Taiwan's Tennis Star, "Chang," Prevails over No.1 Seed

Congratulations to the latest Taiwan tennis star, Chang Kai-chen, not to be confused with Taiwan's first tennis star (albeit played under the U.S. nationality), Michael Chang, for defeating the currently No.1 ranked woman's player, Dinara Safina of Russia.

As always with news surrounding Taiwan, there's controversy over whether Safina should even be considered being ranked #1 in the world. Safina has not won a single grand slam this year, and yet has held onto the #1 ranking due to consistent wins in the non-slam tournaments.

Also some weird commenting on this victory, as seen in this monstersandcritics.com article:

Taiwan's Broadcasting Corp of China lauded 18-year-old Chang for 're-writing history (of tennis).'

Rewriting history of tennis? I can hardly see how that is so. Anyway you look at it, it's just another upset of the number one seed, one of the many that have occurred in the past.

Furthermore, absent in many of the match wrap-ups, is the mention of Chang's nationality. Readers and listeners of tennis matches know that the country is almost always mentioned. Such as, "The only American players left in this tournament after Round 2..." Or, "Nadal of Spain defeated..." etc. In this CNN.com article, nationalities are mentioned of every single player, except for Taiwan's Chang. It's hard to believe this is just a slip-up/typo.

With that said, it is still a great accomplishment for her nonetheless.

台灣加油!

Penghu Says No To Gambling- KMT

In a surprise (for most people), Penghu votes down the referendum to decide whether to allow casinos/gambling on their islands. In my opinion, this is a good thing. Arguments for the casinos were that it would boost the economy on the islands. A look at the casino and gambling paradise in the U.S., Las Vegas, would say otherwise to that argument. Las Vegas' economy is currently one of the worst in the states, with "official" unemployment rates upwards of 13%, with an actual rate of something likely north of 15%.

People just don't have money to throw away in gambling during bad economies. Furthermore, encouraging citizens to gamble isn't exactly the right way to set the economy on the right path to recovery. A better "gamble" would be to just throw your money into some company stock on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, at least the chances of your money going to $0 is much smaller than doing so at the Blackjack table. Add to that, if you're a fan of Ma Ying-jeou, you still have a 20,000 TAIEX to look forward to, sometime... sometime.

The second thing to mention about this Penghu referendum was that the KMT fidgeted with the normal referendum rule that normally applies to all referendums held in Taiwan, stating that there must be a 50% or greater turnout of registered voters in order to even consider whether it passes or not. Failure to reach 50% turnout results in an automatic rejection of the referendum. Considering that all (correct me if I'm wrong) referendums held in the past were rejected due to the 50% threshold not being met, it's rather ridiculous for the KMT to try and cheat its way to a victory in this one. Take a look at the 2008 referendums on joining the U.N. under the name, "Taiwan." Both referendums had overwhelming wins for the "Yes" column, but due to low turnout, both failed. The KMT and their campaign to discourage voters to vote on the referendums also contributed to the low turnout. Quite sleazy, the KMT encourages a boycott when they don't like the referendum, but then attempts to cheat the system by getting rid of the 50% turnout when they want it to pass. This nonsense needs to stop. How can you have a fair referendum system when the controlling party can basically reject or pass (in a sense) the referendum at will? In this Penghu-Casino referendum, it would have failed again due to not reaching a 50% turnout.

Lastly, the interesting thing is that most polls and analysts predicted the referendum to pass. As this article states:

In a public survey conducted by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission on Oct. 12, 2000, 44.9 percent of those polled favored the development of the gambling industry while 38.5 percent were opposed to it.

An overwhelming 80 percent of voters in a poll conducted by the "United Penghu Alliance" on June 8, 2003, said "yes" to casinos while the remaining 20 percent said "no".

In another "consultative referendum" held by the Penghu County Government on Dec. 27, 2003, 57 percent of the voters said they approved the establishment of casinos while 43 percent expressed their disapproval.

All polling results done before were pro-casino. So we can surmise a few things:

1. The polls were awfully conducted, with a strong "TVBS" slant.
   OR
2. Ma Ying-jeou's "無能" is actually taking a toll on the party.
   OR
   
3. Penghu residents are much more resilient and not as pro-KMT as we all thought. Although I still believe they are largely pan-blue, they may have actually pressed on the issue instead of voting by party-line, which I always support, regardless if it's the stance of the KMT or DPP. It just so happens, the stance of the DPP is usually the one that falls in line with what I believe.
   

Reason #2 and #3 are the most likely candidates. In any case, I will touch on #2 in another post where I will discuss why Ma Ying-jeou's supposed "無能" isn't actually so. He's actually much more clever than we think.

Chen, Still Detained

Nothing new here, as the Taiwan High Court ruled to extend Chen Shui-bian's dentention another 3 months, citing the same reasons as before- flee candidate, colluding with suspects, destroying evidence. All of these reasons are ridiculous, especially when you consider how well Taiwan media can track daughters of ex-presidents. If they want to keep an eye on you, they will.

As there are still reports of protests and gatherings outside the Judicial Yuan against the ruling, I'd like to point out that there are three main sides of this debacle that should be noted. There's one side of the protests that are likely calling for Chen to be released as the ruling was unfair, and the way the case has been handled goes against democracy, due process, and human rights. On the other hand, there are those that believe Chen is innocent. Lastly, there are those that believe he's guilty. Regardless of whether you believe he is innocent or guilty, everyone should support democracy, due process, and human rights. That is where I believe most of the protests are coming from, and rightfully so.

We can support the release of Chen Shui-bian, without supporting the actions he may have or may have not committed, so as to defend Taiwan's democracy and human rights.

How China Will Force Taiwan's Hand

As I've been mentioning, every time the ECFA is brought up, in posts such as this, Ma Ying Jeou's plan is to unite Taiwan and China gradually right underneath our very eyes by calling it a "non-political" agreement wrapped in something called the ECFA.

Why is it so hard for people to understand that when you open all your doors to Chinese investment, your enemy, that they will take advantage of the control they now have over your (Taiwan's) economy? My analogy that I've used before is that, when investing, we always talk about diversification and not "putting all your eggs in one basket." Well isn't that when the KMT and Ma Ying Jeou are doing right now? It's all well and good when China isn't upset with anything and continues to invest in Taiwan's economy, artificially propping it up; but when China starts steaming, they can just as easily deflate our economy and bend Taiwan into submission by cutting off their "stimulus." It reminds me of a Bible verse, Job 1:21, where Job was given everything by God, but in the same way, God had the power to take away everything.

This small example here is China using it's recent tourism investment in Taiwan to try and force Taiwan's hand into screening the films that have been entered into their film festival (small props to the WSJ for getting straight to the point with the opening line, but still doesn't do the job by going further and citing examples of where China has influenced things much more greater in scope and importance than just a film festival).

China appears to be using its growing economic clout in Taiwan to influence the island's free-wheeling cultural scene.

Why would they do this? Because it goes against their propaganda! We can already see that China is gaining clout over Taiwan, as the movie is still being shown in Kaohsiung, but not in the actual film festival- it is being shown at earlier days, outside of the film festival organization and event.

So here's another, "it's one thing for ________, but another thing to ________," for you to see my viewpoint.

It's one thing for Taiwan to push for economic agreements with China, but another thing to do so and ignore everyone else, especially our main allies- US and Japan.

The DPP has always been willing to negotiate terms and cross-strait agreements with China. But, tt has always been China who has been unwilling to come to the table during the 2000-2007 years. The DPP was ready to negotiate direct flights and the three-links, but it was China who insisted that they would not negotiate on anything as long as Taiwan's government continued to insist on their sovereignty and independence- something that Ma and "Taiwan's" government has caved into.

"The Founding of a Republic"

Releasing tomorrow, Sept. 17, "The Founding of a Republic'' (建國大業) is China's new propaganda movie, just in time for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. This movie has an all-star Chinese cast from Jet Li, Jackie Chan, to Zhang Ziyi, which is something sure to catch the attention of many people. From the trailer, seems like a decent film from a purely entertainment value standpoint. But I'd be very cautious to take any of what is portrayed in this "historical" movie as anything but close to accurate.

A first for these types of movies coming out of the PRC-controlled, China Film Group, is that it will be the first time that the KMT is semi-portrayed as the good guys (along side the CCP obviously), with Japan (always) as the bad guys. This movie is likely to get a screening in Taiwan next year, and will likely be used by both sides of the CCP-KMT platform to promote a greater "Chinese consciousness. " Think of it as a way the reconcile the two sides of the Taiwan-strait, ignoring the fact that China continues to hold Taiwan hostage with estimates of anywhere from 1000 to 1700+, just for Taiwan.

New Beginnings

Back from my temporary hiatus. While I'm at this pseudo-fresh-start, I'd like to try and take a new approach towards the whole Taiwan issue.

With the sentencing of ex-president of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, to life in prison, it got me thinking- It is one thing for the public to be angered about the president of your country being convicted of corruption charges, but another to do so and look away when other politicians do so.

If you may recall back in 2006, then Taipei Mayor, Ma Ying-Jeou, was indicted on charges of corruption as well- misuse of "special allowance" funds. Was Ma ever detained in any amount of days, weeks, months at a time due to likelihood of fleeing the country? Nope. And while Ma and Chen have both admitted that they have used the funds towards things that are likely not meant for it to be used for, you see a stark difference in the resulting cases. One is currently sentenced to life in prison, and the other was elected to be the next president of Taiwan.

While the amount of money may be different in magnitude, what's wrong is wrong. The fact that Ma had made more donations to certain organizations than the amount he was accused of misusing, should make no difference. After all, even if they were charity donations or donations towards some organizations, those same organizations could very well be in support of Ma or the KMT. Think about it this way, if back when Bush Jr. was still president, had he made donations using some special presidential fund towards Christian churches or other "right-wing" organizations, is it not the same as if he used that same money towards his own personal expenses? In the end, the money is not going towards the building and growth of the country, rather towards certain individuals or groups.

The only thing that makes me more mad than Chen Shui-bian letting down a whole lot of Taiwanese (and this is no understatement), is the Taiwanese who are letting down our country of Taiwan, by seemingly ignoring the fact that corruption is everywhere, both KMT and DPP. I hope most of my readers are past profiling a group of people based on one person, so that there should be no more of that stupidity about not voting for the DPP candidate because of Chen Shui-bian- it has already been done in the 2008 presidential elections when you [unfairly] took out all your anger on Hsieh Chang-ting.

It boils down to this, both sides have corrupt politicians. Corrupt politicians come from everywhere and all backgrounds of life- from Taiwan to China to Chicago. Yes, Chen Shui-bian has failed us and we are deeply hurt and angered by it. Taiwanese gave the DPP a shot in 2002 and again in 2004. Besides this one period of 8 years, from the 1950s to the late 1980s, Taiwanese were forced to be ruled under the KMT regime under a dictatorship and martial law. Taiwan has given the KMT basically 50 years of chances and shots, even while failing the people of Taiwan many times. I hope that the Taiwanese can once again give the DPP another shot at this end of year elections, as well as in 2012, because thus far... Taiwan, you have only given the DPP one shot. And well, we are human, after all.

Morakot: Ma Ying Jeou Doesn't Care About Taiwanese People

What started out as a disaster is quickly snowballing into a monster that Ma and his administration cannot control. With the official death toll of Typhoon Morakot now at 121, and expected to reach over 500, questions will eventually need to raised about the response and efforts of Ma Ying Jeou, his administration.

Let's just first lay out some groundwork from where questions can be raised:

Aug. 7th, the morning before Typhoon Morakot was about to hit, the Central Weather Bureau [CWB] issues warnings for northern and northeast Taiwan about torrential rains and powerful winds. Nowhere in the warnings are southern and southeast Taiwan included. Is the CWB really that bad, or is there something else at hand here?

That same night that Morakot was just about to start hitting Taiwan, Ma Ying Jeou was at a wedding reception, have[ing] a good time like this reunion, and drink[ing] wine like its Communion. Should not the president of Taiwan be in some sort of national security meeting, with advisers on how best to prepare and respond to the impending typhoon?

Aug. 8th, as Morakot started hovering over Taiwan, Taipei City/County issue last minute "Typhoon Day" announcements. With the advance knowledge of the impending Typhoon, many of the counties and cities were flip-flopping back and forth between declaring a "Typhoon Day" or not- irritating many residents. Again, the CWB raises warnings for northern and northeast Taiwan for flooding and potential landslides. Warnings for southern and southeast Taiwan? Still nothing.

Aug. 9th, with Morakot making its last impressions on Taiwan, the "surprise" out of Taiwan is that southern Taiwan had been pummeled by Morakot overnight. Floodings and mudslides were noted as major problems in southern Taiwan- the exact warnings that the CWB gave for northern and northeast Taiwan:

Mudslides were reported in mountainous areas in the counties of Nantou, Pingdong and Taitung, forcing the closure of some bridges during the storm.

As Ma made his way down to the areas that were hit hard, instead of showing that he's in control and giving confidence to the people, he shows indifference and sarcasm in his words towards the victims. In one event, Ma Ying Jeou was told by a man that "we all voted for you, why did it take so long to see you, why is it so hard to see you when we need you the most?" In response, Ma stated, "I didn't know you were looking for me, am I not here now?" The words that articles have used to describe Ma during his visits are clearly "irritated and impatient." Is this truly how Ma is all the time? I doubt it, this type of irritation and impatience would not have gotten him into office last March, nor would it be the type of personality he would show to his beloved Hu Jintao.

Aug. 10th, the south still under distress. At this time, one KMT official decided it would be best to continue working on campaign activities for the upcoming local elections, and put on an event for the local KMT candidates. The KMT party, rightful in doing so, banned Fan Heng-chih from the party. Despite the restriction from participating in campaigning activities, it is noted in the article:

Cheng said most of the KMT members who went to survey the affected areas with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) were the party’s nominees for the year-end local elections, not incumbent county commissioners.

This shows that they were there simply to rally support for their candidacy, Cheng said.

Aug. 11, the international community steps up to help-- but the Ma administration/MOFA decline, citing that they have efficient resources to take care of the situation:

The deputy spokesman said the Foreign Ministry appreciated the U.S. and Japan's offers to help but indicated that Taiwan would not request foreign assistance at present because there are sufficient recourses and the disaster relief mechanism is working well.

At the same time, Ma starts the blame game, rather than taking responsibility for the situation. First, Ma blames the Central Weather Bureau for the damage caused by the Typhoon. What? Yes, confusing, but he does it (this is not to say that the CWB probably does need additional funding to improve their weather casting).

Aug. 12, the U.S. still has the offer open to send supply help, in addition to monetary help-- still no response from the Ma administration/MOFA.

“MOFA said ‘no’ to the international community on behalf of the Taiwanese people, but the people never said ‘no,’” Lo said.

It should be no surprise actually, since Ma and his KMT buddies have been doing this all along, disregarding what the people want, and are planning on continuing to do so with the ECFA. So far, Ma has stated that he plans to push through an ECFA, regardless of public opinion.

Around this time is when the media, especially international outlets, including the NY Times and WSJ started catching onto the anger by the victims against Ma Ying Jeou's lack of proper reponse to the situation, which included the decision to not declare a state of emergency despite the fact that this is the worst typhoon in half a century to hit Taiwan.

Critics focused on the Ma administration's decision to refrain from issuing an emergency order that would give the government greater power to requisition personnel and equipment. The government has also declined to ask for assistance from international organizations.

The government said both steps were unnecessary. Presidential spokesman Wang Yu-chi said legal changes made after a 1999 earthquake gave the administration enough power and flexibility to deal with the catastrophe. "The rescue needs to be improved, but we don't think issuing an emergency order would help," he said.

Note here that the government sees the state of emergency declaration as unnecessary because the administration already "has enough power and flexibility to deal with the catastrophe." Is this true? From the looks on the faces of the victims and the flood of calls on the internet for more help, I would beg to differ. Again, this goes along with the theme here: the Ma administration continuing to do how they see fit, instead of listening to the public and victims.

Aug. 13, Ma confirms their decision to not declare a state of emergency. The question here is not, why should Ma declare a state of emergency, more so, it is why should Ma not declare a state of emergency. Doing so would give the government more power and access to emergency responses to handle the situation better. At the very least, doing so could possibly be a morale booster. As this editorial points out:

Arguments over the reach of the law and the utility of a presidential emergency decree will continue for some time, but for the moment, it is dumbfounding to recall that the president, speaking at the Central Emergency Operation Center on Saturday, shifted responsibility to local governments. He said it was those governments that should act as prime movers in rescue work and that the central government would act as an auxiliary. Given that local governments enjoy no authority to deploy military resources, Ma’s little lecture was as nonsensical as his verbaling of the Central Weather Bureau for failing to predict the enormity of the disaster.

Cabinet Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) on Sunday said the scope and speed of the central government’s rescue work had exceeded that of the 921 Earthquake almost 10 years ago.

But a cursory comparison suggests this is not the case. Hours after the quake struck on Sept. 21, 1999, the Hengshan Military Command Center ordered the deployment of forces to disaster zones and commenced rescue work. Within a day, more than 15,000 personnel were stationed in quake-ravaged regions and advanced helicopters such as the OH-58D, which carries laser range finders and thermal imaging sensors, were deployed for rescue operations.

How ironic it is that a large number of the nation’s military bases are in southern Taiwan, yet three days after Typhoon Morakot slammed into the area on Friday, the military had deployed a mere 8,500 personnel to stricken areas, and without provision for advanced aircraft.

The Ma administration believes it is acting and responding faster to the situation than the government did back in the 9/21 earthquake, despite what the facts say. 15,000 personnel were activated in one day for the 9/21 earthquake, while thus far only 8,500 have been deployed after 5 days.

I've also heard that many military personnel stationed were in "ready" mode to be deployed to disaster areas, but they were simply waiting for the command to come down to move out. Either there's a communication problem, or Ma is really dropping the ball here and thinking that their response has really been adequate.

Aug. 14, the Ma administration "flip-flops" and decides it actually does need help from foreign countries. Once again, Ma Ying Jeou denies that he ever declined foreign aid, despite the evidence of doing so (see Aug. 11). MOFA then goes on to say that it was a "typo," and that they never meant to actually decline foreign aid. Tell me you aren't naive enough to believe that.

That same day, a report comes out of China from one of their experts on Cross-Strait Economic Exchanges, citing that an ECFA between China and Taiwan would greatly advance the peaceful unification of China and Taiwan. This goes in contrast to what Ma Ying Jeou has stated.

Aug. 15, the MOFA comes out and says they are sorry over not receiving foreign aid earlier, but denies that it was a mistake. Now, instead of it being a mistake, the word "carelessness" is being used. Now we are starting to get a better idea of what Ma and his administration have been doing all this time, busy with word games over how to best phrase things so they don't sound like complete idiots. A simple sorry and then how they are going to quickly get the aid out there would have been much more effective and appropriate.

This same day, reports also come out from Tainan and Taitung that on visits by Ma Ying Jeou to Tainan, and a visit by the Minister of National Defense to Taitung, volunteers and military personnel (respectively) were ordered to stop their relief work in order to make space for Ma Ying Jeou, or in the military case, to stand in line and salute their Minister of National Defense.

On Wednesday at 10am, while the troops were setting up the steel frame, their commander ordered them to stop work and stand in formation to welcome Chen, who spent 40 minutes listening to briefings and talking to the press.

One witness said many of the soldiers had complained privately that they would have rather worked than stand and listen to the defense minister

Taiwan's military being very efficient, right? That's whats left of the the government after Ma has been on a political witch-hunt, purging many Pan-Green officials in all levels of the government, including the military (Sorry, can't find the link for these right now, but if you search hard enough, they are there).

There's no denying that a large constituency of Pan-Green voters lie in the south. Is this niggardly response by Ma Ying Jeou to the disaster because the south is Pan-Green? Is Ma simply taking a back-seat because he is assuming the Taiwanese have already bent-over and are unwilling to stand up against his injustices? Did Ma ignore and decline help from outsiders because he fears they will see how inefficient and irresponsible he has handled the disaster, as well as the fear that the international community will actually find out that there is a large % of Taiwanese upset with his performance (Note, this is the first time that Ma has received negative press on the international level)? Is Ma too concerned with image, so much concerned at the cost of lives being saved?

The point of all this? To make my point crystal, clear. And I do mean, crystal-clear. Ma and his buddies up in their comfortable seats in the government have done a half-assed job at responding to Morakot. Can Taiwan really afford to let Ma and his administration along with many of his KMT buddies, continue to do a half-assed job running the country of Taiwan? If you haven't been paying attention, the only thing that this administration has been good at since coming into office has been kowtowing to Hu Jintao, Communist China, and the CCP. We need to ask ourselves, is Ma really the president of Taiwan? If so, is he acting in the best interests of Taiwan? Or is he acting in the best interests of someone else.

Perhaps a comparison of the donations he has made to the Sichuan earthquake in China to the Morakot typhoon will shed some light. Ma Ying Jeou (along with Chen Shui-bian (ex-president, DPP) and Tsai Ing-wen, DPP Chairwoman)) all made donations of $6,500USD to relief efforts of the Sichuan earthquake. This time, Chen Shui-bian and Tsai Ing-wen have both made donations of $30,000USD towards the relief efforts of Typhoon Morakot. How much has Ma Ying Jeou donated? Nothing. I think it speaks volumes when Ma Ying Jeou was so quick to donate and man the phone-lines for call-in donations for the Sichuan earthquake, and for supposedly his "own" people, nothing of the same magnitude. It is of note that Ma Ying Jeou was quoted as saying something along the lines of, "we should help [them], because they [Sichuan earthquake victims] are our Chinese brothers." So I guess the real story here is that Taiwan's own president considers himself Chinese, because he definitely is not helping out the Taiwanese- after all, he really isn't Taiwanese, rather Cantonese (born in Hong Kong).

Make no mistake, after many of the lies that Ma Ying Jeou has told, do not believe him for a second when he says he and the KMT are not planning on taking Taiwan down a path toward unification. His actions over the past week have not only highlighted the inadequacies of his leadership, but his lack of concern for the Taiwanese people.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Let's not make the same mistake again, by voting Ma Ying Jeou back into office in 2012. And you can start by voting out the KMT in the end of the year local elections. Remember 8/8, because if we don't, Taiwanese may never have another chance at "Taiwan."

I'm looking forward to the day when we can get a Taiwanese celebrity to finally stand-up and say, "Fuck the money, Taiwan is Taiwan, China is China, and Ma Ying-Jeou doesn't care about Taiwanese people." (In reference to Kanye West).