Johnny Naiko

The enigmatic Johnny Neihu, who has a column every Saturday in the Taipei Times, is in many respects the anti-Gregory Clark. Unlike Greg, Johnny does not search for ways to excuse the actions of tyrants, and his information is factual, and therefore grounded in the real world. Most of all, he has a sense of humor, something that Clark seems to have been born without (it's inspiring to see how Greg has managed to overcome this birth defect, and find success in life). Johnny shows his un-Clarklike grasp of things in today's commentary, "Between rocks and a chip trace", in which he writes about the recent Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 comic opera:

"Yes, just when you thought the kafuffle over last month’s sinking of a 'recreational' fishing boat by the Japanese coast guard had died down, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this week started beating its chest again over news that several members of the Japanese Diet 国会 were preparing to inspect the islands."

Unlike many news reports on the Senkakus, Johnny provides some relevant background information on the issue:

"...the 'dispute' only really became one in 1968, when the UN’s Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East reported that there might be vast, Saudiesque oil deposits in the continental shelf below. Overnight the number of countries interested in the islands increased by 100 percent — to two. China then completed the gruesome threesome...in 1971."

In short, neither Taiwan nor China cared much about the islands until the possibility of there being oil under them thar sea rocks arose:

"...as we know from recent history, the thought of controlling gazillions of barrels of black gold makes fighting wars and reckless military action seem like a good idea."

Johnny then goes on to heap deserved ridicule on the great patriots of the Chinese nation:

"(People First Party 親民党) members like Yunghe (Yonghe) City 永和市 Councilor Huang Hsi-lin, a member of the Taiwan Safeguard Diaoyutai Movement Union, are so patriotic that they just can’t wait to sail to the islands at the first sign of trouble, whereupon they bravely defend the Republic of China’s 中華民国 territory by throwing plastic bottles at Japanese patrol boats. But this patriotic fervor isn’t the preserve of us folk in Taiwan; you even get crazy sons-of-bitches flying in from Hong Kong just so they can burn Rising Sun flags in front of the Japanese mission. Indeed, nutcases from Hong Kong seem to have almost cornered the market for pointless acts of fanaticism where the Diaoyutais are concerned. Anyone remember David Chan, an activist who drowned near the islets on Sept. 26, 1996, after leaping off a protest vessel with five others in an attempt to swim to the islands and assert China’s sovereignty? Poor Dave jumped, snared his foot in a rope and smashed his head against the boat. More idiotic than patriotic, I’d say. Even that mild-mannered toilet-paper obsessive, President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九, goes into a full-on, fist-thumping frenzy at the mere mention of these sacred rocks."

In these situations, Gregory Clark tends to switch to automatic, blame everything on Japan mode. Johnny, however, thinks the fault lies elsewhere:

"In this situation I tend to do what everyone else around the world does when they can’t find a satisfactory explanation. I blame the US. After all, it was the Americans who controlled the Diaoyutais for 27 years following the Japanese surrender in 1945 before handing them back to Tōkyō. But even after giving them back to Japan, Uncle Sam refused to categorically state a position on the ultimate sovereignty of the rocks."

Johnny eventually leaves the topic of the Senkakus by asking:

"While we’re on the subject of protecting islands, why is it that the present government is so concerned about defending 7km² of rocky outcrop but doesn’t give a rat’s ass about protecting Taiwan proper?"

Funny how nowhere in his column does Johnny Neihu place the blame for the escalation in tensions between Japan and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands on "Japan's muddled, nationalistic hard line over territory", as Gregory Clark would have you believe. Johnny Neihu may be a smart ass, but Clark is just...I'll let you figure out the rest of this sentence.

And just to show how, as Johnny describes it, these "rocks (are) capable of sending people over the edge and more often than not succeed in turning them into gibbering wrecks", the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ had this story today, "Taiwan research ship nears Senkakus, snubs JCG":

"A maritime research ship of National Taiwan University 台湾大学 intruded into Japan's territorial waters near the disputed Senkaku islets in the East China Sea 東シナ海 early Friday, ignoring a warning from a Japan Coast Guard vessel 海上保安庁...The 794-ton, 50-meter ship at 5:25 a.m. entered the waters 22 km southeast of Uotsuri Island 魚釣島 of the islet chain, which is under Japan's control but also claimed by Taiwan and China. Despite the warning from the JCG patrol ship Hateruma, the research ship stayed in Japanese territorial waters for three hours...When the Hateruma's crew tried to ascertain by radio the purpose of the vessel's trip, the Taiwanese replied that they were collecting seawater for research. The Hateruma demanded the ship immediately leave Japan's territorial waters, informing it that research activities without advance notice and the consent of the Japanese government are not allowed. However, the Taiwanese ship failed to respond further and left the territorial waters around 8:20 a.m...."

In this brave, new world of the KMT 中国国民党-run Taiwan, even public universities have become tools for promoting nationalistic hard lines over territories. The same can't be said for Gregory Clark's Akita International University 国際教養大学, thank goodness.

On the home front, as in my home, I dusted off the child carrier, and for the first time in over a month, took Amber out to Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park 中正公園, to do some walking. A couple of my students, Angel and Sharon, came along, as did Sharon's son. Amber enjoyed seeing all the flora and fauna on the short trail that took us to the top of a ridge overlooking the park. But most of all, she enjoyed blowing bubbles.