Taiwan + Nerd News: President Ma's Harvard Mentor Offers Advice

I've been too busy to post much about the ongoing mess in Taiwan (go see various posts and links at Turton's blog), but I can't resist posting this one particular news story.

Most of you probably know by now that Ma Ying-jeou studied at Hahvahd in his student days. Now, in the middle of the political and legal circus surrounding the indictment of former president Chen Shui-bian, Ma's Hahvahd mentor and Nerd Lord has gone public with criticism and advice for his former student. Here is a piece of it:

The Harvard Law School mentor of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou said Saturday that his former student needs to urgently act to prevent an "increasingly disturbing circus atmosphere" from prejudicing his predecessor's right to a fair trial.

. . . "It is as if there are people trying to repudiate all the progress that Taiwan has made over the past 15 years," he said, referring to the island's gradual transition from dictatorship to multiparty democracy.

. . . Cohen said Ma's handling of the Chen case revealed an apparent choice to placate the extremist wing of his ruling Nationalist Party rather than reaching out to Taiwan's broad political middle.

Ma, I hope you're paying attention. You still have a lot to learn, grasshopper.

Cohen's comments follow an unspeakably disgraceful episode involving various lawyers, prosecutors involved in the Chen case, and the Justice Minister himself (details here).

Taiwan Retrospective: Top News Stories of 2008

Taiwan's CNA has its annual list of top Taiwan news stories of the year. Here's the list, and it's a mostly depressing one.

Number one: the arrest and indictment of former president Chen Shui-bian, of course.

Other highlights (or "lowlights"?) include poisoned milk from China and this little gem of financial news:

Since the May 20 inauguration of the KMT administration, Taiwan's stock index plunged from more than 9,200 points to far below the 10-year average of 6,560 and even continued its downward spiral toward a low of 4,000 points before rebounding to hover around 4,300 points.

Gee, what was that Ma said about boosting Taiwan's economy if he got elected?

Taiwan: More on Chen Indictment; Investigators Go After Lee Teng-hui Also?

You all know about Chen Shui-bian's indictment. Michael Turton has more, including a link to this disturbing report by AFP that investigators are now going after Lee Teng-hui.

Corruption charges aside, is it not rather ... odd-looking that the targets are the two Taiwanese politicians whom Beijing hates the most?

Taiwan: Chen Shui-bian is Indicted on Corruption Charges

The political circus goes into overdrive.

I am not saying that Chen is a completely innocent martyr. It seems probable that he engaged in shady financial behavior. Nevertheless, in the hyper-politicized atmosphere of Taiwan right now, the Chen indictment is not only about one private individual and his possible crimes. The indictment applies also to his family.

The whole thing comes with the nasty smell of politics, and the ongoing island-internal wrangles about Ma and his KMT (the latest outrage is here) is a volatile context that freights every single move first in the Chen arrest, now in the indictment and later legal process with immense ramifications. Overdetermination? The entire Chen saga is certainly divisive.

The Time commentary says that the entire affair is "a mixed bag for Taiwan democracy." You don't say!

The entire mess has damaged the reputation of Chen's DPP, which is the main opposition to the KMT. And goodness knows that the KMT needs a vibrant and healthy opposition!

Taiwan: Differing Opinions of the Chen Shui-bian Arrest

Worth a thought, as several analysts and political science professors discuss the Chen arrest.

RELATED POST: Taiwan divided over the arrest.

Taiwan: Nerd Analysis and Fallout from the Chen Arrest

Newsweek has a decent analysis of the political storm in Taiwan. Do read.

Here is a bit of it about the KMT and the judiciary:

. . . . before Mr Chen’s arrest, twenty prominent international Asia specialists, including Professors Arthur Waldron of the University of Pennsylvania, Bruce Jacobs of Monash University and June Teufel Dreyer of the University of Miami, along with former Far Eastern Economic Review Taipei correspondent Julian Baum, issued an unprecedented open letter expressing “deep concern” at the behaviour of Taiwanese prosecutors. “It is obvious that there have been cases of corruption in Taiwan,” they wrote, “but these have occurred in both political camps.” The recent detentions, they said, had created an impression that the KMT authorities “are using the judicial system to get even with members of the former DPP government.” They accused prosecutors of “a basic violation of due process, justice and the rule of law,” by holding several detainees incommunicado without being charged, and of “trial by press” by leaking detrimental information to the media. They suggested that such actions were jeopardizing the achievements of Taiwan’s transition from one party rule (by the KMT) to democracy in the late 1980s and early 90s.

The letter is on a petition site here and gathering signatures (some of the signatures, though, are clearly posted by Internet trolls).

The Newsweek bit also has this to say about Ma specifically:

“Chen Shui-bian was a very divisive figure,” says Frank Muyard of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China. “People hoped Ma would be more conciliatory – they saw him as a gentle, well-educated, nice person who would help Taiwan come together and do something for reconciliation. But he hasn’t done that. Now many people see him as partisan, too eager to please China – they don’t trust him to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.”

Well, well, well, surprise, surprise. The Slick Smiling Sinophiliac Ma!

If Chen was divisive by enlarging rifts between China and Taiwan, Ma is divisive by enlarging rifts within Taiwan itself. I'm about willing to argue that Ma is more pernicious and ultimately far more harmful: cozying up to China while fomenting internal Taiwanese dissension is a recipe for disaster. Besides, Ma's actions seem well on their way to creating more anti-China sentiment on the island than Chen's.

RELATED POST: Taiwan is divided over the arrest of former president Chen.

Taiwan: Nation Divided Over Arrest of Former President Chen Shui-bian

When Chen was first arrested, I knew things would become nasty quickly, and so they have. I'll try to write a commentary later (after school), but for right now, try reading this bit from the BBC: "Taiwan divided over ex-president's arrest."

My short version: Chen's arrest is now (and perhaps has been from the beginning) not only a matter of his possible involvement in corruption and shady financial dealings. The entire situation pits the IDEA of the DPP against the IDEA of the KMT, and by "KMT" I mean ALL of it, both the shiny new face of it (Ma) and all the long years of bad associations and memories from the KMT's martial-law, one-party-rule past. Some people are seeing Chen's arrest as being politically motivated, and -- coming as it does after the Chen Yunlin visit with its police/crowd disasters and ongoing protests -- it LOOKS bad, regardless of whatever Ma's actual purpose or plan is (assuming that Ma has one).

Chen may not be an angel, but by turning him into a martyr, the KMT has inflamed the situation and made "the two Taiwans" even more volatile.

Taiwan: Former President Chen Shui-bian Arrested Under Corruption Charges

Suspicion of embezzling and corruption has put Chen into handcuffs. More here. Not too many details are available; I'll keep watching the news from Taiwan. Things are probably going to get nasty -- quickly.

Latest Loony Taiwan "Analysis": Georgia=Taiwan, Saakashvili=Chen

Michael Turton disassembles this latest morass, thus saving me from doing so. Like so many other "analyses," it presents former President Chen as a dangerous troublemaker, etc. etc. That old chestnut. The latest wrinkle here is comparing Chen to Georgia's President Saakashvili -- a comparison that's not just inaccurate, but basically false and misleading.

Anyway, the article goes on to speak about current Taiwan President Ma (in favorable terms, natch!). Unfortunately for these Ma cheerleaders, Turton isn't buying it (and neither am I). Michael's comment:

. . . political change here has not enhanced stability in the Taiwan Strait . . . instead it has introduced new instabilities and uncertainties by giving China the upper hand and sacrificing the interests of US allies Japan and Taiwan, as well as introducing the new and ominously opaque uncertainty: how far is Ma willing to go? But as we all know, the greatness of a realpolitik decision is measured by the number of friends it betrays . . .

You should take a look at the actual article that has Turton in such a temper. You know, part of me is really sick and tired of reading and trying to refute/rebut the constant stream of bad "analyses" of Taiwan. But another part of me thinks, "Well, I ought to try, because otherwise I'm basically letting people get away with spouting these stupid 'analyses' and spreading misconceptions." Bleagh.

Taiwan: the International Media Covers It Like a Bad Toupee

Media coverage of Taiwan is usually terrible. Mix in about equal parts of totally wrong, obviously biased, and generally clueless, and you'd have a media Taiwan-"analysis cocktail." Add some hemlock with a lemon twist and you're done!

Terrible media? Well, DUH. Haven't I been saying this for years? Still, it's nice to see someone else bang this drum so I can take a rest. (My most recent complaint was in this post.)

Blurb:

What makes us pause is the oftentimes erroneous reporting about Taiwan — willful or accidental — that is being fed to the global community and how uncritically wire copy is treated by news outlets, which allows bias or outright misrepresentation to pass as news.

Leaving behind eight long years of skewed reporting on former president Chen Shui-bian, who for some news agencies was the agent provocateur par excellence, who never failed to “anger” and “provoke” Beijing, or “alienate” Washington with his “extremism” and “separatism,” the post-Chen era promised to bring with it a sea change in reporting on Taiwan and its new president, Ma Ying-jeou.

At long last, the elected leader of Taiwan was “charismatic” and “Harvard-educated,” the epitome of “pragmatism” who was seeking to make “peace” with long-time “rival” China. During the presidential election, many agencies threw their supposed journalistic neutrality out the window and unashamedly supported Ma and the KMT by trumpeting the promises of an immediate fix to the economy that the previous government under Chen had “mismanaged.”

WORD.

Taiwan: Chen's Legacy via Reuters "News"

I found this link at the ever-readable View from Taiwan blog. There Michael Turton has a commentary on a news story by Reuters, but I can't resist making a few remarks of my own.

In a nutshell? This Reuters piece is, for a large part of it, laughably bad. Here is how it begins:

His wife may have been indicted for graft and his anti-China rage upset major ally the United States, but departing President Chen Shui-bian charted Taiwan's future by firming up its self-identity and cooling down Beijing.

"Anti-China rage"? Biased much, Reuters? I love how some ludicrous "news" outfits love to portray Taiwan as the troublemaker and China as the innocent bystander. It's all Taiwan's fault. Oh, wait, there's more!

Chen's provocative China stance, including talk of seeking formal independence and efforts to join the United Nations, also raised hackles from once staunch ally the United States.

Washington is legally obligated to help Taiwan in a war against Beijing but wants good relations with China, as well.

Damage to U.S. ties will be repaired only if Ma breaks new ground with China without capitulating to Beijing's political demands, political experts in the United States and Taiwan say.

Chen's other major legacy, his emphasis on a Taiwan identity over the Chinese one promoted by Ma's Nationalist Party (KMT), is more likely to endure as Hong Kong-born Ma is expected to tread softly on the issue, analysts said.

Does Reuters dare to dignify this bit of rubbish with the name of "professional journalism"? If one of my undergrad students had written this in an essay, I would have circled it in red ink and demanded to know just who these "experts" and "analysts" actually were -- plus full documentation.

Pfffft.