Jesse Helms, Senator from Taiwan
Bevin Chu
April 06, 2000
"Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) reportedly embarrassed his staffers by referring to North Korean President Kim Jong Il as "Kim Jong Two" when reading from a prepared speech. To correct this mistake, in Helms's next speech the staffers helpfully spelled the name phonetically as Kim Jong Ill. Helms referred to him that time as Kim Jong the Third."
-- "Brickbats"
Reason Magazine, May 1995
Two Chinese States?
In an op-ed piece entitled "Two Chinese States," published Friday, March 31, 2000, in the Washington Post, Jesse Helms, Republican senator from North Carolina, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations wrote:
"President-elect Chen's election marks the first peaceful transfer of power from a ruling Chinese party to its democratic opposition. Taiwan's democratic transformation, begun by President Lee, is complete. The Republic of China's experiment in democracy is no longer an experiment--it is a proven reality."
Helms' observation is half right. Chen Shui-bian's election does indeed mark the 'peaceful transfer of power from a ruling Chinese party to its... opposition.' Unfortunately Mr. Democracy Lee Teng-hui's transfer of power, however "peaceful" was anything but democratic. The transparent charade foisted on the ROC electorate on March 18 under the guise of a "free and fair election" was one more in an unbroken line of imperial successions in Chinese history. So far at least, Taiwan's experiment in democracy is a failed one. For details see "Farewell, Mr. Democracy."
Helms wrote:
'The nation that was known for the better part of 40 years as "Nationalist China" now is "Democratic China." No wonder Beijing feels so threatened. That is why, in the days leading up to Taiwan's election, mainland officials sought desperately to scare Taiwanese voters into rejecting Chen.'
Wrong.
The "Peaceful" Transfer of Political Power
When Lee Teng-hui visited South Africa several years ago, he proclaimed that his most cherished dream before he went to his reward, was "to peacefully transfer political power." This seemingly innocuous phrase went over the heads of most China watchers. But not the New Party's presidential and vice-presidential candidates Li Ao and Fung Hu-hsiang. Li and Fung were alert to Lee's sematic games.
What Lee said was he hoped to "transfer" political power. Not "yeild" political power, not "relinquish" political power to whomever the voters chose at the polls, but "transfer political power" to whomever Lee anointed as his successor.
The Emperor of Taiwan
To understand Lee's language, one has to first understand Lee's mindset. Lee doesn't think like the average elected chief executive of an "advanced" western democracy. Instead, Lee thinks like a Ferdinand Marcos or a Suharto. To Lee's thinking, he considered himself Emperor of Taiwan, just as Marcos considered himself Emperor of the Philippines, and Suharto considered himself Emperor of Indonesia. To Lee's thinking it was his royal prerogative as Taiwan's self-designated Moses to "transfer political power" to Chen Shui-bian, alias Joshua, his designated heir.
What role did the ROC electorate play in Lee's "peaceful transfer of political power?" None whatsoever. The ROC voting public's democratic preferences were not part of Lee's equation. They were beside the point. Lee wanted Chen as his successor. Lee had the power. Lee would get his way.
Oh sure, Lee knew he had to go through the motions of holding an election to make the process look "democratic." But that was merely for show. Lee would see to it that A-Bian "caught the bridal bouquet" come hell or high water. How a majority of Taiwan's voters felt and voted was neither here nor there as far as Lee was concerned.
The Government They (and We) Deserve
Leave aside the fact that authoritarian bigot Jesse Helms hasn't the foggiest notion what genuine democracy is. Taiwan's pseudo-democracy has nothing whatsoever to do with why Beijing "feels so threatened."
Beijing feels threatened because covert separatist Lee Teng-hui successfully conferred the power of his imperial presidency on overt separatist Chen Shui-bian, and because Senator Helms' perennial chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations is a persistent reminder that the inmates are in charge of America's foreign policy asylum.
People, it has been said, get the government they deserve. We Americans must have done something pretty damned awful to deserve both Madeline Albright and Jesse Helms.
China Threat Theory
Helms wrote:
'Premier Zhu Rongji went so far as to warn the people of Taiwan that if they elected Chen, they "won't get another opportunity to regret." The people of Taiwan told Zhu what he could do with his threats.'
Nonsense. In fact the "people of Taiwan," the overwhelming majority of whom resolutely oppose Taiwan independence, told Chen Shui-bian, not Zhu Rongi, what he could do with his reckless and irresponsible "Long Live Taiwan Independence" rhetoric. Even after Chen flip-flopped, swearing up and down that if elected he absolutely, positively would NOT declare Taiwan independence, the people of Taiwan still voted against him, by a margin of 61 to 39 percent. Imagine how much lower his numbers would have been had he not loudly repudiated his pro-independence ideology?
Chen won solely because ROC election laws do not provide for run-off elections, and because KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui deliberately prevented his own party from nominating James Soong, purposely splitting the anti-separatist vote between the immensely popular Soong and the unelectable Lien Chan.
Forever Munich, Forever 1938
Helms wrote:
"Now it is the United States' responsibility to ensure that Zhu can never fulfill his threat to make Chen's election the final democratic election in China... the Clinton administration has tried to buy peace in the Taiwan Strait by kowtowing to the Chinese Communists... the administration sticks doggedly by its Chamberlainesque approach... Those who support economic engagement with China must recognize the Clinton policy for what it is -- appeasement."
Oh please. Not the specious "totalitarian communist Goliath denying a democracy-loving David's right to exist" thesis. Not the imperialistic, un-American "It's America's solemn duty as the world's only remaining superpower to make the world safe for democracy" thesis. And God have mercy on us, not the brain-dead "Chamberlainesque appeasement no! Churchillian firmness si!" or as George Szamuely puts it, "Forever Munich, Forever 1938" thesis.
Forever Vietnam, Forever 1960
What is Helms' alternative? Helms demands that:
"The United States must make clear to Beijing that there is no military option in dealing with Taiwan by (1) approving Taiwan's full defense request... (2) sharing theater missile defense technology with the aim of bringing Taiwan under a regional missile-defense umbrella; (3) passing the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, which will junk antiquated restrictions prohibiting senior U.S. officers from visiting Taiwan, expand the advice our experts can give them and establish direct, secure communications between our two militaries."
In short, Helms proposes that Americans repeat every one of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson's Asian policy blunders of the early and mid 60s, which incrementally but inexorably dragged America down into the futile and costly quagmire known as Vietnam. First materiel. Then "advisors." Then air support. Then ground troops. Then the Hercules transports filled with bodybags. Mission Creep Redux. Helms has no excuse. After all, he was there. The lesson of history, it seems, is that nobody ever learns a damned thing from history.
Blank Checks and Moral Hazard
Mind-bogglingly, Helms proposes that:
"The United States can help Chen restart the cross-strait dialogue only by allowing Taiwan to engage the mainland on the basis of peace through strength. A renewed dialogue with Beijing can be successful only if it is undertaken on the basis of political strength as well."
Say what? Write a foreign separatist political leader a blank check, to be filled out with American soldiers' blood, and subsidized with American taxpayers' hard-earned dollars? This is supposed to encourage Chen to engage in serious cross-Straits dialogue? Is Helms kidding?
See:
Taiwan Independence and Free Lunches
East and West Germany, North and South Korea, East and West China
Helms wrote:
"Just as East and West Germany were part of "one Germany," they were nonetheless separate "states." The same holds true for the two Korean states and for the two Chinese states--the People's Republic of China in Beijing and the Republic of China on Taiwan. Accepting this objective reality does not require abandoning the possibility of reunification."
Wrong.
Neither West Germany nor South Korea were headed by pro-Japan Quislings like Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian. Neither West Germany nor South Korea were saddled with Stockholm-syndromized, Japanophile elitists dead set against reunification on any terms, deliberately dragging their feet and sabotaging all good faith efforts at negotiating a gradual, peaceful reunification.
Jesse Helms, Clueless
Whether Helms is sincere, or whether he is paying pro forma lip service to reunification, only he knows for sure. But one thing is certain, the only nation the Taiwan independence elite wants to reunite with is the Japanese Empire.
The problem is not that the Taiwan independence elite doesn't want to live under communism. The problem is not that the Taiwan independence elite doesn't want to live under authoritarianism. The problem lies somewhere else altogether.
Hell, mainland Chinese don't want to be communists. Mainland Chinese don't want to live under authoritarianism. They haven't wanted to since Mao's asinine and tragic Great Leap Forward and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Contemporary mainland Chinese hate communism, probably more than anybody in the world, including even the Russians. Nobody hates Hell as much as someone who has lived inside the inferno.
We just don't want to be Chinese!
No. Communism is not the issue. Even authoritarianism is not the issue. The real issue is the Taiwan independence elite doesn't want to be Chinese. The real issue is they have a emotional hang-up about identifying themselves as Chinese.
The Taiwan independence elite had no problem with communism in the past. After all, Lee Teng-hui, would be Father of a Republic of Taiwan, was a card-carrying member of Taiwan's Communist Party. The only reason he survived was he ratted out the same five members he recruited in order to save his own miserable hide. They were executed by firing squad. Lee became "Mr. Democracy."
Nor has the Taiwan independence elite ever had a problem with authoritarianism. Demagogue Chen Shui-bian and harridan running mate Annette Lu are themselves bonafide petty dictators, and have made no effort whatsoever to conceal their admiration and nostalgia for fascist Japanese colonial rule.
To understand the bizarre psychology underlying the Taiwan independence elite's obsession with denying their own ethnic and cultural identity, see "Taiwan Independence and the Stockholm Syndrome."
China's Free Market Communists
Perception often trumps reality. More than one western China hand has noted, only half-jokingly, that the smartest PR move Beijing could make would be to simply change the name of Chinese Communist Party to something less emotionally loaded. Some have suggested "Social Democratic Party of China." I prefer "Chinese Capitalist Party." That way they wouldn't even have to change the initials on their official party stationary. While they're at it they might want to change the design of the flag, the national anthem, and take down Mao's portrait above Tiananmen Square.
Ironically if the authoritarian capitalists ruling China were to do so they would not be misleading anybody. On the contrary, they would be reflecting current reality far more honestly than they are doing now, when they refer to themselves as "communists."
The reality is American college faculties probably contain more dyed in the wool communists than the Chinese Communist Party. For that matter, the United States congress probably contains more bonafide Marxists than the Chinese Communist Party. Senator Paul Wellstone for example, is probably to the left of PRC President Jiang Zemin.
How many "communist" countries, after all, can boast not one, but two stock exchanges? How many "communist" countries have, according to Nobel laureate in economics Robert Mundell, a private sector comprising over 60% of China's GDP? A private sector larger not only than Sweden and Denmark's (50%), but larger even than France and Germany's (55%).
It's a New Era, Jesse
Helms wrote:
"... just as the two German states eventually reunited under democracy, so too do we hope that the two Chinese states may one day reunite--under democracy."
Helms may be sufficiently out of touch with the real world that he actually believes he is ingratiating himself with the DPP by advancing such arguments. If so, Helms is in for a surprise. This line of argument may have pleased the outgoing KMT, but it's not about to win him any Brownie points with incoming DPP hardliners. Lee Teng-hui is no longer KMT party chairman. Liu Tai-ying is no longer KMT business affairs manager. If Helms wants the Taiwan Lobby's generous six figure checks, made out to the Jesse Helms Institute to keep rolling in year after year, he'd better get a clue.
The Senator from Taiwan
"The Jesse Helms Center was created to preserve the works Jesse Helms. It includes congressional documents and other such memorabilia. It also appears to act as a center for questionably legal donations. Many of the contributors to his center are companies or countries that Helms often acts in the interest in. It's illegal for foreign governments to donate money to a political campaign, but not to an independent center.
The Jesse Helms Center has used this to raise large sums of money for itself and also as a way for foreign countries to give money to Jesse Helms. Taiwan, which Helms supports, donated $225,000 to the center in 1993. Kuwait donated $100.000 to the Helms Center after the Persian Gulf War.
If the center was simply something set up by a few independent citizens for individuals to 'appreciate' Jesse Helms, the donations would not be suspicious. However, Helms' links to this center are hardly passive. Helms' wife and daughter serve on the Board of Directors of the center along with his foreign relations chief of staff and a former chief legislative assistant... Helms also evidently helps to set up some of the donations."
-- House of Crooks Presents: Jesse Helms
Friday, April 07, 2000
Friday, March 31, 2000
Farewell, Mr. Democracy
Farewell, Mr. Democracy
Bevin Chu
March 30, 2000
Mr. Democracy vs. the Democratic Process
Lee Teng-hui, lame duck president of the Republic of China, is no champion of democracy. Lee's ludicrous "Mr. Democracy" label was the result of wishful thinking by embarassingly naive reporters for Newsweek magazine with almost zero understanding of what they were writing about.
China-haters and Taiwan "independence" fellow travellers, usually one and the same, suffer from selective amnesia. They conveniently forget just how Lee Teng-hui became president of the ROC.
Lee did not rise through the ROC political hierarchy "democratically," the way Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan rose through America's. Lee's presidency was conferred upon him. The late Chiang Ching-kuo conferred the ROC presidency on Lee, the same way Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek conferred the ROC presidency on Chiang Ching-kuo, the same way Deng Xiaoping conferred the PRC presidency on Jiang Zemin.
Lee became president of the ROC not by means of democracy, but by imperial succession. The only difference is Lee put a democratic face on his ascension to the throne by holding a direct election, after the fact. Exploiting advantages conferred upon him by an imperial presidency, including a state-controlled media and an inexperienced, gullible electorate, Lee ensured his own "democratic" victory.
Unfortunately for Lee, this was a gambit he could use only once. Had "Mr. Democracy" been eligible for another term, and chose to run, he would have been trounced, but good, by James Soong.
Mr. Democracy vs. Term Limits
Lee could not legally run for another term, not without yet another constitutional amendment. Mr. Democracy has had the ROC Constitution amended five times in nine years for two reasons. One, to increase his personal power and two, to pave the way for Taiwan independence.
Previous amendments systematically raised the threshold for impeachment so high Lee is now virtually an elective monarch. Another amendment would mean six amendments in ten years.
It is widely rumored the only reason Lee has not demanded another amendment and another term, is our own US State Department secretly confronted "Mr. Democracy" with an ultimatum, "Step down, or else."
Mr. Democracy vs. Chiang Ching-kuo
Chiang Ching-kuo earnestly believed Lee would carry on Chiang's program of political liberalization, of glasnost and perestroika. Chiang was wrong. New Party legislator and vice-presidential candidate Fung Hu-hsiang, who once served as Chiang's executive secretary recalls how Chiang did so many things right. He lifted martial law. He abolished media censorship. He legalized opposition political parties. He promoted "native" Taiwan political talent to higher office. If anybody deserves the title "Mr. Democracy," it's Chiang Ching-kuo, not Lee Teng-hui.
Unfortunately the one thing Chiang messed up, he messed up royally, his choice of successor. He inflicted the despotic Quisling Lee Teng-hui on the people of the ROC, for twelve long years. Such is the downside of "benevolent despotism." One never knows if the next guy in line is another "Mr. Democracy."
Mr. Democracy, meet Mr. Mann
In an article entitled "Taiwan President Taking a Bad Rap" (Wednesday, March 22, 2000
Los Angeles Times) columnist Jim Mann wrote:
"Taiwan's president [Lee Teng-hui] is being charged with secretly wanting the opposition DPP to win the election. Lee, so this argument goes, is an ardent Taiwanese nationalist who sympathizes with the DPP's past support for the cause of independence for Taiwan... Are these accusations against Lee valid? ... did Lee actually work behind the scenes against Lien and the KMT, his own party? There's little evidence to support such a charge... "
Little evidence to support such a charge?
In August 1994, Liu Tai-ying, Chairman, Business Affairs Committee, Kuomintang, met with then Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Shih Ming-teh, and offered to pay the cost of the DPP's new headquarters building. Liu Tai-ying freely admits this event took place but claims that President and KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui knew nothing of the offer. Skeptics consider this even less believable than Hillary Clinton not knowing about the White House Travel Office firings. Liu Tai-ying also offered to underwrite the DPP's entire annual budget, to the tune of $4.3 million U.S.
Mann must be kidding.
Mr. Democracy vs. Ma Ying-Jeou
Mann wrote:
"The argument that Taiwan's president wanted his own party to lose ignores what he said and did during this campaign and previous campaigns. Two years ago, when the DPP's Chen was running for reelection as mayor of Taipei, there were similar charges that the president secretly wanted him to win because Chen was Taiwanese and his opponent, Ma Ying-jeou, was from mainland China. Instead, Lee campaigned vigorously for Ma, who proceeded to win."
As John McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Group likes to say, "Wrong!"
For starters Lee discouraged Ma's nomination. When Ma was nominated by the KMT hierarchy in spite of Lee's wishes, because nominees John Chang and Jason Hu lacked the charisma to beat Chen, Lee refused to attend Ma's rallies. Finally, a week or so before election day Lee relented.
Ma did not win because Lee campaigned "vigorously" for Ma, because Lee did not campaign "vigorously" for Ma. Lee campaigned grudgingly, half-heartedly for Ma. Getting Lee to campaign for Ma was like pulling teeth. Ask KMT "non-mainstream faction" members who drafted Ma to be their party's nominee.
Mr. Democracy vs. the New Party
Ma won because New Party members sacrificed their own better qualified candidate Wang Chien-hsuan, in order to block the separatist Chen's path to the ROC presidency. What they did was referred to as "qi Wang, bao Ma" or "dump Wang, save Ma." Ask DPP members registered to vote in Taipei. You'll be subjected to an earful of angry profanity directed at "mainland pigs." Two years later they still resent Chen's loss, and place the blame squarely on the pro-reunification New Party.
Mr. Democracy vs. Lien Chan
Mann wrote:
"In recent months, Lee publicly denounced Chen as unreliable. And he declared that, if the DPP came to power, there would be instability between Taiwan and China. These don't seem like the actions of a DPP cheerleader. They look more like the actions of a leader who hoped his own KMT would win so that he would retain a degree of power after he was no longer president."
Wrong! Recent months? Try recent days. Again Lee reluctantly went through the motions of supporting his own party's candidate for appearance's sake. But he did so only after he was reasonably confident his strategy of "qi Lien, bao Bian" had taken effect.
Mr. Democracy and the Order of Lenin
Jim Mann just doesn't get it.
The KMT, like the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is a Leninist political party. For that matter, so is the "opposition" DPP. KMT tradition mandates that whoever is president is also automatically party chairman, and vice-versa. That's right. Just like the "Communists" in Beijing.
If Lien Chan were elected, Lee would be forced to step down as party chairman. Besides, by Lee's lights Lien is not sufficiently committed to Taiwan independence. That's why many pro-reunification KMT members supported Lien against Chen. Rightly or wrongly, they believe Lien to be a closet advocate of reunification.
If on the other hand, Chen were elected, Lee could argue he needed to retain the chairmanship in order "to rescue the party in its hour of need."
No. Lee did not hope his own KMT would win so that he would retain a degree of power after he was no longer president. Instead Lee hoped Chen Shui-bian, whom Lee compared to Joshua and himself to Moses, would win. Lee hoped after he conferred the ROC presidency on Chen Shui-bian, that Lee would at least be able to retain his own party's chairmanship.
Mr. Democracy vs. James Soong
During the election Lee Teng-hui marshalled the entire resources of the KMT party machine to smear James Soong with false accusations of embezzlement. A subsequent Control Yuan investigation cleared Soong of any and all wrongdoing. The damage however had already been done. Soong never fully recovered in the polls.
See:
The Least of Three Evils
Mr. Democracy to A-Bian's Rescue
On the other hand, Lee Teng-hui ordered evidence that Chen Shui-bian defrauded a wealthy Chinese-Malaysian tycoon out of a fortune in a phony lottery scheme suppressed until after election day. Prosecutors have since announced that the handwriting on a sheaf of incriminating documents match Chen's handwriting samples. Too late. Chen is already president-elect, soon to be president, with full executive immunity. Chen meanwhile, has openly declared his intention to cover for benefactor Lee Teng-hui. Who says there's no honor among thieves?
L.A. Confidential
The Academy Award winning film "L.A. Confidential" painted a riveting portrait of Los Angeles during the 1950s, on two levels. On the surface, the mythical Los Angeles of Jack Webb's police drama "Dragnet," viewed through Eisenhower era rosed-colored glasses. Beneath the surface, beneath the Tinseltown glitz, a Dark City of Rodney King police brutality and Heidi Fleiss sex scandals which persists even today.
Just the Facts, Mann, Just the Facts
Mann wrote:
"The conspiracy theory of Taiwan's election is too simplistic to bear scrutiny. Chen didn't win because the Taiwan president secretly supported him... Lee Teng-hui looks above all like King Lear, an elderly ruler in decline... His downfall is the stuff not of conspiracy but of tragedy and pathos."
What is too simplistic to bear scrutiny is Mann's glib but irrelevant King Lear analogy. Misleading literary allusions are a sorry substitute for hard facts. Newsweek in 1996, and the Los Angeles Times in 2000 have presented us with a "Pleasantville" version of Taiwan's "democracy" akin to the sanitized Los Angeles Jack Webb depicted in Dragnet.
Mr. Democracy, be careful What You Wish For
The iconoclastic Li Ao recently suggested that Chen Shui-bian will sell out Taiwan independence for personal political advantage. According to Li Ao, Chen Shui-bian is actually an unprincipled opportunist wolf in Taiwan independence sheeps' clothing.
If Li Ao is right, and Li Ao ought to know, having known Chen for twenty years, then Lee Teng-hui may have outsmarted himself by turning the reigns of the ROC government over to someone who will wind up making a deal with Beijing and relegate Taiwan independence to the dustbin of history.
If Li Ao's prediction proves correct, Chen Shui-bian's election will prove an ironic and unexpected benefit to both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The fact is Deng Xiaoping's, and now Jiang Zemin's intention, was never to overrun Taiwan in order to impose doctrinaire "communism" on the island, but merely to prevent the loss of sovereign Chinese territory.
Beijing is perfectly happy to permit Taiwan an extraordinarily high degree of local autonomy, even to keep its own armed forces, as long as Taiwan remains part of China. A pragmatic deal struck between the Chen regime in Taipei and the Jiang regime in Beijing would be a win/win proposition for America, for mainland China, and for Taiwan.
The only losers would be Robert Kagan and William Kristol of the Weekly Standard. These Armchair Warriors, these Profiles in Courage would be instantly deprived of their newest and most likely candidate for Son of Evil Empire. Better luck next time, fellas.
Appendix:
Taiwan's Newest Export -- KMT Corruption
An Abbreviated Chronology of Liu Tai-ying's Influence Peddling
Liu Tai-ying's official title is "Chairman, Business Affairs Committee, Kuomintang" (or KMT), the ruling party of the Republic of China (Taiwan). He is the man President Lee Teng-hui has entrusted with Taiwan's most notorious overseas export: political influence peddling. He is the prime suspect behind the 15 million dollar bribe to Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. In short, he is Lee Teng-hui's Ambassador of "Checkbook Diplomacy."
The Kuomintang is reputed to be the world's wealthiest political party. Americans may be surprised to learn that unlike their own political parties which are required by U.S. law and custom to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, the KMT openly owns and operates a wide range of highly lucrative business enterprises, from which it competes unfairly by exploiting its status as ruling party of the R.O.C.
What follows is a paper trail, thoroughly documented and a matter of public record, of Liu Tai-ying's long and sordid history of illegal and unethical influence peddling at home and abroad.
Liu Tai-ying's Paper Trail
1. In August 1994, Liu Tai-ying met with then Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Shih Ming-teh face to face, and offered to pay the cost of the new DPP Headquarters building. Liu Tai-ying freely admits this event took place but inisists that President and KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui knew nothing of the offer. Skeptics consider this even less believable than Hillary Clinton not knowing about the White House Travel Office firings.
2. On the same occasion Liu Tai-ying offered to underwrite the DPP's entire annual budget, to the tune of $4.3 million U.S. Both building and budget offers were turned down, but considering that the DPP is the largest pro-independence party in Taiwan, they cast more than a little doubt on Lee Teng-hui's public expressions of support for reunification with the mainland.
3. Liu Tai-ying's boss, KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui not long ago declared his intention to offer the United Nations $1 billion U.S. for a seat in the General Assembly. This brazen attempt to bribe the world body was ignored, but reveals the "anything is for sale" world view of the KMT leadership.
4. On behalf of Lee Teng-hui, Liu Tai-ying engaged the high-powered public relations firm of Cassidy and Associates for the astronomical sum of $4.5 million U.S. in order to smooth the way for his politically-motivated "private" 1995 Cornell University trip.
5. Cornell University admits that they received a $2.5 million U.S. donation from a "friend" of Lee Teng-hui after Lee's trip.
6. In February 1994, Liu Tai-ying paved the way for Lee Teng-hui's Indonesian state visit by making a $100 million U.S. contribution to Indonesian president Suharto.
7. In April 1995, Liu Tai-ying prepared the way for Lee Teng-hui's mid-East trip with generous contributions to Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
8. In April 1995, Liu Tai-ying attempted to bribe Israel with an offer ranging between $250 and $400 million U.S. to allow a state visit by Lee Teng-hui. Israel turned him down.
9. In 1994 Liu Tai-ying arranged for the sale of the Hong Kong Times office building at the bargain basement price of $190 million H.K. The building was resold only three months later for the sum of $580 million H.K. Why was the spread so great? Who pocketed the profit? These and other troubling questions remain unanswered.
10. Liu Tai-ying arranged for the purchase of an office building in Japan at the exorbitant price of 13.9 billion Yen. The building has been appraised as having a market value of only 6.5 billion Yen. Who pocketed the 100% profit? Did it pay for Lee's Japan visit? These are reasonable questions.
11. Liu Tai-ying's annual salary of $700,000 U.S. exceeds that of R.O.C. President Lee Teng-hui, which in turn exceeds that of U.S. President Bill Clinton. Liu's bar-hopping lifestyle compares with that of Clinton advisor Dick Morris, as does his ego. He boasts of having single-handedly raised $800 million U.S. for the KMT over a period of three short years, without apology for the unethical means by which he did so.
12. Liu is well connected with the heads of Taiwan's "Four Big Enterprises," namely Evergreen, China Trust, the Cathay Group and Formosa Plastics. It was Liu who introduced Mark Middleton, President Clinton's Special Assistant to the "Four Big Enterprises." That Evergreen was subsequently fined by the State of California for making an illegal $890,000 U.S. campaign contribution does little to dispel suspicion about Liu's involvement in the latest Clinton bribery scandal.
Conclusion
Liu Tai-ying and his boss Lee Teng-hui are of course responsible for their misdeeds and must answer for them. Nevertheless our overview is not intended as an indictment of Liu and Lee as individuals, but rather of endemic, systemic corruption. Lee Teng-hui's "corruption as a way of life" must be rooted out before the Republic of China can become a democracy in more than name only. It is only when clean government has been reestablished at home that the R.O.C. will cease to be an exporter of corruption abroad.
Written by Fung Hu-hsiang, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy at National Central University
Member of the Legislature of the Republic of China
Translated by Bevin Chu
R.A., Texas
Bevin Chu
March 30, 2000
Mr. Democracy vs. the Democratic Process
Lee Teng-hui, lame duck president of the Republic of China, is no champion of democracy. Lee's ludicrous "Mr. Democracy" label was the result of wishful thinking by embarassingly naive reporters for Newsweek magazine with almost zero understanding of what they were writing about.
China-haters and Taiwan "independence" fellow travellers, usually one and the same, suffer from selective amnesia. They conveniently forget just how Lee Teng-hui became president of the ROC.
Lee did not rise through the ROC political hierarchy "democratically," the way Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan rose through America's. Lee's presidency was conferred upon him. The late Chiang Ching-kuo conferred the ROC presidency on Lee, the same way Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek conferred the ROC presidency on Chiang Ching-kuo, the same way Deng Xiaoping conferred the PRC presidency on Jiang Zemin.
Lee became president of the ROC not by means of democracy, but by imperial succession. The only difference is Lee put a democratic face on his ascension to the throne by holding a direct election, after the fact. Exploiting advantages conferred upon him by an imperial presidency, including a state-controlled media and an inexperienced, gullible electorate, Lee ensured his own "democratic" victory.
Unfortunately for Lee, this was a gambit he could use only once. Had "Mr. Democracy" been eligible for another term, and chose to run, he would have been trounced, but good, by James Soong.
Mr. Democracy vs. Term Limits
Lee could not legally run for another term, not without yet another constitutional amendment. Mr. Democracy has had the ROC Constitution amended five times in nine years for two reasons. One, to increase his personal power and two, to pave the way for Taiwan independence.
Previous amendments systematically raised the threshold for impeachment so high Lee is now virtually an elective monarch. Another amendment would mean six amendments in ten years.
It is widely rumored the only reason Lee has not demanded another amendment and another term, is our own US State Department secretly confronted "Mr. Democracy" with an ultimatum, "Step down, or else."
Mr. Democracy vs. Chiang Ching-kuo
Chiang Ching-kuo earnestly believed Lee would carry on Chiang's program of political liberalization, of glasnost and perestroika. Chiang was wrong. New Party legislator and vice-presidential candidate Fung Hu-hsiang, who once served as Chiang's executive secretary recalls how Chiang did so many things right. He lifted martial law. He abolished media censorship. He legalized opposition political parties. He promoted "native" Taiwan political talent to higher office. If anybody deserves the title "Mr. Democracy," it's Chiang Ching-kuo, not Lee Teng-hui.
Unfortunately the one thing Chiang messed up, he messed up royally, his choice of successor. He inflicted the despotic Quisling Lee Teng-hui on the people of the ROC, for twelve long years. Such is the downside of "benevolent despotism." One never knows if the next guy in line is another "Mr. Democracy."
Mr. Democracy, meet Mr. Mann
In an article entitled "Taiwan President Taking a Bad Rap" (Wednesday, March 22, 2000
Los Angeles Times) columnist Jim Mann wrote:
"Taiwan's president [Lee Teng-hui] is being charged with secretly wanting the opposition DPP to win the election. Lee, so this argument goes, is an ardent Taiwanese nationalist who sympathizes with the DPP's past support for the cause of independence for Taiwan... Are these accusations against Lee valid? ... did Lee actually work behind the scenes against Lien and the KMT, his own party? There's little evidence to support such a charge... "
Little evidence to support such a charge?
In August 1994, Liu Tai-ying, Chairman, Business Affairs Committee, Kuomintang, met with then Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Shih Ming-teh, and offered to pay the cost of the DPP's new headquarters building. Liu Tai-ying freely admits this event took place but claims that President and KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui knew nothing of the offer. Skeptics consider this even less believable than Hillary Clinton not knowing about the White House Travel Office firings. Liu Tai-ying also offered to underwrite the DPP's entire annual budget, to the tune of $4.3 million U.S.
Mann must be kidding.
Mr. Democracy vs. Ma Ying-Jeou
Mann wrote:
"The argument that Taiwan's president wanted his own party to lose ignores what he said and did during this campaign and previous campaigns. Two years ago, when the DPP's Chen was running for reelection as mayor of Taipei, there were similar charges that the president secretly wanted him to win because Chen was Taiwanese and his opponent, Ma Ying-jeou, was from mainland China. Instead, Lee campaigned vigorously for Ma, who proceeded to win."
As John McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Group likes to say, "Wrong!"
For starters Lee discouraged Ma's nomination. When Ma was nominated by the KMT hierarchy in spite of Lee's wishes, because nominees John Chang and Jason Hu lacked the charisma to beat Chen, Lee refused to attend Ma's rallies. Finally, a week or so before election day Lee relented.
Ma did not win because Lee campaigned "vigorously" for Ma, because Lee did not campaign "vigorously" for Ma. Lee campaigned grudgingly, half-heartedly for Ma. Getting Lee to campaign for Ma was like pulling teeth. Ask KMT "non-mainstream faction" members who drafted Ma to be their party's nominee.
Mr. Democracy vs. the New Party
Ma won because New Party members sacrificed their own better qualified candidate Wang Chien-hsuan, in order to block the separatist Chen's path to the ROC presidency. What they did was referred to as "qi Wang, bao Ma" or "dump Wang, save Ma." Ask DPP members registered to vote in Taipei. You'll be subjected to an earful of angry profanity directed at "mainland pigs." Two years later they still resent Chen's loss, and place the blame squarely on the pro-reunification New Party.
Mr. Democracy vs. Lien Chan
Mann wrote:
"In recent months, Lee publicly denounced Chen as unreliable. And he declared that, if the DPP came to power, there would be instability between Taiwan and China. These don't seem like the actions of a DPP cheerleader. They look more like the actions of a leader who hoped his own KMT would win so that he would retain a degree of power after he was no longer president."
Wrong! Recent months? Try recent days. Again Lee reluctantly went through the motions of supporting his own party's candidate for appearance's sake. But he did so only after he was reasonably confident his strategy of "qi Lien, bao Bian" had taken effect.
Mr. Democracy and the Order of Lenin
Jim Mann just doesn't get it.
The KMT, like the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is a Leninist political party. For that matter, so is the "opposition" DPP. KMT tradition mandates that whoever is president is also automatically party chairman, and vice-versa. That's right. Just like the "Communists" in Beijing.
If Lien Chan were elected, Lee would be forced to step down as party chairman. Besides, by Lee's lights Lien is not sufficiently committed to Taiwan independence. That's why many pro-reunification KMT members supported Lien against Chen. Rightly or wrongly, they believe Lien to be a closet advocate of reunification.
If on the other hand, Chen were elected, Lee could argue he needed to retain the chairmanship in order "to rescue the party in its hour of need."
No. Lee did not hope his own KMT would win so that he would retain a degree of power after he was no longer president. Instead Lee hoped Chen Shui-bian, whom Lee compared to Joshua and himself to Moses, would win. Lee hoped after he conferred the ROC presidency on Chen Shui-bian, that Lee would at least be able to retain his own party's chairmanship.
Mr. Democracy vs. James Soong
During the election Lee Teng-hui marshalled the entire resources of the KMT party machine to smear James Soong with false accusations of embezzlement. A subsequent Control Yuan investigation cleared Soong of any and all wrongdoing. The damage however had already been done. Soong never fully recovered in the polls.
See:
The Least of Three Evils
Mr. Democracy to A-Bian's Rescue
On the other hand, Lee Teng-hui ordered evidence that Chen Shui-bian defrauded a wealthy Chinese-Malaysian tycoon out of a fortune in a phony lottery scheme suppressed until after election day. Prosecutors have since announced that the handwriting on a sheaf of incriminating documents match Chen's handwriting samples. Too late. Chen is already president-elect, soon to be president, with full executive immunity. Chen meanwhile, has openly declared his intention to cover for benefactor Lee Teng-hui. Who says there's no honor among thieves?
L.A. Confidential
The Academy Award winning film "L.A. Confidential" painted a riveting portrait of Los Angeles during the 1950s, on two levels. On the surface, the mythical Los Angeles of Jack Webb's police drama "Dragnet," viewed through Eisenhower era rosed-colored glasses. Beneath the surface, beneath the Tinseltown glitz, a Dark City of Rodney King police brutality and Heidi Fleiss sex scandals which persists even today.
Just the Facts, Mann, Just the Facts
Mann wrote:
"The conspiracy theory of Taiwan's election is too simplistic to bear scrutiny. Chen didn't win because the Taiwan president secretly supported him... Lee Teng-hui looks above all like King Lear, an elderly ruler in decline... His downfall is the stuff not of conspiracy but of tragedy and pathos."
What is too simplistic to bear scrutiny is Mann's glib but irrelevant King Lear analogy. Misleading literary allusions are a sorry substitute for hard facts. Newsweek in 1996, and the Los Angeles Times in 2000 have presented us with a "Pleasantville" version of Taiwan's "democracy" akin to the sanitized Los Angeles Jack Webb depicted in Dragnet.
Mr. Democracy, be careful What You Wish For
The iconoclastic Li Ao recently suggested that Chen Shui-bian will sell out Taiwan independence for personal political advantage. According to Li Ao, Chen Shui-bian is actually an unprincipled opportunist wolf in Taiwan independence sheeps' clothing.
If Li Ao is right, and Li Ao ought to know, having known Chen for twenty years, then Lee Teng-hui may have outsmarted himself by turning the reigns of the ROC government over to someone who will wind up making a deal with Beijing and relegate Taiwan independence to the dustbin of history.
If Li Ao's prediction proves correct, Chen Shui-bian's election will prove an ironic and unexpected benefit to both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The fact is Deng Xiaoping's, and now Jiang Zemin's intention, was never to overrun Taiwan in order to impose doctrinaire "communism" on the island, but merely to prevent the loss of sovereign Chinese territory.
Beijing is perfectly happy to permit Taiwan an extraordinarily high degree of local autonomy, even to keep its own armed forces, as long as Taiwan remains part of China. A pragmatic deal struck between the Chen regime in Taipei and the Jiang regime in Beijing would be a win/win proposition for America, for mainland China, and for Taiwan.
The only losers would be Robert Kagan and William Kristol of the Weekly Standard. These Armchair Warriors, these Profiles in Courage would be instantly deprived of their newest and most likely candidate for Son of Evil Empire. Better luck next time, fellas.
Appendix:
Taiwan's Newest Export -- KMT Corruption
An Abbreviated Chronology of Liu Tai-ying's Influence Peddling
Liu Tai-ying's official title is "Chairman, Business Affairs Committee, Kuomintang" (or KMT), the ruling party of the Republic of China (Taiwan). He is the man President Lee Teng-hui has entrusted with Taiwan's most notorious overseas export: political influence peddling. He is the prime suspect behind the 15 million dollar bribe to Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. In short, he is Lee Teng-hui's Ambassador of "Checkbook Diplomacy."
The Kuomintang is reputed to be the world's wealthiest political party. Americans may be surprised to learn that unlike their own political parties which are required by U.S. law and custom to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, the KMT openly owns and operates a wide range of highly lucrative business enterprises, from which it competes unfairly by exploiting its status as ruling party of the R.O.C.
What follows is a paper trail, thoroughly documented and a matter of public record, of Liu Tai-ying's long and sordid history of illegal and unethical influence peddling at home and abroad.
Liu Tai-ying's Paper Trail
1. In August 1994, Liu Tai-ying met with then Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Shih Ming-teh face to face, and offered to pay the cost of the new DPP Headquarters building. Liu Tai-ying freely admits this event took place but inisists that President and KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui knew nothing of the offer. Skeptics consider this even less believable than Hillary Clinton not knowing about the White House Travel Office firings.
2. On the same occasion Liu Tai-ying offered to underwrite the DPP's entire annual budget, to the tune of $4.3 million U.S. Both building and budget offers were turned down, but considering that the DPP is the largest pro-independence party in Taiwan, they cast more than a little doubt on Lee Teng-hui's public expressions of support for reunification with the mainland.
3. Liu Tai-ying's boss, KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui not long ago declared his intention to offer the United Nations $1 billion U.S. for a seat in the General Assembly. This brazen attempt to bribe the world body was ignored, but reveals the "anything is for sale" world view of the KMT leadership.
4. On behalf of Lee Teng-hui, Liu Tai-ying engaged the high-powered public relations firm of Cassidy and Associates for the astronomical sum of $4.5 million U.S. in order to smooth the way for his politically-motivated "private" 1995 Cornell University trip.
5. Cornell University admits that they received a $2.5 million U.S. donation from a "friend" of Lee Teng-hui after Lee's trip.
6. In February 1994, Liu Tai-ying paved the way for Lee Teng-hui's Indonesian state visit by making a $100 million U.S. contribution to Indonesian president Suharto.
7. In April 1995, Liu Tai-ying prepared the way for Lee Teng-hui's mid-East trip with generous contributions to Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
8. In April 1995, Liu Tai-ying attempted to bribe Israel with an offer ranging between $250 and $400 million U.S. to allow a state visit by Lee Teng-hui. Israel turned him down.
9. In 1994 Liu Tai-ying arranged for the sale of the Hong Kong Times office building at the bargain basement price of $190 million H.K. The building was resold only three months later for the sum of $580 million H.K. Why was the spread so great? Who pocketed the profit? These and other troubling questions remain unanswered.
10. Liu Tai-ying arranged for the purchase of an office building in Japan at the exorbitant price of 13.9 billion Yen. The building has been appraised as having a market value of only 6.5 billion Yen. Who pocketed the 100% profit? Did it pay for Lee's Japan visit? These are reasonable questions.
11. Liu Tai-ying's annual salary of $700,000 U.S. exceeds that of R.O.C. President Lee Teng-hui, which in turn exceeds that of U.S. President Bill Clinton. Liu's bar-hopping lifestyle compares with that of Clinton advisor Dick Morris, as does his ego. He boasts of having single-handedly raised $800 million U.S. for the KMT over a period of three short years, without apology for the unethical means by which he did so.
12. Liu is well connected with the heads of Taiwan's "Four Big Enterprises," namely Evergreen, China Trust, the Cathay Group and Formosa Plastics. It was Liu who introduced Mark Middleton, President Clinton's Special Assistant to the "Four Big Enterprises." That Evergreen was subsequently fined by the State of California for making an illegal $890,000 U.S. campaign contribution does little to dispel suspicion about Liu's involvement in the latest Clinton bribery scandal.
Conclusion
Liu Tai-ying and his boss Lee Teng-hui are of course responsible for their misdeeds and must answer for them. Nevertheless our overview is not intended as an indictment of Liu and Lee as individuals, but rather of endemic, systemic corruption. Lee Teng-hui's "corruption as a way of life" must be rooted out before the Republic of China can become a democracy in more than name only. It is only when clean government has been reestablished at home that the R.O.C. will cease to be an exporter of corruption abroad.
Written by Fung Hu-hsiang, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy at National Central University
Member of the Legislature of the Republic of China
Translated by Bevin Chu
R.A., Texas
Saturday, March 25, 2000
Taiwan's Fraudulent Election
Taiwan's Fraudulent Election
Bevin Chu
March 24, 2000
Clinton in Wonderland
Taiwan election shows vitality of its democracy, says Clinton
Agence France Press, March 18, 2000
WASHINGTON -- President Bill Clinton on Saturday hailed the the election of Mr Chen Shui-bian as President of Taiwan. [sic!]
"I congratulate Mr Chen Shui-bian on his victory," the US leader said in a statement released by the White House. "This election demonstrates clearly the strength and vitality of Taiwan's democracy. I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides to reach out and resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue," he said.
Whether Slick Willy actually believes this arrant nonsense, or merely feels compelled to pay pro forma lip service for "diplomatic" reasons, only he knows. But libertarian anti-interventionists need not be bound by the Orwellian Newspeak of beltway insiders, and are free to tell it like it is.
Meanwhile, back in the Real World
On March 18, 2000, history repeated itself. The Republic of China's Y2K presidential election turned out to be a replay of the 1994 Taipei mayoral election. In 1994 "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui, Chairman of the KMT, coerced Mayor Huang Ta-chou, the KMT incumbent, who knew he was unelectable due to voter dissatisfaction with his job performance, to run in a three way race.
What was Lee Teng-hui's motive?
Lee is a pro-Japan Quisling and a covert Taiwan separatist. In an infamous 1995 interview with the late Japanese journalist Ryotaro Shiba, Lee likened himself to Moses, leading his people out of Egypt, i.e., China, and to the promised land, i.e., Japan. Lee later likened rabid separatist Chen Shui-bian of the "opposition" DPP to Mose's successor, Joshua.
Lee wanted to split enough of the pro-reunification vote from the pro-reunification New Party's Jaw Shau-kang to ensure that Chen Shui-bian would ascend to office of Mayor of Taipei, a traditional stepping stone to the Republic of China's presidency.
This sleazy, anti-democratic electoral sleight of hand, calculated to deny the voters a result which actually reflected the popular will, was referred to as "qi Huang, bao Chen," or "dump Huang, save Chen," and successfully handed the keys to the City of Taipei to Chen.
Deja Vu All Over Again
Now, fast forward to March 18, 2000. KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui deliberately coerces his own party's unelectable Lien Chan, whose numbers are mired in the low to mid teens, to run against the immensely popular pro-reunification James Soong, whom Lee excommunicated from the KMT and who subsequently ran as an independent.
As in 1994, Chen Shui-bian, aka Joshua, wins again. This dog and pony show was referred to as "qi Lien, bao Bian" or "dump Lien, save Bian." This time, by a slim margin of 300,000 votes out of 12 million registered voters and an 83% voter turnout, Chen was handed the keys to the Presidential Palace. Soong received 37% of the vote. Lien received 23%. Again, this split the pro-reunification vote, clearing the way for rabid separatist Chen to squeak by with a mere 39% plurality.
Sixty one percent of the voting public in the Republic of China voted against the separatist Chen. Taiwan's Y2K election may be a lot of things, including a cruel hoax perpetrated against a politically naive electorate still struggling to cope with the darkside of "democracy," but the one thing it is categorically not is a mandate for Taiwan independence.
Better Living through Chemistry
Even many of those who voted for Chen did not do so because they advocate Taiwan independence. They voted reluctantly for Chen's party, the DPP, and only because they could no longer endure the KMT's endemic corruption. They voted for Chen only because Lee Yuan-tse, the ROC's only Nobel Laureate (for Chemistry), abused the power of his office.
Lee, a Taiwan independence diehard and head of the prestigious taxpayer funded Academia Sinica, went on TV in a slick campaign ad endorsing Chen. Oozing with sincerity, Lee assured borderline Chen supporters who harbored grave reservations about Chen's fanatical separatism, not to worry. He, Lee, would transform Chen from a separatist Mr. Hyde into a "kinder, gentler" Dr. Jekyll, who would make peace with the mainland, presumably through chemistry.
Chen has thanked Lee profusely, convinced that many undecideds swallowed Lee's appeal hook, line and sinker.
Are Run-off Elections Undemocratic?
In many European and western hemisphere democracies, election laws would mandate a run-off election to establish an absolute majority and solid electoral mandate. If such a run-off election were held in Taiwan, right this minute, Chen Shui-bian would lose by a landslide, and the Taiwan independence elite damned well knows it.
Yet this obscene travesty of the "democratic process" is going to be spin-controlled by Taiwan independence Quislings and China-hating beltway bombardiers as "the Taiwanese people's yearning for freedom and independence." Count on it.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Opinion Polls
The week before the election Lee not only misused party resources, but public resources to brainwash trusting pro-reunification KMT members to "save Lien, dump Soong," on the false pretext of preventing the pro-independence Chen from winning.
Among his many transgressions, Lee violated ROC election laws, which prohibit the release of poll results starting ten days prior to election day. The purpose of these laws are to prevent the misuse of phony polls designed to influence election results.
What did "Mr. Democracy" do? Lee ordered the release of not one, but two sets of poll results. One real, one phony.
Real poll results, which accurately reflected how far Soong was in the lead, were supplied to the "opposition" DPP Chen Shui-bian's campaign committee, helping them fine-tune their campaign tactics to shifting public moods.
Phony poll results, which falsely alleged Lee Teng-hui puppet Lien Chan was leading Soong, were deliberately leaked to the public at large. Thousands of red cloth election banners with the white characters "qi Soong, bao Lien" or "dump Soong, save Lien," were cranked out and distributed island-wide. This had the predictable effect of panicking at least several hundred thousand, if not millions, of grassroots KMT members to do just that.
Many grassroots KMT members who have never been able to bring themselves to believe Lee was in fact a "separatist wolf in reunification sheep's clothing," obediently voted for Lien. They now realize, too late, how badly they were duped.
The Japanese Connection
Hsieh Chi-ta, a New Party legislator and former judge, respected even by her political enemies as a stateswoman of impeccable honor, has done her utmost to encourage both the protestors and riot police to remain calm, however righteous their anger might be.
As she spoke she reminded the media and the Taiwan public about an aspect of the cross Straits crisis which is often neglected, deliberately, the Japanese Connection.
Even elementary school girls in Japan, when they receive an award, stand and shout "Lee Teng-hui, wan sui!" or "Long live Lee Teng-hui!" Naturally they do it in Japanese, not Chinese. But why do they perform such a bizzare ritual at all? What does Lee Teng-hui have to do with Japan?
The anwer is, plenty.
They do it because everyone in Japan, even adolescents, know that Lee Teng-hui is to coin a phrase, a "Japanese cuckoo's egg in China's nest." They do it because they know Lee Teng-hui is deliberately engineering an apocalyptic showdown between China and America. They do it because they know China-haters like Chris Cox are too dense to realize that while his irrational bigotry is focused on China, he has forgotten which Asian nation bombed Pearl Harbor. They do it because they want Japan to stand on the sidelines while China and America destroy each other, and when the dust has settled, assume the mantle of Asia's premier superpower.
Japan's Proposal
None of this is a secret if one knows where to look. Just read Lee Teng-hui's book "Taiwan's Proposal," ghost-written by a Japanese neofascist and published in Japan, not Taiwan. Pray tell, why is a book entitled "Taiwan's Proposal" authored and published in Japan by militant Japanese right-wingers? Is "Taiwan's Proposal" really Taiwan's Proposal, or "Japan's Proposal?"
Much of what I write probably comes as a shock to those who don't speak Chinese and hence have little clue about what's actually going on in Taiwan, including instant experts among our sanctimonious foreign policy elite. But it's hardly a secret to anyone who speaks Chinese, lives here a few months, and spends a little time watching the surfeit of nightly "McLaughlin Group" type political talk shows.
A Taiwanese Tiananmen
If only my fellow Americans back home could receive live Taiwan cable TV news coverage. What they would witness is a Taiwanese Tiananmen Incident. Outraged grassroots KMT members who voted for Soong, have joined outraged grassroots KMT members who voted for Lien. Together with support from other segments of the Taiwan public, they are protesting in front of KMT party headquarters, and are refusing to leave until Lee resigns his party chairmanship.
They are chanting, among other slogans, "Lee Teng-hui, xia tai!" or "Lee Teng-hui, step down!" The flag they are waving is the red, white and blue flag of the Republic of China, not any so-called "Taiwan" flag.
The protestors are protesting not against "democracy," but against anti-democratic chicanery and election fraud inflicted upon them by their own party chairman, a "stealth separatist" who delivered their nation into the hands of the DPP's Chen Shui-bian, a opportunistic traitor belonging to another party.
At Tiananmen, protestors chanted "Deng Xiaoping, xia tai!" Lee Teng-hui gloated. Now Lee's political chickens have come home to roost.
The Ministry of Truth
What has the Fifth Estate's response been? Lee Teng-hui's state-controlled Taiwan media, and much of the mainstream western media, with a few noteworthy exceptions which deserve high praise, have been sniping at the protestors, portraying them as a "mob," as "anti-democratic," as "sore losers." They have been self-righteously demanding of the protesters "Why don't you accept the results of a democratic process?"
Chen's Clintonian Doublespeak
To which one might ask, why doesn't Chen Shui-bian, President Elect of the Republic of China, accept the result of a democratic process? Chen began his "acceptance speech" with a ringing declaration about how "the Republic of China's presidential election" had been successfully concluded, and how he had been elected, get this, "President of Taiwan." He did not refer to "the Republic of China" again. After that it was Taiwan this and Taiwan that.
On previous occasions Chen has stated, in classic Clintonian doublespeak, that "Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state, its current name is the Republic of China."
Right. Oral sex is not sex. It all depends on the meaning of the word "is."
What Chen did was equivalent to crossing his fingers while lying through his teeth. The office he ran for was "President of the Republic of China," not "President of the Republic of Taiwan." Republic of China voters who cast their ballots, cast them for a president of the Republic of China, not a president of the Republic of Taiwan.
The fact is Chen offered himself as a candidate under false pretenses. Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian both committed election fraud. What resulted was the farthest thing from a "free and fair election."
If Chen wants to run for President of the Republic of Taiwan, he is free to do so. I suggest however that Chen first state clearly what he is doing in advance, so voters can decide if those terms are acceptable to them, and Chen first establish a Republic of Taiwan before deciding he has a right to be its President.
The latter would call for first waging a successful war of independence. Good luck on both counts.
Chen will not succeed in his dream of Taiwan independence. Never mind Beijing. Patriotic Chinese on Taiwan, who are "mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more," and outnumber pro-Japan Quislings, won't let it happen.
Names Change, Patterns Remain
Let me keep it real simple. Chen Shui-bian did not win this "democratic" election. "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui conferred the Republic of China's presidency on his designated heir Chen Shui-bian, the same way Deng Xiaoping conferred the Chairmanship of the Chinese Communist Party on Jiang Zemin, and the same way Chinese emperors have conferred the imperial throne on their successors since time immemorial. Chen Shui-bian is merely China's newest emperor.
"Mr. Democracy" vs. Pro-democracy Demonstrators
The PRC government tolerated a sit in demonstration which paralyzed the heart of Beijing for several months before finally losing patience and brutally inflicting deadly force against the protesters.
"Mr. Democracy," Lee Teng-hui waited all of two days before ordering helmeted riot police to drive pro-democracy protestors from the plaza in front of KMT headquarters. The police obliged, clubbing unarmed, elderly KMT members with heavy batons. White-haired senior citizens have been hospitalized with concussions. I myself was lucky, and was merely soaked by water cannons.
What is being released is 12 long years of pent-up rage and frustration endured by patriotic Chinese on Taiwan as they watched the Quisling Lee Teng-hui hijack their beloved country before their very eyes.
Taiwan's Imelda Marcos takes a Powder
Lee Teng-hui is currently in hiding. His staff told Mayor Ma Ying-jeou of Taipei Lee had "a mild case of the flu" and needed rest.
Yeah, right. "Mr. Democracy" is probably quaking in his boots at the prospect of being spotted in public by the Republic of China's citizenry. Remember what happened to the Ceaucescus? Long overdue comeuppance for a petty tyrant.
Tseng Wen-hui, aka Mrs. Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's own Imelda Marcos, has been reported seen boarding a plane at Taoyuan Airport, accompanied by fifty, count 'em, fifty suitcases, bound for Switzerland. Local political observers don't think she's on a two week vacation.
The drama, now into its third day, continues to unfold as I write. Tensions remain high. Stay tuned for further developments. In the meantime, will someone please notify Human Rights Watch? Amnesty International? How about Mike Chinoy? Richard Gere even? Anybody?
Bevin Chu
March 24, 2000
Clinton in Wonderland
Taiwan election shows vitality of its democracy, says Clinton
Agence France Press, March 18, 2000
WASHINGTON -- President Bill Clinton on Saturday hailed the the election of Mr Chen Shui-bian as President of Taiwan. [sic!]
"I congratulate Mr Chen Shui-bian on his victory," the US leader said in a statement released by the White House. "This election demonstrates clearly the strength and vitality of Taiwan's democracy. I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides to reach out and resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue," he said.
Whether Slick Willy actually believes this arrant nonsense, or merely feels compelled to pay pro forma lip service for "diplomatic" reasons, only he knows. But libertarian anti-interventionists need not be bound by the Orwellian Newspeak of beltway insiders, and are free to tell it like it is.
Meanwhile, back in the Real World
On March 18, 2000, history repeated itself. The Republic of China's Y2K presidential election turned out to be a replay of the 1994 Taipei mayoral election. In 1994 "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui, Chairman of the KMT, coerced Mayor Huang Ta-chou, the KMT incumbent, who knew he was unelectable due to voter dissatisfaction with his job performance, to run in a three way race.
What was Lee Teng-hui's motive?
Lee is a pro-Japan Quisling and a covert Taiwan separatist. In an infamous 1995 interview with the late Japanese journalist Ryotaro Shiba, Lee likened himself to Moses, leading his people out of Egypt, i.e., China, and to the promised land, i.e., Japan. Lee later likened rabid separatist Chen Shui-bian of the "opposition" DPP to Mose's successor, Joshua.
Lee wanted to split enough of the pro-reunification vote from the pro-reunification New Party's Jaw Shau-kang to ensure that Chen Shui-bian would ascend to office of Mayor of Taipei, a traditional stepping stone to the Republic of China's presidency.
This sleazy, anti-democratic electoral sleight of hand, calculated to deny the voters a result which actually reflected the popular will, was referred to as "qi Huang, bao Chen," or "dump Huang, save Chen," and successfully handed the keys to the City of Taipei to Chen.
Deja Vu All Over Again
Now, fast forward to March 18, 2000. KMT Party Chairman Lee Teng-hui deliberately coerces his own party's unelectable Lien Chan, whose numbers are mired in the low to mid teens, to run against the immensely popular pro-reunification James Soong, whom Lee excommunicated from the KMT and who subsequently ran as an independent.
As in 1994, Chen Shui-bian, aka Joshua, wins again. This dog and pony show was referred to as "qi Lien, bao Bian" or "dump Lien, save Bian." This time, by a slim margin of 300,000 votes out of 12 million registered voters and an 83% voter turnout, Chen was handed the keys to the Presidential Palace. Soong received 37% of the vote. Lien received 23%. Again, this split the pro-reunification vote, clearing the way for rabid separatist Chen to squeak by with a mere 39% plurality.
Sixty one percent of the voting public in the Republic of China voted against the separatist Chen. Taiwan's Y2K election may be a lot of things, including a cruel hoax perpetrated against a politically naive electorate still struggling to cope with the darkside of "democracy," but the one thing it is categorically not is a mandate for Taiwan independence.
Better Living through Chemistry
Even many of those who voted for Chen did not do so because they advocate Taiwan independence. They voted reluctantly for Chen's party, the DPP, and only because they could no longer endure the KMT's endemic corruption. They voted for Chen only because Lee Yuan-tse, the ROC's only Nobel Laureate (for Chemistry), abused the power of his office.
Lee, a Taiwan independence diehard and head of the prestigious taxpayer funded Academia Sinica, went on TV in a slick campaign ad endorsing Chen. Oozing with sincerity, Lee assured borderline Chen supporters who harbored grave reservations about Chen's fanatical separatism, not to worry. He, Lee, would transform Chen from a separatist Mr. Hyde into a "kinder, gentler" Dr. Jekyll, who would make peace with the mainland, presumably through chemistry.
Chen has thanked Lee profusely, convinced that many undecideds swallowed Lee's appeal hook, line and sinker.
Are Run-off Elections Undemocratic?
In many European and western hemisphere democracies, election laws would mandate a run-off election to establish an absolute majority and solid electoral mandate. If such a run-off election were held in Taiwan, right this minute, Chen Shui-bian would lose by a landslide, and the Taiwan independence elite damned well knows it.
Yet this obscene travesty of the "democratic process" is going to be spin-controlled by Taiwan independence Quislings and China-hating beltway bombardiers as "the Taiwanese people's yearning for freedom and independence." Count on it.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Opinion Polls
The week before the election Lee not only misused party resources, but public resources to brainwash trusting pro-reunification KMT members to "save Lien, dump Soong," on the false pretext of preventing the pro-independence Chen from winning.
Among his many transgressions, Lee violated ROC election laws, which prohibit the release of poll results starting ten days prior to election day. The purpose of these laws are to prevent the misuse of phony polls designed to influence election results.
What did "Mr. Democracy" do? Lee ordered the release of not one, but two sets of poll results. One real, one phony.
Real poll results, which accurately reflected how far Soong was in the lead, were supplied to the "opposition" DPP Chen Shui-bian's campaign committee, helping them fine-tune their campaign tactics to shifting public moods.
Phony poll results, which falsely alleged Lee Teng-hui puppet Lien Chan was leading Soong, were deliberately leaked to the public at large. Thousands of red cloth election banners with the white characters "qi Soong, bao Lien" or "dump Soong, save Lien," were cranked out and distributed island-wide. This had the predictable effect of panicking at least several hundred thousand, if not millions, of grassroots KMT members to do just that.
Many grassroots KMT members who have never been able to bring themselves to believe Lee was in fact a "separatist wolf in reunification sheep's clothing," obediently voted for Lien. They now realize, too late, how badly they were duped.
The Japanese Connection
Hsieh Chi-ta, a New Party legislator and former judge, respected even by her political enemies as a stateswoman of impeccable honor, has done her utmost to encourage both the protestors and riot police to remain calm, however righteous their anger might be.
As she spoke she reminded the media and the Taiwan public about an aspect of the cross Straits crisis which is often neglected, deliberately, the Japanese Connection.
Even elementary school girls in Japan, when they receive an award, stand and shout "Lee Teng-hui, wan sui!" or "Long live Lee Teng-hui!" Naturally they do it in Japanese, not Chinese. But why do they perform such a bizzare ritual at all? What does Lee Teng-hui have to do with Japan?
The anwer is, plenty.
They do it because everyone in Japan, even adolescents, know that Lee Teng-hui is to coin a phrase, a "Japanese cuckoo's egg in China's nest." They do it because they know Lee Teng-hui is deliberately engineering an apocalyptic showdown between China and America. They do it because they know China-haters like Chris Cox are too dense to realize that while his irrational bigotry is focused on China, he has forgotten which Asian nation bombed Pearl Harbor. They do it because they want Japan to stand on the sidelines while China and America destroy each other, and when the dust has settled, assume the mantle of Asia's premier superpower.
Japan's Proposal
None of this is a secret if one knows where to look. Just read Lee Teng-hui's book "Taiwan's Proposal," ghost-written by a Japanese neofascist and published in Japan, not Taiwan. Pray tell, why is a book entitled "Taiwan's Proposal" authored and published in Japan by militant Japanese right-wingers? Is "Taiwan's Proposal" really Taiwan's Proposal, or "Japan's Proposal?"
Much of what I write probably comes as a shock to those who don't speak Chinese and hence have little clue about what's actually going on in Taiwan, including instant experts among our sanctimonious foreign policy elite. But it's hardly a secret to anyone who speaks Chinese, lives here a few months, and spends a little time watching the surfeit of nightly "McLaughlin Group" type political talk shows.
A Taiwanese Tiananmen
If only my fellow Americans back home could receive live Taiwan cable TV news coverage. What they would witness is a Taiwanese Tiananmen Incident. Outraged grassroots KMT members who voted for Soong, have joined outraged grassroots KMT members who voted for Lien. Together with support from other segments of the Taiwan public, they are protesting in front of KMT party headquarters, and are refusing to leave until Lee resigns his party chairmanship.
They are chanting, among other slogans, "Lee Teng-hui, xia tai!" or "Lee Teng-hui, step down!" The flag they are waving is the red, white and blue flag of the Republic of China, not any so-called "Taiwan" flag.
The protestors are protesting not against "democracy," but against anti-democratic chicanery and election fraud inflicted upon them by their own party chairman, a "stealth separatist" who delivered their nation into the hands of the DPP's Chen Shui-bian, a opportunistic traitor belonging to another party.
At Tiananmen, protestors chanted "Deng Xiaoping, xia tai!" Lee Teng-hui gloated. Now Lee's political chickens have come home to roost.
The Ministry of Truth
What has the Fifth Estate's response been? Lee Teng-hui's state-controlled Taiwan media, and much of the mainstream western media, with a few noteworthy exceptions which deserve high praise, have been sniping at the protestors, portraying them as a "mob," as "anti-democratic," as "sore losers." They have been self-righteously demanding of the protesters "Why don't you accept the results of a democratic process?"
Chen's Clintonian Doublespeak
To which one might ask, why doesn't Chen Shui-bian, President Elect of the Republic of China, accept the result of a democratic process? Chen began his "acceptance speech" with a ringing declaration about how "the Republic of China's presidential election" had been successfully concluded, and how he had been elected, get this, "President of Taiwan." He did not refer to "the Republic of China" again. After that it was Taiwan this and Taiwan that.
On previous occasions Chen has stated, in classic Clintonian doublespeak, that "Taiwan is a sovereign and independent state, its current name is the Republic of China."
Right. Oral sex is not sex. It all depends on the meaning of the word "is."
What Chen did was equivalent to crossing his fingers while lying through his teeth. The office he ran for was "President of the Republic of China," not "President of the Republic of Taiwan." Republic of China voters who cast their ballots, cast them for a president of the Republic of China, not a president of the Republic of Taiwan.
The fact is Chen offered himself as a candidate under false pretenses. Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian both committed election fraud. What resulted was the farthest thing from a "free and fair election."
If Chen wants to run for President of the Republic of Taiwan, he is free to do so. I suggest however that Chen first state clearly what he is doing in advance, so voters can decide if those terms are acceptable to them, and Chen first establish a Republic of Taiwan before deciding he has a right to be its President.
The latter would call for first waging a successful war of independence. Good luck on both counts.
Chen will not succeed in his dream of Taiwan independence. Never mind Beijing. Patriotic Chinese on Taiwan, who are "mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more," and outnumber pro-Japan Quislings, won't let it happen.
Names Change, Patterns Remain
Let me keep it real simple. Chen Shui-bian did not win this "democratic" election. "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui conferred the Republic of China's presidency on his designated heir Chen Shui-bian, the same way Deng Xiaoping conferred the Chairmanship of the Chinese Communist Party on Jiang Zemin, and the same way Chinese emperors have conferred the imperial throne on their successors since time immemorial. Chen Shui-bian is merely China's newest emperor.
"Mr. Democracy" vs. Pro-democracy Demonstrators
The PRC government tolerated a sit in demonstration which paralyzed the heart of Beijing for several months before finally losing patience and brutally inflicting deadly force against the protesters.
"Mr. Democracy," Lee Teng-hui waited all of two days before ordering helmeted riot police to drive pro-democracy protestors from the plaza in front of KMT headquarters. The police obliged, clubbing unarmed, elderly KMT members with heavy batons. White-haired senior citizens have been hospitalized with concussions. I myself was lucky, and was merely soaked by water cannons.
What is being released is 12 long years of pent-up rage and frustration endured by patriotic Chinese on Taiwan as they watched the Quisling Lee Teng-hui hijack their beloved country before their very eyes.
Taiwan's Imelda Marcos takes a Powder
Lee Teng-hui is currently in hiding. His staff told Mayor Ma Ying-jeou of Taipei Lee had "a mild case of the flu" and needed rest.
Yeah, right. "Mr. Democracy" is probably quaking in his boots at the prospect of being spotted in public by the Republic of China's citizenry. Remember what happened to the Ceaucescus? Long overdue comeuppance for a petty tyrant.
Tseng Wen-hui, aka Mrs. Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan's own Imelda Marcos, has been reported seen boarding a plane at Taoyuan Airport, accompanied by fifty, count 'em, fifty suitcases, bound for Switzerland. Local political observers don't think she's on a two week vacation.
The drama, now into its third day, continues to unfold as I write. Tensions remain high. Stay tuned for further developments. In the meantime, will someone please notify Human Rights Watch? Amnesty International? How about Mike Chinoy? Richard Gere even? Anybody?
Friday, March 17, 2000
Taiwan's Day of Decision
Taiwan's Day of Decision
Bevin Chu
March 16, 2000
CN and TW
On the internet "Taiwan" is abbreviated TW, and "China" is abbreviated CN. This manner of referring to the two Chinese political regimes vying for the title of legitimate ruler of all China is dangerously misleading. It implies that the PRC or People's Republic of China comprises only the continental portion of China, and the ROC or Republic of China comprises only the offshore Chinese island of Taiwan. Worse, it implies that something named "Taiwan" which does not even contain the word "China," has nothing to do with China.
In the case of internet abbreviations, this is not the result of any dark conspiracy, merely regrettable semantic imprecision. It is harmless enough as long as politics is not part of the equation. Unfortunately politics often is, at which time the "CN vs. TW" formulation is the source of infinite confusion and mischief.
As the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius once explained,
"Above all it is essential to refer to things by their correct names. If things are not referred to by their correct names, then our language will not reflect reality. If our language does not reflect reality, then our actions will not reflect reality, and will be exercises in futility."
George Orwell, who warned against the abuse of the English language by the totalitarians in our midst, could not have put it any better.
Americans need to be reminded that the name of our great republic is These United States of America, not "The United States of America," and that the name of our Department of Defense, before we learned to dissemble, was the Department of War. Chinese on Taiwan meanwhile, need to be reminded that the name of the government which is holding its presidential election is the Republic of China, not "Taiwan."
Even if out of convenience, expediency or laziness China watchers don't always employ the proper terminology, and I myself plead guilty, we must never forget that an objective reality exists independently from our misleading linguistic formulations, which we neglect at our own peril.
McCain's Mother and the "Little Guy"
According to a Thursday, March 2, 2000 article by Steven Mufson in the Washington Post entitled 'McCain's Mother and the "Little Guy'"'
"... Roberta McCain, mother of presidential candidate John McCain, flew the Taiwanese flag out her apartment window last October on the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's victory in the Chinese civil war. She lives near the Chinese Embassy in Washington and is said to be sympathetic to the capitalist, self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing asserts should be reunified with the mainland."
"Taiwanese flag?" What Taiwanese flag?
Blue Sky, White Sun, Red Earth
I assume Mother McCain was referring to the Republic of China flag. The Republic of China flag features a white twelve pointed sun on a blue background on a red field. It is known as the "qing tien bai re, man di hong" or "blue sky, white sun, red earth" flag. It is the flag of the old KMT, of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, of the party which in 1911 overthrew the "Last Emperor" portrayed in Bernardo Bertolluci's Academy Award winning epic.
Republic of China Flag
Taiwan separatist zealots, busy counting their chickens before they've hatched, have designed a "Taiwan" flag, such as it is. Their would-be "Republic of Taiwan" flag sports a red eight petaled chrysanthemum on a white field with green borders. It was modeled on the Japanese emperor's Chrysanthemum Flag, but with only half the petals.
Would-be "Republic of Taiwan" Flag
Why only half the petals you ask? Excellent question. Because Taiwan "independence" Quislings, deathly afraid of displaying any genuine independence, felt obligated to defer to their former colonial overlords, the Japanese, hence only half the petals. So much for their shrill demands for "dignity" in reunification talks with Beijing.
Japanese Emperor's Chrysanthemum Flag
The Quisling Lee Teng-hui once permitted separatist fanatics to raise this ersatz Japanese flag on a flagpole over Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport for several days, before protests from patriotic Taiwan Chinese forced him to order it taken down. I doubt this is the flag Mother McCain was flying. I doubt Mother McCain has ever laid eyes on the "Taiwanese flag."
The Little Guy against the Big Guy
"Joe McCain, her other son... said, "My mother is a free market type, a Western democracy type... [my] mother "has always had great affinity for Taiwan... she always favors the little guy against the big guy.""
So Mother McCain "always favors the little guy against the big guy." Really? Always? During the Vietnam War, which incidentally the Vietnamese refer to as "The American War" -- Imagine that! -- Mother McCain's "little guy" was Vietnam. The "big guy was the World's (soon to be) Only Remaining Superpower. Did Mother McCain favor "the little guy against the big guy" then? Did she favor the Vietnamese David over the American Goliath while her son was a guest at the Hanoi Hilton?
Will the day ever come when libertarian anti-interventionists no longer have to endure this kind of smug, facile, self-congratulatory, cracker barrel, "David versus Goliath" formulation from every Benevolent Global Hegemonist and his mother? I sure as god hope so.
A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing
Mother McCain's gesture of solidarity was made toward a Taiwan that no longer exists, having been destroyed by Lee Teng-hui in what I refer to as Phase Three of Taiwan's modern political evolution.
See:
Taiwan's Pseudo-Democracy
Mother McCain's political naivete is humorous, and has the makings of comedy. Senator McCain's abysmal ignorance combined with colossal arrogance, a mix shared by too many of his colleagues in Congress, sets off alarm bells, and has the makings of political tragedy.
"Mr. Democracy's" Rigged Ballots
Taiwan's voters are being treated to a special ballot on March 18. Rigged ballots. In past years whenever an independent candidate was listed on the preprinted paper ballots, his "Party Affiliation" was indicated as "None." This year, the space for independent candidates James Soong and Hsu Hsing-liang's "Party Affiliation" have been left blank!
This amounts to an open invitation to less alert Soong and Hsu voters to stamp their ballots in the blank space below their candidate's names instead of above their candidate's name.
Is this a big deal? You're goddamned right it is. Voting regulations specify that if a ballot is stamped in the incorrect space, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the ballot is discarded as null and void.
Now nobody on Taiwan believes the ruling KMT deliberately left the space below former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsing-liang's name blank so that Hsu's supporters would be disenfranchised. Hsu is not going to get more than one or two percent of the vote.
But plenty of ROC voters have no trouble believing Lee Teng-hui deliberately ordered the space below former Taiwan Provincial Governor James Soong's name left blank so Soong's supporters would be disenfranchised. Soong after all, according the last round of polls conducted was in the lead.
"Mr. Democracy's" Jack Booted Thugs
In case anyone thought I was exaggerating when I warned darkly of a revival of the White Terror, imagine the following fictional scenario.
A corrupt, scandal-ridden American president faces imminent impeachment. Fortunately for the White House, Congress boasts a "friendly" majority. Unfortunately for the president, the Speaker of the House is fed up with the president's unrepentant wrongdoing and intends to defect to the opposition party. The speaker's defection may precipitate more defections, an opposition majority, and as a result, the criminal prosecution of the soon to be out of power president.
The day after the Speaker holds a press conference revealing what he's done, IRS and FBI agents surround his home. Black uniformed SWAT Teams burst in and turn the Speaker's home inside out, with the pretext of searching for evidence in an unrelated case against a personal friend of the Speaker. Press kits, prepared in advance, are handed out to the television crews, who were notified in advance, all the better to capture the event live on TV, in a calculated attempt to influence voters.
Would Taiwan independence fellow travellers and China bashers refer to such a president as a "champion of democracy?" Would they weave elaborate excuses for him?
No?
The President in this fictional case is "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui. The Speaker of the House is Liu Sung-fan, President of the Legislative Yuan, the Republic of China's closest counterpart to our own House Speaker. Three weeks ago, disgusted with Lee Teng-hui's overt corruption and covert separatism, Liu defected to reformist James Soong's camp. For this the 70 year old, six term senior lawmaker of the ROC Legislature was subjected to political persecution rivalling that inflicted against mainland political dissidents.
Liu's case is not unique. Other KMT members who have defected to the Soong camp have received similar "special" treatment. Welcome to Taiwan's "thriving democracy."
These are the shabby depths to which Newsweek magazine's "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui is willing to stoop in his determination to promote Taiwan independence. The Taiwan separatist elite's apologists should ask themselves the following question. If the ROC electorate really wants Taiwan "independence" as badly as separatists claim, why does "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui feel compelled to resort to such anti-democratic measures to ram through his secessionist agenda?
To Uphold Democracy
According to Government Information Office Director-General Chao Yi, another Lee puppet, the arrival of more than 400 foreign journalists on Taiwan to cover the presidential election "indicates that the international community attaches great importance to the ROC's upcoming election, as it symbolizes the consolidation and progress of the country's democratic system."
Oh, please.
Voting with One's Dollars
In fact an election of sorts has already been held, and the results are not nearly so flattering.
TAIWAN SHARE PRICES POST HISTORIC NOSE-DIVE OF 617.65 POINTS
Taipei, March 13 (CNA) Share prices opened low and closed even lower on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TAIEX) on Monday, with the weighted index, the market's key barometer, plunging a record one-day fall of 617.65 points to close at 8,811.95. Affected by uncertain political factors five days before the presidential election, the bourse opened at 9,279.9 points... Losers outnumbered gainers 582 to 13... All eight major categories lost ground...
TAIWAN STOCK PRICES DROP BY 195.55 POINTS
Taipei, March 15 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TAIEX) lost ground on Wednesday, with the benchmark-weighted price index plunging 195.55 points to close at 8,640.03.
Taiwan's shareholders have already voted, with their portfolios, and they have voted a resounding, thunderous NO! No to Lee Teng-hui. No to Chen Shui-bian. No to Taiwan independence. They have done so decisively and unequivocally, by withdrawing their personal fortunes from Taiwan's economy. Just as during the Cold War refugees voted with their feet across the Berlin Wall, across the Florida Straits, so Taiwan voters are voting with their NT Dollars.
They are fearful Lee Teng-hui's covert "qi Lien bao Bian" i.e., "dump Lien, save Bian" string-pulling may have ensured that Lee's real hand-picked successor Chen Shui-bian, will succeed him and carry on Lee's drive toward separatism, the opposition of Taiwan's citizenry be damned.
Election Day
Saturday March 18, 2000, the day after tomorrow, is election day in the Republic of China. The office the candidates are running for is President of the Republic of China.
Taiwan does not have a president. It never has. Taiwan is a Chinese province, not a sovereign state. The highest office for the Chinese province of Taiwan is, or rather was, until Lee Teng-hui abolished it in flagrant violation of the Republic of China's Constitition, Provincial Governor.
Who will become President of the Republic of China? I sure as hell don't know, and neither does anyone else. If the candidate who has won the hearts and minds of the largest number of voters in the ROC wins, it will be former Governor James Soong.
But Lee Teng-hui's White Terror has wreaked havoc to the democratic process. Any hope of an authentically free and fair election is already out of the question. If Soong wins it will be in spite of Lee Teng-hui's pseudo-democracy, not because of it. It will be, as title of the Phil Collins tune goes, "Against All Odds."
Post Script: The Stars and Stripes -- Made in Taiwan
When neoconservative would be patriots thump their chests and propose amendments against "desecrating the American flag" I have to laugh. More than a few of these "Champions of American Values" think nothing of violating their fellow Americans' fundamental right to free trade, including the importation of cheap textile products, specifically American flags, from various regions of China, including Taiwan, Hongkong, and the Chinese mainland.
Eight out of ten American flags flying on flagpoles in these United States of America are made in the Republic of China, aka, "Taiwan."
Neocons who wouldn't recognize a fundamental American value if it bit them on the ass, have been floating trial balloons about a constitutional amendment making it punishable by law to destroy squares of nylon fabric imported from Taiwan, as if they were the Shroud of Turin. So what if it tramples over the rights of sovereign American citizens to dispose of their private property as they see fit?
Bevin Chu
March 16, 2000
CN and TW
On the internet "Taiwan" is abbreviated TW, and "China" is abbreviated CN. This manner of referring to the two Chinese political regimes vying for the title of legitimate ruler of all China is dangerously misleading. It implies that the PRC or People's Republic of China comprises only the continental portion of China, and the ROC or Republic of China comprises only the offshore Chinese island of Taiwan. Worse, it implies that something named "Taiwan" which does not even contain the word "China," has nothing to do with China.
In the case of internet abbreviations, this is not the result of any dark conspiracy, merely regrettable semantic imprecision. It is harmless enough as long as politics is not part of the equation. Unfortunately politics often is, at which time the "CN vs. TW" formulation is the source of infinite confusion and mischief.
As the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius once explained,
"Above all it is essential to refer to things by their correct names. If things are not referred to by their correct names, then our language will not reflect reality. If our language does not reflect reality, then our actions will not reflect reality, and will be exercises in futility."
George Orwell, who warned against the abuse of the English language by the totalitarians in our midst, could not have put it any better.
Americans need to be reminded that the name of our great republic is These United States of America, not "The United States of America," and that the name of our Department of Defense, before we learned to dissemble, was the Department of War. Chinese on Taiwan meanwhile, need to be reminded that the name of the government which is holding its presidential election is the Republic of China, not "Taiwan."
Even if out of convenience, expediency or laziness China watchers don't always employ the proper terminology, and I myself plead guilty, we must never forget that an objective reality exists independently from our misleading linguistic formulations, which we neglect at our own peril.
McCain's Mother and the "Little Guy"
According to a Thursday, March 2, 2000 article by Steven Mufson in the Washington Post entitled 'McCain's Mother and the "Little Guy'"'
"... Roberta McCain, mother of presidential candidate John McCain, flew the Taiwanese flag out her apartment window last October on the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's victory in the Chinese civil war. She lives near the Chinese Embassy in Washington and is said to be sympathetic to the capitalist, self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing asserts should be reunified with the mainland."
"Taiwanese flag?" What Taiwanese flag?
Blue Sky, White Sun, Red Earth
I assume Mother McCain was referring to the Republic of China flag. The Republic of China flag features a white twelve pointed sun on a blue background on a red field. It is known as the "qing tien bai re, man di hong" or "blue sky, white sun, red earth" flag. It is the flag of the old KMT, of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, of the party which in 1911 overthrew the "Last Emperor" portrayed in Bernardo Bertolluci's Academy Award winning epic.
Republic of China Flag
Taiwan separatist zealots, busy counting their chickens before they've hatched, have designed a "Taiwan" flag, such as it is. Their would-be "Republic of Taiwan" flag sports a red eight petaled chrysanthemum on a white field with green borders. It was modeled on the Japanese emperor's Chrysanthemum Flag, but with only half the petals.
Would-be "Republic of Taiwan" Flag
Why only half the petals you ask? Excellent question. Because Taiwan "independence" Quislings, deathly afraid of displaying any genuine independence, felt obligated to defer to their former colonial overlords, the Japanese, hence only half the petals. So much for their shrill demands for "dignity" in reunification talks with Beijing.
Japanese Emperor's Chrysanthemum Flag
The Quisling Lee Teng-hui once permitted separatist fanatics to raise this ersatz Japanese flag on a flagpole over Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport for several days, before protests from patriotic Taiwan Chinese forced him to order it taken down. I doubt this is the flag Mother McCain was flying. I doubt Mother McCain has ever laid eyes on the "Taiwanese flag."
The Little Guy against the Big Guy
"Joe McCain, her other son... said, "My mother is a free market type, a Western democracy type... [my] mother "has always had great affinity for Taiwan... she always favors the little guy against the big guy.""
So Mother McCain "always favors the little guy against the big guy." Really? Always? During the Vietnam War, which incidentally the Vietnamese refer to as "The American War" -- Imagine that! -- Mother McCain's "little guy" was Vietnam. The "big guy was the World's (soon to be) Only Remaining Superpower. Did Mother McCain favor "the little guy against the big guy" then? Did she favor the Vietnamese David over the American Goliath while her son was a guest at the Hanoi Hilton?
Will the day ever come when libertarian anti-interventionists no longer have to endure this kind of smug, facile, self-congratulatory, cracker barrel, "David versus Goliath" formulation from every Benevolent Global Hegemonist and his mother? I sure as god hope so.
A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing
Mother McCain's gesture of solidarity was made toward a Taiwan that no longer exists, having been destroyed by Lee Teng-hui in what I refer to as Phase Three of Taiwan's modern political evolution.
See:
Taiwan's Pseudo-Democracy
Mother McCain's political naivete is humorous, and has the makings of comedy. Senator McCain's abysmal ignorance combined with colossal arrogance, a mix shared by too many of his colleagues in Congress, sets off alarm bells, and has the makings of political tragedy.
"Mr. Democracy's" Rigged Ballots
Taiwan's voters are being treated to a special ballot on March 18. Rigged ballots. In past years whenever an independent candidate was listed on the preprinted paper ballots, his "Party Affiliation" was indicated as "None." This year, the space for independent candidates James Soong and Hsu Hsing-liang's "Party Affiliation" have been left blank!
This amounts to an open invitation to less alert Soong and Hsu voters to stamp their ballots in the blank space below their candidate's names instead of above their candidate's name.
Is this a big deal? You're goddamned right it is. Voting regulations specify that if a ballot is stamped in the incorrect space, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the ballot is discarded as null and void.
Now nobody on Taiwan believes the ruling KMT deliberately left the space below former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsing-liang's name blank so that Hsu's supporters would be disenfranchised. Hsu is not going to get more than one or two percent of the vote.
But plenty of ROC voters have no trouble believing Lee Teng-hui deliberately ordered the space below former Taiwan Provincial Governor James Soong's name left blank so Soong's supporters would be disenfranchised. Soong after all, according the last round of polls conducted was in the lead.
"Mr. Democracy's" Jack Booted Thugs
In case anyone thought I was exaggerating when I warned darkly of a revival of the White Terror, imagine the following fictional scenario.
A corrupt, scandal-ridden American president faces imminent impeachment. Fortunately for the White House, Congress boasts a "friendly" majority. Unfortunately for the president, the Speaker of the House is fed up with the president's unrepentant wrongdoing and intends to defect to the opposition party. The speaker's defection may precipitate more defections, an opposition majority, and as a result, the criminal prosecution of the soon to be out of power president.
The day after the Speaker holds a press conference revealing what he's done, IRS and FBI agents surround his home. Black uniformed SWAT Teams burst in and turn the Speaker's home inside out, with the pretext of searching for evidence in an unrelated case against a personal friend of the Speaker. Press kits, prepared in advance, are handed out to the television crews, who were notified in advance, all the better to capture the event live on TV, in a calculated attempt to influence voters.
Would Taiwan independence fellow travellers and China bashers refer to such a president as a "champion of democracy?" Would they weave elaborate excuses for him?
No?
The President in this fictional case is "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui. The Speaker of the House is Liu Sung-fan, President of the Legislative Yuan, the Republic of China's closest counterpart to our own House Speaker. Three weeks ago, disgusted with Lee Teng-hui's overt corruption and covert separatism, Liu defected to reformist James Soong's camp. For this the 70 year old, six term senior lawmaker of the ROC Legislature was subjected to political persecution rivalling that inflicted against mainland political dissidents.
Liu's case is not unique. Other KMT members who have defected to the Soong camp have received similar "special" treatment. Welcome to Taiwan's "thriving democracy."
These are the shabby depths to which Newsweek magazine's "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui is willing to stoop in his determination to promote Taiwan independence. The Taiwan separatist elite's apologists should ask themselves the following question. If the ROC electorate really wants Taiwan "independence" as badly as separatists claim, why does "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui feel compelled to resort to such anti-democratic measures to ram through his secessionist agenda?
To Uphold Democracy
According to Government Information Office Director-General Chao Yi, another Lee puppet, the arrival of more than 400 foreign journalists on Taiwan to cover the presidential election "indicates that the international community attaches great importance to the ROC's upcoming election, as it symbolizes the consolidation and progress of the country's democratic system."
Oh, please.
Voting with One's Dollars
In fact an election of sorts has already been held, and the results are not nearly so flattering.
TAIWAN SHARE PRICES POST HISTORIC NOSE-DIVE OF 617.65 POINTS
Taipei, March 13 (CNA) Share prices opened low and closed even lower on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TAIEX) on Monday, with the weighted index, the market's key barometer, plunging a record one-day fall of 617.65 points to close at 8,811.95. Affected by uncertain political factors five days before the presidential election, the bourse opened at 9,279.9 points... Losers outnumbered gainers 582 to 13... All eight major categories lost ground...
TAIWAN STOCK PRICES DROP BY 195.55 POINTS
Taipei, March 15 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TAIEX) lost ground on Wednesday, with the benchmark-weighted price index plunging 195.55 points to close at 8,640.03.
Taiwan's shareholders have already voted, with their portfolios, and they have voted a resounding, thunderous NO! No to Lee Teng-hui. No to Chen Shui-bian. No to Taiwan independence. They have done so decisively and unequivocally, by withdrawing their personal fortunes from Taiwan's economy. Just as during the Cold War refugees voted with their feet across the Berlin Wall, across the Florida Straits, so Taiwan voters are voting with their NT Dollars.
They are fearful Lee Teng-hui's covert "qi Lien bao Bian" i.e., "dump Lien, save Bian" string-pulling may have ensured that Lee's real hand-picked successor Chen Shui-bian, will succeed him and carry on Lee's drive toward separatism, the opposition of Taiwan's citizenry be damned.
Election Day
Saturday March 18, 2000, the day after tomorrow, is election day in the Republic of China. The office the candidates are running for is President of the Republic of China.
Taiwan does not have a president. It never has. Taiwan is a Chinese province, not a sovereign state. The highest office for the Chinese province of Taiwan is, or rather was, until Lee Teng-hui abolished it in flagrant violation of the Republic of China's Constitition, Provincial Governor.
Who will become President of the Republic of China? I sure as hell don't know, and neither does anyone else. If the candidate who has won the hearts and minds of the largest number of voters in the ROC wins, it will be former Governor James Soong.
But Lee Teng-hui's White Terror has wreaked havoc to the democratic process. Any hope of an authentically free and fair election is already out of the question. If Soong wins it will be in spite of Lee Teng-hui's pseudo-democracy, not because of it. It will be, as title of the Phil Collins tune goes, "Against All Odds."
Post Script: The Stars and Stripes -- Made in Taiwan
When neoconservative would be patriots thump their chests and propose amendments against "desecrating the American flag" I have to laugh. More than a few of these "Champions of American Values" think nothing of violating their fellow Americans' fundamental right to free trade, including the importation of cheap textile products, specifically American flags, from various regions of China, including Taiwan, Hongkong, and the Chinese mainland.
Eight out of ten American flags flying on flagpoles in these United States of America are made in the Republic of China, aka, "Taiwan."
Neocons who wouldn't recognize a fundamental American value if it bit them on the ass, have been floating trial balloons about a constitutional amendment making it punishable by law to destroy squares of nylon fabric imported from Taiwan, as if they were the Shroud of Turin. So what if it tramples over the rights of sovereign American citizens to dispose of their private property as they see fit?
Friday, March 10, 2000
One China, Two Systems
One China, Two Systems
Our Foreign Policy Elite objects
Bevin Chu
March 09, 2000
Our Foreign Policy Elite objects
Our foreign policy elite has spoken. George Will, Arthur Waldron and William Shawcross, among others, have pontificated on the upcoming presidential election in the Republic of China, which they invariably refer to as "Taiwan."
What sort of foreign policy wisdom are they offering to share with us? Let's look at a Newsweek article by William Shawcross, reprinted in The Straits Times Interactive on March 4, 2000 and entitled "One China? Not until Mainland is Democratic."
"... Taiwan is an island with its own constitution and its own defence forces. It is willing to pay lip service to the idea of reunification, but, as Foreign Minister J.R. Chen says: "For us, it's a pre-condition that the people of China enjoy the rule of law, freedom, democracy and a free market before unification can take place."
What part of "Two Systems" don't you understand?
Foreign Minister J.R. Chen is of course obediently parroting bossman Lee Teng-hui's transparently insincere rationalizations for refusing to engage in good faith negotiations over eventual reunification. Chen is Lee's appointee. When "Mr. Democracy" says jump, Chen asks "How high?"
But what's your excuse, Mr. Shawcross? What part of "One Country, Two Systems" don't you understand? It's not as if the terms of Jiang's "Eight Point Proposal" for the reunification of China aren't crystal clear, at least for anyone who cares more about the search for the truth than the search for an new "Evil Empire."
Now if Beijing were demanding "One Country, One System" that would be another thing. But it isn't. The whole point of Beijing's "One Country, Two Systems" proposal is to to bend over backwards to offer the Taiwan region of China "the rule of law, freedom, democracy and a free market" in the interim, while the mainland catches up. When the mainland has caught up, then the two sides can reunify.
The Stockholm Syndrome, Revisited
Let's get real here. The Taiwan separatist elite doesn't object to the "Two Systems" part of Beijing's offer. How could they? Two systems is what we've got, here and now. What they object to is the "One Country" part. Their objections have nothing whatsoever to do with rational economic or political criteria, and have everything to do with social psychology, or rather, social psychopathology. As they put it in their more candid moments, "We don't want to be Chinese." For the social dynamics underlying their attitude, see Taiwan Independence and the Stockholm Syndrome. The rest is just smoke.
Is Your State Utterly Insignificant?
"Last year, Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui caused something of a ruckus when he stated that relations with China should be conducted on a "special state-to-state basis". China was infuriated and stepped up its threats against "the rebel province". The bizarre nature of the international system is rarely seen so clearly as in the case of Taiwan. States that are utterly insignificant or brutal are in the United Nations."
We know of course, courtesy Mad Madeline, which state is "The Indispensible Nation." We know, also courtesy Mad Madeline's state sponsored terrorism against Serbians which state is "utterly brutal." But Mr. Shawcross, pray tell which states are "utterly insignificant?" Inquiring minds among Antiwar.com's readers would like to know. Who knows? Maybe their own states are among them.
Taiwan is not a State, merely a State of MInd
"Taiwan, which is neither, is not only excluded but has full diplomatic relations with few others because of Chinese threats."
Mr. Shawcross, be advised Taiwan is not a state. Taiwan has never been a state. No state named Taiwan exists or has ever existed. Taiwan is a province of China. What Mr. Shawcross and other self-designated foreign policy "experts" refer to as "Taiwan" is merely one province belonging to a state called the Republic of China. The Republic of China's territory includes the entire Chinese mainland.
The Republic of China's Constitution, like the Peoples' Republic of China's Constitution, unequivocally specifies that its sovereign territory encompasses both the mainland and all offshore islands, including Hainan and Taiwan. In other words, both the constitutions of the regime in Beijing and the regime in Taipei agree there is only one China. The only disagreement is over which regime is legitimate, and which is not.
What Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian are talking about is a horse of a different color. What the Taiwan separatist elite are talking about is establishing a pro-Japanese "Republic of Taiwan," a defacto satellite to Taiwan's former colonial occupier, Japan. Do I need to tell you this is a non-starter, not only with Beijing, but with patriotic Chinese on Taiwan who consider their constitution more than just a piece of paper?
Deliver Us from the Peacekeepers of the New World Order
Shawcross we are informed "is on the board of the International Crisis Group, and is the author of the forthcoming Deliver Us From Evil: Warlords And Peacekeepers In A World Of Endless Conflict."
Wow! His bio in itself speaks volumes. International Crisis. Evil. Warlords. A World of Endless Conflict. Do I really need to editorialize?
Taiwan Good. China Bad. Washington Punish
"Taiwan, one of Asia's newest and most effective [sic!] democracies, is nearing its March 18 vote for a new president. Just as during the last such election in 1996, mainland China is threatening to invade. Every time Beijing acts in such a way, it diminishes the myth that there is but "one China". In the run-up to the 1996 presidential election, the People's Liberation Army fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait and backed off only when Washington sent two carrier battle groups into the area."
Permit me to translate. "Taiwan good. China bad. Washington punish."
Never mind that China has been divided into far more than just two parts more times than most historians can keep track of, and eventually reunified into One China.
Never mind that all those political explosions and implosions in China occurred millennia before these United States ever came into being, and that a Chinese Civil War being fought on the opposite side of the Pacific is none of our damned business. Remember Vietnam? Anybody?
Never mind that that's not the way things went down, that what happened was the Gauleiters of the New World Order stood down, pulling the Seventh Fleet out of the Taiwan Straits when they realized PLA attack submarines were no longer in their submarine pens along the Fujian coast, and the Pentagon had no clue where they were.
From the Halls of Milosevic to the Shores of Taiwan
Our omniscient foreign policy elites are nothing if not consistent, in their own perverted way. Their "Beijing bad, Taipei good" spin for the Taiwan Straits is a virtual Xerox copy of their "Chetniks bad, KLA good" spin for the Balkans.
Just as Bill and Tony's Amazing Balkan Adventure provoked the very "ethnic cleansing" they claimed to dread, so the China Threat Theorists' foreign policy prescriptions, were any administration demented enough to implement them, would provoke the very sort of shooting war they have been sounding the alarm over.
If anyone wants to witness a self-fulfilling prophecy unfolding before their very eyes, like a slow motion film of a building rigged for demolition, just listen to the China Threat Theorists' chest-thumping "Yellow Peril" alarmism, and watch as storm clouds gather over the Taiwan Straits.
Democracy, Shamocracy
Last week, China demanded that Taiwan start talks on reunification -- or face invasion. A White Paper warned that China would be forced to take "drastic measures, including military force", if Taiwan continued to delay talks on eventual reunification.
"Taiwan's position is that reunification can indeed be discussed --when China is democratic."
Spare us the "we must come to the defense of democracy" nonsense Mr. Shawcross. Please. Anyone who knows anything about Messrs. Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian and the Taiwan separatist elite's real agenda, knows this is pure unadulterated baloney. Rather than repeat myself here, I will merely refer readers to an earlier piece, "Taiwan Independence and the Stockholm Syndrome."
Beijing has no interest whatsoever in imposing communism on the Taipei administered region of China. To anyone with even a shred of intellectual honesty, it should be abundantly clear that Beijing doesn't even want communism for the mainland, let alone Hongkong, Macau, and Taiwan.
In fact Beijing wants to "de-communize" the mainland as fast as humanly possible. The most daunting obstacle of course, is massive, and I do mean massive, unemployment. To get a idea of the scale of unemployment we're talking about, remember that China has a population of 1.3 billion. According to some estimates some two to three hundred million Chinese are out of work. That's as much as the entire population of these United States. Millions of former government employees, out on the street, a sad but unavoidable consequence of the most ambitious jettisoning of socialist folly ever attempted in human history.
No. Beijing merely wants to prevent Taiwan secession, and eventual recolonization by neofascist forces in Japan. Taiwan's "democracy" or more accurately, pseudo-democracy, has nothing to do with either Beijing or Taipei's real concerns.
See:
Taiwan's Pseudo-Democracy
When Will They Ever Learn
Shawcross does us the favor of providing a concrete illustration of the global interventionists' arrogance, ignorance, and myopia for us.
"The transformation of Taiwan is quite astonishing. When I first visited it in the early 1970s, it was a dingy military dictatorship under the complete control of ageing Kuomintang generals. The press was under strict government control; dissidents were rounded up... Bookshops were filled with cheap, pirated copies of bestsellers published in the West... I called on the Foreign Ministry's spokesman, who informed me that communist China, still in the throes of the Cultural Revolution, would undoubtedly fail and that the Taiwanese model would be triumphant. I am ashamed to say that I thought he was talking nonsense. It gives me great pleasure that I was so wrong. On a recent visit, almost everything that I saw on my earlier visits had gone from Taiwan. Fruit and rice exports have been replaced by high-technology goods. Above all, the Kuomintang had turned the country towards pluralism and itself into a genuinely democratic party. Taiwan has problems, of course, but its successes are stunning. It has a system people can trust. In China, by contrast, such trust is largely absent."
Back to the Future
This was vintage Shawcross, circa 1970. Three decades ago. What's uncanny is how Shawcross 1970 sounds uncannily like Shawcross Y2K. The only difference being the object of his fear and loathing. Go back inside his passage and substitute "mainland China" for "Taiwan" and see what happens.
Allow me to write Shawcross' March 4, 2030 editorial for him, thirty years in advance,
"The transformation of China is quite astonishing. When I first visited it in the late 1990s, it was a dingy dictatorship under the complete control of ageing Communist Party apparatchiks. The press was under strict government control; dissidents were rounded up... Bookshops were filled with cheap, pirated copies of CDs and videotapes published in the West... I called on the Foreign Ministry's spokesman, who informed me that Zhu Rongji's ambitious program to radically privatize China's state owned enterprises (SOEs) would succeed, and China's reformers would emerge triumphant. I am ashamed to say that I thought he was talking nonsense. It gives me great pleasure that I was so wrong. On a recent visit, almost everything that I saw on my earlier visits had gone from China. Agricultural exports have been replaced by high-technology goods. Above all, the CCP had turned the country towards pluralism and itself into a genuinely democratic party. China has problems, of course, but its successes are stunning. It has a system people can trust.'"
Eery, isn't it?
I've yet to collect on a $100 bet I made in the late sixties with a self-styled "Red Guard" at Rice University in Houston, Texas, who shared Shawcross' interventionist, command economy skepticism about the transformative power of economic liberalization on a society's social and political institutions.
Fools rush in, where Wise Men never stray
The Global Interventionists are truly amazing, aren't they? They're so out of touch, so far behind the curve, so plain wrong, so often, one almost feels sorry for them. In fact all of this would be amusing, if Shawcross' and his ilk weren't so dangerous. The antics of fools can be hilarious. The antics of fools able to exert an undue influence on American foreign policy are anything but amusing.
The "Shibboleth" of One China?
"Even so, whoever wins the Taiwanese presidential election, the threat from China will remain paramount. Beijing's belligerence makes the reunification it demands ever more unlikely. A sense of a new Taiwan with its own civic consciousness is emerging. The shibboleth of "one China" seems ever more archaic."
Beijing's "belligerence," which Shawcross refers to, is the only thing preventing the Taiwan separatist elite from hijacking a province of China, against the will of 80% of the ROC's population, and handing it over to Japan, the same way the puppet Pu Yi ("The Last Emperor") made a gift of China's Manchurian region to Japan.
Those who remember Lee Teng-hui's notorious interview with Japanese journalist Ryotaro Shiba, followed up by Lee's "unofficial" official Cornell visit, know full well who provoked the current crisis. Frankly, I'm not the only ex-Cold Warrior in Taiwan who is astonished at how patient Beijing was before they finally reacted.
The "shibboleth of one China." Finally we're getting to the truth. This is what Benevolent Global Hegemonists really object to. This is what sticks in their craw. The prospect of a politically unified, economically prosperous 21st century Chinese superpower, which need no longer need bow before the likes of pompous gunboat diplomats George Will, Arthur Waldron and William Shawcross.
Our Foreign Policy Elite objects
Bevin Chu
March 09, 2000
Our Foreign Policy Elite objects
Our foreign policy elite has spoken. George Will, Arthur Waldron and William Shawcross, among others, have pontificated on the upcoming presidential election in the Republic of China, which they invariably refer to as "Taiwan."
What sort of foreign policy wisdom are they offering to share with us? Let's look at a Newsweek article by William Shawcross, reprinted in The Straits Times Interactive on March 4, 2000 and entitled "One China? Not until Mainland is Democratic."
"... Taiwan is an island with its own constitution and its own defence forces. It is willing to pay lip service to the idea of reunification, but, as Foreign Minister J.R. Chen says: "For us, it's a pre-condition that the people of China enjoy the rule of law, freedom, democracy and a free market before unification can take place."
What part of "Two Systems" don't you understand?
Foreign Minister J.R. Chen is of course obediently parroting bossman Lee Teng-hui's transparently insincere rationalizations for refusing to engage in good faith negotiations over eventual reunification. Chen is Lee's appointee. When "Mr. Democracy" says jump, Chen asks "How high?"
But what's your excuse, Mr. Shawcross? What part of "One Country, Two Systems" don't you understand? It's not as if the terms of Jiang's "Eight Point Proposal" for the reunification of China aren't crystal clear, at least for anyone who cares more about the search for the truth than the search for an new "Evil Empire."
Now if Beijing were demanding "One Country, One System" that would be another thing. But it isn't. The whole point of Beijing's "One Country, Two Systems" proposal is to to bend over backwards to offer the Taiwan region of China "the rule of law, freedom, democracy and a free market" in the interim, while the mainland catches up. When the mainland has caught up, then the two sides can reunify.
The Stockholm Syndrome, Revisited
Let's get real here. The Taiwan separatist elite doesn't object to the "Two Systems" part of Beijing's offer. How could they? Two systems is what we've got, here and now. What they object to is the "One Country" part. Their objections have nothing whatsoever to do with rational economic or political criteria, and have everything to do with social psychology, or rather, social psychopathology. As they put it in their more candid moments, "We don't want to be Chinese." For the social dynamics underlying their attitude, see Taiwan Independence and the Stockholm Syndrome. The rest is just smoke.
Is Your State Utterly Insignificant?
"Last year, Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui caused something of a ruckus when he stated that relations with China should be conducted on a "special state-to-state basis". China was infuriated and stepped up its threats against "the rebel province". The bizarre nature of the international system is rarely seen so clearly as in the case of Taiwan. States that are utterly insignificant or brutal are in the United Nations."
We know of course, courtesy Mad Madeline, which state is "The Indispensible Nation." We know, also courtesy Mad Madeline's state sponsored terrorism against Serbians which state is "utterly brutal." But Mr. Shawcross, pray tell which states are "utterly insignificant?" Inquiring minds among Antiwar.com's readers would like to know. Who knows? Maybe their own states are among them.
Taiwan is not a State, merely a State of MInd
"Taiwan, which is neither, is not only excluded but has full diplomatic relations with few others because of Chinese threats."
Mr. Shawcross, be advised Taiwan is not a state. Taiwan has never been a state. No state named Taiwan exists or has ever existed. Taiwan is a province of China. What Mr. Shawcross and other self-designated foreign policy "experts" refer to as "Taiwan" is merely one province belonging to a state called the Republic of China. The Republic of China's territory includes the entire Chinese mainland.
The Republic of China's Constitution, like the Peoples' Republic of China's Constitution, unequivocally specifies that its sovereign territory encompasses both the mainland and all offshore islands, including Hainan and Taiwan. In other words, both the constitutions of the regime in Beijing and the regime in Taipei agree there is only one China. The only disagreement is over which regime is legitimate, and which is not.
What Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian are talking about is a horse of a different color. What the Taiwan separatist elite are talking about is establishing a pro-Japanese "Republic of Taiwan," a defacto satellite to Taiwan's former colonial occupier, Japan. Do I need to tell you this is a non-starter, not only with Beijing, but with patriotic Chinese on Taiwan who consider their constitution more than just a piece of paper?
Deliver Us from the Peacekeepers of the New World Order
Shawcross we are informed "is on the board of the International Crisis Group, and is the author of the forthcoming Deliver Us From Evil: Warlords And Peacekeepers In A World Of Endless Conflict."
Wow! His bio in itself speaks volumes. International Crisis. Evil. Warlords. A World of Endless Conflict. Do I really need to editorialize?
Taiwan Good. China Bad. Washington Punish
"Taiwan, one of Asia's newest and most effective [sic!] democracies, is nearing its March 18 vote for a new president. Just as during the last such election in 1996, mainland China is threatening to invade. Every time Beijing acts in such a way, it diminishes the myth that there is but "one China". In the run-up to the 1996 presidential election, the People's Liberation Army fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait and backed off only when Washington sent two carrier battle groups into the area."
Permit me to translate. "Taiwan good. China bad. Washington punish."
Never mind that China has been divided into far more than just two parts more times than most historians can keep track of, and eventually reunified into One China.
Never mind that all those political explosions and implosions in China occurred millennia before these United States ever came into being, and that a Chinese Civil War being fought on the opposite side of the Pacific is none of our damned business. Remember Vietnam? Anybody?
Never mind that that's not the way things went down, that what happened was the Gauleiters of the New World Order stood down, pulling the Seventh Fleet out of the Taiwan Straits when they realized PLA attack submarines were no longer in their submarine pens along the Fujian coast, and the Pentagon had no clue where they were.
From the Halls of Milosevic to the Shores of Taiwan
Our omniscient foreign policy elites are nothing if not consistent, in their own perverted way. Their "Beijing bad, Taipei good" spin for the Taiwan Straits is a virtual Xerox copy of their "Chetniks bad, KLA good" spin for the Balkans.
Just as Bill and Tony's Amazing Balkan Adventure provoked the very "ethnic cleansing" they claimed to dread, so the China Threat Theorists' foreign policy prescriptions, were any administration demented enough to implement them, would provoke the very sort of shooting war they have been sounding the alarm over.
If anyone wants to witness a self-fulfilling prophecy unfolding before their very eyes, like a slow motion film of a building rigged for demolition, just listen to the China Threat Theorists' chest-thumping "Yellow Peril" alarmism, and watch as storm clouds gather over the Taiwan Straits.
Democracy, Shamocracy
Last week, China demanded that Taiwan start talks on reunification -- or face invasion. A White Paper warned that China would be forced to take "drastic measures, including military force", if Taiwan continued to delay talks on eventual reunification.
"Taiwan's position is that reunification can indeed be discussed --when China is democratic."
Spare us the "we must come to the defense of democracy" nonsense Mr. Shawcross. Please. Anyone who knows anything about Messrs. Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian and the Taiwan separatist elite's real agenda, knows this is pure unadulterated baloney. Rather than repeat myself here, I will merely refer readers to an earlier piece, "Taiwan Independence and the Stockholm Syndrome."
Beijing has no interest whatsoever in imposing communism on the Taipei administered region of China. To anyone with even a shred of intellectual honesty, it should be abundantly clear that Beijing doesn't even want communism for the mainland, let alone Hongkong, Macau, and Taiwan.
In fact Beijing wants to "de-communize" the mainland as fast as humanly possible. The most daunting obstacle of course, is massive, and I do mean massive, unemployment. To get a idea of the scale of unemployment we're talking about, remember that China has a population of 1.3 billion. According to some estimates some two to three hundred million Chinese are out of work. That's as much as the entire population of these United States. Millions of former government employees, out on the street, a sad but unavoidable consequence of the most ambitious jettisoning of socialist folly ever attempted in human history.
No. Beijing merely wants to prevent Taiwan secession, and eventual recolonization by neofascist forces in Japan. Taiwan's "democracy" or more accurately, pseudo-democracy, has nothing to do with either Beijing or Taipei's real concerns.
See:
Taiwan's Pseudo-Democracy
When Will They Ever Learn
Shawcross does us the favor of providing a concrete illustration of the global interventionists' arrogance, ignorance, and myopia for us.
"The transformation of Taiwan is quite astonishing. When I first visited it in the early 1970s, it was a dingy military dictatorship under the complete control of ageing Kuomintang generals. The press was under strict government control; dissidents were rounded up... Bookshops were filled with cheap, pirated copies of bestsellers published in the West... I called on the Foreign Ministry's spokesman, who informed me that communist China, still in the throes of the Cultural Revolution, would undoubtedly fail and that the Taiwanese model would be triumphant. I am ashamed to say that I thought he was talking nonsense. It gives me great pleasure that I was so wrong. On a recent visit, almost everything that I saw on my earlier visits had gone from Taiwan. Fruit and rice exports have been replaced by high-technology goods. Above all, the Kuomintang had turned the country towards pluralism and itself into a genuinely democratic party. Taiwan has problems, of course, but its successes are stunning. It has a system people can trust. In China, by contrast, such trust is largely absent."
Back to the Future
This was vintage Shawcross, circa 1970. Three decades ago. What's uncanny is how Shawcross 1970 sounds uncannily like Shawcross Y2K. The only difference being the object of his fear and loathing. Go back inside his passage and substitute "mainland China" for "Taiwan" and see what happens.
Allow me to write Shawcross' March 4, 2030 editorial for him, thirty years in advance,
"The transformation of China is quite astonishing. When I first visited it in the late 1990s, it was a dingy dictatorship under the complete control of ageing Communist Party apparatchiks. The press was under strict government control; dissidents were rounded up... Bookshops were filled with cheap, pirated copies of CDs and videotapes published in the West... I called on the Foreign Ministry's spokesman, who informed me that Zhu Rongji's ambitious program to radically privatize China's state owned enterprises (SOEs) would succeed, and China's reformers would emerge triumphant. I am ashamed to say that I thought he was talking nonsense. It gives me great pleasure that I was so wrong. On a recent visit, almost everything that I saw on my earlier visits had gone from China. Agricultural exports have been replaced by high-technology goods. Above all, the CCP had turned the country towards pluralism and itself into a genuinely democratic party. China has problems, of course, but its successes are stunning. It has a system people can trust.'"
Eery, isn't it?
I've yet to collect on a $100 bet I made in the late sixties with a self-styled "Red Guard" at Rice University in Houston, Texas, who shared Shawcross' interventionist, command economy skepticism about the transformative power of economic liberalization on a society's social and political institutions.
Fools rush in, where Wise Men never stray
The Global Interventionists are truly amazing, aren't they? They're so out of touch, so far behind the curve, so plain wrong, so often, one almost feels sorry for them. In fact all of this would be amusing, if Shawcross' and his ilk weren't so dangerous. The antics of fools can be hilarious. The antics of fools able to exert an undue influence on American foreign policy are anything but amusing.
The "Shibboleth" of One China?
"Even so, whoever wins the Taiwanese presidential election, the threat from China will remain paramount. Beijing's belligerence makes the reunification it demands ever more unlikely. A sense of a new Taiwan with its own civic consciousness is emerging. The shibboleth of "one China" seems ever more archaic."
Beijing's "belligerence," which Shawcross refers to, is the only thing preventing the Taiwan separatist elite from hijacking a province of China, against the will of 80% of the ROC's population, and handing it over to Japan, the same way the puppet Pu Yi ("The Last Emperor") made a gift of China's Manchurian region to Japan.
Those who remember Lee Teng-hui's notorious interview with Japanese journalist Ryotaro Shiba, followed up by Lee's "unofficial" official Cornell visit, know full well who provoked the current crisis. Frankly, I'm not the only ex-Cold Warrior in Taiwan who is astonished at how patient Beijing was before they finally reacted.
The "shibboleth of one China." Finally we're getting to the truth. This is what Benevolent Global Hegemonists really object to. This is what sticks in their craw. The prospect of a politically unified, economically prosperous 21st century Chinese superpower, which need no longer need bow before the likes of pompous gunboat diplomats George Will, Arthur Waldron and William Shawcross.
Friday, March 03, 2000
Taiwan's Pseudo-Democracy
Taiwan's Pseudo-Democracy
Bevin Chu
March 2, 2000
The Dump Save Effect
A term constantly bandied about in Taiwan political debate is "qi bao xiao ying," or the "Dump Save Effect." The Dump Save Effect is related to the "xi gua xiao ying," or the "Watermelon Effect."
The Watermelon Effect refers to the expression "The watermelon tilts toward the big end." The Dump Save Effect refers to the way Lee Teng-hui's KMT political machine exploits the Watermelon Effect in three way races, by splitting the opposition vote, and dumping one candidate to save another.
During the 1994 Taipei mayoral election, Lee Teng-hui ordered incumbent KMT Mayor Huang Ta-chou to run for reelection, against his will. Huang was reluctant because he knew he didn't stand a chance. KMT Party Chairman forced Huang to run anyway. "Mr. Democracy" was determined to split the pro-reunification vote and ensure that the front-runner, the pro-reunification New Party's Chao Shao-kang (he spells it Jaw Shao-kang) would lose, and the pro-separatist DPP's Chen Shui-bian, whom Lee finds simpatico, would win.
During the 1996 presidential election, "Mr. Democracy" again exploited the Dump Save Effect, this time for his own "democratic" reelection. Even Lee's supporters suspect he ordered the KMT, the wealthiest political party in the world, to covertly subsidize the hopeless and quixotic campaign of Chen Li-an. This had the predictable effect of splitting off enough of the reformist vote from the pro-reunification "native Taiwanese" Lin Yang-kang to ensure his defeat.
Lee Teng-hui, by exploiting the Dump Save Effect, has succeeded in undermining free and fair elections in the ROC twice during his 12 year authoritarian regime, and probably intends to do it a third time on March 18, 2000. Speculation is rampant that despite Lee's outward show of support for Lien, Lee actually intends to "dump Lien, to save Bian." In return, "Mr. Democracy" is counting on the "opposition" Chen Shui-bian to spare Lee from the same fate as corrupt South Korean former dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roe Tae-woo.
Moses and Joshua
Several years ago, Lee Teng-hui boasted to visiting Japanese journalist Ryotaro Shiba, in Lee's characteristically megalomanical fashion, that he saw himself as Moses, leading his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. What the Japanophile Quisling Lee meant was that he was leading the Chinese province of Taiwan away from China and toward Japan.
Later, in a meeting with Chen Shui-bian, he urged Chen to look up the relevant passage in the Bible, with the understanding that Lee, i.e., Moses, considered Chen, i.e., Joshua, the DPP's rabidly separatist politician, his intellectual heir.
I'm no biblical scholar, but the Joshua of biblical lore, if I am not mistaken, blew his trumpet and the Walls of Jericho came tumbling down. Not Taiwan's Joshua.
Mr. Chen, Tear down this Wall!
The KMT's Party Headquarters building was erected in flagrant violation of Taipei's municipal building codes.
During the Taipei mayoral election of 1994, Chen Shui-bian sold himself as a reform candidate. If elected, Chen declared, he would raze KMT Party Headquarters to the ground. This was touted as evidence of Chen's Solomonic impartiality, his "tough love."
As everyone knows, Chen won in '94. Yet rhe granite monstrosity that is KMT Party Headquarters stands, intact, near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where my father used to work, blighting an already blighted Taipei skyline.
So what the hell happened? Simple. Lee scratched Chen's back, and Chen scratched Lee's. Lee Teng-hui "dumped Huang, saved Bian." Once Chen became mayor he immediately issued a Certificate of Occupancy for Lee's precious party headquarters building, granting it what's known as "jeou di he fa," or "On the Spot Legalization."
Obviously, the Rule of Law remains a foreign concept in Taiwan's "vibrant democracy." Instead, the Golden Rule prevails, as in "He who has the gold, makes the rules."
From Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves
The political evolution of the Republic of China, typically but erroneously referred to as "Taiwan," has essentially gone through three phases.
Phase One. Politically authoritarian but uncorrupt and economically liberal dictatorship under Chiang Kai-shek, similar to that of Singapore under Lee Kuan-yew, makes possible the Republic of China's "economic miracle" and swift rise to status as one of the four "Asian Tigers."
Phase Two. Lifting of martial law, democratization and liberalization under Chiang Ching-kuo confirms laissez-faire capitalist observation that political liberalization tends to follow on the heels of economic liberalization.
Phase Three. Alarmingly swift descent into Ferdinand Marcos style corrupt, cronyist authoritarian dictatorship under "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui, lacking the redeeming virtue of the Generalissimo's clean government, confirms Chinese addage "fu bu guo san dai," or "Wealth never survives three generations," and our own American expression "From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations."
The Good Guys are the Ones wearing the White Hats
China Threat theorists and Taiwan independence fellow travellers, typically one and the same, are either blithely oblivious to Phase Three, or are deliberately looking the other way. Let's not mince words. They are either stupid, or dishonest. I'm not sure which is worse. Their motive? To promulgate their simplistic Black versus White, Good versus Evil, David versus Goliath dichotomy, and provide themselves with an excuse to "contain," translation, "premptively squash" China.
Let's not be naive. Whether Lee Teng-hui's real hand-picked successor is Lien Chan, or Chen Shui-bian, aka "Joshua," only Lee knows for sure. But when "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui "hand-picks his successor," we're not talking about Ronald Reagan giving his blessing to George Bush, or Bill Clinton giving his blessing to Al Gore.
Taiwan's political system, lest we forget, like mainland China's, is explicitly modeled on the Leninist system of parallel governmental and party hierarchies, with real political power weilded not by government officials, but by party officials, the real powers behind the throne. In Beijing, the CCP calls the shots. In Taipei, the KMT.
A Vote of Non-confidence
Taiwan has a bizzare, probably unique political polling convention, which to the best of my knowledge does not exist anywhere else in the world. Pollsters in Taiwan, after conducting their surveys, typically publish two sets of poll results.
The first is "zhi ze du" or "level of support" for the candidates. These percentage figures reflect respondents' answers to the question, "Whom do you intend to vote for?"
Recent polls show independent presidential candidate James Soong leading with about 25% of the vote, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian trailing slightly with about 23% of the vote, and ruling Kuomintang nominee Lien Chan trailing noticeably with about 20% of the vote.
So far so good.
Now comes the funny part. Taiwan polls also include a second set of figures, called "kan hao du" or "degree of confidence." These percentage figures reflect the answer to the question "Whom do you think will win?"
Recent polls suggest 40% believe the KMT ticket of Lien/Siew will win, 18% believe the independent ticket of Soong/Chang will win, and 14% believe the DPP ticket of Chen/Lu will win.
How's that again?
China-demonizers and Taiwan independence abettors like Gregory Mastel and George Will never tire of asserting that Lee Teng-hui's Taiwan is a "lively/thriving/vibrant" democracy. Really? So why does Taiwan's voting public, which intends to vote for James Soong by a considerable margin over Lee Teng-hui's "hand-picked successor" Lien Chan, assume that Lien and not their own candidate will win?
The answer of course, is that the ROC voting public, in contrast to ignoramuses like Mastel and Will, know that Taiwan's "lively/thriving/vibrant" democracy is a "farce/hoax/sham." The ROC voting public is painfully aware of the power of the KMT political machine. The ROC voting public is resigned to the likelihood that even though they intend to vote for a pro-reunification candidate, "Mr. Democracy" will probably manipulate the system to ensure a victory for his "hand-picked" successor, whoever the hell he is.
Welcome to Taiwan's pseudo-democracy.
I Told You So
Last week I predicted Chen Shui-bian would milk the Politically Correct, but historically fraudulent conventional reading of the notorious 2-28 Incident for all it was worth.
See:
Taiwan Independence and the 2-28 Incident
Consider this CNA article:
228 INCIDENT VICTIMS REMEMBERED Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA)
"... Chen Shui-bian, the standard-bearer of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, also visited the memorial park to pay tribute to the victims of the incident. Chen... said that if he wins the March 18 presidential election, he will push for the establishment of a national-level 228 memorial museum."
What can I say, except "I told you so."
What's wrong with this Picture?
The article by the CNA, or Central News Agency, Lee Teng-hui's official government mouthpiece, characterizes the 2-28 Incident, which occurred February 28, 1947, this way:
"The 228 Incident was triggered when an elderly Taiwanese woman selling untaxed cigarettes in Taipei was severely beaten by an inspector of the Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau."
The Taiwan Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau was an oppressive statist bureaucracy imposed on the Chinese people of Taiwan by the Japanese colonial regime. There was no Chinese Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, certainly not at the time of the 2-28 Incident. Throughout several millennia of Chinese history it has been completely legal for private individuals to manufacture their own alchoholic beverages without any government interference whatosever. Note the deliberate omission of the word "Taiwan" from the name of the bureau.
"Faced by an angry mob, the inspector shot dead a bystander and fled to a nearby police station."
The panicked inspector, surrounded by an angry mob, fired a warning shot into the air. The shot went wild, accidentally killing a curiosity-seeker emerging from a nearby building. Note the deliberate and misleading implication that the shooting was cold-blooded murder, rather than manslaughter or wrongful death.
"Faced by mass protests and rioting (emphasis added) and unable to control the situation, Taiwan Governor Chen-yi appealed for help to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in mainland China, who sent troops to the northern port city of Keelung, from where they spread out over the island, killing indiscriminately."
So what's wrong with this picture? Here's a hint. Riot control troops arrived in several waves. The earliest wave reportedly arrived on 3-09.
So what happened between 2-28 and 3-09?
Blaming the Victim
The answer? Taiwan separatist Quislings and diehard Japanese fifth columnists crazed with the spirit of "Kamikaze," spread out over the island, and in a sickening echo of the Rape of Nanking, indiscriminately slaughtered any and all mainland Chinese they encountered, women and children, young and old, then dumped their corpses into drainage ditches to float out into the Taiwan Straits.
Notice how any mention whatsoever of that abomination was completely missing from the Central News Agency "news" report. Instead the "news" report camouflages the massacre which ensued with the coy phrase, "mass protests and rioting." This is typical of "news" reports relating to Taiwan independence. When it comes to the Big Lie, Jamie Shea and NATO have nothing on petty tribalist Taiwan independence hate-mongers.
The Taiwan independence elite are reminiscent of Japanese neofascists, who piously weep over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while suffering selective amnesia at any mention of the Rape of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, or Joseph Mengele-style "medical experiments" conducted on American and Chinese POWs by the Japanese Imperial Army's notorious Unit 731.
Born a Taiwan Person, Die an American Ghost
Lu Hsiu-lien, aka Annette Lu, is the Democratic Progressive Party's Vice-presidential candidate, Chen Shui-bian's running mate. Antiwar.com readers may recall seeing her display her reverence for democratic governance and parliamentary procedure on CNN. She was the one standing on top of a table in the ROC Legislature, swinging a baseball bat at those who took exception to her views on Taiwan independence.
Last week Annette declared on a Vice-presidential candidate debate, televised island-wide, that "sheng wei Taiwan ren, shi wei Taiwan guai," or "I was born a Taiwan person, and will die a Taiwan ghost." The Taiwan independence elite, I'm sure, was moved to tears.
That was before James Soong's campaign committee made public a fascinating little tidbit on ol' Annette. Apparently Ms. Lu was the proud owner of a burial plot in the good ol' US of A. Imagine that.
Now I suppose her ringing declaration of undying devotion to Taiwan will have to be amended somewhat, to "Sheng wei Taiwan ren, shi wei Mei Guo guai." For those who don't speak Chinese, that's "I was born a Taiwan person, and will die an American ghost."
So much for the Taiwan independence elite's braggadocio about being "martyrs for their beloved Taiwan."
Bevin Chu
March 2, 2000
The Dump Save Effect
A term constantly bandied about in Taiwan political debate is "qi bao xiao ying," or the "Dump Save Effect." The Dump Save Effect is related to the "xi gua xiao ying," or the "Watermelon Effect."
The Watermelon Effect refers to the expression "The watermelon tilts toward the big end." The Dump Save Effect refers to the way Lee Teng-hui's KMT political machine exploits the Watermelon Effect in three way races, by splitting the opposition vote, and dumping one candidate to save another.
During the 1994 Taipei mayoral election, Lee Teng-hui ordered incumbent KMT Mayor Huang Ta-chou to run for reelection, against his will. Huang was reluctant because he knew he didn't stand a chance. KMT Party Chairman forced Huang to run anyway. "Mr. Democracy" was determined to split the pro-reunification vote and ensure that the front-runner, the pro-reunification New Party's Chao Shao-kang (he spells it Jaw Shao-kang) would lose, and the pro-separatist DPP's Chen Shui-bian, whom Lee finds simpatico, would win.
During the 1996 presidential election, "Mr. Democracy" again exploited the Dump Save Effect, this time for his own "democratic" reelection. Even Lee's supporters suspect he ordered the KMT, the wealthiest political party in the world, to covertly subsidize the hopeless and quixotic campaign of Chen Li-an. This had the predictable effect of splitting off enough of the reformist vote from the pro-reunification "native Taiwanese" Lin Yang-kang to ensure his defeat.
Lee Teng-hui, by exploiting the Dump Save Effect, has succeeded in undermining free and fair elections in the ROC twice during his 12 year authoritarian regime, and probably intends to do it a third time on March 18, 2000. Speculation is rampant that despite Lee's outward show of support for Lien, Lee actually intends to "dump Lien, to save Bian." In return, "Mr. Democracy" is counting on the "opposition" Chen Shui-bian to spare Lee from the same fate as corrupt South Korean former dictators Chun Doo-hwan and Roe Tae-woo.
Moses and Joshua
Several years ago, Lee Teng-hui boasted to visiting Japanese journalist Ryotaro Shiba, in Lee's characteristically megalomanical fashion, that he saw himself as Moses, leading his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. What the Japanophile Quisling Lee meant was that he was leading the Chinese province of Taiwan away from China and toward Japan.
Later, in a meeting with Chen Shui-bian, he urged Chen to look up the relevant passage in the Bible, with the understanding that Lee, i.e., Moses, considered Chen, i.e., Joshua, the DPP's rabidly separatist politician, his intellectual heir.
I'm no biblical scholar, but the Joshua of biblical lore, if I am not mistaken, blew his trumpet and the Walls of Jericho came tumbling down. Not Taiwan's Joshua.
Mr. Chen, Tear down this Wall!
The KMT's Party Headquarters building was erected in flagrant violation of Taipei's municipal building codes.
During the Taipei mayoral election of 1994, Chen Shui-bian sold himself as a reform candidate. If elected, Chen declared, he would raze KMT Party Headquarters to the ground. This was touted as evidence of Chen's Solomonic impartiality, his "tough love."
As everyone knows, Chen won in '94. Yet rhe granite monstrosity that is KMT Party Headquarters stands, intact, near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where my father used to work, blighting an already blighted Taipei skyline.
So what the hell happened? Simple. Lee scratched Chen's back, and Chen scratched Lee's. Lee Teng-hui "dumped Huang, saved Bian." Once Chen became mayor he immediately issued a Certificate of Occupancy for Lee's precious party headquarters building, granting it what's known as "jeou di he fa," or "On the Spot Legalization."
Obviously, the Rule of Law remains a foreign concept in Taiwan's "vibrant democracy." Instead, the Golden Rule prevails, as in "He who has the gold, makes the rules."
From Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves
The political evolution of the Republic of China, typically but erroneously referred to as "Taiwan," has essentially gone through three phases.
Phase One. Politically authoritarian but uncorrupt and economically liberal dictatorship under Chiang Kai-shek, similar to that of Singapore under Lee Kuan-yew, makes possible the Republic of China's "economic miracle" and swift rise to status as one of the four "Asian Tigers."
Phase Two. Lifting of martial law, democratization and liberalization under Chiang Ching-kuo confirms laissez-faire capitalist observation that political liberalization tends to follow on the heels of economic liberalization.
Phase Three. Alarmingly swift descent into Ferdinand Marcos style corrupt, cronyist authoritarian dictatorship under "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui, lacking the redeeming virtue of the Generalissimo's clean government, confirms Chinese addage "fu bu guo san dai," or "Wealth never survives three generations," and our own American expression "From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations."
The Good Guys are the Ones wearing the White Hats
China Threat theorists and Taiwan independence fellow travellers, typically one and the same, are either blithely oblivious to Phase Three, or are deliberately looking the other way. Let's not mince words. They are either stupid, or dishonest. I'm not sure which is worse. Their motive? To promulgate their simplistic Black versus White, Good versus Evil, David versus Goliath dichotomy, and provide themselves with an excuse to "contain," translation, "premptively squash" China.
Let's not be naive. Whether Lee Teng-hui's real hand-picked successor is Lien Chan, or Chen Shui-bian, aka "Joshua," only Lee knows for sure. But when "Mr. Democracy" Lee Teng-hui "hand-picks his successor," we're not talking about Ronald Reagan giving his blessing to George Bush, or Bill Clinton giving his blessing to Al Gore.
Taiwan's political system, lest we forget, like mainland China's, is explicitly modeled on the Leninist system of parallel governmental and party hierarchies, with real political power weilded not by government officials, but by party officials, the real powers behind the throne. In Beijing, the CCP calls the shots. In Taipei, the KMT.
A Vote of Non-confidence
Taiwan has a bizzare, probably unique political polling convention, which to the best of my knowledge does not exist anywhere else in the world. Pollsters in Taiwan, after conducting their surveys, typically publish two sets of poll results.
The first is "zhi ze du" or "level of support" for the candidates. These percentage figures reflect respondents' answers to the question, "Whom do you intend to vote for?"
Recent polls show independent presidential candidate James Soong leading with about 25% of the vote, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian trailing slightly with about 23% of the vote, and ruling Kuomintang nominee Lien Chan trailing noticeably with about 20% of the vote.
So far so good.
Now comes the funny part. Taiwan polls also include a second set of figures, called "kan hao du" or "degree of confidence." These percentage figures reflect the answer to the question "Whom do you think will win?"
Recent polls suggest 40% believe the KMT ticket of Lien/Siew will win, 18% believe the independent ticket of Soong/Chang will win, and 14% believe the DPP ticket of Chen/Lu will win.
How's that again?
China-demonizers and Taiwan independence abettors like Gregory Mastel and George Will never tire of asserting that Lee Teng-hui's Taiwan is a "lively/thriving/vibrant" democracy. Really? So why does Taiwan's voting public, which intends to vote for James Soong by a considerable margin over Lee Teng-hui's "hand-picked successor" Lien Chan, assume that Lien and not their own candidate will win?
The answer of course, is that the ROC voting public, in contrast to ignoramuses like Mastel and Will, know that Taiwan's "lively/thriving/vibrant" democracy is a "farce/hoax/sham." The ROC voting public is painfully aware of the power of the KMT political machine. The ROC voting public is resigned to the likelihood that even though they intend to vote for a pro-reunification candidate, "Mr. Democracy" will probably manipulate the system to ensure a victory for his "hand-picked" successor, whoever the hell he is.
Welcome to Taiwan's pseudo-democracy.
I Told You So
Last week I predicted Chen Shui-bian would milk the Politically Correct, but historically fraudulent conventional reading of the notorious 2-28 Incident for all it was worth.
See:
Taiwan Independence and the 2-28 Incident
Consider this CNA article:
228 INCIDENT VICTIMS REMEMBERED Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA)
"... Chen Shui-bian, the standard-bearer of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, also visited the memorial park to pay tribute to the victims of the incident. Chen... said that if he wins the March 18 presidential election, he will push for the establishment of a national-level 228 memorial museum."
What can I say, except "I told you so."
What's wrong with this Picture?
The article by the CNA, or Central News Agency, Lee Teng-hui's official government mouthpiece, characterizes the 2-28 Incident, which occurred February 28, 1947, this way:
"The 228 Incident was triggered when an elderly Taiwanese woman selling untaxed cigarettes in Taipei was severely beaten by an inspector of the Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau."
The Taiwan Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau was an oppressive statist bureaucracy imposed on the Chinese people of Taiwan by the Japanese colonial regime. There was no Chinese Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, certainly not at the time of the 2-28 Incident. Throughout several millennia of Chinese history it has been completely legal for private individuals to manufacture their own alchoholic beverages without any government interference whatosever. Note the deliberate omission of the word "Taiwan" from the name of the bureau.
"Faced by an angry mob, the inspector shot dead a bystander and fled to a nearby police station."
The panicked inspector, surrounded by an angry mob, fired a warning shot into the air. The shot went wild, accidentally killing a curiosity-seeker emerging from a nearby building. Note the deliberate and misleading implication that the shooting was cold-blooded murder, rather than manslaughter or wrongful death.
"Faced by mass protests and rioting (emphasis added) and unable to control the situation, Taiwan Governor Chen-yi appealed for help to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in mainland China, who sent troops to the northern port city of Keelung, from where they spread out over the island, killing indiscriminately."
So what's wrong with this picture? Here's a hint. Riot control troops arrived in several waves. The earliest wave reportedly arrived on 3-09.
So what happened between 2-28 and 3-09?
Blaming the Victim
The answer? Taiwan separatist Quislings and diehard Japanese fifth columnists crazed with the spirit of "Kamikaze," spread out over the island, and in a sickening echo of the Rape of Nanking, indiscriminately slaughtered any and all mainland Chinese they encountered, women and children, young and old, then dumped their corpses into drainage ditches to float out into the Taiwan Straits.
Notice how any mention whatsoever of that abomination was completely missing from the Central News Agency "news" report. Instead the "news" report camouflages the massacre which ensued with the coy phrase, "mass protests and rioting." This is typical of "news" reports relating to Taiwan independence. When it comes to the Big Lie, Jamie Shea and NATO have nothing on petty tribalist Taiwan independence hate-mongers.
The Taiwan independence elite are reminiscent of Japanese neofascists, who piously weep over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while suffering selective amnesia at any mention of the Rape of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, or Joseph Mengele-style "medical experiments" conducted on American and Chinese POWs by the Japanese Imperial Army's notorious Unit 731.
Born a Taiwan Person, Die an American Ghost
Lu Hsiu-lien, aka Annette Lu, is the Democratic Progressive Party's Vice-presidential candidate, Chen Shui-bian's running mate. Antiwar.com readers may recall seeing her display her reverence for democratic governance and parliamentary procedure on CNN. She was the one standing on top of a table in the ROC Legislature, swinging a baseball bat at those who took exception to her views on Taiwan independence.
Last week Annette declared on a Vice-presidential candidate debate, televised island-wide, that "sheng wei Taiwan ren, shi wei Taiwan guai," or "I was born a Taiwan person, and will die a Taiwan ghost." The Taiwan independence elite, I'm sure, was moved to tears.
That was before James Soong's campaign committee made public a fascinating little tidbit on ol' Annette. Apparently Ms. Lu was the proud owner of a burial plot in the good ol' US of A. Imagine that.
Now I suppose her ringing declaration of undying devotion to Taiwan will have to be amended somewhat, to "Sheng wei Taiwan ren, shi wei Mei Guo guai." For those who don't speak Chinese, that's "I was born a Taiwan person, and will die an American ghost."
So much for the Taiwan independence elite's braggadocio about being "martyrs for their beloved Taiwan."
Friday, February 25, 2000
Taiwan Independence and the 2-28 Incident
Taiwan Independence and the 2-28 Incident
Bevin Chu
February 24, 2000
February 28, 1947
Executive Summary: Four days from now it will be February 28th, 2000. Fifty-three years ago, in 1947, the infamous "2-28 Incident" began as a street riot and ended with the death of thousands. With the ROC's presidential elections scheduled for March 18, a mere two weeks later, you can bet your life the Taiwan separatist elite is going to milk the tragic occasion for all it's worth.
The only problem is, the Taiwan separatist elite is going to be milking the wrong date.
What am I talking about? Read on.
The Vaclav Havel of Taiwan
Former political prisoner Li Ao, Taiwan's foremost scholar and historian, hosts two nightly political talk shows on cable TV. A few years ago Li, a cross between Vaclav Havel and Rush Limbaugh, published a history of the 2-28 Incident, entitled "The 2-28 You Don't Know," in which he turns the conventional wisdom surrounding the tragedy upside down, or more accurately, rightside up. During Chiang Kai-shek's White Terror Li was a guest of Taiwan's "Club Fed" for eight years. He was imprisoned for "subversive activities," i.e., authoring or publishing op-ed pieces denouncing the late Generalissimo as a dictator. Li spent his time in prison reading voluminously, and became a walking encyclopedia of Chinese history, including the history of post WWII Taiwan.
Fomenter of Taiwan Independence?
One of the charges levelled against Li was "fomenting Taiwan independence." The charge was utterly ludicrous. Li has never harbored anything but undisguised contempt for both the Taiwan "independence" leadership and its ideology.
Li however has alway harbored a deep and abiding respect for untrammelled freedom of expression. While the current crop of opportunistic, Radical Chic Taiwan separatists were hiding out in America, safe from Chiang's White Terror, the iconoclastic Li stubbornly remained in Taiwan and fought tooth and nail for the release of political prisoners, including former DPP Chairman Shih Ming-teh, former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsing-liang, and former DPP Taipei Mayor Chen Sui-bian.
Even militant Taiwan separatists dare not treat Li Ao with anything but respect and deference. They owe him, big time, and they know it. No, the opinionated, obnoxious, egotistical Li Ao cannot be dismissed as an apologist for the Chiang Kai-shek/Chiang Ching-kuo controlled KMT, much less a "holocaust denier."
Me Too!
Currently three of the four former political prisoners: Li Ao, Hsu Hsing-liang, and Chen Shui-bian, are candidates for president of the Republic of China.
[Note: I later learned that Chen Shui-bian was never a "political prisoner." He was convicted in civil court of falsely accusing a rival of plagiarism. He later spun his conviction as "political persecution."]
Chen Shui-bian is the separatist DPP's candidate. Chen now pays hypocritical lip service to reunification in public in order to deceive moderate voters whom he desperately needs to win. Meanwhile, away from the attention of the international media, surrounded by rabid Taiwan independence crowds, he shouts "Long live Taiwan independence!"
Former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsing-liang, who once colluded with KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui to eliminate the Taiwan Provincial Government, in flagrant violation of the ROC Constitution, has since undergone a genuine "Road to Damascus" conversion. Hsu now denounces Chen Shui-bian's obsession with Taiwanese separatism as a menace to Taiwan's economic future and East Asian regional peace and stability.
Li Ao is the reformist and pro-reunification New Party's candidate. Li and the New Party have long advocated a wide range of eminently sensible and far-sighted cross-Straits policies, which the rival political parties on Taiwan have only recently come to realize they must endorse, however reluctantly. Li and the New Party's thanks for being ahead of the curve? Kneejerk demonization as "traitors to Taiwan."
The 2-28 You Don't Know
Li's book, available in Chinese only, is entitled "The 2-28 You Don't Know." In it he supplies critical key missing pieces of "lost" history concerning the 2-28 Incident which DPP propagandists and Taiwan independence websites conveniently forget to mention. Li Ao reveals that the 2-28 Incident is a misnomer. The militant separatists who want to play up Ming Nan Taiwanese victimization are playing up the wrong date, and hence the wrong name for the incident.
2-28 Everthing
Chen Shui-bian, former DPP Mayor of Taipei, upon asssuming office promptly declared that henceforce February 28 would be known as "2-28 Memorial Day" and played up the victimization of "Taiwanese" with a "2-28 Memorial Museum" and "2-28 Monument" in a "2-28 Memorial Park." The Taiwan separatist elite alleges that 10,000, 20,000 or even 30,000 "Taiwanese" died at the hands of Chiang Kai-shek's KMT troops. Well, Li Ao asks some rather pointed questions about this factoid surrounding 2-28.
An Incident by Any Other Name
An event termed the "2-28 Incident" most certainly did happen. During this 2-28 Incident thousands of innocent people most certainly were murdered.
The problem is that the 2-28 Incident should be commemorated not by the Taiwan independence victimologists, but by the surviving family members of "mainlanders." Mainlanders, not "Taiwanese" were the primary victims of the 2-28 Incident.
"Taiwanese," so-called, were the main victims of a subsequent incident which began on March 10, and which ought to be termed, but is not, the "3-10 Incident." That's when mainland troop reinforcements from Fujian arrived to suppress the rioting and began a My Lai/Tiananmen style massacre of rioters.
Cigarettes May Be Harmful to your Health
Between February 28 and March 10, 1947, Taiwanese separatists, including fanatical diehards of Japanese descent who resented giving back Taiwan to China, went on a rampage murdering mainland" Chinese. The mindset of these Japanese diehards was remarkably similar to that of fanatical holdouts discovered decades later holed up in dark caves on remote South Pacific islands.
What touched off this massacre was an attempt on February 27 by a "mainlander" policeman to confiscate black market cigarettes from a elderly "Taiwanese" woman street vendor in Taipei, who resisted. The policeman and the woman scuffled, and an indignant crowd gathered. The crowd surrounded the policeman and threated to overpower him. He pulled out his handgun and fired a warning shot into the air to force them to back off. The shot went wild, accidentally killing a curiosity seeker who had emerged from a neighboring house to see what the commotion was about. Contrary to usual tellings of the story the woman was not the person shot. The crowd quickly turned into a mob, chased the officer to his precinct station and surrounded it. They demanded the precinct captain hand him over to be lynched on the spot. The captain refused.
Bitter Irony
In yet another bitter irony, the cigarette and liquor taxes which played such a central role in sparking the riots, were an unrepealed vestige of Japanese colonial rule. China traditionally never had government restrictions on either the private manufacture of tobacco products or alcoholic beverages. For thousands of years it has been completely legal for private citizens in China to make their own "homebrew" or "moonshine."
Rodney King and Reginald Denny
Prior to this, mutual resentment had simmered for two years, somewhat akin to the undercurrent of animosity between Korean merchants and African-American store customers in Los Angeles. The February 27 altercation was all it took to ignite the fuse. For four straight days angry Taiwanese rioters ran beserk through the streets of Taiwan's major metropolitan areas, somewhat akin to the way rioters ran beserk through South Central L.A. following the Rodney King verdict.
Like the L.A. rioters who dragged truck driver Reginald Denny from his vehicle and smashed him over the head with bricks merely because he was white, Taiwanese separatists accosted anyone on the street who couldn't speak Japanese and was, ipso facto, considered a "mainlander." They murdered them and threw their bodies into the then ubiquitous drainage ditches.
Some ultramilitant Taiwanese Quislings and Japanese diehards even donned occupation era Japanese uniforms, samurai swords, and wafted Japanese battle flags with sunray designs through the streets, while rounding up mainlanders to be slaughtered.
Ann Frank and Oskar Schindler
Decent Taiwan Chinese who chose their friends on the basis of personal affinities (the "content of their character") and not primitive tribal affiliations, hid mainlander friends and neighbors in their closets, the way sympathetic Gentiles hid Ann Frank and her family from Nazi house to house sweeps, and Oskar Schindler saved the lives of Jews assigned to his factories.
Ingratitude Defined
Following Japan's unconditional surrender, Koreans wreaked perfectly understandable vengeance against their former Japanese overlords, thousands of whom were killed by angry mobs who had lost loved ones during Japan's brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula.
Meanwhile Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, in a gesture of extravagant and in retrospect, ill-considered magnanimity, forgave defeated Japan for all her war crimes. Former Japanese colonial occupiers on Taiwan were given a choice. Be repatriated to Japan, or stay on Taiwan, only as immigrants. The choice was theirs. Either way, they would remain unmolested.
Some Japanese chose to return to Japan. Some chose to stay on in Taiwan. Among those who chose to stay, many Japanese, instead of being grateful, turned to fomenting Taiwan independence.
When mainland troops finally arrived on March 9 to quell the riots and saw what was going on they were apoplectic. They had just endured a war of naked Japanese aggression during which fascist Japan had slaughtered 30 million Chinese, including 300,000 civilians in a single prolonged incident, the infamous Rape of Nanking.
To now be confronted with the sight of Chinese Quislings and Japanese Fifth Columnists brazenly flaunting Japanese uniforms while murdering fellow Chinese was too much to take. Some of them reportedly opened fire with machine guns "My Lai/Tiananmen style," on sight, on every suspected Quisling they encountered. Some shooting victims may even have been mainlanders. Chaos was complete.
Compensation
The ROC Bureau of Justice has been actively soliciting surviving family members to come forward and claim wrongful death compensation for the last decade or so. Just over two thousand families have applied for and received compensation. So where are the tens of thousands of casualties routinely cited? Some militant Taiwan separatists allege that the low number, by several orders of magnitude, merely mean that survivors are terrified of reprisals.
Reprisals? From Taiwan separatist President Lee Teng-hui, who considers himself Japanese? Spare me.
A Darker Explanation
An alternative, darker, more plausible explanation, one considerably less palatable to Taiwanese separatist victimologists suggests itself to Li Ao and former Justice Minister Ma Ying-jeou. Namely that the remaining alleged 8,000, or 18,000, or 28,000 victims were mainlanders, many of whom were unmarried laborers from Fujian, without relatives in Taiwan. Once their corpses were dumped into the Tamsui River and floated out into the Taiwan Straits that was the end of it. Family members on the mainland assumed they died in the "fog of war" against Japan. Number inflation may well be a double-edged sword. If that is indeed the case, for manipulative Taiwan separatist demagogues like Chen Shui-bian to add mainlander victims to the column labelled "Taiwanese" victims is insult added to injury.
Just the Facts, A-Bian, Just the Facts
If Chen Shui-bian, known to his acolytes as "A-Bian," had any intellectual integrity whatsoever, he would publicly acknowledge his historical ignorance, innocent or otherwise, and make correct his mistake.
Chen can do any of the following.
One: He can retain the names "2-28 Memorial Day," "2-28 Memorial Museum," "2-28 Monument," and "2-28 Memorial Park," but reverse the role of victim and victimizer. If you believe Chen Shui-bian would do this, I have some land in the Everglades I'd like to interest you in.
Two: He can change the names of "2-28 Memorial Day," "2-28 Memorial Museum," "2-28 Monument," and "2-28 Memorial Park" to "3-10 Memorial Day," "3-10 Memorial Museum," "3-10 Monument," and "3-10 Memorial Park."
What do you imagine the odds of this are? After all, this would require Chen to concede not simply that he had gotten a date wrong, but again, that his smug Good versus Evil dichotomy was inverted. I wouldn't want to hang by a rope while Chen considered this option.
Three: He can keep doing what he's been doing. Continue to foment ugly hatred against all "mainlanders." Pretend that "mainlander" Li Ao, who visited Chen in prison and brought him books to read, never exposed the 2-28 Incident for what it was, a Joseph Goebbels Big Lie.
As 2-28, 2000 approaches, we shall see soon enough whether Chen and the Taiwan separatist elite take the high road, or the low road.
I'm betting on the latter. Any takers?
Appendix: The 2-28 Incident
by L. J. Lamb, J. D.
Attorney-at-Law, USA
Author's Note: This article contains data from "A Tragic Beginning" and other sources. It was never intended to be an academic article, but is balanced and shows both sides of the issue. No one was lily white during the period. Chen Yi has been blamed, but he may not be the one at fault.
On December 1, 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to the Cairo Declaration, which stated in part: "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China."
Even before the Cairo Conference, the ROC central government had established a Taiwan Study Committee to collect information and begin to develop plans for governing Taiwan. General Chen I, former governor of Fujian province, was eventually chosen to head the government team in Taiwan. In September 1945, General Chen told reporters that he would "act in accordance with the teachings of the Republic of China's founding father to carry out the Three Principles of the People, liberate our Taiwan brethren from slavery, and then persevere to build a strong, healthy, prosperous Taiwan."
Taiwan was officially retroceded to the Republic of China on October 25, 1945. Unfortunately, General Chen's stated intentions proved extremely difficult to put into practice. Conditions on the both Chinese mainland and Taiwan in late 1945 were abominable, at best. In many ways, the situation on Taiwan mirrored that of the Chinese mainland, with high rates of unemployment and inflation, shortages of basic necessities and raw materials, widespread destruction, and a dispirited populace.
With major Japanese naval bases and up to 65 Japanese air bases on Taiwan and the Pescadores, Taiwan had been a prime target for allied bombing during the latter stages of World War II. In addition to the military facilities, the transportation infrastructure was high on the hit list. Even before the central government took over Taiwan, prices had begun to increase rapidly. By 1945, food grain prices had increased over 20 times their pre-war levels. Between 1944 and 1945 alone, prices increased over three times.
Initially, the local people welcomed the new government, but this was soon to change. Mainlanders and Taiwanese had difficulties in communicating with each other, often aggravating misunderstandings and animosity between groups. Military personnel regularly got into arguments with local shopkeepers and refused to pay. Soldiers were accused of stealing bicycles and otherwise disturbing the populace, undermining any goodwill that existed at the beginning of the new government.
With the departure of the Japanese, the Chinese government authorities had the responsibility of taking over Japanese-owned lands, factories, mines, houses, etc. Local Taiwanese were seriously disappointed, when administrators from the Chinese mainland took control or outright ownership of the former Japanese possessions, which Taiwanese saw as their entitlement. Taiwanese further accused the mainlanders of corruption, nepotism, diverting what was left of Taiwan's wealth to the Chinese mainland, and profiting from their positions in the new government at the expense of the local people.
Whereas the Taiwanese had referred to the Japanese as dogs, they referred to the mainland Chinese as pigs, on account of their greed. Conversely, many mainland Chinese saw the Taiwanese as willing collaborators with the Japanese, who had devastated China, beginning in 1931. In fact, some Taiwanese, perhaps with nothing more, still wore their Imperial Japanese Army uniforms, adding fuel to the discord.
On an even more serious level, crime increased dramatically. Taiwan's cities and coastlines had long been home to hoodlums and gangsters (liu-mang), and one estimate indicates that their numbers had increased to 100,000, shortly after the departure of 11,000 Japanese police and approximately 200,000 Japanese military personnel, who had kept tight social control on Taiwan.
Although social unrest was smoldering just below the surface, the minor province of Taiwan was hardly a major concern of the central government of China, which was engaged in a full-scale civil war with the Chinese Communists in the late 1940s. Most Chinese military personnel, who had been initially sent to Taiwan, had been withdrawn, and those that remained were stationed outside the cities. Less than 8,500 policemen and 5,000 troops were left to maintain order in a population of 6.25 million.
One observer stated that there was factionalism and bitter struggle everywhere, including within the provincial administration. Regardless of any good intentions, the Governor-General was out of touch with the rapid economic deterioration and the growing social violence.
Governor-General Chen's interpretation of Sun Yat-sen's Principle of People's Livelihood, was highly socialistic, favoring state control. Unfortunately, the government authorities were in unfamiliar territory and were not particularly efficient in administering the newly obtained state enterprises and promoting economic stability. The public was constantly complaining about real and imagined corruption among mainland officials sent to Taiwan.
Thwarting market forces further complicated the economic situation, multiplied shortages, and increased inflation. Not surprisingly, this led to rampant smuggling, which, combined with a variety of other social and economic ills, touched off the debacle known as the "2-28 Incident," occurring on February 28, 1947.
Although the 2-28 Incident has often been referred to as a taboo topic, perhaps no event in the history of Taiwan has been more discussed both publicly and privately. The 2-28 Incident is still used to this day as a major motivating force of vote-seeking politicians to incite controversy and antagonism between ethic groups.
The 2-28 Incident actually started on the morning of February 27, 1947, when the Taiwan City Monopoly Bureau received a secret report that cigarettes and matches were being smuggled on board a boat near the post of Tamsui. Investigators found only five boxes of cigarettes, but a later report indicated that the missing contraband was being sold at the Tien-ma Tea Store on Tai-ping Street, an area known to be a frequent hangout for smugglers.
By the time investigators arrived at the tea store, the smugglers had fled, but a 40-year old widow was peddling what investigators thought were smuggled cigarettes. When investigators attempted to seize the cigarettes, the woman resisted, and she was hit on the head by the investigator with his pistol. An angry crowd gathered and began to taunt the investigators, one of whom, trying to flee the scene, fired his pistol and killed bystander Chen Wen-hsi, thought to be the brother of a major hoodlum.
Although the investigators escaped to a nearby police station, their abandoned vehicle was burned. The crowd converged on the police station and demanded that the investigator be summarily executed. Soon, a crowd of six to seven hundred went to the Police Bureau and again demanded that the investigator be executed.
The head of the Monopoly Bureau told the crowd that the matter would be dealt with in accordance with law, but the crowd was not satisfied. They began chanting, "The Taiwanese want revenge now" and "Anyone who does not come out and assemble is not a real Taiwanese." On Friday morning, February 28, the animosity further increased. The characters for "China" on the China Hotel and the Bank of China were removed, and a banner in Japanese appeared: "Down with military tyranny."
The situation continued to deteriorate, and by noon a mob attacked a branch of the Monopoly Bureau, beat two officials to death, and burned stocks of cigarettes, matches, a vehicle, and some bicycles. The radio station was occupied and broadcasts were made to assemble at the Taiwan Provincial Executive Office. Two more people were shot, as police tried to disperse the crowd.
Taiwanese began questioning people in Japanese or Taiwanese, and anyone who could not speak the language was beaten, often to death. Shops, hotels, and even a hospital were attacked, and furniture and goods were burned in the street. "Resolution Committees" were set up by disaffected Taiwanese in various cities and towns.
Initial efforts at conciliation failed and violence continued to mount, resulting in over 1,000 deaths and serious injuries to mainlanders. After a conciliatory radio broadcast by Governor-General Chen, Resolution Committee member Wang Tien-teng broadcast a rejection of the message and praised as "revolutionary martyrs," those who died attacking stores owned by mainlanders or while beating or killing them. Meanwhile, the violence spread to other cities, where mainlanders were beaten and killed.
Some Resolution Committees moved to set up a "self-defense corps" or made increasingly bold demands on the government, including the disarming of troops when outside their military camps. In Panchiao, Taiwan provincial councilmen led crowds in attacking the government. In I-lan, squads of students attacked an air force warehouse. Military camps and weapons depots were attacked in Lotung and Suao.
In Tainan, activists took over police weapons and seized the radio station. They passed resolutions that all students should form the No. 1 Fighting Team and any Taiwanese hiding mainlanders should be taken to the student military units immediately and have their households searched.
A plan by activists and ex-Japanese military personnel to attack the Makung police bureau and seize weapons failed, when the district police chief ordered all weapons placed in a storehouse.
In Taichung, mainlanders were rounded up, and an encampment of provincial government troops was attacked. Calls were made to "Organize a Democratic Army," as military bases and police stations were attacked and weapons stolen. One of the few known Communists Hsieh Hsueh-hung led attacks against the Taichung police bureau, seizing 28 rifles and 100 knives. She then ordered the takeover of the Taichung Radio Station and forced the surrender of the Third Aircraft Factory.
Taichung activists of the "27th Militia Corps," an armed unit that repaired weapons and vehicles for an eventual battle with government forces, left the city and set up headquarters in the Puli elementary school to fight the government.
In Chia-yi, activists organized fighting units of aborigines, gangsters, and a variety of other people. They threatened to attack the airport if their demands were not met: that ROC military units should surrender, the airport radio system should be handed over to the Resolution Committee, all police weapons should be surrendered, and military police weapons should be given to the Resolution Committee.
The uprising, violence against mainlanders, and calls by radical elements for the overthrow of the government, were all too similar to the Communist rebellion that had plagued the Chinese mainland since 1927. The Governor-General called for reinforcements from the mainland.
On March 9, troops arrived in Keelung, two divisions arrived in Kaohsiung on March 10, and troops were airlifted to Chia-yi on March 11. Military forces quickly put an end to the uprising after a few days of pitched battles and intermittent skirmishes. When news of the impending arrival of troops from the mainland began to circulate, the Resolution Committees quickly toned down their inflammatory rhetoric, retracted some of their more outrageous demands, or simply disbanded. It became quickly apparent that once superior force was established, the uprising was over.
Typical was the situation in Ilan. Attacks had occurred on military installations began on March 3, but, when government troops entered the city on March 13, ROC flags soon filled the city. All fighting had ended by March 21, with a total of 6,317 listed as killed and wounded, a figure apparently includes those who had been arrested and executed, after the uprising was put down.
A significant number of people were later arrested, and trials dragged on for extended periods of time. The subsequent repression of political dissent, directed particularly against the Taiwan independence movement and communism, is known as the "White Terror" and continued under a weak form of martial law until 1987.
Some politically motivated groups have stated that up to 100,000 people were killed, and the government wiped out the Taiwan elite... A total of 46 members of Taiwan's elite, including doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, professors, councilmen, principals, and other government officials were listed as killed, and 34 other members of the elite were known to have been arrested.
Regardless of how many mainlanders and Taiwanese were killed in the fighting or how many Taiwanese were arrested and executed or imprisoned afterwards, the 2-28 Incident soured relations between native Taiwanese and first, second, and even third generation mainland Chinese to this day. Although the government has made significant efforts to ease the tension by promoting understanding and reconciliation between the ethnic groups, it appears that many more years will have to pass before the incident is either forgotten or forgiven.
Bevin Chu
February 24, 2000
February 28, 1947
Executive Summary: Four days from now it will be February 28th, 2000. Fifty-three years ago, in 1947, the infamous "2-28 Incident" began as a street riot and ended with the death of thousands. With the ROC's presidential elections scheduled for March 18, a mere two weeks later, you can bet your life the Taiwan separatist elite is going to milk the tragic occasion for all it's worth.
The only problem is, the Taiwan separatist elite is going to be milking the wrong date.
What am I talking about? Read on.
The Vaclav Havel of Taiwan
Former political prisoner Li Ao, Taiwan's foremost scholar and historian, hosts two nightly political talk shows on cable TV. A few years ago Li, a cross between Vaclav Havel and Rush Limbaugh, published a history of the 2-28 Incident, entitled "The 2-28 You Don't Know," in which he turns the conventional wisdom surrounding the tragedy upside down, or more accurately, rightside up. During Chiang Kai-shek's White Terror Li was a guest of Taiwan's "Club Fed" for eight years. He was imprisoned for "subversive activities," i.e., authoring or publishing op-ed pieces denouncing the late Generalissimo as a dictator. Li spent his time in prison reading voluminously, and became a walking encyclopedia of Chinese history, including the history of post WWII Taiwan.
Fomenter of Taiwan Independence?
One of the charges levelled against Li was "fomenting Taiwan independence." The charge was utterly ludicrous. Li has never harbored anything but undisguised contempt for both the Taiwan "independence" leadership and its ideology.
Li however has alway harbored a deep and abiding respect for untrammelled freedom of expression. While the current crop of opportunistic, Radical Chic Taiwan separatists were hiding out in America, safe from Chiang's White Terror, the iconoclastic Li stubbornly remained in Taiwan and fought tooth and nail for the release of political prisoners, including former DPP Chairman Shih Ming-teh, former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsing-liang, and former DPP Taipei Mayor Chen Sui-bian.
Even militant Taiwan separatists dare not treat Li Ao with anything but respect and deference. They owe him, big time, and they know it. No, the opinionated, obnoxious, egotistical Li Ao cannot be dismissed as an apologist for the Chiang Kai-shek/Chiang Ching-kuo controlled KMT, much less a "holocaust denier."
Me Too!
Currently three of the four former political prisoners: Li Ao, Hsu Hsing-liang, and Chen Shui-bian, are candidates for president of the Republic of China.
[Note: I later learned that Chen Shui-bian was never a "political prisoner." He was convicted in civil court of falsely accusing a rival of plagiarism. He later spun his conviction as "political persecution."]
Chen Shui-bian is the separatist DPP's candidate. Chen now pays hypocritical lip service to reunification in public in order to deceive moderate voters whom he desperately needs to win. Meanwhile, away from the attention of the international media, surrounded by rabid Taiwan independence crowds, he shouts "Long live Taiwan independence!"
Former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsing-liang, who once colluded with KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui to eliminate the Taiwan Provincial Government, in flagrant violation of the ROC Constitution, has since undergone a genuine "Road to Damascus" conversion. Hsu now denounces Chen Shui-bian's obsession with Taiwanese separatism as a menace to Taiwan's economic future and East Asian regional peace and stability.
Li Ao is the reformist and pro-reunification New Party's candidate. Li and the New Party have long advocated a wide range of eminently sensible and far-sighted cross-Straits policies, which the rival political parties on Taiwan have only recently come to realize they must endorse, however reluctantly. Li and the New Party's thanks for being ahead of the curve? Kneejerk demonization as "traitors to Taiwan."
The 2-28 You Don't Know
Li's book, available in Chinese only, is entitled "The 2-28 You Don't Know." In it he supplies critical key missing pieces of "lost" history concerning the 2-28 Incident which DPP propagandists and Taiwan independence websites conveniently forget to mention. Li Ao reveals that the 2-28 Incident is a misnomer. The militant separatists who want to play up Ming Nan Taiwanese victimization are playing up the wrong date, and hence the wrong name for the incident.
2-28 Everthing
Chen Shui-bian, former DPP Mayor of Taipei, upon asssuming office promptly declared that henceforce February 28 would be known as "2-28 Memorial Day" and played up the victimization of "Taiwanese" with a "2-28 Memorial Museum" and "2-28 Monument" in a "2-28 Memorial Park." The Taiwan separatist elite alleges that 10,000, 20,000 or even 30,000 "Taiwanese" died at the hands of Chiang Kai-shek's KMT troops. Well, Li Ao asks some rather pointed questions about this factoid surrounding 2-28.
An Incident by Any Other Name
An event termed the "2-28 Incident" most certainly did happen. During this 2-28 Incident thousands of innocent people most certainly were murdered.
The problem is that the 2-28 Incident should be commemorated not by the Taiwan independence victimologists, but by the surviving family members of "mainlanders." Mainlanders, not "Taiwanese" were the primary victims of the 2-28 Incident.
"Taiwanese," so-called, were the main victims of a subsequent incident which began on March 10, and which ought to be termed, but is not, the "3-10 Incident." That's when mainland troop reinforcements from Fujian arrived to suppress the rioting and began a My Lai/Tiananmen style massacre of rioters.
Cigarettes May Be Harmful to your Health
Between February 28 and March 10, 1947, Taiwanese separatists, including fanatical diehards of Japanese descent who resented giving back Taiwan to China, went on a rampage murdering mainland" Chinese. The mindset of these Japanese diehards was remarkably similar to that of fanatical holdouts discovered decades later holed up in dark caves on remote South Pacific islands.
What touched off this massacre was an attempt on February 27 by a "mainlander" policeman to confiscate black market cigarettes from a elderly "Taiwanese" woman street vendor in Taipei, who resisted. The policeman and the woman scuffled, and an indignant crowd gathered. The crowd surrounded the policeman and threated to overpower him. He pulled out his handgun and fired a warning shot into the air to force them to back off. The shot went wild, accidentally killing a curiosity seeker who had emerged from a neighboring house to see what the commotion was about. Contrary to usual tellings of the story the woman was not the person shot. The crowd quickly turned into a mob, chased the officer to his precinct station and surrounded it. They demanded the precinct captain hand him over to be lynched on the spot. The captain refused.
Bitter Irony
In yet another bitter irony, the cigarette and liquor taxes which played such a central role in sparking the riots, were an unrepealed vestige of Japanese colonial rule. China traditionally never had government restrictions on either the private manufacture of tobacco products or alcoholic beverages. For thousands of years it has been completely legal for private citizens in China to make their own "homebrew" or "moonshine."
Rodney King and Reginald Denny
Prior to this, mutual resentment had simmered for two years, somewhat akin to the undercurrent of animosity between Korean merchants and African-American store customers in Los Angeles. The February 27 altercation was all it took to ignite the fuse. For four straight days angry Taiwanese rioters ran beserk through the streets of Taiwan's major metropolitan areas, somewhat akin to the way rioters ran beserk through South Central L.A. following the Rodney King verdict.
Like the L.A. rioters who dragged truck driver Reginald Denny from his vehicle and smashed him over the head with bricks merely because he was white, Taiwanese separatists accosted anyone on the street who couldn't speak Japanese and was, ipso facto, considered a "mainlander." They murdered them and threw their bodies into the then ubiquitous drainage ditches.
Some ultramilitant Taiwanese Quislings and Japanese diehards even donned occupation era Japanese uniforms, samurai swords, and wafted Japanese battle flags with sunray designs through the streets, while rounding up mainlanders to be slaughtered.
Ann Frank and Oskar Schindler
Decent Taiwan Chinese who chose their friends on the basis of personal affinities (the "content of their character") and not primitive tribal affiliations, hid mainlander friends and neighbors in their closets, the way sympathetic Gentiles hid Ann Frank and her family from Nazi house to house sweeps, and Oskar Schindler saved the lives of Jews assigned to his factories.
Ingratitude Defined
Following Japan's unconditional surrender, Koreans wreaked perfectly understandable vengeance against their former Japanese overlords, thousands of whom were killed by angry mobs who had lost loved ones during Japan's brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula.
Meanwhile Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, in a gesture of extravagant and in retrospect, ill-considered magnanimity, forgave defeated Japan for all her war crimes. Former Japanese colonial occupiers on Taiwan were given a choice. Be repatriated to Japan, or stay on Taiwan, only as immigrants. The choice was theirs. Either way, they would remain unmolested.
Some Japanese chose to return to Japan. Some chose to stay on in Taiwan. Among those who chose to stay, many Japanese, instead of being grateful, turned to fomenting Taiwan independence.
When mainland troops finally arrived on March 9 to quell the riots and saw what was going on they were apoplectic. They had just endured a war of naked Japanese aggression during which fascist Japan had slaughtered 30 million Chinese, including 300,000 civilians in a single prolonged incident, the infamous Rape of Nanking.
To now be confronted with the sight of Chinese Quislings and Japanese Fifth Columnists brazenly flaunting Japanese uniforms while murdering fellow Chinese was too much to take. Some of them reportedly opened fire with machine guns "My Lai/Tiananmen style," on sight, on every suspected Quisling they encountered. Some shooting victims may even have been mainlanders. Chaos was complete.
Compensation
The ROC Bureau of Justice has been actively soliciting surviving family members to come forward and claim wrongful death compensation for the last decade or so. Just over two thousand families have applied for and received compensation. So where are the tens of thousands of casualties routinely cited? Some militant Taiwan separatists allege that the low number, by several orders of magnitude, merely mean that survivors are terrified of reprisals.
Reprisals? From Taiwan separatist President Lee Teng-hui, who considers himself Japanese? Spare me.
A Darker Explanation
An alternative, darker, more plausible explanation, one considerably less palatable to Taiwanese separatist victimologists suggests itself to Li Ao and former Justice Minister Ma Ying-jeou. Namely that the remaining alleged 8,000, or 18,000, or 28,000 victims were mainlanders, many of whom were unmarried laborers from Fujian, without relatives in Taiwan. Once their corpses were dumped into the Tamsui River and floated out into the Taiwan Straits that was the end of it. Family members on the mainland assumed they died in the "fog of war" against Japan. Number inflation may well be a double-edged sword. If that is indeed the case, for manipulative Taiwan separatist demagogues like Chen Shui-bian to add mainlander victims to the column labelled "Taiwanese" victims is insult added to injury.
Just the Facts, A-Bian, Just the Facts
If Chen Shui-bian, known to his acolytes as "A-Bian," had any intellectual integrity whatsoever, he would publicly acknowledge his historical ignorance, innocent or otherwise, and make correct his mistake.
Chen can do any of the following.
One: He can retain the names "2-28 Memorial Day," "2-28 Memorial Museum," "2-28 Monument," and "2-28 Memorial Park," but reverse the role of victim and victimizer. If you believe Chen Shui-bian would do this, I have some land in the Everglades I'd like to interest you in.
Two: He can change the names of "2-28 Memorial Day," "2-28 Memorial Museum," "2-28 Monument," and "2-28 Memorial Park" to "3-10 Memorial Day," "3-10 Memorial Museum," "3-10 Monument," and "3-10 Memorial Park."
What do you imagine the odds of this are? After all, this would require Chen to concede not simply that he had gotten a date wrong, but again, that his smug Good versus Evil dichotomy was inverted. I wouldn't want to hang by a rope while Chen considered this option.
Three: He can keep doing what he's been doing. Continue to foment ugly hatred against all "mainlanders." Pretend that "mainlander" Li Ao, who visited Chen in prison and brought him books to read, never exposed the 2-28 Incident for what it was, a Joseph Goebbels Big Lie.
As 2-28, 2000 approaches, we shall see soon enough whether Chen and the Taiwan separatist elite take the high road, or the low road.
I'm betting on the latter. Any takers?
Appendix: The 2-28 Incident
by L. J. Lamb, J. D.
Attorney-at-Law, USA
Author's Note: This article contains data from "A Tragic Beginning" and other sources. It was never intended to be an academic article, but is balanced and shows both sides of the issue. No one was lily white during the period. Chen Yi has been blamed, but he may not be the one at fault.
On December 1, 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to the Cairo Declaration, which stated in part: "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China."
Even before the Cairo Conference, the ROC central government had established a Taiwan Study Committee to collect information and begin to develop plans for governing Taiwan. General Chen I, former governor of Fujian province, was eventually chosen to head the government team in Taiwan. In September 1945, General Chen told reporters that he would "act in accordance with the teachings of the Republic of China's founding father to carry out the Three Principles of the People, liberate our Taiwan brethren from slavery, and then persevere to build a strong, healthy, prosperous Taiwan."
Taiwan was officially retroceded to the Republic of China on October 25, 1945. Unfortunately, General Chen's stated intentions proved extremely difficult to put into practice. Conditions on the both Chinese mainland and Taiwan in late 1945 were abominable, at best. In many ways, the situation on Taiwan mirrored that of the Chinese mainland, with high rates of unemployment and inflation, shortages of basic necessities and raw materials, widespread destruction, and a dispirited populace.
With major Japanese naval bases and up to 65 Japanese air bases on Taiwan and the Pescadores, Taiwan had been a prime target for allied bombing during the latter stages of World War II. In addition to the military facilities, the transportation infrastructure was high on the hit list. Even before the central government took over Taiwan, prices had begun to increase rapidly. By 1945, food grain prices had increased over 20 times their pre-war levels. Between 1944 and 1945 alone, prices increased over three times.
Initially, the local people welcomed the new government, but this was soon to change. Mainlanders and Taiwanese had difficulties in communicating with each other, often aggravating misunderstandings and animosity between groups. Military personnel regularly got into arguments with local shopkeepers and refused to pay. Soldiers were accused of stealing bicycles and otherwise disturbing the populace, undermining any goodwill that existed at the beginning of the new government.
With the departure of the Japanese, the Chinese government authorities had the responsibility of taking over Japanese-owned lands, factories, mines, houses, etc. Local Taiwanese were seriously disappointed, when administrators from the Chinese mainland took control or outright ownership of the former Japanese possessions, which Taiwanese saw as their entitlement. Taiwanese further accused the mainlanders of corruption, nepotism, diverting what was left of Taiwan's wealth to the Chinese mainland, and profiting from their positions in the new government at the expense of the local people.
Whereas the Taiwanese had referred to the Japanese as dogs, they referred to the mainland Chinese as pigs, on account of their greed. Conversely, many mainland Chinese saw the Taiwanese as willing collaborators with the Japanese, who had devastated China, beginning in 1931. In fact, some Taiwanese, perhaps with nothing more, still wore their Imperial Japanese Army uniforms, adding fuel to the discord.
On an even more serious level, crime increased dramatically. Taiwan's cities and coastlines had long been home to hoodlums and gangsters (liu-mang), and one estimate indicates that their numbers had increased to 100,000, shortly after the departure of 11,000 Japanese police and approximately 200,000 Japanese military personnel, who had kept tight social control on Taiwan.
Although social unrest was smoldering just below the surface, the minor province of Taiwan was hardly a major concern of the central government of China, which was engaged in a full-scale civil war with the Chinese Communists in the late 1940s. Most Chinese military personnel, who had been initially sent to Taiwan, had been withdrawn, and those that remained were stationed outside the cities. Less than 8,500 policemen and 5,000 troops were left to maintain order in a population of 6.25 million.
One observer stated that there was factionalism and bitter struggle everywhere, including within the provincial administration. Regardless of any good intentions, the Governor-General was out of touch with the rapid economic deterioration and the growing social violence.
Governor-General Chen's interpretation of Sun Yat-sen's Principle of People's Livelihood, was highly socialistic, favoring state control. Unfortunately, the government authorities were in unfamiliar territory and were not particularly efficient in administering the newly obtained state enterprises and promoting economic stability. The public was constantly complaining about real and imagined corruption among mainland officials sent to Taiwan.
Thwarting market forces further complicated the economic situation, multiplied shortages, and increased inflation. Not surprisingly, this led to rampant smuggling, which, combined with a variety of other social and economic ills, touched off the debacle known as the "2-28 Incident," occurring on February 28, 1947.
Although the 2-28 Incident has often been referred to as a taboo topic, perhaps no event in the history of Taiwan has been more discussed both publicly and privately. The 2-28 Incident is still used to this day as a major motivating force of vote-seeking politicians to incite controversy and antagonism between ethic groups.
The 2-28 Incident actually started on the morning of February 27, 1947, when the Taiwan City Monopoly Bureau received a secret report that cigarettes and matches were being smuggled on board a boat near the post of Tamsui. Investigators found only five boxes of cigarettes, but a later report indicated that the missing contraband was being sold at the Tien-ma Tea Store on Tai-ping Street, an area known to be a frequent hangout for smugglers.
By the time investigators arrived at the tea store, the smugglers had fled, but a 40-year old widow was peddling what investigators thought were smuggled cigarettes. When investigators attempted to seize the cigarettes, the woman resisted, and she was hit on the head by the investigator with his pistol. An angry crowd gathered and began to taunt the investigators, one of whom, trying to flee the scene, fired his pistol and killed bystander Chen Wen-hsi, thought to be the brother of a major hoodlum.
Although the investigators escaped to a nearby police station, their abandoned vehicle was burned. The crowd converged on the police station and demanded that the investigator be summarily executed. Soon, a crowd of six to seven hundred went to the Police Bureau and again demanded that the investigator be executed.
The head of the Monopoly Bureau told the crowd that the matter would be dealt with in accordance with law, but the crowd was not satisfied. They began chanting, "The Taiwanese want revenge now" and "Anyone who does not come out and assemble is not a real Taiwanese." On Friday morning, February 28, the animosity further increased. The characters for "China" on the China Hotel and the Bank of China were removed, and a banner in Japanese appeared: "Down with military tyranny."
The situation continued to deteriorate, and by noon a mob attacked a branch of the Monopoly Bureau, beat two officials to death, and burned stocks of cigarettes, matches, a vehicle, and some bicycles. The radio station was occupied and broadcasts were made to assemble at the Taiwan Provincial Executive Office. Two more people were shot, as police tried to disperse the crowd.
Taiwanese began questioning people in Japanese or Taiwanese, and anyone who could not speak the language was beaten, often to death. Shops, hotels, and even a hospital were attacked, and furniture and goods were burned in the street. "Resolution Committees" were set up by disaffected Taiwanese in various cities and towns.
Initial efforts at conciliation failed and violence continued to mount, resulting in over 1,000 deaths and serious injuries to mainlanders. After a conciliatory radio broadcast by Governor-General Chen, Resolution Committee member Wang Tien-teng broadcast a rejection of the message and praised as "revolutionary martyrs," those who died attacking stores owned by mainlanders or while beating or killing them. Meanwhile, the violence spread to other cities, where mainlanders were beaten and killed.
Some Resolution Committees moved to set up a "self-defense corps" or made increasingly bold demands on the government, including the disarming of troops when outside their military camps. In Panchiao, Taiwan provincial councilmen led crowds in attacking the government. In I-lan, squads of students attacked an air force warehouse. Military camps and weapons depots were attacked in Lotung and Suao.
In Tainan, activists took over police weapons and seized the radio station. They passed resolutions that all students should form the No. 1 Fighting Team and any Taiwanese hiding mainlanders should be taken to the student military units immediately and have their households searched.
A plan by activists and ex-Japanese military personnel to attack the Makung police bureau and seize weapons failed, when the district police chief ordered all weapons placed in a storehouse.
In Taichung, mainlanders were rounded up, and an encampment of provincial government troops was attacked. Calls were made to "Organize a Democratic Army," as military bases and police stations were attacked and weapons stolen. One of the few known Communists Hsieh Hsueh-hung led attacks against the Taichung police bureau, seizing 28 rifles and 100 knives. She then ordered the takeover of the Taichung Radio Station and forced the surrender of the Third Aircraft Factory.
Taichung activists of the "27th Militia Corps," an armed unit that repaired weapons and vehicles for an eventual battle with government forces, left the city and set up headquarters in the Puli elementary school to fight the government.
In Chia-yi, activists organized fighting units of aborigines, gangsters, and a variety of other people. They threatened to attack the airport if their demands were not met: that ROC military units should surrender, the airport radio system should be handed over to the Resolution Committee, all police weapons should be surrendered, and military police weapons should be given to the Resolution Committee.
The uprising, violence against mainlanders, and calls by radical elements for the overthrow of the government, were all too similar to the Communist rebellion that had plagued the Chinese mainland since 1927. The Governor-General called for reinforcements from the mainland.
On March 9, troops arrived in Keelung, two divisions arrived in Kaohsiung on March 10, and troops were airlifted to Chia-yi on March 11. Military forces quickly put an end to the uprising after a few days of pitched battles and intermittent skirmishes. When news of the impending arrival of troops from the mainland began to circulate, the Resolution Committees quickly toned down their inflammatory rhetoric, retracted some of their more outrageous demands, or simply disbanded. It became quickly apparent that once superior force was established, the uprising was over.
Typical was the situation in Ilan. Attacks had occurred on military installations began on March 3, but, when government troops entered the city on March 13, ROC flags soon filled the city. All fighting had ended by March 21, with a total of 6,317 listed as killed and wounded, a figure apparently includes those who had been arrested and executed, after the uprising was put down.
A significant number of people were later arrested, and trials dragged on for extended periods of time. The subsequent repression of political dissent, directed particularly against the Taiwan independence movement and communism, is known as the "White Terror" and continued under a weak form of martial law until 1987.
Some politically motivated groups have stated that up to 100,000 people were killed, and the government wiped out the Taiwan elite... A total of 46 members of Taiwan's elite, including doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, professors, councilmen, principals, and other government officials were listed as killed, and 34 other members of the elite were known to have been arrested.
Regardless of how many mainlanders and Taiwanese were killed in the fighting or how many Taiwanese were arrested and executed or imprisoned afterwards, the 2-28 Incident soured relations between native Taiwanese and first, second, and even third generation mainland Chinese to this day. Although the government has made significant efforts to ease the tension by promoting understanding and reconciliation between the ethnic groups, it appears that many more years will have to pass before the incident is either forgotten or forgiven.
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