I had been brooding on the possibility that former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (
Looking back, I cannot deny that I was held hostage emotionally by Shih's announcement that he already had his will drafted and that he was preparing for martyrdom. What made the whole thing even more terrifying to my easily excited imagination was that the specifics about how he was going to dispose of himself were not given.
Consequently, images of how other martyrs died invaded my thoughts. At first, TV footage of Vietnamese monks dousing themselves with gasoline and setting themselves on fire eerily crept into my memory. This was quickly canceled out when I was led to understand that he was going to shed his "blood." So the images of monks shrouded in fireballs were replaced with the agonizingly macabre scene of Yukio Mishima committing seppuku.
But then I thought that Shih probably was not proficient in handling a dagger and would botch his martyrdom if he were to try to cut through his navel with it. Besides, to do the job properly he would need an assistant to chop his head off while he carves open his gut. For such an assistant, I do not doubt that former DPP legislator Lin Cheng-chieh (
What a childish stream of thoughts with which I boggled my mind! Now I can take a deep breath and feel relieved knowing that Shih is going to carry on with his sit-in until May 20, 2008, when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), his beloved master and patron, will pat him on his head and thank him profusely for getting the real job done.
Yang Chunhui
Salt Lake City, Utah
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
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Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
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