KMT's China Times Connection

Careful readers of this blog may remember Michael Turton's comment on my Enemies of Press Freedom post:

Let's not forget, in September a senior editor of China Times, writing on his blog, called for the "protesters" led by Shih Ming-te to become so radical that the US would signal the Taiwan army to depose the Chen government.

Well, that senior editor's name is Yang Du (楊渡). And now he's been appointed chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee (文傳會). He joins another China Times staffer Huang Zhao-song (黃肇松), who was recently appointed to the KMT's Supervisory Commission as a member of its task force on hiring and appointments.

The post Michael was referring to was entitled Don't Even Talk about Deposing Chen if you aren't Ready to Riot (不敢動亂，倒扁免談). Its thesis was the US would not move to depose Chen Shui-bian unless anti-Chen demonstrators rioted in the streets. Yang finished his infamous post with this gem:

To pit a bit more plainly, if you are afraid of rioting, then don't bother trying to oust Chen. If you want to oust him, then you will have to riot if you are to succeed.

My dear friends, are you ready?

His recent film on the 228 Incident, commissioned by the Taipei City Cultural Bureau argued that 228 was sparked by a mainlander's not understanding Taiwanese rather than KMT repression. The implication that Taiwan's ethnic issue was caused by 'misunderstanding' rather than repression was bitterly protested by 228 survivors.

Way to go Chairman Ma. You really know how to pick 'em.