"Formosa Betrayed" - Coming to theaters near you (including in Austin) February 28, 2009

I have it on good authority that Formosa Betrayed will be shown in theaters in the Austin area beginning on February 28, 2009 (the 62nd anniversary of the 2-28 Incident in Taiwan). See press release below announcing Distribution.

1680 N. Vine St., Suite 906, Hollywood, CA 90028

| P: 323-465-8885 | F: 323-465-8886 |

info@formosathemovie.com | www.formosathemovie.com

For Immediate Release:

SCREEN MEDIA FILMS PICKS UP “FORMOSA BETRAYED” HOLLYWOOD, CA – October 23, 2009 – Screen Media Films has picked up worldwide rights to Formosa Betrayed, a political thriller set in the 1980s, which made its international debut at the Montreal World Film Festival.

Formosa Betrayed is the initial project for Formosa Films, a newly formed production company created by actor/writer/producer Will Tiao. Adam Kane (Heroes, Pushing Daisies, Mercy) directs his feature debut.

Story is inspired by actual events. An FBI Agent investigates the murder of an Asian professor at a small college. Agent follows the fleeing killers to Taiwan, where he finds himself on a collision course with the FBI, the State Department, the Chinese Mafia, and the Government of the Republic of China.

James Van Der Beek plays the FBI Agent and Wendy Crewson plays a US diplomat in Taiwan. John Heard, Tzi Ma, Will Tiao, Leslie Hope, and Kenneth Tsang round out supporting cast.
Tiao, a former international economist with the Clinton and Bush Administrations, raised the funds for the $8 million project from private equity based on concept, and has nearly 300 investors in the project. Investment bank Berthel Fisher Financial Services provided completion funds.

Formosa Betrayed recently screened for Members of Congress in Washington DC, which was highly attended due to heightened interest in US-Taiwan-China relations. Film also recently won Best Picture and Best Actor for Van Der Beek at the San Diego Film Festival, and Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival.

In addition to Montreal, San Diego, Washington DC and Philadelphia, Formosa Betrayed has also screened at Hollywood Film Festival, New York Asian American Film Festival, DC APA Film Festival, and will be screening at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival and St. Louis International Film Festival.

Formosa Betrayed is to be released in theaters in February 2010 in 15-20 North American cities.

Screen Media will rep worldwide rights and begin selling territories at the European Film Market in February 2010. Deal was brokered by Ben Weiss at Paradigm and Kevin Mills of Kaye & Mills LLP. In addition, Formosa Films and Berthel Fisher have announced the creation of a new $20 million fund, focused on television and film production. Formosa Films is already in prep on two film projects starting in Spring 2010 – JUVY, about juvenile delinquents, with Kane to direct and Tiao to produce, and THE DOORMAN about the underground goings-on of the Plaza Hotel, with Abel Ferrara to direct and Tiao to produce.

Contact:
Formosa Films
Evita Huang
info@formosathemovie.com
1680 Vine St., Suite 906
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 465-8885

October 8, 2009

Selected Formosa Betrayed Media Coverage

October 8, 2009

Variety – "’Moon’ Shines on Hollywood Festival"

October 8, 2009

Screen Daily – “HFF Announces Line-Up, Hollywood Movie Awards Nominees”

October 5, 2009

ABC Radio Australia – “New movies addresses Taiwan’s turbulent past”

October 1, 2009

Express Night Out – “Moving Pictures: Asian Pacific American Film Festival Offers Something for Everyone”

September 27, 2009

NBC San Diego – “Bang For Your Viewing Buck”

September 27, 2009

NBC San Diego – “Varsity Blues to Global Blues”

Understanding Taiwanese Identity: Strange Threesome

I'm on the email list of a fellow son-in-law of Taiwan, Jerome F. Keating, who happens to live there in Taipei and happens to write about the politics of the island nation. I was particularly intrigued by the title of his latest essay, Me, Freddy Lim, Chiang Kai-shek, Art and Taiwanese Identity: Confessions of a Rainbow-Chaser, which I am hereby sharing with the readers of my blog, few though they may be.

I've met Freddy Lim (and he's one of my Facebook friends) and I've visited Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall before it was renamed to Democracy Hall, which name it seems now was only temporary. Too bad it's name has been changed back to CKS Memorial Hall. I would have liked to have visited a Democracy Hall in Taiwan.

Which reminds me of my personal attempt to use art to inform the discussion of Taiwanese Identity and Taiwan Independence. I'm speaking of the independent film, Formosa Betrayed in which I am invested, in part to memorize my late son, Daniel Maximus-Ping Bradberry and his late Taiwanese Grandfather, Mr. Chung, who lived though the White Terror period (1949-1987) in Taiwan when CKS, his son Chiang Ching-kuo, and the the rest of the Kuomintang (KMT) met their needs at the expense of the majority of the Island, i.e. at the expense of the native Taiwanese people.

You can watch the Formosa Betrayed trailer on YouTube by clicking here.

Back to Freddy. I will never understand his music and have no desire to listen to it, but I do understand his passion to display his and his fellow countrymen's Taiwanese Identity and commitment to keep Taiwan free and independent. If you are into black metal music there is no other artist I could steer you to and certainly no more loyal partiot of Taiwan that is trying to use his art to reach out to world with the message that Taiwan is for the Taiwanese and freedom loving people, period.

You can check out the wiki page for Freddy's band, Chthonic, here.

Me, Freddy Lim, Chiang Kai-shek, Art and Taiwanese Identity: Confessions of a Rainbow-Chaser

by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.


Taiwanese will not find their true identity as an island nation until they fully realize the indoctrination and brain-washing they endured under Chiang Kai-shek (CKS). They will not find their true identity until they realize that he had nothing to do with them except to take advantage of them in their hour of need and to exploit them in his hour of need. It is for this reason that one of the saddest and most disappointing things to recently happen in Taiwan has been the changing of the name of Democracy Hall back to that of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. This move is a step backwards for democracy in Taiwan and symptomatic of Ma Ying-jeou’s attempts to fabricate past credibility for his Sino-centric (not Taiwan-centric) government.

Allegedly there was to be a discussion of the matter of this name change (read that a move typical of Ma’s lip service hypocrisy). However, totally lacking was any detailed record or publication of this discussion and its proportion, i.e. who specifically was for the re-naming and who was against it, what polls were taken, what percentage of the people supported it etc. No, before Taiwan knew it and while the Kaohsiung World Games distracted the country, the name was changed back. Perhaps Ma felt a discussion with Taiwan-basher Kuo Kuan-ying was sufficient.

For this reason I found myself drawn into a strange but real threesome, between myself, Freddy Lim and Chiang Kai-shek. Strange? Here was I a university professor, writer, and former Manager of Technology Transfer on Taipei and Kaohsiung’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Systems, Freddy Lim the lead singer of Chthonic a popular Taiwanese black metal band, and CKS the dead dictator responsible for bringing the latest group of beggars that wanted to take over the temple of Taiwan (乞丐趕廟公).

It was during this same name restoration that I imagined Freddy stole a thought from my mind. For when I first heard that the name of the dead dictator (CKS) was going to be restored to the memorial, I pondered. If Taiwanese could not stop this name from being forced down their throats, then how could they protest it? What could they do particularly with the huge statue of CKS there?

First I imagined that teams of loyal followers of Su Beng would periodically and symbolically douse the walls of that white marble mausoleum with red paint to symbolize the numerous deaths that CKS was responsible for in both 2-28 and the subsequent white terror period. This constant red stain on the marble walls would be a steady reminder of the barbarism of that man. If a more dramatic action was desired, I pictured some loyal Taiwanese getting a bazooka or shoulder missile launcher and from a distance placing a shot right through the chest of the statue of CKS. A statue with its guts blown out; now that could be a possible solution.

Then symbolic expressions flitted through my mind. What would be the way for a more symbolic criticism? The statue is gigantic; it could not be removed by simply lifting it by crane. When installed, the memorial had been built around it. In Kaohsiung, which had a smaller statute, it had to be cut up and taken away in pieces.

But what if the statue did not need to be removed entirely? What if the head were simply cut off and the body of the statue left there decapitated. That would be a more practical solution and yet highly symbolic. A large sign could be put in the lap of the statue stating “Let this be the end of all dictators and enemies of Taiwan’s democracy.” What could be a more fitting sign of Taiwan’s developing democracy coming to terms with its past than the headless statue of a past dictator?

It was at this point that in reading the news, I found out that Freddy Lim had already stolen my thoughts. Stole them? Well alright, this heavy metal singer didn’t really steal my thoughts; he probably doesn’t even know who I am. Instead, he simply beat me to their expression. Recently Freddy and the band had produced a new video cum song featuring the beheading of CKS and the burning of appropriate flags to boot.

This was a blending of art and reality. I knew Freddy and Chthonic from various sources and had heard them at the Free Tibet concert in Taipei this past July. They put their money where their mouth or where their music is. Heavy metal may not be your cup of tea, but whether one is into heavy metal or not, one cannot dispute Chthonic’s loyalty to Taiwan and making it a part of their art. There are no current Taiwanese musicians who feel and simultaneously express their sense of Taiwanese identity more stridently than Freddy and his band. Many singers and musicians may be Taiwanese at heart but not wanting to offend the China market they will keep their thoughts to themselves or play them low key.

Chthonic’s music on the other hand expresses the myths and history of the country. They see it as a nation with its own identity. They even make it part of their art. True, art does not always need to make such protest statements. Art can and often exists without them, but in these troubled and tumultuous times, Taiwan needs more artists like Freddy and Chthonic.


Other writings can be found at http://zen.sandiego.edu:8080/Jerome

About the Movie, Fomosa Betrayed

Last year I found the story below on the www.forumosa.com website but I probably read it first in my hard copy of the Formosa Foundation Newsletter (to download the particular issue, click here). I've been wanting to post it to this blog for a long time, forgetting that it had come from the Formosa Foundation Newsletter. However, the folks at Forumosa (not a Taiwanese friendly site, to say the least) insisted that they would do nothing about an offensive video loop and comments I did not want to subject my referrals to, that was next to the Forumosa post of interest. The video loop is an icon for a Forumosa.com user called "cake", who apparently is a Night Market Cop., in case you want to look him up. "Cake" copied the text from Formosa Foundation Newsletter without attribution. In this post I'm making proper attribution and avoiding that offensive video.

The story below is actually a portion of a five page story titled, Hollywood Goes Taiwanese:
Major Motion Picture Formosa Stars James Van Der Beek.

The movie is now called Fromosa Betrayed. Formosa Films, LLC considered changing the name to Formosa, but that was short lived. See Formosa Foundation, Volumi III, Summer 2008 for the story below in its context. See the official website for the movie Formosa Betrayed here http://www.formosathemovie.com/ .

History:

Many Hollywood films have tried to shine a light on Chinese culture and politics for American audiences, though none has yet to do so from Taiwan’s unique political perspective. While films such as Red Corner, The Last Emperor, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, are among the most well-known American films dealing with Chinese culture, those movies did not deal specifically with the political and social issues facing Taiwan and America.

Formosa Betrayed will enlighten a global audience on the real story behind Taiwan’s political history, by focusing on the tragic murder of a Taiwanese professor who was killed solely for his courage to speak out for an independent and democratic Taiwan.

Based on actual events which happened to Taiwanese professors and graduate students throughout the United States in the 1970s and 80s, Formosa Betrayed will expose for the first time the brutal techniques that the Nationalist Chinese Government on Taiwan used to quell dissent in their desire to reunite Taiwan with mainland China.

Most people outside of Taiwan and China are unaware of the history surrounding Taiwan’s political status. Formosa Betrayed will be the first opportunity for a mass audience to get a glimpse into the human story behind Taiwan’s struggle for identity on a world stage.

Story:

Formosa Betrayed is a feature film detailing the murder investigation of a Taiwanese-American professor at a Midwestern college in the early 1980s. The detective assigned to the case is a young FBI agent looking forward to an exciting career serving the United States government. However, he must solve the case before he can move on.

In his search for the murderers and their accomplices, the agent learns that there is a student spy network which focuses on the political and social activities of Chinese and Taiwanese-American students on the campus. He discovers that these “student spies” are ubiquitous on college campuses in the United States where there are Chinese and Taiwanese students.

His search for the killers takes him to Taiwan, where he learns that the suspects are members of the Chinese Mafia who have been hired by the Nationalist Chinese Government in Taiwan to silence political dissidents. He discovers that the true reason for the professor's murder was to silence an outspoken advocate of Taiwanese democracy and independence, and thus he was seen as a threat to the legitimacy of the government on Taiwan – a key U.S. ally. The hit was sanctioned by those at the highest level of power.

In his efforts to bring the killers and their accomplices to justice, he finds himself on a collision course with the U.S. State Department, the Chinese Mafia, and ultimately the highest levels of the Nationalist Chinese Government in Taiwan. In the meantime, he is aided by a mysterious woman who is tied to the Taiwanese Independence Movement and by others with competing agendas.

In the end, the detective begins to understand the complex nature of politics, identity, and power in Taiwan-U.S.-China relations – and how this relationship affects the lives and destinies of the citizens of all three countries – including his own.

Links to Reviews, et al:

New York Times Online Reviews
IMDb Listing
The Movie Trailer on YouTube
Formosa Betrayed Tagged Page

The Cost of Freedom

After almost three months of no posts I finally break the silence with this.

Eric Odom sent the story below in a message to members of the Facebook Group "American Liberty Alliance." All I did was give it a title. The text is attributed to an unnamed sender of an email message to Eric.

The Cost of Freedom = Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over his home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The Redcoats jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the
protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They gave you and me a free and independent America.

The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

Why Taiwan Matters

The following speech was given by Gordon Chang (author of The Coming Collapse of China (2001) and of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World (2006), being delivered last Friday on Capitol Hill at the conclusion of the March for Taiwan. It explains why Taiwan really matters to free countries; that is to what's left of free countries and their freedoms.

Will Taiwan Prevail?
By Gordon G. Chang

Speech given at
March for Taiwan
Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
April 10, 2009

By car, by bus, and by foot, you have come here. And there is one reason why you have done so. You have done so because Taiwan is important. It is important to you, it is important to me, it is important to others.

It is, for instance, important to the world’s most powerful—and most important—democracy. The United States needs to defend each and every free society from the world’s authoritarian states. And why do we need to do that? Because autocrats see themselves threatened by the presence of free people anywhere. Unfortunately, they cannot just live and let live. They cannot tolerate people who govern themselves. So the United States cannot defend itself and it allies without also defending the free people of Taiwan.

Taiwan is especially important because that small nation, by its mere existence, bedevils the most important dictatorial government of our time. The nine old men who sit on the Politburo Standing Committee rule the People’s Republic of China, a nation of 1.5 billion souls, but they feel mortally threatened by Taiwan, a country of just 23 million. These 23 million prove that people, some of whom are Chinese, can govern themselves. By governing themselves, they make everything the Communist Party says about itself an obvious lie. Taiwan is important first and foremost because it is an inspiration to people everywhere, proving that a small nation can stand up to a large regime.

Yet today those 23 million people face their most dangerous moment, and we must ask ourselves just one question: Will their young democracy survive?

These days, Taiwan looks weak, and China appears mighty as Beijing goes from strength to strength and from victory to victory. Things are going so well for Beijing that we are told that this is “China’s Century.” What place does Taiwan have in a century belonging to China? Not much of one. If all the experts are right, then an independent Taiwan is doomed. If they have correctly analyzed historical trends, then you, free Taiwanese, have no future. You will be colonized by the People’s Republic.

This imbalance means that we are at a point in history when almost anything can happen.
For many of us, it is inconceivable that a vibrant young democracy would willingly agree to join the world’s largest authoritarian state. Yet some tell us that is exactly what will happen—and that it should occur soon.

Why? Many in the pro-China camp say that Taiwan cannot compete with Chinese industry and therefore should integrate with it. From this point, they then say Taipei should reconcile with the Mainland’s leaders so that the island’s business community can participate in the booming economy across the Strait. Political integration with Beijing is Taipei’s only option, and, should Taiwan fail to unite with the People’s Republic, it will be left with nothing. According to this view, the people of Taiwan have no real choice.

Recent statistics, they argue, prove their point. Taiwan’s economy contracted a stunning 8.4 percent in the last quarter of 2008. This year, exports tumbled 35.7 percent in March,
28.6 percent in February, and 44.1 percent in January.

We are told that, in view of the precipitous fall in the economy, Taiwan needs to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement, or ECFA, with China. In short, the prevailing belief is that Taiwan needs China.

But these experts have it wrong. Taiwan does not need China. And tying Taiwan’s economy to China will be a disaster. Forgive me if the following discussion of the Chinese economy is too detailed, but this is the issue on which almost everything turns.

As bad as the Taiwanese economy appears, China’s is worse. China, at this moment, has the world’s fastest slowing economy.

According to official statistics, gross domestic product, the best measure of national economic performance, skyrocketed 13.0 percent in 2007, and it was, in all probability, higher than that. Poor sampling procedures did not properly take into account the output of small manufacturers, then the most productive part of the economy. So, if you want a figure, China’s economic growth in 2007 was about 15 percent.

Now, although Beijing doesn’t admit it, economic output is contracting. No economy has fallen further or faster than China’s. Not even Taiwan’s.

The reason for the dramatic collapse in China is clear. China has an export-dominated economy, and its exports are in freefall. They have declined every month since November. In January, they fell 17.5 percent. In February, they were down a staggering 25.7 percent. The Chinese government has indicated there was another double-digit fall in March.

And the prospect for the coming months is bleak. Orders for Chinese factories appear to be down by a third to a half this spring, the beginning of high season for the export sector. That’s not surprising because even the optimistic World Bank predicts the global economy will contract this year for the first time since World War II and international trade will decline the most in eighty years. The downturn is resulting in declining consumer demand not only in developed economies but also in emerging ones. That’s especially bad news for a China that is extraordinarily dependent on foreign markets. An exceptionally high 38 percent of its economy is attributable to exports.

In good times, an export economy is a blessing. In bad ones, however, it is a curse. As we saw in the Great Depression, it was the current-account-surplus countries that had the hardest time adjusting to deteriorating economic conditions and, consequently, suffered the most. That is proving to be the case now as well. China’s economic model, which delivered prosperity in a period of seemingly unending globalization, is particularly ill-suited to current conditions.

So Taiwan cannot rely on China to rescue it from this crisis. There is no realistic possibility of exporting more to China to feed China’s export machine because China’s export machine is itself faltering.

Some might argue that Taiwan can tap into the Chinese consumer market. That argument does not hold much water because Chinese consumers, reacting to negative news both from home and abroad, are pulling back at this time. We know that because China’s imports are also falling. They were down 43.1 percent in January and 24.1 percent in February.

Those atrocious numbers are a warning of not only further export falls but also—and more importantly—future declines in consumer spending. Another sign of weak consumer sentiment is the 1.6 percent drop in the consumer price index for February. That was the first fall in more than six years. Deflation is on the way.

Unfortunately for China, in the coming months exports will continue to plunge and consumer spending will decline. Beijing in November announced a $586 billion spending program to stimulate investment, the third leg of the Chinese economy. The plan, however, won’t work to create sustainable prosperity. It will undoubtedly create a “sugar high” in the next few months, but that will be temporary because the spending will be creating a bigger state economy and a smaller private one. In any event, technocrats in the Chinese capital are not going to be using their cash to benefit foreigners, even Taiwanese. That state money is going to state-owned enterprises and state projects.

So China has the world’s worst performing economy, and the prospects this year are dreadful. Further tying Taiwan’s economy to China’s is, quite simply, horrible strategy. It is absolutely the worst thing Taipei can do at this moment.

Yet Taiwan is not the only country that is making a mistake by contemplating a closer relationship with China. So is the United States. There are those in Washington who, in the desire to establish an informal alliance with Beijing, would like to see China absorb Taiwan in order to remove a potential source of disagreement. As Dennis Blair, then an admiral and now director of national intelligence, said in 1999, Taiwan is “the turd in the punchbowl.” Such a view, in addition to being morally repugnant, is also strategically short-sighted.

It is short-sighted for six reasons. First, it is highly debatable that the U.S. can maintain stable relations with a communist superstate that believes it should push aside America and dominate the international system. The Washington-New York axis may buy into the notion of a grand alliance with Beijing, but such an arrangement would go against ingrained American values and would not survive popular opinion in the U.S.

Second, Taiwan is an important country in its own right. It is economically powerful, and it is embedded into global supply chains.

Third, because Taiwan has become an inspiring symbol of the success of representative governance and free markets, to help it fail means gutting our own values and bolstering China’s model of authoritarianism and rigged markets. Unfortunately, many in Washington don’t believe in supporting democracy. They have forgotten every crucial lesson of the 20th century.

Fourth, our Asian policy is anchored on defending Japan. As a quick glance of a map will reveal, the main island of Taiwan and its various outlying islands protect the southern approaches to our Japanese ally. It would, therefore, be difficult for America to defend Japan if Taiwan became the 34th province of the People’s Republic. If we can’t defend Japan, South Korea would become surrounded and would surely fall into Beijing’s lap as well. With its two formal alliances gone, the United States would be out of Asia. The only thing that holds the Chinese in check is America, and Taiwan is the key to keeping the United States in the game.

Fifth, ceding Taiwan would undoubtedly embolden a territorially hungry Beijing. China asserts sovereignty over Japanese islands and the continental shelves of five southeast Asian countries.

Incredibly, it appears to maintain that the entire South China Sea is an internal Chinese lake, thereby impinging on the right of free passage on, under, and over international waters.

And the United States, even though far from Asia, is now becoming China’s target as we saw last month with Chinese ships harassing the Victorious and Impeccable, two unarmed information-gathering vessels.

Giving up Taiwan would only embolden China to press its claims with even more confidence and vigor—and it would bolster Beijing’s weak legal positions by inheriting Taipei’s territorial rights. So the place to stop the Chinese from pursuing their aggressive ambitions is Taiwan.

Sixth, abandoning Taiwan would send a horrible message to American allies, friends, and foes in the region. If we pushed Taiwan into the arms of China, no nation would ever want to help the United States in Asia—or elsewhere—in the future.

In short, America needs something it has not had in decades, a strong Taiwan policy. Instead, we have had the uninspiring equivocation of the Bush administration, which has been continued by Obama’s. Washington policy of “strategic ambiguity” has just encouraged the Chinese to test American resolve.

We have not been able to develop a sound Taiwan policy, even though it is so important for us to do so, largely because of our perceptions of China and our hopes for its future. We are trying to engage Beijing so that it becomes a “responsible stakeholder” in the international system. Yet over time, the Chinese, as they have become more powerful, have become more aggressive. So in pursuit of an unattainable goal—making the Chinese regime our friend—Washington is undermining its own strategic objectives.

It’s time for we Americans to demonstrate that we keep commitments to free peoples. We need to do that especially at this moment because hardline governments are on the march. So defending Taiwan is defending America.

So, let’s do all we can for Taiwan so that it can meet its challenges. And I am confident that it will do so. Why? For one thing, an arrogant China will overstep with one provocation too many. Hardline governments always create their own enemies. But there is a more fundamental reason why Taiwan will prevail. That’s because of you.

For all that you have done in the past and for all that you will do in the days and years ahead, I admire you, I support you, and I salute you.

Let freedom ring. Long live a free Taiwan!

"Hey Kid" (囡仔) 全曲試聽 - Taiwanese hip hop

See below for unofficial hanji (Chinese) and English versions of lyrics.




歌詞:
續來戒嚴三十八年白色恐怖
管你外省本省客家河洛還是原住民
黨看你不爽 你就馬上無去
林義雄老母二個查某子 全部殺死
雷震批評蔣介石 被關十年
殷海光寫冊 被監視逼死
宋楚瑜全面禁止台語節目
連布袋戲歌仔戲也要講北京話
勇敢的台灣人 打拼追求民主自由
政治改革的美麗島 農民抗爭的五二零
關的關 死的死 鄭南榕為言論自由
點起的那把火還未燒完
囡仔 你就要會記
他們的流血流汗艱苦犧牲給你自由的空氣
不可忘記 民主革命才開始
無經過寒冬的風雪 看不到春天的花蕊

囡仔 你就要會記
歷史教咱錯誤可以原諒但是不能忘記
轉頭回來了解你對叼位來
才有法度知道要對叼位去
囡仔 你就要會記
歷史有講別人的意見有時候會給你生氣
互相了解互相尊重鬥陣才會出頭
鴨霸剝削有一工就換你無底躲

我祝福你可以好勢
我祈求你會曉分別
我希望你可以改變以後的社會
我祝福你可以好勢
我祈求你會曉分別
我希望你可以改變不義的一切

多一個勇健的台灣囡仔
台灣就多一塊敲不破的活氣磚角
所以每工要運動 喝八大杯煮過的水
不要吃煙毒 喝茶不喝咖啡
一禮拜要看一本冊 知識就是力量
認識越多 自己做主的信心越強
學校上課要專心 聽無就要問先生

"Hey Kid" (囡仔) 全曲試聽: http://www.myspace.com/juichuanchang


Lyrics (English):

What ensued was thirty-eight years of the martial-law era called "White Terror"
Doesn't matter if you're a Mainlander, Formosan, Hakka, Holo, or Aborigine
If you mess with the Party, you'll vanish in no time
Or be butchered like the mother and two daughters of Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄)
Lei Jhen (雷震) was imprisoned for ten years for criticizing Chiang Kai-shek
Yin Hai-guang (殷海光) was under surveillance for his political articles until he died
James Soong (宋楚瑜) banned all the Taiwanese TV shows
Even puppet shows and Taiwanese Operas must be aired in Chinese
Brave Taiwanese souls fought and struggled for democracy and freedom
Beautiful Island Incident for political reform, 520 Farmer Protest
Jail after jail, kill after kill
Jheng Nan-rong (鄭南榕) burst into flames that'll last forever for free speech
Hey, kid, you must remember
Their blood and sweat, torment and sacrifice, gave you the air you're breathing
Don't forget the revolution for democracy has just begun
You won't see the spring buds if you don't go through the winter snow

Hey kid, you must remember
History teaches us to forgive mistakes, not forget them
You have to turn around, see where you've come from
If you want to figure out where you should go
Hey kid, you must remember
History says that people may disagree with you, anger you
Understand and respect each other, work it out together
If you oppress and exploit them, one day the tables will turn and you'll have nowhere to hide

I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you'll change society in the future
I wish you all the best
I pray you can distinguish
I hope you'll fight injustice and oppression

One more strong Taiwanese kid
One more unbreakable brick of the Taiwanese spirit
So you must exercise every day and drink eight glasses of boiled water
No cigarettes and drugs. Drink tea, not coffee
Read a book every week because knowledge is power
If you know more you'll have more control of your life
Pay attention in school. Ask questions . . .

*Listen to the complete track of "Hey Kid" (囡仔) here:
http://www.myspace.com/juichuanchang

Joy Behar vs. Ann Coulter

What a riot this interview is. Conservative Ann Coulter cleans Liberal Joy Behar's clock. Must view video for all conservatives.

Warning: Some language not appropriate for my ears, but I got through it alright :-)

Ma’s Policies Make Taiwan's Recession Deeper and Wider

Taiwan's GDP is projected to contract for three more quarters --- 6.51 percent in the first quarter, another 6.85 percent in the second quarter, and 2.67 percent in the third -- before swinging back to a rise of 4.50 percent in the fourth quarter.

"This is likely to be the longest recession in Taiwan's history so far," Shih Su-mei, [Minister of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics], told reporters.

From Agence France-Presse (AFP) story:
Taiwan in recession as economy contracts record 8.36 pct
Wed Feb 18, 7:53 AM

Commentary

Ma Ying-jeou’s government has tried hard to make a “disabled” Ma look “good.”

First, Ma’s government, making all kinds of policies only to show off “homework done” without any deliberate planning, has not and never will confess any wrong doing or wrong policies that have pushed Taiwan toward a deeper and longer recession. With the recession so clear and near, Ma’s government is still using “+5.8% growth” as the basis for its 2009 budget while everyone has warned that Taiwan will actually have a negative growth for the next few years.

Besides that, to make Ma look “superb”, his government lowers the income level of poverty, so the numbers of the poor suddenly drop as the numbers of families who can’t afford to take care of the ill and handicapped increase dramatically. In fact, businesses are facing financial difficulty just as Ma tells people to be as frugal as "he is" and as the government raises each of the three utility bills.

The KMT makes the Taiwanese. i.e. the DPP and on former President Chen Shui-bian "Abian", who have little power or are in jail, respectively, the easy scapegoats. As soon as Ma steps up, the economy in Taiwan steps down. To make use of the United States, as the KMT always does, the KMT people in Taiwan are blaming this recession on the US market. That indeed is part of the problem but connecting at the hip with China, as Ma has been so eager for Taiwan to do, is at least equally causitive.