Poll highlights fears of ECFA with China
　

WHO’S LISTENING?: A survey found that a majority of Taiwanese favor increased legislative oversight and more caution in Ma’s plans to sign a pact with Beijing
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Dec 14, 2009, Page 1

A majority of respondents in a poll released by Taiwan Thinktank yesterday agreed that the government should slow the pace of signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China and postpone next week’s fourth round of high-level cross-strait talks before a higher degree of public consensus is reached.

The survey showed that 62.5 percent of respondents agreed that “the December [5] election results showed that many people in Taiwan still have doubts about an EFCA plan and thus the [President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] administration should put off signing the deal with China and rather seek consensus within the country.”

Slightly more than 27 percent, meanwhile, disagreed with that statement.

On the question, among those who identified themselves as supporters of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led pan-blue camp, 46.3 percent agreed and 43.4 percent disagreed, while among those who said they have no party affiliation, 56.1 percent agreed and 26.8 percent disagreed.

An ECFA is expected to be signed at the fifth round of negotiations next spring, but related matters will be discussed during the meeting between Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) next week in Taichung.

On the question of “whether Chen Yunlin should defer his visit to Taiwan until there is a higher degree of consensus on an ECFA to avoid the occurrence of conflict” following the protests that accompanied his visit in November last year, 56 percent agreed while 36.7 percent disagreed.

Among respondents without party affiliation, 56.2 percent agreed and 30.5 percent disagreed.

“Even though there is majority support for the postponement of Chen’s visit, we know for sure that this is not going to happen, which shows that the Ma administration will continue to cling obstinately to its course and go against public opinion,” said Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), a political science professor at Soochow University.

Lo said that there was only one way to explain why Ma would stay the course.

It’s highly possible, Lo said, that the Chinese government knows it has to be quick to get some deals signed with the Ma government, otherwise it would face increasingly strong opposition from Taiwanese on the frameworks it has designed to restrain Taiwan, Lo said.

The poll showed that 58.2 percent considered the Dec. 5 local elections a “mid-term test” for Ma and that 58.7 percent said Ma had “flunked” the exam.

About 30 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the government’s performance since Ma took office, while 65.6 percent said they were dissatisfied.

Ma’s disapproval rating among non-party affiliated respondents was 66.9 percent, while his approval rating was 23.5 percent.

Among pro-pan blue camp supporters, his disapproval rating and approval rating were 44.6 percent and 54 percent respectively.

Asked whether they worried about the future of Taiwan under Ma’s leadership, 50.2 percent of non-party affiliated respondents said “Yes,” while 45.3 percent said “No.”

The result was nearly identical for all respondents — with 51.8 percent saying “Yes” and 46 percent saying “No.”

Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the survey showed that “Ma’s rule has united the DPP, divided the blue camp and driven swing voters away from the KMT.”

“It’s clear that Ma’s pro-China policy has spilt the country and put him in a situation where he is not trusted,” Lin said.

The division was “not merely a partisan issue,” Lin said, calling on him to postpone the Chiang-Chen meeting.

“Some voters vote in a matter that reflects what they are told by local faction leaders, but most conscientious voters sent a message in last week’s election that they don’t trust Ma, which is a major crisis,” Lin said.

“Ma should consider holding a roundtable meeting among all parties or a national affairs conference to express his sincerity to mend the rift,” Lin said.

An analysis of the survey results also shows that Ma had lost the support of young and female voters, who were considered a major factor in his win last year.

The survey was conducted by Mater Survey & Research between Wednesday and Friday, and a total of 1,078 valid responses from people aged 20 and above were obtained.

Taiwanese students join protests in Copenhagen

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Monday, Dec 14, 2009, Page 3
　

About 30 Taiwanese university students joined thousands of protesters on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday to demand that world leaders take stronger action to fight climate change.

Some of the Taiwanese were dressed as the endangered Formosan black bear, while others wore cardboard cutouts depicting Taipei 101 with a ring-shaped life preserver to show that Taiwan is under threat of rising sea levels.

Chen Yi-chin (陳毅瑾), a National Taiwan University student, said the group wanted to express Taiwan’s concern about global warming and climate change and its willingness to help resolve the crisis while the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is being held in Copenhagen.

National Chung Hsing University student Chen Kuan-wei (陳冠煒), clad in a Formosan black bear costume on Saturday, said he was proud to shout the name “Taiwan” at an international airport and bring the symbol of Taiwan’s wildlife conservation efforts to Copenhagen.

Taiwan cannot participate officially in the talks because it is neither a member of the UN nor a signatory nation of the UNFCCC.

Cheng Yuan-ching, a Government Information Office official posted in Denmark, wrote a letter to the editor of the Jyllands-Posten — Denmark’s largest newspaper — that was published on Saturday.

Cheng wrote that although the UNFCCC conference was the most important climate conference in history, organizers excluded Taiwan despite their own goal of acknowledging that the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries.

Even Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, a non-governmental organization, was listed as being in China, Cheng wrote.

Taiwan’s inability to join a UN carbon emission quota allocation will hurt the competitiveness of Taiwan’s green technology industry and affect its development, he wrote.

Cheng said the organizers should have invited Taiwan to attend the UNFCCC meetings as an observer, adding that it could provide support that they cannot afford to ignore.

Meanwhile, National Taiwan University graduate student Lin Ting-chie said that when he chatted with people from other countries during the rally, he expressed the concerns of Taiwan’s students over global warming and told them that global warming is a public issue that stretches beyond boundaries.

The Taiwanese students have posted the minutes of the summit meetings and what they saw and heard online at blog.yam.com/tisecop15 to give the public a better understanding of the proceedings.

Kaohsiung residents reflect on past
　

MARTIAL LAW MEMORIES: A photo exhibition in an MRT station in Kaohsiung is sparking a sense of pride in the city’s role in forging Taiwan’s democratic change
　

By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Dec 14, 2009, Page 3

In one of Kaohsiung City’s busiest MRT stations, a small exhibition of pictures lines a corridor telling a sorrowful tale of a pivotal moment in the nation’s transformation — and most passersby stop to take a look.

The station is named Formosa Boulevard — an apt name for a station built below ground where thousands of protestors led by dissidents from Formosa Magazine (美麗島雜誌社) gathered on Dec. 10, 1979 to ask the government to lift martial law and establish democratic reforms.

By nightfall, the marchers were surrounded by military police in full riot gear and many prominent democratic activists were arrested in the days following the event, which later became known as the Kaohsiung Incident.

Eight defendants were tried in military court, including Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), while former Kaohsiung mayor and premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) was part of the legal team that helped defend the eight.

Today the bustling city tells a different tale, festive colors left over from this summer’s World Games still adorn the streets, posters mark bridges and overpasses proclaiming this month as “Human Rights Month.”

As a participant in last Saturday’s event marking the incident’s 30th anniversary put it: “The people of [Kaohsiung] are no longer afraid of being rounded up by military police.”

City residents say all these accomplishments were the result of the protest and many feel proud that the protest happened in their city.

“Standing here 30 years on, looking back at this event — I am proud that this incident happened here — people around the nation should appreciate that these people from Kaohsiung made sacrifices for our freedoms,” Yu Tien-sheng (余天生) said after gazing intently at a black-and-white photograph of a group of people, including Chang Chung-hsiung (張俊雄) — who later became premier — in handcuffs.

“At the time the newspapers branded them as terrorists. We didn’t know any better,” Yu said.

Yu, who was working as a customs officials at the time, said he remembered notices going up in his office branding the defendants “violent criminals” and announcing a large reward for the capture of Shih Ming-teh (施明德), one of the leaders of the protest.

“We remember this incident because we saw it happen,” Yu said.

“However, I’m really worried that the younger generation won’t remember the sacrifices that they made,” he said.

Another onlooker, who didn’t give a name, described the period as one in which a simple picture could result in problems with the authorities.

“One of my friends felt strongly about democracy and joined in the protests; the next morning his family received a visit from military police because his face had appeared in a photograph,” the onlokker said.

“Thankfully that period has passed. I support these events 100 percent; our city has done a good job of educating the public about [the incident’s] importance. More cities should do the same,” Chen Chien-chan (陳謙讚) said, referring to Kaohsiung hosting an event marking the anniversary that included seminars, discussions panels, speeches, an evening concert and the photo exhibition.”

Although acknowledging that lifting press restrictions, martial law and the one-party state system was beneficial to the entire nation, Chen Hsuan-ju (陳炫儒) said the incident held a special place in the hearts of Kaohsiung residents.

Chen, who recently graduated from university, said: “I think that the central government needs to do a better job of educating the younger generation about this incident and other events … many have not learned much about this as we have taken our freedoms for [granted].”

Reading the captions of the pictures, Chen said that the photo exhibition was a good start.

CCP is helping the pan-green camp
　

By Wang Dan 王丹
Monday, Dec 14, 2009, Page 8

Although the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) only managed to capture Yilan County from the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the recent mayor and county commissioner elections, the DPP’s overall vote share increased to 45 percent, only 2 percentage points shy of the KMT’s 47 percent. We can therefore say that the elections were a breakthrough and a victory for the DPP and a huge setback for the KMT. The majority of people have attributed this change to factors such as a sluggish economy, a drop-off in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) popularity and the impact of Typhoon Morakot. However, I believe the main reason for the doubts in the minds of Taiwanese people is the change in the atmosphere of cross-strait relations. I also believe that everyone has ignored a very important factor in this equation, which is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its policy toward Taiwan.

Since taking office, the Ma administration has worked insidiously at expanding the scope of cross-strait exchanges. In the beginning, the government did this to increase economic growth. However, the CCP’s interest in Taiwan soon became apparent and the CCP made big changes to its Taiwan policies.

The CCP has turned its focus from the ­­anti-independence ideology prevalent during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) presidency to a strategy of advancing unification. For more than a year, the CCP has talked about fostering closer cross-strait relations and even began meddling in Taiwan’s internal affairs. For example, China opposed the Kaohsiung Film Festival screening of a documentary about exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and stopped Chinese tourists from visiting Kaohsiung in an attempt to control the DPP.

It also sent delegations to Taiwan including senior officials such as Zheng Bijian (鄭必堅) — a former vice president of the CCP’s Central Party School — nominally to take part in seminars, but in practice to bring up the topic of unification, and it has on several occasions pressed the Ma administration to engage in political negotiations with China. These actions not only worry the pan-green camp, but also make lighter blue figures uneasy.

Although the pro-­unification KMT has gained power once again, public opinion on the development of cross-strait relations has basically remained unchanged. Unification supporters represent a minority of less than 10 percent of Taiwan’s population, while the vast majority advocate maintaining the status quo. Given these circumstances, for China and the KMT to start aggressively promoting political talks represents a miscalculation of public opinion and it has done much to cause alarm and resentment among the public.

In particular, the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement is linked to Taiwan’s local industries, especially the future of the agricultural sector. As the stronger side in negotiations, China’s overbearing attitude in talks on agricultural issues has angered many in southern Taiwan.

Because the Ma government wants to uphold friendly cross-strait relations, it must remain silent in the face of China’s strength. This is a major reason for the change in public opinion as expressed in the recent elections and it is something the Ma government will have to change in its cross-strait strategies. However, the primary reason behind the KMT’s loss of votes is the haste and lack of patience China has shown in its quest for unification. The CCP is desperately trying to move cross-strait relations and negotiations in the direction of politics before a huge change in public opinion occurs in Taiwan that would spoil their plans.

For example, strong comments made in the past by Chinese officials such as former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) and former vice premier Wu Yi (吳儀) caused a backlash in Taiwan and helped the election chances of former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen.

During the Chen era, the CCP seemed to have learned a few lessons. While Chen crossed Beijing’s red line in terms of cross-strait relations several times during his time in office, the CCP handled these issues in a low-key manner so as to avoid negative reactions from the pan-green camp. However, over the last year or so, the CCP seems to have forgotten these lessons, as the examples mentioned above demonstrate. The main reason is that the CCP believes it cannot let the opportunity for unification go now that the KMT has regained power. This is why China has reverted to its old habits.


Wang Dan is a visiting assistant professor at National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan History and a prominent figure in China’s democracy movement.

Taiwan remains oblivious to climate
　

By Chen Meei-shia 陳美霞
Monday, Dec 14, 2009, Page 8

There have been many media reports about how the biggest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, the US, announced its carbon reduction goals before US President Barack Obama leaves for Copenhagen to take part in the UN Climate Change Conference at the end of this week.

What Taiwan desperately needs, however, is more in-depth analysis and reflection of global warming than can be offered in media reports.

Global warming has not only caused the earth’s temperature to rise, it has also caused various negative environmental effects like extreme climate change, ecosystem imbalance, rising sea levels, salinization of coastal areas, the destruction of water resources and decreased grain production. It has even had a negative impact on human health. Floods, typhoons, hurricanes, droughts and higher temperatures have resulted in physical injuries and even deaths.

The increased spread of various types of microorganisms and bacteria have caused a higher incidence of food poisoning and water contamination; changes in the relationships between the host, the vehicles for germs and pathogens have given birth to new and reoccurring infectious diseases such as dengue fever, swine flu, schistosoma — otherwise known as blood-flukes or snail fever — and malaria. An increase in the number of allergens has caused a rise in the number of people with allergies. Pollution of the air with noxious gases has increased the incidence of respiratory tract problems and various types of heart disease, while decreased production of grain has caused problems such as malnutrition, disease and starvation.

Global warming is mainly caused by the large amounts of fuel, natural gas and coal used by humankind and the destruction of forests. We use fossil fuels and destroy forests primarily to produce large quantities of commercial goods.

Therefore, the mass production of commercial goods and the mass consumption and use of energy sources by people are the real causes of global warming. Why does mankind need to produce and buy such large amounts of products? In this article, I would like to analyze this problem from three levels — the general population, business and the state.

In terms of the general population, living standards improved greatly after the Industrial Revolution and people started purchasing mass-produced goods. They did so not only to satisfy their daily needs, but also to obtain luxury items, which led to consumption-driven lifestyles. To promote their products, businesses started filling every corner of society with advertisements, making it increasingly difficult to resist the temptation to purchase unnecessary luxury products. To spur economic growth, the government encouraged the general population to consume, while assisting businesses in the mass production of various products. These activities began the production of large amounts of greenhouse gases, and it is greenhouse gases that are the principal culprit behind global warming.

Therefore, the best way to guard against global warming is to reflect upon and change the way we are influenced by capitalist ideology, which presupposes that businesses will seek profit, citizens will seek ever-inc­reasing levels of consumption and nations will go after high levels of economic growth.

First of all, to make the public understand that the production of any product requires fossil fuels that result in the emission of large amounts of greenhouse gases, we should educate and encourage them to reflect on their daily habits and think about how their actions are influenced by consumerist ideology.

In addition, we should criticize the way the government places economic growth above everything else. We should also pressure the government to change its behavior of encouraging companies to produce large volumes of commercial goods and blindly promoting economic growth.

So, is Taiwan prepared for global warming? No. We do not reflect on the mistakes we have made, nor do we take action to combat global warming as other nations have done. The lives of most Taiwanese are based on the aspiration to and an obsession with consuming large amounts of products. The government’s policy is also obviously centered on economic growth: To stimulate the economy, the government handed out consumer vouchers to each citizen last year. In addition, in an export-oriented economic system, industries produce products that are sold to other nations. This has polluted the environment and pumped atmosphere full of greenhouse gases. Mass consumption and production has seen Taiwan’s total emissions of carbon dioxide increase over the past three decades. In 2007, Taiwan was one of East Asia’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita, South Asia’s biggest emitter and 18th in the world.

If capitalist societies do not change their mainstream social values of production, profit, consumption and economic growth, the problem of global warming will only get worse. Taiwan has to get involved in the international anti-global-warming movement. However, before this, Taiwanese desperately need to be introduced to and educated about global warming. Taiwanese people, industries and the government must get away from blindly pursuing consumption and eliminate misconceptions about economic growth. We need to care for the Earth, gain a deeper respect for the environment and take an active role in its protection.

Chen Meei-shia is the director of the Taiwan Association for the Promotion of Public Health and a professor of public health at National Cheng Kung University.