taiwanese Democracy Not the First Chinese Dem ocracy
Many pundits in North America and Asia often talk about Taiwan being the first Chinese democracy in the world, but this way of phrasing it is not correct. What most journalists and opinion-shapers in the West have not yet woken up to is that an important paradigm shift and change of perspective has taken place an Asia, and it is ...
King Pu-tsung Says KMT Does Not Use Slogans???
Oh noooo! In the category of I can't believe it, King Pu-tsung, the snake-oil salesman par excellance had the gall to say that the KMT does not use slogans. King said in LA that statistics proved that the KMT was a practical party in power. Am I missing something here??? How would one classify 6-3-3?? Is that a slogan? Is ...
Ma Ying-joke Insults the USA,. Is He Getting Gun Shy on Using English?
Question: If you were Prime Minister in the UK, or a member of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, how would you have felt if when George Bush was President, he sent Karl Rove over to explain his policies and promote his agenda? How would any country feel if the head of state of another country ...
China Writes ROC History, Would the ROC Write PRC History?
In a strange and bizarre move, it was recently revealed that the Beijing-based Chinese Acadmy of Social Sciences (CASS) published a 36-volume history of the Republic of China (ROC). The question naturally comes, why would the People's Republic of China (PRC) write a history of its enemy in the Chinese Civil War when that war still continues at least in ...
Taiwan, as the World Turns, September 2011, Shih Ming-teh Cries the Blues
Taiwan has its own list of past politicians and wannebe stars who once they have been in the limelight will do anything (including selling their soul) to get back in. Shih Ming-teh is one of those and this past week he was out trying to find a way to keep his options open. Shih was pushing for a relaxation of ...
It Costs to Run for President in Taiwan
While Taiwanese wait to see what James Soong will do vis-a-vis running for President, (remember my recommendation for him is to run as legislator at large for the PFP if he really wants to be a real player and do something for Taiwan) Ellen Huang dropped out. ...
Taiwan's Ma Ying-joke Lets His Campaign Manger Speak for Him
The latest joke in the political scene in Taiwan is the fact that its president, Ma Ying-jeou, or as called by some Ma Ying-joke, has sent his campaign manager to the United States to float balloons in an effort to stir up flagging support for his campaign. ...
So Who Needs a Reality Check on Clarity, Taiwan and China?
An important issue that Taiwanese voters will have to evaluate as the 2012 elections approach is not only what each party's cross-strait policy or "China policy" is, but also how realistic it is. In line with this, barely a week before the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presented its policy, in an almost laughable essay a certain David Brown pontificating like ...
Taiwan's Dignity Takes a Worse Hit as its Persian Cat President Brags On
For the Taiwanese film "Seediq Bale" to be given shoddy treatment by the People's Republic of China at the Venice Film Festival can be considered standard fare in the public arena. It is bad enough for the people of Taiwan to have to bear such insults. It is worse of course that Taiwan's Persian Cat President brags that his flexible ...
Taiwan's Dignity Takes Another Hit, as Ma Brags About His Flexible Diplomacy I
The Taiwanese film "Seediq Bale" will be showing in the coming 68th Venice International Film Festival. And China has immediately insisted that the entry again be listed as coming from Taiwan, China. So much for Taiwan's current president (sometimes known as the Phony Pony) bragging claims that his flexible diplomacy is working. The GIO has done their usual ineffectual protest; ...
Taiwan as the World Turns: the Diane Lee Travesty of Justice Continues
One of Taiwan's dinosaur judges left over from the KMT one-party state days proved again the double standard of justice in Taiwan and acquitted Diane Lee already convicted of fraud. Lee was guilty of holding dual citizenship and ripping the public off of over US$3.5 million dollars. ...
The Role of Taiwan's Indigenes in Resolving Identity and More
The year 2012 approaches, but the elections are only one of many issues that the island nation of Taiwan faces. An important one is Taiwan's identity and its minority issues. Taiwan's indigenous peoples were once majority rulers on this island, but they have been a distinct minority for some time. They are not only a minority, but one that has ...
Ma Ying-joke's Flexible Diplomacy Fails Taiwan Again
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-joke continues to find it hard to run the country simply by uttering platitudes. He likes to boast about how his flexible diplomacy works. Works for what? For further humiliation of Taiwan's sovereignty. The latest dropping of the ball by the Foreign Ministry is the listing of the Taiwan film "Seediq Bale" as coming from China, Taiwan. ...
More than Staying in the Game: Can Soong Think Beyond Himself?
James Soong has not been treated kindly by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). True, he did not completely follow the party's procedures of hierarchy and privilege, but in the year 2000 if they had chosen him to be their presidential candidate, instead of the loser Lien Chan, he could have guaranteed them eight consecutive years of the presidency. Still, the ...
Ma Ying-joke Government Passes the Buck Again
Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-joke likes to brag that he has reduced tension in the Taiwan Strait and that he has opened Taiwan up for tourism etc. If there are problems with the Chinese tourists of course Ma Ying-joke does not take responsibility for the Pandora's Box that he opened. One of the past examples of Ma letting Taiwanese pay for ...
Revisiting the Past and Assessing Ma the Incompetent
Politics is a strange business; some can get elected and never really accomplish that much but depend on their spin doctors and PR agents to cast a spell over a public that never asks deep questions. On this site you have seen several letters to President Ma pointing out how he lives by spin rather than by performance. I recommend ...
Leaving Taiwan, Economics, the Dutch VOC and the Rest of the Story
What made the Dutch East India Company (VOC) leave Taiwan? Ask any Taiwanese school boy versed in his history and he will tell you that Zheng Cheng-gong (aka Koxinga and son of Zheng Zhi-long/Iquan) fleeing the Manchu takeover of China came to Taiwan with a force of some 25,000 men in 1661. After a nine month siege, he captured Fort ...
KMT Leaders Display Lack of Sense of What Democracy is About
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou who stumbles as he tries to maintain that the shell name of the Republic of China (ROC) is a viable entity allegedly respected in the world and the legitimate claimant of what is really "one China," will also state that he is Taiwanese whenever election time draws near. But this year he has added another claim ...
Ma Ying-jeou's Political Manipulations Draw Another Open Letter
As the presidential campaign heats up, President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan continues to use his minions to attempt to squash any criticism or opposition. In word, he professes he is not involved, but in reality, he has those under him carry out the dirty work; the timing of the indictment of Lee Teng-hui after 16 years is but one example ...
Taiwan's "Seediq Bale" gets nod for 68th Venice International Film Festival
A Taiwanese film, "Seediq Bale" has been selected to show at the 68th Venice International Film Festival. This film directed by Wei Te-sheng will aid in bringing the true history, plight and identity of Taiwan into the public's eye and indirectly put to the lie the claim that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the mythic Chinese motherland. ...
Taiwan's MOFA, in Need of Reform: Is Life on the Beach that Boring?
At a time when Taiwan deeply needs skilled diplomats to help make its place in the world, it appears that MOFA's members are either asleep at the wheel as Taiwan's sovereignty is marginalized or they are turning into scam artists. The latest case appears to be the former representative to Fiji, Victor Chin. ...
Ma's Young Troops, Another "Taiwan Up" Experience
Back in Taiwan after a refreshing ten days in Switzerland so I will be posting again in earnest. The papers had a photo of Ma's Young Supporters trying to look hip by posing with signs saying "I'm a ROC-er" Someone does need to get them an English consultant. It reminds us of the New Year when Ma and Taipei Mayor ...
Taiwan's Diane Lee, Is She Guilty Not Only of Fraud, But Also Perjury?
Taiwan citizens currently find themselves turning aside from the Lee Teng-hui indictment case and refocusing on the case of another Lee. That case is the forgery case of Diane Lee, who was found guilty of, shall we say, ripping the country off of some $US 3.5 million dollars. Lee's guilty verdict has come up for appeal. Diane Lee had to ...
As the World Turns: Taiwan Politics and China
Ma Ying-jeou and his election campaign team are trying to lesson the DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen about what is the proper way to advertise oneself to the electorate. Tsai had declared that she was Taiwanese indicating that she would definitely be for Taiwan if elected and having to negotiate with China on numerous matters. Ma's team objected and cried that ...
Election Time Taiwan; Ma Ying-joke's Dilemma
Election time is fast approaching in Taiwan and no one is struggling more to balance things than Taiwan's President, Ma Ying-jeou, (a.k.a. Ma Ying-joke to some of his detractors) Ma who also has the name of "Sell-out Ma" had been boasting about his make friends-with-China is working now all of a sudden has become conscious that it may be reinforcing ...
The Next Step: Taiwan Needs New Leadership for 2012
The January 2012 presidential elections draw near and Taiwan's citizens must do some serious soul searching. As they look back at the past four years under Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) president Ma Ying-jeou, basic questions must be asked. "Is Taiwan better off now than it was back in 2008? Has the economy and overall status of the nation improved significantly ...