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July 2nd, 2008
Taiwan: Conflict over Diaoyutai Islands
· 20:03 · East AsiaOn June 11, a Taiwanese recreational fishing boat United(聯合號) sank following a collision with a Japanese coastguard vessel 11km off the disputed Diaoyutai(釣魚台) (Japan: Senkaku) islands, an island chain simultaneously claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China. Passengers and crew on the sinking boat were picked up by Japan.
Shortly after, Taiwanese mainstream media covered the accident. Political talk shows and call-in programmes, in particular, ardently discussed the accident and the long-standing sovereign dispute over Diaoyutais. Meanwhile, issues of complicated sovereign claims and fishing rights challenged the newly elected Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou and his government.
In his youth, President Ma(馬英九) passionately defended Taiwan's claim to the Diaoyutais. He also blasted former Taiwanese President Chen shui-Bian(陳水扁) whose attitude, he felt, was not proactive enough on the issue of sovereignty claims. The accident, however, occurred in a sensitive time while talks between Taiwanese and China officials were taking place.
Although Taiwan, China and Japan all claim sovereignty over the Diaoyutais, it is recognized that Japan has jurisdiction. The handling of the accident intertwined these historical, political and economic issues, and made them more prickly. As a consequence for Taiwan, the sovereignty dispute is not only an inevitable task, but a pending problem.
Many Taiwanese politicians insisted on being harsh to Japan while dealing with the accident. Republic of China (ROC) Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said during an interpolation session in parliament that he would not rule out going to war with Japan, if Taipei and Tokyo fail to resolve the dispute over the Diaoyutai islands through diplomatic actions.
The tense situation between Taipei and Tokyo that suddenly arose shocked Taiwanese bloggers. From various ends of the political spectrum, bloggers expressed their opinions and comments on this accident.
Blogger, Da-Dou(大豆), cited coverage of this accident from Japanese media where the affair is simply being treated as an accident. Compared with the relatively balanced way in which Japanese media covered the collision, Taiwanese media quoted an overwhelming majority of statements from Taiwanese fishing boat crew and officials.
Da-Dou questioned, whether it was really the truth, as the fishing boat skipper claimed, that the fishing boat was deliberately rammed until it sunk by a Japanese coastguard vessel:
相較於日本媒體，台灣媒體並沒有對於另一方當事人的說詞作任何查證或基本的平衡報導。只是單方面強調船長的說法，並沒有作到客觀中立。 ………….
無論釣魚台是否為我國領土，聯合號的行為都「顯然違法」，根據「娛樂漁業管理辦法」第24條規定
娛樂漁業漁船活動時間全天二十四小時開放。但每航次以四十八小時為限。 娛樂漁業漁船活動區域以臺灣本島及澎湖週邊二十四浬內及彭佳嶼、綠島、蘭嶼週邊十二浬內為限。
也就是說，因為聯合號不是「漁船」，而是「娛樂(海釣)漁船」，照理說到釣魚台附近超過九十海浬的地方根本是違法的，並且根據出發前應繳交的娛樂漁業漁船航行計畫資料表，其「航行計畫」一欄也完全登載不實。而且聯合號違反法令航行顯然不是第一次了。
‘Activity scheduled for recreational fishing vessels is permitted 24-hours a day. The limit for each sequence of voyages, however, is 48 hours.' And ‘The region of activity is limited to 24 miles surrounding Taiwan and Peng Hu, and within 12 miles around Pen Jia islet, Green island, and Lan Yu'.
That is to say, it is illegal for a ‘recreational' fishing boat like the United to go as far as 90 nautical miles near the Diaoyutai islands. Further, according to fishery operator handed in to the authorities before the recreational fishing boat United set out, a data table of the recreational fishery craft's navigating plan matched what they actually did. So actually, this is not the first time the United did this against the law.
Another blogger, Pau, points out that regardless of who claims sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands, Japan has to take responsibility for the sunken boat following a collision with a Japanese coast guard patrol boat:
回頭來看這次聯合號事件，日方絕對沒有任何理由跟立場扣留船上任何人。聯合號上插的是中華民國國旗，不是日本國旗，船上所有人都 是中華民國國民。姑且不論釣魚台爭議，日方撞沉我方船隻就是侵犯我方主權，插著我方旗幟的船隻，就等於中華民國領土，豈能容日本人將之撞沉。撞沉我方船艦 扣留我方人員，視我方主權為何物？
Going over this unexpected incident, there is no excuse or ground for Japan to detain anyone from that fishing boat. The flag hanging on “United” is of the Republic of China, not of Japan, not to mention the fact that all passengers on the boat are citizens of ROC. Besides, a boat with our flag on it, is regarded as a part of the territory of the Republic of China. Aside from the long-standing sovereignty dispute over the islands, Japan offends our sovereignty by ramming the boat bearing our national flag. This is unacceptable! Did they ever consider sovereignty issues while ramming our boat and detaining our citizens?
Blogger, Yu-Wen Huan(宇文渙), is reminded of the Boxer rebellion in this event:
台灣民意代表們鋪排的抗日秀 真是精彩絕倫 從高呼不惜一戰 送霹靂幹員護漁 要國防部長開飛機去繞一圈 進而升高軍事對峙都有 兩位聲望最低的部長—外交部和國防部 這下好不容易找到可以翻身的機會 都是狠話、大話盡出 因為再沒有比愛國心 更便宜、更方便販賣的道具了 越遠離戰場 人就越好戰
The anti-Japan show arranged by those representatives is fantastic. Those actions include claiming, “War if necessary”, sending SWAT teams to protect fishers, asking the minister of National Defense to fly to the islands, and heightening the military situation. The ministers of Foreign Affairs and National Defense, which have the lowest reputation, now have the opportunity to change the situation. Their tones are high-pitched and words are touchy, because nothing is cheaper and easier-to-sell than patriotism. People are more militant when they are away from the battlefield.
Xiao Ming(小明) in NanFangSao school appealed to everyone to face the music:
聯合號不是「漁船」，不是一般漁民去捕魚，是向釣客收錢載人出海釣魚去。這種攬客出海釣魚的營利船，居然可以到處走透透到處去享 受姜太公釣魚樂趣，怪也不怪？這次沒被日本修理，會不會哪一天他跑到北極去賞北極熊呀！！現在是怎樣？「四海一家」，你家就是我家嗎？？怎麼可以這麼自由 呀！什麼「海洋國家」，我棉的船老大早就這麼做了~>_<~ 釣魚台是台灣的？我的感覺，這種說法和「東起烏蘇里江、黑龍江…西到帕米爾高原噴赤河，南到增母暗砂……都是中華民國固有疆域」的說法，還真 的有異曲同工之妙。乾脆說月球、火星也是中華民國領土不是更好？？
The “United” is not a fishing boat and (the crew on the boat) are not normal fishers. Instead they make money from driving passengers out for fishing. This kind of boats goes everywhere to enjoy the fun of fishing. Don't you feel that is weird? If they were not rammed by a Japanese coast guard patrol boat this time, would they go to Arctic to see polar bears next time? Now what, “The world is one family”, and your home is mine as well? How could they be so free? When people call for “Taiwan is a country of ocean”, I think those who are on “United” have already achieved that ~>_<~. For those who claim “Diaoyutai Islands belongs to Taiwan”, I think that is very similar to the saying that, “The territory of the Republic of China reaches east to Wusuli river and Heilongjiang River, west to the Pamirs and Panj River, south to TzengMoo sand…”. Why don't they just say that the moon and the Mars also belong Republic of China?
Meanwhile, Taiwanese blogger Walter argues that Taiwanese like to treat themselves as slaves. He feels sad for Taiwan's weakness and lacking of dignity:
我當然覺得上戰場打仗真是人生最大悲哀 可能一槍就被不知道哪來的流彈爆頭而死、也可能一顆炸彈就讓你灰飛煙滅？ Than? 所以台灣該把戰爭這個選項移除？ 我也怕死，我也想組美好家庭、簡簡單單到老。 但台灣人真的如此沒有尊嚴？ 別忘了，台灣對釣魚台在憲法上是劃為”國土”的。
Of course, in my opinion, going to war is the most sorrowful thing in a human's life. People could die just by a stray bomb or a bullet. For this reason, then, should Taiwan eliminate going to war as an opinion? I am afraid of losing my life. I just want to have an ordinary family and lead a simple life. But what about the dignity of Taiwan? Do bear in mind, according to the Constitution, that the Diaoyutai islands are part of our territory.
Katana from Hong Kong suspects the hidden reasons causing the accident are not that simple:
這一撞，可能是日本鷹派跟台灣那批不想眼見國民黨跟中共之熱擁情況的在野派，暗手出招，陷你馬英九 一個政治危機，小馬哥強則得罪日本，不強又跟不上中國對此事件的強烈回應。中國此次如此強和快反應向日本罵，明顯跟暖春時態度不統調，可見又是中國鷹派給 胡、溫的一個回馬槍。
This accidental collision could be a trap secretly set by Japanese war hawks and out-of-power politicians in Taiwan who are not willing to see KMT and CPP allied. It meant to drag President Ma Ying-Jeou into a political crisis. President Ma's attitude could not be too strong to rile Tokyo. However, if his attitude was not strong enough, he would fell behind Beijing's burning reactions to this accident. Beijing immediately and strongly condemned Tokyo on this accident, which is apparently different from the attitude showing on the ‘warm spring' meeting. It is thus clear that Chinese war hawks attempt to give Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao a back thrust.
On the official website of Ma Ying-Jeou's presidential campaign, commenter wiixdhsu said we should be harsh to Japan. Why not just set the Diaoyutai islands as a sightseeing spot officially recommended by the Taiwanese government, he says:
日本這國吃軟不吃硬，對於捍衛主權的做法應該在行動要更強硬一點，舉南韓為例，日本也宣稱獨(竹)島他們擁有主權，可是南 韓採取 強烈作法捍衛主權加派巡邏艦巡邏，最後甚至開放民眾遊客到獨(竹)島觀光，獲得人民一致支持，日本毫無辦法。我們政府應該規劃開放陸客來台並且也將釣魚台 納入旅遊景點，派巡邏艦巡邏，徹底捍衛釣魚台主權，我相信此舉一定能獲得兩岸三地的民眾全面支持。
Japan always yield to soft approaches but rejects force. However, we should apply even more get-tough actions to protect our sovereignty. Let's take South Korea as the best example. Both Japan and South Korea claimed sovereignty over the Liancourt Rocks (Japan: Takeshima, Korea: Dokdo). South Korea took tough actions, sending petrol vessels and even allowed tourists to visit. South Korean people generally supported these actions. Finally, Japan cannot do a thing about this. Our government should include the Diaoyutais as a recommended sightseeing spot while planning to allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan. Moreover, sending coastguard vessels patrolling territorial waters nearby the Diaoyutai islands is necessary. We have to firmly claim our sovereignty by taking these actions. I believe these actions must be supported by people from the greater China area.
Blogger BillyPan says politicians only have very short-term passions on the issue of the Diaoyutai islands:
愛田友，蒼井空，穗花，小澤瑪利亞，麻美來台灣當Show Girl，台灣人馬上就忘記釣魚台在那裏了。
If Japanese AV (adult video) actresses Yua Aida, Sora Aoi, Honoka, Maria Ozawa and Asami were invited to Taipei as show girls, the Taiwanese would immediately forget where the Daioyutai Islands are.
There is a funny prank photo of former ROC president and military dictator, Chiang Kai-shek(蔣介石), which is created and published by a user of the popular scrabbling website VeryXD. Chiang's bluesy emotional expression is somehow funny, and the added caption says, “The Diaoyutai Islands cannot be given to Japanese”.
In the end, I would like to conclude with blogger, Lovelvislate's helpless words and drawing. His post, I believe, also represents thoughts of many Taiwanese.
釣魚台不是台灣的，也不是中華民國的，因為我們從來沒有保衛過它， 馬總統也別再說屁話了，我們不可能保衛它，也不可能為它與日本一戰，不可能的。 ………………… 如果是別的國家的漁船靠近釣魚台，日本是不可能如此的，我們必須面對現實， 就是我們很好欺負，個性溫和，總是逆來順受。
Taiwan has never had sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands, neither has the Republic of China. President Ma, please do not say stupid shit anymore. We can impossibly protect the Diaoyutai, nor fight against Japan for these islands either. Impossible. …… If there was a fishing boat of a country's other than Taiwan approaching the Diaoyutai Islands, Japan would not have done the same. The reality we must to face, is that we are easily bullied – we always bear bullies for our moderate manner.
我們必須面對現實，我們所有的不安都是來自不面對現實，現實是—我們不是一個國家， 我們沒有主權獨立，只有內政獨立，我們的軍隊，是名符其實的自慰隊。 美國也不可能會保衛台灣，美國、日本與中國都不承認中華民國的存在。 別傻了，釣魚台從不是我們的，忘了它吧。
The fact leads to the reality, where all our agitations come from. The fact is that Taiwan is just a political entity dealing with domestic affairs independently, not an independent country holding sovereignty over itself. All our army can veritably do is self-consolation, not self-defense. The U.S. can definitely not send their troops to protect Taiwan, either. Anyhow, the U.S., Japan and the People’s Republic of China deny recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign state. Therefore, don’t be silly - Taiwan has never had sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands. Forget it!
Translated From Chinese by Abstract and Pipperl. Reviewed by Solana Larson.
4 comments · »»June 8th, 2008
East Asia
Soundsandfury, a Taiwanese writer and blogger, tells us the irony when he saw the advertisement poster about Olympics in the subway of Beijing(zh). The poster with a slogan saying “2008 with Hu Jia” is featured with a China Gold Medal sportsman whose name is the same with the human right and environmental activist, Hu Jia, who was put into jail for 3.5 years also because of 2008 Beijing Olympics.
East Asia
Tim Maddog compares the difference of how TVBS, probably the most influencial cable news channel in Taiwan, treats different presidents.
May 29th, 2008
East Asia
David on Formosa reported on the Bike Smiling Day event in Taipei on May 25 with photo. The oil price is skyrocketing all over the world as well as in Taiwan, and the carbon emission produced by transportation is also causing serious environmental problems in Taiwan, especially in crowded cities, so a group of city bicyclers, environmentalists, and bloggers get together to host the Bike Smiling Day in order to encourage more Taiwanese people to try bicycling.
March 26th, 2008
East Asia
David on Formosa collected English bloggers' thoughts on Taiwan's Presidential Election that just finished on March 22. “Frank Hsieh has announced that he will resign as DPP chairman. Expect some major personnel changes in the DPP in the next few months. The next key things to watch for are whether President-elect Ma visits the US or other countries before he is sworn in on 20 May and who he appoints to the cabinet. ” said David.
March 25th, 2008
Taiwan: Racial Commercials Everywhere
· 07:23 · East AsiaOn Taiwan's TV screens there is a commercial about drawing lots of cars. In this commercial, a woman with south-east Asia look is driving a car, and the subtitle says:”How can she own a car?”
Is this a question? How cannot a south-east Asia woman own a car in Taiwan? When you see more and more women with south east Asia look playing roles of servants in each commercial or advertisement on cleansers and brooms, the question seems quite easy to answer. Their roles that Taiwanese media represents are always servants and poor people–even though there are at least 200 thousand south east Asia women bearing the identities as spouses or mothers of Taiwanese people.
Business commercials produced by private sectors discriminates against them, while the government-made advertisements are full of repression. Since the law stipulate foreign spouses to provide proof of super high financial capability if they want to obtain permanent citizenship in Taiwan. Last year, spouses from South East Asia countries and Mainland China composed the Coalition Against Financial Requirement for Immigrants. The Alliance protested the commercials carried out by Ministry of the Interior distorted the facts and repressed their struggles for basic human rights.
Ministry of the Interior publish a advertisement on newspaper saying that setting such a financial threshold is for the purpose of “ensuring lowest basic living conditions for foreign spouses”.
Bruce Liao, a law scholar dedicated to new immigrants issues indicates that
實質上，稍微有一點兒邏輯觀念，就知道「歸化財力門檻」根本與「確保外籍配偶最低生活保障」沒有關係。如果真有新移民家庭 難以生活，那是社會給付與防止歧視的問題，干財力門檻底事？
In essence, with a little bit of logic you will see that there is no meaningful connection between “financial threshold to naturalization” and “ensuring lowest basic living conditions for foreign spouses”. If there is any immigrant's family falling below basic criteria of survival, that should be the problem of social welfare and discrimination prevention–nothing to do with financial threshold.
[…]
照這種說法，我們是否應該每隔數年，就普查全體台灣人的財力狀況，不及格者吊銷身分證？
According to these sayings, we should carry out census on financial capability every a few years and suspend ID cards of those who don't pass the threshold, shouldn't we?
Things like this never happen just once. The advertisements carried out by Taiwanese Government not only repress foreign spouses but also Taiwan aborigines. In the end of last year, the government of Taipei County wanted to force a group of aborigines to move away who had lived by the Hsin Dian River for generations (see GV's report here). The government claimed that the high land is vulnerable to floods and published a advertisement with a big title saying “don't regret after your village is under water!”
Even though their are numerous discrimination commercials and ads in Taiwan, there isn't much reflection among public opinions. Very often, only the minorities who are directly affected by the ads would come out to protest. Among alternative media, Taiwan Lihpao and BaoBonPhuong monthly, a newspaper for Vietnamese migrant, have made a public statement for boycotting discriminative ads.
基於對弱勢處境的認識與提升媒體素質的要務，在台新移民報紙《四方報》主編張正曾經誠懇地公開表示：「作為一個以服務新移民為宗 旨、關心外籍勞工權益的媒體，儘管目前仍需有關單位補助，財務上也不寬裕，但《四方報》絕對拒絕刊登歧視弱勢族群的廣告，如污名新移民、否定同志存在或扭 曲原住民形象的廣告等等。」
Since it is crucial for us to understand social minorities and improve media standard, Chang Zhen, the chief editor of BaoBonPhuong monthly - a newspapers for new immigrants, stated sincerely that: “as a media serving new immigrant and concerning about migrant workers' rights, even though we still rely on subsidy for our publication work and our finance is tide, BaoBonPhuong monthly won't accept any advertisements that are discriminative towards migrants, homosexuals or indigeneous people.”
Another newspapers, Taiwan Lipao, which is also affiliated with Shu university, also made a public statement boycotting discriminative ads. Apart from the POTS section, Taiwan Lipao's principle in advertisement would follow BaoBonPhuong monthly in prohibiting discriminative ads. Moreover, Lihpao would follow up published articles and reports, if there are debates concerning discriminative languages by the newspapers' writers, the editors would balance the voice with articles speaking from the perspective of the minorities.
However, POTS, a most well-known and widely circulated alternative printed media seems to be indifferent to the discriminative advertisement issue. Last year, the magazine has an anti-homosexual film advertisement. Many readers are astonished by the ad as POTS likes to translate left wing media articles, such as Guardian and it is widely believed that the magazine has a leftist orientation. Homosexual groups protested against the ads, but according to a report by Lihpao, POTS' editor in chief Huang Sun-Quan tried to explain off the issue by “different standard between advertisement and news content”, “business need” and “different management principle between media and social movement group”, etc.
Another serious example happened right before the voting day of Presidential Election which just finished 3 days ago, when the campaign of DPP's candidate, Frank Chang-ting Hsieh, published several newspaper advertisements on March 20 in order to fight against the “cross-strait common market” political idea brought out of Ma Ying-jeou, the candidate of KMT. One of the advertisement from DPP enraged many bloggers.
In the advertisement it says:
馬英九主張一中共同市場，人員，貨物自由流通，生活習慣不同的中國人員大量流入，成群結隊大聲喧嘩、隨便插隊、猛搶座位、隨地吐痰便溺的情景，將出現在我們日常生活之中，生活品質一落千丈…..台灣人，您準備好了嗎？
Ma Ying-jeou advocates one Chinese common market, which allows free flow of people and goods. A huge amount of mainland Chinese, with very different lifestyle would flow into Taiwan. These people are noisy, they would jump the queue, compete for seat in the buses, split and shit in the street. And this would become part of our daily life, just imagine how it would affect our living? Taiwanese, are you ready for this?
When all these discriminative advertisements are popping up, there are more and more inappropriate act against minorities in Taiwan society. Homosexuals are subjected to violent threat and attack; government officials are speaking in discriminative language; middle school youths and university students have fun by bullying migrant workers; teachers carry out physical punishment on aboriginal kids. From time to time, there are news about physical abuse towards Southeast Asia workers and wives by employers and husbands respectively. Apart from violent incidents, family conflicts occur quite frequently. Putting aside issue concerning the coming out of homosexuals, there are cases when children cannot accept their Vietnamese mother, or even verbally abuse their mother. A Vietnamese wife wrote to sisterhood.org and said that:
我要離婚！…我想回去越南！他的兩個小孩看不起我，我是越南人又怎麼樣？…我是他們爸爸的老婆…也是他們的後母呀！
I want to divorce!… I want to go back to Vietnam! His two kids look down on me, I am Vietnamese, so what?… I am their father's wife… I am their stepmother!
In order to improve the deteriorating media ethics in term of discrimination, the National Communications Commission (NCC), when drafting the “Telecommunications Act” in last September, explicitly wrote down that television broadcast is “prohibited to instigate ethnic hatred or gender discrimination”. Offender would be subjected to 30 thousand to 1 million fine.
However, communication study professor Benla Kuang pointed out that:
仇恨與歧視性語言並不應僅侷限在傳統的「族群」定義，法國「新聞自由法」就將「種族、國籍、宗教、性別、性取傾向、身心障礙者」列為禁止歧視範疇，部分國家的反仇恨條例還擴及移民、年齡、職業、語言、外貌等面向。相較之下，（台灣）「通傳法草案」保障顯得較為狹隘。
Hateful and discriminative language shouldn't restrict by the traditional definition of “ethnic group”, in France, the “Freedom of Press Act” includes “ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability” as areas for prohibition against discrimination. Some countries' anti-hate act has extended to migrant, age-group, occupation, language, people's outlook, etc. The areas covered by the (Taiwan) Telecommunications Act draft is much narrower.
At present, the Telecommunications Act hasn't been passed in the Legislative Yuan, the anti-discrimination regulation hasn't been enacted. Even if the Act has been passed, it won't be easily to carry out. Such kind of discriminative advertisement would still appear as the media lack self-regulating practice and regulative law isn't ready yet.
(Original written in Chinese by Edison Li, Translated into English by Portnoy and Oiwan)
4 comments · »»March 17th, 2008
Welcome German, Albanian and Macedonian into Lingua Family
· 16:55 ·
Global Voices Lingua is honored to announce today that German, Albanian and Macedonian have launched officially. A new chapter is turned.
Since the initiation of Lingua, we have gathered an enormous group of enthusiastic editors and volunteers to translate their passion into words. Because of their precious efforts, Global Voices is heard by more people in more languages around the world. Lingua has also reflected the variety and diversity of multilingual World Wide Web.
These translators (not machine translation!) has contributed their time and intelligence to fulfill the mission of Global Voices – to “shine light on places and people other media often ignore.” Their greate translations have also helped Global Voices reach new audience.
Now, Lingua has a dozen translation versions. Of course it is not enough! There are many other languages not covered by Lingua yet, and this is the way we are progressing. More languages are coming. Welcome to join us! If you are interested in getting involved, please visit Lingua page for further information and contacts.
5 comments · »»March 14th, 2008
Taiwan: Go Taiwan Baseball Team, Toward Beijing Olympic Games! 
· 23:55
· East Asia 
Mach 7, 2008 is a special day for Taiwan. It's not for the coming presidential election, but for 2008 IBAF Final Olympic Qualification Tournament(zh) The tournament is being played in Mid-Taiwan!
While soccer is the national sports of most countries in the world, baseball is the pride of Taiwan. Once the international baseball games held, Taiwanese could lay aside their works, even their family and lovers, just in order to cheer our pride in the field or at the television. If you think it's exaggerated, why not take a look at the game on Monday evening?
Taiwan baseball team met Canada on March 10. The massive fans watched the live broadcast, and relayed the progress on Twitter and PTT BBS (the largest campus internet service in Taiwan), to those who couldn't watch the cast, like me. As the situation was getting more and more intense, the fans were all nervous. When Kuo-Hui Lo(zh)hit a 3-run HR that helped Taiwan take the lead in the bottom of sixth inning, not only sportscasters and fans in the field went crazy, but also fans on the internet due to our loud shouts, “Go Taiwan Baseball Team, Toward Beijing Olympic Games!”
As the game came into the end,the catcher of Taiwan team, CHUN-CHANG YEH, was collided by Canada player in order to prevent Taiwan from being scored. I really doubted if any Taiwanese not patriots then. Chensumi(zh) said:
誰看到葉君璋以小號無敵鐵金剛之軀，護住本壘版的畫面，倘若不激動落淚的，那你就真得不是台灣球迷。那時的小葉，巨大如同一片天，替我們頂下那一分，多麼剛猛啊！
If you saw the scene that CHUN-CHANG YEH defended the plate with his body but not excited, then you must not be a fan of Taiwan. YEH was as giant as the sky. How brave he is!
Anchor Tsai Ming Li wrote in his blog, that as an anchor he repeatedly persuade fans no to throw cans and bottles into the field. But in the atmosphere at the moment he understood fans' feeling though he still discouraged the behaviors done by certain fans.
或許，部份球迷不像我們知道，太過於衝動會被沒收比賽，但是在那個當下，如果還能冷靜，還要控制EQ，我想，棒球就不可能叫台灣的國球了。就好像你看到你 的親人或好友被外人侵犯，當然是先力挺再說，怎麼可能還考慮太多呢？這是台灣球迷與中華隊密不可分的感情所致，這也是加拿大等外隊永遠不能理解的事情。雖 然，我們都知道不該丟瓶罐等進場。
Maybe some fans do not know like us that games will be called off if chaotic situations happen. At that moment, however, if people can still calm down or handle their emotions, baseball would never be the national sports of Taiwan. This is something that Canadian or other teams never understand, although we all know it is inappropriate to throw bottles and cans into the field.
The dramatic turn-over squeezed hearts of all Taiwan baseball fans. People yelled out and prayed and collect “Qi”(supernatural power…if existed), hoping that the Chinese Taipei can reverse the inferiority at the end the game. At this point, a cat was also a good object to ask for favor:
比賽一路打到延長，我忍不住把ＣＴ貓（是的，是毛咪）抱出去，跟她交換條件：每打一隻安打，就給妳一條魷魚絲～毛咪在王子揮出安打時順利地吃到了，於是我繼續跟她交換條件：如果全壘打，我整包都餵妳！
The game extended to extra innings, and I couldn't stand any longer. I carried Chinese Taipei cat(yes, that is my Maomi's new name) out and negotiate with her:you can have a strand of shredded squid for each hit. Maomi had her first strand while Prince(nickname of player Chang Tai-Shan) brought out a hit. Therefore, the negotiation continued: just one home run, you can have the whole pack!
Chyng's cat, Maomi.
但此時毛咪似乎被我因泰山安打的雀躍驚到，一直想落跑，正當我想去拿整包魷魚絲來安撫她而跳下椅子時，就，雙殺了。不誇張，我真的整隻趴倒在電視前然後被媽媽罵神經病，嗚嗚嗚～～
But Maomi seemed frightened by my joyful leap for Chang Tai-Shan's hit, and tried to runaway. At the very moment I decided to comfort her with the whole pack of shredded squid and jump down the chair…came a double play. No exaggeration: I really fell prone down on the floor in front of the TV set and then hence got scolded by my mom as nuts….(cry~~)
The words above are from dedicated journalist Chyng who covers social movement and environmental issues. The style in the quotes above are far different from her rigid news reports. She was not alone as a crazy fan. On the micro-blogging platform twitter, started by Benjamin who lives in New Zealand, the “Change your head to Chinese Taipei(Taiwan) Icon” had flooded the whole twitter page with red and blue. It looks spectacular when we were “all together”. Even though Chinese Taipei(Taiwan) lost the game for one point, they had won our hearts.
Just like Annpo put, the team that fought till the end lights the glory of Taiwan again, and unites Taiwanese.
奮戰進入了延長賽，依然不放棄，到了最後，雖然輸，也輸得漂亮。這是一個不畏強敵，穩穩地迎戰的比賽。每一局，都是經典的典範。很慶幸，我們都沒錯過這樣的一幕，在那一刻，一起哭，一起笑，一起祈禱，一起罵髒話，一起說：「中華隊加油！」我們是一起的，我們在同個島上，同個天空下，同個旗幟前，同個目標的起點，我們要一起說：「中華隊，加油！」
We fought to the extra-inning and didn't give up. Thought we lost at the end, we were still proud of it. It's a glorious loss. It's a game that we were not afraid of the enemy and fought bravely.
Every inning is an ideal. We fortunately didn't miss that moment at which we cried, laughed, prayed, damned, and said “GO! Taiwan Baseball Team!” together. We are united. We are on the same island, under the same sky, in front of the same flags, and at the same starting point for the same goal. We'd like to say, “Go! Chinese Taipei!” together.
Klairelee, who was working in Hong Kong on that day, also tied with people in Taiwan closely through web-casting. He said that we're so lucky to have Rock and Roll and Baseball.
Let me live, and make a brand new start！
這不也就是中華隊跟我們這些球迷的心情嗎？每次遇到人生的低潮時期，我總會很慶幸，還好我們有搖滾樂！
這次的《八搶三資格賽》來得正是時候，不管亞錦賽讓我們有多麼挫折，也不管這大環境讓太多人感到侷促不安，我們都該很慶幸地說：「還好我們有棒球！」，我們可以在這個時候放下彼此的成見，用共同的信念來替中華隊加油！這是多麼熱血的一件事啊！Isn't that just heartfelt wishes of fans like us and Chinese Taipei? Every time I'm caught in low tide in my life, I'm always grateful that we still have Rock and Roll.
This tournament is just at the time. Whatever frustration Asia Baseball Championship brought to us, and however squirmed the environment made us feel, we should gratefully say, “We still Have baseball!” We could lay aside all the prejudices to cheer for Taiwan with common faith. How hot-blooded it is!
Yes, we still have Baseball.
Go Taiwan Baseball Team, Toward Beijing Olympic Games!
0 comments · »»February 27th, 2008
Taiwan: No City for Old Aborigines 
· 20:27
· 
Banai and her husband in front of their home
The first Presidential debate powered by citizen media platform Peopo was held on Feb 24. Two candidates running for President answers 20 questions raised by citizens who use Youtube-like video clips to express their wishes and problems.
The form and the presentation of the debate itself is debatable, however, one interesting scenes from the debate is more ironic than anything else. When the candidates debated each other inside the film studio, many social groups including two aboriginal communities also debated with police forces outside; when Ma Yin-jeou, the candidate of KMT apologized to aborigines for his racial statement and when Frank Chang-ting Hsieh, the candiate of DPP said he also have aboriginal blood in his body, the people of the aboriginal communities protesting outside are facing forced eviction and fear caused by them and their colleagues.
Banai and husband, sitting on the ruins.
Sanying Aboriginal Community in Taipei County, like Sijeou Aboriginal Community and many aboriginal communities spotted at corners of big cities in Taiwan, is a forgotten place where many aborigines live and count on.
However, the sweet homes to these indigenous people is not only vulnerable to typhoons and thunderstorms, but also to bureaucrats'construction blue prints. Inhabitants of Sanying Aboriginal Community are the latest victims whose self-made house have been torn apart on Feb 21 by bulldozers and excavators under the order of Taipei County Government.
An old man crying in his “home”…after the destruction
Taipei Times reported from the Ground Zero:
Pan, who sat on a stool in front of her home in an attempt to block the demolition, was forcibly removed by police. A hydraulic shovel then came in, and Pan's house was demolished in less than five minutes despite Pan and her daughter's tears and pleadings. “Where am I going to stay? I don't qualify for an apartment,” Pan cried.
Bloggers and citizen journalists were at the scene when bulldozers and cranes moved to the land escorted by more than 70 polices. Torrent and other citizen reporters from Coolloud(zh) sent emergent calls for help:
由於事出突然，聲援三鶯部落的團體動員不及，現場只有青年樂生聯盟、溪州自救會約十餘人前往關切，但在強力警力的運作下，剩下未簽署切結書的十餘戶居民的家園，截至五點鍾為止，已經被夷為平地。
Out of a sudden, the supporting groups for Sanying community had no time to motivate. Only more than a dozen people from Losheng Youth and Sijeou Self-Help came for help. However, under the fierce action of police forces, more than 10 homes of those who haven't sign the “waiver” were reduced to complete shambles at 5 pm.
According to the report, most people didn't have time to rescue their properties inside their houses, so they, most are elders, have to sleep on the bare ground without a shelter,or a pillow with the another cold current coming. Coolloud and other supporting groups had asked readers to donate sleeping bags and tents.
Taipei County Government offered limited national apartments only for people who have a household register or people who sign a waiver to abandon their shelter. The lands and mountains these aborigines once live upon were expropriated by Forestry Bureau and Taiwan Sugar Corporation. They then were forced to leave, drove away from one place to another, and now they are losing their last ground.
Bloggers and citizen journalists have build a blog call “Supporters for Sanying Aboriginal Community” to aggregate all relative reports and informations about Sanying right after the incident. They use online tools like google map and Youtube-like video services to tell netizens where is the Sanying community and the humble wishes these aborigines have in mind–to stay and to stay alive.
This video report above is the latest clip made by the video production group of “Aborigines in the City”. Besides the video part, they wrote about the irony in the case of Sanying.
我們居住的現代化城市與住宅，有很多都是原住民移工幫忙建立，但是他們之中有些卻負擔不起現代化城市的高額消費。必須在城市邊緣求生存。現在政府又與商業單位聯手以都市開發為由，假意保護原民安全，並將原民幾十年來辛苦建立的家園視為違建，並取得貌似合理的正當性。
Many of our modern cities and houses were built by aboriginal immigrant workers, but some of them could not afford the high cost for the lifestyle in modern cities. They can merely survive at the edge of cities. Now, the local government authorities and business units are using “city development” and “security concerns of aborigines” as excuses to treat their homelands which has been established for decades as buildings without licenses in order to look legitimate and reasonable.
Taiwan Indigenous TV (a channel belong to Public Broadcasting Service) also reported the event:
當地信仰中心香雲宮的主持林阿龍表示，即便是已搬遷至隆恩埔的族人還是有很多個人物品留在屋內，而且由於隆恩埔至今還沒有天然氣的供應，所以事實上 還是很多人會回到三鶯橋下的房子開伙和居住。然而勢單力薄三鶯阿美族人在阻擋不住縣府怪手的情況下，只能眼睜睜看著家園被怪手一棟一棟的摧毀、剷平，原本就很殘破的由鐵皮和木板組成的房屋轉瞬成為一片廢墟。
Lin A-long, the abbot of the local religious center-Shan Yun Temple, says that even Amis people who have moved to national apartments in Long En Pu still left a lot personal properties in the houses here, and because of the lack of gas provision in Long En Pu, they still come back to the original houses under the Sanying Bridge to cook and sleep. However, because of their powerless, Amis people could not stop the excavators but only to see their houses, composed by iron sheets and planks, tearing apart into ruins one by one, with their own eyes.
Another journalist Cheng Wei Ren from a community newspaper Lipao interviewed some of the Amis inhabitants in Sanying after the destruction:
火爐邊的族人們說出了自己對於居住的願望，其實很簡單，他們不想要由上而下的高樓部落，而是希望能夠像過去一樣，只要他們一打開門，就可以看到鄰居以及大自然，時時刻刻都可以噓寒問暖，分分秒秒都可以與大自然為伍，而不是像現在，打開門就只看見走廊。
The Amis people around the stove told us their wishes for living. It was simple: they don't want a top-down tribe on a high building; they want to see their neighbors and nature every time they open the doors like in the old times that they can exchange greetings and make small talks with each other, and be a part of greater nature; not like now, when corridors are the only things they see outside the door.
Coolloud also interviewed an Amis inhabitant, Banai:
所以我很氣政府說我們侵佔國有地，要拆我們的房子。我記得小時候，政府就是這樣，說什麼要徵用土地，就把我們原住民趕走的。為了政府要用地、為了出外討生活，我們一直在離鄉背井，走到那裡被趕到那裡，現在說我們侵佔國有地，到底是誰在侵佔誰？ 每一塊到過的荒地，我們都是自己去開墾，讓它活起來，變成可以生長生命的地方。可是政府寧願在土地上蓋大樓，或是讓它又會變回一片荒地，也不願讓我們在上面生存。從台東到台北，我跟阿伯這輩子靠著自己的力量過日子，即使不算好，但也很有尊嚴。如果被政府「安置」到大樓的套房裡面，沒了這塊土地，變成不能工作的乞丐，那才真的沒尊嚴。
So I am very angry to hear the government say that we invaded and occupied the national land, so that our houses have to be pull down. I remember that the government did the same thing when I was still a kid; they say they need to commandeer the land so they drove us away. Because the government needed the land, we must leave for a living. We are always leaving, we are driven away everywhere we are, and now they say we invaded the national land. But who is really invading? We bring each wasteland we have been to cultivation, to make it a living earth. But the government would rather build a multi-story building on the land or return the land to a wasteland to let us live on it. From Taitung to Taipei, my husband and I work and live on our own–we don't live in good condition though, but we live with dignity. If the government “put” us in the suite of the building, we will soon become landless and then jobless beggars, without dignity.
Superbird analyzes the situation the Amis in Sanying Aboriginal Communities are facing:
縣府也要求他們在簽訂合約時要先找到保證人，但我想以他們的狀況彼此互相擔任保證人沒太大的意義，到時候彼此也負擔不起對方積欠的房租。
The County Government asked them to find a guarantor when they are ready to sign the waiver, and I don't think that has any meaning while each of them is one another's guarantor with such kind of bad economical situation. No one is going to be able to pay one another's debts on rental.
其實，問題並不出在縣政府的官員是否是依法行政，而是出在整個事件沒有在初期就先更全面性去思考問題可能的解決方式，也沒有在初期先邀請各局處的官員和這些民眾以及社會團體（各種非營利組織、社福團體）來探討最佳的解決方案，也沒有考慮可以同時採行的方案，例如以工代租或者是同時強迫免費參加職訓局的就業輔導或者是國高中補校課程，讓他們在這段期間中不僅有房可住，且不用付房租，但強迫他們提高謀生能力….政府的基本任務好像只有「建設」和維護公共建設品質而已。
Actually, the problem is not whether the officials from the County Government abide by the law or not, but the complete thoughtless at the very beginning to search for all possible solutions comprehensively. They did not invite officials from each section, people who live there, and social groups(NPOs and social welfare groups) to explore the best way out. They also didn't consider solutions that can be put into practice at the same time, such as giving them work to pay the rental or pushing them to participate in employment counsellings offered by Job Training Department or high schools. The object is to have them a house without rental but at the same time force them to raise their ability on making a living….it seems that the Government's basic missions are only “construction” and maintain the quality of public constructions.
The list of goods and materials supported by other social groups and activists.
Social activists and cyber-activists are working together to spread out the call for help and help rebuild the house again from the ruins. However, the situation does not look optimistic at all since the officials said they will be back and finish “their job” on Feb 28, the Peace Memorial Day. How sarcastic!
Because of the hyper-heated Presidential election, the stories of Sanying are not finding a place to stay on mainstream media either. If the two candidates really care about human rights, job creation, low house price, and cultures of Taiwan's aborigines, they should visit Sanying instead of accusing each other on TV anymore.
3 comments · »»December 24th, 2007
Taiwan: An Ironic Human Rights Day
· 06:49
· In this article, I will carry on the subject from my last article in bringing you information on human rights in Taiwan.
Top Ten News on Human Rights
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) released their picks for “Top Ten News on Human Rights in 2007″ just before the International Human Rights Day. Due to the fact that human rights violations committed by nations are tightly connected with the level of awareness of decision makers and public servants, the TAHR released a “Survey of Candidates in the 2008 Presidential and Congressional Elections on Human Rights Issues”. We can only hope that voters will cast their vote according to the candidates' position on human rights issues.
Government officials make sexually discriminatory comments
An official from the Ministry of Education used the words “girly” and “gay” as a derogatory attack on a political opponent. This triggered enraged reactions from gay rights activists, who held a joint media conference to condemn such behaviour. The official, however, simply brushed off their concern by saying that “‘gay' and ‘girly' were simply used as adjectives”. Bi angrily protested against this behaviour in his blog:
他說的可太輕易了！他可知道有學生就是因為娘，所以受盡男同學的欺負，不敢上廁所怕遭脫褲要驗明正身。他可知道，就是有男人將 gay當作取笑與羞辱的形容詞，以致於一個活生生的男同志在成長過程中，不敢面對與展現真實的自我，一旦出櫃還有遭到排擠失去工作的風險。這種成長經驗的 痛苦，豈是「gay是一個形容詞」所能帶過。
How could he have brushed it off so lightly! Does he know that some students endure bullying from other male classmates for being “girly”, and some are afraid to go to the toilet for fear of being stripped to prove their “manhood”? Does he know that it is precisely because of the derogatory use of the word “gay” that gay men find it difficult to face and to express their true selves in their adolescence, and then face the risk of being ostracised and even fired when the do come out of the closet? These painful experiences gay men endure due to the derogatory use of the word “gay” cannot be brushed off with “it's just an adjective”.
The Taiwanese Feminist Scholars Association also took the opportunity to condemn the use of Patriarchal verbal violence by a number of political figures. Together with other activist groups concerned about gender related issues, they demanded that the Ministry of Education take full responsibility for such behaviour according to the Education (gender discrimination) Act. The activist groups say that the use of discriminatory speech is a serious setback in the gender equality movement and threatens democracy.
An Ironic Human Rights Day
On 10 December, Human Rights Day, the Taiwan Human Rights Park had its opening ceremony. The park is built on the site of a former prison for political prisoners. Victims and their families were invited to the ceremony. Ironically, LeSheng activist groups who attended to protest were mercilessly expelled and arrested!
photo by pinglhow
CoolLoud.com has detailed reports on the incident, and CivilMedia has video clips. Chen, a student who attended the event wrote about what happened in first person account:
大官們魚貫的入場，我們高喊著那些大官們的名字，渴求他們走過來聽聽我們的訴求，看看人權真實的樣貌。無奈，大官沒有來，警察、國安、刑警卻向我們包圍、靠攏。
As the officials filed in, we called out their names, hoping that they would come and listen to our stories and our requests, and to open their eyes to the real meaning of human rights. Unfortunately, none of the officials came over, but the police, national security officers and riot police came towards us and rounded us up.
Under the threatening gestures from the police (ground barriers have been cleared by this stage), we had no choice but to fall back against a wall, on which, ironically, hung the artistically crafted sign that says “Taiwan Human Rights Park”.
Grandmas and Gradpas sitting in wheelchairs under this sign. How, very, puzzling.
Picture: President Chen Shuibian chaired the opening ceremony of the Taiwan Human Rights Park this morning. Not far from the ceremony, the police were forcefully breaking up a demonstration held by citizens protesting on the LeSheng Leprosy Institute issue. President Chen simply said: “See how different we are from the Nationalist Party.” Photo by coolloud
Minorities supporting each other: new immigrants and gender minorities
Such a chaotic situation may make some people hopeless, but at each corner of society , minority groups are supporting each other! From November, Taiwan's Vietnamese newspaper BaoBonPhuong (Four Corners) united with other BBS sites run by gender minority groups began a project of synchronised reporting of human rights news, focusing on discussions regarding homosexuality, new immigrants, and other issues related to people in the minority. BaoBonPhuong is the only Vietnamese language newspaper in Taiwan. It is targeted towards immigrant workers and new immigrants. The BBS sites involved, on the other hand, are important platforms for contact and information exchange for the gay and lesbian community. The media release of the synchronized reporting project says:
樂生、蘇案…許多人權議題仍懸而未決；司法系統或警方對同志、原住民、新移民的不當作為頻傳…社會各處仍有許多無理的對待。這一次跨族群的互惠行動，希望能為人權的寒冬注入一股暖流。
LeSheng Leprosy Institute, The Case of the Three Death Penalties… many human rights issues are yet to be resolved. We often hear about the inappropriate treatment of gays and lesbians, indigenous people and new immigrants by the police…unreasonable behaviour still abounds in our society. This cross-group action benefits all involved and we hope it would add a warm touch to the winter of the human rights movement.
This article is originally written by Foolfitz, and translated into English by Yi. Both Foolfitz and Yi are translators of GV Chinese Lingua.
5 comments · »»
About Portnoy
A Taiwanese, who master in telecommunication and citizen journalism, and the initiator and contributor of Global Voices and Global Voices in Chinese. Since Feb. 2008 I take the position as the director of Global Voices Lingua Project.
Check my personal blog in Traditional Chinese and my rarely-updated English blog here. Other GV sites
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