Friday, November 30, 2007

In the news ニュース

Last day today. Sigh...

In the Japan Times today is this story about a life sentence being upheld for the Japanese killer of a Taiwanese tourist in Japan. In an unusual departure, the presiding judge actually made sense in his ruling. To quote:

"It is an atrocious crime. The (experience) of the blameless woman whose life was taken away in a foreign land is beyond imagination."

The accused:

"...pleaded guilty to murdering Hsiao (Jen-chiao) and dumping her body but maintained his innocence on the other charges, including abduction with the intent of molestation, rape and confinement, claiming he neither forced her into the car nor tied her. The judge called this argument irrational and incredible."

This is the first I've read of this case in either the Japanese or Taiwanese English-language media.

In the news ニュース

One more day in Washington, and then it's back to Taiwan. It's always hard facing up to the prospect of having to return to Isla Formosa, but this time I feel especially reluctant. However, I have little choice in the matter (namely, work commitments and personal possessions), and so tomorrow we must leave.

Meanwhile, the Daily Yomiuri has this article, "Japan-Taiwan relationship gets new guide", on Chen Horng-chi, the new chairman of Taiwan's Association of East Asian Relations, the organization responsible for Taiwan's relations with Japan. The story points out that:

"Chen served as deputy representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan for three years until Oct. 31. He has worked hard to strengthen Taiwan's ties with Japan, including in the fields of national politics, business and local government. Taiwanese tourists have been able to visit Japan without visas for the past two years. From this autumn, Japan and Taiwan agreed to recognize each other's driving licenses. Such measures are prompting a steady rise in tourist traffic."

Relations between Japan and Taiwan have grown closer in recent years, and will probably continue to do so. The article goes on to say:

"Taiwan is generally seen as pro-Japan, due to the influence of a generation who speak Japanese, such as former president Lee Teng-hui 李登輝. Japanese TV dramas also are now popular among the young generation. However, the country's top students have increasingly been choosing to study in the United States, not Japan. Chen worries that this will lead to a decline in the number of Taiwanese who can act as bridges between Japan and Taiwan. 'Fewer and fewer people in Taiwan know Japanese politics and society well, or understand the true beauty of Japan,' he said. Chen teaches at a university in Taiwan, and is planning to establish a course on contemporary Japan next spring. The goal of the course is to nurture Taiwanese who understand Japan well."

I generally agree with Chen's assessment of things. From my own observations, I've realized that while many Taiwanese are interested in things related to Japan, there isn't a high level of awareness of the reality of modern-day Japanese society.

Not that I know a whole lot about Taiwan...

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

In the news ニュース

Snow! Not much, but there is a dusting of the white stuff on the ground this morning. And the Olympics look really close today. It's days like this I really don't want to go back to Taiwan. Sigh...

Speaking of the so-called Beautiful Island, according to an article in today's Daily Yomiuri, a Taiwanese firm is accused of selling precision equipment to North Korea 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国:

"Taiwanese investigators have sent papers to prosecutors on a company suspected of violating the trade law by illegally exporting precision equipment capable of producing nuclear weapons-related materials to North Korea...With Japan tightening its controls on exports to North Korea following the revelation of Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs, North Korea is believed to have turned to Taiwan, which is not a member of the United Nations, to import Taiwanese machinery. The machinery are said to have contained high-tech parts from Japan...Taipei-based Yicheng Co. is suspected of this year exporting precision machinery capable of extracting plutonium and producing biological and chemical weapons to a company connected to the North Korean military, through Dalian, China. Exports of the machinery to North Korea are banned."

Apparently, it's not the first time this has happened:

"In March, investigators took action against a company in Taichung, Taiwan, for illegally exporting precision machinery capable of producing bullets to North Korea. In August, another company in Taipei was found to have exported Japanese computers and other products containing parts that could be used in missiles to North Korea. The North's importation of machinery capable of producing nuclear-related materials indicates that it is making a concerted effort to procure machinery capable of being used in the manufacturing of a wide range of weapons. The three cases revealed that North Korea was able to make contact with the Taiwanese firms through Taiwanese businessmen who traveled between Taiwan and China and also Chinese companies. They are said to have traveled to Taiwan via Macau and Hong Kong...North Korea targeted Taiwan because it manufactures high-tech precision machinery. (A) senior investigator said North Koreans had gone to Taiwan to receive training on how to operate and maintain the machinery...Taiwanese investigators are said to have been working with their U.S. counterparts, and plan to strengthen ties with Japan and South Korea to prevent illegal exports and shed more light on the North Korea-Taiwan connections."

To paraphrase an old cliche, international isolation makes for strange bedfellows.

It's off to the local mall today to do some early Christmas shopping.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

In the news ニュース

We're getting ready to go to Seattle シアトル for the day, but I've noticed that the Japan Times has a follow-up article on Ma Ying-jeou's 馬英九 visit to Japan. It seems the trip has been a success a for Ma, judging by the headline: "Taiwan's Ma winning converts in Nagata-cho 永田町". To quote:

"Last year in July, when Taiwanese presidential hopeful Ma Ying-jeou, then mayor of Taipei, visited Japan, his reception by Japanese lawmakers and the media was, at times, chilly. Ma's grilling by the Diet for being 'anti-Japanese' dominated local headlines. But as the opposition Nationalist Party lawmaker wrapped up another three-day visit to Japan on Friday, he seemed to have won converts among Japan's power brokers. One of the many signs that Tokyo is warming to Ma was a secret meeting between the Kuomintang (KMT) 中国国民党 front-runner and 'multiple Japanese government officials' Thursday. The meeting ranks as a first...That Tokyo would risk a row with China by allowing Cabinet officials to meet a Taiwanese presidential candidate speaks volumes about Japan's attitude toward Ma. It would appear Tokyo attaches great importance to Ma and his ideas for boosting relations as, possibly, Taiwan's next president."

Faced with the prospect of the KMT winning the presidency next year, it makes good political sense for Japan to hedge its bets. Perhaps Ma has also begun to realize the importance of maintaining good relations with the Japanese:

"The KMT, which identifies strongly with Chinese culture and nationalism, has traditionally faired poorly in wooing Tokyo. Ma hopes to improve those relations as Japan becomes a more important trading and strategic partner for Taiwan."

Then again, Taiwan is one Asian country where anti-Japanese rhetoric doesn't necessarily result in more votes for a political candidate, unlike in South Korea. Japan, for its part, prefers things in this part of the world to remain stable:

"Behind Ma's improved reception in Tokyo are his vows to improve Taipei-Tokyo ties while maintaining the status quo in the Taiwan Strait — a potential global flash-point that would likely impact Japan. China, which has vowed to unify Taiwan with the mainland, threatens to attack the island if it tries to make its independence stance a permanent one. Those threats keep Tokyo concerned because any conflict in the strait could see intervention from the United States, which would drag the Japanese military into the conflict via a joint defense pact and affect its southern territory. Ma wooed lawmakers this time by promising peace in the strait through improved economic and security relations with Beijing. He also vowed to make Taiwan a 'hard rock' by maintaining defense spending 'at no less than 3 percent of Taiwan's growth domestic product.' Central to Ma's message to Tokyo was a vow to seek 'neither unification nor independence,' while taking steps to otherwise ratchet down tensions in the strait, if elected."

In true Ma fashion, there were promises made all around:

"Ma's vision for closer Taiwan-Japan links also won converts, as a long, smiling embrace with Yokohama 横浜 Mayor Hiroshi Nakada made clear. A tentative agreement between Ma and Nakada to start a pilot student-exchange program between Taipei and Yokohama topped Ma's list of proposals. If elected, Ma said he would also seek a free-trade agreement with Japan increase tourism between the two countries and attract more Japanese students to Taiwanese universities."

As the U.S. learned last year when Ma visited, there is a big difference between what he says and what he does. At that time, Ma promised American officials he would end the KMT's stonewalling over the American arms package for Taiwan, a pledge that came to nothing once Ma was back in Taiwan. Let's hope Japanese government figures aren't as trusting.

Friday, November 23, 2007

In the news ニュース

The day after Thanksgiving is a time for sales, the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Perhaps I'm just getting old, or I've been away for too long, but I don't remember things being this out of control. Some stores have been open since midnight, others from 4, 5 or 6am this morning, to get a head start on attracting the shoppers. We're supposed to go out later today, so I will get to see the madness up close and personal.

In the meantime, there's yet another article in the Japanese English-language media about Taiwan. In the Op-Ed section of today's Japan Times, this piece by former diplomat Hisahiko Okazaki says it all: "It's Taiwan's referendum". It's one of the most refreshing articles to appear about the planned U.N. 国際連合 referendum:

"...China has also tried to influence Japanese policy. The position of the previous administration of Shinzo Abe 安倍晋三 was that Tokyo should not take any definitive action — for a good reason. Four years ago, when Taiwan held a similar referendum at the time of the presidential election, Tokyo publicly conveyed its opposition to Taipei, evidently under pressure from Beijing (whether Japan came under pressure from the U.S. as well is unclear). That action badly hurt popular sentiments toward the Japanese. The reaction there was: Why is Japan meddling in the affairs of Taiwan while making no contributions to the island's security?"

Exactly! The article goes on to point out the obvious:

"The question at stake is rather simple. If a referendum is actually held next spring, will China use military force? The answer, if put to all schools of China experts including pro-China ones, invariably would be 'no.' With China hosting the next Olympics, it is simply inconceivable for that country to resort to force if Taiwan, instead of making a formal declaration of independence, just changed its name from the Republic of China to Taiwan in its annual membership application to the United Nations. If so, then what compelled Hu (Jintao) 胡錦濤 to drop the dark hint, and what is his real motive?"

The question is then answered:

"To Chen (Shui-bian) 陳水扁 and his supporters, the purpose of the referendum is clear: Having voters reaffirm their Taiwanese identity and thereby bring electoral gains to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 民主進歩党. In opinion polls asking 'Do you consider yourself Taiwanese or Chinese?,' an overwhelming majority say Taiwanese. So it is a foregone conclusion that most people will prefer the name of 'Taiwan,' not China, in its application for U.N. membership. In democratic elections everywhere, political parties devise their own methods for campaigns. As long as the campaigns are lawfully carried out, outsiders should stay on the sidelines. What China wants to see may well be the opposite of what the DPP wants to achieve. Beijing wants the Nationalist Party (KMT) 中国国民党 to win in the next presidential election, so it is trying indirectly to promote the KMT, because U.S. opposition to the referendum hurts the Democratic Progressives while helping the Nationalists."

Okazaki sums it up quite nicely. The referendum is an exercise in Taiwanese domestic politics, an effort by the DPP to bring out their supporters in next year's presidential election, while China's protests and threats are an attempt to influence the electorate to vote for the KMT, a party which would be more amenable to China's attempts at taking control over Taiwan.

The conclusion to Okazaki's article is brilliant, and needs no further comment:

"For the (Yasuo) Fukuda 福田康夫 administration, the right course to follow is to stick with the policy of the previous administration, no matter what China says or does. The people of Taiwan are our neighbors who have a deep affinity and close feelings of good will toward Japan. At a time when they are trying to run their country as democratically as Japan, it is unconscionable for the Japanese to betray these feelings. Moreover, Japan has no legal or moral reasons for doing so. After all, interference in the internal affairs of other countries is strictly prohibited among modern states. China may say that Taiwan represents its internal affair, but by asking foreign countries to interfere, China is tacitly admitting that Taiwan is more than just an internal affair."

Thursday, November 22, 2007

In the news ニュース

It's Thanksgiving today, and there's frost on the ground this morning. A common sight in western Washington, but not something you see very often in central Taiwan. We'll be going out for Thanksgiving dinner this evening, along with my parents, sister and nephew.

The Japan Times has an interesting article today, the headline of which says it all: "Seoul, Taipei wanted nukes in Okinawa. Return islands to Japan but stay strong for Cold War, they told U.S."

Here are a few excerpts that mention Taiwan:

"South Korea and Taiwan urged the United States in the late 1960s to return Okinawa 沖縄 to Japan but keep its forces there nuclear-capable in the event of a crisis in East Asia, according to recently declassified U.S. government documents."

"A State Department document of Sept. 12, 1967, said Foreign Minister Wei Tao-ming of Taiwan — which at the time the U.S., Japan and many other countries recognized as a sovereign nation — warned two U.S. government officials on May 15 that year against 'any change' in Okinawa's status. Any U.S. military withdrawal from Okinawa resulting from the island's reversion to Japan 'would cause serious strategic and military problems for Taiwan,' he was quoted as saying. The document said Taiwan's 'primary concern appears to be the possibility of a weakening of Taiwan's security' if Okinawa was returned to Japan and the U.S. military bases there were dismantled."

"Apparently reflecting the South Korean and Taiwanese views, a joint statement issued by (then-Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku) Sato 佐藤榮作 and (then-U.S. President Richard) Nixon after their talks 38 years ago said that while Okinawa would be returned to Japan nuclear-free, South Korean and Taiwanese security was vital to Japan's own security."

I remember reading somewhere that the Republic of China 中華民国 has never officially recognized Okinawa's incorporation into Japan in 1879 (despite the fact the islands have been under de facto Japanese rule since 1609).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

In the news ニュース

I've been back in the U.S. (Bremerton, Washington to be exact) for three days now, and haven't done much of anything other than catch up on repeats of "South Park", "Seinfeld" and "Family Guy". Ah, bliss. If only I could retire early, and spend my days like this. The weather here is cold, but the air is fresh, and this morning the skies have cleared up enough to offer great views of the snow-capped Olympic Mountains in the distance. My sister and nephew are coming over tonight, and tomorrow evening everyone will be going out for Thanksgiving dinner. It's times like this I wonder why I ever left the States for Asia.

Or at least Japan for Taiwan, as the former actually has cold, snowy winters. Speaking of Taiwan, the Daily Yomiuri has an article in its November 21 edition on Ma Ying-jeou's 馬英九 current visit to Japan ("Taiwan opposition presidential candidate Ma wants to boost ties with Japan"):

"Taiwan should establish a free trade pact with Japan to boost bilateral economic and cultural ties, a Taiwanese presidential candidate said Wednesday during a trip aimed at bolstering his relations with Tokyo.

Ma Ying-jeou, of the main opposition Nationalist Party 中国国民党, said in a speech at a Japanese university that he also hoped to have frequent, high-level contacts with the Japanese government should he win the March elections.

'When I get elected, I will give Taiwan a new lens to look at the bilateral ties and improve exchanges in the private sector,' Taiwan's state-owned Central News Agency quoted Ma as saying at Doshisha University 同志社大学 in Kyoto 京都."

Comforting words, but as the story goes on to point out, Ma isn't trusted in Japanese circles:

"Ma has had to work to convince Japan that he harbors none of the anti-Japanese sentiments he expressed during heated protests in the 1970s against Japan's claim on a small chain of islands in the East China Sea also claimed by Taiwan and China."

The last time Ma was in Japan, he gave a speech promoting Japanese-Taiwanese friendship to Japanese reporters, and then, in true Ma fashion, made a number of anti-Japanese remarks to the Taiwanese media immediately afterward. The article then remarks:

"Ma...acknowledged 'some unpleasant fragments of history between Japan and Taiwan,' referring to Japan's wartime colonial rule of the island in the first half of the 1900s..."

Actually, seeing as how many TAIWANESE people tend to compare Japan's governance of Taiwan favorably in comparison to its domination by the post-1945 corrupt mainlander-dominated KMT dictatorship, Ma's remarks reveal how he seems to look at things from a CHINESE perspective, a perception reinforced by a later paragraph from the Yomiuri story:

"On Tuesday in Taipei 台北, Ma urged Taiwan to strengthen business partnerships with Japanese companies to jointly develop the Chinese market..."

Perhaps I'm taking his words out of context, but I would think a prominent Taiwanese politician (not to mention presidential candidate) would be encouraging Japanese companies to invest more in the TAIWANESE MARKET.

One other thing that struck me from the story was this:

"A visit by a Taiwanese political leader is a sensitive issue for Japan...China regularly opposes visits by Taiwanese officials to countries with which it has diplomatic ties."

That's true, but in contrast to visits to Japan by Lee Teng-hui 李登輝, I haven't read of any complaints by the Chinese government over Ma's trip.

Go figure...

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Hiking with Michael in Tak'eng (Dakeng) 大甲でマイケルとハイキングをして

Today was my last full day in Taiwan for the month of November as tomorrow the family and I will be leaving for a two-week trip back home to the States. And what better way to spend it than by going for a hike with Michael Turton in the Takeng mountain region overlooking the city of T'aichung (Taijhong) 台中? Well, OK, I can think of some other ways, but I still had a very enjoyable outing on a very fine Saturday morning.
今朝友達のマイケルと大甲という山へ行って、ハイキングをしていた。明日は家族とサンクスギビングデーを祝いたいから、アメリカに帰る。そして12月2日に台湾にも戻るつもりだ。

Despite the obvious dangers posed by construction work on the No. 2 Trail, Michael carried on in the best tradition of Lewis and Clark.


We made it to the top of the No. 2 in about 45 minutes, then proceeded along the ridgetop until we reached the No. 1 Trail. From where we stood, we could see other hikers coming our way, while the town of Chunghsingling (Jhongsingling) 中興峰 loomed in the background.


The No. 1 was in bad shape, most likely as a result of the recent typhoon. At one point, a large section of the original wooden railing had disappeared into a ravine, forcing a detour through the forest and a steep descent while holding on to ropes.


Nevertheless, being the intrepid explorers that we are, and in a move sure to infuriate already concerned wives, we had to venture close to the ledge for a better look.


Back in a couple of weeks!
また来月!

Friday, November 16, 2007

In the news: Gregory Clark ニュース

The ultimate Gregory Clark column has appeared. Entitled "The fusillade against China", almost everything that is offensive about Clark's writings is collected on one page. In it, Clark bares to the world the lengths he is willing to go to excuse China and its authoritarian regime. Writing this disgusting deserves to relished.

"In some ways China is not my favorite country. I once went to some trouble to learn its language. I have often had to court rightwing hostility for trying to explain its foreign policies in less than demonic terms. Back in 1971 I even organized, single-handedly and over Canberra's opposition, an Australian team to join in Beijing's Ping-Pong diplomacy. (Canberra in those days saw Beijing as evil incarnate, and its efforts to open up to the world via Ping-Pong team matches as a plot to take us all over.)"

Poor Greg. He's gone to a lot of trouble over the years sticking up for the poor, misunderstood dictatorial government, and hasn't received much love in return from others, despite the fact that he, and he alone, was responsible for Australia's diplomatic breakthrough with China vis-a-vis ping pong diplomacy. Visionaries such as Greg are often never appreciated.

"Yet, on my first day in China accompanying the team I had organized with such effort, I was almost expelled for trying to rescue an Australian journalist in trouble with the Red Guards. A few weeks later I was to receive a formal reprimand from the Chinese Foreign Ministry for trying to help more mistake-prone Australian journalists in trouble."

It isn't easy being Greg, not when you have to suffer fools gladly.

"This, together with some articles I wrote showing less than complete enthusiasm for China's disastrous Cultural Revolution, put me in Beijing's bad books for quite some time. Others who slavishly praised China at the time were warmly welcomed."

If you've ever read a lot of things that Clark has written, one thing that will no doubt strike you is his feeling of resentment against others that in his view are less deserving than he.

"But while it is easy to be annoyed by China's hard-nosed realpolitik in choosing friends, it is hard also not to be annoyed by the continual anti-China carping in the West."

Ah yes, criticism of Beijing's atrocious human-rights record is just "carping", a word that suggests one is complaining out of habit and not with any valid reason. This sounds reminiscent of the term "Japan-bashing" that used to be bandied about by those who wanted to deflect criticism away from Tokyo's economic policies of the 70s and 80s. Except that the Japanese government wasn't imprisoning people who dared to stand up for their rights.

"Here is a nation that has begun to lift one quarter of the world's population out of poverty to close to middle-class prosperity in a generation. Yet we are supposed to be upset by suspect paint on some toys ordered to the specifications of a U.S. importer, plus a few other imperfections in the torrent of quality goods helping rescue our Western economies from inflation and improve our own middle-class existences."

If you've been following the news the last few months, you've probably come across a number of stories about unsafe Made-in-China products. Clark prefers to dismiss all of this quickly by suggesting that Western companies are actually to blame, and we should accept the deaths of our pets and the sudden illnesses affecting our children because the Chinese are doing us a favor, after all, by selling us this stuff. This is classic Greg!

"China is accused of air pollution and gobbling up world energy resources. But when it dams the Yangtse River to produce over 22,000 megawatts of clean energy in an engineering feat that no Western nation can even begin to match, the Western media complain about the unforeseen erosion of mountain slopes upstream forcing villagers to be evacuated.

So it would have been better not to build the dam, force China to continue to rely on pollution-intense, coal-based energy, and go back to the days when tens of thousands died from flooding in the Yangtse's heavily populated lower reaches?"

And so much for China's environmental mess. It seems that we in the West are just jealous of China's engineering achievements. Besides, if we force the Chinese to stop destroying their living space, we will be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. How can Greenpeace sleep at night?!

"Somehow the recent opening of the remarkable 1,142-km, 5,000-meter-high railway line into Tibet is also sinful because it opens Tibet to Han Chinese influence. So it would be better to keep Tibetans in backward isolation forever?

The Han Chinese are supposed to be guilty of creeping genocide in Tibet. But since Beijing allows Tibetans, like other minorities, to have as many children as they want while Han Chinese are restricted to only one child, it seems we need a new definition of genocide."

Considering how many Han Chinese there are to begin with, Greg, I don't think they are in danger of being overtaken demographically anytime soon. It's funny, too, how Clark's defense of China's rule over Tibet - how it has lifted the country out of its backwardness - is the same kind of argument that was used by the Western powers to justify their past colonial rule over Asia and Africa. Greg, unfortunately, seems to be ironically-challenged. He also seems to have trouble grasping the nuances of the English language. It has been estimated by some that up to 1.2 million Tibetans have died through violence and misguided Chinese economic policies since Han Chinese rule was established in 1950. Sounds like genocide to me.

"China, it seems, is also guilty for failing to protest atrocities the West condemns in Sudan's Darfur and in Myanmar. Maybe it sees hypocrisy in the way the West not just fails to protest similar atrocities elsewhere, but actually helps to create them, as in Iraq, Somalia or Afghanistan. U.S. free-fire zones in Vietnam forcing villagers to live in underground tunnels for years make Darfur's Janjaweed killers look like a bunch of amateurs."

Yes, Greg, the U.S. did some pretty bad things in Vietnam. Except that that happened around 35-40 years ago, while Darfur and Myanmar are ongoing tragedies. Clark often seems stuck in a 1960s time warp, as the opening paragraph of his latest column shows.

"Maybe we would all be better off if we stopped telling other nations what to do and concentrated on our own affairs, as China does. But the main complaint is that China is not a democracy. Has anyone thought what would happen if China was a democracy?"

Clark conveniently forgets all the demands and threats China makes against other countries over things like visits by the Dalai Lama or former Taiwanese presidents. Now Greg is really getting going, for he's going to show us how China is better off in its current one-party authoritarian mode of government.

"The first victim would be the unpopular one-child policy, which threatens to cause serious problems for the nation in the future — rapid population aging, a male-female population imbalance, the weakening of family values. Yet, without that policy, the global pollution and resource shortage problems we all face would be far worse. In a sense the Chinese are making sacrifices for our sakes. But they get little thanks. Even the one-child policy is denounced as evil authoritarianism."

See, if the Chinese were given political freedoms, they would start having lots of sex, and global warming would get worse. So we should be thankful that the Chinese people who demand the freedoms of speech, press, religion and assembly, and who call for multi-party democracy, are rounded up, imprisoned and tortured. I'm surprised Greg hasn't praised the regime for the part it's doing to increase the number of available body organs (harvested from prisoners in Chinese jails, according to many reports).

"Today few criticize Singapore, or Japan for that matter, both of whom chose one-party autocracy during their early growth periods. China's blend of local democracy with reasonably responsible collective leadership from the top could well be a model for many other struggling societies.

Singapore's continuing one-party rule suggests that even advanced Chinese culture societies could prefer Confucian-style benign autocracy to Western-style democracy. Democracy is supposed to be about freedom of choice. But our moralists complain when a nation makes a choice they do not like."

Notice how he mentions Singapore, but completely ignores Taiwan, an "advanced Chinese culture society" that remains the only one of its kind to have chosen (and replaced) its leaders through relatively free and open elections. Don't worry, though, Greg will get to Taiwan soon enough.

"Even more annoying is the way the distorted products of myth-making are constantly dragged out to slam Beijing, as with the Tiananmen "massacre" of 1989? Just read the freely available reports from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing at the time to get the true story."

So you see Tiananmen Square was just a myth. When even the Chinese government admits that 200-300 people were killed by the PLA, you have to wonder what is Clark's definition of the word "massacre".

"China attacked India in 1962? Read what the historians have long said: namely, that it was India that attacked China and China retaliated.

China wants to take over Taiwan? Almost the entire world now formally recognizes Taiwan to be part of China."

Criticism of India goes hand-in-hand with love for China; it's a zero-sum game for Clark. Meanwhile, Greg totally ignores the reality that Taiwan has been a de facto independent country since 1949, and a democratic one at that since the early 1990's. Does the world formally recognize that Taiwan is part of China, Greg? Or is it the case that most of the planet's governments recognize that the R.O.C. has no claim over China?

"China crushed Tibetan independence in 1959? But no one, the previous anticommunist Chinese regime especially, has ever recognized Tibet as independent. And we now know that the CIA and India were deeply involved in fomenting the 1959 uprising that China felt it had to crush."

So the Indians and the CIA were the ones really responsible for the Tibetan uprising of 1959. After all, without the nefarious meddling of outsiders, the Tibetans would have realized that the Chinese were doing their benevolent best to lift Tibet out of the Dark Ages. In Clark's strange alternate reality, there is no such thing as Tibetan desires for self-determination. Instead, Clark sounds like one of those old Southern segregationists who blamed "outside agitators" for getting their "Negroes" all riled up about civil rights (Clark is often critical of Western residents of Japan who have the audacity to take legal action against discriminatory practices there).

"True, Chinese leaders have been far from angelic. They have yet to explain their largely unprovoked 1979 attack on Vietnam. Their mishandling of domestic policies led directly to the Tiananmen incident of 1989, and the many other localized riots that continue to occur. But post-Maoist Beijing has been trying hard to reform itself. It deserves more encouragement, less brickbats."

I was always under the impression that China attacked Vietnam to "punish" it for overthrowing Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge government. And I like how Greg uses the word "localized" to describe the riots, as if the very idea of any kind of general disgruntlement with the CCP government among the Chinese population is somehow hard to comprehend.

"Recent criticisms of China seem aimed to neutralize the kudos Beijing hopes its 2008 Olympics will bring. For some reason the British have long been the most diligent. As proof of Beijing's continuing authoritarianism the BBC recently went to some lengths to show a young reporter speaking execrable Chinese being refused entry to the closely guarded Chinese leadership housing and office compound in Beijing. Perhaps the guards remembered what happened the last time the British arrived there — the looting of invaluable treasures while crushing the 1900 Boxer Rebellion."

Once again, we in the West are just green with envy over what China has accomplished. And once again, he goes back in history, way back in this case (the Boxer Rebellion Greg?) to justify the heavy-handed way Beijing often handles things.

"London orchestrated much of the anti-China black information campaigns during Vietnam War days. It has used the Tiananmen myth to persuade the European Union to continue its ban on weapons sales to China. Its former governor in Hong Kong, Christopher Patten, was openly contemptuous of the Chinese regime.

Coming from the nation that launched the two Opium Wars of the mid-19th century — wars that were to lead directly to many of China's later troubles, including the loss of Hong Kong — the criticisms seem a bit indulgent."

Now he's on a roll. The "Tiananmen myth"? Christopher Patten - the man Beijing so charmingly called the "historic criminal/eternal sinner/sinner condemned for a thousand generations" for his atrocious crime of trying to expand Hong Kong's electorate? And the Opium Wars? Come on, Greg, the Boxer Rebellion was a stretch, but events of the mid-19th century?

All good things must come to an end, and Clark's column is no exception. As an old colleague of mine from my Tokyo days would have said, Greg is "an incredible piece of work". I wish I knew what makes people like Gregory Clark write the things that they do (perhaps Mr. Pinyin, my Ma Ying-jeou-loving secret admirer from a few threads back could shed some light on this).

Being vice-president of a university in northern Japan, maybe Greg is worried about the security of his cozy job in the face of the declining student enrollments in that country. By standing up for a ruling caste made up of thugs and criminals, he could be angling for a similar post in his beloved PRC. I wonder how he's going to top this article in his next column in the Japan Times?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hsint'ien (Sintian) 新田

The weather in early November in central Taiwan can be very pleasant at times, and this morning was a good example. The sunny sky and warm (but not hot) temperature combined to make my first visit in about a year to Hsintien an enjoyable one. Located in the adjoining town of T'antzu (Tanzih) 潭子 just a short scooter ride away, the trails aren't very challenging, but are still fun to walk on. T'aichung (Taijhong) 台中 and Tantzu were both covered in haze, so distance shots were out of the question today, but I did manage to get these pictures:

A small stream in the morning light, and a Buddhist icon, all that's left of a small shrine (Taiwan's mountains take a beating from Mother Nature).


The geologic forces at work are visible in the side of a mountain, while a lot of effort (and money) has been put into building a wooden arched bridge that leads nowhere.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

U.S.A. 5, Japan 1 日本は5対1で負けた

One good thing about being a North American in East Asia is that even if you don't understand the language and customs of Japan, South Korea or Taiwan, there's always baseball. You don't need a guidebook or a dictionary to follow the action, and the game is one of the few means that allows you to make an emotional connection to something comfortably familiar from back home. As part of the 37th Baseball World Cup taking place in T'aipei (Taibei) 台北 and T'aichung (Taijhong) 台中, Amber, Pamela and I went to see the United States play Japan this evening at the new Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium 臺中市洲際棒球場. It was a good game, especially for an American, as the U.S. beat Japan 5-1, led by Delwyn Young's (Los Angeles Dodgers) three-run home run in the bottom of the first. Japan loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, but closer Chris Booker (Washington Nationals) was able to snuff out the threat for the save (the winning pitcher was Brian Duensing of the Minnesota Twins). The stadium was far from crowded, but the level of support for both teams was high. I was impressed with the ballpark itself, which is a great improvement over the old Taichung Baseball Field in downtown Taichung. The Sinon Bulls 興農ブルズ(興農牛) of the local Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) 中華職業棒球聯盟 are scheduled to move in starting next season, and if I'm still around, it might be worthwhile to check out a few games. Below are a few photos from tonight's game.
写真を見てください

We sat on the third-base side, behind the U.S.A. dugout:


The player introductions and the starting lineups:


Colby Rasmus (St. Louis Cardinals) wisely lets a low pitch go by:


During the top of the 8th inning I walked over to the first-base side of the stadium:


The final result captured on the scoreboard in left-field:


Amber had no trouble making friends all throughout the evening:



Friday, November 9, 2007

Baseball in the news 野球のニュース

The Daily Yomiuri has several articles today on the Konami Cup アジアシリーズ, which started today at the Tōkyō Dome 東京ドーム. This is the third year for the round-robin tournament that pits the champions of the professional baseball leagues in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, plus an all-star team from China's league, the China Baseball League (CBL) 中国野球リーグ . Playing this time are the Chūnichi Dragons 中日ドラゴンズ from the Central League セリーグ, the SK Wyverns SKワイバーンズ of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) 韓国野球委員会, and representing Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) 中華職業棒球連盟, the Uni-President Lions 統一ライオンズ. The Yomiuri's piece on the Lions concerns the the fact that the team has a Japanese conditioning coach.

Japanese teams won the first two editions of the Konami Cup in 2005 (Chiba Lotte Marines 千葉ロッテマリーンズ) and 2006 (Hokkaidō Nippon Ham Fighters 北海道日本ハムファイターズ), though last year the La New Bears (La Newベアーズ) from Taiwan came close, losing to Nippon Ham in the final by a score of 1-0. I'll be pulling for Chūnichi to make it three in a row, though today they were upset by the Wyverns 6-3. The Dragons were the first Japanese baseball team I supported, initially because their uniforms closely resembled those of the Los Angeles Dodgers (one of my favorite MLB clubs) at the time when I first arrived in Japan in early 1989. Living for 18 months in Yokkaichi 四日市, which is only 50 minutes by express train 急行 from Chūnichi's home city of Nagoya 名古屋 also helped to reinforce the connection. And I've always admired the team's current manager and former star player, Hiromitsu Ochiai 落合博満, for both his incredible talent, and his iconoclastic attitude オレ流.

Here in Taiwan, the 37th annual Baseball World Cup has started in T'aipei (Taibei) 台北 and T'aichung (Taijhong) 台中. It may sound impressive, but international baseball is only a small blip on the world sporting scene. However, in attention-starved Taiwan, this is something of a big deal, with the city of Taichung going so far as to build a new ballpark, the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium 臺中市洲際棒球場, to play host to events such as these. Minor league it may be, but we'll be going to one of the games (Japan vs. the USA) this Saturday, weather-permitting, at the new facility.

Later this month and next Taichung will also be the venue for the Asia Cup Championships, a more important event that will serve as the qualifying tournament for next year's Olympic baseball program in Beijing.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

In the news ニュース

The headline in Wednesday's Daily Yomiuri couldn't have said it better: "Taiwan negotiator: China should abandon one-China principle for talks".

"Citing Chinese President Hu Jintao's offer of talks with Taiwan made during the Communist Party Congress in October, Hong Chi-chang, head of the semiofficial Straits Exchange Foundation that deals with its mainland counterpart in the absence of official ties, said, 'As long as China holds to its "one China" principle as a precondition, it's impossible to have dialogue on a peace agreement, no matter who is [Taiwan] president.'"

Exactly. For as Hong went on to point out:

"In Taiwan, 'one China' is regarded as referring to the People's Republic of China, as is the case at the United Nations. This is against Taiwan's interest and unacceptable for many Taiwan residents."

So rather than being an example of a "softening" in China's stance regarding Taiwan, as some analysts suggested, Hu's offer last month was just the same old proposals, cloaked in the same old tired cliches.

Unfortunately, I can't agree with Hong's remark about the next president refusing to go along with Beijing's interpretation of things. I feel very pessimistic about the future of Taiwan as an independent political entity should Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Ying-chiu/Ma Ying-jiou/Ba Eikyū) 馬英九 and the Kuomintang (Guomindang) 中国国民党 take over the reigns of power in next year's elections. I wouldn't shed any tears over the demise of the Republic of China 中華民国, but it would be very sad indeed if the R.O.C. were to be replaced by a Taiwan Special Administrative Region.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Walking in one of the eight scenic spots of Taiwan

In two weeks' time we will be leaving for a two-week visit to see my family in the United States. I'm really looking forward to the trip as it will be my first real Thanksgiving in 19 years. Seeing as we will probably spend next Sunday cleaning the apartment before we leave, today was going to be our first and last chance for a family outing this month. So we took advantage of the clear skies and warm temperatures, and headed off in the car to the Pahsienshan (Basianshan) 八仙山 National Forest Recreation Area.

Pahsienshan is located off of Highway 8, the former Central Cross-Island Highway 中部橫貫公路, just before the hot-spring resort of Kukuan (Guguan) 谷關. Including the two stops we made in Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原 and a break for lunch at a roadside noodle restaurant while en route, it took us just over two hours to reach Pahsienshan. Once there, we set off on the Evergreen Trail 長青歩道, the easiest of several walks in the area. It should take about an hour to walk the kilometer-long path, but with a 22 month-old child in tow, it was more like two. Amber enjoyed the experience, frequently stopping to pick up rocks and sticks, touch the flowers and plants and point out butterflies. She also proved to be very popular with almost everyone we encountered on the trail.


The trail begins from the parking lot by the visitor's center, and passes by some wooden cabins. Pahsienshan looks like it would be a nice place to spend the night.


The surrounding mountain scenery reminded me of the Japan Alps 日本アルプス. Here, Taiwan didn't seem so small after all. Speaking of Japan, we soon came to the Paching (Bajing) 八景, or Eight Scenic Spots, Memorial. The stone marks the fact that, during the Japanese occupation (1895-1945), Pahsienshan was considered one of Taiwan's eight most scenic spots. The other seven were Tamsui (Tanshui/Danshuei) 淡水, Taroko Gorge 太魯閣, Hsukang (Syugang) 旭崗, Alishan 阿里山, Sun Moon Lake 日月潭, Shoushan 壽山 and Eluanpi (Eluanbi) 鵝鑾鼻.


Past the Paching Memorial was another reminder of the Japanese era, the ruins of a Shinto shrine 神社. The shrine itself was long gone, unfortunately, a victim of forest fires and earthquakes, with only a pavilion and a sign to mark the spot. Nearby, however, was an atmospheric grove of tall bamboo trees.


From the bamboo grove, the trail looped back towards the visitor's center. The glimpses of the mountains through the trees were fabulous, but the best view was to be had from the small Chinghai (Jinghai) Temple 静海寺, which is also the gateway to an 8-hour round trip hike to the main peak of Pahsienshan. If we should ever spend the night here, this is a hike I would like to attempt.


We finally found ourselves back at the car, and headed for home. On the way back, Pamela wanted to stop off in Tungshih (Dongshih) 東勢 at a shop called "Chin Mama (Jin Mama)" 金媽媽. It's a very popular kimchi キムチ outlet set up by a Korean woman who bares a remarkable resemblance to the Japanese actress Shima Iwashita 岩下志麻, at least at the time when the portrait that adorns her shop's sign out front was taken. Traffic slowed to a crawl on the final leg of our journey home, between Tungshih and Fengyuan, but at least the sunset was spectacular.