MaWangMess: Wang wins another round

Jes' restin'.

AFP reports on Ma taking another blow:

Taiwan's parliamentary speaker scored another victory in the battle for his job Monday after the high court upheld a ruling against his party's decision to expel him over claims of influence-peddling.

Earlier this month, the Taipei district court granted Wang Jin-pyng's request for a provisional injunction against the Kuomintang (KMT) party, allowing him to hold his party membership and therefore continue as speaker.

The party, led by President Ma Ying-jeou, appealed the ruling, but the appeal was thrown out by the high court on Monday.

The KMT said it would appeal to the Supreme Court. Apparently a dozen or so KMT legislators have urged Ma not to appeal:

According to KMT legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), a dozen or so KMT legislators, including Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井), Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟), Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) and Chen Ken-te (陳根德), decided to write a letter to President Ma after a gathering held last week to discuss the political situation. “During the gathering, we discussed the recent political turmoil caused by the feud between President Ma and Speaker Wang. A couple of days ago, a taxi driver committed suicide. In a letter he left behind, he wrote that he was disappointed with the government for failing to revive the economy and constantly engaging in political infighting. The death of the taxi driver shocked society. During the gathering, the attendees asked me to take the lead to write a letter to President Ma recommending that the KMT withdraw its interlocutory appeal against Wang in order to put an end to the political infighting so that he could concentrate on reviving the economy.”

The latest China Times poll had the President at 19%. Though Speaker Wang has not been charged, the Presidential Office continued to insist that he was guilty:

[Presidential spokesman] Lee stated that President Ma Ying-jeou’s insistence on the independence of the judiciary would never change, nor would the President tolerate the fact that the Legislative Speaker had illegally lobbied the Justice Minister and the chief prosecutor of Taiwan Provincial Prosecutors Office in a court case involving the DPP party whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).

Lee stated that there was no gray area in the Wang case.

What will President Ma do if the Supremes don't uphold this political assault on the KMT's own Speaker?

Even more deliciously, the Justice Ministry announced a probe of SID chief Huang, a probe which Ma had to make pro forma noises saying he supported. The SID explains all its wiretapping here. Just accidents and mistakes.

I see no way Ma can ever really recover from this train wreck, except by waiting for time to rehabilitate him. But if Ma can do this, what other accidents await? Ma's rigidity and political ineptitude remind me of another President of the ROC, from several decades ago....

MEDIA MOMENT: AFP hilariously reported:

Ma's approval rating had hit a record low of around 9 per cent earlier this year, before rising to more than 21 per cent in a recent poll.

I guess two weeks ago is "earlier this year." Technically.  The protest against Ma was variously reported: "tens of thousands" in Taipei Times, 5500 in WSJ (police estimates).
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Taichung AmCham Walkathon

The website
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Ma Confucian Confusion

Tea being picked on the 169 on the flanks of Alishan.

Every year President Ma does this (TT):

Ma, accompanied by Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源), Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan Chen Wei-jen (陳威仁) and Minister of the Education Chiang Wei-ning (蔣偉寧), paid his respects to the Chinese philosopher by burning incense and watching a bayi (八佾) dance.

The dance, a ritual traditionally acted out to pay respect to emperors, was performed by 64 students.

The temple also opened the Lingxing Gate, its main entrance which is usually closed during the ceremony, and arranged for the president to enter the temple via the route traditionally taken by emperors.

Addressing the ceremony after the two-hour ritual, Ma cited the Analects to emphasize the importance of politicians taking a righteous path and said the wisdom in the Analects has been a reference when he was making cross-strait policies.

“The Analects discussed how feudal barons interacted with each other and how they handled politics. I’ve taken the wisdom of the Analects as a reference in my cross-strait policies,” he said.

Note how deeply ideological such an appearance is, and how inflated. By mentioning his cross-strait policies, he reinforces his own Chineseness, and locates his political action with Beijing in that context, as if to say we might disagree, but China endures. One must also ask whether it is appropriate for the president of a democratic society to receive the honors of an imperial authoritarian. I can't help feeling that these behaviors are the actions of a man who is deeply and ideologically rigid and further, totally out of touch with the domestic political situation.

There were protests in Taipei today asking Ma to step down. At one point the protesters broke through the police lines in front of the president's residence.... Ketty Chen posted a reminder on Facebook about what Ma had promised during his inaugural address in 2008:

Taiwan's democracy should not be marred by illegal eavesdropping, arbitrary justice, and political interference in the media or electoral institutions.

As I said then, just take that speech as a 180 degree reversed road map about what is actually going to happen.
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Daily Links:

• Reviewed: The Man with the Compound Eyes.
• My friend the NH Bushman's car is clipped by a bus. He videos the driver tossing the mirror angrily.
• HTC takes beating in sales. Acer also, sadly. Taiwan's branding woes continue.
• Taichung remains preferred city to live in for Taiwanese.
• China decides to let Taiwan take part in ICAO, says Businessweek.
• Taiwan Today on the culture of cute in Taiwan.

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MaWangMess: Wiretapping Scandal Expands and other goodies

Pigeon cage outside Dongshih.

The papers were reported today that DPP Whip Ker Chien-ming said that the SID was tapping the legislature's switchboard number....

Earlier in the day Legislator Ker Chien-ming, a caucus whip of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told the press he had received notice from the court that the wiretapping of his phones had been discontinued, following his acquittal in a breach of trust case.

The notice listed several numbers that had been under surveillance, including his cell phone number and the Legislative Yuan's switchboard number 0972630235, Ker said.

"Even the parliament was being monitored," Ker said at a press conference at the Legislative Yuan, which was also attended by DPP legislators Wu Ping-jui and Kuan Bi-ling.

.....

Meanwhile, at a separate press conference Saturday morning, acting SID spokesman Yang Jung-chung repeatedly denied Ker's accusation, which was reported in a morning newspaper.

The SID "has never eavesdropped on the switchboard of the Legislative Yuan," Yang said several times. He said 0972630235 is the number of a cell phone used by an individual.

However, Tsai Wei-min, head of the Legislative Yuan's General Affairs Department, told the press the same day that the number has been used by the Legislative Yuan since August 2006 as part of a cost saving system.

Readers may recall that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng had been publicly accused by the President of influence peddling by calling the Minister of Justice and having him tell the prosecutors not to appeal a not guilty verdict against Ker. The DPP politicians also said that the SID had been monitoring the prosecutor in the Ker case, which the SID admitted. They admitted that they monitored her 12 year old daughter, accidentally, since she was using her mom's phone (SCMP). They then switched to the husband's phone which Lin Hsiu-tao was using, musical phones being a common feature of busy families.

It is striking that no transcript of the alleged phone calls telling the prosecutor to lay off Ker has been produced by the SID, since it has leaked transcripts of Wang Jin-pyng's phone calls. Indeed, the lack of such leaks suggests that no such transcripts exist. This tends to support Wang's claims that he was just comforting Ker and hadn't done anything.

The case has produced, at least for this observer, many moments of delicious blinding hypocrisy. FocusTaiwan ran another piece saying that the KMT's lawyers told the Taiwan High Court that the party would not work out a political compromise in the Wang case...

Asking the KMT to consider a settlement is tantamount to advising the party to "compromise its insistence upon resisting influence peddling in judicial cases and upon defending the core values of democracy and rule of law, which is an independent judiciary," the statement said.

Anyone remember when the judge in the Chen Shui-bian case got switched? Media personalities gathered this week to protest the wiretapping mess in Taiwan

Meanwhile, back in Washington DC the diplomatic core got egg on its face...

Representative to the US, King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), and Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) Press Division Director Frank Wang (王億) yesterday apologized over a controversial post on the Washington Post Web site, which describes Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) as “former Legislative Speaker.”

Frank Wang said Wang Jin-pyng was the “former Legislative Speaker” in the Washington Post Web site’s readers’ comments column on Sept. 14 and concluded by saying “I’m very glad the [Chinese Nationalist Party] KMT came to resolutely discipline its heavyweight party member.”

Events like this are reminders of how the KMT continues to imagine the State is an appendage of the KMT Party, using the diplomatic corps to comment on and defend what should be an internal matter of the KMT and a domestic politic issue. Note that if they had merely said nothing, or confined themselves to noting in a pro forma fashion how the open political conflict is an indicator of the strength of Taiwan's democracy, they would not now be having to apologize..... this affair continues to be a needless mess entirely the creation of Ma's KMT.... and judging from the comments on Facebook, tomorrow's news will be even funnier.

ADDITIONAL REFS: Jens Kastner with some sensible quotes from John Copper on the MaWangMess.
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Daily Links:

• Siew to represent Taiwan at APEC meeting
• Taipei-Manila fisheries talks postponed.
• Taiwan receives aircraft, holds live fire exercise.
• Japanese auto parts firms indicted for price fixing, Taiwan may be involved. Taiwan also involved in honey laundering. That's old news.
• Trinidad woman needs $40K to come to Taiwan to find missing daughter.

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The 1% Government

Taiwan is getting pummeled by several long-term trends  -- the financial liberalization of the late 1980s that brought in big global financial players, to Taiwan's detriment; the shift of factories and investment to China; and governance by the KMT. The trend is clear, as Commercial Times observed in another hard hitting editorial:

According to government statistics, the disposable annual income of people aged below 30 averaged only NT$366,000 (US$12,388) in 2012, lower than NT$380,000 in 1999.

In 2012, the starting monthly salaries for bachelor's degree holders averaged NT$26,000, down from NT$28,000 in 1999. The average starting salary of master's degree holders was NT$31,000, up only slightly from 13 years ago, when the average salary was NT$30,000.

There is an obvious trend in which wealth is concentrated in the hands of the older generations.

In 2010, 75 percent of residential properties in Taiwan were owned by people aged 45 or older, with homeowners younger than 35 accounting for only 8 percent. Many of these young homeowners are believed to have obtained financial support from their parents. In other words, the situation for young people is even worse than it appears.

This wealth gap between generations, as this Commercial Times points out, is cushioning the blow this brutal economy is giving the young. Meanwhile the KMT continues to serve the big money -- still no real stock tax, no change in the land tax (here), and now the premier wants to chain the minimum wage to the consumer price index (CPI), essentially freezing it at the current low level for the next few years:

Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday decided that beginning next year, the minimum wage will be contingent on growth in the consumer price index (CPI), a policy drawing severe criticism from labor groups.

With a threshold of a cumulative CPI growth of 3 percent or higher needed before the minimum wage will be reviewed, “it is highly likely that the basic wage levels will remain stagnant in the remaining three years of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) tenure,” Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said.

This means that the government can hold wages down without appearing to, simply by lowballing the CPI. Theoretically, wages will always remain the same relative to prices, which means that laborers will never be able to capture a larger share of the pie, at least while the Ma government is in office. Since 2007 and especially since the Ma Administration came to power, wages have regressed while productivity has boomed. Taiwan's gap between CPI changes and wage changes was the highest in the world in 2010. The Ma government wants to freeze this historically anomalous situation and treat it as the norm. The struggle for control of Taiwan between the pro-China and pro-Taiwan sides really masks the brutal and ongoing defeat of Taiwanese workers economically; it enables both parties to enlist workers on their side via their tribal social identities while screwing them out of their rightful livelihood.
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Links for a Slow Typhoon Day

I know you must be trapped indoors on this ugly typhoon day -- no rain here yet in central Taiwan so far. So enjoy some links....

• Taiwan should reform its economy to prosper. 
• The Writing Baron on the old Beitou Granary. Such sites are found all over Taiwan.
• Halpin says the MaWangMess is nothing like Watergate. 
• Tourists from India to Taiwan on the rise.
• China's Xi touring Central Asia, where it is a huge investor and power player. China is the major  victor of America's defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its influence in the area is unmatched.
• Off the Beaten Track on the Lost Soul Valley, now buried under a massive landslide, and an abandoned amusement park. Surely this tiny island has more abandoned amusement parks per square kilometer than any similar sized region on earth.
• China sending out more jets to play games with Japan over the Senkakus.
• The South China Sea festers while the US wastes treasure and effort and diplomatic credit in Syria.
• Taipower on a WWII US attack on central Formosa.
• China's economic offensive and Taiwan's defensive measures (academic piece)
• Wasserman: Mankind must focus efforts on Fukushima.
• Oz rips Taiwan's clerics for being homophobic nutjobs.

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Windy, Soggy, Gigantic Usagi to smack Taiwan...

Now upgraded to the year's biggest typhoon. Oh boy. The South is going to get slammed.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST: Globe and Mail, 1982

A friend sent this around, in case you were wondering what the official US stance on Taiwan is....

The Globe and Mail (Canada)
July 19, 1982 Monday
AROUND THE WORLD China warns Shultz
BYLINE: GAM
LENGTH: 82 words
DATELINE: Peking CHINA

PEKING - China told U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz yesterday that the Reagan Administration would sabotage Sino-U.S. relations if it bowed to pressure from Washington's Taiwan lobby. The official People's Daily newspaper accused Mr. Shultz of contradicting himself during his Senate confirmation hearings last week, quoting him as saying that the United States never formally recognized Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan, but as acknowledging at the same time that there was only one China.

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Ma-Wang notes -- 2016?

Tea farms on Alishan

Some random thoughts on the Ma-Wang disaster for the KMT. Frozen Garlic wrote....

....The judges have been around a little longer and are less idealistic and more political. This is probably a selection effect, with the politically reliable ones getting promoted. The higher up the court system you go, the more political the court supposedly is. So it isn’t surprising that Ma lost in the lower court. Experience tells us that the higher courts will be more sympathetic to his arguments. Today, right on cue, High Court judges were randomly assigned to the case. Wang had asked for a public lottery, but the court insisted on doing it through a random computer process. Magically, the lead judge is married to a senior KMT figure who actually ran for the legislature under the KMT banner many years ago. The talk shows are abuzz questioning whether the assignment was really random.

Couple of things I'd like to note. First, I think Froze is correct in noting higher court judges are more ideological/political -- a lot of them are older civil servants from the 1980s when entrants into the bureaucracy were vetted to make sure they have properly pro-KMT political views. So the whole system appears biased, and it will take two generations for any such bias to work itself out of the System. I also think the lower court realized its ruling didn't matter, since whatever it said would be appealed. So the Court decided to have a little fun and then kick the case upstairs for its true resolution.

Another issue here is Wang's request for a public lottery for the judge selection. That's pretty much an admission that he strongly suspects the computer system is rigged.

2016 now looms. Wang will be 75 and too old to be a candidate. Wu Den-yi, the Vice President, is not a congenial figure. Hau Long-bin, the mayor of Taipei, struggled to get elected in a city where they'd vote for the dead, rotting carcass of a dog on a stick if it were the KMT candidate.

What's interesting is what this case may be saying about the chances of Eric Chu, the younger rising star of the KMT, and Jiang Yi-huah, the current premier. The media started mentioning that Jiang might be a dark horse candidate for 2016 a while back. Chu is half-Taiwanese while Jiang's parents are mainlanders from Fujian. For Deep Blue ideologues like Ma who regard the ROC as "theirs", Taiwanese are inferiors and outsiders. If there really is an ethnic element to this assault on Wang by Ma, it may strengthen Jiang's position among the KMT's mainlander elites as a potential 2016 candidate, who have marginalized powerful Taiwanese like Wu Po-hsiung and Wang Jin-pyng. More practically, Jiang is close to Ma and Ma may further view him as one way Ma can rule Taiwan from beyond the political grave of 2016, if Ma can retain his grip on the KMT. Of course, this is a chain of speculations. I need to find a less potent brand of alcohol....

The letter from THRAC in yesterday's Taipei Times listed out some of the alleged constitutional improprieties:

By reporting to the president and then releasing the transcript at a press conference — without laying any charges — the SID grossly violated laws requiring nondisclosure of its investigations and has confirmed suspicions that it is a political tool of the KMT. There are also questions about the legality and propriety of the wiretap.

....

These actions constituted (to use his words) “improper influence at the highest level,” abuse of the office of president and violation of the separation of powers fundamental to a democracy. Ma then acted in his capacity as KMT chairman to have Wang’s party membership suspended and remove him as a legislator-at-large.

This confusion of Ma’s two roles as president and party chairman looks like a return to the old party-state practices of the KMT.

Third, contempt of the legislature. By using an internal KMT party process to remove its speaker, Ma has seriously violated the rights of the legislature. The speaker of the legislature is elected by its members. The legislature oversees the president. Now Ma has used his power as party chairman to become the overseer of the legislature. This has serious implications for KMT proportional vote legislators who must worry about a party chairman who can remove them so easily.

A vast crisis, now in suspension while the Court rules on it. All of it triggered by Ma's own actions, which he did not have to take.
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Daily Links:

• WSJ with a strong round up of the MaWangMess.
• Economist's round up of the MaWangMess: except for the ridiculous remark about reunification, the write up is great improvement over the hilarious Ma the Bumbler bumblement. But the Economist, strangely, continues to support Ma, who seeks to deliver Taiwan into the orbit of a Communist one-party state, rather than the DPP, which supports an independent capitalist democracy. Well, maybe not so strange, considering the Economist's real values....
• Haha. Suddenly the US can't afford to sell Taiwan F-16s. And so the merry-go-round continues. Nobody wants Taiwan to have F-16s except the DPP government.
• Taiwan seizes 820 kilograms of dolphin meat. Dolphin meat is always available if you know where to ask. 
• Dapu: Miaoli County Chief confronted by protesters. The police parted the crowd for him and let him in to pay his respects to Mr. Chang. However, when protest leaders stopped by the home to visit the body, the police would not let them in. 
• Taiwan dry bulk shipping firms to get boost from China trade.
• The BBC has an article on Taiwan's problems with innovation. Its identification of Taiwan's mom-n-pop management as an obstacle is spot on, but sadly it sees "innovation" solely in terms of a narrow slice of electronics firms. Taiwan's textile, machine tool, bike, sporting goods, and other industries, the lifeblood of the island's industrial heartland in central Taiwan, are ignored in this piece, as they are in so many others. Also, BBC's longtime institutional pro-China stance is especially irksome in this context -- one reason Taiwan firms moved to China was to avoid the kind of upgrading of tech and innovation and management BBC (correctly) advocates here and instead prolong dependence on the old low-wage manufacturing strategies of the 1960-80s. BBC is thus in the position of someone who shoots your parents and then laments the fact that you are an orphan.....

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Taiwan Communique 143 Out

Found this in my inbox:

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We are pleased to let you know that the new issue of Taiwan Communiqué is hot off the press (attached). This issue starts with a summary and analysis of the recent developments under the heading Taiwan’s Watergate, focusing on President Ma’s attempt to oust Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng.



Then we have a section titled Long Hot Summer, with an overview of the developments during July and August 2013, in particular the mass protest against the KMT government’s handling of the death of a conscript in military custody, which led to the resignation of two successive defense ministers within one week.

We also summarize the developments surrounding the Nuclear Four issue, which saw the government pushing for a referendum and people’s demonstrations against it because of its deceptive nature.

This is followed by a piece on International space for Taiwan, in which we summarize the steps taken by the US Congress on getting Taiwan to attend the ICAO Conference in September-October, and the results.

We then present an update on the case of former President Chen Shui-bian, who’s case was discussed in an extensive NYTimes article. We also present a summarize of legislation introduced in the US Congress by Congressman Robert Andrews (D-NJ), urging a medical parole.

In the Report from Washington we report on the progress of the Taiwan Policy Act, as well as an appeal to the Department of Defense to move forward with the sale of submarines to Taiwan. We also mention the introduction of a new resolution in the House of Representatives to get Taiwan into the United Nations.

Last but not least we have a “Book Review” which is actually a preview of a fascinating exhibit which will be held this Fall in Long Beach CA, titled “Out of Taiwan” focusing on the links between many of the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands with Taiwan’s indigenous inhabitants.

Below you find the table of contents. The electronic version will be uploaded to our websites www.fapa.org and http://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/index.html The hardcopy will be sent out to those who are on our mailing list next week.

Best regards,
Gerrit van der Wees
Editor, Taiwan Communiqué
Formosan Association for Public Affairs

CONTENTS Taiwan Communiqué no 143

September/ October 2013


Taiwan's "Watergate"
President Ma moves to oust Legislative Speaker ... 1

"Influence peddling" and phone tapping ........... 3

Why now? A long rivalry between Ma and Wang ...... 4


Taiwan's long hot Summer
Mass demonstrations on death of conscript ........ 6

Two defense ministers resign ..................... 8


Another flawed pact with the PRC
KMT government signs Service Trade Agreement ..... 9

Widespread protests against PRC accord ........... 9

Legislative Yuan deliberations postponed ........ 11


Nuclear power debate continues
Rallies against Nuclear Four plant .............. 12
Ma government proposes deceptive referendum ..... 12

International space for Taiwan
Congress passes ICAO bill; President Obama signs 14
ICAO allows Taiwan to attend "as a guest" ....... 15

Update on former President Chen
NYT highlights quest for medical parole ......... 16
Congressman Andrews introduces resolution ....... 18

Report from Washington
Taiwan Policy Act passes House committee ........ 20
DOD urged to proceed with sale of submarines .... 21
Taiwan-into-UN resolution introduced in Congress 22

Book Review
"Out of Taiwan" exhibit in Long Beach California
Exhibit preview, by Gerrit van der Wees ......... 22




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Two busy links:

I am bogged down with a crapload of work that seems unlikely to clear for a couple more days, so you should be reading...

Frozen Garlic: The Courts are Run by the KMT:

When the Taipei District Court handed down its ruling last Friday, Ma’s lawyer made an interesting comment to the press. In his disappointment with the news, he turned to the reporters and said something to the effect of, “I hope no one ever says the courts are run by the KMT again.” This was a reference to an infamous statement from about 20 years ago. Hsu Li-teh 徐立德, who was then Vice-Premier, Hsu Shui-teh 許水德, who was then KMT Secretary-General, told KMT members not to worry about the legal consequences of their actions because, after all, “the courts are run by the KMT 法院是國民黨開的。” The courts have done little to dispel this notion over the past 20 years. Again and again, KMT members seem to acquitted or given very light sentences while DPP members seem to get the harshest treatment possible under the law.

The whole post is excellent, don't miss it.

J Michael relates the sad tale of the death of one of the Dapu 4 whose homes were bulldozed while the protesters were away: In Memorium: Mr. Chang Sen-wen:

I first met Chang Sen-wen (張森文) in front of the Executive Yuan on July 3. It was an excruciatingly hot day. He was in a blue shirt, wearing a straw hat, underneath a tent that had temporarily been erected in front of the EY. Next to him, his wife, Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), was giving interviews to reporters, making her case, as she had done dozens of times over the past three years, against the efforts by the Miaoli County Government to demolish their home and the small pharmacy they operated to widen an intersection on the way to a science park project.

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Lost in Minquan W Rd Station....

Wow. The bottom map... Yes, in modern maps, north is at the top. In traditional Chinese maps, south is at the top. But Minquan W Rd station is a whole new orientation.

But the top map... Looking at that, I seriously began to wonder if I had Alzheimer's or something...

UPDATE: Great comments below explain what is going on.
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Ma-Wang Tussle Round Up

Apple Daily has had some wonderful front page illustrations during this Ma-Wang disaster.

I need to go away for a vacation (post below) more often if President Ma is going to melt down like this. What fun!  Some observations, in no particular order:

Let's remember -- this affray is entirely the result of Ma's decisions. Nothing called for him to do anything but make his usual noises about resolving things by the law, the KMT is clean, he is against corruption, etc. He didn't have to go after Wang and spark a political and possibly even constitutional. This crisis is entirely of Ma's making.

The Washington Post reports on Taiwan from...Beijing. An island full of talented and perspicacious writers and observers, and their go-to guy is 3000 kms away. Why not just solicit stories from Moonbase Alpha? Think of the broad scope! Longtime Taiwan specialist John Tkacik pointed out the article's subtle pro-PRC spin in a comment below it:

I detect several pro-China spins in this report, including the subtle assumption that Taiwan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, DPP Legislative Whip Ker and Justice Minister Tseng really are guilty of something. These are political figures that Beijing doesn't trust and would gleefully discredit. And when a Taiwan official tells a WPost reporter calling from Beijing "it's unsafe to talk, we're being monitored," he is probably referring to the Chinese security services' routine monitoring of Foreign Correspondents' telephone calls as much as anything else.

The article even terms the feeling of being watched "paranoia" though the piece is about -- what kind of case? Yes, a case in which the government wiretaps were used to discredit the President's perceived political enemies.

Poll plummet: UDN had Ma at 11% approval. As Ma fell to 9% in at least one poll, people were gleefully digging up Ma's words calling for Chen Shui-bian's resignation when Chen hit 18%, or twice as high as where Ma is now. Ma said back in 2006:

「民調掉到18%以下，人民可以把權力拿回來…」

and the bolded comment below was widely repeated:

當民意已經不支持你, 你的政治責任沒有辦法再承擔的時候, 你就應該知道自己下台, 不要等人來罷免你。一個人要有羞恥, 人家才會尊重

When the opinion of the people no longer supports you, and when you can no longer shoulder your political responsibilities, you should know that you need to step down. Don't wait until someone impeaches you. A person has to have a sense of shame for the people to respect him. - Ma Ying-jeou, June of 2006

Letters from Taiwan, always good, juxtaposed a poll that said the DPP's Tsai is now more trusted to carry out cross strait policies than Ma, and that Ma was at 9.2%

The news report for more than 30 scholars and law professors signing a document saying Ma has crossed a constitutional red line is here. I've placed the text under the READ MORE divider below. Thanks to Ketty Chen for sending it around Facebook. The Constitutionality of Ma's acts is starting to loom; what looked like Ma simply doing something fantastically stupid is slowly blowing up into a constitutional crisis. Civic groups pointed out that by listening to the prosecutor and removing Wang from his position in the legislature, Ma may have committed a constitutional violation.

The Court's reversal of the order expelling Wang from the KMT certainly makes it seem so. That was huge.... (Taipei Times):

The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled in favor of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) provisional injunction seeking to retain his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) membership and position as head of the legislature.

The court ruled that Wang would be able to retain his membership and rights as a KMT member after submitting a guarantee of about NT$9.38 million (US$314,300), Taipei District Court spokesperson Lai Chien-yi (賴劍毅) told reporters.

The KMT plans to appeal, so stay tuned. FocusTW explains the Court's logic.

The panel of three judges granted Wang's request on the basis of avoiding "irreparable damages" that the plaintiff would suffer due to a loss of eligibility to serve in the Legislature while waiting for a court to rule on his other lawsuit.

Motives? Lots of people are pointing to simple hate. Lee Yuan-tseh, Taiwan's nobel prize-winning physicist, criticized Ma for constantly having his features distorted by hate. Nathan Batto over at the awesome Frozen Garlic has a marvelously informative blog post on the whole affair, well worth reading. He is leery of identifying a motive. All politics may be local in some places, but in East Asian Confucian societies, all politics is personal. I'm with the vendetta believers, though I am sure the politics of the moment, and of the future (particularly Ma's prized cross-strait peace plan) may have played a role. I don't think Ma is playing 11-dimensional chess or is all that impatient with what's going on in the legislature; I think he seized a chance to revenge himself on someone he really just totally hated. Like a sort of inept, out of control Michael Corleone, he's taking revenge on everyone who offended him by opposing him: the jailing of Chen Shui-bian, the investigation of Lee Teng-hui for embezzling (handled by the same prosecutor who went after Wang in this case), the investigation of Su Tseng-chang for his handling of government papers, the attack on Wang, the prosecutions of DPP politicians all over the island, etc etc etc.

The China Times says Ma sacrifices Taiwan's Future by Slaying Wang. The China Times also pointed out that Lin Yi-shih, the Ma associate who was recently given six years for corruption, is still a KMT party member.

Jonathon Manthorpe, longtime observer of things here, has a write-up of events here.

Lighter moment: some delegation went to Washington to complain to people there about Taiwan's Watergate -- illegal wiretapping! Bwahahaha. Don't they read the news? Complaining to Washington about someone engaged in illegal wiretapping is like complaining to the Mafia about what horrors illegal prostitution and gambling are.
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Daily Links:

• Jamestown Brief piece assesses the DPP's China policy in light of the 2014 elections
• Taiwan military delays volunteer service by two more years.
• NYTimes: Taiwan seeks to revive its banana industry
• Rex How analyzes the reasons Ma wanted a debate with the DPP over the services pact. One tactic the KMT uses is to reduce all conflicts over X to a partisan conflict between the pro-China and pro-Taiwan forces. 
• Taiwan looks to poach Malaysian students to offset China brain drain .

馬總統已經跨越憲政民主的紅線

一群公法學者對於總統介入國會自律事件的共同意見

立法委員應該遵守〈立法委員行為法〉之規定，不得對進行中的司法案件進行遊說。如有涉嫌違反此項國會倫理規範之情事，立法院應當啟動紀律機制進行調查及懲處，社會輿論亦得對涉案人士提出政治道德上的呼籲乃至譴責。惟近日馬英九總統所為，是否透過「捍衛司法、嚴懲關說」之名義，對立法院長王金平展開密集的「政治鬥爭」，社會已多有議論。關於檢察總長黃世銘及其所領導之特偵組就王金平所涉關說疑案所為各種處置的適法性，以及馬總統在此過程中有無違法濫用檢調系統的質疑，我們認為尚有詳細深究的必要。但是，在還沒有循適正之司法、監察或國會調查程序取得更為充分、確切的事證資料以前，我們暫時無法評論。然而，關於馬總統以其身兼國民黨黨主席之權勢，強力運作國民黨對王金平做出撤銷黨籍之嚴厲黨紀處分、試圖據以剝奪王金平之立法委員資格，進而改變立法院院長人選的作法，既有的公開事證資訊已足供我們做出共同確信的憲政法理判斷：馬總統此舉已經公然地逾越了權力分立體制應有的分際，危害了自由民主的憲政秩序。基於以下理由，我們聯合提出這項嚴正的憲政批判﹕

一、總統的憲政身分同一性

首先，總統是一個憲法機關，其權力之行使必須受到憲法規範的約束，當然也必須符合包括民主原則及權力分立原則在內的憲法整體基本原則。在民主社會中，總統個人可以兼具若干的其他政治身分，例如政黨的主席或者實質政治領袖。但是只要他還在任，他作為總統這個憲法機關擔當人的角色與身分就不會改變。在總統任期內，沒有前一秒鐘還是總統，後一秒就不是總統而只是單純政黨主席這種事。總統個人以其非總統身分所為之任何政治行為，均必須與總統的憲法機關角色及其憲法職權相容。換言之，總統以其他政治身分所為的政治行為，同樣必須受到憲法的約束，當然也包括民主原則及權力分立原則。總統在憲政上不可以做的事情，不會因為總統個人換了一個身分（例如政黨主席），就變成是總統可以做的事情。若非如此，憲政秩序上對於總統權力所設的規範，將被總統個人以機巧的身分轉換而輕易規避。

二、國會自律原則與自律事項

我國大法官已經數度闡明，國會自律是構成權力分立秩序的憲法基礎原則之一。國會自律也根植於憲法的民主原則，為擔保代議民主政治之實踐與尊嚴所必要。基於權力分立原則以及民主原則，國會倫理的形成與維持，特別是對於國會議員單純違反國會倫理規範之責任的追究與處罰，當然屬於國會自律事項，其他權力部門不得越殂代庖。特偵組既已表明王金平所涉關說疑案並無涉及刑事不法，而屬行政不法問題，則王金平是否因本案而不適任立法委員與國會議長，屬國會自律範疇，殆無疑義。不分區立法委員與區域選舉產生的立法委員都是代表全國人民行使立法權的代議士。他們受有相同的國會倫理規範﹔對其所為之紀律調查與處罰，也應當適用相同的國會自律原則。

縱使政黨政治已經在相當程度上改變了傳統的憲法權力分立秩序，國會自律仍然是憲政民主國家無可退讓的基本原則。國會自律原則是否被遵守與維繫，是區辨一個國家是憲政民主國家抑或「黨國不分」的政黨集權國家的重要判準。依司法院第三三一號解釋及公職人員選舉罷免法第七十三條之規定，不分區立委在喪失黨籍之日起失去立委資格。此等制度安排是否合致於憲政民主的基本要求，實有重行檢討之空間，但是不論如何，對此等規範所為解釋與具體適用，不能無視於國會自律原則此項憲法規範要求。

三、總統不可以越權干涉國會自律事項

總統不可以介入國會自律事項、侵犯立法權的核心領域。總統不可以做的事情，總統就算身兼政黨主席，還是不可以做。即便不細究現行法下政黨對於不分區立法委員所為撤銷黨籍之黨紀處分本身是否即有架空國會自律原則之虞，為了維持總統與國會的權力分際，擔任總統的個人就是不可以參與所屬政黨議處同黨不分區立委的黨紀程序，而必須有所迴避。換句話說，在總統與政黨主席的角色可能發生衝突的時候，憲法就要求身為總統的個人必須節制自己在憲法外所擁有的政治權力，不可以使總統這個憲法機關發生牴觸憲法的疑慮。憲法對於權力分立的要求，其價值排序遠高於政黨的黨紀維護。然而，馬英九總統非但沒有迴避立法院院長的黨紀案件，還數度召開記者會指摘王金平院長已不適任，必須去職，進而出席國民黨考紀會，要求撤銷王金平的黨籍。我們認為，王金平院長和柯建銘立委的行為是否構成對於進行中的司法案件進行請託、遊說，是否已經違反立法委員的行為倫理，應該接受立法院紀律委員會最嚴格的檢驗。但是馬英九總統的行為已經違背了憲法課予總統的忠誠義務，不當干預國會自律事項，以致跨越了民主國家的憲政權力分際。基於維護憲政民主法治的信念，我們提出學理意見如上，籲請公民社會成員共同正視台灣當前所遭遇的憲政挑戰，並要求國家各權力機關儘速依循合法合憲的方式，匡正脫序的憲政秩序。

共同連署人：
王毓正（成功大學法律學系副教授）
王韻茹（中正大學法律學系助理教授）
王鵬翔（中研院法律學研究所助研究員）
王必芳（中研院法律學研究所助研究員）
辛年豐（逢甲大學土地管理學系助理教授）
官曉薇（臺北大學法律學系助理教授）
邱文聰（中央研究院法律學研究所副研究員）
林佳和（政治大學法律學系副教授）
林佳範（臺灣師範大學公民教育與活動領導系副教授）
林明昕（臺灣大學法律學院副教授）
林春元（中原大學財經法律學系助理教授）
林淑雅（靜宜大學法律學系助理教授）
周佳宥（中國文化大學法律學系助理教授）
胡博硯（東吳大學法律學系助理教授）
高仁川（臺北大學法律學系助理教授）
孫迺翊（政治大學法律學系副教授）
翁燕菁（政治大學政治學系助理教授）
張嘉尹（世新大學法律學系教授）
陳怡凱（成功大學法律學系助理教授）
陳仲嶙（清華大學科技法律研究所副教授）
陳耀祥（臺北大學公共行政暨政策學系助理教授）
黃丞儀（中央研究院法律學研究所助研究員）
黃忠正（清華大學科技法律研究所副教授）
黃舒芃（中央研究院法律學研究所副研究員）
黃源浩（輔仁大學財經法律系副教授）
廖福特（中央研究院法律學研究所副研究員）
劉靜怡（臺灣大學國家發展研究所教授）
鍾芳樺（輔仁大學法律學系助理教授）
顏厥安（臺灣大學法律學系教授）
羅承宗（崇右技術學院財經法律系助理教授）
蘇彥圖（中央研究院法律學研究所助研究員）
蘇慧婕（中央研究院法律學研究所博士後）

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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Alishan Take Three

James checks his pics. Not a great day for pics; by the time we got up high, the rain and fog was rolling in. Moral of the story: you can never start too early in the mountains. Yet it was still a surpassingly lovely ride.

Another weekend, another ride. This time I avoided the growing horror of President Ma Ying-jeou's mind-numblingly stupid assault on Wang Jin-pyng by hiding in the mountains for a lovely two day ride over two of my favorite roads, the 169 up Alishan, and the 159A into Chiayi city, which is really the prettiest road on the island. Click on READ MORE to read more....

We headed out down the 3 for about 50 kilometers of eating exhaust before hitting the lovely 149.

Still, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. As many times as I have ridden the 149B, I have never ridden it on a gorgeous day. So I was kinda excited.

We took the hideous 3 all the way down to Jhushan, then rode through town and got on the 149. A pretty road, it travels south along a river gorge filled with tea farms and tea processing joints.

Processing tea on the 149.

The mountains, beautiful in the distance.

In small mountain villages, itinerant clothes vendors make the rounds.

Feeling good...

Then we turned onto the 149B. This brutal road rises in a series of switchbacks. The grades are brutal, all above 10%. Absolutely brutal.

Great views in places.

Dom, on the left, and James, on the right, my partners in climb.

Eventually you reach a flat portion where you enter the end of the Ten Thousand Year Gorge. Lovely spot. There's a short, much needed downhill, and then up you go again.

Rolling down to where the 149A climbs up to meet the 149B. The views are stirring, but I was too beat to pay attention.

Beautiful things to see everywhere.

The nice pavement comes to an end, and then the crappy concrete moonscape pavement begins. This rises another 100 meters or so to the tunnel into Caoling. As you can see in this pic, a stupendous landslide took out the whole top of the mountain and the road as well.

Dom and James, both powerful riders, enjoy the climb.

James images the slide.

We went through the tunnel and had lunch in Caoling, a ghost town, surprisingly, on a Saturday. I was whipped and welcomed the rest.

Coming into the gorge below Caoling.

Below Caoling there is a series of switchbacks until you hit the river, more of a vast gravel pit than a stretch of water.

Reaching the river.

Not in any position to argue, James and Dom politely let a truck driver go first.

It's a wildnerness...

Sorry boys and girls, he's married.

Soon our destination, the aboriginal village of Laiji, came into view. 110 kms on the day, 1300 meters of climbing. I hadn't been riding as much as I wanted during the summer, and it really showed in my overall conditioning.

We stayed in Laiji at the Lanhou B and B. Very nice. The room for four was $2200 and dinner was $300. Breakfast was included. The dinner was fantastic, a spread that was more than we could eat, not at all like the skimpy, low quality set meals you often get at B and Bs. Breakfast is at a real Taiwan-style breakfast place, not crappy rice porridge with condiments that haven't been updated since the late Qing era. It's really bargain, pleasant surroundings, great people. Highly recommended. Only drawback is that you have to bring a towel, since they use those inexcusably awful paper ones.

One of the workers at the B and B remembered me. He was making handicrafts with a group of tourists from Kaohsiung. They all took turns using the lathe. Insurance is just not an issue here, folks.

Breakfast. The locals were out in force, preparing for a hard day of work with betel but, cigarettes, and whisbee.

Inside James and Dom enjoy breakfast burgers.

Morning: ready to ride.

We took the 149A out of Laiji. James grabs some pics of the staggering views.

The views are gorgeous even at the bottom.

Tea pickers were out early.

The 149A rolls for about 6 kms through this lovely terrain until it reaches the 169.

Already, though, clouds were starting to gather at higher altitudes.

The 169 hits you hard: the first grade is 17% but not long, thankfully. The next one is 15%. It settles down to a mere 8-9% a little higher up.

We rode upward into the fog.

Wealth really does grow on trees.

Heading into the mist and fog.

Dom before Taihe town.

The first overlook was clear enough for decent views, but further up we were fogged in.

Finally we arrived at Shijhuo where I rejuvenated with snacks and drinks. Once we got into the fog I didn't take any pictures for the rest of the ride on Alishan. I was totally whipped at Fenchihu. I haven't been that devastated by a ride in a long time. In fact I was so delirious with exhaustion I even considered skipping the 159A to avoid the long climb on that latter road (which ironically, turned out to be no problem) and taking the godawful 18 back to Chiayi. Fortunately Dom murmured a benediction and the moment passed.

We headed out the 159A. Here is that magical moment when James realizes he is on one of the most amazing roads on the island.

Dom enjoys the views. There's no way to present or describe this road. You just have to ride it yourself, preferably downhill from Shijhuo.

I'm lovin' it!

In Chiayi there's an express bike train that comes through at 3:52, arriving in Taichung at 5:10. We got into Chiayi city at 3:00 after adventures with a rain squall and a punctured tire and hopped that train. Here was what greeted me when I rolled into Taichung at 5:10.

A pity you weren't with me. Even with the rain, it was a gorgeous ride, well worth all the work of getting there. Hope to see you on the next one!
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!