Same Old, Same Old

Took a break this week, and it seems like I could start taking breaks and not miss out on anything. The Ma presidency still shaping up to be the presidency that paved the way for unification. Been hiding in a cave for 3 months and aren't up to date? Here we go!

- 'Unification' pandas coming soon to Taiwan as China's only gesture of 'goodwill'
- President Ma calls Taiwan-China relationship a 'special relationship,' furthermore, not a 'state-to-state' one
- Taiwan no longer applying for full membership to U.N., instead seeks to have 'participation' in sub-agencies, likely under a name unrelated to Taiwan or even ROC
- The so-called '1992 consensus' is back in play, reverting Taiwan back to the times of 一個中國, 沒有台灣
- Plans to scrap visas for Chinese, Macau, furthering the idea that travel between Taiwan and China is domestic

Enough of that. Besides, the real story is Chen, Shui-bian right?
- Chen, Shui-bian admits to moving campaign money out of the country
- Chen, Shui-bian removes himself from the DPP
- Chen, Shui-bian denies separate allegations of embezzlement
- Chen, Shui-bian cleared of separate defamation charges
- Chen, Shui-bian cause of all problems, including 'bad' economy of Taiwan, bad relations with U.S., increased tensions with China, drop in birth rates, increase in suicides, leading Taiwan's 'seccesionists', repeated failures to join the U.N., provoking people to kick him, and the list likely goes on... cancer, AIDS, global warming, global unrest, etc.

Ma has tossed Taiwan out the window and replaced it with an island that resembles some sort of "Taiwan"-like region, but not really named Taiwan. Meanwhile, it seems like most of the government's efforts is directed at making Chen, Shui-bian look like the scum of the earth rather than trying to figure out how to fix Taiwan's economy. It's no overnight fix, but continuing to dwell on the Chen is certainly not going to get Taiwan anywhere. Chen will be dealt with in due time/process, but do the people of Taiwan have the liberty to wait around for that to happen? I'm not one with much "governmental experience" or "executive experience" like Sarah Palin ;), but the current Taiwan administration's plan seems pretty simple; it has got one solution to all the problems that Taiwan currently faces, and a few back-up plans:

(1) Play the China card: More China, more Chinese tourists, more Chinese investments, more "China" in company names, more deregulation of laws dealing with China, etc.
(2) If (1) fails, blame Chen, Shui-bian
(3) If (2) fails, blame global economy
(4) If (3) fails, say we'll "do our best!" and "have faith in us!"
(5) If all else fails, revert to (1), rinse and repeat