Support for Taiwan's immediate independence increases by more than 25%

... in just five months!

UPDATE 2a: The title and subheadline of this post [originally: "Support for Taiwan's immediate independence nearly triples ...in just six months!" -- based on a comparison with the MAC survey quoted below] has been changed to reflect a better comparison with a survey done by the same pollster the month after the MAC poll. Details from that poll and a link to the original are included below in "Update 2b." [/update 2a]

An article from Now News shows that a poll released today by the deep-blue Global Views Magazine (遠見雜誌) has some very interesting numbers related to the desire for Taiwan's formal independence:

民調顯示，19.0%民眾贊成台灣應該儘快獨立、10.3%認應先維持現狀再獨立（急獨與緩獨合計29.3%），40.7%先維持現狀再看情形、 11.0%永遠維持現狀（維持現狀合計為51.7%），4.3%先維持現狀再和大陸統一、4.0%台灣應該儘快和大陸統一（緩統與急統合計為8.3%），與馬總統執政以後，民眾贊成統一的比率並無變動。

[Tim Maddog translation:]
The survey says that 19.0% support independence as soon as possible. 10.3% want to preserve the status quo for now but declare independence later. (Supporters of immediate independence and delayed independence amount to 29.3%.) 40.7% want to preserve the status quo and decide later, while 11% want to preserve the status quo indefinitely (totaling 51.7% in favor of preserving the status quo [sic]). 4.3% want to preserve the status quo but unify with the mainland [sic] later. 4.0% of Taiwanese want to unify with the mainland [sic] as soon as possible. (Those in favor of unification add up to 8.3%.) After President Ma took office, there has been no change in support for unification.

UPDATE 1: Here's a direct link to the latest Global Views survey [464 KB PDF file]. [/update 1]

UPDATE 3: Here's the English version of the Global Views survey [152 KB PDF file]. [/update 3]

Just six month's ago, Taiwan's so-called Mainland Affairs Council (大陸委員會) did a survey which said that "6.7%" supported independence as soon as possible [12 KB PDF file].


A Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) survey from April 17 to 20, 2009
in which only 8.8% state a desire for Taiwan's unification with China.
UPDATE 2b: A May 13 - 15, 2009 survey from Global Views [744 KB PDF file] says:

[...] 15.0%贊成儘速獨立 [...]

[Tim Maddog translation:]
[...] 15% support immediate independence [...]

The current figure of 19% support for immediate independence would therefore amount to an increase of 26.66% (a four percentage point increase from the earlier 15%). The total support for unification in the May 2009 poll amounted to 8.3% -- precisely the same as the most recent poll. [/update 2b]

China's Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) -- chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait -- is coming to Taiwan for talks (and possibly to sign agreements) with Straits [sic] Exchange Foundation (海峽交流基金會) chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) this December. Will you be out there protesting?

You are not in the minority. You'd better let the world hear your voices!

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Nodes: Taiwan, 台灣, China, 中國, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, survey, 民調, Chiang Pin-kung, 江丙坤, P.K. Chiang, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林

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

Taiwan and China are two different nations

Stick this on your calendars

Declare to the world the truth-which-"cannot"-be told:


TAIWAN AND CHINA ARE TWO DIFFERENT NATIONS
(Click for full size: 1248 x 604 pixels, 1,331 kb)
Original image photographed at the 517 protest by Tim Maddog

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Upcoming events: Taiwan, 台灣, China, 中國, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, Taidu, 台獨

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

1984, Ma Ying-jeou style

Black is white, part too-many-to-count

Remember Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) "three noes"? They were: "No unification (不統), no independence (不獨), and no war (不武, sometimes translated as 'no use of force')." Ma even said that there would be "no unification" in his lifetime, but as far as I can tell, Ma is still alive, and things are moving rapidly in that direction nonetheless.

Today's news is telling us that visits to China won't be considered "going abroad," and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials are shamelessly trying to shift blame to the DPP for their own dirty tricks! (Watch the video at the previous link.)


The Ma Ying-jeou government is betraying Taiwan yet again
Translation of highlighted text:
Visiting the mainland [sic] area...
(Announcement)
... does not count as "going abroad"
(Talking Show [大話新聞] screenshot)
(Click to enlarge)
Ma sounds just like Big Brother in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.


Ma Ying-jeou IS Big Brother
(Click to enlarge)
Take a look at those famous lines from Nineteen Eighty-Four: WAR IS PEACE; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

Ma has been in office for less than a year, but look at what he is actually doing to Taiwan as compared with his empty words. (As usual, hover your cursor over the links for more info.)

CALLING TAIWAN "TAIWAN PROVINCE"	IS	"NO UNIFICATION" (不統)?!
DESTROYING TAIWAN'S EXISTING INDEPENDENCE	IS	"NO (DECLARATION OF) INDEPENDENCE" (不獨)
SURRENDERING TO THE PRC	IS	"NO WAR" (不武)?!

If your eyes are open, this is what you'll see: Calling Taiwan a "province" is unification. Destroying Taiwan's existing independence is not the same as merely "not declaring independence" -- even Ma's predecessor, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), didn't come close to declaring independence! But if you can't even speak up for your own sovereignty, the other guys have killed you without even firing their weapons! Whose side is Ma on, anyway?

People of Taiwan: how long will you stand for Ma's Newspeak?!


"Ma Ying-jeou course on political terminology"
An editorial cartoon from the April 16, 2004 edition of the Taipei Times

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Winston Smiths: Taiwan, 台灣, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立

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

Ma Ying-jeou's spokesman distorts the truth

Even a pro-unification media* survey will back that up

Before I get to the distortion, let me start off with some info that's closer to the truth (and by that, I mean that the real numbers most likely favor an even greater degree of support for Taiwan independence). Here's a bit from a March 11, 2009 survey [236 KB PDF file] done by TVBS [translations, highlighting mine]:

台灣與大陸的關係：64%民眾傾向維持現狀，19%傾向獨立，僅5%傾向統一

Relations between Taiwan and the mainland: 64% of the public support maintaining the status quo, 19% support independence, and only 5% support unification

調查也發現，民眾對台灣與大陸的關係有１９％民眾傾向獨立，較陳雲林訪台前（９７年１０月２８日）的調查減少５個百分點（２４％：１９％），５％傾向統一，維持現狀的比例則由５８％增加６個百分點，為６４％。民眾比較希望兩岸關係維持現狀的比例，是近五年多以來最高的一次。進一步詢問民眾，如果只能從台灣獨立或是和大陸統一選擇一種時，６６％民眾表示希望台灣獨立，希望與大陸統一的比例為１７％，１８％沒有表示意見，與陳雲林訪台前調查結果差異不大。

The poll also found that on the subject of relations between Taiwan and the mainland [sic], 19% support Taiwan independence, 5 percentage points lower than a poll taken before [China's ARATS chairman] Chen Yunlin visited Taiwan (October 28, 2008), while 5% supported unification, and the earlier 58% support for maintaining the status quo increased by 6 percentage points to 64%. Over the past 5 years, this is the highest preference the public has shown for maintaining the status quo. Taking the question one step further, when the public could only choose from independence or unification, 66% of the public expressed a desire for Taiwan's independence, 17% desired unification with the mainland [sic], and 18% stated no opinion, differing only slightly from a poll taken before Chen Yunlin's visit.

One thing you'll notice if you read that carefully is that the answer varies greatly, depending upon how the question is asked. Furthermore, remembering that TVBS has a pro-unification position, one can easily deduce that if their numbers are inaccurate in either direction, they would want to tweak those numbers so as to favor unification.

Now, let's look at what Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said on the fourth anniversary of China's "anti-secession" law (which "legislates" the arbitrary use of "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan):

"We think the mainland authorities should carefully consider the feelings of Taiwanese and handle their piece of legislation appropriately," Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said.

Wang did not elaborate on what he meant by "appropriately," but said Taipei believed the "mainland authorities have the wisdom to know how to handle it appropriately."

Wang said President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) position on the "Anti-Secession" Law has been consistent since it was enacted four years ago.

"He has insisted on protecting the sovereignty of the Republic of China and maintaining Taiwan's dignity," Wang said. "He has always believed the 'Anti-Secession' Law is unnecessary and unfeasible."

Wang said the legislation was unnecessary because the majority of Taiwanese were in favor of maintaining the "status quo" in the Taiwan Strait and are against Taiwanese independence.

Y'see? That's not exactly true. (Refer back to the information I highlighted in the TVBS survey.) If you ask Taiwanese to choose between independence and unification, a great majority will choose independence. Take the very real threat from China's 1,500 missiles out of the equation, and those numbers would favor independence even more. Change the word "unification" to the more accurate "annexation," and watch what happens. Taiwanese do not want their freedom to participate in the world to be oppressed by China for one more day -- much less indefinitely.

* Note TVBS' use of the word "mainland" (大陸).

UPDATE: As mentioned in the first comment below, Taiwan Echo has a post which makes for good complementary reading: Poll Shows Ma's China Approach Is Overwhelmingly Unsupported by the People. Go read it now, and spread the word. If Ma won't ask for public opinion, then it must at least be discussed in every home and on every street corner. [/update]

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Polygraphics: Taiwan, 台灣 Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Wang Yu-chi, 王郁琦, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, surveys, 民調, missiles, 飛彈

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

Deep thoughts, August 19, 2008

Look at the other hand

While many people are being misdirected by the madness surrounding former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), other stuff -- really big stuff -- is going on:

Although there is no historical evidence that it was invented by the Chinese, it may be appropriate to note that one of the oldest forms of coercion is known as "Chinese water torture." By continuously dripping water on a victim's head over an extended period of time, it is said that the technique can drive a victim insane.

Nowadays, it seems like those drops of water are being applied to Taiwan's forehead, with each droplet taxing the nation's identity a little more each time. What's worse is that -- like a real victim of torture -- Taiwanese appear to be strapped to a chair and fated to a long period of suffering. And the torturer is a tag team: the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Drip: "Chinese Taipei." Drop: "Chunghwa Post." Drip: No WHO or UN application under the name "Taiwan." Drop: Our elected president is but a "Mr." Drip: The possible renaming of National Democracy Memorial Hall, after the murderous dictator the monument was built for. And drop: In the Dominican Republic over the weekend, where President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) delegation was referred to -- for all to see and without as much as a complaint -- as "China, Taiwan."

Is there anybody out there? Is anybody awake? Do you have any idea just how much is at stake?

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Alarming tones: Taiwan, 台灣, deep thoughts, 深思, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Chinese Taipei, 中華台北, China, 中國, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, Taidu, 台獨

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

Independence formulations, formulated independently

Didn't this guy get China's memo/bribe/threat?

ESPN senior sports writer Jim Caple, writing from Beijing, turns the usual meme about Taiwan ("which China claims...") on its flat-topped head:

On the field next door, communist China was playing Taipei, the democratic capital on the Taiwan island just miles off its coast whose independence is disputed by the mainland government.

Got that? Taiwan's existing independence is the given, and it's disputed by authoritarian China.

Reporters with brains and/or a conscience, can you do any better?

Kudos to Jim Caple.

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Differential equations: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, Taidu, 台獨, media, 媒體, memes, 大腦模仿病毒, Jim Caple

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

Taiwan isn't China's

Say it out loud

What we at this blog have been saying all along has supposedly been said by US officials in a letter to the United Nations, quoted here in an FTV article via Sina.com:

美不接受台灣為PRC一部分

美國上禮拜才說出，台灣和中華民國都不是國家的話來，5日就傳出，美國寫信給聯合國說「不接受台灣是中華人民共和國一部份」的說法。藍綠對此都表示肯定，民進黨甚至說，要更加努力推動入聯公投。

[Tim Maddog translation:]
US doesn't accept that Taiwan is part of the PRC

The United States spoke out just last week to say that neither Taiwan nor the Republic of China are countries. News reports on September 5 said that the United States wrote a letter to the United Nations saying that it "does not accept that Taiwan is a part of the People's Republic of China." The blue and green camps both confirmed the news. The DPP said it will exert even more effort to promote its planned referendum on joining the UN.

A DPA article titled "China drops plan for UN vote on 'Taiwan is part of China'" provides these details:

The China Times, in a dispatch from Washington DC, said China has canceled the plan for the UN vote. China now says that it is UN members' consensus that Taiwan is part of China, so there is no need for a vote.

In a nine-point clarification, the US told the UN that 'Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China' is not the consensus of the majority UN members, and is not the consistent policy of the US.

Washington has conveyed this stance to both the UN and Taipei, the mass-circulation Chinese-language paper said.

China originally planned to ask UN members to vote on 'Taiwan is part of China' to block Taiwan's bid to join the UN. Taiwan has been seeking to join the UN since 1993 but stepped up its campaign this year by applying to join the UN as a new country, called 'Taiwan,' with President Chen Shui-bian signing the application which was delivered to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Ban rejected Taipei's application, saying the Taiwan issue was solved when the UN passed Resolution 2758 in 1971 to expel the Republic of China (ROC) and accept the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The ROC government lost China to the Chinese Communists in 1949 - when it fled to Taiwan to set up its government-in-exile, still called the ROC - but continued to hold China's UN seat until 1971.

Note the complete rectification of the old false meme about "Taiwan and China" having "split in 1949." Now that's Journalism with a capital J! Whoever is responsible for that deserves some heavy-duty kudos.

This sounds like good news in so many ways, but prepare yourselves for the imminent wailing and gnashing of Chinese dentures.

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Distinct entities: Taiwan, 台灣, Republic of China, 中華民國, ROC, China, 中國, People's Republic of China, 中華人民共和國, PRC, 中共, United Nations, 聯合國, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, Taidu, 台獨, sovereignty, 主權

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

CNN airs interview with Taiwan's president

Letting the world hear this side for a change

As Michael Turton touched upon in an earlier post on Taiwan Matters, CNN anchor Anjali Rao interviewed President Chen Shui-bian on the weekend show TalkAsia last week, addressing topics ranging from the March 19, 2004 shooting to the "scandals" surrounding his family to the reasons for repeatedly "provoking" Beijing and "rattling the bars of China's cage" (Excellent metaphor, that one!) to the so-called troubled relations with the US (Rao: "... the relationship between Taiwan and Washington at the moment is not as friendly as it once was."). [Note: I don't know where the Taiwan News got their information about the interview, but that stuff about Taiwan identity wasn't in the version I watched. Follow the links below, and see for yourself.]

The good
Rao asked some questions that sounded like the usual stuff we hear in international news about Taiwan. Whether the host was playing "devil's advocate" or not, I can't say, but she gave Chen a whole lot of space to answer the questions without interruption, and he gave pretty good answers to most of them. Even when she asked follow-ups, Chen gave relatively long, detailed responses which included some excellent statements about the reality of Taiwan's independence despite the lack of widespread international recognition or a "timely, relevant, and viable" constitution approved by the people. Rao repeatedly referred to and addressed Chen as "President," something many media outlets avoid by bending to China's will and calling him "leader" instead. CNN even put "Taiwan President" onscreen below Chen's name. To that much, I say "Hooray!"

The bad
There are lots of mistakes which may seem trivial or picky to point out, but I'm going to point out these groaners anyway and let you make up your own mind about the interview.

First, they messed up Chen's name in the onscreen titles, displaying it as "Chen Shui Bian." That's a pretty small mistake, and was probably the fault of the graphics person, but it shouldn't have happened. Rao appeared to be aware of the recent "redshirt" demonstrations, yet she appeared in the same solid red blazer/black top combo she frequently wears. Was this done on purpose? Only Rao and/or her producers know for sure.

Lost in translation
The translations were not completely accurate. For example, where I heard Chen say that there are "at least 988 missiles" ("至少有988枚"), it was translated as "The correct number should be 988 missiles." When Chen said the number of missiles had increased "more than fivefold" (五倍之多) the translator changed it to "almost fivefold." Regarding the shooting, when Chen said, "I believe that if it weren't for the shooting, we would have won by an even larger margin," the translation changed it to "... our camp would have won [making it sound like they hadn't won in the first place], and won even more votes.

Again, most of that's fairly minor stuff, but in the English version of one of the questions (normally restated for the camera and edited in after such interviews are completed), Rao implied that First Lady Wu Shu-jen had already been proven innocent of embezzlement charges. The question the president answered, which I assume was asked in Mandarin, was about the charges related to the Sogo gift certificates. Rao was born in Hong Kong, and an over-the-shoulder shot of Chen talking about being a "happy volunteer" after he leaves office showed her reacting with amusement, as if she understood immediately, but I can't assume that she's fluent in Mandarin, or that the shot was in sync with Chen's words -- I can only state what I saw.

President Chen gave a few answers that disappointed me, but perhaps he was once again being more diplomatic than I could ever be. Describing the "status quo" (as if one existed) as "peaceful" (despite the "anti-secession" law [which "legislates" the arbitrary use of "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan] and exponential missile build-up) was a bit disconcerting. Also, his response to the question about the shooting really should have gotten to the point, which is that forensics expert Henry Lee -- recommended by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) -- used actual evidence to report what the KMT continues to deny -- that Chen was really shot, that the bullet came from outside of the vehicle in which he was riding, and that the police were successful at finding the person who made the gun used to fire the bullets -- and that that very person has now fled to China, possibly into the arms of other Chen-haters.

The Island X files
In case you missed the interview and still want to see it (I think you should!), you're in luck. I've captured the whole thing, including the bumper intro and the three segments of the show and have uploaded it all to YouTube. Click the thumbnails below to view the clips.

Intro		Part 1
Part 2		Part 3

Excuses, excuses
Sorry for the poor quality of the videos, but that was the best I could do from within the cage that Taichung's cable TV monopoly and lack of a satellite dish has me in.

Related videos
* CNN專訪 總統暢談憲改工程 (2007-01-24) [CNN interview: President discusses constitutional changes] (via Taiwan TV) (1'31" YouTube video)
* 扁：國務費案 民主進展陣痛 (2007-01-24) [A-bian: "State affairs fund" case" is a "labor pain" on the road to democracy] (via FTV) (1'18" YouTube video)

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Participants: Taiwan, 台灣, Republic of China, 中華民國, ROC, China, 中國, People's Republic of China, 中華人民共和國, PRC, 中共, Chen Shui-bian, 陳水扁, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, Taidu, 台獨, sovereignty, 主權, democracy, 民主, CNN, TalkAsia, Anjali Rao, YouTube

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

BBC gets Taiwan all wrong

Is it on purpose?

A reader of [my personal blog] sent me a link yesterday afternoon to a very one-sided BBC article about Shih Ming-teh's inane protest in Taipei. Writer Caroline Gluck, despite being stationed right there in the capital, got so many things so glaringly wrong, I couldn't help but compose a long comment to the article.

An e-mail to fellow blogger Michael Turton revealed that both he and Jason of Wandering to Tamshui had submitted similar comments there, and all of us had done so independently of each other.

None of our comments has been published. In fact, no comments at all have.

Action, reaction
So Michael blogged it, Jason restated his own submission in comments to Michael's post, and I'm now going to reprint my own comment here [with two typos corrected, some links added so that anyone can verify the facts of the matter, and a bit of formatting]:

What the people quoted in this article say isn't necessarily true, and Ms. Gluck, you leave too many distortions unchallenged.

When Shih says "This whole island is angry," he implies that everyone is angry at President Chen. The fact is that many people in Taiwan are angry at Shih himself, as his own ethics are questionable. Shih's current connection with Chen Yu-hao, who is wanted internationally after fleeing justice with hundreds of millions of NT$ NT$60 billion in debt and who now holds a Chinese passport, goes unmentioned.

When you tell readers about President Chen's "public approval ratings falling to all-time lows," you fail to tell them that the polls which say so were done by opposition newspapers like the United Daily News and the China Times which are known for telling obvious lies in their front page headlines. Also, you could point out that 80 - 90% of the news media in Taiwan is run by opponents of Chen Shui-bian, remnants of the KMT's party-state. Again, this is unfair and unbalanced "coverage" of a complex story.

Emile Sheng is constantly portrayed in the English-language media as a "neutral observer." He's given the space here to deceive readers with quotes like "We don't want any partisan support," but he's been anti-Chen for as long as I can remember. Sheng's employer, Soochow University, is curiously named after a place in China. Shih's movement has exactly the same goals as the unelected authoritarians in China: to use extralegal means get rid of the democratically-elected president of Taiwan. Taiwan, you might remind your readers, is an independent country where Chen's title doesn't need to be put in scare quotes the way it is in Xinhua reports.

You unquestioningly say that the red clothing demonstrates the protesters' "anger at corruption." Did you think to look behind the curtain and see if you could find evidence of China's connection to this event? Lin Cheng-chieh, the chairman of a pro-unification party who recently beat a Chen supporter on live TV, supports the movement, and he's connected to gang leaders in China such as Chang An-le. Why no mention of this?

You say that there will be "no noisy horns," yet you fail to mention how the event is disturbing patients at the nearby Taiwan University Hospital. Again, this favors Shih and fails to present a clear picture of what's really happening.

Why is there no mention of any of this?

As for the title of this article, these so-called sit-ins (in Mandarin, "jìng zuò" or "quiet sit") aren't "gaining ground" they're merely getting noisier.

No wonder Michael said at the end of his post, "I can name two dozen bloggers who could come up with a better piece than that."

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For the records: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwan Independence, 台灣獨立, Taidu, 台獨, Taipei, 台北, China, 中國, Shih Ming-teh, 施明德, BBC, 英國廣播公司, Caroline Gluck, 凱若琳葛拉克

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