林保華

Diaoyotais incident a litmus test

By Paul Lin 林保華
Monday, Sep 27, 2010, Page 8

Taipei Times

During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese took pride in standing alone against the evils of imperialism, revisionism and anti-revolutionary behavior. Caught up in the moment, I fear they let it go to their heads. There was a song, very popular back then, that went something like this: “The wind is blowing from the east, the war drums are starting to beat, who shall cower should we meet? We do not fear the American imperialists, it is they who fear us!” As to who fears whom now, the current dispute over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) is a useful litmus test.

China’s acting skills on full display

By Paul Lin 林保華
Sunday, Sep 19, 2010, Page 8

On the morning of Sept. 7, a Chinese fishing vessel collided with a Japanese coast guard patrol boat in the waters off the Diaoyutais. The fishing vessel and her crew were detained by the Japanese coast guard, igniting new tensions between China and Japan. What are we to make of this event?

Ma selling out country and party

By Paul Lin 林保華
Sunday, Sep 12, 2010, Page 8

Sept. 3 was Victory over Japan Day in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The People’s Daily, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published an editorial claiming the victory was a result of the leadership and efforts of the CCP, which represented the will of all Chinese in the anti-Japanese war effort. Neither the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nor the Republic of China (ROC) were mentioned.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had no choice but to make a clarification the next day, and say that victory in the eight-year war was achieved under the leadership of the ROC government, led by the KMT regime, and that this is historical fact. In particular, Ma said Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) statement five years ago that the CCP and the KMT together led the resistance against Japan “was closer to the truth.”

Containing China in new cold war （Taipei Times）

By Paul Lin 林保華
Sunday, Aug 22, 2010, Page 8

On Monday, the US and South Korea held their second joint military exercise in a month. The scale of the drill outstripped that of the first drill, held late last month, by three times. Despite both Chinese and North Korean threats, the US and South Korean insistence on the drills was a response to North Korea’s alleged sinking of the South Korean Cheonan warship. It was also a reaction to China’s recent claim that the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea are part of its core interests.

North Korea denies responsibility for the sinking, and China pretends to remain neutral. However, the North launched its invasion of the South 60 years ago with Chinese and Soviet backing, but China covered up its support with lies and has never admitted or apologized for its backing. How, then, can we possibly believe China’s denial and profession of neutrality today?

Capital grab exposes China’s risk

By Paul Lin 林保華
Wednesday, Jul 14, 2010, Page 8

The Foxconn Technology Group affair shows that China’s economic growth model, which is focused on low wages to promote exports, has reached a turning point. This, however, is not the only worry for China’s economic development. Chinese-investment banks have been actively raising capital in Hong Kong recently, and this shows the hidden risk of the Chinese financial sector.

China on the brink of huge social changes

By Paul Lin 林保華
Monday, Jun 14, 2010, Page 8

Looking at the employee suicides at Hon Hai-owned Foxconn Technology Group’s plant in Shenzhen, China, as a mere labor dispute is superficial. It is easy to see that Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) is a visionary entrepreneur from his response to the events. In one week, he raised workers’ salaries twice — a total of 122 percent.

The raise satisfied workers, stunned competitors and forced the Chinese government to consider the long-term impacts of the decision on China’s development.

Wealthy being extorted in China

By Paul Lin 林保華
Sunday, Jun 06, 2010, Page 8

The truth behind the recent spate of suicides at Foxconn plants in China remains unclear because Beijing has worked hard to distract attention from the issue. However, the effects of the suicides cannot be underestimated, as they may yet give impetus to the moribund Chinese labor movement.

As a result, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Propaganda Department has ordered local media outlets to refrain from reporting on the issue without prior permission. This is a missed opportunity.

DPP has a tough battle ahead at end of year

By Paul Lin 林保華

Saturday, Mar 06, 2010, Page 8

After last Saturday’s four legislative by-elections, I felt I could finally talk about the five year-end special municipality elections, a topic I have been thinking about for some time.

Taiwan cannot just rely on the US

By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times
Wednesday, Feb 10, 2010, Page 8
The Sino-US relationship has undergone a change recently. Although US President Barack Obama adopted a low-key approach during his visit to China last November, he was humiliated by Beijing at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. This has forced Washington to take a tougher stance, and it has used the spat between Google and China as a point of departure. Both President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) transit stopovers in the US on his way to and from Latin America and the US announcement of the arms sales package to Taiwan involve what Beijing calls its core interests, and as a result, tension between China and the US has intensified.

The benefits of putting up a fight

By Paul Lin 林保華

Monday, Jan 25, 2010, Page 8

Ma and Hu both under pressure on unification

By Paul Lin 林保華

Thursday, Nov 26, 2009, Page 8

A backward approach to an ECFA has merit

By Paul Lin 林保華

Wednesday, Nov 18, 2009, Page 8

There are still many public disagreements about the government’s plan to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, while many know little about what such an agreement would entail. Despite this, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) sees it as a panacea, saying that not only is an ECFA necessary, but also that the sooner it is signed the better.

Greens unite, protect and besiege

By Paul Lin 林保華

Sunday, Oct 25, 2009, Page 8

The battle is on for the year-end mayoral, county commissioner and city and county councilor elections. The government’s plan to upgrade several cities and counties to special municipality status may have brought a certain level of disorder to the electoral process, thereby highlighting the importance of the year-end elections.

Balancing US, PRC comfort zones

By Paul Lin 林保華

Friday, Oct 16, 2009, Page 8

When Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected president, the immediate US reaction was to heave a sigh of relief because Ma’s pro-­China policies were expected to relax the tense cross-strait relationship. In practice, things have turned out slightly differently, as “pro-China” became “submit to China,” and this raised flags in the US, as can be seen from a series of recent events.

Ethnicity crucial to response to Morakot

By Paul Lin 林保華

Friday, Aug 28, 2009, Page 8

“High class Mainlander” Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) has once again given us an earful of his preposterous opinions, this time in connection to the disaster relief effort in southern Taiwan. This man is not worth the effort and the ink, but a discussion about the effects on the disaster relief of the ethnic identification issue that he plays on is.

A disaster that could have been less painful

By Paul Lin 林保華

Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 8
With flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot wreaking severe damage in southern Taiwan, experts must now consider how such a disaster could have been repeated 50 years after the notorious flooding of Aug. 7, 1959. Over the past two years, Taiwan』s ability to handle disasters has deteriorated. Compared with their disaster response measures last year, the incompetent bureaucrats in President Ma Ying-jeou』s (馬英九) government have made no progress.

First, Ma criticized the Central Weather Bureau for 「misleading」 the government last year, and he has done so again this time.

Fighting the communists amid talks with China

By Paul Lin 林保華

Sunday, Aug 02, 2009, Page 8

At the founding of the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps last month, we used a slogan of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石): “We shall win against communism, we shall build the nation” (反共必勝,建國必勝).

A true experience of White Terror

By Paul Lin 林保華

Thursday, Jul 23, 2009, Page 8

At about 9pm on July 14, my wife received a phone call from the local section chief of the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. He said there would be a report on the alleged arrival of pro-­Xinjiang independence activists in Taiwan in Next Magazine (壹周刊) magazine the following day and that according to information obtained from the bureau’s Kaohsiung office, the activists were in some way connected to me. The man first requested to visit us at home and then said he was already downstairs.

Chinese oppression of minorities

By Paul Lin 林保華

Sunday, Jul 12, 2009, Page 8

An ironic group to fight the CCP

By Paul Lin 林保華

Sunday, Jun 28, 2009, Page 8
‘The pan-green camp is embroiled in infighting, and the man on the street probably says that both sides in this party dispute are wrong. This has had a negative impact on the pan-green camp’s reputation and therefore benefits the KMT.’