China & Taiwan crime fighting partnership?: Give me a break!

In reaction to this story, Taiwan, China to engage in joint crime-fighting: MAC chief, I sent comments to the editor of the government controlled Internet "news" organ eTaiwannews.com. I've edited those comments and posted them below for all to read--since I do not expect eTaiwannews.com to publish them.

Dear eTaiwanNews Editor,

Give me a break!

Just exactly what activities will come under the umbrella of "crime" that the PRC and Taiwan will "cooperate" to fight? Will the recent protests related to the visit of the ARATS official be classified as crimes? Will free speech and displaying the national colors in public, within the site of a CCP member, be classified as crime? Will the playing of Taiwanese nationalistic music and the wearing of pro-Taiwan independence T-shirts be considered a crime? Will those who promote Taiwan independence be considered criminals?

The recent events in Taiwan in which police did treat all of the activities mentioned above as crimes brings to my mind China's so-called "Anti-Secession law" which was "promulgated" on March 14th, 2005.

Let's review that "law" in light of the Ma Administration and recent events in Taiwan. Note that the titles for the various articles of the "law" reproduced below have been added by me, as a literary device.

Article 1 - THE JUSTIFICATION

"This Law is formulated, in accordance with the Constitution, for the purpose of opposing and checking Taiwan's secession from China by secessionists in the name of "Taiwan independence", promoting peaceful national reunification, maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, preserving China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and safeguarding the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation."

It is obvious from Article 1 that 85% of the population of Taiwan, that is the Taiwanese, do not have their fundamental interests safeguarded by this "law".

Article 2 - THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN

"There is only one China in the world. Both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China. China's sovereignty and territorial integrity brook no division. Safeguarding China's sovereignty and territorial integrity is the common obligation of all Chinese people, the Taiwan compatriots included.

Taiwan is part of China. The state shall never allow the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces to make Taiwan secede from China under any name or by any means."

No wiggle room here. Screw the historical facts and recent democratic developments on Taiwan. The Chinese have the Mandate of Heaven, created by telling the lie, not thousands, but millions of times--and by suborning perjury of countless presidents and state department spokespersons around the globe to say likewise--that Taiwan belongs to China.

Article 3 - THE FIRST NON SEQUITUR

"The Taiwan question is one that is left over from China's civil war of the late 1940s.

Solving the Taiwan question and achieving national reunification is China's internal affair, which subjects to no interference by any outside forces."

Damn Lie. The Nationalist squatted, in part, on Taiwan in 1945 at the bequest of the Allied Forces and then, in full, in 1949 to save their ass from Mao's Communist forces. But the island was by peace treaty Japanese territory from 1895 to 1952 because the final peace treaty with Japan was not signed until September 8, 1951 and did not come into effect until April 28, 1952. By that time the Chinese Civil War was essentially over and effectively a lost cause for Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalists. How could the Taiwan question have anything to do with the Chinese Civil War of the 1940s. That is simply a fabrication by both the Communist and the Nationalist Chinese promulgated on the unsuspecting public all over the world in almost every story derived from Chinese written press release after press release ad nauseam.

Article 4 - THE SACRED DUTY "Accomplishing the great task of reunifying the motherland is the sacred duty of all Chinese people, the Taiwan compatriots included."

Here we see the explicit statement of the Mandate of Heaven (i.e. "sacred duty"). "Taiwan compatriots" is a overused paternalistic Chinese Communist reference to those whom they identify with on Taiwan. I wonder if they mean everyone in Taiwan who has a little Mainland derived blood (98%) or just the less than 15% of the population that extracted itself directly from twentieth century China vis-à-vis the late 1949 Chinese emigrants to Taiwan, and their direct decedents. According to recent polls, if they took a vote on unification in the near term in Taiwan they would find that the number of compatriots might be less than 10%. How can that be a Mandate from anywhere or anyone, much less from a Heaven that the aethist Chinese don't even believe in?

Article 5 - THE SECOND NON SEQUITUR

"Upholding the principle of one China is the basis of peaceful reunification of the country.

To reunify the country through peaceful means best serves the fundamental interests of the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. The state shall do its utmost with maximum sincerity to achieve a peaceful reunification.

After the country is reunified peacefully, Taiwan may practice systems different from those on the mainland and enjoy a high degree of autonomy."

There they go again, throwing logic into the wind. In order to "reunify the country", it has to have been unified at sometime in the past. Tell me a time in the past 113 years when China and Taiwan/Formosa were unified......just one time will do......I thought not.

The next article sounds rather familiar when comparison with the policies and procedures of the Ma Ying-jeou Administration.

Article 6 - CROSS-STRAIT INTERCOURSE

"The state shall take the following measures to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and promote cross-Straits relations:

(1) to encourage and facilitate personnel exchanges across the Straits for greater mutual understanding and mutual trust;

(2) to encourage and facilitate economic exchanges and cooperation, realize direct links of trade, mail and air and shipping services, and bring about closer economic ties between the two sides of the Straits to their mutual benefit;

(3) to encourage and facilitate cross-Straits exchanges in education, science, technology, culture, health and sports, and work together to carry forward the proud Chinese cultural traditions;

(4) to encourage and facilitate cross-Straits cooperation in combating crimes; and

(5) to encourage and facilitate other activities that are conducive to peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and stronger cross-Straits relations.

The state protects the rights and interests of the Taiwan compatriots in accordance with law."

Yeah, right...protect the RIGHTS and INTEREST of Taiwan COMPATRIOTS (remember they're less than 10% of the population if we mean though longing fornear term unification with a society not even close to having freedom and human rights)!!!

Article 7 - CROSS-EYED NEGOTIATIONS

"The state stands for the achievement of peaceful reunification through consultations and negotiations on an equal footing between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. These consultations and negotiations may be conducted in steps and phases and with flexible and varied modalities.

The two sides of the Taiwan Straits may consult and negotiate on the following matters:

(1) officially ending the state of hostility between the two sides;

(2) mapping out the development of cross-Straits relations;

(3) steps and arrangements for peaceful national reunification;

(4) the political status of the Taiwan authorities;

(5) the Taiwan region's room of international operation that is compatible with its status; and

(6) other matters concerning the achievement of peaceful national reunification."

The negotiation points listed in this Article are also strangely familiar for they sound exactly like the things Ma is currently "negotiating" with his Chinese Communist friends. How sweet, Mister Ma. Only problem is that the "equal footing" must have been tilted in China's favor and "Taiwan region" does not sound like a free and democratic place.

Article 8 - THE NUCLEAR OPTION

"In the event that the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces should act under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan's secession from China, or that major incidents entailing Taiwan's secession from China should occur, or that possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted, the state shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The State Council and the Central Military Commission shall decide on and execute the non-peaceful means and other necessary measures as provided for in the preceding paragraph and shall promptly report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress."

TRANSLATION: If, according to our timetable, we do not coerce the people of Taiwan to surrender their sovereignty over their territory to us, we will blow them all to Hell (though we're atheists who don't believe in such a place), seize their territory and we couldn't care less about the United States and their so-called "Taiwan Relations Act" because we have calculated that they won't have the will to do a darn thing in the face of our military action.

Article 9 - THE INDEMNIFICATION

In the event of employing and executing non-peaceful means and other necessary measures as provided for in this Law, the state shall exert its utmost to protect the lives, property and other legitimate rights and interests of Taiwan civilians and foreign nationals in Taiwan, and to minimize losses. At the same time, the state shall protect the rights and interests of the Taiwan compatriots in other parts of China in accordance with law.

TRANSLATION: If you're one of us, we'll do our darnedest to steer our armaments away from you, but if you're one of those obstinate freedom loving Taiwan patriots, you're toast and we will hunt you and your relations down and either make you confess your sins against the Chinese People and submit to reeducation or we make damn sure that your DNA is wiped from the human stream.

CLOSING STATEMENT

How can a free and democratic country and a communist authoritarian dictatorship cooperate on fighting crime when the latter defines free expression of democratic ideas criminal and runs tanks over those who practice such crimes? What a joke! Or, as one TV reporter was known to exclaim in the face of nonsense, "Give me a break!".

Timothy E. Bradberry
Pflugerville,TX

Paraguay to reverse support for Taiwan at UN

By PEDRO SERVIN — 10 hours ago

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay will reverse its historic support for Taiwan at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, and also is reconsidering its relations with communist regimes.

President Fernando Lugo said his government wants to maintain diplomatic relations with all countries of similar interests.

"Paraguay's foreign policy will be independent under my government and will not accept conditions," Lugo said in a local television interview Sunday.

Paraguay, the last South American country to recognize Taiwan, has supported the island since 1957, voting every year in support of resolutions to admit Taiwan to the assembly. Nations that recognize Taiwan don't have diplomatic relations with communist China, which considers the island a renegade province.

But Lugo's election last April ended 61 years of one-party, conservative rule under which Paraguay distanced itself from communist countries. The leftist president, who was inaugurated Aug. 15, said he wants to establish relations with China, which has boosted its diplomatic and trade ties with Latin America in recent years.

Lugo also said he is considering an invitation to visit Cuba from former President Fidel Castro.

But Lugo says he is not following in the footsteps of another South American leftist leader, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has established close ties with China and Cuba.

"I will not be influenced in any way by President Hugo Chavez," Lugo told Channel 2 television in Asuncion. "My government will not copy any foreign political model. We have our own reality different from that of other nations."

In return for Paraguay's 51 years of support, Taiwan has sent millions of dollars to the impoverished country for low-income housing, agricultural development and scholarships. Even now, Paraguay's senate is considering accepting a new donation from Taiwan of $71 million.

"We will no longer vote (at the U.N.) for Taiwan despite the fact that we recognize the aid the country has provided," Lugo said.

It wasn't clear what impact the new president's position will have on Taiwan's latest offer of help.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Peaceful Majority - by Wm Haynes

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War Two owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

"Very few people were true Nazis "he said," but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.

Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this
moment in history.

It is the fanatics who march.
It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.
It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.
It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill.
It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.
It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.
The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority," the "silent majority" is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population, it was peaceful as well, but Chinese

Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.

Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.