Questioning Chiang's role
Stephen Yates' piece ("Righting Chiang Kai-shek's wrongs," Sept. 12, page 8) was a really, really great opinion piece, but I take exception to this one nonsense paragraph: "Rolling back Chiang's [Kai-shek (蔣介石)] influence is not de-Sinification. It is liberation, just as it was seen in China."
I see nothing that was liberating about trading in a two-bit dictator and communist killer -- Chiang -- for a professional communist and Chinese killer, Mao Zedong (毛澤東); nothing liberating about tossing the flawed Republic of China (ROC) and establishing the totally flawed People's Republic of China; nothing liberating about ridding China of the admittedly failed and largely unrealized (and unrealizable) humanistic system of national socialism (of Sun Yat-sen's [孫逸仙]) and replacing it with atheistic based, Marxist/Maoist-imposed communism and nothing liberating about removing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) virus and becoming the host of the Chinese Communist Party meta-virus. Rather it's like trading apples for apples; both rotten, one half-way and the other to the core.
It makes me ponder why the correction to the sins of the Right so often leads to a soft handling of the Left. Perhaps, the author did not intend to imply that going communist was the right thing for China to do then, even as it is now obvious that it was a disastrous road to take, but I interpret his words that way and perhaps many others do as well. I would appreciate Yates clarifying the meaning of the cited paragraph if my interpretation is wrong and he was not pulling a punch on Mao in order to hit Chiang hard.
Timothy Bradberry
Pflugerville, Texas
US should back Taiwan
I do not understand the world wherein we live: Taiwan does deserve to be its own nation, does deserve to be a member of the UN and does deserve to be wearing "Taiwan" when participating in the Olympics or any other sports event. There is nothing, nothing whatsoever to deny that Taiwan is a sovereign nation.
I'm not a proponent of Taiwan, I am just a righteous person counting the facts and seeing the reality.
Yes, Taiwan does deserve being called Taiwan, without any grotesque suffixes like "Chinese Taipei" or "Taiwan, ROC."
Despite all the personal dislikes I have about Taiwan, despite the reckless traffic behavior, despite the great pollution generated by an oblivious society, despite the narrow vision of too many, despite the ubiquity of cigarettes and betel nuts 24/7 -- despite all that,Taiwan is an independent nation.
And the world of nations, and especially Americans, who always proclaim liberty and independence so highly, must support the quest of this nation.
Georg Woodman?
Chunghua County
Wearing Bush's shoes
The Democratic Progressive Party should have asked its supporters to wear US President George W. Bush's shoes to attend Saturday's march for a referendum on a UN bid under the name Taiwan. The purpose would have been to show goodwill to our true ally, the US, during our UN campaign. No one knows better about China's threat than Taiwanese, and this threat is what Bush and those who love Taiwan are suffering now.
We should let the world know that we want peace, and we are afraid that if we stay silent to avoid confrontation, Beijing will see it as Taiwan's submission to China -- which is what Taiwanese are really afraid of. We have no way of avoidng this problem because China's military buildup has threatened the "status quo," and we are losing our foothold if we still keep silent.
The march may provoke China, but no Taiwanese would risk their lives to provoke China unless they really felt their lives were threatened.
I believe the US government knows the feelings of the Taiwanese but feels powerless to win justice for Taiwan, and that is behind its anxiety, the same anxiety the Taiwanese have suffered for decades.
Taiwan is much weaker than China, so a guarantee of Taiwan's security by the UN or other international organizations is necessary to allow the maintenance of Taiwan's "status quo."
This promise should be made publicly, and not only to a few politicians to prevent political maneuvering and to solve this problem once and for all.
At this time, Bush's government is right to show its anxiety, but we cannot. We need to keep sober, to make credible suggestions to Bush's government to help us and to help them, too. So let's put ourselves in Bush's shoes, and to show appreciation and considerateness about their expression of anxiety while marching.
Sakiraya Chen
Shoufeng, Hualien
Justice overturned
It was with shock and disgusted to learn of Minister of Justice Morley Shih's (施茂林) decision to grant parole to the serial rapist known as "The Huakang Wolf" (華崗之狼). The reason for this decision? "The Big Bad Wolf" is sorry. He "regrets what he did," Shih said ("Huakang Wolf to be paroled soon, Sept. 15, page 1).
For the record, the "Wolf," surnamed Yang, was convicted of raping 27 female college students in Taipei, among other crimes.
While I do not doubt that Yang regrets what he did (or at least getting caught), I can think of at least 27 people who regret his actions even more -- his victims. I say "at least 27," because it is well-documented that sexual offences are vastly underreported. For the women who suffered at his hands, there can be no "early release." They will live with the memories and emotional scars he inflicted for the rest of their lives.
The fact is that Yang's initial sentence of 16 years was essentially a slap on the wrist considering the enormity of his crimes. In many countries, he would have faced life in prison, or would have been forced to serve consecutive sentences for each conviction. For a predator of this magnitude to receive just 16 years was shocking enough.
The recidivism rate for sexual offenders is extremely high. They may be up to four times more likely to re-offend than other types of criminals. Yang's own best defender, Reverend Huang Ming-chen (黃明鎮), said Yang "went totally crazy" when his first parole application was denied. Nevertheless, Huang seems to believe that Yang is "ready to return to society."
Who can ensure that Yang will not once again go "totally crazy" in the face of the difficulties he is sure to encounter when he re-enters society?
I ask Shih to put his money where his mouth is regarding his decision. Is he willing to pledge not only to step down but to also serve an appropriate jail term for any sexual offence "The Huakang Wolf" may commit in the next four years? Is he willing to risk his career and freedom on this decision?
If Shih is confident that this man deserves to be released into society, he should have no problem agreeing to such a pledge.
If, however, he is not willing to do so, it reveals a callous disregard for the safety of the women of Taiwan.
Kenneth Zydek
Winthrop, Massachusetts
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