Taiwan, China, and other things. Recovered from the defunct TypePad platform.
From the Washington Times:
A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected…
So it shadowed them – then deliberately surfaced to let them KNOW they were being shadowed. Hat tip to the Drudge Report.
In my last post, I admitted to initially wavering on the question of whether Taiwan’s President Chen was innocent of corruption following the indictment of his wife on November 3rd. In this however, I was not alone. A timeline of the four most pivotal days of the latest presidential recall saga:
Friday, Nov 3/06: First Lady Wu Shu-jen is indicted on corruption charges. Chen Shui-bian is unindicted only due to presidential immunity, but the prospect is raised of his indictment once he leaves office.
The evidence of corruption consists of falsified receipts for the presidential State Affairs Fund. Some were submitted by an individual who was not in country at the time, and others were for personal jewelry purchased by Mrs. Wu.
Chen’s party, the independence-minded DPP, tries to distance itself from him by beginning talk of referring the First Lady to their internal ethics committee. Meanwhile, the KMT and its pro-unification ally, the PFP, announce they will again attempt to have President Chen recalled. What separates this attempt from previous ones is that the TSU, a party allied with the DPP, has now announced it will support the recall. If a mere 12 DPP members defect and vote for recall, the measure will pass in the legislature and a public referendum will be called. A simple majority in this referendum will be enough to remove Chen from his post.
Saturday, Nov 4/06: The DPP circles the wagons, and collectively agrees not to answer media questions until Chen gives a speech on the subject on Sunday.
Sunday, Nov 5/06: The tide turns against the president, as three members of his own party break media silence, and to varying degrees declare their lack of support for him. Good news comes later for him though, as some TSU members announce they are unhappy with the party’s support for a recall vote.
Also during the day, the prosecutor discusses some of the bogus receipts, while the president gives a speech in his own defense. The speech does not address the receipts specifically, but does raise the issue of motive. Chen claims that if he had wanted to swindle the government out of NT$14 million ($400,000), he wouldn’t have abolished a secret NT$110 million ($3 million) account and reduced his salary by NT$3 million ($1 million) over six years. He insists he will only resign if his wife is found guilty in a court of law.
Monday, Nov 6/06: Following Chen’s Sunday speech, the TSU reverses its support for another recall. Given the unlikelihood of 24 DPP members breaking ranks, a recall is now doomed to failure. Yet despite the odds, the KMT vows to press onward with the vote.
Since this is the third recall attempt, it’s fair to wonder how many more times the KMT can try to get rid of him before they start to look ridiculous. But for a while there last weekend, with Chen’s support crumbling, I could have sworn he was a goner.
UPDATE (Nov 14/06): Both the Taipei Times and the China Post are portraying a recent call by Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh for President Chen to step down as a major development. I’m aware that the Taiwanese Nobel Prize winner and former president of Taiwan’s premier research academy has moral authority here, but I’m a bit sceptical that his withdrawal of support will mean all that much. Do people really look to experts on chemical kinetics for political advice? Taiwan’s governed by democratic institutions, not the Science Council of Krypton.
The reactions to the announcement are interesting in themselves. The KMT now hails Lee as a statesman, a profile in courage, when it was only a few weeks ago that they lambasted him to his face in the legislature for his endorsement of Chen Shui-bian in the 2000 presidential race. The DPP on the other hand, now denounces him as being "biased and unfair", though that didn’t stop them from taking his endorsement back in 2000.
For my own part, I think Dr. Lee is wrong. But I also think he has a right to be wrong.
I confess that within the last week I’ve done a lot of vacillating on the question of whether Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian is guilty of corruption. (My initial reaction can be found here.) From the start, I realized that the people trying to bring him down were pretty contemptible – nothing but communist sellouts who’ve been fishing for six years for a pretense to get rid of him.
But that doesn’t mean he’s innocent.
I understood that the money involved is far less than the pay cut he voluntarily imposed upon himself, and the slush fund he abolished.
Still doesn’t mean he COULDN’T have taken the money.
I mean, his wife submitted personal JEWELRY receipts for reimbursement from the State Affairs Fund, for Pete’s sake. The prosecutor knows her RING FINGER SIZE. Even the most dyed-in-the-wool Chen supporter had to admit it looked a little shady. Which is why I think Michael Turton’s recent defense of President Chen is so important.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the situation, I should give a little background. Because the Republic of China (Taiwan) isn’t regarded as a sovereign nation by many countries, it pays a premium to those who secretly lobby for its recognition. Because of the military threat from communist China, it hires spies within that country to keep abreast of the danger. And because the current Taiwanese government is democratic, it secretly funds certain pro-democracy activists who live across the strait.
For many years, part of the funding for all of these covert lobbyists, spies and democratic agitators came directly from Taiwan’s presidential office. This arrangement is a bit unusual – most established democracies probably fund and manage these sorts of people through their spy agencies. But Taiwan was once a dictatorship, and its previous dictators sought unfiltered information and direct control. Though Taiwan has since democratized, this is one aspect of its former government which has not yet been fully reformed.
One reform which was implemented came soon after President Chen assumed office. For reasons of transparency, Chen abolished the secret fund that the presidency had at its disposal. In retrospect, this now appears like an unwise undertaking, because Taiwan’s need for secrecy in its foreign policy remained as strong as ever. But what is inexplicable was Chen’s failure at that time to hand over the responsibilities for covert missions to Taiwan’s intelligence apparatus. Instead, Chen decided he would continue to pay for covert intelligence and diplomacy with the only means he had left at his disposal: public funds.
As Michael points out, this created an insoluble dilemma. Use of public funds need to be accounted for with receipts, but Chinese spies and democratic activists fear far too much for their lives to ever provide them. If such people are to be paid from the "State Affairs Fund", then bogus receipts will have to be submitted. Receipts such as the ones the prosecutor used in his indictments.
So, there it is. None of this precludes the possibility that the President and First Lady skimmed money from the government, but there now exists a perfectly plausible explanation for the existence of all those damning jewelry receipts. Thankfully, those who maintain the president’s innocence need no longer feel foolish for doing so.
The Belmont Club has video of a prototype South Korean border guard robot armed with an automatic rifle.
"Put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply."
(ED-209 image from Starship Modeler.)
In other news, Strategy Page featured a story about the Chinese navy working to make their nuclear submarines quieter.
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The most important story of Sunday received shockingly little coverage: Miniskirts and hot pants soon to be legalized in South Korea.
Which is not to minimize the the sentencing of Saddam Hussein to death story. But c’mon. Who doesn’t like hot pants?
For myself, the worst thing about the indictment of President Chen’s wife on corruption charges on Friday is the sinking feeling that his whole party is going down with him – delivering Taiwan into the hands of Ma "Gaius Baltar" Ying-jeou.*
Sure hope the half-million bucks was worth it.
OK, maybe that’s out of line. After all, Chen’s wife, Wu Shu-chen, has been indicted, not convicted. Maybe the president can explain everything to everyone’s satisfaction within the next few days, saving his wife from being referred to his party’s internal ethics committee.
Maybe too, it’s all just a "big misunderstanding", and Chen won’t be indicted when he leaves office.
Maybe. I can tell you though, it’s going to be pretty tough to rustle up support for a first lady who’s been "indicted, not convicted." It’s even worse if the public sees the prosecutor as a straight shooter who’s already demonstrated his neutrality by exonerating the First Lady on a previous corruption charge.
(Yet one more bad sign is that the KMT has vowed to oust the president, legally. You know you’re in bad shape when the KMT feels confident enough to bring you down using nothing but THE LAW, rather than with violent revolution or American intervention.)
Lots of commenters at the The View from Taiwan are saying they don’t see how Chen can continue in office, and I’m inclined to agee. Therefore, it’s probably time to start thinking about what an Annette Lu presidency would look like. Those who think that squeaky-clean Lu is somehow going to pass muster with the KMT and its allies had better think again:
[People First Party Chairman James] Soong said that it’s also imperative for [President Chen’s] ruling Democratic Progressive Party and opposition parties to hold a summit to discuss the rights and obligations an acting president should have. [Emphasis added]
In other words, the PFP and KMT won’t see Annette Lu as being PRESIDENT – she’ll instead be some kind of ACTING president. As such, they insist her "rights and obligations" won’t be constitutionally-mandated like a REAL president’s, but instead be open to inter-party negotiation and future interpretation. For the last six years of the Chen administration, the KMT and PFP have lambasted Chen for violating the "spirit" of the Republic of China constitution; at every turn, a Lu administration will be excoriated for violating an ad hoc "Agreement on the Powers of Acting Presidents".
Ms. Lu, of course, can avoid all that by knowing her place. A place which the KMT will be all-too happy to designate for her.
* Some of Chen’s enemies see no downside, regarding this as an opportunity to boogie down. For Taiwan’s China Post however, the worst aspect of the First Lady’s indictment is that propriety demands they now shed crocodile tears rather than gloat:
With a very heavy heart, we now call upon President Chen to step down. We haven’t done that before because he was allegedly involved in the misuse of the fund under his control for the conduct of "affairs of state."
Last things first. The China Post has on NUMEROUS occasions said that Chen should resign, so they have indeed "done that before". And their "very heavy heart"? Well, they spent a year-and-a-half alleging that President Chen assumed office by faking an assassination attempt on his own life in order to win sympathy votes, so I don’t imagine they’re really all THAT cracked-up about it.
For six years now, the KMT and the China Post have accused Chen of a lot of things, alternatively demanding his recall, his impeachment, or his resignation. Heavy hearts at this moment belong to those who voted for Chen or believed he was innocent, based upon the sheer number of times his critics cried wolf – with no wolf ever revealing its lupine face.
UPDATE: One person arguing in Chen’s defense:
Among those who were apparently willing to stick up for the president was DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching who said that he still does not believe a president who was willing to slash his salary in half would become embroiled in corruption for the sum of NT$15 million [$450,000]. [Emphasis added]
I’d forgotten that. It’s certainly inconsistent with the picture of a corrupt Chen that the KMT has painted.
UPDATE #2: On the subject of V.P. Annette Lu possibly succeeding President Chen Shui-bian:
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young is believed to have avoided a meeting with [Annette Lu] during his round of visits with Taiwanese leaders after his recent briefing round in Washington.
I’m sure the American government disapproves of Ms. Lu’s committment to Taiwanese independence, but if it’s true that they’ve been snubbing her, then that ought to stop. It’s quite possible that Lu may wind up being the next Taiwanese president, for Pete’s sake.
UPDATE #3: The KMT plans another recall motion on Monday, only three days after the First Lady’s indictment, and a single day after Chen was to give a speech in his defense. I think the president’s party is still a bit dazed right now. They’ll reflexively defend him, and he’ll survive.
In a couple of weeks’ time, reality will set in, polling numbers will be known, and some of them might very well be willing to vote the other way.
UPDATE #4: Did I say the PUBLIC regards the prosecutor as a straight-shooter? Heck, even the Taipei Times, one of President Chen’s staunchest defenders, writes glowingly of him.
UPDATE #5: It wouldn’t be another day in Taiwan if the KMT didn’t find yet another excuse to continue blocking the special arms budget:
Observers said the KMT and PFP may continue [to] boycott the arms budget if the president refuses to step down.
We’ve got a whole SYSTEM set up to prevent people like you from becoming mayor!
Undeterred by Grandpa Simpson’s words of wisdom, Independent Legislator Li "The Fumigator" Ao is, indeed, running for mayor, so the Taiwan News asked him for an interview. Some highlights:
"[If elected mayor, I will] use Taipei as a political base for combatting the central government…I will leave the [infrastructure and economic development] jobs to my deputies…and focus my energy on fighting the central government."
Now, depending how you look at it, that means he’ll be either a hands-off…or a hands-on kind of mayor. Just what’ll his primary weapon be for this intended fight of his?
"Seventy-three percent of the city’s revenue goes to the central government. As mayor, I will order the tax department to stop the practice."
Uh-huh. I’d be remiss if I forgot to mention a couple of particularly well thought-out policies that Taipei-ers could expect from a Li mayorship:
"[I plan] to re-zone the parking lot next to the Presidential Office and build a 10-story funeral parlor on it where people mourn their dead family and friends while [Buddhist] monks and nuns chant sutra."
[…]
"I also support direct air links between China and [Taiwan]…I may cut [the] water and electricity supply to the [Central Government] agencies that oppose direct air links."
I SWEAR I’m not making this stuff up. There’s more, though. Here, he (sort of) answers how he would make Taipei a more English-friendly city:
"I don’t like America, Japan and other foreign countries. As mayor, I will not allow the city’s police to protect the [de facto American embassy]. Also, I will ask them not to protect President Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu."
But there’s ONE question on everybody’s mind that unfortunately the Taiwan News DIDN’T ask. Namely, just how long are we all going to have to wait before the cops haul Li’s crazy, publicity-seeking ass off to jail for illegal possession of an electric stun baton, illegal possession of teargas, assault with an electric stun baton, and criminal discharge of teargas within a crowded room?
iiiit’ll be a while.
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You’re takin’ this very personal. Tom, this is business, and this man is takin’ it very, very personal.
– Sonny Corleone
For the last three weeks, the KMT and its allies have been trying to make an issue out of American diplomat Stephen Young’s utterances in an effort to divert attention away from their blocking of the special arms budget. When Young said it was impolite for People First Party chairman James Soong to heckle Taiwan’s president during National Day, the PFP and some members of the KMT began making noises about deportation. Their calls to have Young declared persona non grata intensified when he delivered a speech in which he stressed the urgency for Taiwan to pass a "robust arms package" by the end of the fall legislative session. Young’s statements, they objected, amounted to interference in Taiwan’s internal political affairs.
(The China Post printed four hysteric anti-Young / anti-American letters between October 28th and the 30th. They can be reviewed here.)
The sniping at Young hasn’t been limited to threats of expulsion, however. Just forget that the KMT blocked the special arms bill 68 times over the last two years – that’s irrelevant. Because suddenly, it’s all YOUNG’S fault that the KMT’s blocking weapons for Taiwan:
Kuomintang lawmakers [claimed] the warnings Stephen Young…issued would "adversely affect" the progress of the necessary deliberation.
"Now that the ultimatum has been given, we cannot afford to adopt the bill at once," said Tseng Yung-chuan, the Kuomintang legislative caucus whip. If it does, he added, the Kuomintang will be called "a chicken."
What a terrific way to rationalize delay and to try to smear Young in front of his superiors, all at the same time. We’d really like to move on this, America – really we would – but that guy you sent over sure is making it tough for us to get the job done. Maybe you’re not aware of this, but here in Taiwan, it’s considered an INTOLERABLE loss of face to take the garbage out after your wife asks you to.
(Especially if she’s already asked you 68 times in a row.)
Monday’s papers also reported the KMT employing a bit of poll-a-ganda in a transparent effort to make Young look bad:
"Young’s remarks have made the passage of the bill uncertain. It’s inappropriate to let it through at this moment, as a media survey had found that 65 percent of the public disapproves of Young," [said Tseng Yung-chuan, director of the KMT policy department.] *
My, my, they really ARE trying to make this thing personal. Problem for them is, Young’s bosses have got his back:
Asked at the daily department press briefing on Friday whether Young still has US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s confidence, spokesman Sean McCormack said that "he’s doing a good job" and the department has no plans to recall him from his Taipei post.
The State Department also issued a statement after the press briefing, in which a department official said Young’s comments "reflect the United States’ long time encouragement of an increase in Taiwan’s overall defense spending and for funding a strategy that reinforces stability in the Taiwan Strait."
"Director Young’s remarks are fully consistent with long-held US positions and are based on our assessment of Taiwan’s defense needs," it said.
It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business. I wouldn’t call this merely a defense of Stephen Young; I’d call it a warning. Should Young be expelled, Washington won’t view it as the "legitimate" comeuppance of an impolitic diplomat – an act confined in importance to a single individual. Instead, it’ll be seen as the rejection of an official who is faithfully and accurately representing American positions – an act of open contempt for American interests.
But hey, the KMT claims Young has a 65% disapproval rating with the Taiwanese public. So go ahead and knock yourselves out, guys.
* The KMT has played this little game with President Chen’s approval ratings as well, announcing on previous occasions that Chen’s low numbers provided them with sufficient reason not to bring the special arms bill to a vote.
UPDATE: The KMT on Monday decided to tell America to shut up and sit down:
…the legislature’s [KMT-dominated] Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee passed a resolution asking the US Department of State to create measures restraining its diplomats’ remarks in Taiwan, saying that Young’s statement had violated diplomatic courtesy and could be interpreted as interference with Taiwan’s internal affairs.
(Yes I know, the KMT didn’t literally tell America to keep silent; they instead told Stephen Young to hold his tongue. But Young only delivered a message that the American government WANTED delivered. So in a very real way, telling Young to shut up is tantamount to telling the American government to do so as well.)
What’s remarkable here is that it was only five months ago that the KMT was high-fiving America for punishing President Chen for abolishing the National Unification Council, and one month ago that it BEGGED America to ask Chen to resign during the heat of the redshirt protests.
KMT outrage over American "interference" is nothing if not selective.
The Taipei Times elaborated on the measure:
The resolution said that it was designed to prevent US diplomats from hurting the feelings of the people of Taiwan and harming Taiwan’s democracy.
It was passed to prevent the feelings of the Taiwanese from being hurt? Somebody ought to tell the KMT that ever since they started pal-ling around with the Communist Party of China, they’ve even begun SOUNDING alike.
UPDATE (Nov 5/06): From Johnny Neihu’s Saturday column, a State Department official is questioned by an anti-Young Taiwanese reporter:
Question: Based on the strong reaction from Taiwan’s opposition, under such circumstances, Mr. Stephen Young is — seems to be a liability rather than an asset. So do you have any — under such [sic] current situation, do you have any plan to recall him or anything else?
Mr. McCormack: No.
Question: Does he [sic] still have confidence in him?
Mr. McCormack: He’s doing a good job.
You’ve heard of push polling, right? This is typical Taiwanese "push reporting" — or asking leading questions — in which a reporter turns a personal opinion ("seems to be") into a statement of fact ("under such current situation"). Most responses can then be twisted to make the reporter’s opinion look like fact in the write-up, though Sean McCormack in this case very professionally chose not to play the game.
If you watch the video on the State Department Web site, you can sense the contempt McCormack feels toward his interrogator. And my spy in Washington tells me there was some embarrassment among the other reporters.
He’s doing a good job. Not quite the answer the reporter was fishing for.
UPDATE (Nov 10/06): A Monday column in the Taipei Times had this point to make:
If one looks at the current arms deal as a simple business transaction, how is it unreasonable for a seller to offer the buyer a last chance to make the purchase after he or she has gone back on promises and dragged out the negotiations?
How could this be construed as "political interference?" Opposition politicians could always come out and say clearly that they don’t want to buy the US’ weapons and be done with it.
Barring any future statements by Mr. Young, this story has pretty much played itself out. The KMT has turned its attention back to their attempts to recall President Chen, and campaigning against an American diplomat represents a distraction from that effort.
UPDATE (NOV 11/06): From Thursday’s Taiwan News:
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang, a member of the defense committee, said his party reached a consensus two months ago to back the purchase of the aircraft. [the 12 P3C Orion anti-submarine planes offered in the special arms package].
So they reached consensus to support part of the package two months ago, but it took Stephen Young’s arm twisting to finally get them moving. Even the KMT is now admitting that they’ve been playing political games with this for a while.
No, no – BANANAS. They wouldn’t want anyone to think they’re STOOPID, would they?
(Photo from the Taipei Times.)
That’s a skeletal Uncle Sam clutching a PAC II (Patriot) missile. Which is pretty scary, if you happen to be a red who doesn’t want any of Beijing’s 800 to miss their targets.
Communist capitulationists (banana farmers, my foot) marched to the de facto American embassy in Taipei on Friday, offering this bit of choice defense budget advice for their country’s leaders:
"Don’t buy weapons, buy bananas!* [Stephen] Young, get out of Taiwan!**"
With stategic vision like that, how did the KMT EVER manage to lose a civil war?
(Hat tip to The View from Taiwan for pointing out that Peking Duck was there, and later blogged about his run-in with the mob.)
* Taiwan is currently facing a banana glut.
** Stephen Young is America’s top diplomat in Taiwan.
UPDATE: The papers all said that there were "scores" of protesters, which is pretty small considering Taiwan’s population of 23 million. As a Where’s Waldo-esque exercise, compare Friday’s protesters to the ones in this picture:
(Photo from the March 15/06 ed of the Taiwan News. Sorry, no link available.)
Same skull mask and gloves, same missiles, same guy in the yellow hard hat. How much would anyone like to bet that the "banana farmer" of Friday’s protest was the "credit card slave" of seven months ago?
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I confess to being fairly neutral on the issue of "Taiwanizing" names of state-owned enterprises here, so I was somewhat bemused to read the China Post‘s vehement opposition last Sunday:
It seems as if the government of President Chen Shui-bian will never cease to change names and symbols perceived to connect Taiwan with the Chinese nation.
According to reports made public over the past few days, the Cabinet has begun preparations to change the names of several major corporations and institutions that are majority-owned by the state.
These reports say that China Airlines, an international carrier that has operated for some 47 years, will have to change its name to "Taiwan Airlines" or perhaps "Formosa Airlines."
…[in doing so] , a major brand name that has been carefully built up for nearly half a century would be dismantled virtually overnight to satisfy the political correctness of the current lame-duck administration.
I don’t want to be mean here, but you might want to google "China Airlines"+"safety record" to give you some idea about how "carefully" the brand name was built up over the last fifty years. Maybe renaming the company is an act of mercy which might help distance it from its formerly dismal reputation in this arena.
(I say "formerly" for a reason. The paper neglects to inform its readers that it was under the Chen administration that China Airlines began to improve upon passenger safety.)
Taiwan’s China Post mentions a few other name-change candidates as well:
There is also the matter of Chunghwa Telecom, whose name sounds innocuous enough in English, but which translates as "China Telecom".
[…]
There is also…China Steel, as well as Chunghwa Post, the national postal service whose name in Chinese literally means "Chinese Postal Administration."
The paper breezily dismisses the argument that the name changes will avoid confusion, claiming, "these institutions have been working fine for many decades." And for companies that serve local consumers, that’s probably true – for now. No one walks into the local post office and thinks that it’s owned by the Communist Party of China. On the other hand, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou has promised to allow Chinese firms to operate in Taiwan if he’s elected president in 2008, and if that happens, then local consumers might very well wish to have some way to distinguish between Taiwanese companies that bear the "China" moniker and their Chinese equivalents.
The case is even stronger for companies which serve foreign customers. Surely, not many foreigners can be expected to know that China Airlines is Taiwanese, while Air China is Chinese. There’s a good business reason why Pepsi is Pepsi, and not "Cola-Coca".
It’s called product differentiation.
The claim that such changes remove Taiwan from the Chinese fatherland becomes surreal when one considers that the Taiwanese government has also suggested dropping the Republic of China calendar in favor of the Christian calendar. As a fellow blogger previously observed, how would Taiwan’s adoption of the calendar that Communist China itself uses move Taiwan any further from China?
(I wrote more on this in a post back in February. Scroll down to the March 1st update.)
The China Post objects to these name changes on cost grounds, and I’m not in any position to argue with any of its figures at this time. I do however, doubt that "Formosa Airlines" will have to renegotiate quite as many air service agreements as the Post asserts it will, and I also doubt that the China Post was quite so worried about cost when it was time to change Japanese-era names to Chinese ones.
I understand full well why the KMT said "hang the cost" and renamed things in Taiwan 50 years ago. They were Chinese nationalists, and they they did it because it appealed to their base. And President Chen? Well, he’s a Taiwanese nationalist. It shouldn’t be surprising that he, too, is trying to appeal to HIS base.
Any talk of a "Cultural Revolution" is absurd. The China Post is free to argue against these changes, and none of its owners or writers will EVER be sent to a re-education camp. Moreover, redress is merely A SINGLE democratic election away. If the KMT objects strongly enough to President Chen’s policies, it can always reverse them.
IF it wins the presidency, that is.
The paper closes by bitterly suggesting that President Chen should "direct his subordinates to stop wasting time and money changing names and symbols, and start thinking about how to properly govern the country instead." Here, the Post utterly confuses Chen’s priorities. Chen DID try to "properly govern" the country, only to witness the KMT block most of his legislation. Having dammed the political water from flowing in productive directions, did the KMT really not anticipate it overflowing the banks and running in non-productive directions instead?
UPDATE: Written Wednesday, this post was left unpublished until I could check it for grammar and sentence flow. By Friday, the China Post revealed a name change it DOES support:
Thus, to facilitate its rule of Taiwan if it regains power with Ma [Ying-jeou] assuming the [Taiwanese] presidency in 2008, the KMT should lose no time…[in addressing] the issue of "indigenous consciousness"…[It should consider] changing the KMT of China into the KMT of Taiwan, or at least eliminating the word "China" since, in the present political climate, such a name may mislead people into believing it is a party of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), or an organization closely related to the PRC, thus incurring the charge of national betrayal. [Emphasis added]
Sounds like a Cultural Revolution in the making here. Why, the KMT got along just fine for the last 100 years with its present name! And what of the STAGGERING costs of ordering new letterhead and namecards…
