The Chinese Nationalist Party hates Taiwan's democracy

Goodbye democracy, hello dead-dictator worship


Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (臺灣民主紀念館)
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)
The Saturday, May 30, 2009 edition of the Taipei Times brings us the details of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) plans to reverse Taiwan's democracy all the way back to how things were when they were the only party that was legal and memorializing dictators was de rigueur:

Old CKS plaque to be reinstated at Memorial Hall

[...]

The [KMT] government has decided to remove a plaque bearing the name "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" from the main building of the hall and would reinstate the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" plaque in July, Minister Without Portfolio Ovid Tseng (曾志朗) said on Thursday.

The decision was made after coordination meetings between different government branches, Tseng said.

As for the inscription on the memorial hall's entry arch, the Ministry of Education said yesterday it would hold three public forums next month to discuss whether to reinstate the four-character inscription, dazhong zhizheng (大中至正), which means "great neutrality and perfect uprightness."*

Participants at the forums will include academics and experts, while elected representatives and government officials will be excluded from the meetings, the ministry said.

Tseng said the government would not replace the "Liberty Square" inscription at the hall entrance until after gauging public opinion on the matter during the ministry-sponsored forums.

[...]

During the review of the central government's budget request for the current fiscal year in January, the KMT-controlled legislature passed a resolution stating that "the name of National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall shall be changed to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall."

Note carefully how they say they won't replace the "Liberty Square" sign "until after they gauge public opinion." According to experience, that means that no matter what the public has to say about it, they will do it, perhaps after pretending to do a survey.


A closer shot of the plaque which reads
"Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall"
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)
* NOTE: The second and fourth characters in "dazhong zhizheng" form two-thirds of one of Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石/蔣中正) names. Every city in Taiwan has a Zhongzheng/Jhongjheng/Chungcheng Road (中正路).


The gate at Liberty Square
Photographed in December 2007 by Tim Maddog
(Click to enlarge)

---

Directional indicators: Taiwan, 台灣, Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, 臺灣民主紀念館, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Chiang Kai-shek, 蔣介石, CKS, 蔣中正, Liberty Square, 自由廣場

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

Another distortion piece from the BBC

Down with Xia!

A piece with no byline on the web site of BBC News tells of the "recycl[ing]" of the former National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂). Then it tacks on some nonsense which the BBC seems to require by policy:

Chiang was the founding father of modern Taiwan, when his defeated army was driven from the Chinese mainland in 1949.

Many native Taiwanese resented this influx of mainlanders, and suffered human rights abuses during subsequent decades.

Mr Chen has sought to undo this legacy, and the re-dedication of the hall is the latest in a series of symbolic changes, the BBC's Chris Xia reports.

Most controversial is a plan to hold a referendum on joining the United Nations as the independent country of Taiwan.

This has provoked fury in Beijing, which still regards the island as a renegade province.

The name Chris Xia is mentioned within. S/He is the BBC's East Asia editor.

Get out your mediascopes
Let's take a closer look at what I quoted above.

"[M]odern Taiwan" is often described as a "vibrant democracy." Chiang, on the other hand, was a dictator (ranked number four in the book Tyrants: History's 100 Most Evil Despots & Dictators), so he can hardly be described as "the founding father of modern Taiwan." The BBC's East Asia editor, however, somehow allowed that to appear in the article. Oh, wait. Xia is the East Asia editor.

UPDATE: The first paragraph from the section quoted above now reads:

Chiang Kai-shek, who once governed all of China, fled with his Nationalist troops to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war to the Communists.

The rest remains as is. Note that the update could still be considered a pro-PRC position.


Screenshot from the Google cache of the page
(Click thumbnail to enlarge)
[/END UPDATE]

"Mr Chen" happens to be President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) (the article does call him "President" in its first line), but he's not seeking to "undo" [Chiang's] legacy." What the Taiwanese resented wasn't merely the "influx," but rather the treatment they got. The resentment that remains is directed specifically at the people who still "hate Taiwan" and treat it as if it were part of China (which it isn't) -- not at the immigrants who have made Taiwan their home and who identify with the people here.

As for the editorial comment about the referendum being "controversial," that sounds a whole lot like a line that could have been fed to Xia by a deep-blue supporter or politician. No wonder Xia doesn't quote a source.

On the web site of Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one can easily dig up the information that will shine some light on Xia's distortion:

According to a poll conducted by the Executive Yuan's Mainland Affairs Council in April 2007, more than 77% of respondents support using the name Taiwan to apply for membership in international organizations, the United Nations included. In the face of such clear-cut public opinion, democratically-elected government of Taiwan must respond accordingly. As such, we have decided to apply for UN membership under the name Taiwan.

Xia considers 77% support to be "controversial"? Feh! Have a look at a sampling of the BBC's own controversial reporting on Taiwan:

1) BBC gets Taiwan all wrong
2) BBC angers all who care about Taiwan
3) BBC still not getting Taiwan right
4) BBC continues Taiwan deception
5) BBC strikes again
6) BBC Taiwan Coverage: Pathetically Biased
7) BBC cooks up more nonsense about Chen recall bid
8) Who will observe the Taiwan observers?
9) BBC has news about Taiwan totally backwards

Finally, as for Beijing being "provoked," remember that it is a policy choice for them, and since the PRC flag has never flown over Taiwan, it couldn't possibly be a "renegade province," so stop saying that.

---

Controversy generators: Taiwan, 台灣, media, 媒體, BBC, 英國廣播公司, Chris Xia, Chiang Kai-shek, 蔣介石, CKS, 蔣中正, United Nations, 聯合國, referendum, 公投

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