Listen to the voice

Education minister says PRC students can stay for longer
　

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2008, Page 3

Chinese students who come to Taiwan for short-term research and study will soon be granted six more months of stay, Vice Minister of Education Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳) said yesterday.

At a press conference after briefing Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), Lu said Chinese students would be allowed to stay in Taiwan for a maximum of one year after the ministry amended regulations.

The policy may take effect in the winter break next February at the earliest, Lu said.

The policy is one of the ministry’s four main goals to broaden cross-strait academic exchanges.

The other three objectives include allowing Chinese students to obtain degrees in Taiwan; gradually recognizing Chinese diplomas and allowing Taiwanese universities to offer continuing education and degree programs for students with full-time jobs in China.

“These are very good policies ... some of them may begin in October or November while policies that require more planning or [cross-strait] negotiation may be executed in January or February next year,” Liu told reporters.

As for the recognition of diplomas from universities in China, Lu said a ministry-level task force was still deliberating the criteria for recognition.

Meanwhile, Liu asked the ministry to discuss the possibility of requiring all high school seniors to take a joint exam before they graduate. It would serve as a threshold to manage the quality of high school graduates.

The suggestion came after the ministry proposed plans to help universities set admission and graduation thresholds for students.

Listen to the voice

Flag-raising event draws thousands

By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2008, Page 3
　

Shouting “Taiwan Republic! Taiwan Republic!” thousands of Taiwanese independence supporters gathered for a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office yesterday, using the group’s version of a Taiwanese national flag.

The crowd sang Taiwan the Green (台灣翠青), and waved flags and chanted slogans in favor of building a “Taiwan Republic.”

The event started with the declaration of a “Taiwan Republic Campaign” statement and a prayer for Taiwan before it proceeded to the flag-raising ceremony at 2:28pm. The time was chosen to mark the massacre that took place on Feb. 28, 1947, when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops suppressed a Taiwanese uprising, leaving tens of thousands dead, missing or imprisoned.

Instead of the raising the Republic of China (ROC) flag, the campaign presented the crowd with a flag that featured a white background and the shape of Taiwan in green in the center, symbolizing Taiwan as a peaceful “maritime state.”

Peter Wang (王獻極), organizer of the annual rally and convener of “the 908 Taiwan Nation Movement,” said Taiwan needs to abolish the ROC Constitution, terminate the ROC system of government, write a new constitution for the Taiwan Republic and implement a new Taiwan Republic system of government.

Wang also criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) pro-China polices, which he claimed risked selling out Taiwan.

Among the participants at the event were Taiwan Solidarity Union Secretary-General Lin Jhi-jia (林志嘉), chairman of the Taiwan Association of University Professors Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) and former Presidential Office policy adviser Chuang Po-lin (莊柏林).

Listen to the voice

Green rally fails to close Chen era
　

Chen Chao-Chien 陳朝建
Tuesday, Sep 09, 2008, Page 8

The demonstration organized by the Taiwan Society in Taipei on Aug. 30 was a biased mobilization in that it highlighted certain problems while ignoring other ones.

Although the protest targeted President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), one wonders to what extent it was influenced by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who participated, and by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

We should look into what impact the demonstration will have on political support for the pan-blue and pan-green camps.

The demonstration called for a stronger economy through tax rebates and price stabilization measures, insistence on Taiwanese sovereignty and greater political transparency made possible by legislation and clean politics.

These demands were used to attack Ma and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and deal with the different views between pan-green members who either oppose Chen or support him. This is why prior to the demonstration, the organizers stressed that those who wanted to show their support or opposition to Chen should stage separate rallies.

In theory, the appeal for a better economy was meant to mock Ma’s campaign slogan that “things would turn around as soon as Ma took power.”

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, pro-KMT political pundits and the media have set the agenda as far as a majority of the public is concerned: pay more attention to Chen’s financial irregularities and stop criticizing Ma’s lack of results during his first 100 days in office. They would have people believe that Ma’s incompetence is far less serious than Chen’s financial irregularities.

The KMT’s strategy has proven effective. It called on the public to give Ma more time and to be lenient with his poor performance, successfully deflecting public indignation.

Furthermore, tax rebates and price stabilization efforts are affected by the national financial structure, while global issues such as inflation and the subprime mortgage crisis cannot be blamed on the government. Tsai, on the other hand, apart from shouting slogans calling for tax rebates, failed to propose any suggestions to boost the economy.

However, the Taiwan Society appeal for better protection of the country’s sovereignty was successful, in particular because the Ma administration cozied up to Beijing during the Olympics. Ma accepted China’s arrangement for the Taiwanese Olympic team’s order of appearance under the “China” category at the opening ceremony and failed to protest forcefully against the use of the name “Taipei, China” (中國台北) for Taiwan’s Olympic team.

The “one China” principle — or the so-called “1992 consensus” — and the deregulation of cross-strait policy will remain the Achilles’ heel of the Ma administration. Because of that, Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan’s (賴幸媛) role will become increasingly important regardless of whether she can effectively put a damper on Ma’s cross-strait policies.

Interestingly, Ma’s cross-strait policy offers an opportunity for Tsai. The number of Chinese tourists is declining despite Ma’s government relaxing regulations on Chinese tourism.

The cap on China-bound investment has been relaxed for Taiwan’s listed and over-the-counter companies, resulting in fewer of them wanting to invest in Taiwan, thus exacerbating financial difficulties for workers.

In addition, the government’s attempts to ingratiate itself with Beijing during the Games has almost turned “Taipei, China” into a reality. If Tsai could connect the separate calls for a stronger economy and better protection of Taiwanese sovereignty into one combined appeal for protecting Taiwan to improve the economy, she would be able to strike an even heavier blow to Ma’s cross-strait policies.

Although the appeal for greater transparency was intended as criticism against the KMT for the injustice of its ill-gotten party assets, it also struck a blow against Chen’s alleged money laundering.

In other words, if the rally had expressed open support of Chen, it would have been self-contradictory and would have diverted attention from its appeals for a better economy and protecting Taiwan’s sovereignty.

The rally didn’t oppose Chen, nor call for and clean politics. Even though the demonstration was a condemnation of the Ma administration, it was quiet on criticism of Chen — some pro-Chen groups even took part. This raises the question of whether civic forces in Taiwan are biased.

The Taiwan Society and Tsai failed to use the rally to bring the Chen era to a close. Continued revelations in the Chen scandal will not only scare swing voters away from the DPP, but will also make it more difficult to bring about changes in fundamental voter support for both camps.

Chen Chao-chien is an assistant professor of public affairs at Ming Chuan University.