Coming soon to a department store floor near you

I took Amber out for a walk in the hills above Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park 中正公園 this morning. Actually, I did all the footwork, while my daughter happily sat in the child carrier perched on my back, but we both had a good time. The carrier is designed to bear weights up to 22 kilograms (48.5 pounds). Amber is currently about 12 kilos (26 pounds), so she's going to be spending a lot more time on my back in the months to come:

On the way home, I noticed these banners strung along the circle road that loops around central Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原:

The local Pacific Department Store will be hosting a Tottori Week from September 5-10. For those of you for whom the name means nothing, Tottori 鳥取 is one of Japan's 47 prefectures (in fact, it's the least populous one, with only 620,000 residents). I'm assuming the store will be featuring food products from there (Tottori is apparently known for nashi pears ナシ, nagaimo yams ナガイも, an edible plant called rakkyō ラッキョウ, negi or welsh onion ネギ and watermelon スイカ). There also appears to be some kind of connection to a manga 漫画 artist, according to the banners. I made my first visit to Tottori-ken 鳥取県 back in June, when I stayed a night in the city of Kurayoshi 倉吉, and used it as a base to visit the Nageire-dō 投入堂. I also climbed Mt. Daisen 大山, which sits in Tottori (the prefecture's most famous sightseeing spot is the Tottori Sand Dunes 鳥取砂丘, but I didn't go there). I intend on visiting the department store next weekend to see what Tottori Week is all about.

Fengyuan is a small city in central Taiwan, with a population of 165,000. By local standards, it's a nice enough place to live, with convenient transportation connections (bus, car and train) to places up and down the west coast of the island. The presence of the Pacific Department Store, combined with a street called Miaotung (Miaodong) that is lined with food stands, serves as a magnet for people living in the smaller cities and towns of T'aichung (Taijhong) County 台中県, but most city residents head to nearby T'aichung 台中 city in search of excitement. Basically, not a whole lot goes on in Fengyuan, so Tottori Week is actually something you could almost get excited about, along with the MOS Burger モスバーガー and Carrefour outlets due to open soon.

In other words, T'aipei (Taibei) 台北 it ain't. But Taiwan 台湾 it most certainly is.

Snakes Alive!

I knew something like this would happen. My wife went out for lunch this afternoon with a friend, and took the camera with her. So I knew that when I went to Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park 正中公園 today to get some much-needed exercise, I was going to see something that would make me wish Pamela hadn't taken the camera with her. Sure enough, while I was walking along one of the trails, I came across a long, brownish-grayish snake stretched across the path. At first, I thought it might have been dead as it didn't move when I approached, but then I saw its head poking around in the brush. I watched it for a few seconds, all the while wishing I were able to record the moment, and post the picture here. Then, not wanting to step over a possibly poisonous creature (I hear conflicting information all the time about which snakes in Taiwan are deadly, and which are not), I stomped my feet a couple of times on the ground, which in turn caused the snake to quickly slither away. It truly was a beautiful beast, but as Pamela later pointed out, had I had the camera with me, the snake would not have been there in the first place. I couldn't argue with logic like that.

Speaking of snakes, the reptilian KMT 中国国民党 features in another Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ article by Max Hirsch of Kyōdō News 共同通信社, "Ties sour but will sweeten: Taiwan speaker":

"Taiwan's relations with Japan have regressed since the Nationalist Party came to power, but they are likely to rebound, parliamentary speaker Wang Jin-pyng 王金平 said in an interview. 'Relations were at their highest because of the government of the Democratic Progressive Party 民主進歩党 . . . and suddenly the (Nationalist Party) came to power and so many problems have emerged — it's like relations relapsed significantly in an instant,' Wang told foreign media after returning from Japan on a fence-mending visit earlier this month. His comments mark the second time a top Taiwanese politician has openly warned of deteriorating relations between Taipei and Tōkyō. Nationalist Party Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung 呉伯雄 said in July 'cracks' had begun to appear in the relationship."

It is pretty rare for any KMT official, particularly one as high up in the party as Wang, to credit the DPP with anything, especially in comparison with his own party's performance. Sending two party heavyweights in consecutive months on fence-mending tours to Japan seems to suggest there might be a schism developing among the ruling Nationalists over how to approach relations with Tōkyō:

"'The purpose,' (Wang) said, 'was to clear up some misunderstandings with Tōkyō.' A longtime backer of Japan, Wang met with some 40 Diet 国会 members and government officials who 'all have the impression President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 is anti-Japan and pro-China.' Japanese power brokers, Wang said, are also worried over why Ma had stalled in appointing the de facto ambassador to Japan. 'Almost all those whom I had met asked about this problem,' he added...Fueling worries that Ma had neglected Japan was his failure to quickly appoint an envoy after Taipei's last top representative to Tōkyō quit in mid-July. Only last week did the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry announce the appointment of former Ambassador to the Dominican Republic John Feng to the Japan post. The move is seen as underscoring Ma's emphasis on healthy relations with Japan because Feng is a senior diplomat and Nationalist Party heavyweight."

Ma is "anti-Japan" and "pro-China"? Where would anybody get that kind of idea?:

"Asked what had sparked the sudden downturn in bilateral ties, Wang cited a boat collision in disputed waters in the East China Sea 東シナ海. On June 10, a Japan Coast Guard 海上保安庁 vessel chased and rammed a Taiwanese fishing boat near the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島, an uninhabited chain of Japan-administered islets also claimed by Taiwan...No serious injuries were reported, but the collision touched off a diplomatic row that led to Ma recalling Taipei's then-envoy to Tōkyō Koh Se-kai 許世楷. And Taiwanese Prime Minister Liu Chao-shiuan 劉兆絃 threatened 'war' to solve sovereignty disputes over the Senkakus."

War. The prime minister, the head of government in Taiwan, threatened to go to war with Japan, apparently unaware that doing so would get the United States involved, thanks to a little piece of paper known simply as the "Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan" 日本国とアメリカ合衆国との間の相互協力及び安全保障条約, which obligates the U.S. to come to the aid of Japan in the event any territory under the jurisdiction of the Japanese government comes under attack. And that includes the Senkakus, which should not be a surprise to Liu as it was the United States that administered the Senkaku Islands between 1945 and 1972, and included them in the reversion of Okinawa 沖縄. And if the Chinese Nationalists thought they could depend on their comrades in China, the response from Beijing was muted during the crisis. Instead, the Chinese carried on with business as usual with Japan, even allowing a port call by a Japanese warship. Which is why people like Wang now feel the need to make visits to Taiwan's former colonial rulers in an attempt to fix the damage caused by some of their fellow KMT members:

"Further hurting the relationship, Wang said, is the widespread perception in Japan that Ma failed to address issues pertaining to Tōkyō soon after taking office. In fact, Ma's May 20 inaugural speech turned heads for its lack of a reference to Tōkyō, even though a government insider told a reporter before the inauguration there would be a significant mention of the U.S.-Japan Defense Alliance in the speech. Supposedly, Ma removed the reference before taking the podium."

Me thinks Wang's got his work cut out for him back home.

Amber does Toyohara (or should that be Hōgen?)

The family spent the afternoon at the Pacific department store in downtown Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原, eating lunch and doing a bit of window shopping. With four hours of free parking at the store, we certainly made good use of the time. Afterwards (but still with time remaining for parking), we walked over to the Fengyuan branch of a well-known Taiwanese bakery. You would think that a store in Taiwan using the characters 小林 as its name would be called "Hsiaolin (Siaolin)", but then you would be wrong. The name is actually "Kobayashi", the Japanese reading of the same characters (and a common surname in Japan). You might think then the company is Japanese in origin, but apparently it started in T'aichung (Taijhong) 台中. Whatever the background, they make some pretty delicious cookies and pastries. We picked up a box of one kind, the name of which escapes me at the moment - it's a soft cake shaped like a hanging bell with custard cream on the inside. Here's a picture of Amber doing her best imitation of an affluent Japanese shopper:

On the way back to the car from Kobayashi, we made a brief stop at the busy Matsu (Mazu) 馬祖 temple downtown. The shrine-style lanterns 灯籠 in the front, and the stone torii 鳥居 in the back lead me to believe the current Taoist temple occupies a site that used to be a Shintō shrine 神社 during the Japanese era, but I haven't found anyone who could corroborate this.

After getting home, Amber and I went up to the rooftop of our apartment building, where we caught the last rays of the setting sun, while bats were flying about on their evening hunt for insects.

Great minds think alike

 

I took Amber out in the child carrier this morning for a sweaty walk in the hills overlooking Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park. As always, there were a lot of insects out and about, including this red one on a yellow flower.

The Beijing Olympics are continuing, but I still can't be bothered much with what's going on, other than a brief look at the headlines in the morning newspaper. I disagreed from the beginning with the IOC's selection of Beijing (too similar to giving the games to Berlin and Moscow), and the torch relay fiasco only served to reinforce the thuggish image I hold of the Chinese government (it didn't do much either to make me feel reassured about the great Chinese public). I didn't see the opening ceremony due to work, but what I've read about it (the fake fireworks, the fake singer and the fake nationalities) certainly hasn't convinced me that the Olympics have acted as a catalyst to "change" or "open up" China. And I'm not the only one who feels this way, either. Hiroyuki Sugiyama of the Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 is none too pleased in "World felt cheated by ceremony. But lip-synching, CG viewed as par for course in quest for 'perfection'", that appears in today's Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売:

"Sadly, the Opening Ceremony is only one example of China's disregard for facts and truth. Observers have said the 2008 Summer Games are a political show performed in a 'disguised Beijing.' '[China] should apologize to the world,' a professor at a Beijing university said. Renowned Chinese film director Zhang Yimou 張芸謀, who directed the Opening Ceremony, gave his own work full marks. However, the ceremony was no more than a betrayal of the trust of people around the world who believed what they were seeing was genuine."

It seems Beijing has become one, giant Potemkin village:

"China's hidden agenda is to make the Games appear perfect. Many foreigners visiting Beijing to attend the Olympics are surprised by immaculate green zones and gleaming skyscrapers. However, few have had a chance to witness people evicted from their homes, migrant workers whose wages are being withheld, beggars, activists calling for democracy and people visiting Beijing to appeal to the government about rural hardship. In a park where the government says people can hold demonstrations, protesters are conspicuously absent. The authorities weeded out those people they suspected would harm their 'perfect Olympics' and secreted them far from locations associated with the Games, by forcing them out of the city, placing them in custody, or other means. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and many other committee members have said the well-crafted event was excellent. However, a Chinese Communist Party 中国共産党 member--citing a Chinese proverb meaning that truth cannot be hidden--said: 'The Olympic torch is designed like a paper roll. You can't wrap fire with paper.'"

Just as in the old days of the "Workers Paradise" that supposedly existed in Stalin's USSR, when it comes to modern China, some Westerners only see what they want to see. The article closes out by stating:

"China's priority vis-a-vis the Olympics is to boost the government's leadership by exhibiting the strength of a superpower, while satisfying a patriotic public. The Opening Ceremony is only a small part of China's political self-aggrandizement. The nation's ostentation is founded on this philosophy. A Beijing citizen said, 'Chinese weren't surprised by lip-synching [at the Olympics] as we are constantly surrounded by phony stuff.'"

Here in Taiwan, it is the 50th anniversary of the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis 金門砲戦, and the Daily Yomiuri has a short story entitled "Jinmen Island bridge to link Taiwan, China":

"Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of China's bombing of Chinmen Island 金門 off the coast of mainland China. Under Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's 馬英九 open policy toward China, the small island has been changing from a military outpost to an experimental field for friendship between China and Taiwan."

Right away, this article gets off to a bad start, because it was the previous independence-minded presidential administration that opened up the so-called "mini three-links" between Chinmen and the Chinese mainland. What the Ma government is doing is:

"...boost(ing) the so-called three (links) --commerce, navigation and communication--that directly connect the island and mainland China. This strategy has enabled Taiwanese and foreigners to directly commute between mainland China and the island on the ferry."

But wait, there's more:

"...construction of a bridge connecting the island and Xiamen is planned. The islanders...consider the bridge a turning point in the island's development. (Chinmen) county will lobby for construction of the bridge to begin next year. In addition to the bridge, plans to build a water pipeline and a harbor tunnel are under discussion. Chinmen's population is about 80,000 and the island is not home to any major industries. The islanders hope to work with China to make Chinmen an international tourist resort...The Ma administration intends to remove a ban on an influx of Chinese capital, and Chinmen County 金門県 hopes to construct tourist facilities using investment from Chinese businesses."

The story concludes by saying:

"Fifty years have passed since Chinmen was bombed by China, heightening fears that a war would break out between China and the United States. The island, which used to be an outpost against a Chinese threat during the Chiang Kai-shek 蒋介石 era, is changing to become symbol of reconciliation."

Or of the brave new world the KMT 中国国民党 is building for Taiwan. The thing about Chinmen is that, officially at least, it is part of Fujian Province, and not Taiwan proper. Should that day come when pigs take to the air, and figure skating becomes a popular activity in Hell, (in other words, when China recognizes the existence of Taiwan as an independent state), what would happen to Chinmen (and Matsu 馬祖)? Would the islands remain part of a Republic of Taiwan, or would they be returned to China as part of a negotiated settlement? Back in the real world, the more correct question might be to ask if Chinmen and Matsu are going to be some sort of test case (or dry run) for the KMT's long-range plans for Taiwan. And I think we all know what those are.

Teamwork

The current administration running the show here in Taiwan has done a lot in just a short period of time to muck things up in the key relationships with the United States and Japan. However, in at least one area, the three countries have found common ground. From the Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売 comes "Japan seeks WTO solution to EU tariff issue Taiwan, U.S. also to request world trade body to abolish duties on IT products". Some excerpts:

"Japan, Taiwan and the United States will ask the World Trade Organization on Aug. 29 to set up a panel charged with resolving the dispute over high tariffs imposed by the European Union on information technology imports to the EU market...Tōkyō, Taipei and Washington have insisted that the EU's tariff policy toward IT equipment imports, which they consider to be unfairly high, violates a WTO agreement...Japan, Taiwan and the United States have been at odds with the EU over its tariffs on three import items: liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors for computers, which can also be used for watching TV programs; all-in-one printers, which function as photocopiers, fax machines and scanners; and set-top boxes, which are used for converting signals for TV such as cable TV programs. Tōkyō, Washington and Taipei have imposed no tariffs on these three items under the WTO accord, which treats IT-related equipment imports as nontariff items. However, the EU has imposed a 14 percent tariff on imported LCD monitors, a 6 percent tariff on all-in-one printers and a 13.9 percent tariff on set-top boxes. The EU's tariff policy is based on its own assumption that LCD monitors are comparable to TV sets, and all-in-one printers to copying machines. The EU treats the three import items as home electrical appliances, meaning considerably higher tariffs are imposed on them...The WTO is expected to establish a panel, as sought by Tōkyō, Taipei and Washington, as early as September. But it likely will take the panel about two years to settle the dispute..."

No matter what else happens, the Europeans will always be there to gang up on!

And it looks like Mr. Ma has finally settled on someone to take over the post of Taiwan's top representative to Japan (rom the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ"Taiwan appoints Feng top envoy to Japan"):

"The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday the appointment of John Feng, an experienced diplomat and ruling Nationalist Party 中国国民党 heavyweight, as the island's top representative to Japan. The appointment of 62-year-old Feng to head the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office 台北経済文化代表処 — Taiwan's de facto embassy in Tōkyō 東京 in the absence of formal bilateral relations — ended weeks of speculation as to who would fill the post and when. The post has been vacant since Koh Se-kai 許世楷 resigned last month following a diplomatic row between Taipei and Tōkyō over the sinking of a Taiwanese fishing boat after it was struck by a Japan Coast Guard 海上保安庁 vessel near the disputed, Japan-controlled, Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 in the East China Sea."

About bloody time.

Eat the Young

A gold medal for China's star hurdler Liu Xiang 劉翔 eludes, following his withdrawal from the Men's 110-meter hurdles at the Beijing Olympics. It's bad enough his dream of another Olympic gold medal has been shattered, but the poor guy now has to face the wrath of a disappointed nation, according to this article ("Hurdler Liu faces cyber-wrath in China") that appeared in the Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売. Nationalism is an illness, and the Chinese version of it is a particularly nasty strain, but apparently it also exists in parasitical form, and can begin to devour its host, at least judging from some of the comments directed at Liu from Chinese bloggers:

"...runaway soldier...cowardly act...1.3 billion people hurt--a new world record...Was this his last race after becoming rich?...You're finished!"

Hell hath no fury like a Chinese nationalist denied the chance to bask in his/her nation's glory. As one commenter noted:

"It [China] is an unusual society. Many Chinese like to shift responsibility and duty to others. If that person succeeds, he is revered. If the opposite happens, he will be condemned."

Is it any wonder I have little interest in these Games?

One clued-in, the other clueless

Two articles in the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ today, one by a writer who gets it, the other by someone who appears to have a tenuous grip on reality (no, it isn't Gregory Clark).

The always insightful Max Hirsch of Kyōdō News 共同通信社 writes of how "Taipei's next Tokyo envoy eludes in wake of Ma's handling of row":

"More than a month after Taiwan's envoy to Japan resigned his post, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 faces a dearth of candidates he can trust to appoint as de facto ambassador to Tōkyō, revealing yet another stumbling block in bilateral relations..."

Hard to believe, yet the appointment process has so far failed to yield a replacement for the last representative, who was forced out by hardline elements in the ruling KMT 中国国民党:

"Koh Se-kai 許世楷, the last top envoy, resigned July 10 in the midst of a diplomatic row between Taipei and Tōkyō over a boat collision in disputed waters. Koh slammed Ma for his 'impulsive' handling of the row, which included recalling Koh and permitting a phalanx of Taiwan Coast Guard vessels to foray back into the waters to accompany a local protest boat. Prime Minister Liu Chao-shiuan 劉兆玄 threatened war on Japan over the disputed area in the East China Sea 東シナ海 that includes an uninhabited, Japan-administered chain of islets rich in fishery resources and possibly natural gas reserves."

The incident described above certainly did not get the Ma administration off on a good footing, and the president has been scrambling ever since to try and repair the damage he and his underlings have caused. Not only has a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島 needlessly been allowed to disrupt relations between Japan and Taiwan, but:

"...the incident also reignited suspicions in Japan that at worst he is anti-Japan, or at best indifferent toward Tōkyō. Reinforcing those fears is his alleged dithering over whom to appoint as top representative to Japan — a post Ma has made little mention of since taking office May 20. In fact, Ma's inaugural speech raised eyebrows for its complete lack of reference to Japan, the island's second-biggest trading partner after China and a potential security benefactor."

Sources in Ma's government claim there are not enough qualified Japan experts to choose from, but considering the close historical and commercial ties between the two countries, this is really hard to swallow. There are plenty of knowledgeable Taiwanese when it comes to Japanese affairs, but I suspect most of them do not share the China-centric focus of the mainlander-dominated KMT. As Koh puts it in the conclusion to the article:

"...Ma's policy focus on Beijing over Tōkyō is causing many senior Japan experts to get cold feet in considering the position...'The representative needs to have mutual trust with Ma, so that's why this has become a fairly difficult search,' (Koh) said."

None of this would make any difference to UCLA professor Tom Plate, whose hero worship of Ma just gets more and more embarrassing to read with each article he gets published. Seriously, this guy comes across as a teenage girl with posters of the ROC 中華民国 president adorning her bedroom walls. Check out some of these quotes from "Ma goes for Taiwan gold in matters of trust" (even that headline says something):

"A true winner came to Los Angeles earlier this month...a refreshing breeze in Chinese politics. He is smart (educated at the best university in Taiwan before earning a law degree from Harvard), good-looking and charmingly modest...he translated his own Chinese into English. He was measured and casually precise."

Isn't he just dreamy?! All this hero-worship on Plate's part has apparently blinded him to the realities of Taiwan, and its position vis-a-vis China:

"He (Ma) is Chinese, but he has had nothing to do with the Beijing Olympics."

It could be argued that Ma isn't Taiwanese, so perhaps Plate has it (unintentionally) right here after all, but I haven't come across any other Western writers referring to the man as being Chinese.

"...Ma — a former mayor of the capital city — is a refreshing breeze in Chinese politics..."

And here I thought that Ma had been involved in "Taiwanese" politics all this time. Silly me, I'm not an academic at a prestigious West Coast school.

"At a dinner (in Los Angeles) in a downtown hotel, speaking mainly to professionals with strong ties to Taiwan, he outlined an approach to relations with China that deserves enthusiastic U.S. support. The key to improving the special relationship between Beijing, T'aipei and Washington, he said, is to maintain and practice 'high-level trust' — adding that 'mistrust will only breed more tension' and possible conflict. Beijing's leadership doesn't 'like surprises' any more than the average American CEO. Cross-strait conflict is something that the U.S. absolutely doesn't want, China itself probably doesn't want, and Taiwan certainly should not want."

None of this represents any new or profound thinking on the situation between China and Taiwan, yet Plate seems to think some kind of great breakthrough has occurred. The Taipei Times had an editorial today suggesting otherwise, which we will get to in a moment. Meanwhile, Plate is on a roll:

"Ma hasn't yet visited China as president, but when the invitation comes, he looks ready to handle it. He respects Beijing and its achievements, and wishes their Olympics every success. For its part, Beijing needs to respect the people of Taiwan, whose hard work and dedication have turned the little island into one of Asia's pre-eminent economic Tigers. Taiwan, he said, must accept China's rise to the budding status of a superpower, though without humiliating kowtowing. That means its policy must have both 'wisdom' and 'flexibility' — rooted in basic principles of decency and humanity, while recognizing China's own special problems and special interests."

And do those "special interests" include the annexation of a for-all-intents-and-purposes sovereign state? Plate doesn't say, but he appears to have found someone else to share in the Ma lovefest:

"A former U.S. diplomat still active in the Taiwan-U.S. relationship breathed a sigh of relief while listening to Ma, whom he clearly regarded as a godsend. The previous Taiwanese president — from the island's opposing pro-independence political party — had practically ground him and Washington down with his confrontational policy toward Beijing. Pushing the envelope — or baiting Beijing — can work only if you don't fly over the edge while doing so. Ma would rather use an envelope to send a serious adult message than push it into a hazardous area merely for political effect. And his main message would be: Let us make peace, not war. Let us proceed as adult Chinese, with mutual admiration and trust. In the language of the Olympics, the degree of difficulty for this trick is very high. But if Ma can pull it off, he will have gone far and gotten the gold."

So the last president, in the view of Plate and the unnamed diplomat, was a childlike warmonger who was borderline insane. Thank goodness we have an "adult Chinese" like Ma to put everything right. I guess there is no such thing as an "adult Taiwanese", because such a person would not be very trustful of a regime that has committed untold numbers of human rights abuses on its own peoples, while continually threatening to bring death and destruction down on a "little island".

As far as I can tell, Tom Plate is not of an ethnic Chinese background, so I don't know why he seems so enthusiastic about delivering a country that, in his own words, has "their own democracy" into the hands of an autocratic dictatorship promoting the idea of a "Greater China". I doubt he will ever read the Taipei Times' take on the present administration in Taiwan, but even if he did, it probably wouldn't change the homo-erotic attraction he feels towards Ma Ying-jeou. The editors of the TT, however, are less than impressed by the government's "achievements" so far. In "A newer KMT method of torture", they compare the present state of affairs to the Chinese water torture:

"Nowadays, it seems like those drops of water are being applied to Taiwan’s forehead, with each droplet taxing the nation’s identity a little more each time. What’s worse is that — like a real victim of torture — Taiwanese appear to be strapped to a chair and fated to a long period of suffering. And the torturer is a tag team: the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Drip: 'Chinese Taipei.' Drop: 'Chunghwa Post.' Drip: No WHO or UN application under the name 'Taiwan.' Drop: Our elected president is but a 'Mr.' Drip: The possible renaming of National Democracy Memorial Hall, after the murderous dictator the monument was built for."

So, Professor Plate, are renaming Taiwan Post to Chunghwa Post 中華郵政, applying for international organizations under the Olympic moniker "Chinese Taipei" (instead of as "Taiwan", or even the "Republic of China"), and the eventual restoration of the name of Chiang Kai-shek 蒋介石, a man responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Taiwanese, examples of a mature, responsible "Chinese" leader who will preserve Taiwan's "dignity"? Or are they the acts of a child bent on gradually handing over the fate of 23 million people to what, for many of them, is an alien regime? The Taipei Times concludes by writing of:

"...a blurring of the lines the Ma administration has undertaken and the confusing signals that make it increasingly difficult for the rest of the world to tell the difference between Taiwan and China. If those signals continue, the world could very well reach the conclusion that Taiwan just doesn’t care whether people can tell the difference between the two countries, which can only result in further isolation for Taiwanese."

Tom Plate apparently reached that stage a long time ago.