Taiphew!

Another weekend, another typhoon it seems. This time is was Jangmi's turn to wreak havoc on Taiwan. The storm reached this island yesterday, and while we didn't have as much rain in our area as the last one, the winds were powerful. So strong, in fact, that our apartment building management warned the residents against using the first floor gate to go outside, saying it was safer to use the underground parking garage as an exit (the layout of our apartment complex has a tendency to amplify wind speeds, making them even more powerful). At one point, we thought the window in Amber's room was going to get blown in (and naturally we had nothing to tape it up with). Fortunately (for us, anyway), Jangmi lost some steam as it made landfall on Taiwan's east coast (in the process being downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm), and with the Central Mountain Range 中央山脈 acting as a buffer, the winds died down in our area by early Sunday evening.

Today (Monday) was declared a typhoon day, meaning all government offices (including schools) were closed, and further meaning another unwelcome day off from work due to Mother Nature. The weather hasn't been too bad, at least in central Taiwan, today, though it hasn't stopped raining for even a second all day long. Feeling cooped up from being indoors (but not being able to do anything outdoors), and faced with an unexpected holiday, we figured the best thing to do was to get out of the apartment and go somewhere indoors, like a department store or shopping mall. So after lunch, we headed off to Taichung台中. Surprisingly, though there were a lot of downed trees and torn advertising banners, there was little structural damage from the previous day's onslaught (the one exception was a large sign that had collapsed on Zhonggang Road, which had made it onto the TV news programs. We were driving by too quickly, however, for me to get a decent photo of the destruction). Our first destination, an outlet mall in downtown Taichung, was closed. For our second, third and fourth destinations (the Chung Yo and Mitsukoshi 三越 Department Stores, and the Tiger City shopping mall, respectively), it seemed as if all of central Taiwan had the same idea as we did - there were LONG lines of cars waiting to get into all three places. In the end, we gave up and went back to Fengyuan 豊原 (where it was the same story at the local department store as well!). A rather appropriate outing on a dreary day, one could say.

I don't know if it was a coincidence, but the China Post had this story in its back pages this morning:

Japanese take part in Operation Wind Pursuit 

"Japanese participated in Operation Wind Pursuit (Sunday). Launched jointly, Operation Wind Pursuit involves meteorologists in Japan and Taiwan to gather up-to-the minute information on tropical cyclones...a Japanese Falcon jet craft made a five-hour observation flight near Taiwan yesterday, as Typhoon Jangmi landed at Yilan 宜蘭 last night."

Hopefully they collected a lot of meaningful date, because it appears Jangmi is on its way to Japan.

Storm's a comin'

Yet another typhoon is on its way. Jangmi is its name, and it's going to be a big one. As I'm writing this at a quarter past 11 on a Saturday night, the wind is starting to pick up outside. I just hope the destruction can be kept to a minimum. If there's any good to come of an approaching typhoon, it's that the views from our building's rooftop were very clear all throughout the day, and this evening's sunset was spectacular:

Meanwhile, Saturday's edition of the Taipei Times has this story:

MOFA requests Japanese and EU support for UN bid 

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) 中華国民外交部 would welcome support from Japan and the EU for Taiwan’s bid to gain 'meaningful participation' in UN agencies, MOFA spokesman Henry Chen said yesterday."

The Japanese appear to be sympathetic:

"...on condition that all parties are satisfied, Japan supported Taiwan’s efforts to obtain observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA), the supreme decision-making body of the WHO. Japan also supported Taiwan’s attempts to expand participation in WHO technical-level meeting..."

Taiwan has been trying to get some kind of representation within the WHO for a number of years now, but each time China has worked to block it. During the Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁 administration, entry was attempted under the name "Taiwan", but to no avail. The current government has been willing to downgrade Taiwan's image as a sovereign nation by accepting the ridiculous Olympic moniker of "Chinese Taipei" in its application attempts, but the Chinese government has refused to budge, leaving the elected representatives of this island with precious little in the way of bargaining chips in negotiations with Beijing.

The government of Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 has bungled a lot of things lately, not just foreign relations. The latest fiasco is the ongoing Melamine scare over tainted milk products from China. The Taipei Times' Johnny Neihu has a great take (as always) on all this in his regular Saturday column (Johnny Neihu's News Watch: Aiya, your business? My kidneys!). Here are a couple of his observations:

"The Chinese people are the worst victims, of course. Yet at what point do they, too, deserve a share of the blame? I mean it’s they who are tolerating — even, at times, extolling the virtues of — an authoritarian government built by a party that’s corrupt to its foundations and completely unaccountable. No doubt some of these same citizens whose babies are tragically dying today were yesterday championing their government for returning China to its 'proud, rightful place among the big powers.' At any rate, China’s present role among big powers appears to be spewing out a barrage of toxic, shoddy and all-round crap products and keeping national health regulators the world over scrambling to keep up."

And:

"Here’s how the crisis will be solved: Some health official in China will get fingered for blame and have a bullet put through his head. That will scare the living bejeezus out of his corrupt colleagues for a few weeks, before they return to their rent-seeking, high-rolling ways, and toxic crap will fly out of factories anew. In a few months, the entire cycle will repeat."

Sad, but true. Time and time again, tainted, dangerous products come out of China, harming people and animals. Time and time again, the rest of the world acts like Captain Louis Renault from "Casablanca" ("I'm shocked!"). Time and time again, the Chinese government, after initially denying/misleading/stalling, assures everyone it won't happen again. And, of course, time and time again, it continues to occur.

In case you're wondering, Amber's current milk formula is made in Denmark. We hope.

On the other hand...

From this morning's newsstand issue of the Taiwan News:

Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou congratulates Japan's premier 

"President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 congratulated Tarō Asō 麻生太郎 upon his being named the 92nd prime minister of Japan and expressed confidence in the development of relations between Taiwan and Japan, Foreign Minister Francisco H.L. Ou said yesterday. 'President Ma has sent out a congratulatory telegraph to Asō through the representative Office in Tōkyō 東京,' Ou said, adding that Ma and is optimistic that relations between Taiwan and Japan will be further consolidated."

Disputed islands are Taiwan's territory: MOFA 

"Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) 中華国民外交部 yesterday declined to comment on former president Lee Teng-hui's 李登輝 remarks that the disputed Tiaoyutai (Senkaku) Islands 尖閣諸島 belong to Japan, but Foreign Minister Francisco H.L. Ou reasserted Taiwan's sovereignty over the island group."

Asō is perceived to be a nationalist, and has made a number of remarks in recent years suggesting that China is a military threat in the East Asian region, referring to Taiwan as if it were a country (you mean it isn't?) and praising Japan's colonial legacy in Taiwan. However, as prime minister, Asō will probably continue the softer line towards the Chinese that was taken by the previous administrations of Shinzō Abe 安倍晋三 and Yasuo Fukuda 福田康夫. In any event, Japanese media is speculating that Asō will call a general election for late October or early November, after an emergency economic stimulus package is enacted by the Diet 国会, so there is some question as to how long Asō may actually stay in office.

Meanwhile, the Senkakus (as the islands are known outside of the Chinese-speaking world, i.e. everywhere else on the planet) raise their heads again, thanks to Lee. At the end of his four-day visit to Okinawa 沖縄:

"...he repeated that Tiaoyutai Islands were the territory of Japan. He said that he had asked Lo Kuen-tsan, the representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office 台北経済文化代表処 in Japan, why Tiaoyutai Islands should be considered part of Taiwan. Lo answered that 'it was based on geographic reasons.' Lee said it was unreasonable, for in this way, Taiwan and Okinawa both belonged to China. Lee also criticized former Premier You Hsi-kun 游錫堃 for saying that Tiaoyutai Islands were part of Toucheng 頭城 in Yilan 宜蘭. 'It was stupid,' he said. 'Did he mean that Tiaoyutai Islands had been moved from Japan’s territory?' Lee also denounced Premier Liu Chau-shiuan's war of words with Japan over Tiaoyutai Islands, saying that Taiwan was not capable of waging war against Japan."

(article link)

As the earlier article about MOFA noted in its last paragraph:

"Lee is widely seen by the Taiwanese public as a Japanophile. He has been criticized in the past for similar comments, which are seen as betraying Taiwan's territorial interest in favor of Japan."

All true, of course, but Lee does have a point. The Wikipedia entry on the Senkakus gives an overview of the various claims , but, basically, the United States administered the islands from the end of World War Two until 1972, when they were included in the reversion of Okinawa to Japan. Taiwan's long-standing claims on the islands go all the way back to the mid-1960's, after geological surveys suggested that there may be deposits of oil and gas in the waters surrounding the islands. Strictly a coincidence, of course.

Of course he does

From today's Taipei Times newspaper:

President expresses hopes for closer ties with Tokyo 

"President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 yesterday expressed hopes for closer 'special relations' between Taipei 台北 and Tōkyō 東京, adding that the words best described the current relations between the two countries, which his administration would seek to maintain. Ma said that despite the absence of official diplomatic ties, the relationship between Taipei and Tōkyō was one of special partners. Closer ties could be of benefit to the peoples of both countries and their government, he said. Ma made the remarks while receiving a delegation of Japanese parliamentarians at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon."

Ma has a long history of saying to audiences exactly those words they expect to hear from him, and then following up on those remarks by not following up on them, if you catch my drift. But who knows? Considering the difficulties his government has faced since taking over four months ago (much of it self-induced), not to mention the work going on behind the scenes by KMT 中国国民党 heavyweights like Wang Jin-pyng 王金平, Ma might actually mean what he said to his Japanese visitors. Vice President Vincent Siew 蕭万長 echoed his boss' remarks:

"...express(ing) the hope that Taiwan and Japan would establish a 'special partnership,' with Taipei and Tōkyō now in the process of developing economic partnership agreements that, he said, would have a greater impact than a free-trade agreement. 'Despite the lack of [official] diplomatic relations, we have a close historical, cultural and trade relationship,' Siew said while receiving Hatakenaka Atsushi, the new chairman of the Interchange Association Japan, at the Presidential Office yesterday morning. 'This special relationship is in fact closer than the one we have with our [official] diplomatic allies,' he said."

And that's not all:

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 中華民国外交部 yesterday also congratulated new Japanese Prime Minister Tarō Asō 麻生太郎 and said it expected bilateral relations to continue to grow under the new leadership."

It appears there are some serious efforts being made to reach out to the Japanese, quite a change from the chest-puffing that was going on back in June during the spat over the Senkaku Islands 尖閣諸島.

Son of ニュース

The China Post newspaper today has an article on ex-President Lee Tung-hui's 李登輝 current visit to Okinawa 沖縄:

Ex-president Lee visits Japanese war memorial 

"Former President Lee Teng-hui on Monday started a visit to Japan and visited a World War II memorial, despite expected criticism from Beijing which has labeled him as 'splittist.'"

The story is surprisingly factual and unbiased, two qualities usually not associated with the Post's coverage of Taiwan-related stories. Lee is credited with having "nurtured Taiwan's democracy", and balances the differing viewpoints held by the Chinese and Japanese governments:

"It is Lee's fourth visit since he stepped down as Taiwan's president eight years ago. Each of his trips trigger protests from Chinese authorities, who see such visits as an attempt to affirm Taiwan's own status. Japan, which does not require visas for Taiwanese tourists, says Lee's visit is private."

The writer is also careful in describing the connection between Lee and the controversial Yasukuni Shrine 靖国神社...oh, hold on a moment. I've just noticed this story is from the Agence France-Presse news agency. No wonder.

For an example of how the China Post often approaches local news, this morning's edition has a classic primer in the article "Armed soldiers take train to drill". Check out the opening paragraphs:

"Bullet train passengers were stunned to find 63 fully armed infantrymen taking the train with them yesterday. 'Are we fighting a war now?' one shocked passenger on the train reaching Taichung 台中 asked. He and his fellow passengers were scared, not without reason. President Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁 used to provoke China into declaring war on Taiwan."

I don't know why I bother buying the China Post. OK, I do - it carries a greater range of wire service stories (not to mention more in-depth coverage of Major League Baseball) than Taiwan's two other English-language dailies - but I feel guilty about it. Honest.

ニュース

An absolutely glorious sunset on the way to the work this evening.

From the Taiwan News, the anti-China Post:

Former president to visit Okinawa 

"Former President Lee Teng-hui 李登輝 is scheduled to depart Monday for a four-day visit to Japan's Okinawa Prefecture 沖縄県 on the Ryūkyū Islands 琉球諸島. This will be Lee's fourth visit to Japan since retiring from the presidency in 2000. He will tour historical relics from World War Two on the Ryūkyū Islands, including the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park 平和祈念公園 and the Himeyuri Memorial Tower ひめゆりの塔, and will give a keynote speech Sept. 23 at the Okinawa Convention Center on the evolution of knowledge and the characteristics of Japanese culture. On Sept. 24, he will visit Shurijō Castle 首里城, a symbol of the history of the former Kingdom of the Ryūkyū 琉球王国. He will also tour the Southeast Botanical Gardens 東南植物楽園, which is managed by Taiwanese expatriates. The former president is scheduled to return to Taiwan Sept. 25."

Since leaving office, Lee has traveled to Japan from Taiwan almost as often I have. No mention is made of any hostile reaction this time from the Chinese government. For some strange reason, Beijing has never protested any of my trips to Japan.

Bridges

This morning I got up early to do something I hadn't done in a while - go for a long ride on my scooter with a group of people. From our meeting point in downtown Fengyuan 豊原, my friends Michael and Roddick, along with Michael's friends Drew, Augustin and his charming wife Chou, plus yours truly, took off on four scooters (and in one car). We went through the town of Dongshih 東勢, up into the hills and past the Liyutan Reservoir, and finally down to the site of the Longteng Broken Bridge, located in the town of Sanyi 三義. From the parking lot near the site of the viaduct ruins, we started to walk along the abandoned railway tracks:

Eventually, we came to a 726 meter-long (2382 feet) tunnel, which served to remind me that I had neglected to bring along a flashlight:

 

Emerging from the tunnel, we saw our first crowds of the day as we came to the old Shengsing Station 勝興, part of the former Western Trunk Line 旧山線. Built in 1911 to reflect Shengsing village's role as a center of the camphor oil industry, it was once the highest train station in Taiwan, sitting at an altitude of 402 meters (1319 feet). Originally named Shi Liu Fen 十六分, Shengsing Station was shut down in 1998 with the completion of a new Taichung Line 台中線. There are other, arguably more attractive old train stations in Taiwan dating from the Japanese era, but Shengsing has been discovered by the weekend tourist hordes, and the street in front of the station was full of souvenir shops and Hakka 客家 restaurants, not to mention thirsty Westerners on the lookout for Taiwan Beer:

After the beer break, we headed back towards our parked scooters (and car), only this time walking on the road instead of on the train tracks. According to one of my guidebooks, the distance between the station and the viaduct is 6 kilometers (3.7 miles), though it didn't seem that far to me. Before getting on our scooters, I took a couple of pictures of the broken bridge. Constructed in 1905, it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1935, and the picturesque ruins are all that remain today. There was a time when the Long Deng Viaduct was unknown (along with Sheng Shing station), but in the wake of the leisure boom that took off in Taiwan with the introduction of the five-day work week in the early part of this decade, it has become a local icon:

Saying "adieu" to Sanyi, we headed in the same direction as we had come, stopping off in the town of Jhuolan 卓蘭 to have lunch. Much to the amusement of Augustin, we ate at a place that called itself Rive Gauche (the Left Bank). The food was hardly French, but it was surprisingly good (and inexpensive). And, yes, more Taiwan Beer was consumed. My standards are definitely slipping!

Back in Fengyuan in the mid-afternoon, it was time to for everyone to part. Perhaps inspired by the ruins in Sanyi, before heading home, I once again rode out to the Tachia River 大甲渓 to see if I could get a look at the collapsed Houfeng Bridge. This time I was able to find a dirt track that led directly down to the riverbank (and under the bridge itself, a worrisome proposition), where I was able to get a good look at the destruction from last weekend's Typhoon Sinlaku:

I wasn't the only one out there this afternoon looking at these ruins, but this was one sight I hope never becomes a tourist attraction.

From this morning's Taipei Times, a newspaper not as good as the China Post (unless you like your news to be factual and unbiased!):

Peng tells details of escape from KMT 

"Democracy pioneer Peng Ming-min 彭明敏 and those who helped him escape the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) 中国国民党 regime in 1970 to seek political asylum in Sweden gave detailed accounts of the well-planned journey at a press conference in Taipei 台北 yesterday."

It's an interesting article of how one of Taiwan's foremost proponents of democracy during the martial law era was able to escape to Sweden, and eventually to the USA, with the help of two Japanese nationals, who were both present at Saturday's press conference. That's just the kind of interference by Japanese colonialists in Chinese domestic affairs that boils the blood of any true blue KMT die hard!