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Austronesian
family on Aug 29, 2004 Data
links early settlers to African diaspora DIFFERENT
STORIES: While genetic research puts this land on a main route of early humans'
dispersion, anthropologists tie early settlements to the Pearl River Delta By
Wang Hsiao-wen Long before Portuguese sailors put "Formosa" on the world map,
and long before Chinese people crossed the dark current to set up home here,
this land was inhabited by Austronesian Aborigines for thousands of years.
Multigenetic analysis reveals that Austronesian tribes arrived as early as
14,000 years ago. According to Marie Lin, who conducted the research as director of the
immunohematory reference laboratory at Mackay Memorial Hospital, the gene
typology of Taiwan's twelve indigenous peoples suggests a close kinship with
Southeast Asian islanders, another subgroup of the Austronesian language family.
Lin also deduced that the central mountain tribes and east coast tribes might
have different origins due to separate waves of immigration from Africa between
40,000 and 60,000 years ago. "Even before Taiwan became an island, forefathers of Taiwan's
indigenous peoples arrived in Taiwan in the late pleistocene ice age," Lin
said after a conference at Mackay Memorial Hospital yesterday. Lin had previously delivered the paper in June at an international
conference on Human Migrations in Continental East Asia and Taiwan at the
University of Geneva. Lin's theory of the origin of Taiwanese Aboriginals sheds light on the role
the island plays as a transition station for archaic hominid populations. In
genetic and archaeological studies, the most recognized model on modern human
origins suggests two routes out of Africa in prehistory. One is the northern
route toward Europe and North Asia. The other is the southern coastal route from
Africa toward East Asia and Oceania. It is on the southern route that Taiwan
served as a midway hub for the earliest human migration. "Genetically speaking, Taiwan is one of the most probable sources of
the Austronesian family," said Toomas Kivisild, research fellow at the
Department of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tartu in Estonia, who
found his study on the database in Lin's lab. Based on comparisons of genetic
sequencing, Kivisild inferred that Polynesian migration is likely to have
originated in Taiwan, followed by a later maturation and interaction phase in
the islands that are now eastern Indonesia and Melanesia. Kivisild's model demonstrated that while there is a genetic link between
the indigenous Taiwanese and the ancestors of present-day Polynesian
populations, there is no Austronesian lineage that could be traced back to a
Neolithic migration from China. The genetic evidence, however, is at odds with anthropological data that
support the theory that there were contacts with China even in the Neolithic
age. In Taiwan, the Neolithic stage is represented by the oldest ceramic culture
of the island, the Tapenkeng culture site in Pali by the Tamsui River in Taipei
county. The Tapenkeng culture, unquestionably the earliest neolithic cultural
stratum found in Taiwan, began around 2500 BC. According to Tsang Cheng-hwa,
director of the National Museum of Prehistory who also attended the press
conference, this culture's pottery, made of coarse paste and decorated with
cord-marked impressions, is also seen in excavations found in the southeastern
coast of China. Judged from radiocarbon dating and comparisons of tools and
burial practices, Tsang said, the progenitors of the Tapenkeng culture may have
come from the Pearl River delta region around 5000 years ago. "Based on comparison of pottery traits, it could be said that the
region of the southeast coast of China, including Taiwan, is the Austronesian
homeland," Tsang said. "In the quest for origin, different disciplines have different
compasses and road maps. At the edge of the knowable, every evidence has its own
message," Tsang said to explain the discrepancy between the genetic and
anthropological findings. "Hopefully, as more clues come to light, one day the scientists,
anthropologists and linguists will tell the same story of human beings, a story
of where we all come from."
Flag
flops and fibs I recently wrote to the UN Postal Administration (UNPA) to find out why 15-year-old Yang Chih-yuan's artwork had been disqualified from a UN stamp design contest after he was informed he had been selected as one of the winners. The UNPA replied in an unsigned letter explaining that the entire brouhaha in the Taiwanese media had been the result of a "misunderstanding." According to the media here, Yang's artwork was rejected after China objected to his painting because it contained an image of the ROC flag, along with the flags of many other countries around the world. The theme of the stamp contest was world peace. However, the UNPA's letter implied that China had nothing to do with the decision to disqualify Yang's painting, since the letter did not even mention China. The UNPA informed me that Yang's artwork was not used in the end because it was too big to be reduced to the size of a stamp. "In order to see all eight design images at stamp-size to gauge the reproduction quality, the UNPA had printed proofs made, [and] the committee thereafter finally selected just six designs to be featured on UNPA's 2004 Peace Stamps," the UNPA letter stated, without mentioning the role China's pressure on the UNPA played in all this -- if any. "Unfortunately, Yang's artwork design did not make the final six. However due to an internal misunderstanding and miscommunication, Yang's proof got publicized in error as one of the six stamps intended to be issued," the letter stated. While admitting that the stamp committee had indeed shortlisted six designs from the 24 merit award winners of the "Lions Clubs International Design A Peace Poster Competition," one of which was by Yang, the committee insisted that Yang's design did not make the final six-winner cut, even though his design had previously been posted on the UNPA Web site as a winner of the stamp contest. Something's fishy here. Without even mentioning China's alleged role in the flag flap, the UNPA made it sound as if Yang's picture could not reduce very well to stamp size since it was so detailed, and that therefore his artwork was not used in the final cut, whereas the other winning entries had no problem being reduced. Is the UNPA lying? And if so, why? Dan
Bloom Chiayi
City
Calling
it like it is A couple of weeks ago, I attended a banquet held at a Holiday Inn in Columbus, Ohio for the teams that competed in the championship of 2004 world series of "beeping baseball" for the blind. The event was very touching and I was deeply moved by the boisterous spirit and humor the members of all 14 teams showed during the award ceremony. Every team looked like a winner; you could hardly find a loser in the room. However, during the team memoir exchange, a team member from Kansas walked to our table and asked what the "CT" stood for on the autographed cap given by "Taiwan Homerun," Taiwan's representative team. I paused and told him it stands for "Chinese Taipei." He asked why Chinese Taipei? I then explained the cross-strait situation in detail for him. On the way home, I felt proud of Taiwan's team for winning the championship for the first time. And I was more proud that the country has reached such a level of prosperity and humanity that it can send a representative team like this abroad. That is Taiwan's pride. However, the question from the Kansas member hovered in my head and I realized indeed that Taiwan is still a second-class country in the world community. While the whole world calls you Taiwan, our sports teams competing abroad must call themselves Chinese Taipei. Everyone, including the Americans, rallied for Team Taiwan and cheered "Taiwan Homerun, go, go, go!" during the event. No one called out "Chinese Taipei, go, go, go." This experience dampened my spirit that night. For too long the Taiwanese people have lived under the curse of the ROC. It is about time the nation asked the whole world to give us fair treatment. But first of all, the Taiwanese and its government offices should stop humiliating themselves by using a bunch of crazy, confused and irrelevant names. Yang
Ji-chang Columbus,
Ohio
`One
country, two systems' model a barrier to democracy, speakers say DEMOCRACY:
The `one-China' principle is outdated and should be abandoned in favor of
democratic reform, a presidential statement said yesterday By
Melody Chen Political reforms have
been sacrificed in China as leaders in Beijing trumpet their "stability
above all" policy, President Chen Shui-bian said in a statement yesterday. Chiou I-jen, secretary general of the National Security Council, read the
president's statement at a conference entitled "Challenges and Prospects of
Democratization in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong" hosted by the Friends of
Hong Kong and Macau Association, The Foundation on International and
Cross-strait Studies and The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. "The most important task for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong is not a
timetable for unification, but a timetable for democratization ? The issue
affects not only people's lives in the three places but also future stability
and development of the Asia Pacific region," said the statement. Chen originally planned to deliver the opening speech for the conference,
which was attended by academics, officials and senior journalists from here and
Hong Kong, but he declined to do so because he reportedly did not want to
inflame cross-strait tensions. The president said in the statement he had hoped for political reform in
China after the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party in China decided
at the end of 2002 that Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao would respectively take over
the presidency and premiership. "It is regrettable the expectation for political reform died soon
afterwards ? Taiwan's democratic achievement and Hong Kong's pursuit of
democracy are seen as threats to China's political system and stability rather
than a driving power for democratization," the statement said. Chen noted in the statement that democracy is neither a monster nor a
threat. "The loveliness of democracy is that it embraces people and trusts
people's judgment. It lets people be their own masters," the statement
added. As a panelist discussed the prospects for Hong Kong's political reform,
Chen Ming-tong, former vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, said the
recent row over Hong Kong's Basic Law cast a negative light on China's "one
country, two systems" policy. "Hong Kong turns out to be a negative example of how `one country, two
systems' works. It would be difficult for Taiwan and the international community
to buy this formulation now," Chen Ming-tong said. Chen Ming-tong admitted Taiwan has been cornered by the "one country,
two systems" policy for decades after China sold the approach in the
international community as a framework that would allow Taiwan to preserve its
autonomy if it would agree to eventually reunify with China. He said China promoted "one country, two systems" so successfully
that it even convinced former US President Bill Clinton. Wang Ying, a Hong Kong-based political commentator, said press freedom is
the key for keeping the democracy movement alive. Over the past year, freedom of speech in Hong Kong has been oppressed
because of Beijing' s political maneuvers," he said. "Press freedom and people's access to information are signs of whether
the `one country, two systems' model can operate successfully in Hong
Kong," Wang added.
Taiwan
an ideal model for democracy in China: MAC By
Joy Su Economic instability in
China could lend strength to calls for the nation's democratization, Mainland
Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu said yesterday. He also cautioned, saying
Taiwan could become the scapegoat of nationalism during what he thought was an
inevitable process of democratization in China. "Only by learning from Taiwan will China be able to respond to calls
for democratization. Taiwan's democracy is where China's hope lies," Wu
said yesterday while delivering a speech during the closing ceremony of a
conference held on the prospects of democratization in China, Taiwan and Hong
Kong. Wu did not shy away from historical detail in promoting Taiwan's
democratization as a model for China yesterday, saying that Chinese leaders
should learn specifically from former ROC president Chiang Ching-kuo. "Taiwan was under the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) at the time, but Chiang was willing to give democracy a try,"
Wu said. Wu said that it is difficult to grasp when strong pressure to democratize
will be exerted by the Chinese people, but predicted that it would occur during
economic instability after a sustained period of growth. He pointed to a
downturn in the global economic cycle as a possible catalyst for increased
pressure for democratization. "This kind of pressure [for democracy] can be immediate, and if China
is not prepared, much chaos could ensue. We know from history that in 1989 and
1990, the Soviet Union collapsed very quickly," Wu said. However, Wu warned that Taiwan needed to be cautious in terms of policy
formulation during any move toward democratization in China. "Currently, Japan serves as Chinese authorities' emotional outlet in
dealing with democratization, and there are of course historical reasons for
this. But the focus could shift to Taiwan," Wu said, calling any period of
democratization in China "dangerous" for Taiwan. Johnny Lau , a cross-strait political commentator from Hong Kong, said
regarding Chinese democratization, there was a need for not only pressure but
also guidance. "We need to work for the establishment of democracy and a value system
we agree with ? there is a lot of pressure for democratization from the
international community, but there is no guidance from them," Lau said. Ping Lu, director of Taiwan's Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center in
Hong Kong, also noted that Taiwan could serve as a model for Hong Kong and
China, but added there were barriers to such an exchange. "Taiwan and Hong Kong have long underestimated each other. Taiwan took
Hong Kong as an example of the failure of the `one country, two systems' model,
while Hong Kong took Taiwan as an example of the chaos that democracy
brings," Ping Lu said. "To Hong Kong, it may seem that Taiwan has many problems. Taiwanese
legislators watch call-in talk shows on television at night and then respond to
them in the legislature the next day. This is unhealthy, but this is democracy,
and without democracy we can't discuss these problems," Michael Hsiao ,
national policy advisor to the president said.
Russia
links air disasters to terror, explosives found NEW
EVIDENCE: Traces of explosives were found in the wreckage of the two planes,
making terrorism the likely reason for their loss, Russian officials say Traces of explosive were found on the wreckage of the second of two Russian
airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously, a spokesman for Russia's domestic
security agency said yesterday. Evidence of the explosive hexogen was found on a Tu-134 jetliner that
crashed in the Tula region south of Moscow, said Sergei Ignatchenko, spokesman
for the Federal Security Service. The statement came a day after the announcement of similar findings on the
wreckage of a Tu-154 that crashed in southern Russia and that officials said
showed that the plane was brought down by a terrorist act. Both planes crashed Tuesday night after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo
airport, one of Russia's most modern and sophisticated air hubs. The findings of
explosives indicated significant weaknesses in security for the air transport
network that spans the sprawling country. The crashes took place just five days before residents of the wartorn
republic of Chechnya were to go to the polls Sunday to choose a president in an
election that the Kremlin portrays as a step toward restoring civil order in the
region. Officials had warned that Chechen separatist rebels could resort to
terrorism to try to undermine the voting. The Kremlin refuses to negotiate with
the rebels. A Web site connected to Islamic militants claimed the crashes were
retaliation for Russia's ongoing war in Chechnya, and Russian officials said
they were investigating the backgrounds of two female passengers with Chechen
surnames -- one on each plane. Several suicide bombings in recent years have been blamed on Chechen women
who lost husbands or brothers in the war and chaos that have plagued the
southern republic for most of the past decade. Yesterday, the newspaper Izvestia cited a Chechen village leader,
Dogman Akhmadov, as saying that the brother of one of the suspect women had
disappeared three or four years ago and was believed to have fallen victim to
Russian forces who are widely accused of civilian abductions and summary
executions in Chechnya. Both women had booked tickets on the flights at the last minute and were
the only victims whose relatives have not contacted authorities, officials said.
One of the women gave only her surname and first initial in booking the ticket,
according to reports. The Transport Ministry said yesterday that passengers on domestic flights
now will be obliged to show full passport details on their tickets, ITAR-Tass
reported, citing an unidentified ministry official who said the measure will
"make the process of documenting passengers and baggage more transparent
and controlled." Russians use separate passports for internal and foreign travel. The first official confirmation that terrorists infiltrated Russia's civil
aviation system -- a vital industry in this vast nation -- otherwise prompted
only a muted official response, with Russian authorities avoiding drastic
measures such as closing airspace or grounding flights. Hexogen was identified as the explosive in a series of 1999 apartment
building bombings that killed some 300 people in Moscow and other cities and
that were blamed on the Chechen separatists.
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