Global Voices » Taiwan (ROC)

Taiwan: 2012 Election Sets Example for Mainland Chinese Democratization

I-fan Lin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:32:22 +0000

Taiwan's presidential and legislative election was held on January 14, 2012. Incumbent Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) was reelected as President with 51.6% of the vote. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) challenger Tsai Ing-wen resigned her post as chairperson of the DPP following her election defeat.

Chinese communities around the world were closely watching the results, as Taiwan is the first among the Chinese societies to transition from authoritarian to democratic governance. Many people from mainland China and Hong Kong travelled to Taiwan to observe the political process; they wonder if Taiwan can set an example for the future democratization in mainland China.

Beijing based journalist Mark MacKinnon was surprised by Taiwanese enthusiasm for politics:

As a Beijing correspondent, it's so weird to see and hear people talking and shouting - in Chinese - about politics.

Based on the website of the Central Election Commission, 74.38% of eligible voters casted their votes in 2012. Ma Ying-jeou won reelection with 51.60% of the total votes cast, and Tsai Ing-wen gathered 45.63%.

Taiwan sovereignty

Different from the previous election, the usual Blue (KMT) and Green (DDP) antagonism seems absent, yet Taiwanese sovereignty remains the most critical issue. Karlatheo expressed [zh] expressed her concern after the election:

1月14日，平靜地去投票。與朋友相聚。其實大家並不特別在意哪一黨得勝，但是很在意台灣的主體性是否會失落。…知道中國的因素主宰著這次的選舉，經濟的問題是所有的人都得面對的。…馬總統，請記得您是我們僕人

On Jan[uary] 14, I went to vote peacefully. Then I gathered with friends. We do not care which party won the election, but we do care about whether Taiwan’s sovereign will be kept…We knew the issue of China dominated this election, and everyone needs to face the economic problems… President Ma, please remember you are our servant.

Nathan Batto was also worried about the future of the Taiwan-China relationship after the election:

With a sizeable 70-43 majority in the legislature, Ma Ying-jeou is not going to immediately become a lame duck president. Instead, he probably has enough power to do most of what he wants. He will almost certainly have the power to implement the next stage of ECFA, and it is not out of the question that he could push through the peace agreement that he mentioned during the campaign.

Researcher fellow at the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, Dean Cheng, pointed out:

A strong Taiwan, confident in its relationship with the U.S., is key to peace and security in the region. In the weeks before Taiwan’s election, the U.S. Administration suddenly dispatched several senior officials to Taiwan. As it has been almost 12 years since a visit from a sitting U.S. cabinet member, the re-election of President Ma would seem to present an opportunity to demonstrate that this lack of attention has come to an end.

Example for mainland China

Those who could not fly to Taiwan to observe the election watched the news closely. Lele is from China [zh], but she has observed Taiwanese elections for more than a decade:

尽管不是长在台湾生在台湾，也不是亲哪个党派的政治狂热分子，但台湾四年一次的总统大选开票直播，我一定会观看。这已是第四次看到台湾总统大选了。…台湾民主大选制度逐渐走向成熟，不知大陆何时也能向台湾一样走上这一条路？大陆老百姓也有选举国家领导人的权利？

I was not born and have never lived in Taiwan. I am not political fanatic for any party, but I always watch the live broadcast of the election in Taiwan every four years. This is my fourth time watching it… The election system in Taiwan has become mature. When will China step onto the same road as Taiwan? When will Chinese have the right to vote for our leaders.

@darkillzhou [zh] (on Weibo) from China made jokes about the mainland Chinese election when talking to his Taiwanese friend:

刚一台湾朋友结束聊天时对我说，“明天早上我們要去投票了﹐晚上就知道總統是誰了”，我顿时不知如何答复。虽然我们之间的交流没有任何障碍，但在他面前真觉得无地自容。我只好说，“你们太落后了，我们如果明天早上投票的话，今天晚上就知道谁会当选了。。。”

My Taiwanese friend just told me they will go to vote for their president tomorrow morning, and they will know who wins the presidential election by the evening. Suddenly I did not know how to respond. Although our communication was smooth, I felt very ashamed. At the end, I said, ‘You Taiwanese are not efficient. If we mainland Chinese go to vote tomorrow morning, we would know who win the election tonight…’

In Hong Kong, columnist 練乙錚 (Lian Yi-Zheng) talked about [zh] how this election may change the future of China:

台灣的故事，如果只看到七八十年代，那是和大陸到目前為止差不多的，但到了八十年代，故事出現政治拐點，五千年文明古國民主化了。其後發展，大家清楚，要點是：台灣經驗是一個近乎完整的立國經驗。政治上，從極權到民主、從專制到自由；經濟上，從落後到富足，從漁農到包含大量高科技。
台灣在國際上沒有話語權，在全球華人當中的政治比重也很低，但一個內容豐富的「台灣論述」正在積聚力量，吸引着全世界大小角落裏正在徬徨焦慮地尋找精神家園的華人；這次到台灣觀選的陸人港客，便是這個論述的吸收者、傳播者。

What has happened in Taiwan is similar to that in China, if we only look at Taiwan’s history before 1980. In the 1980s, there was a turning point in their politics. Building upon the 5,000-year-old culture, the country became democratic. All of us know the following story: the so-called ‘Taiwan experience’ is similar to an experience of founding a state. Politically, they became democratic after totalitarianism, and now they enjoy freedom after autocracy. Economically, they became wealthy from [being] an undeveloped country, and they have developed hi-tech industry in addition to fishery and agriculture.
Taiwan can hardly speak out on the international stage. On the political stage of Chinese society all over the world, Taiwanese only play a small role. However, the ‘Taiwan proposal’ with a rich content is gaining its energy. This proposal attracts Chinese people all over the world who are anxious to find their spiritual homeland. This time, those people from Hong Kong and mainland China who went to Taiwan to observe this election will absorb this experience and spread it.

In China, 水木丁 pointed out [zh] it is an opportunity for people in China to reflect why they do not think democracy is a choice for China:

我看蔡英文的演讲时，一直在想这个问题，不知道那些持如此论调的人，看到这一场总统选举，会有什么样的说辞，所以美国人英国人可以讲民主，我们不配讲民主？所以连一衣带水的台湾人都可以讲民主，我们不配讲民主吗？全世界都素质高，只有我们素质低，不配讲民主吗？
我看到台湾大选的井然有序，内心感慨，因为我知道这些和我们一样的黄皮肤黑眼睛的同胞们正在学习，他们也曾选错人，也曾走过弯路，发生过闹剧，陷入过绝望，但是他们还是继续选择了这条路，不问自己配不配。我看到他们站在大雨中，胜利的人们和失败的人们，因为有信念，知道自己想要一个怎样的世界，所以也就有希望。我突然想到这个配不配的问题，这世界上貌似没有那个国家的人民，是要先证明自己配民主和自由，才被施舍民主和自由的，想到此岸的人们竟然要怀疑自己到底配不配，这真是羞辱。民主的确是要慢慢来，但绝对不是从证明自己配不配开始。

When I watched Tsai Ing-Wen’s talk, I kept thinking about this question: I do not know what those people will say about this election. Americans and British people can talk about democracy, but we are not qualified for talking about democracy, are we? Now Taiwanese can talk about democracy on the other side of the strait, but we still cannot talk about democracy. Is it true that the people outside of China have higher quality and we do not? Is this why we are not qualified for talking about democracy?
I have some reflections when I saw the election in Taiwan held smoothly. I know these people with yellow skin and black eyes, who look like us, are learning. They had chosen the wrong person. They had taken the detour. There had been a farce. No matter what has happened, they continue walking on the way they choose. They do not ask if they are qualified. I saw them standing in the rain, the supporters of the winning party and the supporters of the losing party. They have their beliefs. They know what kind of world they want. Therefore they have hope. Suddenly I thought about the question of qualification. No citizen in any country in the world is given out democracy and freedom after they prove that they are qualified for democracy and freedom. Thinking about the doubts about our qualification that many of us have, I feel humiliated. Democracy should be realized step by step, but the process should never start with proving us qualified for it.

Encouraged by the observers in Hong Kong, mainland China, and other parts of the world old cat believes [zh] the Taiwanese should be strong and help the democracy movement in China:

在這一次大選中，許多同胞憂慮中國透過讓利、市場力量，軟性影響台灣的選舉，而選前大批企業老闆公開支持九二共識，被視為中國影響的證明。這些憂慮當然很合理，但我們只能單向憂慮嗎？我們不能反向送出我們的魅力嗎？
這是台灣的機會…如果台灣對中國的民主化有貢獻，未來我們才有機會贏得十三億人的同理認同…台灣雖小，卻占有舉足輕重的位置，我們不應該再用逃離中國的心態思考未來。
無論幸或不幸，我們就是站在這個奇異的歷史高點上了，華人的民主典範，也許不是我們設定的目標，但卻是我們實實在在擁有的力量。
不應該辜負這樣的力量。

In this election, many Taiwanese worried about the influence of China on our election through their economic power. Before the election, many heads of big Taiwanese companies supported the so called 1992 consensus in the public. Their actions are considered as the influence of China. These worries are very reasonable. However, are we only able to worry about China? Aren’t we able to attract their eye?
This is an opportunity for Taiwan… If Taiwan contributes to the democratization in China, we may earn the heart of the 13 hundred million people in China… Taiwan is small, but we stand on an important position. We should stop evading China when we plan our future.
No matter if it is lucky or not, we are at the magic point in the history. Being a model of democracy in the Chinese society may not be our goal, but this is the power in our hand.
We should not waste this power.

Questions for China’s democracy opponents

Oiwan Lam — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:10:03 +0000

David Bandurski from China Media Project introduced a discussion among mainland Chinese public opinion leaders on the Taiwan presidential election and translated a Weibo post which raised a series of questions for China's democracy opponents.

Unhappy Hong Kong Envious of Taiwan's Democracy

Andy Yee — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:38:15 +0000

Having witnessed Taiwan's 2012 presidential election, Derrick Tao, a Hong Kong photographer, made a video (with English subtitles) to contrast democratic development of the two societies. As a prosperous but undemocratic city state, “Hong Kong could either join Taiwan as pioneers of freedom and democracy in the Chinese societies”, or “accept the status quo and let go of her ideals and beliefs.”

Global Online Community Protests U.S. Anti-Piracy Bills

Jillian C. York — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:39:16 +0000

Today, January 18, is an important day for the Internet. Corporate websites, from Google to Twitpic, along with civil society groups and individuals, have all joined together in a common cause: to protest two American bills that could have grave effects for global online free expression.

As Global Voices' Executive Director Ivan Sigal has written, “there are powerful corporate and government forces who would prefer to see the openness and accessibility of the web restricted.” The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) would both force websites to pro-actively censor potentially copyrighted information, and could, as Sigal wrote, “inflict broad damage on the work of digital activists living under repressive regimes, as well as restrict basic speech freedoms around the world.”

Because these bills have the potential to affect Internet users worldwide, members of the global community have joined Americans in protest. From German digital rights group Netzpolitik to Open Media Canada to individual bloggers and social media users, the sentiment is the same: Stop these bills.

Blacking out

French site https://linuxfr.org goes dark against #SOPA

Many sites have chosen to express their opposition by blacking out their sites, either entirely or with an interstitial page. Danica Radovanovic (@DanicaR), writing for Australian blog network DejanSEO, discusses Wikipedia's decision to join the blackout, a decision that affects the site's diverse global community:

Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation. The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills. Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a “blackout” of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.

French organization La Quadrature du Net has joined its American counterparts in blacking out its website, displaying the following image:

The Pirate Party of Catalunya blacks out in solidarity

Pirate parties are among the most stringent opponents of the anti-piracy bills. In Spain, Catalunya, Switzerland, Argentina, Canada, and Sweden (among, almost certainly, many others), local pirate parties have joined in blacking out their websites.

Also blacking out for January 18 are Germany's Chaos Computer Club and Green Party, and international organization Reporters Without Borders. The latter explained its decision, writing:

We have decided to close our English-language website for 24 hours to symbolize the oppressive gag that would spread over the Internet as we know it if SOPA and PIPA are adopted. These bills would affect an incalculable number of Internet users who are innocent of any kind of intellectual property violation by forcing websites to block access to other sites suspected of vaguely-defined copyright breaches.

For more images of sites blacking out in protest, check out Netzpolitik's SOPA blackout gallery.

Translating the importance of activism

In some countries, bloggers have taken it upon themselves to educate their communities about the importance of opposing SOPA and PIPA. Lebanese blogger Mireille Raad has written an explanation for why Lebanese citizens should care about these bills. She writes:

Being a lebanese, doesn’t stop you from being an internet user – the SOPA will affect the internet in a bad way and it involves websites outside the US, and that’s yours…

…You should care and be pissed of, because, like it or not, the internet doesn’t exist in the clouds, it is made of companies that exist in countries and have to answer to local laws despite the fact that internet is “global”. This fact is making people worldwide care about the SOPA legislation – and even though you may feel powerless, you still should care and take online action – because all citizens in cyberspace are created equal and so their actions resonate equally

An earlier post Taiwanese freedom of information activist CK Hung dubs the anti-piracy bills “The Great Firewall of Chinamerica.” In a graphic [zh], the blogger demonstrates his point:

Edit: An English version of the graphic is also available:

He also writes:

掌權者很樂意用「保護智財」或「阻絕色情」、「和諧社會」當做永遠不可能吃到口的誘餌來說服公民支持其強化管制網路的法律和政策 (例如選擇便利管制的工具)，然後藉由這些法律和政策來強化它對公民的資訊監控。掌權者很樂意公民只看見海市蜃樓，卻忽略通往海市蜃樓的道路上，威脅著社會自由民主的 collateral damages。不論最終的掌權者到底是微軟、蘋果、共產黨、民主黨、還是共和黨，受害的永遠都是絕大多數的公民。

Those in power are happy with the “protection of intellectual property” or “denial of sex,” “harmonious society” as a bait that can never feed the mouth to convince citizens to support their policy and legal acts that will strengthen the control over the web (eg, choosing tools to facilitate the control) . And then by these laws and policies they can strengthen its monitoring of citizens' information. Those in power are happy that citizens see only a mirage, but ignore the road to the mirage are the collateral damages threatening the free and democratic society. No matter who the ultimate rulers in the end are–Microsoft, Apple, the Communist Party, the Democratic Party or Republican Party– the vast majority of victims are always the citizens.

而臺灣，正是這兩大監控勢力交會處的絕佳實驗場所。

And Taiwan is the testing ground right at the intersection of these two great monitoring forces.

Global Voices' own Venezuelan contributor Marianne Diaz explains why she doesn't like the bills [es]:

De cualquier modo, Estados Unidos no es el mundo, y las leyes de propiedad intelectual tienen limitaciones territoriales y varían de país a país. Por ejemplo, en Venezuela, la obra entra en dominio público sesenta años después de la muerte del autor. Sin embargo, mediante la aplicación de SOPA y PIPA, Estados Unidos pretende que a mí, a ti y a cualquier siberiano se le pueda forzar a cumplir unas limitaciones que no le son aplicables de acuerdo a la ley.

…Anyway, America is not the world, and intellectual property laws are territorial limitations and vary from country to country. For example, in Venezuela, the work enters the public domain sixty years after the author's death. However, by applying SOPA and PIPA, the United States wants me, you and any Siberian to be forced to comply with constraints that do not apply according to [local] law.

On Twitter, similar conversations are happening. From the UK, @GokhanKaratay writes:

I really do hope #SOPA and #PIPA bills aren't passed through the senate. Legislation against piracy is needed, but that really isn't the way

Pointing out the participation of Argentine video platform Cuevana, @Gaby_xoa points out:

#Cuevana uniéndose al apagón #ANTISOPA que cuarta la libre expresión!!! twitpic.com/88nzkg

#Cuevana is joining the #ANTISOPA blackout [against the bill that] restricts free expression!

What you can do to stop SOPA and PIPA

Although the international community is limited in how they can affect an American bill, the solidarity expressed in opposition to both bills is certainly helpful to U.S.-based activists. Aside from the aforementioned examples, bloggers have found numerous creative ways to do so, such as adding an anti-SOPA or anti-PIPA Twibbon or blacking out their WordPress blog. Fight for the Future is encouraging the international community to sign a petition to the State Department. But just writing about the implications of the two bills can help.

American citizens, on the other hand, have plenty of options. Here are just a few ways to get involved:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a petition as well as a guide to meeting with representatives.
Fight for the Future's Stop American Censorship project is hosting a letter-writing campaign.
Free Press has a campaign to petition television networks to report on the bills.

Taiwan: Crowd-funded investigative journalism website kicks off

Portnoy Zheng — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:57:15 +0000

weReport, a Taiwan media project that tries to boost disappearing investigative journalism using crowd-funded and crowd-sourced mechanism, kicks off today with its first fully funded proposal proposed by China famous blogger Zola. His proposal to investigate the situation of registration fee for cross-strait marriage derives from his personal experience.

Taiwan: Land Expropriation Revision Fails to Address Farmers' Woes

Vergil Yeh — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:02:48 +0000

In the past two years, a number of farmer protests in Taiwan against land expropriation have taken place. Local farmer groups have requested the government to protect farm land from abusive expropriation by amending the Land Expropriation Act.

As the presidential election is approaching, the politicians in the Executive Yuan have decided to revise the law. However, instead of addressing the farmers' concerns, on December 13, 2011, the lawmakers in the Legislative Yuan passed a revision of the Act that reinstates the interests of development over human rights.

University Professor Hsu SJ summarized the problem of the proposed bill (translated by Paul Cooper and Drew Cameron via his blog):

First, forced land expropriation involves human rights and is not a simple matter of how much compensation is offered. Forced expropriations are uncommon in constitutional democracies — unlike in Taiwan. This is because these nations view the issue as one involving human rights and one that needs to be strictly observed.

Second, land expropriation is a structural issue and not merely a matter of technical evaluation. Because land expropriation robs people of the constitutionally guaranteed rights mentioned above, expropriation must meet very strict conditions — it must serve the community, be necessarily proportional, a last resort and fully compensated. Not one of these conditions should be ignored.

The old lady is worried that her mother will become homeless. Photo by CHYNG

Independent journalist Shuchuan compared [zh] farmer groups' proposals and the government's revision in her blog. Quite obviously, the bill passed has not answered the farmers' demand for procedural justice:

民間版本明確指出「特定農業區不得徵收」，只容許國防、水利等重大急迫者可考慮例外。行政院版雖也提出「特定農業區農牧用地不得納入」，但卻開了許多後門，例如包含國防、交通、公用事業、水利事業、公共衛生及環保事業、以及爭議最大的「經行政院核定的重大建設所需者，不在此限」。

Civil society demanded that “productive farmland should be excluded from land expropriation”, except from projects with pervasive public interest, such as military construction and irrigation. The amendment put forward by the Executive Yuan has included a long list of exceptions, such as: military construction, transportation, public construction, irrigation, public hygiene, environmental projects and “projects that have been approved by the Executive Yuan”.

行政院願在徵收前舉行公聽會，但不願舉行聽證會。(兩者差異甚大，公聽會沒有法律效力，人民在公聽會所提意見是否被採納，全看主辦單位，而聽證會依行政程序法舉辦，各方在聽證會中所言具法律效力)

The Executive Yuan only agrees to organize public consultation rather than a public hearing before land expropriation. (Public consultation is not legally binding, the authority can selectively listen to the suggestions put forward in the consultation, while a public hearing is a formal judicial procedure and what has been discussed is legally binding. )

行政院版從過去的公告地價加四成改成「市價徵收」，但所謂「市價」是由地方政府調查，並提交「地價評議委員會」評定。但許多土地徵收案都由地方政府發動，如果再由地方政府調查、評議，農村陣線認為無法達到公正客觀。

民間版本提出應委託三位以上不動產估價師進行查估，再提出全部估價報告由中央主管機關做為審議的參考。

The Executive Yuan has changed the land expropriation compensation from a fixed price to “market price”. But the so-called “market price” is put forward by the local government to the “Land price evaluation committee”. Since most of the land expropriations are initiated by local governments, it is very unlikely that they can be objective in evaluation of the land price.

The civil society demands an evaluation of land price by three independent consultant firms and a central government authority should be responsible for deciding the “market value”.

如因徵收而無屋可住者的安置措施，行政院版提出的對象僅限於「徵收公告前有居住事實的低收入戶、或無屋可居住者」。

但民間版本提出安置應一視同仁，不必限定。

According to the Executive Yuan's proposal, the government will only relocate the homeless and those low income residents affected by the land expropriation. Civil society demands resettlement for all.

On the night of December 13, when politicians were debating the revision of Land Expropriation Act at the Legislative Yuan, farmers and activists from the Taiwan Rural Front demonstrated outside the building calling for land justice. Below is a short video uploaded by Taipeicitypost showing the protest scene. Protesters keep calling out, “For land justice, make no compromise”:

Many farmers shared their stories about forced land expropriation on that night. University student, Xie Er-ting shared [zh] what he had heard from the farmers in his blog:

獲選台灣十大經典好米的阿燈大哥，上台說：「各位，我的稻田也被徵收了。」連續三年獲得竹北稻米大賽前三名的農民，土地被璞玉計畫徵收，而規劃中的台大校區，迄今閒置十年。七十歲的阿嬤泛著淚，因為她一百歲的母親，可能隨時流離失所。一位客家老農，在台上講到最後，突然大聲唱起大家都聽不太懂的山歌，彷彿為了召喚什麼，彷彿他已經不知道還能做什麼，能讓他內心平靜。

Brother Ar-den, the winner of top 10 Taiwan classic rice farmer, told everyone on the stage: “My farmland has been expropriated.” The farmland of three other ChuBei farmers who were among the top three in the best rice award for three consecutive years had also been expropriated for the construction of the National Taiwan University's campus. But the expropriated land has remained vacant for 10 years. A 70-year old lady was shedding tears on stage because her 100 year-old mother would become homeless soon. A Hakka farmer could not continue his speech and started singing a folk song, as if he was calling for spirits to calm his heart.

Xie was very sad and questioned the role of the government:

政府在哪裡？整個晚上，未見任何官員前來關心，制服警察在會場入口森冷地站成一排。立委們將法案逕付二讀，要在房間內「協調」，「分配」好這些人的未來去向。

Where is the government? No government officials showed their concern on that night. What we saw was police officers standing there indifferently in their uniforms in front of the gate. The lawmakers were “negotiating” inside the building in their second reading of the bill, “setting” the future of the people outside the building.

在這個國家，我的家，可能因為一張莫名的公告，就被廉價徵收；在這個國家，年均收入兩萬美金，是世界的科技重鎮，卻讓一群年邁的老人，在寒風中請求大家幫忙，不要讓他們流離失所。我不知道這個國家進步在哪，我真的不知道。

In this country, my home could be expropriated with little compensation because of an inexplicable “announcement”. In this country, the annual income per capita is up to USD20,000. It is the world's silicon valley. However, what we see here is a group of elders begging for help in the cold winter night. They don't want to become homeless, that's all. Can we call this an advanced country? I really don't know.

Indeed, the impact of land expropriation has been pervasive in Taiwan, Food Crisis and Global Land Grab has published a list of expropriation sites.

Taiwan: Announcing Best Blog Award 2011

Portnoy Zheng — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:06:34 +0000

The 4th annual Taiwan Best Blog Awards was announced on Dec. 1st which aims to promote English-language blogs about Taiwan. David on Formosa piles up his list of best blogs 2011 candidates for you to visit.

China: Monitoring the 2012 Presidential Election

John Kennedy — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:40:51 +0000

The first of three televised debates in Taiwan's upcoming presidential election was held this weekend, and watched closely by mainland Chinese microbloggers.

MoveOn.org.tw

Ma Ying-jeou still leads the Kuomintang (KMT), but the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), now rid of Chen Shui-bian, looks ready to make a comeback headed by Taiwan's first female presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen.

A third candidate, James Soong, has registered as a candidate but says he'll only follow through if he can get a million signatures.

Screen capture of Ma Ying-jeou (L) and Tsai Ing-wen speaking during the televised debate.

People were able to watch the debate live through various browser-based streaming TV feeds, and clips of it have have been posted to all the major video websites, but the discussion has centered around Sina Weibo. Many viewers expecting something as lively as a US Republic Party primary debate wound up disappointed, and a lot of ‘livetweet' online discussion sought to point out what many accept as obvious:

大明宫梦锦瑟年华：真的是民主，既然台湾可以这样，中国也可以这样子。

If Taiwan can pull off true democracy, then China can too.

鸣者自在：台湾最寻常的民主政治被天朝屁民像看即将被取缔的超女总决赛一样娱乐围观。

What's just common democratic politics in Taiwan is treated by shitizens of the celestial kingdom the same way we treat the soon-to-be canceled Super Girl finals: entertainment to stand around and gawk at.

薛蛮子: 请教专家，全世界不民主选举领导人的国家：朝鲜；古巴。还有吗？有木有？

Experts, please tell me: aside from North Korea and Cuba, are there any other countries in the world with nondemocratically elected leaders? Really? None?

Carrying on with Sina Weibo's legacy of turning lies into ‘fact', discussion there leading up to the debate even prompted Weibo Piyao, the microblogging platform's official rumor-quashing account to write:

近日有用户发布微博，称马英九提出必须在“代表自由、代表民主、代表公平”前提下谈统一。@微博辟谣就此联系了马英九竞选总部发言人李佳霏，对方否认马英九曾发表此言论。因此，该用户账号已被注销。

Recently, a user wrote on Weibo that Ma Ying-jeou has said that discussions of reunification will be able to take place if and only when the issues of “freedom, democracy and equality” are all on the table. @WeiboPiyao has contacted Ma's campaign office spokesperson, Lee Chia-fei, who denies that Ma Ying-jeou has ever made such a statement. As such, this user's account has been deleted.

From Wikipedia, ‘Republic of China presidential election, 2012′ (12/04/2011):

One big election topic appears to be the 1992 consensus, a term describing the outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. The KMT is putting this consensus forward, which aims to be more democratic and to be ratified by the legislature and a referendum for ROC citizens. Under the DPP's new consensus, this should be the basis for negotiations with the PRC.

According to some news junkies, however, in comparison to Taiwan's 2008 presidential election, more Chinese netizen attention was focused during this debate on issues other than just the future of cross-Strait relations. Phoenix blogger Zheng Dongyang covered the whole range of issues, domestic policies included, in his lengthy post about the things which interested him in this debate. With regard to the debate over reunification vs. independence, however, Zheng writes:

个人认为，虽然现在说谁能胜出为时尚早，但可以预见的是，即将到来的选举将是台湾民主化后最理性和温和的选举。民进党利用群众街头运动帮助选情，打悲情牌、族群牌、省籍牌、统独牌的情况会越来越少，虽然其两岸政策虽然摆脱不了“台独”思维，但也不会像陈水扁一样，不断挑战大陆的底线。而国民党也将重心放在政策诉求上，随着马英九的闽南话的日趋流利，他出现在台湾南部的次数越来越多。

Personally, I feel that although it's too early to say who will win, what can be foreseen now is that this election at hand will be the most rational and moderate since Taiwan democratized. The DPP is relying less on a mass people movement to carry it to the top, appealing less and less to public sympathy, ethnic groups, Taiwanese identity, or playing the independence card. Although the DPP has yet to abandon its pro-Taiwan independence policy, it won't like it was under Chen Shui-bian, constantly testing the mainland's bottom line. The KMT, meanwhile, has put the focus on its policy pursuits; as Ma Ying-jeou's Min Nan continues to get better by the day, so too have the number of his trips to the south increased.

这次电视辩论给我的感觉是，如果“统独”之争过去是蓝绿给台湾民众的传统印象，而如今双方施政政策也在民众形成一个新的烙印。传统的“浊水溪”线正在逐渐淡化，双方都将中间选民视为可以团结的对象，而中间选民大多数支持两岸关系维持现状，没有历史包袱，更看重的是两个政党的具体政策是否有利其事业发展及生活质量取得改善，这是过去选举给台湾选民带来的变化。

[…]
What I feel with this televised debate, though, is that if the lasting impression the blue and green camps have given the Taiwanese public is their division over the issue of reunifying with China or remaining independent, the policies of the administrations on both sides have been rebranded in the eyes of the populace. The Choshui River [which traditionally divides the pro-independence south from pro-reunification north] “line” is gradually fading, and both parties have begun to see voters in the middle, the majority of whom support maintaining the status quo in cross-Strait relations, as people who can be united. Absent this historical burden, people are focused more on which of the two parties' policies are best for their career development or improving their quality of life. This change is what past elections have brought the voters of Taiwan.

Taiwan: Netizens React to Diplomat Accused of Abusing Domestic Labor

Portnoy Zheng — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:46:27 +0000

Thanks to slow, reluctant legislators, and “some” - or I should say “many” - cruel employers, Taiwan has a notoriously bad record of mistreating foreign labor. However, this time an inconvenient and awkward case has not happened in Taiwan, but in a Taiwanese diplomat's residence in the United States.

The headlines of major newspapers in Taiwan today concern Hsien-Hsien Liu (劉珊珊), the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Kansas City, who has been accused of underpaying her Philippine housekeeper, restricting her movement and forcing her to work 16 to 18 hours a day. Since Taiwan does not have official diplomatic relations with the US, Hsien-Hsien Liu is a de facto diplomat representing the Taiwanese government, though unofficially.

Most media outlets are discussing the negative impact on Taiwan-US relationships. Politicians from both the ruling Kuomingtang (KMT) or the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) say that the Taiwanese government should be “tough” on asserting Taiwan's sovereignty and demand diplomatic immunity for Liu, even though the federal persecutor told NBC News that since Taiwan is not an sovereign country Liu enjoys no such privilege.

While the rights of the abused maid are totally absent in the Taiwanese political discourse, Twitter users are more reflective about Taiwanese attitudes towards foreign labor.

@ancorena says [zh]:

我猜想在許多人心目中，美國一向都是世界人權的燈塔。可是到了今天這種時候，台灣人可能還要靠美國人的過激手段裡才能學習正確對待外籍勞工，實在是場難以形容的荒謬劇情。

I guess in many people's minds, the US represents the global human rights standard. But until this moment, Taiwanese is yet to learn from the US legal system how to treat foreign labor correctly. This is an unbelievably absurd drama beyond description.

GJ!Taiwan, a sarcastic fake news twitter account also covers this case [zh]:

外電報導，我駐美國密蘇里州堪薩斯台北經濟文化辦事處處長劉姍姍，讓菲傭超時工作，涉嫌壓榨虐待，且未依契約，只給對方1/3薪水，涉嫌詐欺，遭FBI探員逮捕拘留。外交部長楊進添昨證實此事，但表達嚴正抗議；因為劉姍姍所為不過是台灣雇主傳統，美方應予尊重。

According to overseas reports, Hsien-Hsien Liu, the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, was accused of abusing labor and fraud by forcing her Philippine housekeeper to work overtime and paying her only 1/3 of her wage, and therefore was arrested by the FBI. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Chin-tien Yang admitted this case and expressed a solemn protest: Since what Liu did is nothing but following the tradition of Taiwanese employers, the US should respect it.

Torrent Pien asks [zh] for more details about the case:

劉姍姍的外傭說是公務雇用，但合約每個月薪資1240美金，但外傭只實拿450，中間的790跑哪去了啊，劉處長要不承認私人雇用，要不承認貪汙

It is said that Liu's housekeeper was hired for official purposes, but since the contracted monthly wage is $US 1240, while the housekeeper got only $US 450, where is the missing $790? Liu can either choose to admit that she hired her privately or admit that she has committed corruption.

book686 comments [zh]:

[外交官被逮事件] 目前為止幾位總統候選人都只在主權問題上表態，卻沒人在（勞動）人權問題上發言～～

[On the case of the arrested diplomat] Until now, the presidential candidates only stress their attitude on Taiwan's sovereignty issue, and no one mentions the (labor) human righst issue.

Angel Smile says [zh]:

像這種廢人，我覺得就讓美國去整治她最好；不然弄這垃圾回國，就算查出是貪汙，還不是又全身而退。

Let the US punish this kind of axxhole; or if we get this garbage back, even if she has committed corruption, she will still be set free.

Winkai has an idea [zh]:

我覺得劉珊珊應該要申請台灣的國賠，因為是台灣政府長久放任國人苛刻'使用'外籍雇傭，才會讓劉大公務員誤以為可以那麼作

I think Liu should apply for State compensation from the Taiwan government, which has been encouraging its people to “use” foreign housekeeper abusively. That's why Liu thought she had done nothing wrong.

You can see past reports on Taiwan and labor issues here, here, and here. By the way, foreign housekeepers and carers in Taiwan still have no legal right to labor holidays.

China: On the Rise But Feeling Boxed In

John Kennedy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:29:01 +0000

It's been a month since United States (US) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote that Asia is now the focus of her country's diplomatic, economic and strategic foreign policy, meaning both stability and instability for the region, depending largely on how Sino-US relations develop as the two countries learn to share the same geopolitical theater.

In China, it still all sounds a lot like an encirclement conspiracy, something which Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, touched on in this blog post [zh] from last week, which contains an excerpt from his latest book [zh], “The Road to Great Power: China and the Reshaping of World Order,” (通往大国之路：中国与世界秩序的重塑) due out later this month:

中国的地缘政治非常特殊。中国周边有21个国家(与中国陆地相邻的国家有15个，同中国隔海相望的国家有6个)。从上往下，有朝鲜、日本，接下来是东南亚国家，再下来是印度、缅甸。中国是世界上唯一被核武器包围的国家。中国有安全感吗？如果墨西哥、加拿大要发展核武器，美国拼了老命也不会让它们发展。

China is in an extremely special geopolitical situation, surrounded by 21 countries (15 by land, 6 by sea). From top to bottom these are North Korea, Japan, followed by Southeast Asian countries, then India and Myanmar. China is the only country on earth surrounded by nuclear weapons. Should China feel safe? If Mexico or Canada decided to develop nuclear weapons, the United States would do everything in its power to stop them.

Maritime claims in the South China Sea. Image available on Wikipedia

中国没有国际空间，拿海权来说，中国有海权吗？没有。往东，走不出去，有美、日、澳大利亚、新西兰等国挡着，往印度洋，有印度。印度的唯一假想敌是中国。现在唯一剩下的是南海，但美国等国都对南海感兴趣，如果那里被堵住，中国一点出海口都没有。中国连航空母舰都没有，怎么去投送兵力？怎么去履行国际责任？更不用说国际领导权。

China also lacks any international space. Does China have any power at sea? No, it doesn't. Eastward, there's nowhere to for China go, blocked as it is by the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. Toward the Indian Ocean, there's India. India's only perceived enemy is China. All that remains, then, is the South China Sea, in which the USA and other countries have interest. Blocking China there leaves it without a single point of access to the sea. China doesn't even own any aircraft carriers, so how is it supposed China would deploy forces? And, how then is China meant to fulfill its international obligations, not to mention assume any sort of international leadership role?

Also, Sara K. added an important point to my previous post, writing that:

If China really wants to prevent the perpetuation of the “China Threat Theory”, they should stop pointing so many missiles at Taiwan – and if the PLA had access to Taiwan, it would be much easier for them to attack Japan. If you point weapons at people, you are going to look like a threat.

Taiwan: Updates from “Occupy Taipei”

Portnoy Zheng — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:16:05 +0000

Green Party member and active participant of Occupy Taipei MingWangX(王鐘銘) updates the recent activities of the movement: “On the 15th day, 10/28, the police and the park administrators came again and tried to confiscate the tents for the 3rd time. They didn’t succeed because the member in one of the tents refused to leave even though the poles were stripped and the tent toppled. …That night, Occupy Taipei showed an open-air movie, “Capitalism, A Love Story.” The Occupy Taipei members held a meeting after the movie and decided to stay in the park and keep this movement going. There will be a 2-day event on 11/11-12, including movie, open-space conference, camping, barter market.”

Taiwan: Will Taishang be the decisive power of Presidential election?

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:11:05 +0000

On Ballots and Bullets, Chun-Yi Lee brings up the role of “Taishang”(Taiwanese businessmen, especially those who are doing business in China) in the coming joint election of President and legislators next January: “Most Taishang expect the government to negotiate with the Chinese government a better deal for them in more practical terms. For instance, in acquiring loans from local Chinese banks. This kind of practical issue certainly was not included in the grand framework of ECFA, and yet it is greatly needed for most Taishang in China.”

Taiwan: Photos from the LGBT Pride Parade 2011 in Taipei

Portnoy Zheng — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:27:07 +0000

The logo of Taiwan LGBT Pride 2011

More than 50,000 people joined the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei on October 29, 2011, marking the biggest gay pride parade in Asia.

The Taiwanese LGBT community has been struggling for decades to obtain equality and respect. Though there is less and less hostility in everyday life interaction, discrimination is still very much embedded in the education and legal system.

According to the event's official website:

A boy holding a board saying ‘My mom is lesbian, and my mom is perfect'. Photo by Coolloud.org (CC-BY-ND-ND)

Compared with the very direct, “in- your- face” hostility toward LGBT people a decade ago, the anti- LGBT groups nowadays have learnt to say words like “we respect LGBT people” and pretend to be liberal. In the meanwhile they never stop trying to deprive LGBT people of basic citizen rights. Furthermore, they even started to adopt unethical means to influence the legislators and policy makers, which might jeopardize our precious achievement of democratic development. Under this tough circumstance, Taiwan LGBT Pride Community urges the LGBT people to be more cautious about discrimination in the culture and society, and keep uncovering the well- camouflaged hostility in order to build a more solid foundation for our human rights.

First held in 2003 with about 500 participants, the event has quickly grown more popular with 25,000 people participating in 2009, and 30,000 in 2010. This year, the participant record has been broken again.

Under the theme “LGBT fight back! Discrimination get out!”, the parade started at Kaidagelan Boulevard in Taipei and separated into two routes before reconvening at the Kaidagelan Boulevard. Demonstrators demanded respect for the sexual orientation and preferences of youth, implementation of sex education, legalization of gay marriage, and also decriminalization of sex work.

Below are some photos from this year's parade taken by Coolloud.org.tw:

Some religious group are against informing youth about LGBT in schools. A parade participant plays ‘Guanyin (觀世音菩薩)', a bodhisatta regarded as both male and female, to demonstrate that ‘even gods can be LGBT'.

Students from many university LGBT clubs took part in the parade.

Many foreign tourists and exchange students are also supporters.

The speaker spoke of the negative treatment he received from his employer because he wears women's clothing to work. The board says ‘cross-gender needs labor representation'

Taiwan International Workers Association also voices the sexual rights of underrepresented migrant workers in Taiwan

LGBT members with physical disabilities say they suffer double discrimination.

Popular singer Deserts Chang is this year's ‘Rainbow Ambassador'

You can see more photos in this Coolloud.org's flickr album and the official album released by the parade's website.

Taiwan, Taipei: Occupiers' last front torn down

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:23:00 +0000

Green Party member Wang Zhong-ming posts his picture on facebook of he sitting in a damaged tent torn down by the police near Taipei 101, the counterpart symbol of WallStreet in Taiwan. On the other hand, open data advocate Schee Zhu-han analyzed the flaws[zht] of the online strategies in different phases of the activity.

Taiwan: The Story of Chiou Ho-shun

Portnoy Zheng — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:02:42 +0000

Chiou Ho-shun, a death row inmate in Taiwan, may be executed at any time. He said in the mini-documentary, “I hope you can save me, but if it’s too late, please scatter my ashes in the Longfeng harbour, and buy a meatball, come and see me.” In the documentary, you can see how police manipulated confessions by assaulting and threatening Chiou and one “witness”.