AIT chairwoman on June 22, 2004

President awards medal to former AIT chairwoman

By Lin Chieh-yu
STAFF REPORTER
 

President Chen Shui-bian yesterday awarded a medal to Therese Shaheen, former chairwoman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), for her contributions to Taiwan-US relations.

"She is not only the best friend Taiwan has, but also the guardian angel of all Taiwanese people," Chen said when welcoming Shaheen to the Presidential Office yesterday morning, adding that the Taiwan-US relationship is currently solid and close.

After decorating Shaheen with the "Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon," Chen said that the friendship between Taiwan and the US had been markedly advanced by Shaheen's efforts at the AIT.

He said her uniquely warm and kind personality had filled US-Taiwan interactions with vitality.

"On the eve of our country's Dragon Boat Festival, I think that the Taiwan-US relationship can be compared with the `glutinous rice dumplings' which the country's people eat on this special day," Chen said.

"Just like the dumplings, which have so many delicious ingredients but are wrapped in leaves, people cannot see what is hidden inside," Chen said.

"Although the US and Taiwan do not currently have official diplomatic ties, the two countries' relationship is essentially very diverse and substantial in content. This includes so many friendships and achievements brought about by Mrs. Shaheen's efforts," the president said.

Chen said that he hopes Shaheen will be able to continue speaking out on Taiwan's behalf in the international community and seek further support from different camps in the US.

Shaheen said that Taiwan's experience provided inspiration to her in her career and that the bravery of all Taiwanese people also encouraged her.

"If the entire world is a shell, then Taiwan is the most brilliant pearl in it," Shaheen said, adding that the president is a good shepherd of Taiwanese society and that he would guide all sheep in the right direction.

The Presidential Office yesterday held a banquet in honor of Shaheen.

Although Shaheen described her four-day trip in Taiwan as a "private visit to meet some old friends," the government has given her a high-profile reception in an apparent bid to demonstrate Chen's appreciation for her efforts to facilitate communication between his administration and the US government during her 16 months in her post, as well to help the president to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough during his stopover in New York in October last year.

A number of top government officials attended closed-door meetings with Shaheen yesterday, including the president, Vice President Annette Lu, Premier Yu Shyi-kun, National Security Council Chairman Chiou I-jen, Minister of National Defense Lee-Jye  and Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu .

Bush's Saddam trophy psychoanalyzed

`PHALLIC EQUIVALENT': US troops presented George W. Bush with a gun that was taken from Saddam when he was captured. The question is why Bush is so fond of it

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , WASHINGTON
 

The story of how US President George W. Bush ended up with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's pistol mounted in his private study off the Oval Office has dribbled out in the last few weeks, and it is a good one.

As first reported in Time magazine, the soldiers who captured Saddam in December presented the mounted sidearm as a gift to Bush in a visit to the White House. They were members of the Army's Delta Force, Bush later said, and they had confiscated the unloaded pistol from Saddam's lap when they pulled him out of his underground bunker near Tikrit.

"It's now the property of the US government," Bush said at a news conference in Savannah, Georgia, when asked specifically about the pistol and whether he would return it to the people of Iraq. What the gun tells us about the president, the war and the relationship of the Bush family to Saddam is another story entirely. It is in many ways better, or at least more interesting, than the first.

`father's shadow'

The Iraqi dictator, after all, tried to assassinate Bush's father in 1993, when he was only a year out of the White House, as payback for the 1991 Persian Gulf war that the former president George Bush had waged on Saddam. In other words, the gun is more than a gun, at least according to the Freudians.

"It's the phallic equivalent of a scalp -- I mean that quite seriously," said Stanley Renshon, a psychoanalyst and political scientist at the City University of New York who has just completed a book, to be published by Palgrave/Macmillan in September, called In His Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush.

In Renshon's view, Bush went to war for geostrategic reasons, but there was a powerful personal element as well. In short, Saddam's gun is a trophy that symbolizes victories both military and psychic.

"There are a lot of different levels at which this operates," Renshon said.

"The critics say this is all about finishing up Daddy's mess. I think that is way too off base to be serious. But psychology operates regardless of party line, and this seems to me to be a case in which psychology can't help but express itself, because it's a natural outgrowth of what he's been through and how he feels about it. It's perfectly normal to me," Renshon said.

Michael Sherry, a military historian at Northwestern University, noted that there was a long record of soldiers seizing the weapons of vanquished enemies as the ultimate symbols of defeat. (Even so, it is illegal for American soldiers to take guns from an enemy and keep them for themselves, which is almost certainly why the president declared that the pistol was US government property, rather than his own.)

Relinquishing weapons has historically been part of surrender ceremonies, even though Ulysses Grant chose not to ask for Robert Lee's sword at Appomattox Court House in 1865 and excluded officers' sidearms from the weapons that the Army of Northern Virginia was expected to turn over to him.

`childish'

Saddam's pistol, which Bush shows off to visitors, is a different matter altogether, Sherry said, because it was presidential acquisition by force. "Whatever specific symbolism Bush may privately attach to this token, it does make it look to the external viewer that he sees this in very personal terms," Sherry said. In the end, he said, "I'm left feeling that it sounds kind of childish."

Other presidents, Theodore Roosevelt in particular, have had guns, and many others have kept tokens of what they consider the most historic moments of their presidencies.

The Ronald Reagan Library displays a graffiti-covered section of the Berlin Wall, which Reagan famously called on former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down; George Washington kept a key to the Bastille sent to him after the French Revolution by the Marquis de Lafayette, who served under Washington in the American Revolution and considered an inspiration for French liberty.

Bush keeps at least one other war-related token: the badge of George Howard, a Port Authority police officer who died at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, given to him by Howard's mother. Bush held up the badge in his address to a joint session of Congress nine days after the attacks and declared: "This is my reminder of lives that ended, and a task that does not end."

In that context, Saddam's pistol is a bookend of sorts, the prize of a president who viewed the badge as reason for waging two wars. To the Delta Force that brought it back, the gun is a piece of history representing nothing less than mission complete.

Action, not words: agitators damage office of Emily Lau

AP , HONG KONG
 

An unknown person or persons set fire to a pro-democracy poster on the wall of an opposition legislator's office early yesterday and left the threatening message, "All Chinese traitors must die."

The legislator, Emily Lau, said that political foes were trying to threaten her in the run-up to a planned July 1 anti-Beijing rally that could draw hundreds of thousands of protesters.

"Previously it was just mean talk, now it's action," Lau said.

The incident follows a recent decision by three Hong Kong radio hosts to go off the air amid allegations they were intimidated for their pro-democracy views.

At the scene of the fire, TV footage showed the slogan -- scrawled on the wall -- about "Chinese traitors," which is how Beijing has in the past characterized some pro-democracy figures here.

No one was hurt, but firefighters found a bottle of alcohol and a gas canister at the scene and asked police to investigate.

Police spokeswoman Kelly Chan said that no arrests were immediately made.

Lau said the burnt poster had advertised the July 1 mass march, organized to call for full democracy in Hong Kong despite Beijing's decision earlier this year that ruled out ordinary people choosing their next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008.

Hong Kong's debate over democracy has since turned acrimonious, with Beijing stepping up its verbal attacks on a number of pro-democracy figures.

The territory's unpopular leader, Tung Chee-hwa , met with pro-democracy lawmakers and lawyers last week in an attempt to soothe public anger ahead of the upcoming rally -- scheduled for the anniversary of a march by 500,000 people that stunned Beijing and forced Tung to withdraw an anti-subversion bill many here viewed as a threat to freedom.

An official with China's liaison office here, Wang Rudeng , on Sunday attacked the upcoming march as a "combative" move by the territory's pro-democracy camp.

"Any talk of harmony is an illusion," Lau said yesterday.

Separately, about 20 activists protested outside the liaison office yesterday with demands that China release SARS whistleblower Jiang Yanyong , a military doctor who rose to fame by saying China's SARS outbreak last year was larger than officially acknowledged.

Ethnic split is not top challenge to social peace

By Su Beng
 

The fundamental contradiction society faces is not ethnic conflict, as some people absurdly propose, but the idea that Taiwan and China add up to one Chinese nation. The reason for this is that the two sides' development and social structures have been different for 400 years. After World War II and the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) occupation unleashed Sinocentrism on Taiwan, Chinese nationalism was used to suppress, exploit and slaughter the Taiwanese people.

Trying to win back the power it once enjoyed, the KMT, already on the road to destruction, is falsifying the social reality of ethnic groups in Taiwan by bringing forward the idea of "four ethnic groups." This idea labels the Chinese nation as a single ethnic group and throws it in together with the Hoklo, Hakka and indigenous ethnic groups that make up the nation in a plot to place this nation under the umbrella of China.

To understand this major contradiction, we must apply the objective criteria of history and sociology. We should use history to study Taiwan's unique development -- ie, native cultures, immigration, trade, capitalism and modernization -- and sociology to study the unique social structure shaped over 400 years as a result of natural and social conditions. Using this approach, we will arrive at the Taiwanese feeling of a national <> that resulted from the exploitation, suppression and slaughter inflicted by colonial rulers -- the Dutch, Cheng Cheng-kung (or Koxinga), the Qing dynasty and Japan.

The feeling of community also led to the formation of a Taiwanese nationalism through the resistance against the Dutch, the Chinese and the Japanese. This horizontal expansion of Taiwanese society created a culture of local strongmen and the formation of villages; the Ghost Month, Matsu and Pudu festivals are manifestations of original Taiwanese culture. This vital and strong society is vastly different from China's society.

Ethnically, the nation is made up of Hoklo, Hakka and indigenous ethnic groups. China consists of a greater variety of ethnic groups than Taiwan, including ethnic groups in Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hunan, Sichuan and other provinces. The languages and lifestyles surely differ between ethnic groups. In Taiwan, the opposition between local Taiwanese and alien KMT Chinese is not a matter of opposition between ethnic groups. Instead, it is a matter of opposition between nations.

A Taiwanese nation already took shape during the development of capitalism in the Japanese era. As a result, the Japanese imperialist invasion was fought under the banner of Taiwanese nationalism.

After Japan, the KMT rulers continued to treat Taiwan as a colony. KMT rule thus forced continued resistance in the name of Taiwanese nationalism, this time against new alien aggressors promoting Chinese nationalism. The concentrated expression of Taiwanese nationalism during the 228 revolution must therefore be thoroughly remembered or the Taiwanese nation will perish. If the Taiwanese people want to follow the wishes of their ancestors to be the masters of their own houses, they must make the Taiwanese nationalism their ideal, their banner, and the glue that unites the three ethnic groups in a joint effort toward complete Taiwanese independence.

Thus there is only an opposition between nations in Taiwan today: the opposition between the Taiwanese and the Chinese nations, and not an opposition between four or more ethnic groups. To realize the overall political goal of the people -- complete independence -- the Taiwanese people must make unity between ethnic groups its top priority.

Su Beng is a Taiwan independence activist and founder of the Su Beng Educational Foundation.

To respect the flag, build the nation

By Lee Hsien-hua
 

A day after the presidential inauguration, two different scenes appeared in television reports. In one we saw the president lead military and civilian officials to attend a memorial service for Sun Yat-sen at the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei. In the other, we saw several lawmakers in the Legislative Yuan holding small national flags issued during the inauguration ceremony, making a fuss over how these flags were unceremoniously discarded after the ceremony.

A day earlier, the scenes had been almost the reverse. Some hundreds of opposition party members met at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial, scolding President Chen Shui-bian and accusing him of winning a second term by "stealing the nation." And over 200,000 people gathered outside the Presidential Office, holding flags and celebrating Chen's inauguration.

It is interesting that in gatherings at sites honoring the same long-departed leader, one side was full of scoldings and accusations while the other side saluted him, promising respect and responsibility for the nation. And it's ironic that when holding the same small national flags, one side was full of criticism and rage while the other side was celebrating, filled with joy over a promising future.

During these two days, the national flag took center stage, the tiny banners giving rise to a complex mixture of love and hate. Why is it that what should be a national symbol has become the focus of party politics? Some legislators startled listeners by using analogies that turned the sacred national flag into nothing more than toilet paper or even condoms.

In what way is the national flag at fault? Or does the fault lie with the people, or the state? Ambitious people who manipulated China's history brought their flag with them to Taiwan. During the authoritarian era and the transition to democracy, people here endured many hardships from power-hungry politicians' arrogance and manipulations of public sentiment.

These politicians treated and still treat the public as lambs for the slaughter, deliberately trampling on the public's free will. In the eyes of most people, this process has inevitably turned the national flag into a symbol of authoritarianism.

What does the sacred national flag really symbolize? It of course symbolizes the nation. But in a situation where we fail to build a national consciousness, and where fundamental definitions such as "national territory" still include the territory of other nations, the issue clearly goes beyond the flag and even beyond Taiwan's borders, as a possible change of national flag is virulently opposed by China).

In the wake of the presidential election, the flag has become less a symbol than a tool. For example, it has become a useful item during protests. So long as you carry a flag, you can stop cars in the street and block traffic; it also serves as an excellent weapon for assaulting others and a symbolic shield to cover violent actions (we saw many gangsters speaking louder when they held a flag).

This is also why many inauguration participants were startled to see crowds of people near the site holding the national flag, as though it had been tainted by those with intentions opposite from their own. If the sacred national flag made you feel threatened as though with a weapon, would you not want to discard it?

How has the national flag been hijacked by ambitious politicians and mobs?

Modern history regards Sun as the founder of the Republic of China (ROC), and the flag symbolizing the ROC was created by adding a field of red to the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) party flag. Just as stated by Lu Hao-tung, who designed the "blue sky with a white sun" flag in 1895, the red represents the blood of the people. This means that though in theory the republic was founded by Sun's KMT, in reality it was founded by the blood and sacrifices of millions.

This is also why the flag has been designated as the national flag: to represent the people and a party. But truly democratic countries cannot remain one-party dictatorships forever. Did Sun found the republic with an intent to create an eternal one-party dictatorship? That would have been a tragedy indeed! Even for a party, that party's original spirit, its courage and determination to build a prosperous nation, must be reflected by this flag.

The blood shed by the people to color the flag is the main reason it has been designated as the national flag. A democratic and free political system has finally been formed after more than 80 years' struggle by the people, and this should be defended still with our blood and our lives.

How auspicious is the national flag? A piece of cloth colored with symbols can make people live and die for it. How innocent are the people of Taiwan? Innocently born into this world like blank sheets of paper, people have been marked with symbols and colors and separated into irrational groups in order to serve politicians' interests.

My point is that when the nation symbolized by this flag can protect its people's welfare and dignity, only then will citizens hold this flag with solid respect instead of empty emotion.

Lee Hsien-hua is a professor at National Sun Yat-sen University and deputy director of Southern Taiwan Heart Association.