Dear Taiwan

“our generation would very possibly face the question of ultimate unification”

2012 ELECTIONS: Presidential trio present policy platforms on TV

Extraits :

• [Tsai:] “Taiwan is the ROC and the ROC is Taiwan.”
• [Tsai:] if Ma succeeded in his re-election bid, “our generation would very possibly face the question of ultimate unification.”
• [Tsai:] the ROC she referred to is the island of Taiwan and its outlying islands, which is different from the ROC Ma was talking about, which included all of China’s territory. “No matter whether [its the name] of Taiwan or ROC, it is the land that the people of Taiwan have fought for and the place where 23 million Taiwanese have lived for generations,” Tsai said.
• [Tsai:] [Ma's] administration had only two approaches when dealing with economic policies. The first was to open up to China and use its market as a panacea for all economic woes, which led to the signing of the [ECFA], Tsai said, and the second was to raise debt and spend more money.

2012 ELECTIONS: Ma challenges Tsai over the ‘1992 consensus’

Extraits :

• Cross-strait relations should be based on “mutual denial of each other’s sovereignty and mutual non-denial of respective jurisdictions,” Ma said, adding that in the process of current cross-strait relationships, it was preferable to retain a small gray area while actually getting some things done. Ma also said that if one treated the ROC as a government-in-exile, then nothing further could be said on the subject, adding that Tsai had this kind of “psychological disorder.”

2012 ELECTIONS: Democracy weakened under Ma: Tsai

Extraits :

• Taiwan’s democracy has gone into reverse and been undermined by practices that bypass democratic procedures since President Ma Ying-jeou took office, [Tsai] said yesterday during a campaign stop in Chiayi City. It was during a meeting at Hsi-men Presbyterian church, renowned for its support for democracy and activism against the [KMT] authoritarian regime in the past, that Tsai mentioned her concerns about democracy in Taiwan. “The decline of democracy in Taiwan is alarming,” she said. This year’s Democracy Index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit rated Taiwan as a flawed democracy with a ranking of 37, down one from last year, while Japan and South Korea were both considered full democracies, she said.
• The DPP chairperson then turned her focus on Ma [...] who said [...] that Tsai’s position on Taiwan’s national status that “The Republic of China [ROC] is Taiwan, and Taiwan is the ROC” was “unconstitutional.” “Interpretation of the Constitution is not absolute, as the Constitution allows flexibility, which stems from tolerance of different opinions,” she said. Tolerance is the keyword, Tsai said, adding that if Taiwan remains divided as a society and a country, it would be unable to move forward and deal with the enormous challenges it faces in the future. Tsai said she disagreed with Ma’s use of national identity as a campaign tool.
• Ma’s mentality in his dealings with China over the past three years also suggested that he might risk Taiwan’s democratic values to achieve his own agenda, she said. Tsai reiterated that Taiwanese remain divided on cross-strait issues and that a democratic process was therefore needed to formulate a real “Taiwan consensus” — the main focus of her China policy — to first find common ground before negotiating with Beijing. On the basis of tolerance, Tsai said, anything could be included in the discussion on a consensus — including unification.
• The way that the KMT turned its agreement with the Chinese Communist Party in 2005 into a state-to-state consensus without going through the legislature and consulting Taiwanese was inappropriate and violated the basic principle of democracy, Tsai said.

Taiwan's president Ma clashes with DPP's Tsai on national identity, democracy

Extraits :

• Citing democratization ranking information published by the Economist magazine, Tsai said Taiwan, ranked 32nd in 2006, was demoted to 36th in 2011 because the government was keeping an authoritarian mindset. "A government like this should go and get some rest," she said.

Flowerwawa

 The Flowerwawa

Le cheval et les trois petits cochons

Taiwan opposition builds campaign with shiny, tiny piggy banks in bid to unseat President Ma (Washington Post)

Extraits :

• "It started early last month, when a Taiwanese boy handed his coin-filled piggy bank to the opposition candidate for president, only to have the government declare the donation illegal because minors are prohibited from involvement in political campaigns. That gave rise to the [DPP]’s “Three Little Pigs” movement [...]."
• "With a nod to the fairy tale, the DPP has been handing out hamster-sized, plastic piggy banks in shiny oranges and reds. The idea is that by banding together to make small donations, tens of thousands of economically challenged workers and farmers can overcome the big bad wolf of Taiwanese corporate power and defeat incumbent Ma Ying-jeou and his supposedly capitalist cronies in the Jan. 14 presidential poll."
• "Scion of a wealthy family, the soft-spoken Tsai has been transformed almost overnight from a wonkish intellectual whose privileged background allowed her to study abroad, into a Robin Hood-like heroine committed to lifting the poor from the hardships of life."
• "“Millions of piggies are showing their anger against the Ma government,” Hu wrote. “They embody a demand for revolutionary change.”" 

Bookies Emerge The Big Winners from Taiwan's Election Betting (29/11/2010) 

Extraits :

• "The shooting of a high-ranking member of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) on the eve of the Nov. 27 [2010] municipal elections is widely believed to have helped the KMT win with a larger-than-expected margin in Taipei City and Xinbei City. The results caused those who had placed underground bets on the [DPP] winning to lose huge amounts of money, and turned bookmakers into the biggest winners."
• "Wagers totaling several billions of Taiwan dollars were placed on either the KMT or the DPP winning three out of the five seats up for grabs in mayoral elections in the special municipalities, according to sources."
• "Some of [betting players] also speculated that the person or persons behind the shooting could be related to gambling rings trying to influence the outcomes of the elections for their own benefit."

Bookmakers Give Even Odds on a Ma Ying-jeou Win with a Point Spread of 300,000 Votes (4/11/2011)

Extraits :

• So far, bookmakers in northern Taiwan had still not started accepting bets. However, bookmakers in southern Taiwan had given even odds on a Ma Ying-jeou win with a point spread of 300,000 votes; in other words, the bookies favored Ma Ying-jeou.

2012 ELECTIONS: Illegal betting on elections heating up (18/11/2011)

Extraits :

• Dealers make up a complex assortment of people. Some are gang members and use their influence in the underworld to control elections to a certain extent. Others are people’s representatives, manipulating the elections through underground betting to support their own political parties. Some are simply wealthy. 
• One dealer in central Taiwan said Tsai’s nearly blank political record makes it hard for the pan-blue camp to dig up dirt on her, adding that the controversy over DPP vice presidential candidate Su Jia-chyuan’s farmhouse had blown over and that the success of the “three little pigs” campaign, the Ma administration’s peace accord proposal and the controversial Dreamers drama continued to batter Ma’s election efforts.

BOOKIE BROUHAHA (from Taipei Times)

President rejects allegations of secret meeting with bookie

Extraits :

• [...] Next Magazine wrote that Ma met Chen Ying-chu in Chiayi on September 10 and asked him for financial and electoral support. He also thanked him for reportedly contributing at least NT$100 million (US$3.3 million) to his reelection campaign, according to the magazine. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party put the figure at NT$300 million (US$9.9 million).
• The magazine linked the alleged meeting to previous incidents of electoral violence possibly related to gambling. On the eve of a hard-fought re-election bid in 2004, President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were injured in a shooting incident on a Tainan street. Last year, Sean Lien, the son of former Vice President Lien Chan, was shot and injured while he stood on stage at a local election rally.
• The magazine said Ma and Chen were old acquaintances, since they also met three times in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election. Prominent people with close links to Ma, such as election strategist King Pu-tsung and the president’s sister, Ma Yi-nan, also met with Chen during local election campaigns in the South, Next wrote.
• The president’s alleged meeting with the top gambler was seen as a desperate move to turn around Ma’s situation in southern Taiwan, traditionally a DPP stronghold.

Tsai: Ma should clarify bookie meeting reports 

Extraits :

• Chen is reportedly involved in international online gambling and in betting on Taiwanese elections. He also has a criminal record, Next wrote.
• Ma denied he had time on his schedule for any private meetings while in Chiayi that day, though he said he had met Chen on two previous occasions, in 2008 and 2009.
• The Next Magazine allegations could damage Ma’s image in the run-up to the January 14 presidential and legislative elections. Ma acquired an image of integrity and honesty while serving as Minister of Justice in the 1990s.

Taiwan's Ma on back foot in re-election bid

Extraits :

• [...] the decision by Ma's culture minister Emile Sheng -- as the world economy faltered -- to spend US$7.17 million of public money on the rock musical "Dreamers", which was performed only twice, prompting a firestorm that led last week to his resignation. "It's difficult to justify the musical when the economy is flagging, the wealth gap keeps widening while unemployment is rising," said Tung Chen-yuan, a political scientist at National Chengchi University.
• Ma's administration has come under fire for policies seen as misguided in an age where the wealth gap in traditionally egalitarian Taiwan is widening.
• The agriculture ministry had to scrap a plan to cancel free milk for impoverished children, and add a scheme to boost subsidies for elderly farmers, amid criticism that it was not doing enough for the disadvantaged. "(The cost) of the musical could have kept poor kids drinking milk for 21 years," the China Times newspaper said in a commentary.

Exclusive: TIME Meets Taiwan Presidential Hopefuls Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen

2012 ELECTIONS: Ma campaign seen as weak in Japan

Extraits :

• The article said that Beijing was putting out the word through pro-China groups in Taiwan that Beijing wants all 1 million China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to return home to vote in the elections, adding that the claim that some Taiwanese businessmen have been told that “if you can mobilize more votes for Ma, you will find doing business in China far easier in the future.”
• Ma’s re-election campaign efforts are also being undermined by what the Asahi Shimbun -described as a generally held perception that “the government lacks the perspective of the common people,” referring to the Dreamers (夢想家) rock musical debacle, a show that cost NT$215 million (US$7.1 million) and was staged for only two nights, as well as the initial decision to increase elderly farmers’ monthly pensions by a meager NT$316.
• The analysis in the Asahi Shimbun pointed out that the KMT prefers to focus on cross-strait peace and economic development, together with the concept of safety, stability and ease of mind for all Taiwanese.
• The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), it said, is stressing fairness and justice, adding that DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had said she would begin dialogue with China within four months if elected.
• Meanwhile, the Yomiuri Shimbun, said cross-strait relations were the biggest issue in the elections and although Ma and Tsai both want to maintain cross-strait peace, Ma recognizes the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Tsai does not “because Taiwan is already an independent sovereignty different from China.”
• The article said various polls have shown support for the two main presidential candidates to be neck-and-neck, but that the addition of Soong to the campaign, meant that some pan-blue voters would not be voting for Ma, adding that “the common view is that things are looking bad for Ma.”

Taipei Times : 2012 ELECTIONS: Piggy banks back at DPP election HQ

(Taipei Times) 2012 ELECTIONS: KMT has nothing to offer: Tsai 

Extraits:

• [Tsai] said the [KMT] has continued to try to sully her and her party’s image because the government has no achievements to boast about.
• “[...] it only has smear tactics left for the campaign,” she said. “It has tried to pass off all responsibilities to the former DPP government.”
• “If [this] government is still living in 2008, let it stay in the past, while society moves forward into 2012 with the DPP,” she said.

(Taipei Times) It's time to change president: DPP candidate

Extraits :

• Taiwan needs to change its leadership and elect a visionary to revamp its economy and safeguard its sovereignty in the coming four years, [Tsai] said Saturday.  
• "If President Ma really had accomplished outstanding administrative achievements and had managed to deliver on his campaign promises, the ruling party would not have needed to use this kind of negative campaign strategy to attack me," Tsai contended.

Obama intervient dans le processus démocratique à Taiwan ?

New-York Times : Les US pourraient vendre Taiwan à la Chine contre une partie de la dette !?

Taipei Times : ‘New York Times’ op-ed calls on US to sell out Taiwan

Seediq Bale

Kirei da ...

L'affaire de la chaussette noire n'aura pas lieu ! ... quoique ...

Voir le début de l'affaire ici


Et voici le dénouement à présent :

Taiwan: Taiwanese taekwondo star withdraws arbitration appeal

Extraits :

Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun on Thursday withdrew her appeal with the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over a disqualification dispute with the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

"Now I will devote my all energy to preparing for the Olympic Games and will not let any arbitration procedures bother me or interfere with my preparations," Yang added.

CTTA President Hsu An-chin said at the press conference that he supported Yang's "withdrawal" decision.

Truth will never be known in taekwondo cheating case  

Extraits :

[Yang Shu-chun's announcement] has shocked the whole country, which has supported her following her alleged cheating incident last year.

The court was scheduled to hold an arbitration hearing on the Yang disqualification case Aug. 9-10 in Switzerland, according to Taiwan's Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council.

the decision apparently did not earn Hsu and Yang friendship from within the country.

Many were disgruntled over Yang's decision because they felt “betrayed” by the athlete, since it was she who first decided to file an appeal to “bring justice” and restore her reputation.

Yang was given NT$3 million from the government to support her training and she was also handed a teaching position at a local sports university since the nation was back then in the  mood to show her strong support.

Yang said the withdrawal of the arbitration appeal will not affect her pursuit of the truth and proof of her integrity. But how will the decision be seen by other taekwondo athletes and the WTF, which first accused Yang of cheating.

Yang's argument that winning an Olympic gold medal could help settle all the injustice she has endured is equally confusing. It is as if she is suggesting that getting a high score in a new test could serve as evidence that she did not cheat in a previous one.

Yang's decision to drop arbitration will only make her a victim of controversy, because in giving up the appeal we have been denied the last opportunity to learn the truth regarding the incident.

Talk of the Day -- Curtain falls on 'black sock' drama

Extraits :

some observers said the move could leave local taekwondo athletes vulnerable in the future. The withdrawal of the appeal means the truth behind Yang's disqualification at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou will not be clarified and justice will never be served, they lamented.

While respecting Yang's decision, [Chen Chien-ping, former president of the Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association (CTTA)] also expressed doubt that she had come to such a decision completely out of her own will or made the decision with pleasure.

Sports sources said that since the CTTA was reorganized early this year, support for Yang's appeal has dwindled and the SAC's attitude toward the appeal has also gradually changed.

With the WTF privately threatening to suspend Taiwanese athletes' participation in world competitions if Yang insisted on taking her case to the CAS, the sources said, the CTTA and the SAC have exerted pressure on Yang and let her to decide on her own whether to continue the appeal.

At the end of the day, Yang surrendered to the pressure and decided to drop her appeal, the sources said.

SAC denies pulling support for Yang - PLAYING GAMES:A DPP lawmaker alleged that CTTA chairman Angus Hsu threatened to pull Yang Shu-chun off the London Olympic team if she did not withdraw her appeal  (Taipei Times)

Extraits :

former CTTA chairman Chen Chien-ping (陳建平) said in an article in the Chinese-language Liberty Times [...] that Yang was forced to drop the appeal and sign a proxy enabling the CTTA to handle the lawsuit on her behalf under threat from association officials.

Hsu visited Seoul in April to negotiate with the World Taekwondo Federation about the case and reported to SAC Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) on May 17, Chen said, adding that Yang made more than a dozen phone calls to SAC Deputy Minister Steven Chen (陳士魁) for help after her June 6 meeting with Hsu.

Hsu threatened Yang by saying that her place on the Olympic taekwondo team, the position of her boyfriend and coach Liu Tsung-ta (劉聰達), as well as training expenses, would all be at stake, Chen Chi-mai said.

“[...] Hsu tried to talk Yang into withdrawing the appeal, but Yang was unwilling to do so for various reasons,” Steven Chen said. “Each side stood their ground. Yang felt that she would not be able to leave the meeting if she did not sign the proxy, which she eventually signed.”

Chen Chien-ping said CTTA officials had held more than one meeting with Yang, adding that each meeting lasted about six to seven hours. “She finally could not take it anymore and asked SAC officials to stand with her so that the CTTA would not make her sign it, but the SAC officials said it was beyond their jurisdiction to do so,” Chen Chien-ping said.

L'affaire est maintenant une affaire interne taiwanaise, c'est encore pire.

Snacks de Taiwan

DELICTOUS BUFFET

A côté du Temple de Confucius, à Taipei,

un buffet de snacks, 

C'est pas parce que l'anglais pêche
car les plats classiques taiwanais sont à mourir !

Rien que la variété de couleurs, et je fonds ...

Inox way, as usual

Navet et ciboulette

Tofu et saucisses

Courgettes amères en omelette - une référence

Tofu sauce aigre douce - je craque

Oeufs au soyu et aux épices - Lou Dan

Oeufs de cent ans avec tofu - super classique à Taiwan

Algues et tofu

Algues - j'adore !

Les aubergines de Taiwan - excellentes !

Seiches

Porc mijoté aux oignons et aux légumes

Lou Wei - au pied de cochon et à la poitrine de porc

Tofu frit - j'adore

Aubergines encore et encore

Sang de porc et riz, et cacahuètes pillés - un snack très prisé à Taiwan

Taro et légumes

Tofu frit et oignons

Président Lee Teng-hui (李登輝)

From Taipei Times

Ex-Taiwan President Lee Comments on Indictment, Paul Mozur, Wall Street Journal

Extraits :

"State prosecutors accused Mr. Lee, 88, of embezzling US$7.8 million between 1994 and 1999 through a fund used to conduct secret diplomatic activities."

"The charges come seven months ahead of key presidential elections widely tipped as a referendum on Mr. Ma's efforts to seek rapprochement with the mainland."

"The Solidarity Union released a statement alleging the indictment was carried out under pressure from Mr. Ma working in league with China to silence Mr. Lee ahead of the elections, which will be held on January 14, 2012."

Pro-independence groups voice their support for Lee, Chris Wang, Taipei Times

Extrait :

"Tsai on Friday called the timing of the former president’s indictment “suspicious,” adding that judicial cases “should not be used as tools to serve political interests or for election purposes.”"

Lee Teng-hui indictment is inappropriate: groups, Chris Wang, Taipei Times

Extraits :

"There is no evidence to indicate that Lee embezzled state funds, but even if such evidence was produced, he should be pardoned because “Taiwanese presidents have been able to use state funds at their own  discretion without regulations since the era of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and -Chiang  Ching-kuo (蔣經國),” former presidential adviser Huang Tien-lin (黃天麟) said at a joint press conference hosted by the Taiwan Republic Office."

"“In the past, the party resorted to assassinations to deal with political opponents, now, it uses the judicial system to lock them up,” he said."

"Kuo lamented what he called a “double standard” in Taiwanese politics, saying that while Lee has been indicted for misusing state funds, the issue of KMT stolen assets remained unresolved."

Lee indictment is politically motivated: Ellen Huang, Shih Hsiu-chuan, Taipei Times

Extraits :

Independent presidential candidate Ellen Huang (黃越綏) said yesterday that the indictment of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) over embezzlement of public funds was aimed at attacking Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Huang said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) recently said the charge against Lee would point to Tsai’s involvement in an “816 project” under the secret diplomacy funds from which Lee allegedly embezzled. The 816 project was part of the Mingteh Project (明德專案) focusing on secret diplomacy with the US and Japan. Chiu alleged that Tsai received NT$2.62 million (US$91,147) from the 816 project and passed the money to Yang Chih-heng (楊志恆), who Chiu said was involved in the money-laundering charge against Lee.

The secret diplomacy funds were not created by Lee, but were established under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and then former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Huang said. “They were funds at the discretion of presidents for diplomatic purposes. There was no reason to indict Lee because he did not pocket public funds,” she said, adding it was not difficult to find inconsistencies in Lee’s indictment.

Huang said that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was found not guilty in 2008 following an indictment against him in 2006 for misusing his special allowance during his stint as Taipei mayor. However Yu Wen (余文), the city government’s accountant, was jailed for nine months after being convicted of forgery in his handling of Ma’s expense account.

“Given this, how could it possible that Lee was guilty when the accountant general of the case, Hsu Ping-chiang (徐炳強), was already found not guilty,” Huang said.

Lee dismisses corruption charges

False accusation covers up Tsai's role in Lee's graft case

Ex-Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui indicted

KMT assets are source of graft: DPP

Lee charges stir Taiwan

Lee indictment is as hollow as Ma

Diplomatic slush, A former president indicted

Taiwan, animals, history and politic

Sorrow for a friend

Bad news coming, 
So sad are we, we lost a friend, and share the sorrow of our dear friends in Taiwan.

La plante "pièces de monnaie"

Taichung, Mausolé des Marthyrs

Dihua Street