Singer’s PRC concert reportedly at risk

BEIJING BUMP?：Deserts Chang’s agent said they had not heard from the organizers about the Dec. 30 show, while two DPP officials urged young Chinese to show respect

By Chris Wang and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter with staff writer and CNA

Thu, Nov 07, 2013 - Page 3

Taiwanese singer-songwriter Deserts Chang’s (張懸) concert in China next month might be canceled after scores of Chinese netizens threatened to boycott her over what they said was her pro-independence stance shown by holding a Republic of China (ROC) flag during a concert in the UK on Saturday.
The Hong Kong-based Phoenix New Media Web site yesterday reported that the Chinese organizers of Chang’s Dec. 30 concert at Beijing’s Wukesong Arena have received a cancelation notice and are waiting for an official announcement.
However, some Chinese media outlets have reported that the concert would not be postponed or canceled because it was approved by the Chinese government, and that the organizers had only decided to postpone a press conference scheduled for today.
Chang’s agent, Tsai Yu-ching (蔡玉青), yesterday said they were waiting for the Chinese organizers to clarify the flag incident to the Chinese authorities and that no decision would be made until they heard back from concerned parties.
“As long as there are willing audiences, Chang will sing,” Tsai said.
During Saturday’s concert at the University of Manchester, Chang took an ROC flag from a group of Taiwanese fans, unfurled it on stage and introduced it — in English — as her nation’s flag, a move that apparently upset Chinese students in the audience.”
She later said her introduction of the flag was intended for audience members who looked puzzled about the flag.
However, some Chinese netizens later responded angrily, calling Chang a “whore trying to dredge for money in China.”
“I am not singing to make money and to harm people at the same time ... If the public cannot view the incident and my well-meant intention to start a dialogue [with the Chinese woman] with an ordinary state of mind, I am willing to cancel my concert and take on any losses as a result so as to end the discontent and troubles caused to the organizers,” Chang wrote in a posting on her Facebook page on Tuesday.
She also wrote that “a lot of our views are sometimes not our own, but are what we hear from others or have instilled in us by education.”
Chang wrote that she often heard people say “no politics tonight” or “no race issues tonight” when she was studying abroad. When people say those things, they lose opportunities to understand differences, she wrote.
During a question-and-answer session at the legislature yesterday, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that his heart would be “wrenched” if Chang had to cancel the Beijing concert because of Saturday’s incident.
“The incident underlines the common problems young people from either side of the Taiwan Strait may encounter when interacting with each other… The council will do its best to let China know about how Taiwanese feel,” Wang said, adding that he believed Chang handled the situation properly.
The director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Youth Development yesterday said it supported the singer, and he urged young Chinese to show “rationality and empathy” to her.
“Introduction of where one comes from and the flag of one’s nation, in our view, would be something everyone does in a public setting,” Chang Chi-chang (張基長) said in a press release.
“When the Chinese young people said ‘no politics today,’ they were trying to bully an artistic performance with politics,” he added.
Chang Chi-chang said young Chinese should think about why their Taiwanese peers always deeply care about Taiwan’s flag and why people around the world could speak about their countries and flags with pride in front of Chinese, except Taiwanese.
He said Taiwanese at various international competitions have also had the flag taken from them by Chinese officials or nationals.
“I would say that the reasons behind those incidents have been far more than politics. They also involved a lack of empathy and rationality on the part of young Chinese,” said Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修), the department’s deputy director.
Increased understanding and engagement across the Taiwan Strait would only be possible and meaningful with the foundation of empathy, rationality and mutual respect, Chou said.

Ma looks after China’s self-interest

By Jerome Keating /

Fri, Nov 01, 2013 - Page 8

Begin with this basic premise: All countries operate out of self-interest.
There is nothing wrong with that; it is to be expected. Of course, it is possible for a nation to have more than one motive, but if self-interest is not a part of a country’s modus operandi, then its leadership should be questioned.
When President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) begins touting the advantages of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), it would be natural for him to claim that it is in the nation’s interest.
However, is this really true? With a little scrutiny, it soon becomes evident that Ma is asking Taiwanese to buy into the pact without knowing what is in it and the self-interest is his own and perhaps China’s.
The nation has had about six years of Ma’s bumbling incompetence.
He produced what has become a standing joke: the infamous “6-3-3” campaign promise.
His popularity has sagged; his approval ratings hit a low of 9.2 percent — an embarrassing figure especially after Ma suggested that then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should step down at a time when his “poor” rating was higher than Ma’s.
Then comes the smoke and mirrors.
Throughout his presidency, Ma has touted the image of peace in the Taiwan Strait because of his benign “kowtowing” to China, but does peace really reign?
As the world constantly hears this peace mantra from Ma, skepticism fills the air.
China’s 1,600-plus missiles aimed at Taiwan are still in place. China’s rulers still block Taiwan and have upped the ante; they now say that the issue must be settled in this generation. Of course “settled” for them means unification under Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) definition of “one China.”
At the same time, prices continue to rise, salaries diminish and housing prices skyrocket.
Taiwanese are ironically told that they should be happy that their mid-sized country with a superior economy has gotten a crumb from China: assuming “guest status” at a recent international forum.
If things are so great, why do the people need to be told repeatedly that Ma has brought this new “peace in our time” and prosperity? Whose reputation is Ma trying to salvage?
Without any real examination by the Legislative Yuan or the public, Ma and the leaders of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are saying that the ECFA should be passed quickly.
However, the crucial factor in this push is that while Ma touts its alleged advantages, he avoids the real question: What does China get out of it?
All countries put themselves first and a hegemonic China is certainly one that pursues its self-interest with a vengeance.
Does China need the agreement to help it solve its slowing economy?
Is this economy crucial to the salvation of a country of 1.3 billion people?
Do China’s farmers and its service industries really need outside help?
The only reason for Chinese farmers and service providers to bring their wares here, is to swamp, undercut and destroy the local markets for China’s benefit.
Another factor that must be faced is China’s repeated blocking of Taiwan from international forums and how Beijing makes no bones about considering the nation a rebellious province.
China’s handling of “rebels” in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong is of no comfort.
Yet these warning signs seem to go in one of Ma’s ears and out the other as he pushes for closer ties.
In his self-interest, the president talks out of both sides of his mouth.
In one breath, he says that the time is not right for political talks, but in the next he says that they may happen at upcoming events despite the absence of calls for political talks from Taiwan.
Ma says that he will seek a political consensus before any negotiations, but then he proceeds to negotiate without that consensus.
From the fabricated “1992 consensus” on, all talks have been restricted to a party-to-party basis between the KMT and the CCP.
Taiwan is already a major investor in China; major industries have moved there.
Instead of putting more eggs in the China basket, the nation needs to develop a balanced international trade network.
If the KMT really has the nation’s self-interest at heart, it should spend its efforts on that.
The crucial question remains: If the ECFA brings no real economic advantage to China, what does China get from it?
This is what has been at the heart of Ma’s contrived attack on Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) who has pushed for further examination of the ECFA.
Taiwan is getting a raw deal and Ma is trying to salvage his reputation at the nation’s expense.
And China? One does not have to worry about China; it is taking care of its own self-interest well enough.
Jerome Keating is a commentator in Taipei.

Taiwanese prefer independence over unification: survey

By Chris Wang / Staff reporter

Thu, Oct 31, 2013 - Page 1

Given the option independence or unification with China, a majority of Taiwanese prefer independence over unification, an opinion poll released yesterday showed.
Asked about their position on cross-strait relations, 66 percent of respondents supported the “status quo,” 24 percent wanted independence and 7 percent supported unification with China, according to the survey conducted by cable news channel TVBS between Thursday last week and Monday.
However, the poll found that most respondents favored independence over unification if they were asked to choose between just those two options, with 71 percent supporting independence and only 18 percent supporting unification with China.
With regards to identity, 78 percent of those polled identified themselves as Taiwanese, while 13 percent saw themselves as Chinese.
The respondents’ opinions on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) recent remarks on Double Ten National Day, when he claimed that “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Zonghua minzu” (中華民族), appeared to be split, with 44 percent agreeing with the description and 42 percent opposing it.
A further breakdown suggested that the respondents’ position followed their political affiliation, with 66 percent of those who identified themselves as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters saying that they disagreed with the comment and 67 percent of those supporting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) backing Ma’s remark.
However, most people found that Ma’s other comment — that cross-strait relations are not international relations — was unacceptable, with 66 percent not supporting the assertion and 20 percent supportive.
The survey, conducted by the TVBS poll center, collected 1,075 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points