T-SPAN

Tim Maddog, one of the editors at Taiwan Matters and always a fast draw, emailed me about today's Taipei Times piece about the Taiwanese legislature's grudging willingness to start broadcasting itself online in a T-SPAN sort of way:

The Legislative Yuan will become more transparent as it allows the public to access its video-on-demand (VOD) system for the first time and watch open-door legislative meetings from outside the legislature starting today.

An official at the legislature’s Information Technology Department told the Taipei Times that people would be able to watch live broadcasts as the eight standing committees hold meetings, as well as plenary sessions, at ivod.ly.gov.tw without having to register personal information.

Woo hoo! Committee meetings, where all the real stuff happens (well during the half day the lazy committees actually meet). But as my grandpa always said, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

However, meetings of the pan-blue-dominated Procedure Committee would not be available as the legislature does not currently record those meetings, the official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that anyone interested in watching the videos should use Internet Explorer because of compatibility issues.

Only around 800 people will be able to use the Web site simultaneously because its bandwidth remains limited, he said.

The first point is troublesome for the obvious reason that the Procedure Committee literally sets the agenda for all legislation; it is there that legislation is bottled up or put on the agenda. It is literally the most important committee to watch.

The IE situation is not surprising given Taiwan's addiction to Microsoft; but those Firefox users among us are welcome to check out IETab, a plug-in that will allow you to watch those legislative sessions from the comfort of your Firefox browsing window.

As Maddog points out to me, 800 people is a pretty pathetic bandwidth limit that for all intents and purposes would allow one group's supporters to block access if they wanted.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交), a member of the task force, said they would negotiate with the National Communications Commission next in a bid to establish a channel similar to C-SPAN.

The legislative watchdog Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) lauded the changes.

As do I sir, as do I!

Will some Beijinger please photograph this?

The joint Cape No. 7 / Taiwan beer event scheduled for Valentine's day in Beijing.

Taiwanese businessmen as Chinese officials

The Liberty Times carried a report this morning claiming a number of Taiwanese businessmen have been active in local Chinese Political Consultative Conferences (政治協商會), a sort of advisory council to the Communist Party in different areas.

The name list included Cheng Fon-yuan (程豐原), who heads up the Guangzhou Taiwanese businessman's association and ten others. Being on these councils constitutes holding a Chinese government position and is clearly forbidden by Taiwanese law, specifically article 33 of the Act Government Relations between the Taiwan and Mainland areas, (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例第33條) which states "People, legal officers, organizations and other units from the Taiwan region may not hold positions in the mainland's party branches, military affairs, administration or organizations which are political in nature." (台灣地區人民、法人、團體或其他機構，不得擔任大陸地區黨務、軍事、行政或具政治性機關（構）。 )

However, to date not a single Taiwanese businessman has been fined for being on the councils, and the Liberty Times reported that it's because this is a "politically sensitive" topic and the Mainland Affairs Council would rather ignore the problem. (This is not the first time this issue came up; I've also covered it here when the Ma administration said they may considering allowing Taiwanese to serve on these councils).

MAC spokesman Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) refuted the details of the report today, saying the MAC was still "in the process" of understanding the Political Consultative Conferences' inner workings, including differences between regular members and 'honorary members' (特聘委員), though Liu says that the MAC's initial studies indicate honorary members are still full committee members.

Liu also stated that if there were any proof that Taiwanese businessmen were serving in such capacities, the MAC would ask them to resign and if the businessmen refused to do so, the MAC would ask the SEF to fine the businessmen. Liu also said the MAC was not considering loosing these restrictions "at the present time."

My view is that Liu is hedging enough in his answers that I suspect the MAC had heard this news before and had decided not to act on it.

Letting Taiwanese businessmen on the council is a win-win situation for both the businesses and the Chinese government; it attaches influential Taiwanese to the Chinese political system and gives the Taiwanese businessmen some voice in defending their own interests there. But it is illegal and dangerous to Taiwan for obvious reasons, especially conflicts of interest and national loyalty complications.

Two articles worth reading today

Next Media picks close aide to Ma to head TV station
I'm sure he'll follow through on his promise for objective reporting.
Control Yuan censures SIP prosecutors
But no need to reprimand prosecutors who are obviously vengeful.

Former First Lady's trial

Taiwan News:

Attention will focus on whether Wu will use her court appearance to follow the example of her son and her daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching and plead guilty to some or all of the charges.

TVBS is reporting she HAS pleaded guilty to forgery of documents but not to corruption.

Update: very latest from ICRT:

A high profile court session for former first lady Wu Shu-zhen wrapped up
about an hour ago ... with Wu admitting guilt to less serious charges against
her.

Wu was wheeled into the Taipei District Court shortly before 1:30 this
afternoon for a court session that lasted more than two hours.

During the hearing ... Wu said she had used unrelated unified invoices to
claim money from a special presidential fund for state affairs ... but that
the money didn't go into her own pocket.

She also admitted she had taken money in a land deal in Taoyuan ... and an
exhibition hall project in suburban Taipei ... but said the money was not
bribes, but political contributions.

After the hearing wrapped up Wu made a short statement ... saying she
regretted having gotten involved in such things ... and apologizing for the
social costs the whole affair has incurred.

She also said she that if her health allows it ... she will show up for
future hearings when she's called.

SCMP in ROC (TW)

Update via Thomas' comment: The SCMP published a clarification today. They say they have no intention of opening an online paper in Taiwan and that the Economic Daily News story was false.

Seemingly big news, but it's kind of funny a DPA article was the best source for this:

Hong Kong’s ‘South China Morning Post’ to launch in Taiwan

SCMP, which is still a very enjoyable and sizable paper, has increasingly fallen into the orbit of Beijing since the Hong Kong handover. According to insiders, phrases like "Taiwan and China" are routinely altered to "Taiwan and the mainland" in the editing process, even for editorials. If I recall correctly, in the Hong Kong edition of the paper, Taiwan gets placed under the "China" "National" section.

It is no great surprise that the articles notes the KMT itself is pledging part of the funding to help set up the paper here.

Important note though:

Since Taiwan already has three English daily newspapers and its market for English papers is saturated, the newspaper decided to focus on online operations with most content in Chinese, but some information in English.

The 106-year-old daily is the leading English newspaper in Hong Kong with some 100,000 subscribers and is known as one of the top English-language dailies in Asia.

So don't expect to read your SCPM at a Mr. Brown cafe any time soon.

What the unemployment numbers don't say

ICRT:

Statistics from the Xinzhu Science Park seem to indicate the situation
involving companies asking employees to take unpaid leave could be worsening.

According to numbers from the Park administration today, about 100,000
workers and operators at the Park have been forced to take unpaid leave as a
result of the global economic recession....

According to the survey, the number of unpaid leave days averages one to
two days per week.

This is even worse than it sounds for a lot of people. I know workers in Pingtung who can't collect unemployment because they technically have a job -- already tough to find -- but who are asked to take off 3 months of the year on unpaid year. The workers then do this in shifts so that they all have at least some income more of the time.

Frankly, this unpaid leave things sounds like a twisted implementation on traditional leftist calls for spreading the work around to give people more free time and help create full employment.

DPP plans

The Taipei Times article on the DPP's reform wasn't bad, and this analysis was good, but it lacked a lot of the information found in the Liberty Times article that I found both valuable and reassuring. Basically, it turns out the DPP is not as out of touch with reality as I feared. Some choice comments from the Page 2 articles:

不過，台南市長許添財點名民進黨當前的問題不是定位路線而是能力，必須提升黨的能力讓人民信賴，黨不只是消極監督執政黨而是趕快取代執政黨；也有中常委私下質疑說，黨中央設立多個委員會能發揮什麼實質功能？

However, Tainan Mayor Hsu Tien-Tsai (許添財) noted that the DPP's problem is not in deciding the party's general direction [AGu: we do seem to know the core party goals, right?] but rather in its ability. The DPP must improve its ability [to govern] in order to win the people's trust. The goal is not to simply act as a watch dog of the ruling party, but to replace the ruling party quickly. One DPP Central Standing Committee member also said privately that they are not sure about the true usefulness of establishing consultation committees [the party's main action yesterday].

施正鋒（東華大學原住民民主學院院長）

民進黨若只討論走議會或群眾路線是搞錯方向，因為現在連目標是什麼都不清楚，就好像只討論要坐高鐵還是搭火車、或是坐飛機，卻不知道自己到底要去高雄還是花蓮、宜蘭；若只討論手段跟方法，等於是無頭蒼蠅。

民進黨應把過去八年的執政政見拿出來一一檢視，做到多少？有多少是食言而肥？沒做到的部份應向選民道歉，許多民眾討厭國民黨，但不見得就會支持民進黨，因為 人民對民進黨失望到底，所以現在應重建人民信心，民進黨也要重新定位，告訴我們，你民進黨這個店到底要賣什麼？

[Professor] Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) noted that it would not be useful for the DPP to merely debate whether it will be a legislative or a social movement, because even the party's goals are not clear right now. It's like debating if you will take the High Speed Rail or the train, or whether you'd rather fly, without knowing whether you're going to Kaohsiung, Hualian or Yilan. If the DPP merely discusses what they're doing to do and how, they'll be acting like a headless house fly.

The DPP ought to examine the experience of its eight years in power one item at a time. What did the party accomplish? How often was the party forced to eat its words? The party should apologize to the people for the goals it could not accomplish. Lots of people dislike the KMT, but that doesn't mean they'll be DPP voters, because the people are already greatly disappointed in the DPP. So the party must now re-win the confidence of the people, and establish a new orientation. Tell the people: what is it that the DPP is selling?

蔡丁貴 （公投護台灣聯盟召集人）

對於社會力量，民進黨嘴巴上雖講支持，實際上卻不當作一回事，過去民進黨會輸是有原因的，反對黨應要有眼光，勇敢站出來，呼籲民眾並運用人民力量共同建立 長治久安政治環境，不要只停留在縣市輸贏、立委席次多寡，應拉高思考層級，否則在目前遊戲規則下，與國民黨怎麼玩都會輸。

Professor Tsai Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) said that in terms of social power, the DPP talks the talk, but hasn't done anything for [social interest/activist groups]. In the past the DPP lost for this reason. An opposition party needs to have vision and bravely stand up Call on the people to use their power, working together to establish an environment suitable for long-term, stable [DPP] governance. There's no need to get stuck on whether the DPP will win the mayoral/county commissioner elections this year, or in how many legislators the party has. Instead the party has to think smarter, or under the current rules of the game, no matter what the DPP does, they'll lose to the KMT.

Legislative Yuan blows

This was among my favorite articles in Thursday's paper, because it reminds us of just how authoritarian the legislature tries to be. They don't just spend ALL their time covering Diana Lee's ass:

Dozens of civic group members yesterday rallied outside the Taipei District Court as prosecutors questioned Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) about a slander lawsuit filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆).

“We condemn lawmakers who file lawsuits against watchdog groups. Instead, they should face public scrutiny with honesty,” National Union of Taiwan Women’s Associations chairwoman Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) told demonstrators outside the courthouse yesterday morning.“We urge Tsai to withdraw the lawsuit. You may have ranked last [in CCW’s evaluation of lawmakers], but you won’t stay there if you work hard enough,” Chen said.

picking up the ball

Looks like the DPP is finally recognizing the importance of a coherent and systematic China policy approach during the Ma era.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen announced the decision to set up the "China Affairs Task Force" during a scheduled meeting of the party's Central Standing Committee....

Tsai, who was herself formerly chairwoman of the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council from 2000 to 2004 under the previous DPP government, named former National Security Council deputy secretary-general Chen Chung-hsin to convene the new committee, whose members will include senior party leaders and legislators, former DPP government officials with experience in China affairs and scholars.

Tung said that Hu's speech represented "three restrictions."

The CPU associate professor stated that Hu aimed to "narrow Taiwan's future" to unification with the PRC and "drew a red line for Ma Ying-jeou" by declaring that "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will restore unity" and by declaring that cross-strait differences do not involve "sovereignty or the recreation of national territory, but the ending of political antagonism."

"In another words, the unification of China excludes the possibility of a federation or a commonwealth," said Tung.

Second, Tung said that Hu defined the "Consensus of 1992" under the "one China framework" and "drew a second red line against Ma Ying-jeou" by excluding any room for the new president's notion of "mutual non-denial" and by insisting that the two sides are "divided" but not "separate."...

"The DPP must clearly manifest Taiwan's democratic experience and the principle of 'sovereignty rests with the people' under which only the 23 million Taiwan people have the right to decide Taiwan's future," said the DPP spokesman.

Tung's bolded statements are especially refreshing, first because they're absolutely true, if you just read what the China leadership has repeatedly said and never denied; and it demonstrates the DPP is willing to look at what light blues may consider 'pragmatic' approaches, but that the DPP has seen those approaches to be in conflict with China's demands and policies.

Infuriating and irresponsible

Ugh.

Update: Robert Roth's link in his comment here has put the fear of Ma into me:

The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday approved a draft amendment to the Satellite Radio and Television Law (衛星廣播電視法).

The amendment would set stricter regulations on TV news and comments in talk show programs, which the commission said “must follow fact-checking procedures and the principles of equality.”

What makes things scary is that fact checking is the biggest part of Talking Show, the "sensational" and "bias" and "false statistics" filled show the NCC singled out yesterday.

Update: Robert Roths' latest comment second was quite well put, so I will quote it in full here:

They keep trying to make us feel better, and it just makes me more and more terrified.

“I believe all the representatives would be from organizations with legitimate authority,” she said. “Who will oversee their judgment? I think God and conscience.”
That's what I call check's and balances!

And earlier in the news article:
“The article does not target any particular program,” Lee said.
Of course, the execution of the article will.

Ma: Improved cross-strait relations have

President Ma has noted that warming cross strait relations, driven by Taiwan's acceptance of a 'one China' policy, has actually strengthened Taiwanese sovereignty and improved trust between Taiwan and American officials.

The RTI article does not quote Ma directly using the phrase Taiwanese sovereignty (台灣主權), but the Liberty Times article confirms the quote and extends on it (Update: Taipei Times article indicated he may have used ROC sovereignty instead of Taiwan sovereignty), paraphrasing Ma's comments as "Taiwan is already a democratic society, and of course Taiwan's future must be decided by Taiwanese people. The government's policy is to make Taiwanese sovereignty and respect for the people the top priority.

Ma also claims that his "no unification, no independence, no force" policy is so awesome that it allowed the new government to make the US arms purchase last October (despite it having been on the table for years already but boycotted by the KMT); Ma also cited a number of small issues which seem to demonstrate that Taiwan already has more international space because of his China policy.

Ma is of course living in an alternate reality.

Venerable Master Sheng-yen (聖嚴法師) has passed away.

New media bias tracking site

Socialforce.org (與媒體對抗) is a long-running, pro-Taiwanese forum and blog hosting site that has devoted itself to exposing the consistant blue-bias in the majority of local media.

Not it looks like they have a new buddy on the scene with some cross over users. News Rumble! is helping highlight the extent the bias one (or two) articles at a time.

My favorite feature so far is the strait comparison section (正直新聞), where two articles from the same media outlet or the same author reveal drastically different attitudes based on the media or authors preference or distaste for the party in power.

As you can imagine, the site is currently focused on the pre- and post-Ma victory articles in largely blue media. My favorite comparisons so far include:

TVBS pre-Ma: "wages are meager!" (薪水變薄！)
TVBS post-Ma: "making even more money [than at your job] during your unpaid forced vacations" (無薪假休了更賺)

And this horrific contrast on the importance of money and spending habits defies my commentary.

Plenty more there. Enjoy!

Round up

Less than spectacular news.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to visit Japan and China on her first foreign trip in her new position, with a senior congressional source saying Clinton would be certain to discuss Taiwan with the Chinese leadership.

The source said the discussions would probably lead, on Clinton’s return, to an informal State Department review of US-Taiwan relations....

US State Department officials declined to confirm Clinton’s trip to China, but officials said in private that she was “leaning” toward visiting Asia at some point before US President Barack Obama meets Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at a London summit in April.

Given the new direction of Taiwan-PRC ties, I cannot imagine any review of relations with Taiwan, informal or otherwise, to end well. Washington's interest and willingness to assist Taiwan with weapons sales, which are already the only serious thorn in US-PRC ties, will only decline as Taiwan becomes more dependent and perhaps eventually (God forbid) servile to China.

Meanwhile, by-elections next month will provide a test for just how fed up or apathetic people in Taiwan are toward politics in this time of economic hardship. I expect apathy and record low voting percentages with strong blue machine turnout, so expect the KMT to fare well.

Former KMT legislator Lee E-tin (李乙廷) from Miaoli County lost his seat in the legislature after the Taichung High Court’s December rejection of his appeal against a Miaoli District Court ruling that annulled his election on vote-buying charges in last year’s legislative elections.

Another former KMT lawmaker, Diane Lee (李慶安), resigned last month amid a dispute over her alleged dual citizenship.

The KMT has nominated Lee E-tin’s wife, Chen Ruan-ying (陳鑾英), to run in the Miaoli by-election, while seven KMT hopefuls will vie in a party primary to represent the KMT in Daan district.

A senior KMT official said that if the KMT wins the two by-elections, it would show that its support base is solid, but if the result were the opposite, then the party would “have to learn about its deficiencies and address them accordingly.”

Economically, things are almost as dark as on the political side:

The consumer confidence index plunged to a new record low in a survey released by National Central University Monday, a day after the government announced it would create 150,000 jobs.