China Times critical of People's Congress

An unusually critical editorial in Taiwan's China Times about the People's Congress. Recent comments in the Chinese media criticised what a violent mess the Taiwanese parliament is and contrasted it with the orderly and harmonious atmosphere of the People's Congress. This article strikes back, saying the People's Congress representatives serve the party, not a constituency, and so of course it's a harmonious body. It only has one voice.


人代不必服務選區 當然和諧 (中時墊子報)
中國時報 2007.03.06　 林克倫

習慣台灣立法院動輒拳打腳踢混戰一團的民眾，絕對會對昨天開幕的中共十屆五次全國人大會議氣氛十分不適應，會場內官員與代表們一派和氣，代表們對其職責應「監督」的行政部門施政成效讚譽有加，仿若新世紀中國和諧社會已然到來。

會場內能共譜和諧協奏曲，關鍵在於代表們理論上是「人民」的代表，實際卻是「黨意」所「尬意」的人民代表。說白了，能否當選跟民意沒啥關係，而是要以「我黨（共產黨）黨意」為依歸。

人大代表是間接選舉，先選鄉鎮人大代表、再由這批代表選縣市人大代表，層層選出全國人大代表，從理論看，全國人大代表的民意基礎是來自下一層代表，故鄉鎮、區人民代表選舉是民意的權力基礎。

從北京首都機場搭出租車進京城，好奇地問師傅（司機）全國人大開會對自己有無影響，只見師傅不爽地說道：「（區）人大代表沒一個認識，就給了五個人說是選三個，五個全沒認識」，至於影響，只聽師傅開始咒罵，北京為恭迎數千名全國人大與政協代表，特地提前一小時將單向三線道機場高速路，封掉二線道專給代表使用，引爆大塞車。

許多人習於以立法院跟全國人大相比，但二者本質差異在於，中國的人大代表不用伺候選民，封街引發民憤無所謂，也不用砸錢設立服務處服務選民以爭取選票，反正提名權與背後負責政治審核的「影武者」是共產黨。

既然黨意是最高準則，與會所有人即十分有默契地演場和諧戲碼，人大代表靜心呆坐撐完會議，本地媒體亦明瞭輿論無法監督，乾脆帶著傻瓜相機拍照「到此一遊」留念，現場和諧到代表們聽取國務院總理溫家寶的報告時，三千多人拿著報告的「翻頁聲」都齊一得響透人民大會堂。

此次全國人大會議的主旋律是和諧，代表提案絕大多數屬民生議題，卅一省市的在地民生利益肯定會與鄰省有衝突之處，但各省卻是各自開會，利益衝突全靠大有為的「中央政府」居中協調解決。

大陸民眾或官方傳媒常將台灣國會打架亂象譏為「草根民主」，關鍵是，不用選區服務的民代是不會打架的，因為背後沒有所屬選區民意的利益衝突，老百姓的利益無人反應，代表跟民意沒有連結，跟國民黨老立委時代一樣，一片祥和但問題實際上卻沒解決。

In Kaohsiung County Dist. 1, DPP may nominate outsider

Since nobody in the DPP wants to run in Kaohsiung Dist. 1 since it's considered a KMT stronghold, the DPP has said they won't rule out findin some outsider to run, just so that the KMT has some trouble.

This would be a good candidate district to run an unsatisfied KMT member who doesn't get nominated to run for a legislative seat. We'll have to see if the DPP can actually find anyone who would present a real challenge, though.

立委選舉／高市第1選區沒人選　綠營不排除徵召 (ETTV)
2007/03/07 00:07 記者廖國雄／高雄報導

民進黨立委黨內提名初選將在本月12到16日受理登記，由於第1選區因至今無人表態參選，市黨部主委張志銘6日表示，黨中央已決定全區提名，將不 排除徵召提名特定人士參選，以免讓泛藍輕騎過關；至於2、3、4選區都有兩人以上辦理登記，張如經協調不成，該三個選區都要辦理初選，含黨員投票及民調。 另第5選區目前僅現任立委郭玟成表態尋求連任。

"blue/green-excluding" opinion polls

The DPP and KMT are both planning on conducting opinion polls as part of the process of nominating legislators, and the DPP is also going to do one for picking a presidential nominee. And some people are suggesting that the opinion poll should only pool from loyal green or blue voters (depending on your team).

Presidential hopeful Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) has said that he favors a "blue-excluding" poll for the legislative seats, but not for the presidential election. He also tried to express his calm and said he'll just look at everything in a normal light.

It looks like the DPP is leaning toward using blue-excluding polls for both elections. I don't see the point of this exercise. It would seem to be the kind of thing that would strengthen the hand of the hard-liners and weaken the standings of the moderates, which is exactly the opposite of what you need to win the election overall.

The decision should be made by tomorrow. And remember, next week Mon-Fri is the registration for the DPP legislative seats. So a lot will be happening then.

排藍民調領先 謝長廷:以平常心看待

（中央社記者吳哲豪彰化縣七日電）前行政院長謝長廷今天上午在彰化縣彰濱工業區線西區，舉辦「台灣維新-參選理念說明會」。他說，民調數字時時在變，要時時刻刻尊重人民的意見，才能維持領先；對於民調領先，他以平常心看待。他支持立委提名以排藍民調決定人選；但總統大選，他自己是當事人因此持開放立場。

總統盼民進黨中常會明暫緩處理總統初選民調
　

（中央社記者溫貴香、林怡君、李明宗台北六日電）總統府副秘書長陳其邁今天表示，總統陳水扁與十五位民進黨籍立委會面，總統希望民進黨明天中常會先處理立委選舉過濾式排藍民調，總統初選民調暫緩處理，讓他有時間與黨內四位候選人先協調。

Taiwanese Romanization Input Method

The Ministry of Education made it. So far it's output is just tone-marked romanization. This is a good sign since they'll be able to adopt this to a character input method once the characters are standardized.

Download it or read the manual here. Mac, Linux, and Windows versions available. Links to suitable fonts are also provided.

Chang Wen-ying (張溫鷹) makes some waves

Taichung Mayor Chang Wen-ying (張溫鷹), interested in running for the legislature under the banner of the TSU, in Taichung, has already created a pretty big wave. the DPP's current lgislators there to suggest the DPP must take Chang into account when selecting a candidate and sort of implied the DPP should consider making Chang the candidate, or at least use Chang's name when doing opinion polls or something. Anyway, interesting.

李明憲呼籲民進黨給張溫鷹機會納入協調

（中央社記者郝雪卿台中市六日電）台中市西屯區及南屯區立委選區，民主進步黨內現任立委李明憲與前立委蔡明憲為爭取初選出線競爭激烈，又傳出前台中市長張溫鷹也要投入參選。李明憲今天呼籲黨中央將張納入協調，而張則希望民進黨不要拿她當造勢工具；蔡則對此建議表示出乎意料之外，他尊重黨內的提名機制。

Annette Lu announces her intention to run

That's not really news. News would be if she announced she wouldn't run.

I don't think she's going to have a chance. I expect to see a Su-Hsieh ticket emerge.

Four yesses and one no, part II

1. An Assistant Secretary to the presidential office said that A-bian's "four yesses and one no" policy is a response to the constant escalation of the Chinese threats to Taiwan, and that the government has a responsibility to respond; as far as some people reading it as an election-related move, he stressed that national policy has it's own development and continuity, that the president picked an appropriate time and place to make the statement, and that it should not be misread as an election motivated move.

I don't buy it ;) But I also think A-bian's going somewhere with this other than just an election. But it's obvious that there's no way A-bian's proposals can get legislative approval, and it's also obvious the next legislature will still be blue. So it's a safe idea to promote it, considering it can't actually happen and the greens love it. UPDATE: The Executive Yuan has also said "Taiwan's already has indepdendent soverignty." (行政院：台灣主權已經獨立) That's a lot like Lee Teng-hui's position and A-bian's own previous statements. It also reinforces the idea that this is election rhetoric, and that Taiwan is doing damage control for US and Chinese relations.

2. A-bian's being sued by PFP legislators who believe he is inciting unrest and being treasonous/colluding with a foreign force (內亂、外患罪). The high court will have to deal with that. They threatened to cut funding to the government for pushing a "Republic of Taiwan" agenda. The presidential office has no response, of course.

This has to be one of the stupider lawsuits ever brought in Taiwan. How can you seriously expect anybody to take such a charge seriously? And what "foreign force" would the president be loyal to with these statements, Taiwanese independence? Why are they humiliating themselves like this?

3. DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun has reaffirmed that he believes the "four yesses and one no" policy fits with the core values of the DPP. This will probably be his major issue when he goes for the DPP nomination, while Frank Hsieh and Su Chen-chang will pick different issues, probably focusing on "getting things done."

4. Lee Teng-hui accused the DPP of being the reason that makign a new constitution and rectifying Taiwan's name is impossible with the last round of constitutional amendments (the amendments set a super high threshold for constitutional reform by referendum).

5. The Chinese are basically saying A-bian's going of the deep end. They're highlighting blue reactions so they don't have to say so much themselves.

6. Ma Ying-jeou is taking a wait and see approach, saying A-bian often "forgets what he said" and that it's best to give this time to see how it goes. That's smart, because when A-bian makes waves he does often just say half of what he's eventually going to say. It's a way to get the opposition to come out and go rabid over some scarecrow, and then move on to the topic your eally want to talk about. For the KMT to not fall into the trap yet is smart of them for once.

卓榮泰：總統四要一沒有談話 與選舉無關

（中央社記者溫貴香台北五日電）總統府副秘書長卓榮泰今天表示，總統陳水扁「四要一沒有」的談話，是針對中國對台灣主權的威脅與日俱增，政府若置之不理是不負責任；有人將此解讀為選舉操作，他強調，國家政策有其發展性與延續性，總統選擇適當時機與場合發表重要談話，不應扭曲為與選舉有關。

總統提台灣要獨立 橘營提內亂外患訴訟 　

（中央社記者曹宇帆台北五日電）親民黨立法院黨團今天召開記者會表示，因總統陳水扁提「四要一沒有」主張台灣要獨立，意圖叛國涉及內亂外患罪，正式向台灣高等法院檢察署提出告訴，且立法院是中華民國立法院，若陳總統意欲推台灣獨立，一定拒審「台灣共和國」中央政府總預算案。

親民黨團告陳總統涉內亂罪 總統府：不回應

（中央社記者林長順台北五日電）總統陳水扁提出台灣要獨立等四要一沒有主張。親民黨團總召傅（山昆）萁（花蓮縣），和立委馮定國（台中縣）、劉文雄（不分區）、李復甸（不分區）今天到台灣高檢署告發陳總統涉嫌內亂罪。傅（山昆）萁說，總統不能把兩千三百萬人推向戰爭。總統府副秘書長卓榮泰對此表示，不回應。

總統拋四要一沒有 游魁:符合民進黨核心價值

Chiayi legislative wrangling

Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) announced today that he wants potential legislative candidates to negotiate who will run for Chiayi's two seats. There are 3 DPP legislators currently in office there. Both Chen and Su Chen-chang (蘇貞昌) agree that one should get an at-large seat and the other two win in their districts.

It seems there's been some progress on such negotiations, but nothing has been finalized yet.

陳明文協調綠營嘉縣立委參選 盼再揮全壘打

（中央社記者江俊亮嘉義縣五日電）嘉義縣長陳明文今天表示，為了穩固民進黨的基本盤，年底的立委選舉，嘉義縣三位民進黨籍立委，可望協調一人角逐不分區席次，另兩人固守山、海區，希望再度揮出全壘打。 ‧‧‧

年底立委選舉，民進黨三席立委面臨黨內三選二的尷尬局面，還要面對強敵環伺的泛藍陣營，蘇貞昌昨晚主動關心林國慶、蔡啟芳兩位海區立委的選情，與會人士提出「一位選不分區、一位參加區域選舉」的模式，獲得蘇貞昌的認同與支持。

Four yesses and one no, part I

In answer to the KMT's question about what happened to the "five nos..."

總統提四要一沒有 國民黨：四不一沒有呢？

（中央社記者林沂鋒台北五日電）總統陳水扁提出「四要一沒有」，中國國民黨代理主席吳伯雄今天說，國民黨對陳總統的「四要一沒有」嚴正表達反對立場，陳總統應向國人說明，過去信誓旦旦的「四不一沒有」是否還存在？

Presidential Secretary Mark Chen is saying that A-bian's new "four yesses and one no" speech is about China threat to Taiwan's soverignty, has nothing to do with the "four nos" promises, and does not go against the DPP's charter. An assistant secretary added that "Name rectification has nothing to do with changing the national moniker, and seeking independence is not declaring independence."

Now that sounds like some doublethink. But it reinforces that these are election slogans, and not plans to immediately make China think it's fight a war or let Taiwan go.

Update: The foriegn ministry has said they don't know anything about A-bian supporting these principles and said they have no intention of changing the status quo.

總統談話未牴觸四不 也沒有違背民進黨綱

（中央社記者溫貴香台北五日電）總統府副秘書長陳其邁今天表示，總統陳水扁「四要一沒有」的談話，是針對中國對台灣主權的侵蝕與打壓，與「四不」承諾無關，也沒有違背民進黨黨綱。總統府副秘書長卓榮泰也強調，正名無關更改國號，追求獨立也不是宣佈台獨。

Election roundup (03/05)

Okay. Here's the roundup for the day.

• The DPP will allow people interested in running for legislative seats to say what seat they want in 46 districts first. The party will still decide the 27 more difficult districts through it's five-man committee, and must consider TSU strength in places like Danshui or Keelung. Those districts that will be decided by the committee include some in Taoyuan, Nantou, Changhua, and Taichung.
• DPP whip Ker Chien-ming has also announced he will run as an at-large member, not for a particular seat, and Cheng Hung-huei will run for the Hsinchu city council.
  

• China is reacting negatively to the new "Four yesses and one no" policy put out by A-bian yesterday when he said "Taiwan will say yes to independence," "Taiwan will be correctly named, Taiwan will have a new constitution, Taiwan will develop. There is no left-right political axis in Taiwan, just the question of independence or assimilation."
• Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has reminded everyone that the "Anti-succession law" is not just for show. The scholars (whichever ones theya re) in Taiwan figure everyone will just understand it is election rhetoric and A-bian can't make good on the promises without KMT support anyway, so they'll be willing to keep the situation contained. A-bian's guys are sticking to the guns, insisting Taiwan and China do not overlap. The KMT is getting ready to shoot themselves over the issue.

• Wang Jin-pyng has not ruled out running independently, and some of this guys hinted it was a possibility today. There are all kinds of rumors about how Wang, Ma and Lien are all interacting, but I'm only interested in seeing what actually happens.

立委初選 林佳龍：四十六個選區先開放登記

（中央社記者郝雪卿台中市四日電）民進黨立委初選程序即將陸續展開，民進黨秘書長林佳龍今天表示，經過黨內討論後，第一階段先開放四十六個選區讓有意參選同志自由登記，其餘二十七個選區因涉及內部策略考量將列為第二階段辦理，而對於桃園、南投、彰化等有同志相持不下的縣市，黨中央已展開協調並已有腹案。

柯建銘轉戰不分區　鄭宏輝參選竹市立委 　

（中央社記者黃彥瑜新竹市三日電）民主進步黨立法院黨團總召集人柯建銘今天宣佈轉戰不分區立委，新竹市議員鄭宏輝將代表民進黨角逐年底的新竹市立委選舉。柯建銘說，他身為總召，參選對黨團不是好事，而且二○○八總統大選候選人整合，總召責無旁貸，而地方也需要傳承，他呼籲支持他的群眾繼續支持鄭宏輝。

中國外長李肇星：反分裂法不是擺著看的 　

（中央社記者周慧盈北京五日電）陳水扁總統昨天提出「四要一沒有」宣示，中國外交部長李肇星今天在北京回應媒體時指陳總統是「歷史的罪人」，並說中國的「反分裂國家法」不是只擺著看的。

香港媒體並詢問，「會不會因此動用反分裂法？」李肇星回答說，「這是一個很大的法律問題，但反分裂國家法不是只擺在那裡看的。」

四要一沒有　學者：美中應瞭解是選舉語言

（中央社記者顧恆湛台北五日電）總統陳水扁提出要獨立、要新憲等「四要一沒有」主張，是否引發美台關係緊張受到矚目。東吳大學政治系主任羅致政表示，他不認為陳總統是挑戰四不一沒有，美國和中國應該也瞭解陳總統講的是選舉語言，不致於對台美中關係造成影響。

總統提四要一沒有 政院：兩岸互不隸屬

Standardized Holo Taiwanese characters

The Ministry of Education has been working rather quietly (or at least under most Taiwanese media radar) for many years on standardizing written Taiwanese characters/hanzi/kanji (漢字). They will publish a book called Character Suggestion List for 300 Frequently Used Southern Min Phrases (閩南語300常用詞用字建議表).

This has been anticipated for some time, and in several cases there have been reports that said its publication was just around the corner. It's been repeatedly delayed.

Well, I called the archaically-named Mandarin Promotion Council (國語推動委員會) about it yesterday to ask when it would really be out. They told me sometime in March or April. I'm guessing the end of April.

Since this is a controversial topic with a lot of information, let me clear something up. Taiwanese does have characters and can be written. The problem is that many of the most commonly used Taiwanese words or phrases have words that are probably not of Han origin, but that probably came from now assimilated minorities that lived in Fujian some time ago. That makes using an "authentic" character hard.

As far as I understand, the Council is publishing this first as a guide so that it can be publicly discussed (you can be sure that will happen. You'll read lots of complaints no matter what's in the list). Some of the suggestions will then be revised before actually rolling out mandatory use of those characters in future textbooks. The news is welcome to me, since it will mean increased Taiwanese literacy, uniformity in press publications using Taiwanese, increased use of direct Taiwanese quotations in print and online without translation to Mandarin, Taiwanese language localizations for software and more uniform results for Internet searches.

In cases where there is no easy way to pick a good character or get a consensus, the council may suggest using the Taiwanese Romanization system they've published.

Primary for Kaohsiung City seats?

Since registartion for legislative nominations should be done by March 12th, things are getting pretty hot in the kitchen.

The DPP is likely to hold a primary for three districts out of the five in Kaohsiung City. This is because nobody wants District 1 (Zuoying/Nanzih 左營楠梓) since it's a sure loss. In Districts 2 （三民西、鹽埕、鼓山、旗津）, 3 （三民西區）, and 4 （苓雅區）, "two or more: DPP legislators have expressed interest in the seats. If there is no way to negotiate a solution, the DPP will resort to a primary.

Those interested are listed by CNA as:

Dist. 2 -- Former legislator Liu Chun-hsiung (劉俊雄) and Kaohsiung City Council member Lee Chiao-ju (李喬如)
Dist. 3 -- Legislators Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) and Lin Chin-hsing (林進興)
Dist. 4 -- Former minister Pasuya Yao (姚文智) [cool name huh?] and legislator Huang Chao-hui (黃昭輝)

There's some other interesting rumors and information in the article, but it doesn't need to be rehashed in this post since the rumors were denied. Check the link if you like.

民進黨拼立委 高市三個選區面臨初選 (CNA)

（中央社記者王淑芬高雄一日電）民主進步黨立法委員黨內初選，將在三月十二日起受理登記，因為第一選區左營楠梓區是泛藍大本營、綠營勝算小，處於乏人問津局面，其餘二、三、四選區都有兩人以上表態參選，民進黨高雄市黨部表示協調不成就以初選決定提名人。

DPP leg. caucus reacts to special affairs fund rumors

Due to recent (tabloid) reports that Annette Lu and Su Chen-chang are likely to be charged for inappropriate use of their own special affairs fund, the DPP legislative caucus is reminding potential DPP presidential candidates that they should carefully take care of the problem themselves and not screw over the party.

The DPP would also be in bad shape if the person who won the nomination ended up being unelectable over something like this, just as Wang Jin-pyng has reminded the KMT to consider what would happen if Ma Ying-jeou was nominated but then inelligible to be elected.

At least someone on the DPP side is likely to be charged for misuse of this fund, btw. That's why they've been so quiet about Ma Ying-jeou's problems and have left it to the legislators to berate him.

綠營：四大天王若有特別費爭議 應小心處理

王幸男上午在立法院召開記者會表示，四大天王不論是誰，若有特別費相關爭議，應自己小心處理，不要在黨內出線，成為民進黨提名的總統參選人後，又發現有特別費爭議，屆時將是民進黨的不幸。

Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄)

Feb. 28th was also the 27th anniversary of the cold-blodded killing of former DPP chairman Lin Yi-Hsiung's (林義雄) wife and two daughters with a knife while he was in prison for his role in the Formosa incident. And while his house was under constant police "surveillance."

It is obviously a KMT hit, but there's no evidence to prove that for sure (naturally).

What is most interesting to me though? I have a source who claims Lin is going to run in '08 as an independent. He insists this is the case and even bet me on it. He tells me he knows a person who has been to at least one of three "exploratory meetings" Lin has privately held to consider the run. None of this is confirmable though.

I think a Lin run would be scary for the DPP and KMT both, as he's an almost unassailable candidate (my source likes to refer to him as a "saint"). The question is, does he still have enough pull with the population at large to really win? And if not, wouldn't he just be assuring a DPP loss?

林宅血案27週年　林義雄辦追思禮拜

（中央社記者謝佳珍台北二十八日電）今天是二二八事件六十週年，也是林宅血案─前民主進步黨主席林義雄母親與雙胞胎女兒受難二十七週年。林義雄夫婦和親友上午在義光教會舉辦追思禮拜，以音樂、詩歌、祈禱紀念林家祖孫，現場氣氛肅穆、溫馨。

DPP infighting and the 11 bandits

A petition was started some time ago by some DPP legislators which aims to prevent the DPP wil not nominate the "11 bandits" for office (background on them here and here), including Shin Fu-hsiung (沈富雄). Shin called a press conference again recently to complain and ask the party chairman Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) to say a word or two more in defense of them, and suggested he's bowing to pressure from the "deep green camp" at the expense of the party for his own presidential ambitions..

I suspect most of them won't get nominated.

沈富雄：路線可辯論人格不容抹殺
　

（中央社記者李明宗台北一日電）部分民主進步黨員發起連署，要求民進黨中央不得提名「十一寇」。遭基層黨員點名的前民進黨籍立法委員沈富雄今天說，路線可辯論，人格不容抹殺，相煎何須太急，難道民進黨主席游錫（方方土）不能說句話，希望大家適可而止嗎？

沈富雄上午在立法院召開記者會表示，這些連署的人說民進黨籍立委洪奇昌（不分區）是「西進昌」、前行政院客家委員會主任委員羅文嘉是「背骨小孩」，這些都還可討論，但民進黨籍立委蕭美琴（台北市）遭指為「中國琴」，民進黨籍立委魏明谷（彰化縣）被說成是「太監谷」，就太沒天理與沒良心。
...
他說，游錫（方方土）對這種現象只說「人民的聲音我聽到了」，難道不能對這些事多講一兩句話嗎？難道不能說對這種人格污衊與抹殺，希望大家適可而止嗎？曾幾何時民進黨變成這樣，游錫（方方土）只想選總統，可對深綠低頭到這種程度嗎？