Friday, November 7, 2008

Now that Chen's gone...

I haven't said anything about the fraught visit of Chen Yunlin because, frankly, I've been working my butt off and haven't had the time to go see the protests - or lack thereof - for myself. I did notice as I rode the MRT past Jiantan that the Grand Hotel looks as though it's under siege - some fortresses aren't so well-protected.

I've also had little to say because the other blogs (notably David on Formosa) have captured my own sentiments already. I'm not sure if this is another White Terror, but there is definitely cause for concern.

We'll see what happens now that Chen has departed. One can hope that the martial law mentality will depart with him.

What concerns me more is the reaction of most Taiwanese people I talk to. They're "angry and sad" but nobody wants to do anything. They're upset, especially with Ma - (some of these are translated from Chinese and I'm not totally fluent so bear with me) -

"He doesn't know how to govern."

"We put our faith in him and now look how he acts."

"Taiwan wants to be separate from China but they're acting the same way!"

"He can't make a balance. When Zhang Mingqing was pushed he didn't provide adequate protection for his visit, and now he's going totally overboard with Chen Yunlin."

Not even one person I've spoken to supports the Ma administration's action, but nobody is doing anything. Why isn't there more of a public outcry among the Taiwanese about this? Where are those 600,000 people now that there is someone to protest in front of? Are they that afraid that they'll be rounded up and arrested, like in the old days?

Maybe.

Aside from the protesters - who from all reports seem to be a smaller and calmer crowd than in the recent marches - everyone is staying home, living life as usual, and pretending that it's just not a problem (or acknowledging that it is and doing nothing).

What gives?

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Oh say can you see...

...by the dawn's early light...

...hundreds of expats, hungover from last night.

So I work in Taipei 101 twice a week. In between classes I tend to hang out at the Starbucks in the lobby if I'm not hungry enough to go to the mall and eat. This gives me a killer vantage point from which to observe the comings-and-goings of Taiwan expats who work in business.

What did I see late this morning?

1.) A line at Starbucks, and for once the majority of customers weren't Taiwanese office folks gearing up for yet another 12 hour workday. Peppered between them were slack-faced yet smiling foreigners with stars in their eyes and dark circles under them.

2.) Other expats - the older ones - looking somewhat downtrodden, probably because their man had been cast aside like an old lion (thanks, Christopher Hitchens) about to be retired from slashing gladiators.

3.) Taiwanese office workers sitting in said Starbucks talking about foreigners ("How strange," one young girl in a purple suit and eye glitter with the telltale ID tag dangling from her neck, "they elect a black man and then they all go get drunk. Nobody's doing any work today! Foreigners! I just don't get it.")

4.) More expats, the happy ones, wandering around like sleep-deprived zombies, occasionally shuffling down to Watson's for more Panadol, silently commiserating about their massive collective hangover.

I was one of the hungover ones. Still am, at 10pm the next night. At least it's a good hangover; the Belgian beer kind, not the nasty Chinese chemical beer kind. We stayed at Red House pub in Shida until it closed, talking, laughing, hoping, drinking and singing the national anthem. Red House was otherwise quiet - we wanted a gathering of friends, not a liberal, libertine throng. The party was going on much louder at Jr. Cafe, Carnegie's and The Brass Monkey, but the only one of those places I actually like is Jr. Cafe and still didn't really feel like dealing with it.

I like my Presidents...


...well, the fine folks (folk, I guess) down at Octopus Pie said it far better than I could.

Totally worth the hangover. And when will I learn that just because we're celebrating (what I hope is) a new era, that doesn't mean four Belgian beers are somehow less potent. Ow.

It's good to be a citizen of a country in which we now take it for granted that anyone, from any background, can rise to the rank of President of the United States. Good on us for not being assholes, for once.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Mister Ma Mayen't be Moderate

I just finished reading this fairly short article in The Washington Post by John Pomfret. I normally skim these because something about his pragmatic perspective (which I usually admire, even if I object on some idealist principle or other) strikes me as...dunno...unrealistic.

Generally speaking, though, this piece hit the mark in most respects. Yes, it's true that the only way Taiwan is going to be able to keep a separate government is to improve ties with China (I don't like it one bit, but that's life). Yes, it's true that China is shortsighted, priggish and unwaveringly stupid in its dealings with Taiwan and failure to grant Taiwan even a small modicum of respect. It's also true that it's about time that China at least recognizes that Taiwan's government is at the very least, a democratically-elected government. I doubt they'll recognize it as 'legitimate' anytime soon, but one can hope.

But there are a few points that are off the mark:

For China and Taiwan, they are tantamount to the US elections. While they are not going to usher in new governments, they could set in motion a new era of relations between China and Taiwan -- unless knuckleheads on Taiwan or China mess it up.

Uh, no. They are not tantamount to the US elections. Little history is going to be made unless something drastic happens at these negotiations, and that is unlikely. Locals don't seem terribly excited about them - only newspapers, government staff and some top businesspeople show any signs of caring.

And will Taiwan's independence extremists succeed in once again ruining the prospect for better ties with China as they push an agenda that is actually hurting the cause of Taiwan's independence?

They're not extremists! Well, some are. If you want extremists - those guys with that van on Dihua Street who advocate China joining the USA as the 51st state (well, 53rd after Canada and Iraq I suppose) fit the bill better. They're activists, and more people agree with them than foreign correspondents seem to realize - but so many independence-minded people don't dare say so, and realize that recognized, de jure independence is unrealistic now. That doesn't make those who voice their views extremists. It means they're exercising their right to free speech.

Looking at the last protest, I don't think 600,000 people (the author himself offers this figure below) can be labeled as 'extremists' - they're a legitimate political bloc.

Since Ma was inaugurated, there have been a number of protests against Ma and his moderate stand on China. Most recently on Oct. 25, 600,000 turned out against Ma. In late October, a Taiwanese legislator and six associates helped beat up a Chinese official, Zhang Mingqing, who was holding initial talks in Taiwan about Chen's visit.

Argh. At least he got the estimate of protesters right. But even I don't think they really 'beat up' Zhang Mingqing, despite feeling that they did push and intimidate him.

Also, Ma's stand on China is not 'moderate' - it's far too friendly for Taiwanese comfort. Hence the protesters. Why else would 600,000 people turn out?

Well, if you look at Taiwan's situation honestly, the only way actually to ensure its continued existence as a government separate from China, is to improve ties with China. That's what Ma is trying to do. Why would Tsai and her people want to stop it? The only reason I can determine is that they want to create a crisis because only in a crisis do their politics have any traction among most of Taiwan's people.

It's a lot more complicated than that - I don't think Pomfret has gone out and actually talked to a lot of Taiwanese people. Their ideals - an independent Taiwan - have a lot of traction among Taiwanese people. Maybe not 100%, but definitely a huge, huge number. Take the 49% who voted for Frank Xie in the last elections and add a big contingent of those who voted for Ma simply on the basis of A-bian's tenure, or because they want independence but want to go about it more pragmatically.

That is a LOT of people; that's most of the nation. Pomfret discounts them like so much fairy dust because it's inconvenient to recognize that this sentiment does, in fact, exist.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Taipei Travel Expo 2008



Brendan, Becca, Emily and one of Becca's friends went to the Travel Expo at Taipei World Trade Center today. The goal was to find cheap tickets to Singapore for my sis and her friend so they could travel over the Zhengda class break.

I wish I'd had my druthers together enough to go here to plan our trip next year. The deals really were fantastic. We got them roundtrip tickets for about $7000 NT each. The best deal on teh Internets was $10,000 and change. My tickets to India, Egypt and home were purchased back in August so we had nothing to buy; we went to help Becca and marvel at the crowds. They say that the only TWTC expo that exceeds this one in visitor volume is the infamous computer expo. We'll be going to the next one of those, as well.

And man, was it ever crowded. The tickets were expensive at $200 NT, but the real bargain hunters didn't mind; it was a small price to pay for, frankly, huge savings. I'm not normally a fan of these huge expos - it's mostly about advertising anyway, and selling package tours - but really, truly - there were a lot of great discounts to be found.

Other than the reign of package tours over stalls selling unfettered airline tickets (seems the Taiwanese really like their tour groups...this I knew), my only other issue was that many geographical areas were far too small, whereas others were far too big.

I realize that the big destinations (Korea, Japan, Australia and the SE Asian countries) represented are so over-staffed because that's where the demand is, but we had gone looking for just a little information on Egypt (our destination in February) and found nothing but a few fliers for package tours in Chinese. Plus a pimply faced teen dressed up in a gold vinyl Pharaoh costume, which was pretty awesome.

Some destinations had their own booth, to our surprise - Iran, Turkey, Nicaragua, Panama and other destinations you don't expect Taiwanese travelers to think of (though obviously some do) - some of these possibly because they are among the few countries who recognize Taiwan through official diplomatic channels.

Others were sadly lacking. All of Africa save Egypt and South Africa was one tiny booth with a few leaflets and Ethiopian coffee. The coffee was good, though.


One good thing, though, was the free stuff. We got free t-shirts for the Singapore tickets and free pens from a Japan stall.

I did also notice a huge section of the expo devoted to domestic travel. Even Taizhong was represented - the general theme for that booth was "Taizhong - our city is kinda boring but our county is gorgeous". Yep.

I thought this was great, though - Taiwan is a fantastic tourist destination if you know where to go. I'm half happy that word isn't out in the West about this (more solitude, authenticity, and enjoyment for me) but half upset, because it really ought to be. As I mentioned recently on LPTT, the advantage of Taiwan over China is not quantity, but quality. There is less to do here, but it's all of a higher caliber.

They had a massive aboriginal culture section, which I loved. It had the usual glass bead jewelry and millet wine, but they also had information in several languages and a few culture tours you could sign up for, as well as dancing, free food and wine tasting, and exhibits and information. Not bad.

We picked up some gorgeous plum wine - though not nearly as good as the stuff Sasha brought back from Japan recently - with a label that says "The Feeling of Slightly Drunk".

Oh, and they also had a dude in a giant koala costume.

Awesome. Truly awesome.

All in all, not worth NT $200 if you aren't looking to buy tickets, tours or reservations but totally worth it if you are.

Also, tissues. Lots and lots of free tissues. I can now wipe my butt on tissues from a five-star spa in Thailand.

The Youth Vote, Not I

Since I've moved to Taiwan, nobody but the Arlington Democrats has sent me any campaign literature or made any attempt to court my vote. So all I ever got in the mail was an absentee ballot and a stodgy envelope full of pictures of old guys (there were a few women in there, too, but not many...not enough) telling me to vote for Jim Moran, Mark Warner and Barack Obama, as well as two or three other people I've never heard of because I'm so distanced from local politics.

Then I read this Washington Post article on getting out the youth vote and the realization hits me.

I'm no longer "the youth vote".

I get thick mailings from stuffed suits, not messages on Facebook. I get campaign news from The Washington Post, not from text messages and blogs.

Damn. Not even 30 and I feel ancient.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Because I have nothing better to write about...

....here's another picture of Zhao Cai (now nicknamed "Zhao Zhao" because it rolls more easily off the tongue) with his new collar, cuddling with our Domo pillow.

Awwwwwww.