Hillary

Clinton has given me no indication she would disassemble the police state apparatus that's been built in the US by this administration. Your thoughts?

National People's Congress to have say on Taiwan

Internet at home is almost a reality, so I should be able to post more regularly soon enough.

The spokesman for the PRC's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Li Weiyi (李维一), has said that the next PRC People's Congress will:

... 针对近年来台海形势及其发展趋势，确定今后一个时期对台工作的指导思想、总体要求和主要任务，是对于指导和推进今后的对台工作，促进两岸关系发展，推动祖国和平统一进程是具有重大意义的。

... decide on a philosophy for the direction of current and future efforts
related to Taiwan affairs in response to the recent and developing situation in
the Taiwan strait, as well as decide on the overall demands [regarding Taiwan]
and important missions [relating to Taiwan]. This is meant to encourage
development of cross-strait relations and push for the peaceful unification of
the motherland, and will provide direction for progress in Taiwan-related
efforts.

This could mean some major restatement of policy that would seek to paint more clear red lines. You might expect something like the anti-succession law v2.0 come out.

Ma: Taiwan = ROC | Hsieh: Ma's making progress!

KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that "Taiwan is the ROC" during a speech at the "re-enter the UN" rally on Saturday (Michael Turton has a post on the rally). He said the reason some people want independence for Taiwan is that "the mainland is doing everything it can to destroy the ROC."

This is being billed as a sort of policy shift toward localizing for Ma, and is rumored to have caused an internal debate within the KMT. However, KMT legislative whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) toed the line for Ma, adding that saying 'Taiwan is the ROC" or "the ROC is Taiwan" are identical statements, and it doesnt' matter how you phrase it.

The People's First Party is in denial, saying Ma's statement merely describes the status quo and is not in conflict with the constitution, which claims the entire mainland China and Mongolia as part of the ROC's territory.

DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun more or less called Ma a copy cat for adopting a long-held DPP position, while DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh welcomed Ma's progress while sneaking in a comment that a president should be a leader, not a follower.

The presidential office asked the best question: Ma should state clearly if he believes the ROC's territory includes mainland China. Because the KMT has such problems answering questions like that, I believe they still can't convince people on the identity issue.

KMT legislator joins Farmers Party

KMT legislator Ke Jun-hsiung (柯俊雄) announced that he's joined the Taiwan Farmers Party last night. He is still a KMT member, however, and it's unclear what penalty the party will impose. Hopefully, this will be the first of several such defections.

More on Kaohsiung

Hey! I thought I've waited long enough to write an update on how I'm doing down in Kaohsiung, so I thought I'd give you a quick update.

Job

Before I started the job, I suppose I had some fantasy about how it would be me sitting in front of a computer and just effortlessly selling steel. Of course, now that I've started the job and been to a few suppliers to visit, I realize it's a lot more complicated than that. First of all, I've got to develop personal relationships with the suppliers so that I can get the best possible price from them. Second, I've got to watch market prices like a hawk and know when you will get something from a sale and when you won't. Third, I have to go aggressively find purchasers and end users instead of sitting around and waiting for inquiries to come.

I've also been reading about the physical properties of steel and the elements that go into it, as well as the crystal structure and grain of the steel which are some of the reasons it's so strong. It might not be useful for actually selling the product, but I find it interesting.

The boss is very nice and the working environment is great. They give all the sales people a lot of respect and let us do our job.

So far, I haven't really done much except learn some basics about how to operate our software and visit some suppliers in person (very productive). Those visits also gave me a chance to be a guy in a dress shirt walking around a factory with a helmet on. I felt like I was in a movie.

Jennifer

She's doing well right now. She is considering getting a job at this point since she's starting to feel a little bored at home, but I'm not gonna push her or anything (I sorta like getting a lunch box every day and having a home made dinner!). We'll see what she wants to do as time goes on. Other than that, she's well. Jennifer's family lives so close by (35, 40 min. drive?) that we've already gotten to see them 5 times in the two weeks we've been operating down there.

Quality of Life

Things are still great in this catagory. No need for the A/C, just open the windows and smell the fresh air blowing through the house. Great, cheap food. Big, comfortable bed. Two very cute cats, one of which likes to play a game I've named "spider cat" (the cat lies on it's back and then uses it's claws to drag itself along the floor using the sofa for leverage. He'll crawl from one end of the sofa to the other upside down like this). Over all, things are great.

I've got a free gym in our complex I've been using as well as a nearby driving range/ golf course (one bucket at the range is only US$2) as well as a super cheap and super close batting cage. Between the three of those, I have a way to have fun and get my exercise while not getting too tired of any one routine.

Bad parts

Well, the main bad part is missing everyone from back home, really. I can't wait to get a chance to see everyone.

I still don't have the internet at home, so forgive the lack of updates and slow repsonse to emails and other communications.That's all for now!

The bounty that is Kaohsiung

Being here in Kaohsiung has been like being at a vacation home, more or less. The air is heavy with the organic smell of the forest and the lungs appreciate every second of it. Every day I wake up feeling well-rested and healthy, regardless of how long I've slept. A few early guests have been shocked we don't have the air conditioning on -- even in temperatures of 34C (93F) in the city, we simply open the windows and let the wind, forest and elevation keep us cool. Anyway, I'll put pictures of the place online Thursday or Friday once our internet is installed.

Moving was slightly painful -- it took two different all-nighters of packing and going back and forth, but all our belongings are now here. We have managed to isolate the unpacked items to one room alone, helping to clear up our space and make is feel we live in even more luxury.
The food so far has been plentiful, cheap, and varied. Lunch today included pork with kimchi, apple slices, cherries, miso soup, a rich rice with mushrooms, and a nice after dinner cigarette.

I am in no hurry to do anything, ever. I simply do whatever chores are necessary, sit around for a while, listen to the radio, watch sunsets and read on the back porch, and occasionally watch the few television channels we have -- no cable yet. I have fallen in love with the back porch most of all. I just sit in my chair out there, feet hanging off the balcony, watching and listening to the forest.

For fun, I can always go sing karaoke, hit the batting cages, use our community gym, have a swim, go shrimp fishing or ride a horse -- all without driving 10 minutes from my place.
There's never any rush here. Some people even walk much more slowly than in Taipei. As my friend Hal said when he saw my watch: "You won't be needing that around here."

Speaking of Hal, my co-worker and technical boss, we've been hanging out most nights. Been watching Family Guy, talking a little about work and enjoying the view from his place too. His 8th floor view of the forest roof contrasts sharply with my view of the forest floor on 2nd-3rd floor). Over all, we've been having a great time.

Work so far is great too. Although I'm mostly just learning the basics of trade, metals, steel and our company's procedures, everyone has been friendly and people seem to be in no particular hurry in the office, either. And the commute is only 10-15 minutes!

The ONLY downside so far is that people are a little more humored by and unaccustomed to a foreigner hanging around, so I get a lot more people trying to practice English with me. Still, it's been great.

The cats love the new place too. They can actually run around and hide in the room that's so filled with boxes, a person can't walk in!

I'll start posting again more regularly once the internet is in my place.

China's environmental issues

Great article in Foreign Affairs you can read on China's most serious environmental problems and their likely impact. Some of the facts from the article I found most fascinating:

AIR POLLUTION: "The country is home to 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities.... Particulates are responsible for respiratory problems among the population, and acid rain, which is caused by sulfur dioxide emissions, falls on one-quarter of China's territory and on one-third of its agricultural land, diminishing agricultural output and eroding buildings.... Levels of airborne particulates are now six times higher in Beijing than in New York City."

WASTING POWER: "Chinese buildings are not energy efficient -- in fact, they are roughly two and a half times less so than those in Germany. Furthermore, newly urbanized Chinese, who use air conditioners, televisions, and refrigerators, consume about three and a half times more energy than do their rural counterparts."

FOOD SAFETY: "Meanwhile, much of China's arable soil is contaminated, raising concerns about food safety. As much as ten percent of China's farmland is believed to be polluted, and every year 12 million tons of grain are contaminated with heavy metals absorbed from the soil."

(You think they throw 12 million tons of grain away? I don't think so. Someone's getting the short end of that stick.)

DESERTIFICATION: "The Gobi Desert, which now engulfs much of western and northern China, is spreading by about 1,900 square miles annually; some reports say that despite Beijing's aggressive reforestation efforts, one-quarter of the entire country is now desert."

WATER SHORTAGE: "... two-thirds of China's approximately 660 cities have less water than they need and 110 of them suffer severe shortages. According to Ma Jun, a leading Chinese water expert, several cities near Beijing and Tianjin, in the northeastern region of the country, could run out of water in five to seven years."

WATER WASTE: "The agricultural sector lays claim to 66 percent of the water China consumes, mostly for irrigation, and manages to waste more than half of that. Chinese industries are highly inefficient: they generally use 10-20 percent more water than do their counterparts in developed countries. Urban China is an especially huge squanderer: it loses up to 20 percent of the water it consumes through leaky pipes."

WATER POLLUTION: According to one report by the government-run Xinhua News Agency, the aquifers in 90 percent of Chinese cities are polluted. More than 75 percent of the river water flowing through China's urban areas is considered unsuitable for drinking or fishing, and ... 30 percent of the river water throughout the country to be unfit for use in agriculture or industry. As a result, nearly 700 million people drink water contaminated with animal and human waste."

SEWAGE DUMPING: "A 2005 survey of 509 cities revealed that only 23 percent of factories properly treated sewage before disposing of it. According to another report, today one-third of all industrial wastewater in China and two-thirds of household sewage are released untreated.... The Yangtze River, which stretches all the way from the Tibetan Plateau to Shanghai, receives 40 percent of the country's sewage, 80 percent of it untreated."

BIO-DIVERSITY: "In early 2007, Chinese officials announced that over one-third of the fish species native to the Yellow River had become extinct due to damming or pollution."

GLOBAL WARMING: "Chinese and international scientists now warn that due to rising sea levels, Shanghai could be submerged by 2050."

IT'S EXPENSIVE! "Several studies conducted both inside and outside China estimate that environmental degradation and pollution cost the Chinese economy between 8 percent and 12 percent of GDP annually."

CANCER: "a 19 percent rise in urban areas and a 23 percent rise in rural areas since 2005." Holy shit, that's a lot of cancer! People who die of respiratory diseases related to air pollution number between 400,000 and 750,000 a year.

POLITICAL IMPACT: "In the view of China's leaders, however, damage to the environment itself is a secondary problem. Of greater concern to them are its indirect effects: the threat it poses to the continuation of the Chinese economic miracle and to public health, social stability, and the country's international reputation. Taken together, these challenges could undermine the authority of the Communist Party."

PROTESTS: "... 51,000 pollution-related protests in 2005, which amounts to almost 1,000 protests each week..... in 2005, 30,000-40,000 villagers from Zhejiang Province swarmed 13 chemical plants, broke windows and overturned buses, attacked government officials, and torched police cars. The government sent in 10,000 members of the People's Armed Police in response."

And of course, underlying all these problems are local officials unwillingness to do much about pollution regardless of the central government's orders because of the race for economic development. If you're a Chinese (or international) manufacturer, do you build your plant in the city that requires treating water, or the one that winks and looks the other way?

In any case, China's gonna have to do a lot to deter a potentially total disaster.

China steps up military exercises

The Taipei Times reports thus:

Over the past six months, China has intensified its military exercises in the Taiwan Strait as a subtle threat to Taiwan in advance of next year's elections and plans for a referendum on UN membership, raising the prospects of heightened cross-strait military tensions through next spring, a leading Taiwan expert said in Washington on Monday.

"The next six months will be a critical period for cross-strait relations," Andrew Yang (楊念租), the secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei, told a seminar on cross-strait relations sponsored by the Atlantic Council.

"For the past six months or so, the military in Taipei has witnessed `unusual military exercises being conducted' in the coastal regions facing Taiwan," he said....

The military exercises, Yang said, "send a signal to Taipei that Beijing is intensifying its preparations, their readiness to use force ... and their will to use force" if they deem Taiwan to be moving toward independence.

The "tendency toward escalation" over the next six to eight months "could make the Taiwan Strait a potential flashpoint for both sides," Yang said....

He said the exercises detected by the Ministry of National Defense have included an increasing number of air sorties to the middle line of the Taiwan Strait and beyond that line, as well as "naval exercises symbolizing efforts to facilitate the use of force."

They have also involved drills with live fire, "which [the Taiwan military] considers unusual compared to the past."

In the exercises "there is an implicit threat to use force, and certainly to take some significant step if the referendum passes," he said.

"If the PRC [People's Republic of China] were to move in that direction, by actually using or threatening to use serious force, that contains within it the potential for serious consequences not only for the region but for US-PRC relations as well," he said.

Romberg, who recently returned from China, said that many in Beijing consider the referendum as "a substitute for a declaration of independence," or a "referendum on independence in disguise" with important political consequences, even though most people in Taiwan do not view the initiative as such.

Not exactly good news considering rhetoric from at least Taiwan is sure to escalate as the election nears. Escalation of military moves is obviously not comforting, but I think China will find an excuse to dismiss the referendum at the end of the day.

I'm a little surprised some people in Beijing had such strong words about the referendum, but then again, that's not official policy yet. I don't think Beijing will be willing to make a public declaration that this UN referendum = declaration of independence, because it forces their hand.

Taiwan National Congress wants 2 referendums

The Taipei Times reports it (here's the CNA article on it):

A new pro-independence coalition yesterday vowed to push referendums on changing the name of the country and repeal the Referendum Law (公投法) next year in conjunction with the presidential election.

The Taiwan National Congress (TNC) [台灣國民會議], formed by over 20 local and international pro-independence groups last Wednesday, said it hopes to push for a referendum on changing the country's official name from the Republic of China to Taiwan and another referendum on invalidating the Referendum Law, because "the high thresholds deprive Taiwanese of the ability to exercise their democratic rights." ...

TNC spokesman Ted Lau (劉重義) told a press conference yesterday that the congress would not follow the procedures stipulated in the Referendum Law to mount the two referendums and would declare its referendums successful if more than half of the voters agree.

It also plans to invite international experts to supervise the process and to ensure the referendums are conducted in a fair and transparent manner, Lau said.

Whether such referendums, carried out without reference to the legal mechanisms, would have any meaning if they were passed, Lau could not say but asked "is Taiwan a country governed by the rule of law?"

He said the group's intention was not to make Taiwan a lawless nation as the "Chinese Party [Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]] have already done that."

While the KMT did write a really terrible referendum law, and I totally agree it needs to be amended, but it just doesn't make sense to unilaterally declare your own standard -- one in conflict with the law -- on whether your referendum was passed or not.

I do like the idea of using a referendum to express dissatisfaction with the way the referendum law is written.

Farmers Party rears its head

With the recent ractopamine related news :

TELLING PORKIES? : Health officials denied that the decision to drop a ban on pig feed additive had been influenced by a desire to smooth the way for US pork imports

The Council of Agriculture (COA) and the Department of Health (DOH) issued a joint statement yesterday announcing that the ban on the use of the pig feed additive ractopamine would soon be lifted....

DOH officials said a consensus was reached after a panel of 19 experts were consulted on the safety of ractopamine use....

However, Huang said the COA had not set a firm date for the lifting of the ban. The DOH, in turn, said it could not finalize the allowable residue limit for ractopamine while the ban is still in place.

Ractopamine, an additive used to promote the growth of lean meat, became an issue last month when two shipments of US pork were found to contain residues of less than 1ppb of the banned substance. Marketed under the trade name "Paylean" by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, the additive is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Subsequent testing of domestic pork revealed the presence of ractopamine in three out of 43 samples, the Bureau of Food Sanitation (BFS) said....

BFS Director Cheng Huei-wen (鄭慧文) denied charges that pressure had been brought to bear by US interests to lift the ban on ractopamine in order to smooth the way for continued US pork imports.

Bearing that and Michael Turton's latest post which touches on the 1997 domestic pork market disaster, it's perhaps no surprise to hear the Taiwan Farmers Party is getting involved.

They've come out from the dark, sending a bill to the legislature today and asking all parties to support it. Essentially, the bill removes the power to make decisions like this from the executive and instead would put it in the hands of a panel of experts who then advise the Legislative Yuan, who would presumably set any standards. They also expressed disappointment with the DPP's policy on using the farmers land and said the party was acting too ineffeciently.

Green Peace Radio calls DPP

During the 3:00 hour, pretty close to 3:45, I heard them call in to talk to someone at DPP headquarters about Ma Ying-jeou. The guy in question wasn't there, and I could not understand much at all since the broadcast was in Holo Taiwanese, but I did find it entertaining that it was so easy for them to get a few people from the party on air with just a random phone call.

TSU/DPP cooperation falters; TSU nominates more candidates

I'll update the map with the details later.

More on Taiwanese characters

I made a post not so long ago on the Ministry of Education's latest efforts to standardize the Taiwanese system so that future students across the country are learning to read and write in the same way. It came on the heels of a(nother) unified romanization system.

Well, first of all, so far the efforts aren't finished -- the MOE merely made a suggestion list of 300 commonly used characters and put them out there for public consideration. They even provide a form on the Mandarin Promotion Council website for giving feedback on their suggestions. The next step is to consider revisions . You can view the full list here. At this time, several controversial characters have not been covered in the suggestion list.

But given the media's abysmal treatment of the suggestion list as absolutely trivial, I'd like to talk a little about the MOE's choices and why they picked certain characters that struck people as particularly odd.

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啉 lim (Mandarin readings lan1, lan2, lan4) v. to drink.
Most often represented in current KTV videos as 喝 or 飲. Although 啉 lim is not in common use and is not even listed in the online 國語辭典，there are historical and phonetic reasons for picking it. It's damn close to the Mandarin reading you might try on first glance, līn, and in second tone meant "to drink to completion." Most reporters, knowing nothing about this, simply asked people if they understood the character in isolation and used their blank stares as proof it was a terrible choice. That actually goes for all of these characters.

仝 kâng / kāng (Mandarin readings tong2, quan2) together (as in 仝款 kāng-khóan, "the same").
Often represented as 共. 仝 kâng is a historical varient of both 同 and 全.

佮 kah (Mandarin reading ge2) with/and (as in 我佮你, you and me). In Mandarin, this character is a varient of 合 he2, making this choice pretty good for both sound and ease of understanding just by looking. See the phrase 佮意 kah-ì, "interest" (有佮意 "interested [in]").

佇 tī (Mandarin reading zhu4) dwell or live at ;stay or wait at; be at
Historically meaning 久立, something like "to stand in one place for a long time." Chosen mostly because it's the most widely used candidate and there aren't many other good choices.

媠 súi (Mandarin readings tuo3, duo4) adj. beautiful
With the reading tuo3, this word did mean beautiful when in use in Mandarin; as duo4, it was a varient of 惰, lazy. At KTVs now, this character is most often represented with the unrelated 水 for sound or 美 for the meaning, but neither character is very well suited since they both have other Taiwanese pronunciations.

(亻因) in (No Mandarin reading, presumably also yin1 -- invented character) pron. them, their
The only character the MOE actually made up in the table. Since it doesn't really exist yet and you can't type it in, they suggested the alternate 怹 (Mandarin tan1) for now, and may decide to scrap (亻因) altogether.

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Hope that was interesting!

Not Guilty!

Verdict: Not Guilty!

"no intention of breaking the law"

---------------

Ok, well that's the important part.here's the IHT article. I'll just make my predictions about what comes later this week, virtually all of which seem to be no-brainers:

+ A poll will be conducted before the end of the week by Blue media showing Ma at around 65% support (It won't be UDN, since the poll they just finished today showed Ma-Su @ 40% and Hsieh-Su at 27%).

+ Tonight, TVBS and Talking Show will both be hopping mad -- Talking Show about the verdict, TVBS about DPP legislators' reaction to Ma's verdict.

+ Legislators will continue to hold press conferences all week acting really dumb.

+ A-bian will say jack shit (aha, I'm right so far! He didn't comment on the case but just said the DPP had to show solidarity for the 2008 election (Hsieh-Su reference). Annette Lu said she hasn't seen the judges reasoning, but as a rule she respects the judiciary).

+ We will move on since this verdict makes it pretty certain Hsieh, Su, Lu and Yu will all have no trouble with their own special affairs funds.

Taiwan's "red line" & "two countries, one system"

Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said yesterday that if China really does push a resolution in the UN that solidifies a "One China policy" in which Taiwan is part of China, Taiwan could not idly sit by and let China set the framework and rules of the game. Huang said such a resolution would cross Taiwan's "red line" and that Beijing would "pay an extremely hefty price."

Setting various red lines is always a problem. It makes it easy for things to spiral out of control. I don't like where this is going.

Notice how flexible Beijing has had to be with their red line -- actions by Taiwan that were unimaginable 8 years ago and would have been thought to spark a war had little consequence. They've also refused to set the current UN referendum plans as a red line. It limits your options.
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Meanwhile, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said while he was in Singapore that the cross strait situation should be "two countries, one system" -- a democratic system -- and not "one country, two systems." He also said the main threat to Asian Pacific security is the China military build up currently aimed at Taiwan. Fairly meaningless formulation, but China won't be thrilled and will probably be relatively inclined to ignore it for fear of the pro-democracy in China line.