DPP demonstration applications rejected

I would guess political motivation but there could be valid concerns about the venue (outside Chen Yunlin's hotel).

Just great.

I'm ecstatic. =/

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) is negotiating to buy the China Times Group, a newspaper report said yesterday....

If the takeover were to materialize, it would make Next Media the largest media group in Taiwan with two TV stations, two magazines and four newspapers.

Lai — vowing to change the reading habits of people by promoting “serious” news reports — launched the Taiwanese versions of his Hong Kong publications Next Magazine and the Apple Daily in May 2003.

Although criticized by many as full of gossip, the Apple Daily quickly became a bestselling newspaper in Taiwan. Its daily circulation has reached 526,000 and it now threatens the market share of other dailies.

Next Magazine, with a scoop in practically every issue, has become the nation’s most popular news magazine.

The Chinese-language China Times was launched in 1950 and later expanded to become the largest media group but is now facing financial difficulties.

The group owns the China Times, the Commercial Times, the China Times Publishing Co, the China Television Co and CTI TV.

China-Taiwan Common Invest Fund? Premier: More or less.

We'll see how this goes over.

Afternoon delight

Chen Yunlin will visit all the party elders on his arrival: Wu Po-hsiung, Lian Chan, James Soong and Wang Jin-pyng. And oh yeah, of course Ma. The Chinese have asked Taiwan to keep Chen's itinerary secret.

DPP and TSU will both protest near Chen Yunlin's hotel. And 7,000 police will be protecting him.

Meanwhile, Ma responds to claims he's too pro-China by saying he's most pro-Taiwan. Take that.

Wang Yi (王毅), director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), believes that Taiwan and China can begin discussing greater "media exchange" next year. "Media exchange" is code for "I want you to sell a lot of papers/TV commercials in China, become economically dependent on the Chinese market, and follow Chinese rules for content and censorship in both Taiwan and China." Wang Yi also called for student exchanges and greater cooperation catching Taiwanese criminals that hide in China.

Taiwan will allow greater Chinese investment in the island by the end of next year.

China promises tourism to Taiwan will explode soon.

DPP complains about not having an observer in on the Ma-Chen meeting.

More talk of merging Taichung city and county.

Legislators still avoiding a background check on their own citizenship status.

Somehow, cross-strait flights are neither domestic nor international. They're just cross-strait.

A-bian: Ma ought to be executed.

Along with Chen Yunlin. Talk about rhetorical flourish.

A-bian is claiming that by communicating with the enemy (Chen Yunlin), Ma Ying-jeou will be violating article 104 of the criminal law that reads:

名稱：中華民國刑法 (民國 97 年 01 月 02 日 修正)

第 104 條

通謀外國或其派遣之人，意圖使中華民國領域屬於該國或他國者，處死刑
或無期徒刑。
前項之未遂犯罰之。
預備或陰謀犯第一項之罪者，處三年以上十年以下有期徒刑。

The key passage being,

Conspiring with a foreign agent or some other dispatched person, with the intention to cause R.O.C. territory to become part of that agent's country or another country, shall be punishable by death or life in prison.

Don't expect anyone to be prosecuted on this count.

A-bian's just trying to keep himself front and center and remake himself as a hero, which will also make it easier to say all charges against him are purely political. He's also trying to stoke anger before the Ma-Chen summit.

Prosecutors: jail Wang Ting-yu for 1 year, 2 months

Wow. For a shove. Now I have seen video from many angles, and while I think it appears Zhang was pushed, I really don't think Wang did so, because his head is turned away at the critical moment.

Chen Yunlin roundup

Just a few of the stories on ARATS chief Chen Yunlin's (陈云林) upcoming trip and related topics. First, the President is calling for legal demonstrations (as opposed to illegal ones) to help Chen understand Taiwanese democracy. What Ma doesn't mention is the KMT already applied for some of the better parade grounds before announcing the trip time line, so the DPP is going to have to work har dto get Chen's attention.

The DPP will be holding a three day, meditation-oriented demonstration in front of Taipei Main Station (Taipei people: get pictures!) They will also stage a surprise noisy demonstration but can't say when or where exactly as they are going to try to outwit the police. And the police will try to keep Chen's routes and destinations low key and secret.

mum Ma not so mum

When Ma says its "not convenient to say" if A-bian may face further charges that have not yet been made public, he's not helping strengthen belief in an independent judiciary.

Just why would Ma even know what prosecutors may or may not have on A-bian? The cynical answer is that he's directing political persecution of the former DPP administration -- which, given the prosecutors' determination to convict A-bian, may be at least partly true. Second, though, it could be related to things like the national security documents that A-bian took home. You know, things the president would probably notice before the media got a hold of it.

NCC fines erring television stations

Great job, NCC. Go out and do meddlesome and useless media policing. Then again, passing ads off as news isn't very professional. Taipei Times reports:

Several TV stations were penalized by the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday for running false news reports or allowing product placements in their news programs, with the aggregate penalty reaching approximately NT$5 million (US$150,000).

The commission punished, among others, TVBS-N, SET TV (三立新聞台) and ERA News (年代新聞) for failing to verify sources and misreporting that a fireman who tried to find victims of the collapsed Houfeng Bridge (后豐大橋) was dead. Each station was asked to pay a fine of NT$300,000.

The penalty for Formosa Television (FTV, 民視) topped NT$1.6 million, the largest among all TV stations.

FTV's violations included an evening news report claiming that the viewership rating of Niang Chia (娘家), a Taiwanese drama series produced by FTV, had set new records, as well as repeatedly showing fruit juice and ice cream brands during its news reports.

Chinese Television System (CTS, 華視) was asked to pay NT$840,000 for reporting on a brand of women's underwear, an online game and organic food in its news programs.

Peace Accord

Yes sir, we knew that when Hu Jintao said the words as well, the Chinese side is at least as serious as the KMT administration about it. And now further confirmation: more and more news articles about a peace accord in the Chinese press.

Hu Jin-tao mentions peace accord too

This should be his first mention too. He also took time to call TI the biggest danger to peace:

　胡锦涛强调，实现两岸关系和平发展，基础是坚持一个中国原则，目的是为两岸同胞谋福祉， 途径是深化互利双赢的交流合作。我们要继续促进两岸人员往来和经济文化交流，继续推动两岸直接“三通”进程，也要继续努力争取恢复和进行两岸协商谈判。台 湾任何政党，只要承认两岸同属一个中国，我们都愿意同他们交流对话、协商谈判。谈判的地位是平等的，议题是开放的，什么问题都可以谈。通过谈判，寻求解决 两岸政治、经济、军事、文化、对外交往等重要问题的办法，对未来两岸关系发展进行规划。我们期待，两岸双方共同努力、创造条件，在一个中国原则的基础上协 商正式结束两岸敌对状态，达成和平协议，构建两岸关系和平发展框架，开创两岸关系和平发展新局面。

　胡锦涛指出，实现两岸关系和平发展，要靠两岸同胞共同努力。无论是过去、现在还 是将来，１３亿大陆同胞和２３００万台湾同胞都是血脉相连的命运共同体。我们真心诚意关心台湾同胞，充分考虑他们的愿望和要求，切实维护和照顾他们的正当 权益。凡是对台湾同胞有利的事情，凡是对维护台海和平有利的事情，凡是对促进祖国和平统一有利的事情，我们都会尽最大努力做好。我们将始终如一地履行对台 湾同胞作出的承诺，既不会因局势的一时波动而有任何动摇，也不会因少数人的蓄意干扰而有任何改变。我们要最广泛地团结台湾同胞，团结的人越多越好。只有实 现大团结，才能促进两岸关系大发展。对于那些曾经对“台独”抱有幻想、主张过“台独”甚至从事过“台独”活动的人，也要努力争取团结，只要他们回到促进两 岸关系和平发展的正确道路上来，我们都将热情欢迎，以诚相待。

　胡锦涛强调，“台独”分裂活动已成为对国家主权和领土完整的最大祸害、对两岸关系发展的最大障碍、对台海地区和平稳定的最大威胁。只有坚决遏制 “台独”分裂活动，才能实现两岸关系和平发展的前景，才能维护两岸同胞的福祉。大陆和台湾同属一个中国，中国是两岸同胞的共同家园。任何涉及中国主权和领 土完整的问题，必须由包括台湾同胞在内的全中国人民共同决定。我们绝不允许“台独”分裂势力以任何名义任何方式把台湾从祖国分割出去。“台独”分裂活动违 背了中华民族维护国家统一的坚强意志，是没有出路的，是注定要失败的。尽管两岸关系和平发展还面临阻力和障碍，今后也难免会经历曲折和起伏，但我们推动两 岸关系和平发展的信念坚定不移，决不动摇。

Taipei City starts removing ROC flags

These flags normally dot the city on both sides of National Day and "Retrocession Day," but apparently this year the city is in a slightly bigger hurry to start taking them down. Work started last night, mere days before Chen Yunlin's arrival.

Wang Ting-yu: CCP ordered my smackdown

DPP Tanan city councilor Wang Ting-yu, stated today that the mobsters who gave him a good smacking around last week told him the smackdown was on the orders of a high ranking CCP official to extract an apology and in retaliation for Wang's "push" of Zhang Mingqing.

Wang did not report the incident to the police at the time, only putting in a request for greater protection of his family. Ever since yesterday info keeps creeping into more and more media outlets about this incident.

I find the allegation plausible but unsupported by evidence (some mafia here is close to China, certainly unafraid of the police or politicians, and I can see China wanting to exact some revenge).

Tsai Ing-wen decides not to take it lying down

The DPP chairwoman has just floated a trial balloon: holding a referendum that, if passed, would simply require sovereignty questions on Taiwan's future to be decided by referendum.

I think it's a good idea but if it's going to work, I think you need to do two things: (1) NOT even try to hold it around a regular election, in order to reduce partisan wrangling and (2) keep the wording short, simple and appealing and (3) consider if it's worth wording the draft so that something like the peace agreement would also have to go through referendum.

NSB news

China apologized for the melamine scandal rather late, but I think that's not the big news today. Rather, it's this:

Lawmakers across party lines yesterday vowed to block a draft bill that seeks to allow National Security Bureau (NSB) personnel to detain and search anyone who might endanger the safety of an incumbent or retired president when protecting the current or former national leader....

When approached by reporters in the legislature, Chen Ping-lin (陳炳林), director of the NSB’s Law and Regulation Committee, defended the draft bill, saying that the proposal was meant to limit rather than expand the power of NSB officials.

Chen said NSB officials would only enjoy the authority stipulated in the proposal under emergent circumstances or when the security of the incumbent or former president was breached.

Now mind you, this comes on the heels of another piece of NSB news yesterday, namely that the security detail for Chen Yunlin will be headed by the NSB, which appears to violate the law (I think only heads of state are supposed to receive NSB security).

I'm just glad the law won't be passed in its current form.