Obama in China

Recently, US President Barak Obama was in China and conducted a "town hall" meeting with university students in Shanghai. During this town hall meeting, he was asked an exceedingly leading question about US arms sales to Taiwan. ("I'm so worried that continued US arms sales to Taiwan will affect my business in China.") Obama totally avoided addressing his question, and instead gave this mealy-mouthed answer:

One of the things that I think that the United States, in terms of its foreign policy and its policy with respect to China, is always seeking is ways that through dialogue and negotiations, problems can be solved. We always think that's the better course. And I think that economic ties and commercial ties that are taking place in this region are helping to lower a lot of the tensions that date back before you were born or even before I was born.

Now, there are some people who still look towards the past when it comes to these issues, as opposed to looking towards the future. I prefer to look towards the future. And as I said, I think the commercial ties that are taking place -- there's something about when people think that they can do business and make money that makes them think very clearly and not worry as much about ideology. And I think that that's starting to happen in this region, and we are very supportive of that process. OK?

Now, I don't expect Obama to be an expert in all the many nuances of politics in Taiwan, or even all the intricacies of cross-strait policies and development. But the utter philosophical and political vacuousness of that response just blew me away. Obama calls Taiwan's quest for justice and self-determination "looking backwards;" the ongoing sellout of Taiwan's sovereignty is "looking forward;" standing up for democracy is just a useless "worrying about ideology." And what's Obama's advice? "STFU, you annoying democracy advocates. Let's just make money and get rich." He might as well have added, "to be rich is to be glorious." Doubtless, he was trying to suck up big-time to his Chinese hosts. I'm also reminded how Obama used the same language (Let's look forward, not backwards) about his decision to cover-up and not prosecute GW Bush's many war crimes, including authorizing torture.

Speaking of Bush, remember how 8 years ago, G.W. Bush said the the USA will do "whatever it takes" to defend Taiwan against Chinese imperialism and expansionism? My how things change. Of course, to first defend Taiwan, there would first have to be a government in Taiwan that cares about being defended, which is obviously not the case anymore. (But it was about the only thing that Bush said in 8 years that I could whole-heartedly support.) Or remember how Bush had the balls to congratulate Taiwan for its democratic development? But, since Obama came to China with cup in hang to beg for more money to keep the American government solvent, he couldn't make even the weakest statement of support for Taiwan. And this is assuming Obama even HAS any support or concern for Taiwan, which, given his 100% establishment thinking, I doubt he has.

But what is the deal with this STUPID idea that that the current reductions in tensions between China and Taiwan has been a result of both sides putting aside their ideology? If only the Taiwanese cared even 1% as much about "ideology" as China does. What else could explain China's blind territorial ambitions on Taiwan, its utter devotion to one-party rule, or its totalitarian suppression of dissent within its borders (and even attempts outside its borders)? What else but a 100% dedication to its ideology could explain China's total suppression of Taiwan's international space and its blind devotion to the "One China Policy"? What's more, most, if not all, of the Chinese businesses and banks that will soon start flooding Taiwan are, in part, state-owned. There's no doubt that once Chinese capital gets its hooks into Taiwanese businesses, the "ideology" of their CCP bosses back in Beijing will start poisoning policies and business decisions here in Taiwan. If Obama thinks China doesn't give a shit anymore about "ideology," then he has his head a mile up his ass!

What Obama's answers also indicate is that US foreign policy towards Taiwan is still stuck in the Cold War, and probably confuses anti-Chinese sentiment in Taiwan as some residual anti-communism ideology left over from the Chinese civil war between the CCP and the KMT. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The ideological war between the CCP and the KMT has been over for 20 years. The CCP and the KMT are now active allies in suppressing democracy in Taiwan. They are just two sides of the same coin of Chinese despotism. If there is anti-Chinese sentiment on the part of democracy advocates in Taiwan, it's merely the result of a long-suppressed people who have the audacity to stand up for themselves and who ask merely to be left the fuck alone so they can enjoy their hard-won freedoms and democracy.

Postcards on Taiwan Politics

Anyone who knows me knows that the issue of Taiwan's eroding independence from Chinese imperialism and despotism is a consuming passion of mine. Although things seem to have become a lost cause in the past year, there's still a tiny glimmer of hope the sleepy Taiwanese might wake up and throw the colonialist thugs, thieves, and dictator-worshippers out of power before it's too late. But somehow, I doubt it....

August, 2008. Many in the hard-core Taiwanese independence movement insist that Taiwan is legally a protectorate of the USA. The basic legal logic, as I understand it, is as follows:

1) Oct. 25, 1945, was the beginning of the military occupation of Taiwan. According to international law, military occupation does not transfer sovereignty. Taiwan remained as sovereign Japanese territory until given up in the San Francisco Peace Treaty effective April 28, 1952.
2)When the Republic of China (ROC) occupied Taiwan after 1945, the ROC was exercising delegated administrative authority for the military occupation of Taiwan. In other words, it was a "subordinate occupying power." The United States of America has remained the principal occupying power.
3) The Jan. 12, 1946 military order which authorized a "mass naturalization" of native Taiwanese people as ROC citizens was illegal under international law.
4) When the ROC moved its central government to occupied Taiwan in Dec. 1949, it became a government in exile.
5) International law does not recognize any procedures, actions, or methods whereby a government in exile can become "the legally recognized government of its current locality of residence."
6) When the Japanese gave up sovereignty of Taiwan in the 1952 Treaty of San Francisco, they never specified who they gave sovereignty to. So technically, the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty is still undecided, which is still the official US position.
7) Taiwan's sovereignty was definitely NEVER legally transferred to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the Republic of China. The "legal documents" the KMT loves to trot out, such as the Cairo Declaration, are nothing more than memos of understanding between the ROC and other countries, not legally approved and binding treaties. The KMT have simply been the local occupying force of the Allies for the past 60 years.

CONCLUSIONS: (1) The Republic of China is not the legitimate government of Taiwan. (2) The Republic of China will never be recognized as the legitimate government of Taiwan by the world community. 3) Since Taiwan's sovereignty has never been decided, Taiwan is still under military occupation by the Allies, led by the United States as "principal occupying power." Or something like that. Anyway, the Supreme Court of the USA has refused to acknowledge this claim, even though it is legally and logically coherent.

SOLUTION: Under the right of self-determination, a free and fair vote by all legal residents of Taiwan to decide the status of Taiwan, either as an de jure independent country, or as a province of the People's Republic of China. Of course, to be free and fair, China would first have to remove all missiles currently aimed at Taiwan, repeal the "Anti-secession Law," and renounce all use of force against Taiwan. Of course, pigs will sooner fly out of my ass then any of this will come to pass.

But lots of Taiwanese are rabidly pro-American, because they see the USA as the last remaining flicker of hope that might help Taiwan maintain its independence from Chinese expansionism. Some Taiwanese have even advocated becoming the 51st state of the USA. Little do they know that America is run by big corporations and Wall Street banks that all have vested interests in China and stand to profit from Taiwan's further economic absorption by China. Another paradox here is that America sent the KMT $750 million US dollars in aid during the 1950's and 1960's, some of which undoubtedly was later used to slaughter Taiwanese during the Martial Law period and maintain the KMT's one-party control of Taiwan.

August 2008. Prophetic. Notice that the vast majority of pro-democracy protesters are old. They are the ones who remember the brutality of the KMT White Terror period. The younger generation in Taiwan have had it so easy their entire lives; they're soft and bruise easily, and thus are called "strawberries." They care mostly about being cute, accumulating status objects, and taking pictures of themselves. They foolishly believe there are no real differences between the KMT and the pro-democracy or green parties in Taiwan. The strawberries are definitely the demographic most susceptible to KMT lies and propaganda, since they live in an historically-false universe manufactured by the KMT with no genuinely held sense of nationalism or patriotism. And with the pro-China media dominating 90% of the Taiwanese market, there's not much hope they'll ever be exposed to alternative viewpoints.

Other shaping forces: 1) a Confucian society that teaches them not to question authority or the received wisdom of their elders and 2) an Asian "face-saving" culture that ignores injustice, hypocrisy, cognitive dissonance by sweeping it under the carpet. 3) The unresolved injustice and fear left over after 40 years of martial law, in which anyone suspected of being anti-KMT or pro-democracy were imprisoned, tortured or murdered. The fear of the KMT is still detectible in pro-Taiwan folks, manifested in fear of speaking out against the KMT's continued thievery and persecution or even simply letting their political affiliation be known in public. 4) Stockholm Syndrome, in which the views of the oppressors (in this case, the colonialist KMT) become adopted wholesale by the oppressed. Unfortunately, none of these traits are compatible with a democratic society.

Denouncing the current "president" of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, the tallest invertebrate in Taiwan. Note that Ma only uses his title of president when there are none of his Chinese masters around to be offended by the outcome of a democratic election in Taiwan. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

Also prophetic, seeing how this protest in August 2008 was a full year before "president" Ma Ying-jeou allowed Taiwanese to die by the hundreds after Typhoon Morakot hit the island while he awaited orders from Beijing on whether to allow in rescue equipment from the USA and Japan.

A few of the tens of thousands of Taiwanese murdered by the KMT during the White Terror period, many of them representing the intelligentsia of Taiwan of the time. The Taiwanese were always suspect to the Chinese Nationalists (KMT) because the Taiwanese were "corrupted" by Japanese influence and education, or considered "half-breeds" and "low-class" by the "pure-bred" and "high-class" Han Chinese. Very similar to the Han Chinese racism and forced cultural assimilation that the Tibetans and Uyghers in China are experiencing right now.

How to overcome the decades of injustice suffered at the hands of the KMT and escape being perpetual victims so that both sides can start living in peace and harmony? Many suggest a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, similar to what happened in South Africa at the end of apartheid or in Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism. It's been proposed many times by the pro-democracy sides, but so far, no one on the KMT side has had the guts to accept such a proposal.

Two Chinese mass-murdering action figures (Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Ze-dong) and one democracy fig-leaf (Sun Yet-sen). This is absolutely revolting. Between Chiang and Mao, they murdered tens of millions of Chinese (and Chiang murdered tens of thousands of Taiwanese), but are still worshipped by the KMT and the CCP. Can you imagine if 7-11 was selling cute Hitler dolls in Germany or Mussolini dolls in Italy? There would be international outrage. But murder tens of millions of Chinese, and you'll be WORSHIPPED by the Chinese and ignored by the rest of the world. Go figure... Something like this was unimaginable in Taiwan only a few years ago. But with the KMT again controlling the entire Taiwanese government since last year, dictators are once again worshipped openly here. And how telling of the KMT/CCP alliance, that the two despots who represented opposing sides of the Chinese civil war are now packaged together! Two great tastes that taste great together!

I saw this "artwork" at a store at Eslite Bookstore recently, depicting Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Marx, and Engels. I can't imagine why anyone would want pictures of 3 of the most ruthless mass-murderers on their living room wall. But seeing shit like this in Taiwan was unimaginable just a few years ago before the KMT started flooding Taiwan with Chinese tourists. So now we got to start selling shit these tourists might like to see or buy. Pathetic!

Chiang Kai-shek's grandson recently made some "pop art" postcards and t-shirts out of images of his mass-murdering grandfather 蔣介石 and dictator-uncle 蔣經國. Not only is he exploiting his family relations for money, but he's trying to make his despotic family look cool and chic. Utterly contemptible and disgusting. Again, something like this was UNIMAGINABLE in Taiwan just a few years ago. But now the restored one-party rule of the KMT has made dictator-worshipping cool again. And again, this shit was on sale at Eslite bookstore. The owners of this bookstore were supposedly pro-green before the last elections. I guess they sold their souls to go with the flow and for some easy cash. Pathetic!

Check out his video from the excellent blog Demo! Taiwan Democracy Movement for a more complete view of this disgusting pop-art collection.

A big rally I attended in Kaohsiung in October 2007, advocating UN membership for Taiwan. A lot of good that did. Notice the same flag: the island of Taiwan attached to the American flag. Ai yo, how naive...

In November, 2008, a Chinese Communist Party envoy, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), came to Taiwan to sign one of many agreements that were negotiated in secret with the KMT and then rubber-stamped by the KMT-controlled Taiwan legislature. These agreements have sold-old Taiwan's sovereignty at every opportunity and will hollow-out its industries, leaving Taiwan highly susceptible to Chinese economic threats and political manipulation. Here, the CCP delegation visits Taipei 101. I was lucky enough to see Chinese-puppet and "president/CEO of Taiwan Region" Ma Ying-jeou turn out 7,000 police officers to protect the Chinese delegation from protesting Taiwanese across the street. The police also confiscated Taiwanese flags and protest signs that might have offended the visiting mandarins. Even though the rights of free speech were clearly violated that day, police sergeants involved were given promotions afterwards. It was a very sad day....

Here, hundreds of angry Taiwanese turned up across the street from Taipei 101 to protest the impending sell-out of their country by the KMT and their appeasement of Chinese imperialism. Dozens of Falun Gong practitioners were there that night, standing off to the right. According to Amnesty International, China has imprisoned 200,000 Falun Gong members, torturing many, and even executing some to harvest their organs for profit. No wonder so many Taiwanese want to say "no thanks" to this monstrous, immoral beast.

Former Taiwan Democracy Hall, now re-renamed back to Dead Dictator Hall. If only it were really allowed to fall into decay, Ozymandias-like...

Empty spot where once stood a sign saying "Taiwan Democracy Hall," taken down not long after the return of one-party rule by the KMT in May, 2008. Obviously, democracy is something the KMT only pay lip-service to, and continuing the worship of their dead dictator, Chiang Kai-shek, is a means of enforcing the KMT's cultural and political control over Taiwan.

December, 2007. One of the best things that former president Chen Shui-bian did during his term was trying to dismantle the cult of personality that the KMT built up around dictator and mass-murderer, Chiang Kai-shek. Here, some honorific nonsense about Chiang is taken down from the main gate of his disgusting memorial in Taipei, and replaced with the words "Freedom Square" (自由廣場). See my post I wrote about this occasion from two years ago. It was a really great day for Taiwan...

November 2008. Freedom Square, surrounded by darkness. One of the few vestiges of the pro-democracy period (1996-2008) allowed to remain by the KMT in the past year. Many improvements to strengthen democracy or Taiwanese identity enacted in the last 16 years have been erased or reversed already by the KMT as they prepare Taiwan to be annexed by China. Like their role-models in Singapore, the KMT have been using their control of the court systems in Taiwan to dismantle the pro-Taiwan opposition parties, putting some of them away FOR LIFE on "corruption" charges based on the flimsiest of contrived evidence, while KMT politicians, if they're charged at all, are given a slap on the wrist, allowed to get off scott-free (as in the case of Ma Ying-jeou), or allowed to escape to China. Meanwhile the KMT continues to sit on BILLIONS of dollars in assets that they pilfered and stole from the Taiwanese over the past 60 years.

How much longer will the Taiwanese be allowed to enjoy their hard-won freedoms and democracy? Is democracy truly dead in Taiwan? Only time will tell...

Why the New Hate Crimes Law For Gays is a Sop

President Obama signed a bill recently that adds sexual orientation to existing federal hate crimes laws. Here's why I think this new legislation is a total sop to the gay community:

1/ The original hate crimes laws were passed over 40 years ago when all-white juries in the South were regularly acquitting white racists of racially-motivated violence. Hate crimes were a stop-gap way for the federal government to get involved in these local trials to ensure that these racist killers got convicted for SOMETHING... even if it was for the thoughts they had in their head that motivated the murder. Though acquitting nasty anti-gay killers may have been a problem 30 years ago for some juries (remember how a jury acquitted Dan White for the murder of Harvey Milk?), it's pretty obvious that this is now NOT a regular problem. Even Mathew Shepard's killers were put away for life 10 years ago WITHOUT the need of any hate crimes law. So this new law has zero actual relevance to the Shepard case: in fact, the Shepard case is really salient in showing why hate crimes laws are unnecessary. What is the real purpose of this law, other than to make a symbolic statement by society that anti-gay violence is bad?

2/ Of course, we will have to wait and see if anti-gay crime rates change in the next few years, but I'll eat my hat if the rates of anti-gay violence decreases in any measurable degree as a result of this new law. Expressing anti-gay attitudes through physical violence is deeply ingrained in parts of male heterosexual culture in the West, such as the military and in organized sports. While I don't think the Hate Crimes Law will do any harm, per se, I don't think these laws alone will do anything to change these attitudes. It's only by having many openly-gay role models and a larger acceptance in the general culture of same-sex affection that young men will stop feeling threatened by other gays and by their own latent same-sex desires.

I appreciate that federal government now says beating up on gays is bad, and maybe the unlikely but tiny loop-hole of not being prosecuted by local authorities or being acquitted by an anti-gay local jury has now been closed. But besides a tiny handful of unfortunate victims, who does this law actually help?

It's obvious to me that this Hate Crimes Law is really a total sop because Obama and the Democrats look like they are going to sit on the butts on any MEANINGFUL federal legislation that would actually have a positive, immediate, and measurable effect on millions of gay Americans, namely:

1/ the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell rule, which would allow thousands of gay soldiers to serve openly and honorably in the military. How many soldiers has Obama fired this year already for the "crime" of being gay?

2/ the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, followed by

3/ the enactment of full marriage equality at the federal level for all legally married gay Americans.

And did you notice that when he signed the bill, Obama didn't even mention the word "gay"?

During the ceremony, he said, "After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we’ve passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are."

WTF? Race, ethnicity, and religion have been included in hate crime laws for decades. The "opposition and delay" was over including sexual orientation!!! Did he not get the memo that the bill he was signing was for gay people?

Obama is the support that dares not speak our name! And notice too that Obama and the DNC were completely silent on the ballet initiative in Maine that took away gay marriage rights! WTF???

What's next on their gay establishment's agenda? The Federal Employment Non-discrimination Bill? The perpetual fund-raisers at Human Rights Campaign (why the hell don't they call themselves the Gay Rights Campaign?) have been trying to pass this piss-ant bill for 30 years, and even with 65% popular support, STILL can't get it through Congress. How pathetic.

As Andrew Sullivan wrote:

The gay establishment will have its own private reception with Obama soon to pat each other on the back and get photos of themselves with the president and feel self-important for their seeming accomplishments. Their agenda for mainstream gay rights groups is pretty much the Democratic party's: separate, quiet and just as much a victim special interest group as all the others.

It's still better than the GOP's agenda ("You're all going to hell, pervs."). But no equality yet; and no candor. Remember, Joe Solmonese, head of the HRC, said Obama has until 2017 to make good on his campaign promises to bring about gay equality at the federal level in America!

We really do have the perfect president for the useless Human Rights Campaign, don't we?

He's for gay rights, but not yet, and shhhh!

A Tale of Two Ma's

Last night, I attended a performance by Yo-Yo Ma, the famous musician and internationally acclaimed cellist. While of course Ma produced the same warm, chocolaty tone and phrasing, especially in the lower register or his instrument, that one expects from a world-class cellist, Yo-Yo Ma's overall performance last night lacked any spark, individuality, creativity, pizzazz, or sex appeal.  

I kept thinking last night how lucky those people were standing outside of the National Concert Hall in the cold to watch Ma's performance on a giant projection screen. At least they had the cold and rain to keep them awake. Pity the poor audience members inside the warm performance hall with nothing but an empty stage and Ma's bland visage to look at while listening to two hours of passionless, forgettable goo.

His selections were as monotonous as his performance; while any one of his four pieces he chose last night might have made a passable warm-up selection if played individually, taken as a whole and forced upon his hapless audience for a two-hour test of endurance and alertness, his bland selections melted into an endless pap of featureless scales and arpeggios. Not a single moment of Ma's performance last night was memorable or exciting, his sugary playing melting into nothingness, each piece evaporating into the performance hall and into the audience's memory without trace, like candy floss in the mouth.

If you look at his discography, he's mastered and released many styles of music. From his Wikipedia page:

Ma has been referred to as "omnivorous" by critics, and possesses a more eclectic repertoire than is typical for classical musicians.^[9] A sampling of his versatility in addition to numerous recordings of the standard classical repertoire would include his recordings of Baroquepieces using period instruments; American bluegrass music; traditional Chinese melodies including the soundtrack to the film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; the tangos of Argentinian composer Ástor Piazzolla; an eclectic and unusual collaboration with Bobby McFerrin (where Ma admits to being terrified of the improvisation McFerrin pushes him toward); as well as the music of modern minimalist Philip Glass in such works as the 2002 piece, Naqoyqatsi. In 2006, a soundtrack album was released of the music from the 2005 film, Memoirs of a Geisha. He is known for his smooth, rich tone as well as his considerable virtuosity, including a cello recording of Niccolò Paganini's 24th Caprice for solo violin, Zoltán Kodály's cello sonata, and other demanding works.

So I don't know why he chose to play it safe and boring last night. For Christ's sake, you have one thousand years of written music to choose from, including 20th century jazz and pop music. Play something sexy or fun, at least! And what makes a musician truly great is not playing skillfully or elegantly. Those kind of musicians are a dime a dozen. What makes a musician truly great is someone who takes a chance. Who will shock the audience and expose us to something new and different. Make the hair on our necks rise. Take us to places we've never dreamt of before. The only reason I dreamt last night was because his music was putting me to sleep.

So then finally, after a very apathetic encore and a feeble standing ovation made by a tiny band of hard-core Yo-Yo Ma fans at the very front of the audience, I saw him standing there and giving two flaccid, crooked thumbs up: Ma Ying-Jeou, Taiwan's officially elected "Mr." and self-anointed regional administrator. Suddenly, the annoyance of having to empty my pockets and walk through a metal detector when entering the performance hall earlier that evening and the presence of burly goons wearing ear pieces in the entrance hall made perfect sense.

Afterwards, while walking home in the late winter chill, I started to think about the confluence of these two Chinese horses in the same stable (both of these two upstanding members of the Chinese community have the same family name: 馬, Ma, which means "horse").  I can see now why these too bland and characterless people, these two "mere wisps of a man" would get along so well.

For Yo-Yo Ma, being a musician means playing to the audience's expectations. Don't rock the boat. Don't step out of bounds. Don't improvise. Just play pretty.

For Ma Ying-jeou, being a politician means always striving to please his daddy's dying wish to return Taiwan to the warm folds of his Mommyland China. Don't tell people what they need to hear (in fact, don't say anything that would resemble the factual truth at all). Don't rock the boat by trying to reform the KMT. Don't step out of bounds by stepping up for Taiwan. Don't improvise, just keep repeating the same deluded KMT Greater China fantasies from 20 years ago. And by all means, just look pretty.

This morning, I read in The Taipei Times how the two Ma's had a little love-in and tete-a-tete yesterday afternoon before the show.  

Take a bite of these words, and enjoy the pure, undigested after-taste:

Ma Ying-jeou yesterday said Yo-Yo Ma’s music gives people strength that transcended race and politics, and said he expected culture and arts to help end conflicts in many areas including cross-strait relations.  “The power of culture and arts is stronger than guns and bombs, and can bring reconciliation to a lot of conflicts, including conflicts across the Taiwan Strait,” the president said. 

First of all, Yo-Yo Ma's music didn't give me any strength, but rather SUCKED OUT OF MY SOUL all the strength I had to stay awake during his performance last night. 

Second, I find it amazing that Ma Ying-Jeou would bring up transcending race, since it was he himself who referred to the people of Taiwan as belonging to the "Chinese Race Nation" (zhong hua ming zu). This amazing pronouncement will come as a surprise to the thousands of aborigine descendants and millions more Taiwanese of mixed descent and various identities who certainly don't see themselves as belonging to a Chinese "race." It certainly came as a surprise to many of the victims of the last presidential election, who never heard the words "Chinese Race Nation" ever cross the lips of their new president once until AFTER the he had won the last election.

Third, plenty of people have loved music and culture throughout the centuries, but it certainly never stopped them from being murderers and despots. Take Hitler as a perfect example. Boy, did he love his Wagner! This old idea of "the civilizing influence of 'culture'" is a classic worn-out philosophy of every colonial power in history. In fact, "culture" to Ma and the KMT is merely a smokescreen to justify the privilege and hegemony the KMT has enjoyed both in China and Taiwan for the last 90 years. To them, "culture" is just a buzzword to justify the Chinese cultural racism and imperialism they've been imposing on all the Taiwanese, including the aborigines, the Hokla, and the Hakka, and all the mixed people in between since the end of WWII. 

Cheese-eating Surrender Monkeys Strike Again

The country that allowed this...





and this...




this week gave the freedom-loving world this sight..

Because France was SO embarrassed that some ne'er-do-wells had the audacity to protest China's imperialism and cultural genocide in Tibet during the recent Olympic torch procession through Paris, (and so fearful of losing a few business deals and sales in China), France immediately sent, not one, not two, but THREE emissaries to China to kow-tow and beg forgiveness from the Dragon Throne for their intransigence and disrespect.

Granted, accosting a wheel-chair bound girl may not have been the wisest publicity move. And of course, I'm not saying pitiful Jin Jing is the moral equivalent of Hitler.

On the contrary, poor, little Jin Jing was just a pawn in Beijing's clever propanganda drive to stir-up the nationalist passions of Chinese locals. Predictably, the media in China is milking online images of a brave and determined Jin Jing -- bravely fighting off those dastardly protesters -- for every bit or national-ego-threatening, rally-round-the-flag, chest-inflating manipulation that they can. Mysteriously, China's Great Firewall came a-tumbling down when it was time to turn on the propaganda floodgates inside China.

Update: There's a great article in today's Taipei Times about how China has manipulated nationalism amongst the masses during the recent Olympic torch protests, as well as manipulated their nationals in Australia during the torch's visit there.

I believe it's imperative that the West take a stand in defense of human rights and against Chinese despotism at every legitimate opportunity. Protesting the Olympic torch is completely appropriate and within the bounds of free-speech, and I would hope Western countries such as France (as one of the modern birthplaces of democracy) would be willing to stand up for their values.

But why do the French always fall over themselves with such publicly-humiliating appeasement spectacles? Of course, this is just one of a long line of French displays of moral cowardice. Let's remember how it's France that would like to lift the arms embargo against China that was imposed on it after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. They can't wait to sell sophisticated arms to China that COULD be used against us in (for now) democratic and free Taiwan.

And why is President Nicolas Sarkozy of France still hemming and hawing about whether he'll boycott the opening ceremonies of this summer's Olympic Games? He should take a clue from the super-classy Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, who, as soon as the dictators in Beijing started mowing down Tibetans, took a firm and clear stand against attending the opening ceremonies (and who handled the predictable uproar and threats from Beijing through quiet back-door diplomatic channels).

At least the Paris city counsel showed des testicules by making the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of Paris. Money quote from the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë:

"If Paris doesn't express its attachment to values, it's too bad," he said. "Between a good conscience and cynicism, there's defending one's convictions."

Vive le maire!

In honor of France's decades-long dictator-appeasement policies, I bring you the following images at no extra charge:

A typical beret-wearing, cheese-eating surrender monkey.

Democracy Death Watch: Day 18

Today, my partner alerted me to a big one: Yahoo in Taiwan, taking their cues from their "big brother" in China, have started censoring their blogs! According to the Chinese-language Liberty Times, an anti-Ma posting on a pro-green blog that Yahoo hosts has been deleted, citing "infringement of privacy" and "personal attacks," according to the Yahoo webhost.

Here's the warning from the Yahoo webhost about the deleted posting (in Chinese).

Anyone who's familiar with the blogs on Yahoo will know there's a plethera of anti-DPP and anti-Chen blogs that have flourished, unmolested, for years.

I'm hoping the English-language pro-democracy newspapers will pick up this story tomorrow. If true, I'm urging everyone in Taiwan to start a boycott of Yahoo and all of their various services.

I know I'll be retiring my yahoo email account (which I've had for years) as soon as I can get another one set up with another service. Is Gmail better?

This is not the first time that Yahoo has been caught infringing on free-speech rights and privacy issues. I'm sure many of you know about the pro-democracy advocate in China, whose personal information was divulged by Yahoo to the Chinese secret police. This man is still languishing in a Chinese prison for his speech.

There was also the case of a Taiwanese blogger who was successfully sued and censored for "defamation" last year.

We can't let the same thing happen in Taiwan. Now's the time to get the word out and hopefully embarrass Yahoo about their shameful and hypocritcal Internet policing activities.

Democracy Death Watch: Day 14

A very small man in front of a big, rotten dictator.

-or-

Dr. Evil and Mini-ma

(Thanks to an anonymous poster on The View)

Photo by Central News Agency 

Only two weeks after winning control of all branches of government, Ma Ying-jeou laid a wreath at the tomb Chiang Kai-shek, the murderous dictator who has the blood of 20,000 Taiwanese on his hands. 

Disgusting.

Update: Tim Maddog sent me a link to this great pic of Ma playing with this two "dictator" dolls: Chiang Kai-shek and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo. As Tim reminded me, Chiang Ching-kuo was the head of the secret police during the White Terror period in Taiwan.  Ma worked directly for Chiang Ching-kuo as his English translator. 

Photo by Sam Yeh/ AFP/ Getty Images

Can you imagine if ANYONE in the Italian government tried to lay a wreath at Mussolini's tomb? Can you imagine if ANYONE in the Spanish government tried to lay a wreath at Franco's tomb? Can you imagine if the Chancellor of Germany gleefully played with a Hitler doll in public? What would the reaction be, not only from local citizens, who are only too glad to rid themselves of the ghosts of these murderers from the past, but from pro-democracy and human rights groups within the international community?

Yet for some reason, when the mass-murderers are CHINESE, the whole world turns a blind eye...

Update: Taiwan News has a must-read editorial on the KMT's latest anti-democratic "murderer worship." 

Meanwhile, some of the geniuses back in the USA are waking up to the fact that the emergence of a pro-China KMT one-party-state is going to be bad for American strategic interests. Hello? Where were you guys when the US State Department was undermining the pro-American, pro-Western party in the last election? Money quote:

“Some observers in the past have expressed concern that the United States may have underestimated the importance of the sea change in KMT thinking that arose from the visits to the PRC by senior KMT officials beginning in 2005.”

The State Department was obviously relieved and overjoyed that their buddies in the KMT won the presidency in Taiwan. Why? Because the US State Department doesn't want anyone in Taiwan pissing off China and causing any distractions from their disastrous war in Iraq. For all intents and purposes, the US State Department now takes its marching orders from Beijing when it concerns Taiwan.  Don't want to upset some of those lucrative multi-billion dollar deals in China, either, do we? 

I fear the US's gamble with KMT will prove to be short-sighted. I wonder what they're going to do when some of these pro-China goons inside the KMT (and who really pull all the strings within the party) such as Lien Chan, start to throw their weight around?

Ma is eager to appear to "repair the relationship" between the US and Taiwan. But I think actually his only concerns are:

1. using America as a hedge against China in case it appears that China's annexation of Taiwan is starting to happen too quickly.  
2. purchasing new American military systems, because, now that the KMT is back in total control, Ma's KMT cohorts in the military and legislature will be able to line their pockets with millions of dollars in kick-backs. 
   

Finally, Ma announced today he would be glad to kow-tow to China and use the humiliating name "Chinese Taipei" to obtain observer-status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization. Welcome to the new Taiwan: "an island built around a Chinese city." Gosh, you never would have known how easily Ma has been willing to sell-out Taiwan, judging from the use of the word "Taiwan" and its image in all of the KMT's campaign advertising in the recent election. My, how quickly things change!

Update: Some observers wonder if Ma's announcement about Taiwan's WHO bid is a result of some back-door deal with Beijing. Only time will tell....

Meanwhile, Ma shows his true colors and allegiance when he continues to refer to China as "the mainland area."