Proof Positive

President Ma Ying-jeou confirmed yesterday what many Taiwanese suspect. That he is not a 'Taiwanese' President but rather a 'Chinese' one. So much for democratisation and sovereignty:

When asked about his thoughts on Wen’s description of Taiwan as “China’s brother,” Ma said people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have the same roots, so the description “was not wrong.”

“But in Taiwan, the relationship between the government and the mainland operates under the constitution of the Republic of China,” he said. “Like I always say, the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Chinese nation.”

To say that Taiwanese belong to the Chinese nation and are 'little brothers' of Chinese is not only insulting to Taiwan's democracy and sovereignty but utterly obtuse to the majority of public opinion that regards the Taiwanese as belonging to the Taiwanese nation. Ultimately, I argue that the people belong to their environment and themselves. If they did in practice, perhaps we wouldn't have so many contrived power conflicts over borders and national identity.

U.S. Census 2010: write in "Taiwanese"

Now's your chance: You be you!

A group of Taiwanese-Americans produced this great video below as part of a campaign to address the problem of their group's underrepresentation and to fix it -- or to at least get the ball rolling -- in the United States Census 2010.

In previous censuses, many Taiwanese -- including ones who wrote in "Taiwanese" -- were counted as being "Chinese." With your help, perhaps things can change this time around. Please spread the word, and encourage people affected by this situation to participate in the movement.


2:38 YouTube video: "Write in "Taiwanese" - US Census 2010 [PSA Full Version]"
Further reading:
* United States Census 2010. Taiv✓anese! Be counted. Be recognized.

* Behind the Scenes of Census 2010: Write in "Taiwanese" | Passion Project

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Choose one or more: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwanese, 台灣人, Taiwanese-Americans, 台美人, census, 人口普查

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!

Taiwan's humpback pink dolphins

Redirect

In case you've arrived here via an RSS reader or a link created by a service such as Twitterfeed, the post about Taiwan's humpback pink dolphins is actually located on Ben Goren's personal blog, Letters from Taiwan. Just follow the link above.

Sorry for any inconvenience.