US fears return of Taiwan-made supernotes
　

VERY FINE PRINT: With one Taiwanese already behind bars, Washington says there are signs that Taiwan could once again be at the center of counterfeit money making
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER, IN WASHINGTON
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009, Page 1

“First detected in 1989, the supernote is of such high quality that it often goes undetected until it reaches the Federal Reserve Bank. The Secret Service’s investigation has spanned the globe, involving more than 130 countries and resulting in more than 200 arrests.”— US prosecutors

When a customs agent at San Francisco International Airport examined a package from Taiwan that was supposed to contain a birthday gift of candy and books, he thought it smelled “fishy.”

Thinking it might contain food that had been imported illegally, the agent opened the parcel. Inside, he found US$380,000 in counterfeit US$100 bills hidden among 20 bags of dried seafood.

The discovery earned Chen Mei-ling, 47, a Taiwanese woman from Kaohsiung City to a 33-month prison sentence and a US$4,300 fine last week.

It has also reawakened fears in the US that Taiwan is a center for the printing of so-called “supernotes” — forged currency that is so nearly perfect that it is almost impossible to detect.

Court papers showed that Chen arrived in San Francisco in July and stayed at the home of her former husband in Sunnyvale, California.

She has pleaded guilty to bringing US$20,000 in counterfeit US$100 bills into the US.

Within a few days she had used the forged money to buy luxury items at stores including Louis Vuitton, Coach, Foot Locker and Bath and Body Works.

Her plan had worked perfectly — until the fishy smelling parcel arrived at customs. She had posted the parcel to herself at her former husband’s address before leaving Taipei.

The customs agent took the notes to government experts who determined they were forged, whereupon Chen was arrested and charged.

Later, she admitted to having used US$3,200 in counterfeit bills at local shops.

Chen has been in custody since her arrest.

The US Secret Service, which investigates all forgery cases, as well as providing security for the president and other VIPs, determined that the fake money fell into the “supernotes” category.

“The Secret Service has led a 19-year investigation into the production and distribution of this highly deceptive family of counterfeit notes,” prosecutors said.

“First detected in 1989, the supernote is of such high quality that it often goes undetected until it reaches the Federal Reserve Bank. The Secret Service’s investigation has spanned the globe, involving more than 130 countries and resulting in more than 200 arrests,” they said.

On Aug. 20 — about a month after Chen’s arrest — Taipei police discovered what media reports described as “the most sophisticated counterfeiting factory ever found in Taiwan, with finished and semi-finished US$100 bills whose printing technology shocked the US.”

In addition to her prison sentence and fine, Chen was also ordered to pay US$3,200 in restitution to the stores where she used the fake bills and will be on probation for three years after she leaves prison.

US law enforcement sources said Taiwan has long had a reputation as a center for high-quality counterfeit money production. In recent years, however, the forgers were believed to be concentrating on the Chinese currency.

There were indications that large quantities of US$100 bills were again being produced in Taiwan, the sources said.

228 victim’s son asks for records
　

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: A man who lost his father during the 228 Incident has called on the government to recover and release historical records on the massacre

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009, Page 2

The son of a victim of the 228 Incident urged yesterday that the government locate and release documents and files relating to the 228 Incident to reveal the historical truth of the massacre.

On Feb. 27, 1947, the arrest of a cigarette vendor in Taipei led to large-scale protests by Taiwanese against the corruption and repression of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.

Dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) responded to a request by executive administrator Chen Yi (陳儀) to dispatch troops from China to stifle the protests in Taiwan.

Historians estimate that some 20,000 people were killed during the crackdown that followed. The incident was a precursor to the White Terror era.

“Due to the lack of historical data, I do not know what happened to my father during the 1947 uprising,” said the man, who declined to give his name.

Most of data on the 228 Incident is in the government’s possession, but many important files are in the hands of people scattered all around the country, he said.

“Many individuals who worked for the government at the time took the files with them when they retired from their posts,” he said, adding that he had heard rumors that those individuals were now prepared to release the once closely guarded files.

He said he would make a formal appeal to the Control Yuan after the Lunar New Year holiday to urge government agencies to recover and release all the existing data on the incident.

In response, the Control Yuan yesterday said it would be glad to help, but could not make any promises before formally reviewing the request.

Although an eight-member subcommittee of the Control Yuan conducted an investigation in 2004 into the 228 Incident, most of the individuals killed could not be identified because of a lack of records.

Families stretch to accommodate religious beliefs
　

MULTI-CULTURAL: Some family members’ religious beliefs and traditional ceremonies can undergo some unconventional changes during the holidays
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009, Page 2

“Firms are steeling themselves for a very difficult few months, with output and orders expected to fall at a record pace in the next quarter.”— Russel Griggs, chairman of the Confederation of British Industry’s SME council

Pat Chang’s (張承哲) father still pays his respects to his ancestors during the Lunar New Year holiday, but he does not burn incense. His father is a Christian, and while he wants to honor his ancestors in the way that they would appreciate, he also wants to acknowledge his own faith.

Chang, a third-year Chinese major at National Taiwan Normal University, comes from a family that is half Christian and half traditional Taiwanese Taoist and Buddhist. His father and his twin brothers are Christian, while his mother, his sister and he are not.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, his father leads the family in worshipping their deceased grandfather, but only his mother, he and his sister light incense.

No one in the family minds eating the offerings, he said, because most of them are fruit. His mother also occasionally does bed-time prayers with his father, he said.

Chang’s family might seem unusual to some, but Taiwan is eclectic in religious beliefs. Statistics show that 93 percent of the population practices a mixture of Buddhism and Taoism, while 4.5 percent are Christian.

Some observers estimate that Christians constitute about 4 percent of the total population, and about 80 percent of the population practices some mixture of traditional folk religion in conjunction with Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

Tsai Yen-zen (蔡彥仁), director of the Graduate Institute of Religious Studies at National Chengchi University, said that a majority of Taiwan’s Christian population is Protestant rather than Roman Catholic.

Denominations represented, in order of population, include Presbyterians, local churches and the True Jesus Church. Mormons and Baptists each accounted for 10,000 to 20,000 people, he said.

The first Westerners to bring Christianity to Taiwan were the Dutch, he said. Christians were widely persecuted in 1662, but Christianity made a fresh start in 1860, when a missionary from Scotland came to Taiwan.

Presbyterian missionary George Mackay arrived in Tamsui (淡水) from Canada about 150 years ago. He set up churches, schools, clinics and trained native missionaries. The English Presbyterian Mission started its work in the southern part of Taiwan at about the same time.

Tsaid said that during the Japanese colonial era, the True Jesus mission came from China’s Fujian Province and spread Christianity to Aborigines, but it did so secretly to circumvent Japanese suppression.

When the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lost the war to the Chinese Communists in 1949, most of the Christian denominations fled China along with the KMT troops or shortly after, Tsai said. At that time, Catholicism attracted many Aborigine and Mainlander believers of with its ample resources. Local churches also spread fast among military families, Tsai said.

In the postwar period, Taiwanese Protestant leaders played a leading role in the movement for human rights and democracy. Tsai said it was mainly because of Christian principles such as protecting the poor and disadvantaged and Christian stories on taking a stand in the face of injustice. The election system for church leaders also demonstrated democratic values, he said.

Not all Taiwanese have come to Christianity the same way.

Torn between two religions, 24-year-old Sherry Chen (陳謙宜) said during the Lunar New Year her family visited her mother’s family, who are Christian, and then her father’s, who are traditional Hakka people who practice folk religion in Hualien.

Her mother’s family celebrated the Lunar New Year by saying prayers, singing hymns and having family meals. She received red envelopes with Bible verses written on the outside.

At her father’s family, they honored ancestors and gods and burned incense three times a day.

Being Christians, she and her parents did not burn incense. Her grandmother did not like it at all at first, Chen said, but added that now her grandmother is used to it.

When she was little, Chen said she once asked her mother why they did not burn incense to worship Jesus, and that was the first time she realized she had a religion that was very different from others.

She also ate the offerings when she was little, but now she rarely if ever does so.

“I told myself I don’t have to eat it if I don’t feel comfortable about it,” she said.

Gina Wang (王鈺婷), a second-year graduate student in the English Department at National Central University, is the only Christian in her family.

The 23-year-old Tainan native said it took her a long time to persuade her parents, especially her mother, to let her convert. Her mother was worried that she might later regret such a life-changing decision. One of her aunts, however, was very supportive of her and helped persuade her mother. Her aunt is not a Christian, Wang said, but she thought her niece was big enough to make her own decision.

The first challenge she faced after she became a Christian in November 2007 was whether to practice religious ceremonies during last year’s Lunar New Year.

Wang said she felt uncomfortable burning incense and worshiping ancestors, but her grandmother was sick at that time, so she did not want to upset her.

“It was a struggle,” she said. “I believe my religion does not want me to make everybody unhappy.”

Wang said that when she was burning incense, she did not talk to her ancestors, but rather she talked to God and asked him to forgive her. She also introduced her ancestors to God and asked him to take good care of them.

Nelson Chou (周興國), a preacher at Taipei Bible Baptist Tabernacle Church, said his advice for people like Wang would be to resolve problems peacefully.

“It takes time to find the common ground,” he said. “Religious belief is not something that can be rushed.”

US’ Blair defends ‘turd’ comment, Taiwan record
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009, Page 2

Admiral Dennis Blair, whom US President Barack Obama has chosen to be the US’ next director of national intelligence, is vigorously defending his record on Taiwan.

As head of Pacific Command from 1999 to 2002, Blair was head of the US official delegation that observed Taiwan’s Han Kuang series of military exercises and has a reputation for supporting Taiwan independence.

But following his confirmation hearings in the US Senate last week, Blair was challenged by Republican Senator Christopher Bond to answer a question in writing “for the record.”

Bond wrote to Blair: “A number of negative comments about United States policy toward Taiwan have been attributed to you in the past — I believe at one time, you referred to Taiwan as the ‘turd in the punchbowl of US-China relations.’”

The senator said that Blair was on the record as saying that the Taiwan Relations Act was great.

“So,” Bond said, “what is your view on US policy towards Taiwan?”

In a written reply just made public, Blair said: “It is absolutely incorrect that I ever referred to Taiwan itself as the ‘turd in the punchbowl of US-China relations.’ Whoever gave this account to the press was maliciously attempting to portray me as a supporter of China at the expense of Taiwan.

“I did in fact use the too-colorful phrase ‘tossing a turd in the punchbowl’ in a closed meeting in 2000, but the phrase referred to a specific action by a former Taiwanese government official that had been taken without consulting the United States and had caused a confrontation with Washington and the Chicoms.”

“I have never made negative comments about the United States policy towards Taiwan in the past. I have stated opinions about statements,” he said.

Blair’s office refused to comment further.

The admiral is expected to be confirmed soon.

Four people killed by bomb attack in central China: police

AFP, BEIJING
Sunday, Feb 01, 2009, Page 3

A bomb attack killed four people in central China last week, police said yesterday, adding that authorities were still investigating the motive behind the blast.

The attack occurred on Monday near a hospital in the city of Zhumadian in Henan Province, police said.

“Yes, it happened. Four people were killed, two were injured. It is under investigation,” a Zhumadian police official said by telephone, declining further comment.

He refused to provide his name, which is common with officials in China.

The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in a news release quoted local sources saying an explosive device went off near the entrance of a hospital in the city.

Three people were killed and 40 injured, according to the center, which regularly sends out reports on instances of social unrest in China that otherwise go uncovered by the state-controlled media.

It said the incident may have been carried out by someone unhappy over care at the hospital.

Hospital officials declined detailed comment.

“It’s difficulty to say if it’s been done by relatives of patients who were not satisfied with our hospital,” said an official who declined to give his name.

China sees thousands of cases of violent social unrest each year, typically as marginalized segments of society lash out over illegal seizures of their land, environmental degradation or government corruption.

In November 2006, large-scale police reinforcements were called in after residents in southwestern China rioted over rumors that a hospital had refused a boy treatment for poisoning because his family could not pay first.

The rumors were later denied by state media, but rights activists said the rioters vented growing discontent over rising medical costs, a lack of health insurance for ordinary people and hospitals’ refusal to treat those who cannot pay.