Chinese force in Taiwan on June 26, 2004

New head of CTS takes a softer stance

DON'T MIND ME: Chiang Hsia, new TV executive, yesterday toned down her comments after having set off controversy with a number of feisty statements
STAFF WRITER
 

Chiang Hsia , the new general manager of the state-controlled Chinese Television System (CTS), apologized yesterday for making controversial statements -- such as that she would ban Chinese-produced shows and pro-unification performers from the station.

"My honesty has set the media rushing about reporting on these comments. My honesty has caused turmoil and unintentionally hurt several people. I feel regret and I am apologetic," Chiang said at her inauguration yesterday.

Chiang, an outspoken Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporter, had previously told reporters that she planned to ban soap operas produced in China, as well as shows featuring several pro-unification entertainers.

In addition, local media outlets reported that Chiang had indicated on Wednesday that her appointment was a reward for her support of President Chen Shui-bian.

Chiang yesterday denied having called for a ban on Chinese-produced soap operas, claiming that the media had misrepresented her intentions.

"I just want to create a good environment for actors and actresses," Chiang said, noting that Taiwanese pop star Chang Hui-mei, better known as A-mei, recently had to cancel performances in China after protests about her political positions.

"Talk of banning Chinese soap operas is a result of the media's picking and choosing from what I said. CTS will continue to show the two soap operas for which it has already signed contracts," Chiang said.

Despite Chiang's apology, her appointment has brought about accusations of cronyism.

"The DPP claims it wants to liberalize the media, and yet it has given this appointment to Chiang as a political reward. Clearly, the government is not being sincere," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen said yesterday.

"`Green' cannot be used to cure `blue,'" DPP Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung said, saying that Chiang's appointment has tarnished Chen's reputation.

However, the DPP caucus' director-general, Tsai Huang-liang , expressed confidence in Chiang.

"Chiang was just exaggerating when she called her appointment a political reward ... Her strengths are her confidence, her ability and her professionalism. As she is not a politician, it is inevitable that she will say the wrong thing sometimes.

In the future, she should work hard, speak less and prove her critics wrong," Tsai said.

Meanwhile, CTS anchorman Lee Shih-duan attended the inauguration despite Chiang's earlier call for him to step down as anchor and focus on training younger talent.

Meeting Chiang for the first time yesterday, Lee said that he would respect the decisions of CTS and Chiang. However, he added in English, "I will still be here."

Previous reports had quoted Lee as saying he would leave CTS if Chiang joined the station.

Legislator hammers Chinese shows

By Evelyn Shih
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
 

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsieh Ming-yuan said yesterday that Chinese programming accounts for an excessive proportion of what is shown on television.

"Some of these percentages are twice as high as are legal," Hsieh said.

"I challenge the Government Information Office (GIO) to explain why it has not acted upon these infringements," Hsieh said.

Hsieh said that a glut of Chinese soap operas on both cable and public television has been a concern of his for a long time. He also expressed support for the new general manager of state-controlled Chinese Television System (CTS), Chiang Hsia , who said on Thursday that she would ban Chinese soap operas in order to protect Taiwanese entertainers.

"This overabundance of imported dramas cannot help but influence the availability of jobs for our entertainers," Hsieh said.

Hsieh also voiced concern over the content of Chinese dramas. "They are all about imperial court intrigue," he said, referring to popular Chinese dramas such as Emperor Yongzheng and Emperor Qianlong.

"I believe that allowing our children to become inculculated with this Chinese way of thinking from a young age is a bad influence on our society," Hsieh said.

Hsieh added that he did not object to "happy, healthy shows."

GIO representative Wang Gung-ling, who attended the press conference, declined to take a position on the figures that Hsieh had shown.

"We thank Hsieh for his figures," Wang said.

"However, we must analyze them ourselves. If these infringements prove to be true according to our standards of measurement, we will penalize the broadcasting companies," Wang said.

Differences in measurement methods could be responsible for differences in figures, he said.

Cable programming is under the jurisdiction of municipal governments, not the GIO, Wang said. He promised to conduct a survey to determine what percentage of shows aired across the nation are imported and to compare the results to the data that Hsieh provided.

Hsieh and Wang tried to remain civil despite fundamental disagreements. "We will satisfy your concerns," Wang said.

Wang added that protecting entertainers and encouraging the growth of the entertainment industry were among his main concerns.

"Any developed country works to protect its own industries against too many foreign imports," Wang said.

He cited a recent EU move to limit US cinema imports as an example of such protection.

The GIO subsidizes the production of eight Taiwanese dramatic shows and two non-dramatic shows per year, Wang said.

According to local newspapers, Chinese officials are considering retaliation if Chiang bans Chinese programs.

China is making up a blacklist of CTS entertainers and production staff, China-based Taiwanese businessman Chao Yung-Shen was quoted as saying.

China brings Orwell's '1984' to life

By Cao Changching

There has been a flurry of articles and commentaries in China's media lately ridiculing Taiwan and the US. These articles have mainly targeted Taiwan's electoral disputes and US mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. Such propaganda makes one think of a rapist ridiculing legislation on sexual harassment.

It is true that the outcome of the presidential election resulted in a dispute, but the investigations that have been carried out so far suggest that none of the parties engaged in vote-rigging and that the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu on the eve of the presidential election was not engineered by Chen himself.

Following opposition-led street protests after the election, the electoral dispute has now entered the judicial system for resolution. This is clear evidence that the nation's democratic mechanisms are maturing.

While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ridicules Taiwan's electoral dispute, it seems to have completely forgotten that it relies on dictatorship to deprive China's people of the right to choose. The result is what amounts to a continuous rape of public opinion.

Even if Taiwan's presidential election had involved vote-rigging and vote-buying, that would still not have been a reason to make Taiwan the target of the CCP's ridicule, because after all the CCP relies on the gun to deprive the Chinese people of the freedom to hold elections.

The same goes for China's reaction to US mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.

No matter where it occurs, the mistreatment of prisoners is scandalously vicious behavior.

What China's media do not report, however, is that it is the Pentagon itself that has investigated and exposed this behavior, and that it is the US media that are taking the lead in reporting and criticizing the mistreatment. Further, the US government is already meting out severe punishment to the guilty parties.

In China, however, it is not a matter of mistreatment, but rather of just plain killing people. According to figures from Amnesty International, China has executed, on average, more than 2,000 people every year over the past 10 years, and last year over 10,000 people were executed. Nine hundred Falun Gong members alone have been killed.

At the American Psychiatric Association's Annual Meeting in New York last month, it was reported that over 1,000 Falun Gong members have been locked up in psychiatric institutions; that 13 of these people had been given medicine that "cured" them to death; and that innumerable Falun Gong practitioners have been beaten by Chinese police and suffered various kinds of cruel physical humiliation.

And a government such as this is actually shameless enough to ridicule Taiwan and the US.

In his book 1984, George Orwell exposed the true essence of dictatorship and the way it stands things on their head: "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is power."

Cao Changching is a writer based in the US.

Win with grace, but don't forget the cause

By Liu Kuan-teh
 

Taiwanese politics is indeed unique. It is ironic that the winner of the presidential election does not take credit for winning, but the loser refused to take responsibility for losing.

While his party successfully consolidated as the ruling power and has been engaged in a series of internal reforms, President Chen Shui-bian cautiously reminded his party comrades that the ultimate victory would not be won until the year-end legislative elections. He strongly urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to work harder to win the second battle in December.

The message could not be simpler: know what to do when you win. Once you've won, the goal is not to gloat; it's to win again. So do whatever you can to set yourself up for another victory. Do nothing that will make your next effort more difficult.

Clearly Chen has this agenda on his mind. First he introduced reforms on the DPP's primary system with an aim to rule out candidates suspected of having been involved in black-gold politics, and then revealed his intention to retire from the DPP chairmanship. Indirectly, the media have reported that Chen and former president Lee Teng-hui have had intensive discussions on how to establish a coalition after the legislative election. All these moves illustrate Chen's decisiveness in consolidating his rule and pave the way for reforms in the second term of his presidency.

On the other hand, the pan-blue camp, led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong , has demonstrated its unwillingness to leave the political spotlight. Instead, to realize their "marriage of convenience," Lien and Soong launched a persistent boycott of the Chen administration and have tried everything possible to sabotage Chen's legitimacy.

Without confessing to the pan-blue supporters how they had messed up in the election or pledging to accelerate an internal power transition, Lien and Soong collaborated on merging the KMT and PFP in a bid to divert the pressure on them to accept responsibility for losing the election.

The funny thing is that they have no idea of how many hurdles they will have to jump before they can bring the two sister parties together. They have been solely concerned with their personal interests. Despite numerous suggestions that Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) take over the KMT chairmanship and run in the next presidential election, Lien and Soong have blocked Ma's route to the presidential office.

To what extent have the approaches of the pan-green and pan-blue camps achieved political success? Public opinion explains the change very well. Most recent polls all pointed to the same trends: while support for Chen and the DPP remains stable, the pan-blue camp's support is declining -- due largely to the social turmoil its radical appeals created in the wake of the election.

Can the blue camp learn a lesson from this? The chances look slim. After an election, a political party should not get so carried away with being gracious in victory that it forgets what it was fighting for. All victories are fleeting. So when you win one, move quickly and decisively to consolidate your gains.

The fact that Chen and the green camp are more united than their opponents in their handling of post-election political dynamics constitutes the key to the changes in support for each camp. The prospects look even more favorable for the green camp if Lien and Soong continue to obsess about power and walk away from the mainstream values of Taiwanese society. It might also lead to a realignment of Taiwanese politics.

Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.

A third way for peace in 30 days

By Huang Wu-hsiung

Most people sincerely desire peace and real sovereignty in the Taiwan Strait, so it is unfortunate that the attainment of these goals is fraught with problems. They have cast a shadow over the nation's political prospects and have caused insecurity in society.

In past decades, Taiwan's government depended heavily on US protection, and in the last few years there has been a political shift to the right. An example is the proposed NT$610.8 billion arms procurement budget, which is intended to please certain elements of the US right and would be financed by selling state-owned land and issuing state stocks and bonds.

Sadly, the debt and the shame that we will bequeath our children as a result will not bring Taiwan security in exchange. Instead, the arms procurement might push Taiwan to the eruption point. What needs to be done?

The rally to protest the arms sale and to demand a referendum on June 19 called on the country to put aside the feud between green and blue and to transcend ethnic divisions in order to reflect on the government's mentality.

In recent decades, has the government's thinking been right or wrong? Is there another path apart from this shift to the right and reliance on US military might, and its supposed alternative, dancing to China's tune and accepting the "one country, two systems" formula?

Maybe we can start from scratch, exercising our creative thinking and exploring a third option. As a spur to more helpful discussion, I hope here to clarify the issue and offer a third possibility.

In recent years, the US has been at the center of Taiwan's strategic concerns, and the two sides of the Strait have been polarized due to their different stands on the issues of unification and independence. It seems that we have no choice but to let the US mediate to protect Taiwan, and must accept that it benefits itself in the process.

Yet is it possible to revamp our strategy by exercising our political wisdom to strike a balance between the two superpowers? Is it possible for Taiwan to transform itself into a buffer state between the US and China?

In the future, the contradictions and competition between the US and China will only be aggravated. There are two reasons for China's vehement opposition to Taiwan independence: first, the nationalist chauvinism of Chinese is still deeply rooted.

Second, China is worried that Taiwan might become the US' vassal state and China's adversary once it achieves independence.

If we only hear China's saber-rattling or listen to its standard line of "never abandon the use of force against Taiwan," we will only be filled with indignation and forget to analyze the reasons behind China's intimidation. Eventually, we will be forced into war with China and thousands of lives will be sacrificed.

Besides, given Taiwan's current attitude, China has little choice but to repeatedly resort to threats of force. The cross-strait standoff is not a quarrel between two individuals, but a conflict between two nations. When individuals quarrel, the weak can stand up against the strong and display his courage. In case of a national conflict, however, we need to be concerned not only for our personal safety but for innumerable other lives -- especially the precious lives of the young.

To seriously face China's obstinance in opposing Taiwan's independence is not an act of cowardice. Indeed, only by facing up to China's mentality can a resolution be found. For Taiwan, China's national chauvinism leaves little leeway, leaving Taiwan to turn to the US for protection. For China, on the other hand, it is Taiwan's attachment to US imperialism that entrenches China's national chauvinism.

As for China's chauvinism, there is little we can do about it. Our hope rests on the effect of time, and we expect the structural changes of China's economy and society will help break up the force of this chauvinism. What we can do, however, is to calm China's worries that Taiwan is a friend of the US and an enemy of China.

Maybe we can offer a deal of maintaining the status quo for 30 or even 50 years. Within three decades, Taiwan can work to develop itself as a "permanently neutral state" -- proposing arms reductions as a prerequisite for normal economic and cultural exchanges across the Strait, but still holding out the probability of unification with China after three decades. After the three decades, Taiwan can determine whether to establish a neutral state or to unite with China.

In the meantime, Taiwan can afford large investments in social reconstruction due to its arms reductions and withdrawal from the arms race. And then there might be the first time of peace and prosperity in Taiwan since the immigration of Han Chinese 200 years ago.

During the three decades, the nation can dedicate itself to nurturing society and democracy. On the diplomatic front, it can contribute to efforts to promote world peace. On the domestic front, the respective supporters of unification and independence will not be polarized by their different historical backgrounds, because the controversy would be left for the next generation to settle.

Moreover, if the ideal of the "neutral state" replaces the zeal for Taiwanese independence tinged by right-wing ideology, the animosity between nationalists and separatists will be subdued, and ethnic conflicts will gradually come to an end. Only in such an atmosphere can a consensus be achieved so that energy can be freed for use on social and democratic development, promoting social vitality.

In the international arena, Taiwan will find it easier to fight for a place in international organizations under the name of an "interim Taiwan." Because the ideal of the "neutral state" helps to promote world peace, it would be easier to win the support of peace-loving people in the international community. Gradually, China's liberals might be won over as well.

In contrast to Taiwan's current situation, where we are diplomatically in the pocket of the US rightists and openly endorse the US' illegitimate Iraq invasion, the position of a neutral state will help establish an international image of Taiwan as a peace-loving country and thus create more room for Taiwan's existence in the international community.

The aforementioned proposal is far from perfect, but it sets out to explore a third way of thinking. Compared with Taiwan's current stance close to the the US right wing, the ideal of the "neutral state" offers more ways to escape the cross-strait impasse. A cross-strait war must be averted, as its cost in young lives would be much higher than any grand political ideal is worth. The rally on June 19 aimed to create an opportunity to form a public forum through referendum. We hope to attract more people of insight to exercise their creative thinking to seek a way out of the nation's current plight, and to transform Taiwan from Asia's powder keg to a beacon of peace.

Huang Wu-hsiung is a mathematics professor retired from National Taiwan University.