Month: April 2009

Innocent Until Proven Unemployed

Horrible, horrible story in Taiwan about a drunken man who had an argument with his live-in girlfriend, and to get even, drops their 10-month old daughter into a pot of boiling noodles.  Scalded over 95% of her body.

Girl lingers a few days in hospital, then dies.  Hard to see how this guy doesn't get the death penalty, but he WAS drunk, so I guess some judge might view that as an extenuating circumstance. *

Anyways, that's the background for this:

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday urged the Ministry of the Interior to include alcoholics and those who have been unemployed for a long period of time in the ministry’s database for observation in a bid to prevent potential domestic violence and child abuse.

Ho.  Lee.  Crap.  Taiwan's KMT wants the government to SPY on its own citizens.

Correction:  It's already happening.

Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) on Monday vowed to pour more resources into reducing domestic violence by expanding its database of high-risk families.

At present, the database only includes children whose parents have alcohol and drug addictions or families that often have arguments.

I've never heard of this before.  Any OTHER Big Brother-esque databases here we should be aware of?

* I'm a little ashamed to say, but my initial reaction was that the culprit should be asked to do the right thing — then placed in a room alone with his conscience for ten minutes with a single bullet and pistol.

Terrible idea, of course.  If it became common practice, you'd have suicides and "suicides" occurring in every jail in Taiwan.  So, due process is where it's at.

Wednesday's Taipei Times included one detail that wasn't mentioned in previous reports:

The mother reportedly dared the man after he threatened to throw the infant into water being used to make noodles.

OK, that's really not cool, either.  You don't dare somebody with impaired judgment to do something stupid, dangerous or just downright evil.  You don't do that in the West — and you certainly don't do that in Taiwan, which has a whole "face culture" dynamic to exacerbate the situation.

UPDATE:  The mother in the case may indeed be charged for her role.

It was reported that the mother might also face charges of incitement to commit murder for daring her drunken partner to toss the girl into the pot during an argument.

A Quick Look At The Olympic Charter

Nothing there about freedom per se, though the second fundamental principal of Olympism does hint at it (see page 12 of the pdf link):

The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.  [emphasis added]

Therefore (in theory at least), the goal of Olympism IS freedom — for without it, men have the dignity of serfs or slaves.  Which is why the pro-slavery views of Jackie Chan make him unsuitable for the job of spokesman for Taiwan's Deaflympics:

"I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled.  If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want." 
–  Jackie Chan

Tuesday's China Post attempted to defend Chan's job as Taiwan's Deaflympics spokesman, on the basis of . . . free speech.

Which is a straw man, because Chan's free speech isn't the issue.  As a free man, it's Jackie Chan's right to express his odious wish that he and all other Chinese should be servile.  For speaking his mind, I do not advocate that he be jailed, fined, or hauled in front of a human rights tribunal by any government.  Nor do I hear anyone demanding that the State retaliate against his economic interests, banning his movies or otherwise damaging his livelihood.

The Post asks:

After all, aren't democracy champions also the champions of freedom and equal rights for every individual?

Indeed they are — but that doesn't mean that democracy champions are obligated to accept anti-democrats as their SPOKESMEN!

It's a similar issue to the whole Durban II "Anti-racism" Conference.  The UN holds an international meeting on anti-racism . . . then invites MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD as a keynote speaker?

Whatsa matter?  David Duke and "high-class" Chinese nationalist Kuo Kuan-ying weren't available?

Here's a clue for UN Secretary Dim-Bulb Ban Ki-moon:  If you want your little anti-racism shindig to have any credibility, it's MAYBE not a good idea to give the limelight to hallucinatory psychotics who're jonesing for genocide.

And here's another clue for Ban's counterparts at the China Post:  If Taiwan wants a spokesman for freedom and human dignity, it's contradictory to hire Jackie Chan.  He's already got a job, moonlighting as a spokesman for governmental repression.

UPDATE:  One other thing.  Companies and organizations hire spokesmen in order to create GOODWILL for their products or events.  If a celebrity (for whatever reason) isn't creating that goodwill, then shouldn't someone ELSE be given their job instead?

Apropos of this, CNN has a long list of commercial pitchmen who were fired for offenses ranging from raunchy speech (Madonna) to partisan speech (Whoopi Goldberg) to bitter divorces (Burt Reynolds).

That's life.  All of these celebrities have the right of free speech.  What they do not have is the right to keep their lucrative endorsement jobs after they send product sales down the toilet.

Falun Gong At The Lake Of The Sun And The Moon

Chinese tourists to Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan are being treated to disturbing evidence of their government's persecution of Falun Gong.  And there are objections aplenty:

Following complaints from several tourists, the director of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration said yesterday it did not know how to deal with the Falun Gong protesters at the nation’s premier scenic spot.

Tseng Kuo-chi (曾國基), director of administration, told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview that the protests by Falun Gong members were directed at Chinese tourists, who normally visit Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, the National Palace Museum and other popular tourist attractions.

Chinese tourists may have been the targets, but a Canadian visitor to the lake was found to be unhappy as well:

The Taipei Times contacted Tseng after it ran a letter on Monday from Canadian Paul Gallien, a high school teacher who visited Sun Moon Lake last week and was disturbed by a Falun Gong display he saw at one of the shoreline temples.

“Part of the display included very graphic images of dead bodies, including a pregnant woman with parts of her skin and flesh removed revealing an unborn child within the womb,” Gallien wrote.

[…]

Traveling with his two-year-old daughter and her five-year-old cousin, Gallien said he doubted the two youngsters “have necessary faculties to avoid being traumatized by such photographs.” 

Even though I don't have children, I know where he's coming from.  On the other hand, the Canadian government requires cigarette makers to print gruesome images on cigarette packs, in an effort to discourage people from smoking.  51 billion cigarettes sold yearly in Canada works out to . . . oh, I don't know HOW many packs.  But it's a good bet Mr. Gallien's kids will come across at least some of these at grandpa's house or the neighbor's living room or even as litter on the side of the road.

Canadian cigarette pack warnings, showing teeth rotted out at the roots.

(You oughtta see the anti-smoking warnings the Aussie government requires.  Hope you're not eating when you take a gander at the gangrened foot.)

If governments mandate the printing of nasty photos to educate people on societal ills, they have absolutely no room to object when private individuals or organizations do likewise.

POSTSCRIPT:  Personally, I'm of the notion that "The Lake of the Sun and the Moon" is whole lot more poetic than the Chinglishy "Sun Moon Lake."

A bluish-cast photo of Sun Moon Lake, with mountains in the background.

UPDATE:  Now, I guess I can't object if the Taiwanese government tries to REASON with the Falun Gong group about this.  Certainly, if I was a member of that religion, I would have concerns that distasteful images might turn some observers against my cause.  But if Falun Gong wants to run that risk, then that's their business.

UPDATE #2:  Falun Gong displays grisly photos outside a provincial legislature in Mr. Gallien's home country.  A few kids may have walked by, I dunno.

UPDATE #3:  Falun Gong displays similar pictures on a shanty outside a Chinese consulate in Vancouver, B.C. for 7 or 8 years.  On a public sidewalk.

(The mayor, under pressure from China, eventually got his way and had the hut dismantled.  While the fate of the structure is being appealed, Falun Gong adherents are nonetheless still at liberty to protest AND DISPLAY THEIR PICTURES outside the consulate, minus their makeshift hut.)

All this is not to pick on Mr. Gallien, whom I sympathize with.  I simply point out that Falun Gong is free to use graphic images in public places within Gallien's home country to protest China's ill treatment of their co-religionists.

So why should they not have that very same right in Taiwan as well?

UPDATE #4:  Now that Taiwan's opened the door to the Chinese, we can probably expect opponents of the regime to be attacked by hired goons or mobsters, as was done in this case.

UPDATE (Apr 23/09):  Wednesday's Taipei Times' editorial on the issue.

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Compare and Contrast

"The Moment is freedom. — I couldn't live by a rigid schedule. I try to live freely from moment to moment, letting things happen and adjusting to them."

– Bruce Lee

“I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not.  I’m really confused now.  If you’re too free, you’re like the way Hong Kong is now.  It’s very chaotic.  Taiwan is also chaotic.  I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled.  If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.”

– Jackie Chan

Strictly speaking, there's really NO comparison.

Would The KMT Have Won Last Year’s Elections In Such A Big Way

. . . if they'd openly campaigned on a platform of turning Taiwan into Beijing's offshore brothel? 

Somehow, I kinda doubt it.  But as I was reading over the China Post's latest editorial supporting the-policy-Chinese-Nationalists-dared-not-speak-of-until-they-won-power, it struck me.  Why, didn't the Post used to go on and on about how MORALLY-DEPRAVED Taiwan had become once the KMT had lost the presidency?

Yes, they did.  So it's pretty entertaining to watch these self-appointed watchdogs of societal morality now cheerleading plans to legalize PROSTITUTION.

SEF Head Unrepentant Over Son’s PRC Ties

The chairman of the Taiwanese organization tasked with negotiating with China . . . has a family member who was doing business with China.

These aren't the droids you're looking for . . .

[Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung said that although] his son’s company won a contract to represent China’s state-owned steel company, it did not need a special permit because any private company can sell the products.  Besides, Chiang said, the contract expired in January and was not renewed, he said.  [emphasis added]

Well, that makes it alright then . . .

The office in Shanghai is closed and he had asked his family to decrease business ties with China since he took office, he said.

Chiang said he knew very little about his son’s business and rarely asked about it. He also said that he had not used his position to secure any business deals for his son.  [emphasis added]

If you say so, Chiang . . .

The [SEF] statement said [Chiang's son] had resigned from a joint venture and a foundation to avoid any conflict of interest.

Ah.  So at least ONE person realized there was a potential conflict of interest here . . .

He said he hoped the media would be more supportive of him and the cross-strait negotiation team.

Farmer Bao:  Is that a thief I hear in my hen house?

Answer:  There ain't nobody here but us chickens!

Speaking of which, Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party was quick to defend that strangely-out-of-place voice emerging from the hen house:

[Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan said] that Chiang was not a “policymaker” or “negotiator” in cross-strait affairs, but rather the “executor” of the council’s policy and that the Chiang issue was therefore “irrelevant.

I . . . see.  Chiang is the CHAIRMAN of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation — but he has absolutely NOTHING to do with the organization's policies or negotiations. 

(No doubt the poor guy just comes in 3 times a week to mop up and clean the windows.  So lay off him, already !)

Support from another quarter:

[KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih] said the [sovereignty-minded opposition party's] criticism was unreasonable as “by DPP logic, family members of a company chairman should all be barred from working for a company and depend on [the chairman] for a living.”

It may come as a surprise to nepotism-lovin' Lin, but some large corporations categorically forbid the hiring of family members.  From the (American) National Conference of State Legislatures:

Nepotism in business, as in public service, brings both costs and benefits. The positive aspects of nepotism include: lower recruiting costs; less employee turnover; higher levels of loyalty, trust and satisfaction; and a sense of "ownership," according to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  Those businesses that discourage nepotism do so because it may cause problems with favoritism, discipline, fraud, confidentiality and liability.  [emphasis added]

Makes sense to me.  Lots of small mom-and-pop operations hire family members because the benefits of doing so outweigh the disadvantages.  For larger operations, the situation may be reversed, and it's rational for corporations to adopt anti-nepotism policies.

Flash quiz:  Which organization does the country of Taiwan more closely resemble?  A mom-and-pop convenience store on the corner?  Or a large corporation?

*  Despite Lin Yi-shih's retrograde views on nepotism and conflict-of-interest, I must extend grudging admiration to the KMT for choosing a former dentist to be their party whip.  No, really.  I simply cannot imagine a better man for the job. 

(Cue Steve Martin, from Little Shop of Horrors.)

POSTSCRIPT:  The title of this post is shamelessly paraphrased from the Taipei Times' original, "SEF head regretful over son's PRC ties."  Paraphrased, because it turns out that the SEF chairman is decidedly NOT regretful over his son's PRC ties.  As Shaw-Chang Maa of the SEF puts it:

Chairman Chiang and his family never abused his position to secure any business for themselves, so in his mind what he feels regretful is particular media reports based on fake information which could potentially do disadvantages to future cross-strait talks.

I earlier quoted someone from the Mainland Affairs Council who swore up and down that Chiang WASN'T a "policymaker" or "negotiator".  That this conflict-of-interest was "irrelevant".

Yet now, Shaw-Chang Maa comes forward and says that media silence about Chiang's conflicts-of-interest is CRUCIAL to Taiwan's economic well-being.

Maybe some folks ought to sit down and get their talking-points straight.

China Exports Baby Powder Contaminated With Asbestos

Yeesh.  The story, as I understand it, goes like this.  A German baby product company, NUK, licenses its name to a South Korean company.  The South Korean company begins to produce baby powder, under the NUK trademark.  Unfortunately, they use imported talc tainted with asbestos from China.

The asbestos hits the fan when the South Korean FDA finds out.  The baby powder gets pulled from the shelves.

Irony:  Some of the NUK baby powder from South Korea got re-exported back into China.  So, right back atcha.

Hysterical Japan-Baiting

Joe Hung at Taiwan's China Post really outdid himself yesterday:

The pro-American Liberal Democratic government of Prime Minister Taro Aso is teetering on the verge of collapse, while a much more conservative leader, Ichiro Ozawa of the Democratic Party, is still likely — all but certain, if not held in check my the political contribution scandal — to come to power, come September.  If he does, Japan is all set to go nuclear to protect itself against hostile North Korea.  [emphasis added]

Japan's about to aquire nuclear weapons, Joe?  Boy, sure hope the CIA's been informed!

Dr. Hung continues:

Japan has a no-war constitution.

One of its unchanging fundamental policies is not to make or own nuclear weapons of mass destruction [sic].  But Japan is also a nation capable of making an instant about-face . . . [emphasis added]

Why, those sneaky Japs.  On Monday, they fool us with all this pacifism-this, and non-violence-that, and then BAMMO !  Next thing you know, they're nukin' Nanking !

Now, I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about Ichiro Ozawa.  On the one hand, this link suggests he favors Japan strengthening Japanese-American relations by extending military help to America for U.N.-approved missions (Afghanistan — hai, Iraq — nain).  And on the other, this source predicts he'd weaken those ties, by drawing CLOSER to China.

Beats me which is right.  But I'd believe EITHER of those predictions over Hung's Japan-as-Iran fantasy, any day.

KMT Moots New Job-Creation Program

What, didn't you see this coming?

1)  Record number of Chinese tourists in Taiwan

     AsiaOne.com reports:

Daily tourist arrivals from China hit 4,600 [on March 22/09], according to the newspaper [the Economic Daily].

2)  [KMT] Legislator proposes bill to decriminalize prostitution

Hey, a lot of average Joe Ho's love their ho's.  And think of the damage to Sino-Taiwanese relations if some two-bit sheriff somewhere were to turn around and ARREST them for it !

Now the thing is, I'm actually pretty libertarian on prostitution and drug legalization issues.  So ideologically-speaking, I ought to be applauding the KMT on this one.

But the timing is rather suspect.  And just because I'm libertarian on this doesn't mean I can't be cynical about it as well.

UPDATE:  I should note that Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party isn't all of one mind on the issue:

KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said Cheng’s proposal was “controversial.” It would be unreasonable to seek to legalize the sex trade while, at the same time, the National Communications Commission was banning TV commercials that accentuated women’s breasts, he said.

THERE'S the problem in a nutshell.  Too many KMT politicians are pro-China; too darn few of them are pro-Cleavage.

UPDATE #2:  I understand the new tourism slogan will be, "Taiwan:  Touch (A Lot More Than Just) Your Heart"

UPDATE #3:  Heh.  Some hardware geeks from Australia agree the Yao Yao and Shu Shu ads should be banned — not because they're exploitative of women, but because their voices are so annoying.

UPDATE #4:  Another heh.

UPDATE #5:  "Doctor, you forgot your calipers."  The immortal scene from The Aviator.