Taiwan is a no-show at Miss Universe Pageant.

Just looking at the pictures from Taiwan. Here is a Japalura Swinhonis, a lizard, in a Tainan Resort Farm, which looks like a refurbished armed forces training camp.

This is a Terminalia Tricolor Mantaly, an interesting tree which has branches that seem to grow upside down or in a diamond pattern. A very unique looking tree.

I just started a Flickr Account, so the full photostream can be found here.

An interesting comparison between the new president elect and the current president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou.

1. They are intelligent, smart and knowledgeable but often lack sound judgment, which comes with rich experience and repeated tests by trials of life.

Very Asian. Worth a read.

Now that the Olympics are over and the Chinese envoy has given marching orders to Chairman Ma, it is time for him to do his duty and start persecuting pro-independence Taiwanese, including the former president.

The article says President Chen “roiled” the United States.  He did nothing of the sort.  He ruffled feathers simply because he wanted to make explicit the implicit, that Taiwan is an independent, sovereign nation.  The article also says that Chen took bribes and allowed small banks to acquire “well established” banks.  What they fail to mention is that the well established banks were originally owned by the KMT, the blue party which is stamping it’s iron heel down on Taiwanese across the country.  So, no, this is no anti-corruption campaign, it is a get even/China appeasement campaign.

“Long live Taiwanese democracy,” Chen declared to his supporters outside the prosecutors’ office. “Long live Taiwanese independence.”

More links

Elections have consequences, and elections of change do not always result in change for the better. Case in point, Taiwan. Seven months ago Taiwan voted for change from the independence minded Green Party as the 2nd term of President Chen Shui Ben came to a close. The blue party has been in control since the forties and have ruled the country under one party control with totalitarian flair, killing tens of thousands of civilians in the “228 incident”. After this incident the blue party declared martial law, which lasted for forty years, until 1987. Over the decades the party was intricately linked with banking and investment houses of Taiwan and developed the richest political party in East Asia. Much of the money used to start the parties comes from “black gold”, from illicit means.

This is never declared corruption in Taiwan. The only way to get charged with corruption in Taiwan is to oppose the blue party edicts. When the first democratically elected president of Taiwan, Lee Teng-Hui, advocated for state to state relations with China, reunificationists decried his “corruption”. Presently, much of the Green Party leaders are imprisoned for corruption, when their true crime is disobeying the blue party. The former President Chen Shui Ben is not permitted to leave the country, due to the corruption the blue party has been successfully trading in, for decades.

They say that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. In Taiwan under Ma Ying-Jeou, patriotism is the highest form of treason. Within a week after the election of Ma Ying-jeou, police have been confiscating the flag of Taiwan. I heard reports from family in which Taiwanese high school students waving the flag of Taiwan had their flag ripped from them and their wrists broken. Music shops, which often play loud music to entice customers, have been shut down under public nuisance laws if they play Taiwanese music. Recently the Chinese envoy to Taiwan visited, and Chairman Ma I fear has sold out Taiwan completely to his new Maoist overlords.

Economically, things aren’t much better. The Milton Friedman approach to China, i.e. using economic freedom as the thin end of the wedge for political freedom, needs to be reassessed. Where political freedom does not exist economic freedom is fragile at best. (Just ask Mikhail Khordovsky). Retirement accounts in Taiwan have been frozen for “just five years”, and restrictions have been placed on withdrawals from government sponsored retirement accounts.

Here in America we have a new administration that is a virtual question mark on dealing with Russia and China as they begin to indulge in imperial tendencies held dormant in recent decades. I can only pray that Barack Obama does not look on benignly as small democracies and former Soviet satellites begin to fall like dominoes to large autocratic regimes.

Halcyon Days under “Chairman” Ma

Helpful links: Jonathan Manthorpe in the Vancouver Sun

taiwandc.org

John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations, has written an excellent piece on the recent elections in Taiwan. Here’s the kicker:

U.S. policy has long held that the Taiwanese people should make their own decisions about their political future, free from Beijing’s political or military coercion. Unfortunately, during Chen’s administration, relations between Taipei and Washington grew chilly, as much or more because of mistakes in Washington than anything Taiwan did. Whatever the causes of the tension, however, now is the time for the United States to reaffirm clearly and unequivocally that it supports the expression of the people’s will in Taiwan’s elections and will continue to stand beside its longtime ally, including through necessary military assistance.

For the United States, the clearest way of expressing that support is to give full diplomatic recognition to the state that already exists and that the Taiwanese overwhelmingly wish to preserve. Maintaining ambiguous, informal ties to Taiwan is confusing and potentially dangerous; it obscures Beijing’s understanding of just how committed the United States is to Taiwan’s defense and self-determination.

I agree one million percent.

A simple, straightforward take on Taiwan and the UN, that happens to be right on the money.

A good reporting of a well-known story. Next time you watch an ad for the iPhone, check and see if you find a mandarin version of the NY Times displayed on the screen. It will show a picture of Chien-Ming Wang. In Mandarin, the newspaper says, “Pride of Taiwan”. Guys like me won’t notice it, but native Mandarin readers will recognize it. See, thing is, the iPhone is the pride of Taiwan, that’s the point of the ad. The manufacturers on this island, which is the size of Maryland but has the population of Texas, have been miniaturizing devices for decades now.

Taiwan rocks

Can’t think of a better spokesman and representative than Ozzy Osbourne for the cause of Taiwan membership in the U.N. As much as I’m not a fan of the U.N. and sometimes wish the U.S. would just say “Go to hell” and kick them all out of NYC, I can certainly understand the symbolism of belonging to the U.N. and the effect that would have on China’s precarious control of the country.

Wasn’t aware that Taiwan was ever a member of the U.N., but apparently they were and were kicked out in 1971 due to (big shock) Chinese pressure.

The Scotsman

Dr. David Ho was one of the first scientists to propose that AIDS was caused by a virus, and was first to promote a cocktail of protease inhibitors and antiretroviral therapy for AIDS patients. For this work he received the 1996 Man of the Year award from TIME magazine. He is a Taiwanese-American.

Genentech Inc, a US biotechnology research company, plans to found a research joint venture with the Taiwanese government in Hsinchu to develop AIDS treatments headed by Taiwanese-American researcher David Ho (何大一), Chinese-language news-papers said yesterday.

Ho has reportedly agreed to serve as chairman of the planned joint-venture — to be known as TaiMed — which is to be set up in Hsinchu Biochemical Science Park (新竹生醫科學園區), reports quoted Liang Chi-ming (梁啟銘), director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Academia Sinica, as saying.

Academia Sinica is the nation’s top research institute.

South San Francisco-based Genentech will transfer its CD4 antibody technology to TaiMed, the United Daily News said, citing Liang.

CD4, which exists on the membrane of T cells, is a primary receptor used by HIV-1 to gain entry into host T cells, which plays an essential role in cell-mediated immunity and targets of HIV infection. If developed successfully, the CD4 antibody will block CD4 from destroying the immune system.