cloud city: blogging live from banciao taiwan

Taiwanese politics kicked off November with a familiar, riotous scene - the minority pro-independence party (DPP) staging a chaotic protest rally against the beleaguered KMT President Ma Ying-Jeou's negotiations with Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin. Once again one of Taiwan's two worthless political parties have directly sponsored and organized an attempted coup de' tat against their opposition, bussing in supporters from the south and laying siege to the capital.

Bravo! Go democracy!

Since when, in any civilized democracy, are political parties allowed to directly stage malevolent attacks against opposing parties? Peaceful protest rallies should be organized by private organizations, possibly with the blessing of a party, rather than spearheaded by them. To do the latter is to disrespect and ultimately usurp democracy itself. Meanwhile, six 24-hour major news stations (for one tiny island) have hosed the fire with the sweet crude of their own political affiliations.

Let's get the facts straight. President Ma was elected by a wide majority, as was the pan-blue legislature, back in March, on the hope that strengthening economic ties with the mainland and maintaining a peaceful status quo would improve the Taiwanese markets butchered by a decade of stagflation. This majority wants stronger ties to China. Now, a significant percentage of the populace doesn't, but they are the minority. No matter how many chaotic, moronic, pointless rallies they stage, that doesn't change the fact - you are not the majority. Live with it. It's called democracy, and anything else is sour grapes.

Meanwhile, ex-President and criminal court jester Chen Shui-Bian has been parading around the scene, when he should be in jail for embezzlement and fraud. Disgraced Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education Chuang Guo-Rong showed up for long enough to make this idiotic comment: "Ma's continued pursuit of a stronger bond with China is causing the stock markets to crash." Brilliant. Taiwan is the center of the world. Forget America, Europe, Japan or emerging markets. Fuck all that, Taiwan should be immune!

Unfortunately, Ma has no cojones of his own. Rather than use diplomatic, bipartisan oration to calm the masses, he has given limp, stale pleas for peace, and kept a secretive agenda of his dealings with China, which in turn incites suspicion. He has a worm of a Premier, Liu Chao-Shiuan, who has played around with the drop limits of the stock market, which has in turn caused even more panic, reduced the capital gains taxes which would have prevented short term sales and encouraged long-term investment, then banned short selling altogether, a ridiculously socialist approach that constricts, rather than clears, the arteries of the market. When attacked by the DPP for the failure to adhere to the KMT campaign slogan "Things will get better right away", he humbly apologized, rather than explain that "right away" was a notion for five year olds and uneducated bumpkins.

This brings us to the root of the problem. Democracy is a privilege for the educated, not a right for the masses. Those who disagree should consult Taiwan's current disaster as a textbook example.

Hey guys, if you get a chance stop by my second stupid blog, here: http://crayongoblin.blogspot.com... fake stories about fake events from real companies crashing in today's Armageddon economy. Cheers!

If you live in Taiwan, as I do, as a first generation Chinese-American, you're bound to see the bizarre, jarring schism in Taiwan's unending quest for national identity, or as I would put it, "Making Love Out of Nothing at All". Perhaps it's hard for people like me, who grew up during the ultra-patriotic Reagan/G.I. Joe/Cold War America of the 1980s, to grasp this concept, this cultural orphanage of this island that once was part of China, then a colony of Japan, then part of China again, then finally a lonely pariah trapped in a kind of non-sovereign purgatory that must work twice as hard to achieve any recognition or acknowledgement from her global neighbors.

Taiwan, as I explained in a previous post, lacks two things that make a nation strong: nationalist identity and a faith-based moral foundation (this doesn't necessarily have to be religious, as government strategies such as the Cult of Personality prevalent in North Korea, China and the Middle East can certainly equate a faith-based foundation). A nationalist identity in Taiwan is impossible - declare independence and be isolated from the world or overrun by China, or maintain Washington's favorite word, the "status quo" - don't provoke China, don't declare independence, but please, continue amassing outdated overpriced arms from the U.S. military. What this American "status quo" actually means for Taiwan is - stay in limbo, cut off from the UN, the WHO, and the world. Stay here and be our buffer against a rising China. What does that mean for "national identity" in Taiwan? It means, declare your loyalties to a defeated KMT Republic of China and accept the fact that you are not a true country, just a routed military force stranded on an island that would have been decimated had the Korean War not conveniently broken out in time, and caused paranoid Americans to rush into Taiwan in fear of the dreaded Red Domino Effect!

Enough of the political babble. What does that mean for the youth of Taiwan, who grow up in a society where both parties are corrupt, the undereducated public has a short-term memory, and Hong Kong controlled media outlets pollute and exploit the airwaves every chance they get to cash in on the chaos? It means they are cultural orphans. Undereducated, ashamed of their own heritage, they cling on to any other culture in idol-like worship. America, Europe, Japan, Korea - go, love them all, learn English at the expense of losing Chinese, go to Japan and pretend you're Japanese, while berating mainlanders, go to Europe, sip a macchiato and pretend for a moment that the western world will accept you every bit as much as their brethren. Sadly, that is the case in Taiwan. Love all but do not love China. Love all but do not love your own family. Love all but spit on the graves of your ancestors.

True, China does have warheads pointed directly at Taiwan. True, the Civil War is technically still on. True, the Mainland Chinese can be rude, abrasive and unflinchingly patriotic. But the same could be said about Americans, the Japanese, the French or any dominant power in today's world that relies on nationalism as a form of self-preservation. China possesses the national pride that Taiwan sorely lacks, and it is my belief that the only way Taiwan can survive her continuous educational atrophy and freefalling self-identity is to reunite with her long estranged mother, China. Yes, that does mean forsaking the fever dream of an independent Taiwan, and yes, it does mean forsaking the fever dreams of a psychotic Captain Ahab Chiang Kai-Shek. Yes, it means forsaking the dreams of both corrupt parties, the blue and the green, and restarting Taiwanese history under China's promise of "One Country, Two Systems". And it requires a tremendous leap of faith to restore a future for the cultural orphans of Taiwan.

First, there was Tibet. Then, there was the Sichuan Earthquake. Then, the floods. Now, there are riots in Guizhou Province. The riots broke out between thousands of civilians and the local police, who have been accused of covering up the rape and murder of a teenage girl by the son of a prominent Weng'an County official. Allegedly, the police attempted to pay off the family with a paltry $1500 for their "troubles", and have tried to steal the girl's coffin to destroy the evidence of a sexual assault by burning it. The villagers, numbering 30,000 according to the Associated Press, took to the streets, overturning cars and setting buildings ablaze, including the local Communist Party Headquarters. The official line from the government is that the girl committed suicide by drowning, and that the family was too distraught to accept their findings. You can read more about the mayhem here:

Girl's Murder Triggers Riot in Guizhou Province

China immediately reacted with a call for an "Olympics Stability Drive" after the riot. China has grown increasingly protective and paranoid with its Captain Ahab, all or nothing focus on the Olympics, despite political and natural disasters throughout the country. An economist I admire very much, Jim Jubak, had already predicted this drain on the natural and human resources of the country way back in March. You can read the article here:

China's Looming Olympics Disaster

Shutting down the factories and power plants for a month leading up to the Olympics, shipping water in from rural provinces to Beijing, thus destroying crops in the process, and diverting a huge amount of the country's food supply, was already a recipe for disaster back in March. Now, with all the disasters that have happened to China in the four months since then, one has to wonder if China will even cross the finish line, or collapse and die from internal bleeding? China's economy has already been pushed to the limit, and now, due to over exertion, an infrastructure simply stretched too thin, and a corrupt government that refuses to show signs of weakness and hides behind their Fuwa mascots, it teeters on the brink of collapse.

Armageddon 2008 - it's coming. And when China pops, the rest of the world's economy won't react kindly.

May was a tumultuous time in Taiwan and China - a new Taiwanese President, carrying with him the hopes of a more secure future across the straits, and a catastrophic earthquake on the mainland which has to date killed almost 70,000 people as of this writing, with almost 20,000 still missing.

Back in March, the people in Taiwan rose up against the depraved DPP government, ousting top executive Chen Shui-Bian's weak protege Frank Hsieh in favor of the KMT golden boy, the Harvard-educated former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-Jeou. Ah, the DPP, the pro-independence fanatics that had held on, just barely, for eight years, had finally fallen, and with them, an era of disrupted domestic education, a collapsing economy, deteriorating cross-strait relations and a corrupt central government was over, right? Not quite.

First, let's review the "accomplishments" of Chen Shui-Bian over the past eight years, in which he held on to the top spot mainly due to infighting between the KMT and the PFP, with a consistent paltry approval rating in the 30s all throughout his tenure.

His pro-independence stance towards China, with which he "desinificated" much of Taiwan's shared culture and history with China, amounted to a Cultural Revolution, in which national landmarks were defaced - the National Palace Museum and the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial were deemed too Chinese; thus, the former was rebuilt with barren white walls and minimalist interior design, and the second was hastily renamed the "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" and defaced of its "Chinese" characteristics. He then went on a crazy renaming spree, during which he attempted to remove all references to the "Republic of China" and replace them with "Taiwan", at the cost of billions to the taxpayers. 

Chen Shui-Bian's Minister of Education Du Zhen-Sheng saw fit to remove references to the Japanese atrocities in China from history textbooks, deeming them irrelevant to Taiwanese history. He then thought it necessary to rewrite the classical Chinese texts into simple Chinese for students, apparently due to the failing literacy levels of students across Taiwan. In addition, he re-edited the classical Chinese idioms and added such zingers of his own, like "Three Little Pigs" and "Cinderella", apparently to leave his mark of idiocy in the annals of history. The public school systems teetered on the verge of collapse, with basic subjects like Chinese, History, Math, Science and English forsaken to increase focus on the Taiwanese dialects and aboriginal history, in a limp, utterly pathetic attempt to forge a "national identity" among the youths of Taiwan. Hey, Chen, at least that psycho Mao Zedong did what you attempted to do with some style - remember the Little Red Book that eradicated a generation of Chinese education? Didn't think so, after all that history's a bit too "Chinese" for you. 

In addition, President Chen saw fit to poke China with a stick every chance he got. Instead of making any efforts at strengthening cross-strait ties to improve the economy, his aforementioned flukes caused nothing but increased animosity and a resultant collapsing economy. Taiwan, once dubbed an economic miracle among the Asian Tigers, was downgraded to the same tier as the Philippines and Thailand. If you had invested US $10,000 into the Taiwan Index at the beginning of Chen's tenure, you would have a whopping $9,000 today! That's what I call growth investing! Apparently Chen was a superstitious guy, so instead of doing anything to actually aid the economy, he changed the colors on the Taiwan stock exchange. Yes, he actually reversed red and green, apparently because red was "lucky". I'll leave the jokes about that to you.

Ah, then there was the scandal that finally broke the President's back and caused two consecutive KMT landslides in the Legislature. His son-in-law was convicted of insider trading, and his wife was brought to trial for receiving kickbacks from the Pacific Sogo Corporation. Then all those people wearing red followed the other nut job, former Chen follower Shi Mingde to endless waves of protests, who asked for a "donation" of 100 dollars from each of his groupies. Then, surprise, he vanished and only resurfaced recently after Ma's victory.

Which brings us to Ma Ying-Jeou,the new President of Taiwan. The man who pleases Beijing and the US. The man who will likely do very little in foreign policy, maintaining the status quo of the straits. Ma isn't a true leader, rather, he's a man who knows how to make peace with hostile parties and keep them at bay. He's the nice guy who won't act up, much like his adversary Hu Jintao, who was placed at China's top spot due to his perceived reluctance to stir up the pot. What's important now to Taiwan is the economy, and I believe Ma's stability will slowly but surely invigorate the current moribund state. Also, a return to the classic Republic of China education, in which the Taiwanese youth were well educated, strictly disciplined and patriotic, would breed a new generation of conservative leaders and thinkers who will serve as true public servants rather than self-serving righteous bastards like Chen Shui-Bian and his posse of "Heavenly Kings".

As a new leader ascends on the island, China faces her own crisis, with the Sichuan earthquake erasing entire regional populations. The massive disparity between the social classes and the quality of housing has been revealed, the inevitable effect of the rushed capitalist reforms hung on the collapsing socialist scaffolding of decades past. The Western media has done little to track this catastrophe, most likely due to its relentless, unfair bias towards China due to the events in Tibet. To date, the United States has donated a paltry $850,000 to relief efforts in China. China donated $5,000,000 to the United States after Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, Taiwan has donated $65 million to her wounded rival sibling. I hope, after the chaos and recovery, this will be the start of a more friendly, mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries with such sad histories.

Let one civil war be enough, generations have passed, and there is naught to be gained from an extended cross-strait conflict. I recently joined a group on Facebook titled "China and Taiwan, One People, One Love". I think that's an appropriate closing sentiment, don't you?

I'm sick of all this news about Tibet, a possible Olympic boycott, and other nonsense. People who have no understanding of Tibetan or Chinese history are taking to the web, the streets and the stage shouting, "Free Tibet!"

Basic history lesson here, guys. Tibet has always been claimed as part of China, until the early 20th century, when the British Empire launched an unprovoked invasion of the country, slaughtering as many Tibetans as possible so they would lose all appetite for war and surrender.

Wikipedia: British Expedition to Tibet

Who cried, "Free Tibet" then? Certainly not America or any other western power. The crumbling Qing Empire in China reclaimed Tibet briefly in 1910 before being itself overthrown by the Republic of China in 1911. Taking advantage of the chaos in China, Tibet declared independence, but fell into a tug of war between China and the British Empire. Eventually World War I broke out, and Tibet became a back burner issue.

After the Chinese Civil War, in which the Communists defeated the Nationalist Kuomintang, Mao Zedong turned his eyes back on Tibet, which the Republic of China never renounced its original claims to. The Tibetans weren't about to give up quietly, so a war began.

Wikipedia: 1950-1951 Invasion of Tibet

Note the disputed casualty figures. While no doubt Mao was a merciless leader and many Tibetans died in the struggle, it's doubtful the PLA actually killed 1.2 million Tibetans (as claimed by the exiled Tibetan government), considering there were only about 1.2 million people there in 1950. Before the Chinese invasion, Tibet was a feudal theocracy, ruled by the Dalai Lama. There was little societal infrastructure, few hospitals, rails, or paved roads. The average life span was in the mid-30s, and the majority of Tibetans lived at or below the poverty line. Prior to the Chinese invasion, 90% of Tibetans were slaves. The Dalai Lama ruled with an iron fist. The Dalai Lamas of the past were warlords, not peaceful monks as you would believe, and the punishments they inflicted were tortuous and brutal. One man who stole a sheep from a temple had both eyes gouged out and his hand mutilated. Read more on Tibetan Feudalism here.

Link: Friendly Feudalism, the Tibet Myth

Now, the remaining Tibetans, led by the current Dalai Lama and his brother, who refused to give up, struck a deal with China's greatest enemy at the time, the United States. The CIA was all too happy to take up the offer of training Tibetan freedom fighters to knock China off balance. This was, after all, the era of Korea and the Cold War. The U.S. needed Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Tibet to fence in China and the Soviet Union, to prevent the "domino Communism effect", the prevalent ideology of the 1950s.

Link: CIA's Secret War in Tibet

What? The "peaceful, spiritual" Dalai Lama was on the CIA payroll? Until 1974, he was. And the West continues its Shangri-la fascination with Tibet, "ceiling of the world". Politicians, celebrities, and ill-informed naive liberals continue to support the "oppressed", exiled Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama wasn't exiled because of his religion, it was due to his involvement in the CIA uprising of the 1950s!

In the decades that have passed, China has modernized Tibet, built schools, hospitals, and other public facilities, laid paved roads and a high speed luxury railway to Beijing. The average Tibetan life span has nearly doubled. The education system has improved drastically. Tibetan autonomy exists. Tibetans pay few to no taxes compared to the Han Chinese in the area. China has taken drastic steps to preserve Tibetan culture, which it views as part of its own heritage.

Now, suddenly, on the 49th anniversary of the March 10, 1959 CIA sponsored uprising, all hell breaks loose. Tibetans killing Han Chinese and Hui Muslims on the streets and burning their homes. Chinese children stomped to death, elderly Chinese stabbed to death, and Tibetans who have attempted to help, beaten to a pulp.

Peaceful protests, CNN? Peaceful Buddhist behavior, "Free Tibet" advocates?

Calling these riots peaceful is like claiming the L.A. riots in the 1990s were peaceful. It's calling the Muslim riots in France a few years back peaceful. The Dalai Lama has done nothing to stop the riots. Do you truly believe he is a man of peace? The rioting Tibetans have not lost all common sense, though. Western tourists were unscathed and lived to tell the sordid tale. After all, the Tibetans recognize them as the ones who blindly support them.

Link: Western Media Miss the Real Tibet Story

Now, America has gone into a China-bashing frenzy, presumably to take out some of its pent up anger in regards to its failing economy and global unpopularity. America, with one of the worst human rights records in the world, with hypocritical hilarity, has castigated China for its record. Forget waterboarding, forget Abu-Gharib, forget the secret prisons and military bases all around the world, forget the redacted slaughter of Iraqi civilians. Oh, America, when will the world learn that your opinion is always pathetic propaganda and an excuse to stick your finger in other countries to expand your national interest? Well, at least not all other western countries are blind to your hypocrisy -

Australian News: WHICH country's interests are best served by an uprising in Tibet on the eve of the Beijing Olympics? 

Now, in a closing note, let's review what the three U.S. presidential candidates had to say about Tibet.

McCain: "I would hope that the Chinese would announce that they are actively seeking a peaceful resolution to this situation that exists which harms not only the human rights of people but also the image of China in the world."

Obama: "This is the year of the Beijing Olympics. It represents an opportunity for China to show the world what it has accomplished in the last several decades. Those accomplishments have been extraordinary and China's people have a right to be proud of them, but the events in Tibet these last few days unfortunately show a different face of China. Now is the time for Beijing to take steps that would change the image people have of China later this year by changing the reality of how they treat Tibet and Tibetans. Now is the time to respect the human rights and religious freedom of the people of Tibet."

Clinton: "The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for presidential leadership. These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing."

Does China not have a right to maintain its own backyard? Why "Free Tibet?"

Why not "Free Northern Ireland, Kashmir, Czechnya or PALESTINE?"

Now, time for an overdue picture update! These two months, two of my buddies Thomas and Fred tied the knot, and I was lucky enough to be the host for both weddings. Here's a preview of some of Thomas and Abbie's pictures from February, check out the full album in my Photo Album.

Then, one month later, Fred and Cynthia got hitched at the Formosa Regent Hotel in Taipei! More pictures in the Photo Album!

After that, one of our co-workers, Cameron (second pic, center), has decided to move on, and we had a farewell dinner for him at Tasty's in Banciao.

Fuck Tibet. Seriously. Tibet is a favorite for biased media, stupid celebrities, and liberal college students to blindly support. Simple western perspective - China's a big evil empire that's suppressing the "religious freedoms" of the ethnic Tibetans and destroying their livelihood! The Dalai Lama's right about everything, since he's so spiritual! Boycott the Olympics to punish China! God, how stupid can Westerners get, seriously?

Let's start with the truth about March 10 and the event it commemorates. On March 10, 1959, the CIA trained Tibetan soldiers and incited a Tibetan liberation movement not in an attempt to aid Tibet, but to destabilize Communist China. This was a precursor to the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. This is not a rumor, it's a confirmed, well documented, but rarely mentioned fact.

The Dalai Lama was on the CIA payroll, and the leader of the CIA-funded Tibetan soldiers was Gyalo Thodup, his brother.

Read these stories for more details:

http://www.workers.org/2007/world/tibet_0327/ 

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20080411250713100.htm

Now, at the height of American fears regarding China, and the Olympics poised to boost China's economy and presence even further, Tibetan insurrection begins anew. China shot itself in the foot by not allowing foreign journalists into the region (as yet). Therefore, the Western media has been feeding off intelligence agencies, who have been either intentionally or unintentionally passing them manipulated or erroneous photos. Take a look at Western bias:

Click to zoom in. CNN uses a cropped photo, cutting out the mob of Tibetan protestors stoning the Chinese military vehicles, leaving just two Tibetans running across the street in an attempt to dress up "Chinese oppression". This is hardly a new trick for CNN. Immediately after the September 11 attacks, they played footage from the first gulf war of Kuwaitis celebrating and eating cake, claiming that the Muslims were celebrating the attacks.

Now check out this one from BBC.

The photo clearly shows an ambulance, and the men are paramedics. But check out the caption: "There is a military presence in Lhasa".

Apparently there was no effort made by BBC to get the text translated.

This one, from Germany, claims that the man being towed away is an insurrectionist being.

Actual story behind the photo - a Chinese man being rescued by police from the Tibetan mob. Look at the guy to his left, he's running with him, while the police are covering their flank.

One more from the Washington Post. It shows a soldier pushing a protestor to the ground, claiming that he is a Chinese soldier.

Problem is, that uniform belongs to the Nepalese army.

Of course, to many Americans, Nepal and Tibet are probably the same thing.

They're not.

Please do some research on Tibet before you blindly start shouting, "Free Tibet!" like Bjork or Bono. 

There have been unpleasant events on both sides leading up to the unfortunate riots, which were started by the native Tibetans, against any non-Tibetans excluding white foreigners (because they would need their support later). The Tibetans have thus far attacked all Han Chinese, Hui Muslims, and other minorities they feel are destroying their way of life. The Chinese government has shown remarkable restraint in Tibet, but still they are chastised and reprimanded by the entire Western world to the point of an Olympic boycott.

The Dalai Lama - an exile who has ties to the Nazi Party, CIA and Richard Gere. My god, why the fuck is the world still listening to this idiot?

Answer: because everybody's ready to assume the worst about China.

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past year, you know that the US economy is plummeting to record depths. However, some people are calling the upcoming, inevitable recession as a "black swan", or an event that none could have foretold. Come on! The U.S. has been waging a war for the past six years against multiple enemies, its debt has continued to grow, the weakening dollar has contributed to less consumer spending, and people are no longer able to keep their own houses. The government's temporary band-aid is an economic stimulus plan, which ultimately means printing out a lot of money and causing inflation in the long run. The media has been unusually optimistic about the plan, calling "This economic growth package is an example of bipartisan cooperation at a time when the American people most expect it." Of course both parties are going to cooperate on this issue. Everyone holds stocks they don't want to see plunge into the Challenger Deep.

I'm keeping most of my money in the Vanguard Total International Stock Index (VGTSX), which I hope will pay off in the long run through investments abroad. I'm still waiting for the S&P 500 to hit rock bottom before I pick up the classic Vanguard 500 (VFINX) or its similar, less expensive twin, E*Trade S&P 500 (ETSPX).

I've also been keeping an eye on Google (GOOG), and if it continues its bullish trend I'm going to buy. Some "analysts" set the 12-month target for that one at $750. While I'm not that optimistic, I'm pretty sure it's going to break $600 by June. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are entangled in a widely publicized battle for supremacy. If Microsoft buys Yahoo, then eventually Google will have to counteract by increasing its already gargantuan influence on the web, possibly through cooperation with AOL. If Yahoo merges with Google instead, then Google will receive its much needed boost towards China to face off with its faltering Asian archenemy Baidu. Either way, Google looks like a winner.

I also think an investment in the Defense Sector - Raytheon (RTN) or General Dynamics (GD), the leading producers of advanced weaponry for the U.S. military, will be a stable long-term investment. After all, the United States will always have to blow shit up, or replace the stuff that was blown up.

Anyway, those are my two cent ramblings on the current state of the U.S. economy.

Well, I redesigned my space a bit. I made the new banner by accident, when I applied the colored foil filter on top of what I was working on. The result looked kind of neat, so I decided to keep it. Hope you guys like the new look! Chinese New Year is coming soon! Just three more days of work until the week-long break!