Jason Hu vows to protect protesters
　

‘TYPHOONS’: The Taichung mayor said he would take responsibility if protests got out of hand during the upcoming meeting with Chinese envoy Chen Yun-lin
　

“Isolated incidents of violence should never be used as a reason to restrict people’s freedom of expression.”— Tsai Ing-wen, DPP chairperson

By Mo Yan-chih and Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTERS
Sunday, Dec 20, 2009, Page 1
　

Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) yesterday said he would take full responsibility if the police abused their power and hurt civilians during protests against the visit of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and a Chinese delegation.

Hu described the upcoming protests as “typhoons,” while promising not to treat the protesters as a “mob.”

“It’d be best if typhoons never hit, but we should be prepared for the worst situation. However, we will not treat the protesters as a mob,” Hu said yesterday in Taichung when asked to comment on the planned protests by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

A demonstration organized by the DPP that is expected to attract 100,000 people is scheduled to take place today in Taichung to protest against the fourth round of cross-strait negotiations headed by Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) in Taichung.

The DPP and pro-independence groups are also planning several protests during Chen’s stay in Taiwan from tomorrow to Friday.

The Taichung mayor, who has deployed hundreds of police to guard the city, said he expected DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to fulfill her promise of leading peaceful protests, adding that he would take responsibility if the rallies get out of hand.

“I will have failed in my duty as a mayor if anyone is hurt during the protests. I will take full responsibility if police hurt or arrest protesters as long if the [protesters] haven’t broken any rules,” he said.

Asked about the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) plan not to announce Chen’s schedule until the last minute, Hu said the MAC and the city government should prioritize the safety of the guests.

In addition to meeting Chiang, Chen is expected to tour central Taiwan, including Sun Moon Lake and a trip to visit Typhoon Morakot victims in the area.

In a meeting yesterday afternoon between Hu and DPP ­Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), the two agreed to work together to keep today’s demonstration peaceful.

Su visited Hu on behalf of Tsai because she was apparently upset after Hu made a remark on Friday asking demonstrators not to “vandalize stores” during their march.

“I’ve come to express our hope that the right of the public to freely express their opinion will be fully respected while the meeting between Chiang and Chen takes place,” Su told Hu, adding that the DPP hopes police will show some restraint and follow proper procedure when ­enforcing the law.

Su said that crowds mobilized by the DPP never vandalized stores.

“Such incidents were done by ­unknown people who had penetrated the crowd, and if it happens again, we hope that the police and other security personnel will deal with people who commit such offenses according to the law,” Su said.

He added that the DPP would set up an emergency operations center with party officials after the demonstration today to stay in touch with the city government and help authorities handle any violent incidents in a timely manner.

“I believe Mayor Hu is a wise person who is able to make sure both the meetings and the demonstrations run smoothly,” Su said.

Hu said that he fully agrees that the freedom of expression is a right protected by the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Tsai yesterday promised the demonstrations would be a peaceful, unless police overreacted.

“The DPP is a party with discipline and we’re doing our best on risk management [to avoid conflicts during the demonstration,” Tsai said in an interview with the Chinese-language United Evening News.

“Disciplinary action will be imposed on any member of the party who does not follow party orders,” she said, adding that the DPP will speak Jason, but act peacefully.

“We have also talked to other groups that will join us in the demonstration and they have promised to act according to our guidelines,” she said.

Tsai went on to say that rather than focusing on whether physical clashes would occur during the demonstration, more attention should be focused on whether the government hears what the demonstrators want to say.

“It’s the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] mentality that those who take part in a demonstration in which physical clashes occur are rioters, and rioters should not go on the streets — this is just wrong logic,” she said. “Violence does happen in rallies from time to time, but random and isolated incidents of violence should never be used as a reason to restrict people’s freedom of expression.”

At a separate setting in Taitung as Tsai campaigned for the DPP candidate for the legislative by-election, Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成), she urged the police not to overreact to the demonstration.

“Most of the rallies organized by the DPP have been very peaceful,” she said. “It’s true that physical clashes [between demonstrators and police] happened last year, but it was because police were too harsh on demonstrators.”

Hau refers to Taiwan as a ‘region’
　

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Dec 20, 2009, Page 3
　

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) speech at a municipal event sparked protests from several pro-independence activists yesterday after he called Taiwan a “region.”

Hau’s comments came yesterday as he attended a ceremony at Dadaocheng commemorating late Taiwanese lyricist Lee Lin-chiu (李臨秋) that was organized by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs.

“I am glad to attend the launch ceremony of the statue for Mr Lee Lin-chiu, the pioneer lyricist in the region of Taiwan,” Hau said.

Hau’s remarks sparked immediate protests from members of the Taiwan Society, who condemned the mayor for belittling Taiwan’s status.

“Taiwan is a nation, not a region! You have hurt our feelings by calling Taiwan a region,” Taiwan Society director Janice Chen (陳昭姿) and several members shouted at Hau as he left the ceremony.

Hau said he heard the protesters’ voices, but declined to make any further comment as he left the scene.

The department held the ceremony yesterday to commemorate Lee, who was one of the most important Taiwanese musicians under Japanese colonial rule along with composer Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢) and lyricists Chen Chun-yu (陳君玉) and Chen Ta-ju (陳達儒).

The department unveiled a statue of Lee at Dadaocheng Park yesterday in honor of the lyricist, and will broadcast classic songs written by him including Watching the Spring Wind (望春風) at the park to introduce the songs to more people.

More activities to introduce Taiwanese folk songs will be organized next year at Dadaocheng, the department said.

The political landscape has shifted
　

By Liu Shih-chung 劉世忠
Sunday, Dec 20, 2009, Page 8

The fourth round of cross-strait talks between the heads of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) is scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday in Taichung.

Compared with the last meeting between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), the political atmosphere in Taiwan today is totally different.

First, the approval rate for the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration has dropped since a year ago, when Chiang met Chen in Taipei. Ma suffered a huge loss of support largely because of the government’s failed handling of Typhoon Morakot in August and was forced to reshuffle the Cabinet and replace the premier.

Later, Ma’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lost the Yunlin legislative by-election in October, followed by the KMT’s poor showing in this month’s three-in-one local elections.

The Democratic Progressive Party, on the other hand, has recovered from the decline in party support since the last presidential election and is escaping the shadow of former president Chen Shi-bian’s (陳水扁) criminal proceedings. The DPP’s symbolic victory this month by increasing its percentage of the vote demonstrated its recovery and the consolidation of Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) leadership. It also reflected public distrust in the Ma administration’s poor governance over the past 18 months.

At the previous round of Chiang-Chen talks, the DPP was misrepresented by some media and foreign observers as “violently” taking to the streets to obstruct cross-strait rapprochement. Yet the fact that the Ma government has bypassed legislative and public oversight was the main reason the DPP organized demonstrations.

The DPP is stronger this time after gradually increasing its public support over the past year. It has successfully communicated the need for more public surveillance, participation and legislative oversight of the Ma’s administration’s talks with Beijing on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA). This was clear in the results of the mayoral and county commissioner elections, which also showed leaders in Beijing that more than 45 percent of the public support the pan-green camp, which advocates a cautious opening of cross-strait relations. Moreover, more than 70 percent say they are unclear as to what the ECFA consists of.

The DPP is at an advantage now and its plan to mobilize 100,000 people to protest the Chiang-Chen talks in Taichung will no doubt cast a more legitimate pressure on the Ma administration. The DPP could garner further support if the demonstration proceeds without incident. This explains why Ma has, since doing poorly in the local elections, decided to give the public more information about the ECFA. It also suggests why Chiang does not want to make ECFA talks the agenda focus in Taichung.

In light of the changes in domestic politics and Beijing’s increasing pressure to establish an atmosphere for political dialogue, Ma downplayed the possibility of unification talks in a recent interview with foreign media and said it could take “decades” before such sensitive negotiations began.

Local media reported that Ma would restart his presidential campaign tour of “long stays” in the countryside now that he his newly appointed KMT secretary-general, King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), has taken up his post. Ma is about to launch a campaign to implement his key policies to help start his re-election campaign early next year. Leaders in Beijing must take a pragmatic and realistic look at Taiwanese politics. Ma’s leadership is weakening because he has missed many windows of opportunity for broadening his support base through direct and sincere communication with the public.

Ma cannot win the support of the majority simply by advancing cross-strait relations. His cross-strait policy initiatives remain controversial and lack transparency. If Chinese leaders fail to understand Taiwanese democracy and underestimate the support for the pan-green camp and believe they can influence Ma’s cross-strait agenda unilaterally, they will only deteriorate his fragile position.

Humbly listening to the public is the most important task facing Ma right now. Ma could have won more support from middle-of-the-road voters had he not pushed his cross-strait policies so quickly and unilaterally. Ma should have engaged in a candid, constructive and comprehensive dialogue with the public on the pros and cons of his initiatives. He could have used the opposition to his government as a bargaining chip in negotiating with China. Regretfully, he has not done so, and for this he has paid a huge political price.

Shih-chung Liu is a visiting fellow at the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Ma still ignoring public opinion

Sunday, Dec 20, 2009, Page 8

In the local government elections on Dec 5, voters taught the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a lesson. A majority of the public and international media got the message voters wanted to express. Ma experienced the largest setback since taking office as his policies and governance were rejected by voters. Foreign news reports said Ma was the main loser in the elections. Ma, however, has completely ignored the message, continues to shirk his responsibility and is unwilling to accept defeat. He has blamed the “less than ideal” election results on the sluggish economy. This president, who does not accept losses or face up to his mistakes will be punished again in future elections, but what we should be concerned about is whether Ma in his remaining two years in office will continue to blindly and arrogantly persist in his errors, leading Taiwan on a course to destruction.

There are two main reasons for the Ma administration’s defeat. The first is the sluggish economy, record unemployment, and the daily hardship and dissatisfaction throughout Taiwan. The second is the government’s leaning toward China, almost unilaterally pushing Taiwan’s businesses, capital, manpower and technical know-how toward China and handing it control over the economy.

These reasons are closely related and mutually reinforcing, but the real problem is the government’s China policies. In other words, Ma’s idea of eventual unification could cause such a catastrophe as to erode Taiwan’s successes and progress to date.

Observers have long since concluded that the reason for Ma’s failure lies in his China policies. As soon as the election results were finalized, Reuter’s reports said the polls were the first test of Ma’s China policies and that the KMT lost to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The Associated Press said that ahead of the fourth meeting between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), the election results sent a strong warning to Ma regarding his pro-China policies.

The Japanese-language Asahi Shimbun reported that the election reflected the pervasive concerns in Taiwan about Ma and his increasingly China-leaning policies. Another Japanese-language newspaper, the Yomiuri, said the KMT could no longer afford to ignore the public’s fear and suspicion toward China. Apart from international media outlets, senior members of the pan-blue camp warned that the government would suffer more bitter losses if it fails to review its pro-China policies.

This interpretation of public opinion is common in both the pan-blue and the pan-green camps as well as overseas. Yet even if everyone understands this, it means nothing if Ma sticks to his dream of eventual unification. Many people thought the poor election results would make Ma realize that his China policies are disastrous and that he must return to his promises of putting Taiwan and its people first. But Ma seems to believe there is nothing wrong with his policies. It looks as though he will continue to blame the election results on the economy, while opening Taiwan up to China and pandering to the Chinese Communist Party. Ma does not deserve our pity if he sticks to his plans and ruins his and the KMT’s political future. Innocent Taiwanese and future generations will have to live with the consequences of his actions.

It is worrying that China’s efforts to make Taiwan economically dependent are beginning to work. The Ma administration is becoming addicted to the bogus economic benefits China offers. The KMT’s poor election results will only make Ma more dependent on this and make voters spurn his government even more. The Ma government will then need more assistance from China to uphold its shaky rule.

China, which has full control of its unification strategies, will not let this chance pass by. It will “dispense” more economic “drugs” to keep the Ma administration in its control. These are not unfounded statements.

After the elections, the government said cross-strait policies would remain unchanged and that consensus had been reached, which means that upstream Taiwanese makers of flat panel displays, 12-inch wafer fabs and petrochemical companies will be allowed to move to China.

Given these circumstances, China could send large numbers of tour groups to Taiwan as in February and March when Ma’s approval rating reached record lows. Sending tourist groups and purchasing delegations to Taiwan would put on a show about how much money China can bring to Taiwan, thus boosting Ma’s approval ratings.

It is apparent that the election results have not changed Ma. The government is struggling and views China as its only savior. It is not interested in examining its mistakes, but thinks pinning all hopes on China is the solution.

The meeting between Chiang and Chen in Taichung will be a closed door meeting in which the two sides will comfort each other. Voters will spurn a party that constantly acts against public opinion. However, judging from Ma’s post-election comments, he will not change.

We urge Ma to renounce his pro-China policies and keep his promises about putting Taiwan and its people first. This is the only hope the KMT has if it wants to avoid even larger losses in future elections.