Try to suppress that shameful feeling of pleasure at another's misfortune. Might be tough, if you're honest with yourself:
Chinese police mistakenly beat wife of high-ranking CCP security official – for 15 minutes
(Hat tip to The Marmot's Hole)
Category: China – Domestic Affairs
I Can’t Look at Hobbles and I Can’t Stand Fences
China's capital has started gating and locking some of its lower-income neighborhoods overnight, with police or security checking identification papers around the clock, in a throwback to an older style of control.
Used to think it was hyperbole to describe the PRC as "neo-fascist". Maybe I was mistaken on that score.
There is No Soviet Domination of Eastern Europe
Likewise, there's No Finlandization of Taiwan. And there never will be under a Ma administration!
And finally, just so's we're clear on this, there are No Dissidents in China. Never had 'em, never will.
That is all.
Chinese Securitate Get REALLY Tough on Google
UPDATE: Wow. The Chinese Communist Party's fiendishly clever Plan B: Operation Create Google Substitute.
Which come to think of it, strongly resembles their campaign over at Topix:
When the Hokklo Taiwanese came from China 400 years ago they didn't learn the Aboriginal languages!!! Why???
When the Hokklo Taiwanese came from China 400 years ago they didn't learn the Aboriginal languages!!! Why???
It's the way of the future . . . the future . . . the way of the FU-ture . . .
Whoops, sorry. **Phew** Well, that's a good question I asked. I mean, you — YOU asked! …Uh, three times. Anyhoo. Anyhoo, I'll tell you why. They didn't learn the aboriginal languages because they're nothing but a bunch of no-good racists!
No-good racists, you say? I did not know that, my clean-shaven friend.
Shouldn't Beijing then discipline those wayward, spoiled children? As they say in the Han race-nation, blood is thicker than water. So why, oh why, don't the Chinese invade and mass deport all of those Taiwanese racists back to China?
Ethnically-cleanse all 23 million of them? As punishment for not learning a language 400 years ago?
Hmmm . . . That's tough, but fair . . .
I second the motion! A capital idea! And then, once the People's Liberation Army promptly leaves (as we can surely trust them to do) then we can set up a Naruwan aboriginal Republic under UN auspices!
Hee-hee! With my amazing Moktar Stealth Haze, no one can tell they're all just me! Do da do da do . . . Just a wild and crazy anarchist – like that V for Vendetta guy! (Images from Patterico.com)
Bravo, Topix.com, for a site that's so bad it's actually kind of awesome.
UPDATE 2: Unrelated, but fun nonetheless. Feng shui: Is there anything it CAN'T do?
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Taiwanese KMT Despot: “Let’s Throw Free Speech Under The Bus”
. . . in order to please Communist China. From Taiwan's China Post:
. . . ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Deputy Secretary-General Chang Jung-kung, who handles the party's ties with China, warned [the mayor of the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung] of the risks of screening [a film about Chinese Uigher leader, Rebiya Kadeer].
He said the mayor should give top priority to the public interest of her city, and should “think carefully” if the move affects Kaohsiung's [influx of Chinese tourists].
Mr. Deputy Secretary-General, free speech IS the public interest of Kaohsiung. And Taiwan too, you miserable butt-wipe.
Acer Volunteers To Serve As China’s Cyber-Censor
Thank you, chairman J.T. Wang. I now know what computer brand NOT to buy.
(Acer chairman image from the Taipei Times. I'll say this: Murdering Chinese free speech obviously pays well.)
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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
– 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.
Sounds Like Somebody’s Hankerin’ To Harvest A Few Organs
Guess there's not enough Falun Gong members in Taiwan to fit the bill. From Friday's China Post:
The Presbyterian Church has been meddling in China's domestic politics for nearly a century. It has driven a wedge between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan by instilling hatred for mainland Chinese in the hearts and minds of Chinese on Taiwan.
Hard to figure out exactly what the author means by "China" here. First of all, if he means the Republic of China (Taiwan), then he's surely in error, because Taiwan was a colony of Japan a hundred years ago. Any "meddling" that might have taken place a hundred years ago would therefore have been in Japanese imperial affairs, not in China's domestic politics.
On the other hand, if by "China" the author is referring to the People's Republic of China, then again he's wrong, because Mao expelled all Western churches back in '49.
I'll assume then, that by "China" the writer means "Taiwan", and by "nearly a century", he means 60 years. That would suggest that the editorialist bears a grudge regarding the Presbyterians' opposition to human rights abuses by Taiwan's former dictators.
Such complaints by KMT apologists are a bit rich, however:
In 1975, after the KMT confiscated romanized Bibles and prohibited the printing of romanized texts, the [Presbyterian Church of Taiwan] issued "Our Appeal — Concerning the Bible, the Church and the Nation" which asked that the government respect religious freedom and carry out political reform.
Talk about meddling! In the 1970s the KMT dictatorship in Taiwan OUTLAWED Bibles written in the Taiwanese vernacular. In doing so, it violated two fundamental principles held by all modern democratic states: that of religious freedom and that of separation of Church and State. (Which should come as no surprise, because Taiwan in the '70s was no democracy.)
As for any "wedge" that has been driven between the Taiwanese and the Chinese, the writer conveniently forgets to mention any possible role that decades of Chinese belligerence and threats of war might have played in fostering anti-Chinese sentiment — or that KMT anti-communist propaganda might have played a role as well.
UPDATE: Noticed a few similarities between this 2004 Bevin Chu blog post from a few years back and the piece in Friday's China Post.
Technically, it's not plagiarism, since I believe Mr. Chu wrote the Post's editorial as well. But it's still quite a long passage to simply CUT-AND-PASTE, however:
As part of his election campaign, Chen Shui-bian ordered Chen Yu-hao, former chairman of the Tuntex Group and a fugitive exiled to the US, placed on Taiwan's "Ten Most Wanted" list. Chen Shui-bian was desperate to cast himself as a squeaky clean political reformer at Chen Yu-hao's expense.
A furious Chen Yu-hao responded by appearing on television and revealing the ugly truth. Chen Shui-bian had eagerly pocketed a fortune in political contributions from Chen Yu-hao over the past decade.
When Chen Shui-bian tried to deny the charges, Chen Yu-hao revealed that ROC legislator Shen Fu-hsiung, a DPP "elder" with a reputation for honesty within DPP circles was an eyewitness who saw Chen Yu-hao hand First Lady Wu Shu-chen a bag full of cash.
Considering Shen was also Chen Shui-bian's campaign manager, Chen Yu-hao's revelation put Shen in a somewhat awkward position. Rather than lie, Shen went into hiding for the following week.
What happened next was like a scene out of a black comedy by Stanley Kubrick.
A delegation of ministers from the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, a long time abettor of Taiwan independence, paid an emergency visit to Shen. What textual truth did these supposedly devout Christians share with him? They solemnly assured Shen that it was not a sin to lie as long as it was in a good cause. In other words, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, unless of course it advances Taiwan independence."
Be that as it may, I cannot find any corroboration for Chu's story about Taiwan's Presbyterian Church. I can only speculate that Church leaders may have said something about "forgiveness" at the time (as Christians often do), and that Chu has misinterpreted — or, to be less kind, twisted — their statements to suggest the Church advocates the telling of deliberate falsehoods.
UPDATE (Dec 13/08): Mr. Chu's account of the Chen Yu-hao story appears a bit one-sided. From AsiaTimes Online:
In early February [of 2004] Chen Yu-hao faxed three letters to opposition legislators claiming that he had made donations to the election campaign of President Chen Shui-bian. At first he tried to claim that Chen Shui-bian had simply pocketed the money, a claim that was refuted by officials from Chen Shui-bian's own DPP, who produced photocopies of the receipts.
[…]
The DPP also pointed out that Chen Yu-hao had given donations 10 times as large to both the other rival candidates for the 2000 presidential election; Lien Chan of the Kuomintang (KMT) and James Soong, then running as an independent candidate got NT$100 million each.
On top of this Chen Yu-hao had given another NT$100 million to the KMT in the early 1990s, which somehow never made its way into party coffers but ended up in the private bank accounts of Soong's family members.
[…]
There is no doubt that Soong transferred NT$248 million of KMT funds into the bank accounts of his family members in the Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corp, of which NT$100 million came from Chen Yu-hao and another NT$80 million from construction company boss Liang Po-hsun. Liang is also a fugitive from Taiwanese justice, accused of embezzling money from the Overseas Chinese Bank. And while Soong claims the money was to be used for party purposes, there is no evidence that it was so used, and Soong never attempted to return the money – neither when he left the KMT secretary-general's post nor when he left the party itself in late 1999.
My Nominee For This Year’s Coveted “Asian Order Of The Brown Nose” Award
It's a tight race, but my current fave is Taiwan's David Ting, for his China Post column, Temblor's unsung heroes show the love of the people:
For all the losses, sufferings and agonies, Beijing can take some comfort from the fact that the earthquake has rallied the country behind the government, which has been constantly criticized by Western countries for human right abuses. Suddenly, such criticisms disappeared, thanks to the earthquake that prompted Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao to respond instantly and effectively — an evidence of their care and concern for human rights. [emphasis added]
Evidence of their care and concern for human rights. Priceless!
(Image from Not The South China Morning Post)
Had some Taiwanese friends over this week who've never seen the previous Indiana Jones movies, and I was a bit surprised when one of them brought the subject of the quake up. Now, this guy and I almost never talk politics — I don't know his politics — don't CARE to know his politics. Be that as it may, he asked me, "So Foreigner, what do you think of the earthquake in China?"
Now, I was starting to think this was some kind of trick question. 50,000 people dead… what am I SUPPOSED to think?
Me: "Uh, yeah . . . it's pretty bad. What do YOU think?"
Him: "I don't know. We offered to send rescue teams over there. But they refused."
Did I detect a sadness in that last word? Or bitterness? I'm no Betazoid, so I couldn't tell. But no guff from HIM about the glorious, compassionate Communist Party leadership. Just the implied criticism: "They had tens of thousands of people trapped under rubble, and the stupid bastards REFUSED our rescue teams. Nice that they're letting them in NOW, but it's kinda late, isn't it?"
The Weekly Standard featured a piece on the earthquake this week, minus Ting's obsequious cheerleading:
In the city of Dujiangyan, which is closest to the quake's epicenter, the UK's Guardian newspaper reports residents there furious over the shoddy workmanship and substandard materials used in many of the buildings that collapsed around their families. Many of them blame local officials for selling off the high quality materials that should have been used in these buildings and putting the money in their pockets. The same government functionaries then signed off on certifications that these structures were built according to local codes and ordnances, even thought that they knew them to be incapable of surviving even small tremors.
[…]
City residents were particularly angered by the collapse of the Juyuan High School, pointing out that this much newer building folded like a house of cards while considerably older structures–most conspicuously local PLA offices and other government buildings–were left standing.
"About 450 [students] were inside, in nine classes and it collapsed completely from the top to the ground. It didn't fall over; it was almost like an explosion . . . why isn't there money to build a good school for our kids?" shouted several at the site. "Chinese officials are too corrupt and bad. These buildings outside have been here for 20 years and didn't collapse–the school was only 10 years old. They took the money from investment, so they took the lives of hundreds of kids. They have money for prostitutes and second wives but they don't have money for our children. This is not a natural disaster–this is done by humans."
Something's seriously amiss when Chinese citizens are more critical of their government than members of the supposedly "free" press stationed in Taiwan.
POSTSCRIPT: The good news is, Typepad has updated its WYSIWYG editor, giving bloggers like me several new functions to play with. The bad news is it's as buggy as hell right now. Hence the unposted photo.
Perhaps if the technical support staff at Typepad resolved to be a little more like the "unsung heroes of the Peoples' Liberation Army, working around the clock under difficult conditions, demonstrating the kind of tenacity that shows they fear neither hardship nor death," the problems would be resolved, and I'd be able to post the image.
(Kidding! . . . Kidding, Typepad. I kid, because I love.)
UPDATE (May 25/08): Blogging software seems to be back to normal now. Thanks fellas.
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** Irony Alert **
1999: China trashes the Falun Gong sect, calling it, "An evil cult."
2000: Beijing vilifies Taiwanese Vice-President Annette Lu as, "The scum of the nation."
2006: The PRC blasts Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian as, "A destroyer of peace."
2008: The Chinese government labels the Dalai Lama, "A wolf in monk’s robes. A devil with a human face, but the heart of a beast."
*
*
But the icing on the cake? A headline on the front page of Monday’s Taipei Times: "Media ‘demonizes’ China, Beijing’s UK envoy says"
LOL