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This image was uploaded with the post Apartment for rent.

This image was uploaded with the post Apartment for rent.

This image was uploaded with the post Apartment for rent.

This image was uploaded with the post Apartment for rent.

This image was uploaded with the post Apartment for rent.

This image was uploaded with the post Apartment for rent.

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The L.A. Dodgers have just finished up their three two-game stint in Taiwan (due to a rainout) and will leave Taiwan with only positive impressions of her. If you are not in Taiwan and didn't know the Dodgers were playing a couple exhibition games against Taiwanese "All-Star" players, well now you do. Not only that, but what originally had been negative stories leading up to the event (due to the Dodgers' starting line-up being a no-show for the trip) has turned into probably the best outcome that could be had for Taiwan - "Rave" reviews for Taiwan.

The major story on MLB.com is of the Dodgers in Taiwan, including the "Rave" review for Taiwan.
You don't realize how you touch people the way we do, even when they don't know your name, just the uniform," said catcher Lucas May, one of six Dodgers who also made the 2008 goodwill trip to China.

"The people here love baseball and are in awe of the Dodgers. The history of China was interesting, with the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. But here, the people know their baseball and are so friendly and respectful. They're always smiling and that goes a long way."

No real surprise here. Accounts after accounts from my white friends who have visited Taiwan is that they have found Taiwanese to be very friendly to foreigners while being able to communicate in English. That is definitely a plus for any visitor/tourist in a foreign country. The article goes on with more quotes from players basically commenting on how pleasantly surprised they were with Taiwan and the people, and how stark the difference was with Taiwan and China.

James Loney said he's not surprised that players had a better time in Taiwan than China.

"The people here were excited to see us play. I didn't really hear that from the guys coming back from China," said Loney. "I guess it's not as intense there as it is here. I feel the people here look to us as important to them. The fans are very knowledgeable about the game. They know our team pretty well.

"I'm glad I came, I enjoyed it. A lot of guys didn't want to go after the China trip. I knew Taiwan as a country is a little ahead of China as far as the economy has developed. In China, most people are still trying to become more advanced. Here they have a TGIF and a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. We went to the Nike Store, normal things you would do back home. Most people I encountered knew English. And they were real friendly people."

Not only do the players comment on the differences, but show their knowledge of Taiwan being a country. Bravo to the Dodgers and to their management for giving up their time for the Taiwanese fans. But, leave it to Manny to rake in $170,000 for some appearances that may have been the tipping point in him deciding to come to Taiwan.

Regardless, I think everyone was a winner here. The Dodgers leave Taiwan with lasting positive memories, the MLB gets some promotion in Taiwan, the Taiwanese fans get to see MLB players in their home country, and China... well they weren't even in the picture until the Dodgers started making comparisons... but I guess they got the short end of the stick here.

Me and my friends want to get a tatoo done and we were wondering if anyone knew of good place that is safe?
Thanks
Sian

A Pillar of Empire
Saturday was supposed to be a busy riding day. I woke up at 6:00am to join a ride with some local triathletes and then I was going to split off after a couple hours to do hills with Michael T. The sound of thunder and rain made the idea of a hard, fast ride at early o' clock in the morning sound un-fun, so I went back to bed with the hope that the rain would piss itself out by mid morning and I could still catch the afternoon session.
I was paranoid I'd be late and rode way too fast for a warm-up from Taichung to Tanzi. I met Michael and off we went to the mountains. Just before starting the climb, the clouds opened up and we retreated to Feng Yuan City for coffee.
When the rain stopped we headed out to the coastal town of Ching Shui instead. We took the Highway 10 out of northern Taichung County down a fast and fun descent into Ching Shui and took it from there.


Ching Shui Elementary
The Ching Shui area was formerly the home to the Papora speaking Austronesian cultural-linguistic group of indigenes. Prehistoric evidence of the Pre and Proto-Papora has been found in several parts of Taichung County. There are archaeological sites around Dadu Shan and one adjacent to the Tiger City mall. Taichung Mayor, Jason Hu, a Han-chauvinist at heart, once declared that he would move to continue development at the Tiger City site as the find was "not as significant as terra cotta warriors". Much of the site had been destroyed before scholars could file an injunction.
The Papora cultures were documented in Dutch records and Ching Shui is routinely mentioned in Dutch sources as, "Gommach", which is believed to have originally been located near Ching Shui Elementary School. Neighboring Shalu was another major village called "Salach". Each village was surrounded by several satellite villages that made for more balanced trade and resource management in the era before the Dutch organized the deer trade, which helped trigger a collapse of the traditional political economy on the indigenous Taiwan plain. Later effects of this policy would culminate in pressure for indigenes to acculturate into mainstream Taiwanese/market culture.
During the Cheng siege of Fort Zeelandia, in 1661, a Cheng garrison was stationed near Ching Shui. Soldiers from Cheng's forces started interfering in village life and molesting the local women, thus antagonizing the Papora villages, this and other forms of social tension led to several large revolts. In 1670, another revolt in the area led to the destruction of one satellite village and the wholesale slaughter of its inhabitants.
Later, in 1722, during the Qing administration over Taiwan's western frontier, Papora revolt leads Cheng commander Luo Guo Hsuan to destroy the village of Sha lu. In response, Governor Man pao ordered a boundary line constructed running North to South delineating the non-tax paying aborigines from the Han and Aborigines loyal to the Qing. The boundary of trenches and hills was meant to prohibit settlers from occupying land beyond the markers that may result in any more destabilizing Aboriginal violence.
Corridors of Imagined Communities
During the initial phases of Japanese colonial administration on Taiwan, Ching shui was one of the earliest towns in central Taiwan to be integrated into the greater imperial economy. Ching Shui is a fantastic example of the early Japanese infrastructure project as the town became a hub for moving produce and goods along the coast. Ching Shui also became one of the earliest manufacturing hubs in central Taiwan. Local weavers were recruited to produce hats and textiles in Ching Shui's industrial district. At one point Ching Shui was the largest producer of the popular straw hats the Japanese were fond of in the early 20th century. The industrial infrastructure laid by the straw hat producers provided fertile ground for other industries seeking skilled weavers; namely the sporting goods industry. Straw hats led to footwear, tennis racquets and later, in cooperation with the machine tool training many Taiwanese received during and after WWII... bicycles.
On our ride, Michael and I stopped at Ching Shui Elementary School on Guang hua and Zheng Nan roads, which was one of the earliest elementary schools in central Taiwan. It was founded in 1907, primarily for the children of Japanese industrialists, but later the children of the Taiwanese gentry were allowed to attend. This had a major impact on society asTaiwanese were, for the first time, able to be educated with the mission in mind, to help them read about and imagine their community.
Pedaling Pilgrims
We ran into the Hsin Kang to Dajia cycling event. The even is a 110km ride to follow the route the Dajia Mazu will take on her annual pilgrimage from her home in the Cheng Lang Temple in Dajia. The Mazu festival marks the traditional arrival of Spring. Although Mazu pilgrimage in nothing new to Taiwan, I have heard... ahem!... the Dajia event has become mainly a tourism juggernaut run by organized crime and local politicians to fulfill their political fortunes and fortify their local fiefdoms of gravel, construction, bid rigging, sex, drugs, weapons and betel nut. I have also been told that some of the revenue generated from these events, eventually makes its way into the coffers of a particular political party with roots in China... ahem!
Making for Mazu
We made our way out of Ching Shui back along the villages along the base of Dadu Shan. I noticed that the villages had a strange layout, like a soldier village, and Michael suggested they were more recent plains Aborigine villages. The names suggested as much. Much of the Taiwan plain is dotted with this type of village and EVERY major town was once a center of indigenous life. The villages we passed through on our way up the hill are in an area known as Fan Cheng, or "Barbarian City". These areas were probably considered indigenous until the Japanese colonial period when the ethnic markers that once delineated Aborigine from Han were eliminated only by official caveat.
We rode back to Tanzi and I sped the 8 miles home at speeds between 23(37kph) and 29mph (46kph). Another great little ride complete. For the day I only logged 50 miles (80km), but it was a really nice ride.

Beat the heat, noise, chaos & travel in comfort. Think about going long distances on your weekends. It's a 5 door sedan, about 14 years old, but the styling

Start: 03/20/2010 - 18:00 End: 03/21/2010 - 03:20

FREE REFILLS on selected drinks on March 20th

Our party will have a special surprise and also we will invite every girl (or guy!) wearing a Corset for a free Cocktail.

• THE HANGOUT PUB TAINAN

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• Free 5-in-1 Vaccines for lil' ones. Also, in order to boost the birthrate, a neonatal "lucky bag" will be given to each newborn and mommy.

• Tainan Foreigner Assistance Center Newsletter

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Looking for somewhere I can get some things vacuum-packed. I know someone had it done here in Tainan before but I can't get in touch with them. Anyone else

淡水福祐宮 or, to the locals 媽祖宮Ma-Zu Temple (first built in 1796), the headquarters of the defending Qing Army during the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf in 1884, is now in danger of toppling over. Well, kinda.

Some sharp-eyed reporter from Japan recently noted tilting of the top front portion of the temple towards the Chung Cheng Road side. If you look at the picture below carefully, you'll notice a slight vertical misalignment of the stone pillar [hexagonal in cross-section] when contrasted with the front facade/wall:
This can be an optical illusion but not really - measurements have confirmed this micro-scale leaning tower of Pisa.

What has happened? If you look at the area (see map here): To the immediate right of the temple, a narrow alley leads uphill to 重建街. It branches off to the right to 清水祖師廟. And off the left of 重建Street, there is the 紅樓 (the Red Castle), a western-style structure built in 1899 (see painting below). It was this distinctive building that might have been mistaken for a military post and attacked on Oct 12, 1944 by the American F6Fs. In fact, this area, i.e., the backside of Ma-Zu Temple, appeared to have been strafed by machine guns and either rocketed or even bombed. No one knows for sure as most residents had evacuated to the countryside north of Danshui. This, most likely an accidental attack, could have shaken the foundation of the temple and the damage, exacerbated by earthquakes, is just now becoming apparent.
[The Danshui Red Castle is seen on the upper right in this 1935 painting by 陳澄波 (1895-1947). In the foreground is 重建街.]

You'd think the locals would sprint into action and repair the walls promptly. No, not at all. In fact, "not so fast" as a permission must first be granted by Ma-Zu herself. This supernatural yet unmistakable permission can come in many forms; however, there has been none so far. The locals know from years of experience that it is unwise to act unilaterally from the human end or risk inviting misfortunes - just ask the few hapless merchants who had rented properties from the temple in the past and neglected to seek Ma-Zu's permission for one deed or another.

No one dares to question why the omnipotent sea-goddess Ma-Zu allows this to happen to her own house. Let's just say common folks will never really understand her mysterious ways.

Here is a thought: Next time when you visit Danshui, take a close look at the front walls of Ma-Zu Temple. Then go inside and visit with Ma-Zu. Who knows, you maybe the next messenger to tell Danshui-ren, "the reconstruction shall now begin".

I always enjoy reading comments from China on Taiwan's democracy, such as this excerpt from a speech from a PRC scholar on rule of law in Taiwan. Such principles were on display this week as two cabinet officials tendered their resignations over issues of principle.

First, justice minister Wang resigned over the death penalty....
Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng published an article on March 9 entitled “Rationality and Forgiveness,” articulating her view that the death penalty should be abolished and stating that she would not sign the execution order for any convict on death row during her term in office. Minister Wang’s article induced an angry backlash among the public. Wang wrote that she would insist on doing the right thing even if her opposition to the death penalty meant that she would have to step down.

However, Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang yesterday, in a press conference, stated that ours was a government of law, therefore, everything must be done according to the law. The executions of death row inmates must be carried out unless there was a legally sufficient reason for the execution to be stayed, Lo said, adding that otherwise, the Justice Ministry must carry out its duty in accordance with the law.
The local focus was on how the President simply threw Wang to the wolves, refusing to support her. Focus Taiwan translated a China Times editorial that sketched her career as an activist. The editorial observes that the Chen Administration stalled executions because it feared international repercussions. It also hints at a problem within the Administration: when it vetted its appointees for the justice post, didn't anyone ask about this key issue? D'oh.

The Wang resignation also highlights another problem endemic with Ma: the appointment of individuals to high position who come from academic backgrounds and have little political experience. This pan-Blue papers have roundly condemned Ma for this.

The death penalty is highly popular in Taiwan, with widespread public support. It make a cheap target for moralizing. But when it comes to the hard stuff.... it is a shame that Wang's high morals didn't extend to the numerous problems with the Chen Shui-bian detention and trial. Taiwan News gives another take and observes that under the law -- despite claims to the contrary by KMT officials and KMT papers -- she is not required to sign execution orders:
Unfortunately, Taiwan society remains dominated by the hoary and barbarian precept of vengeance and understandable but dangerously vindictive feelings of survivors of murder victims, which ultra-conservative KMT lawmakers are utilizing to stir a reactionary populist storm in order to turn the clock back on Taiwan's human rights progress.

The fuse was lit by Control Yuan Commissioner Chao Chang-ping and other colleagues who declared "orders for the death penalty should be approved by the justice minister and implemented within three days" and threatened to "investigate" Wang for "illegally" delaying executions.

Indeed, Article 127 of the Criminal Code mandates that public officials who do not implement legal punishments are liable for a sentence of up to five years, but this rule applies mainly to prosecutors or jail wardens and not to the justice minister who is not an "public official tasked with implementing punishment" but the chief of the highest administrative judicial agency.

Indeed, there is no article in the Criminal Code that explicitly requires the justice minister to sign such orders and it is evident that the justice minister is granted the "under the law" the discretionary power to sign or not to sign such orders.

Therefore, neither Wang or any other previous justice ministers who refused to sign death sentence orders have transgressed the law and indeed have honored the Constitution through their respect for all human life.
There were even gloating KMT legislators who said that all 44 of the prisoners currently on death row should be executed. Disgusting. The sad part, as many noted, is that with Wang calling attention to the death penalty, which has 70%+ support on the island, it is likely that executions, which had been stayed for the last five years, will resume.

Also resigning this week was the Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang, who bluntly told the Premier that his requirements to confine health fee increases to the upper income brackets wouldn't work. The Premier had wanted 75% of the population to experience no fee increases, but the math doesn't work. Yuang instead had called for 41% of the population to experience slight increases. His resignation has not been accepted.

Take note of the explosive political issue that underlies this, one that shapes so many issues in Taiwan, but often flies under the radar: local government debt. A number of local governments, including Taipei, have not paid their debts to the NHI. It is not just fees that have to rise, but enforcement of payments on local governments as well.

It is obvious to every sentient mind on the island that health fees must go up if the wonderful NHI system is to survive. It would be great if the legislature would sit down and pass a set of fee increases with bipartisan support. I think the government and both parties would be pleasantly surprised to find how quickly the public would adapt.
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Daily Links:

• Short film on Taiwan's critically endangered dolphins.
• A story about fox spirits in Taiwan from RTI.
• Taiwan rejects ban on tuna fishing but will accept a quota. As if anyone would pay attention to it. Do these people want to have tuna left for their children to eat? Apparently not.
  
• Ma says Chinese students to enter Taiwan universities. Some are already here, I have one in one of my classes, from Macau.
  
• Taiwan approves plans to permit Chinese banks to invest.

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Some days being a father offers rewards that no material compensation can match. We bought the kids a stand-alone basketball net that came in a box for them to assemble. This morning they called me over for some help. "Dad, look at this," said my DIY intern son in frustration. "When we put in these spacers, the bolt becomes too short to go all the way through the support pipes. We can't put this nut on. What do we do?"

Tears came to my eyes, as they always do when the opportunity to be Dad involves hand tools. "Son," I said, "let me teach you the proper use of a wrench." Firmly gripping the wrench in my strong yet gentle fatherly right hand, I gave the head of the offending bolt a strong bash. Suddenly the threads poked through the other side of the pipe. My children looked on, gaping, obviously drawing important life lessons. "Wow," exclaimed my daughter, "I am so bored."

I don't know what this story has to do with Shelly Rigger's latest piece over at Brookings out this week entitled Ma’s Puzzling Midterm Malaise, so I am counting on the creativity of my readers to make the connection. A longtime Taiwan watcher, Rigger interprets events in Taiwan for the Beltway Establishment, using well-worn Beltway Establishment frames. I had a bad Popperian Conjectures and Refutations moment perusing it, but took some Modernity leave to recover.

Sometimes not too bad, sometimes completely wrong, Rigger mostly sounds like a colonialist missionary trying to explain to the audience at home, in a fair and open-minded manner, the beliefs of the local heathens, which he understands in terms of his own Christianity. As many of the people who shot this piece off to me observed, Rigger does not appear anywhere to get the complexities of local politics. The whole piece is framed in the best Establishment style by the cross-strait relationship, as if Rigger were simply squinting through a telescope on the banks of the Potomac at Taiwan, and was not a trained scholar who has spent many years studying the island.

Rigger opens with a summary of Ma's "accomplishments":
It is two years this month since Ma Ying-jeou was elected president of Taiwan. As he approaches the mid-term milestone, President Ma’s record is puzzling. On the one hand, he has made significant progress toward his most important goals. First, he’s stabilized cross-Strait relations. The tension that gripped Taiwan and China during the Chen years has abated, high-level visits have become routine and the two sides are engaged in energetic negotiations on a wide range of issues.There are multiple problems with this use of the word stabilized, which appears to be a code term for relations moving in the direction we want in the way that pragmatic in this type of discourse functions as a synonym for utterly lacking in principle. We're not in a period of stability here -- as I noted two years ago, before the current President was elected, Ma's refusal to stand fast on sovereignty means that there is literally no limit to what he can concede except -- as Rigger correctly notes further down in the piece -- what the public is willing to tolerate. The public here sees relations that are non-transparent, have no defined limits, and no clear goals. That is the very picture of uncertainty and instability. It seems the telescopes they use in Washington to peer across the Beltway at the Pacific simply lack the resolution to clearly discern the reality out here.

Note that the passive voice is used to good effect: it is the "tension that grips" during the Chen years. You know, that turbulent, causeless tension that comes like a poltergeist in the night to upset everyone's dreams. The reality is that tension in the Straits is not caused by Chen or by Taiwan, but by China's desire to annex Taiwan. It's fascinating how in every other case of Chinese expansionism, "tension causing" is forthrightly assigned to Chinese expansion. But in the case of Taiwan......

Stabilized? But -- and in every discussion of what Washington puts out we always come back to this but -- there remains the Chinese military build up. Naturally, since China's enormous, destabilizing, and totally unnecessary military build up is a gigantic problem for anyone claiming that Ma has "stabilized" relations, it disappears. Yes, that's right. In this piece there is no concrete reference to China's missiles or military build up, just a vague nod to Taiwan's declining relative power vis-a-vis the PRC. Gee, it sure is hard to figure out why these pagans don't worship at our Establishment altars.

Rigger continues:
What is puzzling is that these successes have failed to endear President Ma to his constituents. On the contrary, his popularity has plummeted since the election, and today his personal approval ratings hover below 30 percent. [evidence skipped] .... Hence the conundrum: Why are Ma’s successes in areas believed to be important to voters – reducing cross-Strait tension and reviving the economy – not boosting his approval ratings or his party’s political fortunes?Note that both these claims of "success" - reducing cross-strait tensions, and reviving the economy -- are not successes here in Taiwan. From Washington's perspective, perhaps "tensions" have been "reduced", but to make an argument about "tensions" is to confuse Washington's agenda with that of local voters (note how "believed to be important" is a passive construction). There are a million Taiwanese in China working daily. How much "tension" do they experience day to day? None, of course. For most Taiwanese, "tension" as Washington understands it is something that occurs far from their daily lives in the international media, and involves Washington and Beijing, especially now that Beijing is ruthlessly attempting to transfer its anger and anxiety over Taiwan to the Washington-Taipei and Washington-Beijing relationships.

Turning to the economy, voter unhappiness with Chen Shui-bian was driven largely by the relentless propaganda that Taiwan's economy had gone bad, and by the corruption cases. Taiwan's voters want good relations with China but not at the island's expense.

As for "reviving the economy" that is primarily the result of policies put in place under the DPP and under Lee Teng-hui, the results of China's current growth, and the marginal improvement in the US economy. The Ma Administration is not responsible for any of that. Indeed, it has simply seized upon the crash as an excuse to push the ECFA agreements as rapidly as possible while failing to take firm action on the domestic economic front. Rigger missed a golden opportunity to inform her readers that throughout the economic crisis the Ma Administration has appeared almost completely indifferent to the plight of ordinary Taiwanese, something that has profoundly harmed its standing among voters.

The Establishment presentation is not necessarily a factually inept one, but instead, it proposes a slant on events that sanitizes them. For example, Rigger follows the familiar pattern of sanitizing attacks on the headlong rush of the Ma Administration into China's arms as a criticism of the DPP that "might" be true:
A number of factors contributed to the public’s waning trust in Ma. The lack of transparency in decision-making has been a particular concern. DPP leaders suggest high-ranking KMT cross-Strait specialists might be willing to compromise Taiwan’s autonomy in order to reach an agreement with Beijing. They argue that the government’s closed cross-Strait decision-making – including on the proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) – is dangerous, because these specialists, whether out of perfidy or naïveté, might fail to protect Taiwan’s interests.But as anyone who spends time talking to locals knows, the sudden swerve toward Beijing has caused widespread public anger across the Green and Blue political spectrum. The criticism that Ma is too close to Beijing is not limited just to the pan-Greens. To get elected, Ma promised that he would not impair Taiwan's sovereignty, but he has utterly reneged on that promise. The criticism that Ma is too close to China is not just a DPP criticism -- most KMTers also do not want to become politically closer to the PRC.

It might be nice if Rigger had mentioned that the KMT's own theology is based on annexing the island to China, thus providing a meaningful context for the DPP's analysis of KMT elite behavior. Oh well....

Sometimes Rigger goes badly wrong....
Several of the KMT’s recent electoral set-backs resulted from local politicians rebelling against Ma’s attempts to clean up local politics, a development that further reinforces this impression.It's 2010 folks, not 1990. Sorry Dr. Rigger, but it is delusional to imagine Ma, a longtime opponent of democracy in Taiwan, is a reformist attempting to clean up local KMT politics. In fact Ma has taken huge hits even in the KMT papers for his inexplicable and often unnecessary support of candidates widely perceived as corrupt (Green version). Another strange moment occurs in paragraph 2:
In Taiwan’s domestic politics, “normal” is a highly-competitive democracy in which the executive is forced to accommodate an active and activist legislature while defending its positions from an energetic – and politically viable – opposition.Perhaps in some alternate reality Taiwan has an activist legislature, but in this universe Taiwan's legislative performance is widely acknowledged to be awful. Taiwan News reported in the last year of the Chen Administration:
As the Citizen Congress Watch noted in its evaluation of the Legislative Yuan's performance last July, "there is nothing good to say."In case you think things have changed under Ma, just google public opinion about the legislature in Taiwan; it usually has lower approval ratings than Ma himself (example). I have no idea how anyone who knew anything about Taiwan's politics could write that the legislature is active and activist. Rigger also takes seriously Legislative Speaker Wang's protestations that he would lead the legislature in oversight of ECFA; as far as I know, she is the only person who does.

Of course, no Establishment piece is complete without that Establishment shibboleth, the provocative Mad Chen© who is Anti-China:
Many Taiwanese found Chen’s Sino-phobic policies unnecessarily provocative, but that did not mean they were ready to support blindly whatever policy the next administration proposed. As the pace of elite-level interactions accelerated, the focus of the domestic political debated shifted from restraining Chen’s provocations to scrutinizing Ma’s performance.Did the domestic political debate "focus" on "Chen's provocations?" I was here for all four years of that in the second term, and in Taiwan, we focused on the economy and on the corruption issue. "Chen's provocations" was a purely Washington concern; in the local arena, the "provocations" such as UN entry -- widely supported by locals -- appeared as part of the debate over Taiwan identity. Once again Rigger is confusing Washington's agenda with that of Taiwanese voters.

As for "Sino-phobic" there is no need to list the large number of accomplishments in cross-strait relations under the DPP. But -- and here is a crucial point -- by using this pejorative rhetorical frame, Rigger paints herself into a corner -- she cannot then explain that Ma has angered Taiwanese by moving too close to China without vindicating Chen's position. That is an inherent problem of using this Washington Establishment frame -- Chen the Mad Provoker juxtaposed with Ma the Tension Reducer -- to explain Taiwan's local politics. That is why there is no clear, concrete mention of a real issue with Ma for locals: too close to China. The best she can do is mention criticisms of the transparency of the process. To say that Ma is "too close to China" is to utter what is currently a heresy in the Establishment theology.

Also missing in this piece purporting to explain Ma's puzzling drop in approval is any mention of the competence issue. Everyone in Taiwan knows that Ma is the Chairman of the KMT (no mention of that in Rigger's piece). He's both President and head of the party. The electoral problems thus also stem from Ma's mishandling of local elections and the installation of an unpopular close associate as Sec-Gen of the KMT, King Pu-tsung, whose nickname, "little knife", alludes to his role as Ma's hatchetman. But since the whole piece is premised in the opening two paragraphs on the purely Washington belief that Ma is a competent leader, none of his numerous political failings -- appointing academics with little experience of politics to high office or mishandling the last couple of elections -- can appear here. Yet so widespread in Taiwan is the belief that Ma is utterly incompetent that if you type his name in Chinese in Google Taiwan the first prompt Google offers you is 無能 -- "incompetent." The reader will search in vain for this little nugget of reality in Rigger's piece, however, since Establishment Theology is premised on Ma Inerrancy.

The Beltway Establishment view is concerned -- and quite justly -- with What Beijing Will do, and Rigger spends the last three muscular and generally sound paragraphs reviewing this. While this is nice, it is simply three paragraphs of missed opportunities to more fully sketch the utter failure of the Ma Administration to make forward progress despite having a large public mandate, total control of the legislature, and the ardent support of Washington. This failure can only be explained in terms of the Ma Administration's own pervasive incompetence, and thus, cannot be explained within the framework Rigger has chosen.
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Daily Links:

• State Department Human Rights Report out on Taiwan. Alas, until the US cleans up its own torture and detention apparatus and puts its architects and propagandizers behind bars, the impact of its human rights reports will be....impaired.
• J Michael Cole says China is showing worrying signs of fascism. Let's see... concentration camps and prisons for political prisoners? check Suppression of dissent and control of communications networks? check A racially-driven belief in cultural supremacy inherited from discredited 19th century European racial theorists? check Apparent economic success amid global economic meltdown? check Territorial claims on most its neighbors? check Previous conquests providing rationale for current expansions? check A one-party state? check Deluded admirers in western democracies thinking its authoritarianism is more efficient than democracy? check An obsessive focus with the followers of a harmless religion, including controversial claims of state-run murder programs? check A historical mythology driven by an artificial sense of victimhood? check Rapid military build up? check A state-centered authoritarian ideology? check A long history of centralized monarchy with little democratic experience? check Whew! Aren't we lucky that China is nothing like the fascist states of the 1930s, especially Nazi Germany?
• Michella with a really wonderful post on the reporter as stalker: "As a TV reporter and sometimes-anchor, I get a stalker here and there once in a while. But as a reporter, I also become the stalker sometimes too." My opinion of the outgoing Health Minister just rose again.
• Taiwanese-American Org interviews child actress Crystal Chiu of the film Children of Invention.
• Wings Taiwan finds that a bridge near my house sheds light on the construction-industrial state.
  
• Why doesn't the public understand science? Because science journalists are clueless. Catch the massive error in this piece on evolution vs. creationism?
  

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

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This morning I attended the “Gaining International Support, Accelerate Taiwan’s Nation Building” conference organized by the World Taiwanese Congress at National Taiwan University Hospital’s convention center in Taipei. With guest speakers including former US diplomat John Tkacik and Nakajima Mineo, and opening remarks by Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), I had reasons to hope that the conference would provide new ideas to help Taiwan break out of its isolation and fend off Chinese encroachment.

Turnout was good, with perhaps 100 people showing up. The great majority of them, as always, were elderly Taiwanese, with perhaps 10 percent of attendees below the age of 40. Aside from Tkacik, the only foreigners in the audience were Austin University’s Donald Rogers, American writer Jerome Keating, Monash University’s Bruce Jacobs, and myself. Several Taiwanese-Americans or US-based Taiwanese were in attendance. Media coverage appeared to be limited to Public Television Service, which took some footage of Tsai and Chen.

After brief opening remarks — all in Taiyu, with the exception of Tsai’s, which were a mix of Mandarin and Taiyu — Tkacik gave his presentation, using both English and Mandarin, focusing mostly on history and providing as few anecdotes (by that time, Tsai and Chen had already left). This was followed by a brief question-and-answer session, which, like Tkacik’s presentation, didn’t yield anything groundbreaking. After a short break, Nakajima took the podium and delivered a speech in Japanese, with translation in Taiyu. After about 20 minutes of this, nearly one third of the audience was fast asleep, text messaging on their cell phones or, as Jacobs did to my right, reading newspapers. Nakajima was telling us that China and the US had entered a new cold war and that the turning point was the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.

By 12:10, Don, Bruce and I had had enough and called it quits. Not before noting, however, that if such conferences can’t manage to captivate people who, like us, are interested about Taiwan and care about its fate, then there’s no way they will attract younger generations of Taiwanese upon whom the future of this nation depends. As I’ve mentioned before through my observations of demonstrations, I find it disheartening that there are so few young Taiwanese participating in political events that will affect the fate of their country. If the current leadership sticks to geriatric events such as the one I attended today, however, there’s very little hope younger Taiwanese will get involved. Putting them to sleep on a Saturday after a long week at school or at work won’t do it.

And for an event that supposedly focuses on gaining international support for Taiwan, focusing on the past, rehashing the same platitudes over and over again — and doing this in a language that next to no foreigners understand (with no simultaneous interpretation at hand) — will hardly make that come true.

The intentions were good, undoubtedly, and there were lots of good people in the room. But it was disappointing and somewhat depressing. At some point the old leaders will have to pass on the torch and help awaken young minds to the cause. Discussing the future, using engaging venues and speakers, and making the whole effort energetic — that’s what Taiwan needs. Youth need to be brought in, not excluded, and the old guard must start listening to the younger generation, something to which, I am told, there is a lot of resistance in the Taiwanese-American community and, I’m sure, in Taiwan as well.