Chinese Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) is back home now, basking in the glow of another successful reconnaissance trip to Taiwan for his masters in Beijing.
Much was made of him venturing into central and southern Taiwan, with visits to Greater Kaohsiung, Chiayi and Yunlin County. However, given the security cordons that were thrown up wherever he went and his almost complete lack of contact yet again with non-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials and supporters, one has to wonder just exactly what kind of impressions he is recounting to his comrades.
To see as much as he saw of the real Taiwan — from the windows of his Taiwan High Speed Rail carriages and motorcades — he could have stayed home and watched a National Geographic or Discovery Channel show about this country.
The director of the Kaohsiung Chamber of Industry said he hoped Chen’s visit would help the economic development of Greater Kaohsiung. Yet the mayor of that metropolis, the site of the nation’s largest port, was noticeable by her absence from any of the events in her city, especially the closed-door meeting between the ARATS delegation and area business leaders.
The director of the Kaohsiung Commerce and Trade Development Association said Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) had not been invited to the meeting because of time constraints and the business nature of the get-together.
What is it about business — or economics — that he did not think Chen Chu would be interested in? Whether she would have wanted to meet Chen Yunlin is immaterial. Some business leaders who attended the meeting were among those who accused her ahead of November’s special municipality elections of not doing enough to promote the city’s economic development, yet they were more than willing to deny her even the possibility of involvement.
There was no one who met with the ARATS delegation who was not willing to puff them up, no one willing to voice discontent with the drive to bind Taiwan ever more tightly economically with China. Even Chen Yunlin’s visit to the Neihu Science Park in Taipei gave him a view of firms that all have massive investments in production facilities in China.
The only voices of discontent that he and his people might have heard were the scores of protesters that dogged their visit. The ARATS chief dismissed the scattered protests as a “misunderstanding.” How he could know that is a mystery, since the protesters were for the most part kept well out of hearing distance by meters of barbed wire at the Port of Kaohsiung and hundreds of police officers elsewhere.
The overwhelming police presence that surrounded Chen once again sent a disturbing message about the nature of our government’s connections with its public and its cozying up to Beijing.
Granted, the government is still smarting over the harassment of Chen’s deputy Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) during a visit to the Confucius Temple on Oct. 21, 2008, which led to Zhang taking a tumble — and to a Tainan city councilor and six others being convicted of “hindering personal freedom.” But what about the actions of the police hindering the personal freedom of the students, elderly pro-green supporters, DPP politicians and others to express their opinions of Chen Yunlin’s actions and activities? The right to hold dissenting viewpoints and the right to protest are hard-won democratic rights in this nation, something both Chinese visitors and the KMT would do well to observe.
A senior KMT official said the freedom to express opinions should be respected, but protesters should remain calm so the nation’s image would not be hurt. He is obviously oblivious to the harm done this nation when the only voices heard and images seen are those that toady to Beijing and its ambitions.
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
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
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
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations