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Lien family gets a close look at real
gangsters
By James Wang ¤ý´º¥°
I don¡¦t know if the Lien (³s) family is extremely lucky or very unlucky. In just
two weeks, Sean Lien (³s³Ó¤å) was shot in the face, but survived against
one-in-a-million odds, while China forced its new ¡§Confucius Peace Prize¡¨ on his
father, Lien Chan (³s¾Ô), who didn¡¦t know whether to laugh or cry.
The man suspected of shooting Sean Lien was reportedly involved in organized
crime, and whether he was seeking revenge and just shot the wrong man or had
some other motivation and really aimed for Sean Lien, Sean Lien was hit.
The prize given to Lien Chan was issued by a gangster regime, and whether or not
he wanted the prize, it was given to him. Organized crime and gangster regimes
both use coercive methods, and in this case, one is as bad as the other.
China gave the award to Lien Chan to use him as a tool in its fight against the
Nobel Peace Prize. This was probably hard to accept for Lien Chan, who once
taught Western political thought at university level. Western democracy deals
with individual rights, liberties and dignity, while gangster regimes are
concerned about the state, but ignore the individual.
Liu Xiaobo (¼B¾å¼·) was imprisoned for his peaceful protest to demand the human
rights that are enshrined in the Chinese Constitution, and that was why he
received the Nobel Peace Prize. Lien Chan does not care for Taiwanese democracy,
liberty or human rights and instead kowtows to a gangster regime, and that is
why he can stop dreaming of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Confucius Peace Prize only serves to highlight China¡¦s domineering ways. It
is an invader that uses armed threats to force the country to surrender, and
then sets up a ¡§peace prize¡¨ to be awarded to the surrendering country. This is
not an equal or just ¡§peace,¡¨ nor is it an example of Western political thought.
Lien Chan sold Taiwan down the river when he signed the five-point ¡§vision¡¨
reached during his visit to China in 2005. While that clearly does not meet the
requirements for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, it does highlight the
domineering aspect of the Confucius Peace Prize: The Chinese government didn¡¦t
force the award onto Chinese President Hu Jintao (JÀAÀÜ), although Hu shared in
the ¡§glory¡¨ with Lien Chan, while Lien Chan probably felt it would have been
shameful to accept the award.
While Confucius lauded the authoritarian ways of the old emperors, his thinking
also included some ideas about the best interests of the public.
Awarding the Confucius Peace Prize to Lien Chan, however, displays the gangster
attitude that ¡§you shall force unto others that which you do not want others to
force unto you,¡¨ by pointing out that Lien Chan has ¡§political wisdom¡¨ and
therefore ¡§will not reject the Confucius Peace Prize.¡¨
Representatives of the award also said Lien Chan, who was nowhere to be seen at
the award ceremony, has ¡§quietly agreed¡¨ to accept and receive the award.
When this gangster regime forced the award onto Lien Chan, it did so with a
threat in its voice to force him to ¡§swallow it,¡¨ and Lien Chan dares not reject
it. While China can certainly read people well, Lien Chan¡¦s ¡§political wisdom¡¨
is also greater than most.
James Wang is a commentator based in Taipei.
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