Category: Taiwanese Politics

So, How’s That Diplomatic Truce Workin’ Out For Ya?

Time was when China would lure Taiwan's diplomatic allies away from Taiwan.  But back in 2008, Ma Ying-jeou of the Chinese Nationalist Party was elected president of Taiwan.  And the hemorrhaging suddenly stopped.

Whether rightly or wrongly, President Ma was able to take some kind of credit for that.

So it must have come as quite a slap to the face when China sandbagged Ma.  Only instead of swiping one of Taiwan's allies, as was its previous custom, this time it seized 14 Taiwanese citizens on foreign soil instead.   And had them extradited to the P.R.C. to stand trial.

There are some who might not call this an improvement.

Postscript:  "Beijing Bob", at Taiwan's China Post, predictably characterizes China's effrontery as, "No loss of Taiwan's national sovereignty."

Which merits a Swiftian-style Modest Proposal:  If Taiwan truly doesn't suffer any loss of national sovereignty when its citizens are tried in Chinese Communist courts, then wouldn't Taiwanese interests be even better-served by simply abolishing its own law courts entirely and subsequently shipping all of its criminals to China?  Think of the time, effort, and most importantly, the MONEY that could be saved.

And the best part is, there would be no downside.  Consider:

a) There would be no loss of national sovereignty, as the China Post — the most honest newspaper in the history of the world — assures us. 

b)  Only vicious Sinophobes question the integrity, political neutrality and fierce commitment to the rule of law that is the solid bedrock of the Chinese judicial system.

c)  As people of Chinese descent (and members of the Chinese "race-nation"), Taiwanese can rest easy that they will be treated more-than-fairly under Chinese law.  After all, "blood IS thicker than water" . . . and the judge and prosecutors in the courtroom will be "son's of the Yellow Emperor", too.

(Or son's of somethings, at any rate.)

Communist Politburo Of China Awards KMT Quisling The Mao Tse-tung Peace Prize

Well done, Honorary Chairman for Life Lien Chan.  With any luck, next year you may yet be the proud recipient of China's "World Harmony Peace Prize".  Fingers crossed!

(Where Lien can share the podium with the previous winner — General Chi "Mahatma Gandhi" Haotian.  A tireless warrior for peace, who issued the courageous order to flatten Tiananmen Square protesters with 30-ton tanks back in 1989.)

Great stuff from Taiwan's Next Magazine:

Video unavailable. YouTube account terminated.

UPDATE:  News reports from Hong Kong suggest that the Butchers of Beijing wish to make their Toady in Taipei vice-president of the People's Republic of China.

Nah.  For China to publicly out their unpaid $15,000 agent would simply be too good to be true.  Chairman Wormtongue is much more useful behind the scenes, cutting shadowy deals with Saruman.

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague."

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

LienChan 
(Lien Chan image from Life.com)

UPDATE #2:  MSNBC reports on the farce.

i-1

Ex-President Chen Shui-bian Sent To Prison

News at the Taipei Times.

Don't imagine he'll ever make it out alive.  Because to paraphrase Casablanca's Captain Renault:  The Chinese Nationalist Party still hasn't quite decided whether he'll commit suicide or die while trying to escape.

Former KMT Chairman’s Son Shot At Political Rally

Fortunately, the injuries to Sean Lien, son of Lien Chan, aren't life-threatening.

I  will not for a moment entertain sleazy conspiracy theories that Sean Lien somehow masterminded a failed assassination attempt against himself in order to win sympathy votes for his party on the eve of an upcoming election.

Because blaming the victims of political violence would be crazy talk.

Right, Lien Chan?

Right, China Post? 

Right, Bevin Chu and the rest of Taiwan's pan-Blue media?

Postscript:  It will be nothing short of poetic justice for Sean Lien to be accused of plotting an assassination attempt against himself — when his father forever disgraced himself by making that very same repulsive charge against a different victim of political violence a mere 6 years ago.

I however, will not stoop to Lien Chan's level.  Nor the China Post's.  Nor Bevin Chu's or the rest of the pan-Blue media's.

I do note in passing though, that the China Post reports President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan has instructed Premier Wu Den-yih to take charge of the case.

Ughhh.  GREAT judgement.  Ma puts a Taiwanese politician with known Chinese mafia connections at the head of an attempted murder investigation???

Boy, sure hope no conspiracy theories emerge out of THAT decision . . .

UPDATE:  The Japan Times reports the gunman in custody was known in gangster circles by the nickname, "Horse face".

Hmmm . . . "Horse face" . . . "HORSE face" . . . Now it's been a while – what's that Mandarin word for "horse" again . . .

Whoa.  This thing goes right to the top, people.  You just have to connect all the dots, man.

Communist Party Vassal Refuses To Call For Release Of Chinese Dissident

And to think Lien Chan came within 26,000 votes of the Taiwanese presidency.  Does he really expect people to believe he's never read about the first Chinese to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize?

On second thought, this is Lien Chan of Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party we're talkin' about.  And the man has his priorities.  When someone of his ilk has to choose between standing up for democracy advocates or bringing pandas to Taiwan, there's really no contest.

Former KMT chairman Lien Chan in a protective blue animal care suit, beaming with a baby panda in his lap.

(All my panda-huggin', all my panda-kissin', you don't know what you've been a-missin'…)

Postscript:  Good on France and Nicholas Sarkozy for defying The Empire and sending ambassadors to Oslo for Liu's award ceremony.  Same goes for Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

As for Japan, we'll see.  On the one hand, Prime Minister Kan seems willing to bend over backwards to appease the PRC.  On the other, his poll numbers seem to be tanking as a result:

Public support for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet has plunged 14.9 points since early October to 32.7 percent, reflecting growing frustration with the government . . . reflect[ing] public dissatisfaction with the government's handling of Japan's row with China and a political funds scandal dogging ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa.

i-1

Beijing Relaxes “The Chinese Charm Offensive” Against Japan

Resumes rare earth shipments to Japanese high-tech industries.  (The four Japanese hostages it took earlier have still not been released, however.)

On a somewhat-related topic, there's one irony I've been meaning to mention regarding Taiwan's involvement in the Senkaku affair.  Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party will enthusiastically spend tens of thousands of dollars to defend the "right" of a Taiwanese citizen to hoist the R.O.C. flag on Japanese soil. 

Yet that same party is willing to spend MILLIONS to prevent Taiwanese citizens from hoisting that very same flag on their OWN SOIL (at least when Chinese Communist Party apparachiks come-a-callin').

Curious, is it not?

Give ‘Em An Inch And They Won’t Just Take An Isle

They'll take the whole archipelago.  Chinese ultranationalists at Taiwan's China Post salivate not just over the Senkaku Islands, but over ALL the islands in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture.

The Senkakus?  Merely an appetizer.

UPDATE:  In claiming the Senkaku Islands for "China", the China Post of Taiwan refers to a Japanese map from 1783 (on which the islands are given the same color as China).

Hayashi Shihei, Japan's first cartographer, positioned the Senkakus as belonging to China in the eighteenth century.

This all leads to a place where the Chinese ultranationalists of the Post most certainly did intend to go.  Because interestingly enough, that very same map represents Taiwan with an entirely different color from China.  (China & the Senkaku Islands are colored pinkish-red on the map, while Taiwan is colored yellow.)

Ergo, if you believe the Japanese map is irrefutable proof of China's ownership over the Senkakus, then you must also hold it to be irrefutable proof that Taiwan is an country independent of China.

Q.E.D.

1783 map from Japan shows Taiwan is independent from China

(Hat tip to Ampontan, who was the first to make this observation)

i-1

Give Chinese Ultranationalists An Inch, And They’ll Take An Isle

Japan prevents Taiwanese fishing boat under R.O.C. coast guard protection from laying claim to Japan's Senkaku Islands.

There's Taiwan's revanchist president, Ma Ying-jeou, still trying to stir the pot.  Not for him, the blessings of peace.  Or a once-a-year attempt to join the U.N. 

Instead, a once-a-year provocation of Japan (almost like clockwork) over a few specks in the ocean is more his style.

Funny though, how we never hear of Taiwanese fishing boats trying to lay claim to islands owned by the P.R.C.  No, just Japan.  That, despite the Chinese Nationalist Party's insistence that ALL of China belongs to the R.O.C…

Why is that, I wonder?