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

The End of the Line?

Quite a few articles appearing these past few days quoting many ex-DPP supporters that they have now withdrawn their party membership or have decided to not support the DPP anymore, and therefore support the KMT in all likelihood. As this article shows, an image of a Kaohsiung resident burning his "Vote for Chen" shirts, and instead, making sacrifices to Chiang Kai-shek.

Is this really the end of the line for the DPP? It seems like this was the last nail in the coffin for the DPP as far as elections in 2012 go- that is, if Taiwan even gets a 2012 election. At this rate, it seems like Taiwan will be swallowed up by 2010-2011 by China. The new DPP chairman, Tsai, Ing-wen, was promoted as a new change for the party- but it seems like further change will be necessary in order to completely seperate the DPP from the scandals of Chen, Shui-bian.

It took quite a long time and many sacrifices by brave people to bring about this democracy and two-party system, but now it seems like it's one and a half party system with the half quickly becoming minute.

It really will be up to the people of Taiwan to recognize and defend Taiwan's democracy. No party, nor no leader (as we have seen), will be able to successfully defend Taiwan's sovereignty and democracy by themselves. It was the people who paved the way for today's Taiwan, and it must be the people who once again safeguard the sovereignty of Taiwan.

Devastating Reversals

As many have probably heard, Chen, Shiu-bian has acknowledged his wrong-doing in money laundering. It is indeed a sad day for Taiwan, especially for the DPP. We all knew Taiwan politics was corrupt, but to have your president directly involved in a money-laundering scandal like this after "vehemently" denying it previously, is really heartbreaking for the morale of the DPP party. First and foremost it is A-bian's fault for doing so, but is there no accounting practices inside the administration? Anyways, while Chen, Shui-bian has declared that he and his wife will be leaving the party, the negative effects have already taken place and any distancing now is just a formality.

Nevertheless, you cannot deny what A-bian has done for Taiwan in these last 8 years, although the whole time he was "profting" greatly from his presidential position. It really is too bad that A-bian is going to go out like this, because for the most part, we all thought that the A-bian's presidency would be redeemed after a poor showing by Ma over these next 4 years. ("You never know what you have until you lose it"). But, in the end it looks like A-bian will be remembered for cheating the public and DPP supporters out of tens of millions of dollars.

In other news, Taiwan is getting "unification" pandas from China. A symbol of China's impending threat of destabilizing status quo and autonomy for Taiwan. Interestingly enough, these two stories mark the fall of A-bian, and the coming of pandas, of which A-bian refused to accept during his term.

Oh yeah, seemingly well timed, the Ma has decided to forgo full membership in the U.N. and settle for the sub-organizations of the U.N. Which would have caused a nice uproar from some people, but due to the timing, once again the bad news from their mouths have been swept under the carpet.

Better days ahead, we hope.