US president urged to protect Taiwan
　

REMEMBER US: Ahead of his visit to China, Barack Obama received strong pleas from Congress and activists to make sure he keeps Taiwan’s interests uppermost in his mind
　

By William Lowther and Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTERS IN WASHINGTON AND TAIPEI
Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, Page 1

As US President Barack Obama launched his four-nation tour of Asia this week he received two strong pleas to protect Taiwan’s interests. One came from four members of Congress and the other from 16 Taiwanese-American organizations acting in concert.

The congressional letter, signed by members of Congress Shelley Berkley, Gerald Connolly, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Phil Gingrey, urged Obama to keep Taiwan’s security uppermost in his mind when meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

It said: “In the event that matters concerning Taiwan are raised, we urge you to emphasize to President Hu that the United States’ position remains clear — the United States will support Taiwan’s security and will continue to provide it with arms. The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has engaged in a large scale military build-up over the past few years and has not abandoned the threat of force. It is of the utmost importance that President Hu understands the United States’ firm commitment to ensuring that Taiwan has the tools it needs to defend itself.”

The four members of Congress also asked Obama to raise the issue of Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, particularly the International Civil Aviation Organization and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Bob Yang (楊英育), president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, who initiated the second letter, said: “There is an anxiety among Taiwan supporters that President Obama might make concessions on Taiwan for the sake of obtaining Chinese cooperation on a host of international issues during his trip. We know from experience, and from China’s past statements and actions, that Taiwan is China’s top concern on its foreign policy agenda.”

Yang said that he wanted Obama to urge the Chinese government to remove its military threat from the cross-strait equation and renounce the use of force against Taiwan.

“No one should be allowed to bring a gun to the negotiating table,” Yang said.

Among the signatories to the second letter were Terri Giles, executive director of the Formosa Foundation; Mary Helen Cruz, president of Friends of Taiwan, Inc; Lin Ing-hour, president of the North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association; Ben Liu, president of the Professor Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation; and James Chen (陳少明), chairman of World United Formosans for Independence-USA.

Meanwhile, in Taipei, several pro-independence groups yesterday also urged Obama not to repeat the “three noes” on Taiwan and not to issue a fourth joint US-Sino communique regarding policy or Taiwan’s sovereignty.

In a statement titled “Peace, not at the expense of freedom and democracy,” the groups said they sincerely hoped Obama, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, would put human rights and democracy above politics and money.

The statement urged Obama to be cautious because his words and deeds could hurt Taiwan’s democracy and freedom when he meets Chinese leaders and to honor Washington’s longstanding policy of supporting the Taiwanese people’s fight against China’s threat and coercion, and their right to decide their country’s future.

“President Obama, please make yourself a deserving laureate,” the statement said.

The “three noes,” publicly stated by former US president Bill Clinton during a visit to China in 1998, are no support for Taiwanese independence, no support for “one China, one Taiwan” or “two Chinas,” and no support for Taiwan’s membership of international organizations that require statehood.

“We hope that the ‘three noes’ will never be mentioned again. We also oppose a fourth joint communique on the Taiwan issue,” said Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), secretary-general of the Taiwan Society, at a press conference held yesterday to publicize the statement.

Lo said the groups hoped that Obama would declare a new “three noes” — no ignoring the opinions of the Taiwanese when he holds talks with Hu, no sacrificing the benefits Taiwanese enjoy in terms of freedom, safety and national security, and no underestimating China’s ambitions and the threat it poses to Taiwan and East Asia.

The groups also called on Obama to publicly state his assurance that he supports a peaceful resolution to the cross-strait issue, would provide Taiwan with the necessary arms to defend itself and that he would encourage the whole region, including China, to move toward democracy, freedom and to respect human rights and safeguard Taiwanese right to self-determination.

Chen Po-chih (陳博志), chairman of Taiwan Thinktank, urged Obama not to underestimate the damage done to the Chinese by the authoritarian regime.

“In the past, the US and others argued that engagement with China would lead to Beijing embracing democracy, freedom and human rights as its economy developed, but over recent years what has actually happened is China has attempted to use its economic clout to destroy these universal values,” Chen said.

“In the biological world, small species need protection, not out of sympathy but because the whole biological system would collapse if they became extinct,” he said. “Likewise, if Taiwan is annexed by China, freedom and the democratic system will be on the verge of collapse.”

Independence movement ‘doomed’: Chinese official
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, Page 1

Pro-independence groups yesterday dismissed comments by a visiting Chinese official after he told a seminar in Taipei that the Taiwan independence movement was “doomed.”

Zheng Bijian (鄭必堅), a former vice president of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Party School, said yesterday in Taipei that Taiwanese efforts to seek independence were doomed because most Taiwanese expected continuous development of cross-strait relations.

“To this day, the contest between seeking independence and anti-independence has yet to end,” Zheng said at the seminar titled “60 Years Across the Taiwan Strait.”

“Because mainstream public opinion is for a continuous, peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations, however, efforts to seek independence are doomed to decline and fall,” he said.

Taiwan Society secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said Zheng had misinterpreted public opinion, that support for independence has been increasing and support for unification has been declining, while the majority favors the “status quo.”

Saying that Zheng had intentionally misrepresented the facts, Lo said his purpose was to bring political issues to the negotiating table and he wanted to show Taiwanese that Beijing was confident it could resolve the “Taiwan problem.”

“China must realize that, while it is eager to resolve the ‘Taiwan problem,’ it will backfire because it will arouse the awareness of those who support independence,” Lo said.

Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), head of the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance, said Zheng’s comments were “wishful thinking.”

“Zheng’s assertion that support for independence is declining and that the independence movement is bound to fail is far from the truth. On the one hand, the ‘status quo’ will remain for a long time given the current international situation. On the other, both sides of the Strait won’t be able to find a peaceful resolution without respecting the opinions of the people on the other side,” Yao said.

Paul Lin (林保華), a political commentator, said Zheng had gotten the whole China-Taiwan issue wrong.

“It’s not unification versus independence, but authoritarianism versus democracy and freedom,” Lin said.

If China continues as an autocracy, it would be impossible for Taiwanese to accept a peace agreement because it would be tantamount to submitting to the “rule of violence,” Lin said.

Zheng is leading a group of Chinese experts on Taiwan affairs who are attending the two-day seminar, organized by the Taipei-based Pacific Cultural Foundation.

Zheng said “a new type of cross-strait relationship” was gradually developing as the two sides are moving from military confrontation and isolation toward dialogue, exchanges and cooperation.

“We sternly oppose Taiwan seeking independence, but the Taiwanese ideology of loving their hometown and their land, and seeking to be their own masters is absolutely not equal to being pro-independence,” Zheng said.

Zheng expressed hope that both sides could work together to welcome a new era that would be peaceful and stable.
　

Prosecutors dismiss Wu’s complaint about frozen assets
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, Page 3

In response to recent complaints by former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) about the freezing of her family’s assets, prosecutors yesterday said that based on their calculations, the former first family still had about NT$60 million (US$1.9 million) in active assets.

The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) yesterday reported that the wife of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said the family had so little money in active accounts that she was even afraid to turn on the heater.

Wu said her daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), had taken on so many freelance jobs teaching piano to increase the family’s income that she had hurt her fingers, the report said.

The wheelchair-bound Wu said the family’s monthly expenditure adds up to about NT$300,000 because of her medical expenses. The family also owes more than NT$5 million in legal fees to lawyers who are defending them in the corruption and money-laundering cases at the Taiwan High Court.

Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南), spokesperson for the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel, confirmed last week that the panel had frozen the bank accounts, stock holdings and real estate holdings of several members of the former president’s family.

However, prosecutors said that the money in the unfrozen accounts was enough to sustain Wu, her son Chen Chih-chung and Huang.

Prosecutors said the family had more than NT$5 million in active bank accounts that have not been frozen by prosecutors, as well as income in the form of rent collected from their properties, insurance compensation and monthly stipends from Chen Shui-bian’s payments as a former president. Prosecutors said the amount of money the family has access to totals about NT$60 million.

The only family member whose assets were not frozen was their daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), because prosecutors said they had no evidence she had participated in the alleged money-laundering.

Taiwanese teachers face test of characters abroad

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, Page 4

Packing a Tatung rice cooker, Hung Shen-hsing (洪慎杏), who has a master’s degree from National Taiwan Normal University’s (NTNU) Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, set off for New York in August as one of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) “exported Mandarin teachers.”

Settled in a studio in Manhattan provided by Columbia University, she will teach Mandarin to undergraduate students for a year.

As the only “exported” Mandarin teacher from Taiwan at Columbia, Hung has to teach two classes, with a total of 25 students.

Hung said she went abroad to broaden her horizons but she also carries great responsibility. Apart from teaching, her job is to boost knowledge of the quality of Taiwan’s Mandarin teaching.

The MOE launched its Mandarin Teachers Export Project in 1985 as part of plans to boost the international profile of Taiwan’s Mandarin teaching.

Most placements were achieved through cooperation with universities and schools in Thailand, Vietnam, Britain and elsewhere.

According to the Republic of China Annual Almanac published by the Government Information Office last November, the ministry had sent 214 Mandarin teachers overseas as of 2005, while 95 Mandarin teachers went abroad through the project in 2007.

Mandarin teachers from Taiwan have an edge in terms of teaching traditional Chinese characters abroad. At Columbia, Mandarin classes for freshmen and sophomores begin with traditional Chinese characters, while teachers enjoy the freedom to choose between traditional and simplified characters when it comes to classes for juniors and seniors.

But teachers like Hung face uncertainty as the university is mulling whether to teach simplified characters only.

“If students only plan to work in China instead of planning to study Chinese literature or history, there is no need for them to learn traditional characters,” Hung said.

The rise of China has also made it increasingly difficult for traditional characters to gain sway over their simplified counterparts.

But the global economic crisis has aggravated the situation.

Hung conceded that few schools were willing to create openings for teachers using traditional characters amid the economic downturn.

Nevertheless, the MOE is seeking breakthroughs in promoting Taiwan’s Mandarin teaching.

The MOE-funded Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu has focused on creating Mandarin proficiency tests for non-native speakers of Mandarin in Taiwan and abroad.

Part of the committee’s pioneering efforts has been to develop a set of screening tests for young learners of Mandarin abroad.

“Teaching young children Mandarin and creating proficiency tests for them is a rather new area,” said Chao Chia-pi (趙家璧), a member of the committee’s Research and Development Division.

Developers of the test, called the Children’s Chinese Competency Certification (CCCC), distinguish the CCCC from the Young Learners Chinese Test (YCT), which was created by China and enjoys dominant status globally in terms of proficiency tests.

“Hanban [The Chinese Language Council International] has been aggressively promoting Mandarin [screening tests] ... but the YCT does not normally include phonetic transcriptions with characters or give test-takers pictures [to help them understand the test content],” Chao said.

Ho Wen-chun (何文君), another committee official responsible for developing the CCCC, said some South Korean professors told the NTNU’s Mandarin Training Center that young examinees were frustrated by the YCT.

“The concept behind [the CCCC] is different [from that of the YCT]. YCT is more like a test for language knowledge while we [with the CCCC] tend to help children acquire the ability to use the language in their daily life,” Ho said.

In contrast to the text-based YCT, test-takers — aged between 7 and 12 — are given a large number of pictures in the CCCC to keep them interested in the target language, Ho said.

“If they lose interest at the very beginning they will not want to learn Mandarin anymore,” Ho said.

But with a rival like the YCT, which has been widely adopted worldwide, it is tough for the developers to persuade schools to give the CCCC a try, Chao said.

Developers of the CCCC have had difficulty expanding the test to schools overseas outside of those for Taiwanese expats, partly because of a lack of manpower and partly because of the YCT’s dominance, Chao said.

“Seeing China’s Hanban aggressively push [their tests and Mandarin teaching], I really hope our government can establish an agency specifically responsible for promoting [the CCCC and Taiwan’s Mandarin teaching],” said a committee official who wished to remain anonymous.

Sledging the wrong foreigners

Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, Page 8

Seminar presentations don’t come any more laughable than this. Zheng Bijian (鄭必堅), a former vice president of the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), yesterday repaid his Taiwanese hosts’ hospitality with a lecture on how aspirations for Taiwanese independence would fade amid longing for improved cross-strait relations.

The seminar, organized by the pro-unification Pacific Cultural Foundation — an organization with historical links to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hardliners — was notable for the relatively benign language used by the Chinese speakers, in keeping with this era of presumed cross-strait detente.

It goes without saying that officials linked to the CCP Central Party School — which probably cultivates more corrupt officials per capita than any like institution in the world — are propagandists. It is incorrect to describe them as “experts” on Taiwan, as the foundation does, when the CCP line dictates that messages of simplicity dominate cross-strait debate.

Expertise implies an appreciation of complexity, but the line followed by China’s “Taiwan experts” — from top to bottom — is invariably normative in analytical dress and contemptuous of other opinions.

More notable was the ennui with which the Chinese delegation was greeted. In a country of 23 million people, surely there would be just a few thousand who would be willing to mobilize and give these grim envoys a message they would never forget?

Alas, no.

These days, key Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators are much more interested in generating political capital by hitting out at foreigners who actually contribute something to the country.

An example: It was a race to the bottom of the barrel at the legislature’s Transportation Committee on Wednesday, with legislators on both sides of politics producing foreigner-bashing humdingers.

KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), whose willingness to publicly defy party orthodoxy has displeased President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) himself, on this occasion let stupidity get the better of her, asking why Taiwanese staff could not replace contracted foreign managers at the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.

But the charge was led by DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) in her typically shrill fashion, attacking two foreign managers responsible for operations and contractual matters, whose sole offense, it appears, was to have salaries much higher than hers.

The irony, of course, is that the problems with the high speed rail system have little to do with infrastructure, which is safe, reliable and comfortable, or with contractual and operational matters, which have been reasonably smooth.

The DPP is thus heading into local elections with a recurring ailment: disregarding and even openly offending foreigners who in many, if not most, cases are valuable contributors to the building of Taiwan.

DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) surely recognizes this problem — and that its origins lie in opportunism rather than ideological hostility — but the DPP’s reputation among foreign businesspeople, for example, has not improved under her watch. With spurious language coming from Yeh Yi-jin, a senior party official, this will not change anytime soon.

After all this time, there are still members of the DPP who do not understand the difference between “English-speaking foreigners” who help to improve and even protect the country and foreigners from China who would, as necessary, destroy everything in a heartbeat. These dim-witted DPP figures would do their party, their cause and the public a favor by pondering the consequences of alienating foreign professionals of repute for the sake of a cheap smear.

An offal conspiracy

Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, Page 8

Dear Johnny,

I have a (conspiracy) theory.

With all of the commentary about the lifting of the US beef ban by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his A Team too numerous to mention here, I feel that there is another side of the double-headed coin that you’re all missing.

What do we know?

The ban has been lifted without so much as a by-your-leave from the government to the public.

The public and — surprise, surprise — the Taipei City KMT-controlled government and the legislative speaker (also KMT) oppose the lifting of the ban, along with many more public figures around the country.

China opposes any and all purchases of military weapons from the US to Taiwan (this is a clue).

What do we not know?

What has the purchase of these weapons to do with the purchase of US beef? Well, my theory goes something like this (it’s a work in progress):

An envoy from China relays a message through the head of the National Security Council to President Ma that he should instigate a protocol with the US government that US beef is now acceptable.

The following uproar, as now being witnessed, will show the president to be on the side of the US government and hoping to curry favor with them to purchase anything and everything — but in reality focusing on arms.

However, what is actually happening is that as public protests become stronger, with dissatisfaction against the US instead of Taiwan, the US president will recommend, in retaliation, that no weapons be sold to Taiwan in the foreseeable future, thereby making China extremely happy — and without any obvious involvement.

I have no doubt that somewhere down the line the president will be well rewarded, as former US president Bill Clinton was, for stating his own version of the “three noes,” and trying to change Washington’s Taiwan policy forever.

Take good care of yourself during this fluable time.

MICHAEL WISE


Johnny replies: Conspiracy theories are all well and good, but it’s difficult to point fingers at the Chicoms when you have so many ordinary Taiwanese shutting down their critical faculties and swallowing this campaign of dumb-ass panic hook, line and sinker.

Hmmm. Fish and beef imagery? Sounds like mixing metaphors. Let’s call this tactical maneuver “Surfing and Turfing the Rabble.”

Not that I want to appear elitist, but sometimes democracies are only as smart as the dumbest Americabovinophobe.

A spineless president, a spineless citizenry
　

By David S. Min 敏洪奎
Saturday, Nov 14, 2009, Page 8

‘After all, who matches Ma in the pushover stakes?’

At an academic seminar on Oct. 25, former presidential adviser Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) predicted that China is likely to make every effort to help secure President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election in 2012.

Peng said Beijing is likely to withdraw missiles it is aiming at Taiwan, propose a peace agreement and stimulate Taiwan’s stock market to boost Ma’s momentum and lure Taiwanese into voting for him again.

Peng is not a prophet, but his prediction that China will make every effort to help Ma is perfectly sensible. Speculation that Ma intends to turn Taiwan into a special administrative region of China, or that he is trying to win the Nobel Peace Prize by signing a cross-strait peace agreement with Beijing, is far-fetched, but it is an undeniable fact that the president’s weak character and fear of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) set him apart from his predecessors.

Beijing is, of course, quite happy with the situation, and it probably doesn’t want another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate to replace Ma, let alone a transfer of power to the Democratic Progressive Party. After all, who matches Ma in the pushover stakes?

In trying to help Ma, Beijing will likely use the methods that Peng mentioned, but it is even more likely to use other channels to spread rumors of what will happen to Taiwan if Ma does not gain a second term.

Its threat against Kaohsiung City for displaying a documentary about World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer was a rehearsal for future blackmail against Taiwan.

Peng raised another key issue: What will become of Taiwanese identity when the inducements begin to appear? Will we resist them, or will we be mesmerized and follow Ma down the road of no return?

The answer to this question may not be so cheerful. As the saying goes, “the first falling leaf heralds the autumn.” A few examples will be enough to illustrate the numbness of Taiwanese and whether or not identity will have a role to play.

The Kaohsiung City Government’s decision to screen the documentary about Kadeer while disregarding Chinese threats attempted to maintain national dignity. Surprisingly, however, Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Chuang Chi-wang (莊啟旺) of the KMT requested that the city government take the overall situation into account and acquiesce to China, while some councilors suggested that the city government’s budget be blocked.

Would anyone with true Taiwanese identity do such a thing? If Goto Shimpei — a chief administrator of Taiwan during the Japanese era who mocked Taiwanese for fearing death and loving money — were still alive today, he would laugh with disdain.

Now in his eighties, Peng has a deep concern for Taiwan, unlike many of Taiwan’s youth, who are addicted to the Internet or night clubs and who idolize stars and models. The latter are not concerned about the predicament facing their free society.

All this tells us that Taiwanese are likely to hand their fate to Ma once more as a result of China’s carrot-and-stick approach.

Will the public then realize how precious freedom is after it has been lost?

David S. Min is a political commentator and author of Heartfelt Wishes of a Citizen.