林保華

The lies that lie behind negotiations with China
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2019.3.26

In a Jan. 2 speech to mark the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan,” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) announced a five-point proposal to bolster China’s “united front” tactics against Taiwan, using the term “democratic negotiation” to divide Taiwanese over issues such as signing a cross-strait “peace agreement.” Some Taiwanese lose their bearings when they hear the phrase “democratic negotiation” and think that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) really is expressing good will.

What does “democracy” mean to China? Communists think of Vladimir Lenin’s “democratic centralism.” As elaborated by Mao Zedong (毛澤東) on several occasions, the concept combines centralism on a democratic basis with democracy under central guidance. In the Chinese constitution, Mao made the concept more concrete, saying that it means “from the people, to the people.”

Removing stains of Chinese culture
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2019.3.16

The nationwide local elections on Nov. 24 last year saw major losses for Taiwan’s pro-independence parties. One of the reasons for this setback is that some voters fell for then-Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) promise that they would get rich if he became mayor. Some of those people already regret voting for him.

Why did voters fall for Han’s promises so easily? Some observers put it down to a Taiwanese tendency to “love money and fear death.” These words were originally spoken by Shinpei Goto, who served as head of civilian affairs under the Japanese governor-general of Taiwan from 1898 to 1906.

Traitors need to be rooted out now
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2019.3.8

In an interview, newly appointed National Security Council Deputy Director-General Arthur Iap (葉國興) said: “The current domestic situation is grim, the enemy is already in the country.”

Regardless of what Taiwan’s future looks like, and regardless of whether the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) salvages the situation, this statement will become a classic.

US could go to war to fix China
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2019.1.5

Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of official US-China diplomatic relations. On Thursday last week, US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: “Just had a long and very good call with President Xi [Jinping (習近平)] of China. Deal is moving along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas and points of dispute. Big progress being made.”

Trump is very experienced in dealing with rogue states. He talks a lot and no one knows if what he says is true.

The many challenges facing the DPP
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  20190102

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) celebrated its 30th anniversary only two years ago. “At 30, I stood firm,” as Confucius says.

The party should only just have entered the stage of maturity, but instead it looks as if it is on its last legs, ready to draw its last breath. Watching the largest Taiwan-centered political party meet this fate, supporters are devastated.

Combating CCP effort to meddle in elections
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.11.14

Over decades of ongoing revolution and construction, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has several strategies and tactics that were concisely described by Mao Zedong (毛澤東).

Perhaps the best known is: “Seize both ends and drag the middle along with them,” ie, using what Mao called seizing “the advanced and backward extremes” to “drag” the middle “along with them.”

Chinese tactics affect every level
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2018.9.9

On Aug. 24, the US Congress issued a report on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) overseas “united front” work.

Among the “united front” activists are Chang An-le (張安樂), also known as the “White Wolf,” in Taiwan, and Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) in Hong Kong.

Solidarity key to DPP election win
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.8.24

When President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made a stopover in Los Angeles en route to Latin America, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — as usual — organized protests through its underground organizations. The number of protesters ranged from a few dozen to a few hundred, too few to match its status as a “big power.”

US President Donald Trump has protested strongly against Chinese espionage, both verbally and in action. Perhaps this explains why China’s “fifth column” was not active this time, as it keeps hiding and waiting for the right moment to take action.

Xi Jinping’s loss of power is beginning to be noticed
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.7.23

Rumors that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) power is waning have spread across China, all because Xi was not on the front page of the state-owned People’s Daily for a few days.

The rare disappearance occurred less than 20 days after Xi, during a meeting with US business leaders last month, boldly said that China would respond with “an eye for an eye” to the trade war.

PRC navy might be no more than a paper tiger
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.7.1

According to some Chinese media reports, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on June 12 visited the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology in Qingdao, China, calling for a “strong maritime nation” to be built.

He then traveled by boat to Weihai’s Liugong Island (劉公島), where the Qing Dynasty’s Beiyang Fleet was formed before the island was occupied by British and Japanese troops for years.

Chinese ICT products should be discouraged
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.5.10

As a China-US trade war heats up, Washington has banned Chinese telecom ZTE Corp from buying US-made chips and components. Beijing has responded with hard and soft tactics, but is focusing mainly on the soft, which shows that the US has hit the mark, since a hoodlum bullies the weak and fears the strong.

Gang leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) pretends to be tough lest he lose authority and his regime collapse, and it appears as if Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴), who is in charge of the economy, has had to give up some of his powers in an internal power struggle.

Inept Xi resorts to military bombast
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.4.26

During the Boao Forum for Asia earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) ordered the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy to hold two naval drills.

This was obviously an attempt by Xi to follow up on his imperial coronation by showing that China has the military power required to back an imperial expansion. He did this even though it was extremely rude to all the heads of state attending the forum.

A trade war would harm China more than the US
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.4.1

The US-China trade war has begun.

At first, China threatened revenge, saying it would “fight to the end” and warning the US to “pull back before it is too late.” When the threats were ineffective, China pretended to care more for the US than the US itself, saying a trade war would harm other nations and the US.

More than Shaanxi experts required
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2018.3.16

The third plenary session of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee approved a list of recommended leaders for national institutions, which it passed on for approval by this month’s sessions of the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, along with constitutional amendments that allow President Xi Jinping (習近平) to become an “emperor.”

Xi mimics Mao Zedong (毛澤東), but lacks his confidence, because he cannot match Mao’s cultural foundation or his political achievements, still less his military ones.

Avoid China’s ‘united front’ tactics
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.2.2

Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy politician and Democratic Party founder Martin Lee (李柱銘) on Jan. 10 published an article headlined “Have I already become part of China’s united front strategy?” in the Hong Kong edition of the Apple Daily.

In the article, Lee reflects on an incident in 1986 at a meeting of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee during which, as a committee member, he said he fell into a “united front” trap laid by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Property rights could become Xi’s next target
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.1.22

Not long ago, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) political theory periodical Qiushi (求是, “Seeking Truth”) published an article by Zhou Xincheng (周新城) — a professor in the School of Marxism Studies at Renmin University of China, my old school, which has been called the second party school — marking the 170th anniversary of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Communist Manifesto.

The article criticized property rights as advocated by US economist Steven Cheung (張五常) and Chinese economist Wu Jinglian (吳敬璉), quoting the economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and stating that “the elimination of private property is an objectively necessary social developmental trend.”

The DPP must not become ‘leftards’
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.1.13

In the past few years, the word “leftard” (左膠) has emerged in Hong Kong. While “left” refers to the political left, “leftard” refers to a rigid person dogmatically stuck in their ways.

Left-leaning concepts of fairness and justice are common goals for people to pursue, and they appeal to the passionate and pure younger generation. Unfortunately, such people are malleable and easily manipulated by unscrupulous politicians.

A gradual push could support independence
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 20180108

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) revealed China’s innermost fear in his New Year message, saying that “we will never tolerate separatist actions leading to de jure Taiwanese independence, nor will we sit idly by as gradual Taiwanese independence erodes the foundation of peaceful unification.”

De jure independence is the ultimate goal and gradual independence is how it is achieved.

Preparing for a second Korean War
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times 2018.1.4

The year 2017 is over, and the issue that will concern everyone the most this year, apart from the economy, is whether there will be a large-scale war.

In his article “Five Places World War III Could Start in 2018” published in The National Interest on Dec. 15, military and defense security expert Robert Farley of the University of Kentucky listed Taiwan second, right after North Korea, out of five places where World War III could break out.

Seeing past China’s ‘rogue-like’ behavior
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipai Times 2017.12.22

During his visit to Japan over the past weekend, former White House senior adviser Steve Bannon said that the US and its East Asian allies must unify to constrain China’s “frightening, audacious and global ambitions.”

The statement implies that Bannon has seen through China’s innate rogue status. Western so-called “China experts” with their belief that propriety, justice, honesty and honor are part of Chinese culture have been manipulated into assisting China’s rogue behavior.