Violence ends, finger-pointing begins
　

WHO’S TO BLAME?: The government and the opposition yesterday blamed each other for inflaming the situation and causing the protesters to clash with police
　

By Mo Yan-chih And Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTERS
Saturday, Nov 08, 2008, Page 1
　

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) traded accusations yesterday, with each side blaming the other for chaotic protests during Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin’s (陳雲林) visit to Taipei.

Violent protests against Chen’s visit during the past four days have resulted in clashes between police and protesters. The week of protests culminated on Thursday when tens of thousands took to the streets near the Presidential Office to protest President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) meeting with Chen.

The protesters later moved on to the Grand Hotel, where Chen was staying. A number of police, protesters and reporters were hurt in the ensuing clashes that continued into the early hours of yesterday morning. Protesters eventually left the area after the government dispatched riot police with a water cannon to the scene.

In an interview with China Television Co (CTV, 中視) yesterday, Ma urged DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), whose party organized Thursday’s protest, to take responsibility for the violence.

“You can’t just mobilize a crowd to attend a rally and then say the protesters were not your people when violent incidents occur. Is that being responsible? I don’t think it’s appropriate,” Ma said.

Ma also defended the tight security measures protecting Chen during his visit.

Ma said the police were concerned about the DPP’s threat to follow Chen around during his visit and protest against him in various ways, including throwing eggs, and that security had been stepped up after ARATS Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) was jostled when visiting Tainan.

Ma condemned the violent protests and said the government would review its security measures.

At the legislature yesterday, KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said: “The DPP is the party who brought these protesters onto the streets. The DPP left them on the streets after nightfall. The DPP then spread the word that they were not in charge of the protesters and that they were on the streets of their own will. This is entirely false. The DPP is cowardly in not admitting the truth, that they led the protests.”

The KMT also said Tsai had shamed democracy and tarnished the nation’s image.

“Tsai Ing-wen should immediately hold a press conference to admit responsibility and apologize to the Taiwanese people,” KMT Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said.

In response, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the Ma administration had used police to suppress peaceful protests.

“That suppression was the means by which Ma dealt with the protesters. Police used excessive force. These are the causes of the chaos of the past few days,” Ker told a press conference, accusing the Ma administration of violating the Constitution by “not allowing the public to express their views on the streets.”

The DPP said yesterday that the government should not smear the DPP and paint the party and Tsai as violent in nature.

Tsai told a separate press conference yesterday that a small number of protesters had started pushing down barriers and throwing plastic bottles, dirt and stones at police when a crowd had formed in front of Jingfumen (景福門), where DPP politicians were making speeches.

The party leadership had attempted to calm them down and asked them to stop attacking the police and they had emphasized throughout the protest that the DPP was a reasonable and peaceful party that does not welcome people who use violence, Tsai said.

DPP members then led the crowd away from the scene to avoid further conflict, Tsai said, adding that “actually almost all the protesters were peaceful and disciplined during the demonstration.”

Tsai said the party announced at 5:30pm that the rally was over. It was regrettable that some protesters headed to the Grand Hotel afterward, Tsai said, adding that the party had sent officials to persuade them to leave, but some of the people had been unwilling to go.

Tsai suspected that gangsters might have been behind some of the clashes with police, adding that the party had received information before the rally that some people who were not DPP supporters were planning to create trouble.

Tsai also promised to punish DPP members who failed to follow the party’s directives.

During Ma’s interview, he proposed arranging a meeting between Chen and Tsai during Chen’s next visit so that they could exchange opinions and ease tensions.

The clashes could be prevented next time if Tsai and Chen were given the opportunity to meet and exchange views, Ma said.

“When the DPP was in power, I think they did want to have some exchanges with China. I don’t think they should refuse if given such an opportunity,” Ma said.

Ma hailed the four agreements signed during Chen’s meeting with Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) on Tuesday.

When asked to comment on Chen’s failure to address him as “President Ma” during their brief meeting on Thursday, Ma acknowledged that ARATS and his administration had not reached a consensus on the official title issue, but said that the development of cross-strait relations was more important.

“What is important is that we do not deny each other’s existence and we take cross-strait relations a step further,” Ma said.

Ma said he had received Chen in his capacity as president of the Republic of China and the marshal had announced “the president has arrived” when he entered the room.

“Do I have to wring his neck and say: ‘I won’t let you go back to China if you don’t call me President Ma?’ Do I need to do that? It’s unnecessary,” Ma said.

Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday that although the clashes between police and protesters were not what the government wished to see, the council would continue with cross-strait negotiations and exchanges.

Lai also promised to put more effort into seeking a consensus on cross-strait relations with different groups in the country, while urging the opposition parties to allow the council to explain its cross-strait policies to them.

Prosecutors deny bias, Su remains on hunger strike
　

NIL BY MOUTH: Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen's supporters claim she is innocent and continue their protest outside the District Prosecutors' Office
　

By Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 08, 2008, Page 1

Detained Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) was hospitalized last night as her hunger strike entered its third day, while prosecutors in charge of her corruption case implied she could be released as soon as the indictment is complete.

Su, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was detained on Tuesday over her alleged involvement in corruption connected to the construction of a landfill project. Prosecutors allege that she accepted a NT$5 million (US$150,000) bribe from a construction company in return for ensuring that the project passed the environmental impact assessment quickly so that construction could be completed earlier than scheduled.

Officials at Yunlin No. 2 Prison’s Detention House said that Su began her hunger strike soon after she was escorted to her cell.

Twenty-four hours after being detained, the Yunlin District Court offered to released her on NT$6 million bail, but Su turned that down and insisted on her innocence.

She told the judges: “I do not have that kind of money.”

Su’s supporters have continued to protest outside the Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office. Yunlin branch members of the DPP and Su’s supporters claim that the commissioner is innocent and have said her detention is the result of “political persecution,” an allegation rebutted by Yunlin District Chief Prosecutor Liu Chia-fang (劉家芳).

“I do not belong to any political party. I am just a prosecutor who has been doing his job for many decades,” Liu said.

Liu said that he was very upset by those who have accused him of “being a Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] tool being used to oppress the DPP.”

“Prosecutors do not accuse people for no reason. We are currently working on the indictment and it will be completed in the near future,” Liu said.

Liu said that he personally recognized and respected what Su had done for Yunlin County and added that his colleagues had tried their best to allow Su to retain her dignity.

“We decided to detain her at home in the early morning because that way we could avoid being mobbed by the media,” Liu said.

Police say 149 officers injured
　

By Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 08, 2008, Page 3
　

Bruised and battered from five days of protests that dogged Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) during his visit to Taiwan, the police and protesters yesterday tried to evaluate the number of people injured in the sometimes heated clashes.

The Taipei City Police Department said that 149 officers had been injured while policing the protests.

The department said supervisors were dispatched yesterday to various hospitals to express their sympathy to the injured officers and present them with fruit, drinks and gifts.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the party and its local branches were still counting injured protesters, and the number would be released in a few days.

He said many injured protesters were not taken to the hospital by police, so it was believed that any police tally of injuries would be inaccurate.

Police estimated that about 100 protesters were injured.

Meanwhile, the police said yesterday they had arrested 18 alleged ringleaders of the protests.

In related news, the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that during the clashes in front of the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei Hotel on Wednesday night, National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞) was so upset at Songshan Precinct Chief Huang Chia-lu’s (黃嘉祿) failure to control the protesters that he relieved Huang of his command.

Huang apparently asked officers not to use too much force, which led to the protest getting out of control. But a high-ranking NPA officer, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Taipei Times yesterday that Huang would not be punished.

“It was not his fault,” the officer said. “In a situation like that, it is always our priority to make sure that nobody gets hurt. That is the end goal.”

The officer also said that the clashes had come as surprise.

Record store owner shares her story
　

PROS AND CONS: Chang Pi said both police and protesters were responsible for the damage done to her store, but 200 copies of ‘Songs of Taiwan’ sold in a single day
　

By Chao Ching-yu
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 08, 2008, Page 3
　

While her music store Sunrise Records gained popularity overnight after the Songs of Taiwan incident, when asked for comment owner Chang Pi (張碧) said that she would leave it to the public to ponder the significance of the incident.

Sunrise Records started out 30 years ago selling classical music, as Chang believed that after leading a hardworking life, Taiwanese would need some quality music in their retirement to enhance their quality of living. Later, Chang began to sell music written by Taiwanese musicians in her store, regardless of the size of market demand.

On Tuesday night, when China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) was at a banquet hosted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) honorary chairman Lien Chan (連戰) at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei, a crowd of pro-Taiwan demonstrators staged a protest outside the venue.

Part of the crowd spilled over to the sidewalk in front of Chang’s music store, which is not far from the hotel.

Everything was calm at first.

A customer bought a CD titled Songs of Taiwan (台灣之歌) and asked Chang to play it in the store, she said.

“Over the past 30 years, we’ve always had speakers playing music,” Chang said. “The songs on the CD are performed by a choir — some very soothing, beautiful music.”

“As the music was on, people started dancing right on the spot, and more people gathered. It was difficult even for me to go into my store,” Chang said.

All of a sudden, she said, police officers led by Taipei City’s Beitou Precinct chief Lee Han-ching (李漢卿) entered the store and asked them to turn off the music.

The crowd started protesting and confronted the police.

During the standoff between the police and the crowd, not only were the store’s shelves and roll-up door broken, Chang’s face and arms were injured.

Internet users soon posted messages online supporting Chang.

“Banning a music store from freely playing a type of music is like banning Tibetans from worshipping the Dalai Lama,” a message said.

“To the owner of Sunrise: Don’t be afraid,” another message said.

“So, we’re officially under marital law again,” another post said.

While many urged her to file a lawsuit, Chang has refused.

“I think the crowd and the police should both shoulder responsibility for breaking things in my store,” she said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper).

The day after the incident, many customers poured into the store to show support. The number of customers had tripled, Chang said.

Two hundred copies of Songs of Taiwan were sold in a single day, she said.

Very happy about the emotion that Taiwanese now seem to attach to Taiwanese music, Chang said: “I think it shows that it’s impossible for China to take over Taiwan.”

We’re in a police state ... of mind
　

By Johnny Neihu 強尼內湖
Saturday, Nov 08, 2008, Page 8

I watched the clashes between supporters of Taiwanese independence and security forces near the Grand Hotel in Taipei on Thursday night with much sadness — and foreboding.

Among the crowd were your usual devil-may-care types, ready to stand and sneer in the face of an advancing line of riot police. Some retreated, some threw rocks and others were rounded up simply for being there. Hapless Formosa Television reporter Tsai Meng-yu (蔡孟育) had his microphone in full view, but was still beaten by a riot policeman with a wooden pole — right in front of a camera. We journalists are such easy targets, don’t you know?

I was sad because I could see in the faces of a lot of ordinary police a distinct lack of joy. They were simply doing what they do: follow orders. It’s not in their job description to analyze the niceties of cross-strait diplomatic intrigue when they’ve got a bunch of people coming at them with very-pissed-off expressions on their faces.

Even if a good proportion of those people are women and old men.

I have police in my family. A lot of people do. What this means is that among the thousands of police, riot police and pimply parapolice mobilized to deal with this week’s protests are a lot of fine young men and women who don’t care for sleazy Chinese envoys with culpable hair sense any more than I do.

Dear reader, as long as you’re not involved in a car accident, our police are by and large very helpful and quite sensible. Very ke’ai. They deserve our support and sympathy, and should be encouraged to be the best they can be.

One of the failings of the former Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration was its lack of commitment to the professional development of police officers. It was a bad oversight after years of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) neglect and manipulation, because a police force that increases the social, legal and professional awareness of its members is one that earns a community’s trust and delivers better service. It also helps to address the police suicide rate.

I can tell you that if you get your policeman brother-in-law or policewoman niece drunk as a sailor and ask them about their job, it doesn’t take long for the complaints to start spewing out. Shitty pension restrictions. Work conditions. Chain of command problems. Morale issues. Salaries. And these are the conscientious officers.

Watching TV on Thursday night, I was also sad because I fear that my good friends in the force are being called upon not just to keep order, but also to stifle legitimate expressions of opposition to a political agenda that millions of Taiwanese find frightening and demeaning. And because police are trained to understand that following orders trumps following the law, they are easily put into positions of difficulty when issues of civil liberties arise.

Put it this way: When you’ve got a family to feed in a worsening economic environment and no genuine police union to defend you against poor management and politicization of the force, you will close the shutter on that music store that’s playing patriotic Taiwanese music if your commander says so, no matter how much it infringes upon human and commercial rights.

You will seize that national flag from the hands of a protester, throw it away and shove its owner to the ground, no matter if the protester wasn’t breaking any law, nor how much this action desecrates a supposed national symbol at a time of profound sensitivity.

You will do these things and you will not express misgivings to your superiors — not even in private.

During the day on Thursday, the commander of Taipei City’s Wenshan (文山) First Precinct, Tsai Tsang-po (蔡蒼柏), was injured during the protests. That did not stop him from tearily requesting the crowd to calm down.

“Be peaceful, be peaceful, be peaceful,” he shouted, over and over again. It was a show of emotion and apparent sympathy for the ordinary, if angry, people he saw before him. Such qualities are shared by police around the country.

But it was a display of humanity that could get him demoted to desk duties in the personnel department if his political overseers watched the telecast.

Are we in a police state?

No. Not yet.

Let us see how things develop in the calmer days ahead. Let us see which police commanders are rewarded and which are given a stern lecture.

Anyway, you always expect hyperbole from demonstrators. The protests that followed Chen’s re-election in 2004 accused him of fixing the poll. Utter bullshit, of course, and everyone seems to forget that then-Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), now president, supported demonstrators who broke the law. The anti-Chen protests led by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) were also full of exaggerations and accusations that bordered on psychosis, though many of that mob would feel vindicated by the legal morass Chen and his family find themselves in.

Likewise, this week’s accusations of police brutality and of a return to the White Terror and martial law are more a challenge to the authorities not to resume such patterns of behavior than a coherent analysis of reality. But the signs are there, and people are worried: Not just the hotheads, but also university students, their professors, civic groups and activists, as well as some of the most respected experts in Taiwan studies around the world.

So let’s get to the meat of the matter.

The Ma government has comprehensively botched the domestic angle of the Chinese visit. Instead of urging restraint on all sides and allowing protesters to blow off steam near the Grand Hotel, Ma and his team of crack ministers suffered brain flatulence and lashed out at the DPP for fomenting violence while defending police errors and outright illegalities to the hilt.

It was Ma’s first test, and it should have been an easy one because the cross-strait deals explicitly excluded politics. But he flunked it.

His guest, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), the head of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, looks like a typical Chicom: well dressed but unsettling for the squeamish. He’s got the right hair and security detail for an East Asian autocrat; all he needs is platform shoes and a porn addiction and Kim Jong-il would sue for copyright violation.

And let’s face it. He talked like a typical Chicom: pompous, presumptuous, patronizing. He couldn’t help himself. And the KMT hardliners and the cross-strait business czars lapped it up.

It’s all they know and all they want to know. “Please, Brother Chen,” they seemed to say, “we will do anything, absolutely anything, if you invite us into your inner circle so that we can exchange presents, calligraphy and paintings and impress our Beijing masters with how well we have retained our northern accents after 60 years in this wretched wilderness.”

When the media juxtaposes this kind of five-star Red circus with police roughing up ordinary people, you are bound to provoke a reaction in a place with as bloody a history as this. Poor old Prez Ma seems to have forgotten about the history part. Maybe he wasn’t feeling well on each of the days that he commemorated the 228 Incident. I guess he must have missed the bit about Chinese soldiers killing Taiwanese civilians by the thousand.

Now, alas, my buddies in uniform are being sent to clean up a political mess. But it can’t be cleaned up this way for too long, or we will have a police state.

As if in preparation, senior DPP identities are being arrested and locked up in a Singapore-style purge-by-judiciary. Not just the Chen Shui-bian gang, but also sitting elected representatives. Like Singapore, there is just enough legal process to satisfy ignorant foreign media, but way too much for local newspapers and TV stations to be bothered with.

After I turned off the TV, I had a sense of foreboding because I now know how it’s going to play out. Every step of what parachute-packing foreign correspondents call “cross-strait detente” or “rapprochement” or “easing of tensions” will, by necessity, include encroachment on domestic civil liberties — and therefore political liberties — at the reluctant hands of Taiwan’s finest. I also know that there are a lot of people who will fight to stop this from happening.

We’re on our way, dear reader. Will you join me on this journey?

Got something to tell Johnny? Go on, get it off your chest. Write to dearjohnny@taipeitimes.com, but be sure to put “Dear Johnny” in the subject line or he’ll mark your bouquets and brickbats as spam.

Lien Chan at APEC: a recipe for confusion
　

By Lai I-chung 賴怡忠
Saturday, Nov 08, 2008, Page 8

On Oct. 29, the Presidential Office announced that former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) would attend the 2008 APEC leaders summit on behalf of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Lien will be the highest-ranking former Taiwanese official to attend the summit, and Ma’s government is pleased with the status of its envoy.

But the government seems unaware that the appointment of Lien could strengthen the belief the public has that Ma is ignorant of the seriousness of the global economic crisis, while also giving the international community the misconception that Taiwan endorses China’s “Anti-Secession” Law.

This financial crisis, which is the largest in a century, has greatly affected the world economy. Asia-Pacific countries that mainly rely on exports to the US and European markets are now facing outflow of foreign capital and declining exports, and that is in addition to the current crisis.

CHALLENGE

The challenge that these nations are facing, therefore, is much greater than that of the US and Europe, which are currently going through financial and monetary tightening.

Naturally, the APEC summit will focus on how to coordinate the economic strategies of the member states in order to overcome the international crisis.

So, surprisingly, the Ma government is sending Lien, who knows little about economics and who is controversial politically, to represent Taiwan.

In doing so, the government has entirely overlooked the strategic opportunity for this country to engage in economic talks involving a number of nations.

The decision also shows that Ma only cares about pushing forward his own “one China” policy.

IMPRESSION

As Ma’s government strives to improve cross-strait relations, the appointment of Lien, who endorses China’s Anti-Secession Law, could create an impression in the international community that the government endorses the law.

Little wonder, then, that Beijing rejected former Control Yuan president Fredrick Chien (錢復) as Taipei’s envoy, while giving Lien a big, warm welcome.

The reason for this is simple: The summit is one of the few international conferences that Taiwan is allowed to attend for its full duration.

By appointing a supporter of the Anti-Secession Law as Taiwan’s delegate, Ma will be able to instruct Lien to dance to China’s tune at the event.

At this event, one that is crucial to Taiwan’s sovereignty, Ma will be able to speak through Lien and directly act to deny Taiwan’s sovereignty, while also hushing the voices of other democratic nations that support Taiwan, such as the US and Japan.

GROUNDS

With Ma sending a supporter of the Anti-Secession Law to represent Taiwan in the international community, what grounds will other nations have to oppose the law?

If Ma is truly opposed to that law, as he has repeatedly claimed, he should have realized that sending a supporter of it could not only damage Taiwan’s sovereignty, but also hasten the “denationalization” of the country.

Ma’s government seems unaware of this issue, instead expressing pleasure at the high-ranking status of its envoy.

I fear, therefore, that the prediction now circulating that Taiwan will perish as a country within four years is not groundless.

Lai I-chung is an assistant professor at Mackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College.