Recent surveys of Taiwanese voters show disgust with Lien Chan, James Soong and their respective parties, proving that the election protests were a really dumb idea. Chen and the DPP are floating high upon the masses off voters scared away from the blue side by the fanatical attitudes of the leaders and party faithful.
Link: http://www.etaiwannews.com/Editorial/2004/09/24/1095992972.htm
Chen pulled another gem from his bag yesterday, conducting a video conference with the UN correspondents association, against all wishes of China and those seemingly beholden to China.
He had a lot of help from Anthony Jenkins, the current president of the UN correspondents association, whom the Taipei Times called a hero, and “a lone and brave journalist.” I haven’t heard of any threats on anybody’s life, but I guess it takes a lot of guts to go against China’s wishes these days. The news just keeps rolling in. Just a few days ago, Chen Shui-Bian’s wife, Wu Shu-chen (å³æ·‘ç), who is the leader of Taiwan’s delegation to the Paralympics in Athens, had her title stripped and her games passport downgraded to the lowest level due to pressure from China. Just why the Paralympic Games must do as China says is an unanswered, and generally unasked question. People are always scared of big things. I guess.
Links:
Q&A Session - http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/4-oa/20040916/2004091601.html
Speech - http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/4-oa/20040915/2004091501.html
A Taipei Times reports the following:
Taiwan ranks first in
the world in digitized government, ahead of Singapore, the US and Canada, according to the annual global e-government study conducted by Brown University in the US state of Rhode Island. Taiwan moved up five places from the previous year, according to the study. This year’s study reviewed 1,935 government Web sites from June to last month. Among the sites analyzed were those relating to executive, legislative, judicial and Cabinet offices, and major agencies providing other crucial government services, such as health, taxation, education, foreign affairs, tourism and trade. Researchers used a 100-point assessment scale based on the number of services, including access to information, disability access, privacy, security and second-language translation. Taiwan scored 44.3 this year, followed by Singapore (43.8) and the US (41.9). China was placed sixth with a score of 37.3. Its ranking last year was 11th.
(Sept. 16, 2004)
Well. There you have it. I’d like to comment that this just goes to show that President Chen Shui-Bian is doing a great job. Yet, countless people here won’t even concede that he has ever done a single thing right. The opposition he faces is literally fanatical in their insistance that Chen is a lousy president, who is doing a lousy job. Ironically, they compliment him by also stating their “belief” (I don’t think they really believe this, even if they appear to convince themselves sometimes.) that Chen pulled off the smoothest political caper of the past half-century by engineering an 11th hour, fake asassination attempt in order to swing the vote in the last election. Well, if he’s a Godfather of that caliber, I wouldn’t shoot my mouth off too much!
The fact is, I find it hard to think off too much he’s done wrong in his 4.5 years in office. But his achievements are numerous, and he has been a political superstar, gaining around 10% in support between his first and second election victories. The gunshots do seem to have spooked him - he is much more security conscious these days - but go figure. I only wonder why there hasn’t been a serious attempt, since his opponents seem so bloody mean.
Q: What three places on earth are not located inside of the UN ?
A: Antarctica; The Holy See in Rome; Taiwan
Taiwan’s Government Information Office has just come out with a flashy new site to tell the world about this strange political anomaly. Soon people all around the world will realize that Taiwan politics is wacked. The opening splash screen is the same ad that was posted on 5 (according to Taipei Times) NYC bus stops. That story here.
Here is the site:
Must listen to these:
I wonder if anyone will read this. This is my blog. That’s short for Weblog. It’s like an online diary. I hope some of my family and friends will check here to see what I’m up to lately. And I hope not too many random surfers do the same - that’s too weird.
I will try to post any major notes on my life here, along with stuff I really wish I could email to everybody. Well, I suppose I could, but you know… People think you’re crazy if you send too much stuff.
I hope I like it.
Powered by WordPress