林保華

HK, Ko offer hope for democracy
By Paul Lin 林保華
Taipei Times  2014.9.29
On Monday last week, university students in Hong Kong launched a one-week boycott of classes in protest of Beijing’s refusal to allow fully democratic elections in the territory.

While the Chinese government claims that it will not be shaken and although it has been getting its lackeys in Hong Kong to use all sorts of threats, 13,000 people still took part in a rally to launch the strike. This number was more than originally expected, with even high-school students joining in, making this the biggest boycott of classes that Hong Kong has ever witnessed.

Unity needed to topple rich elites
Taipei Times
By Paul Lin 林保華
I have always been skeptical that the 2016 presidential election would bring about a change of government for Taiwan. Former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Richard Bush recently said at a seminar in Washington that the US government always expresses its views on Taiwan’s presidential elections and that it is set to do so in 2016. Given this, the Nov. 29 nine-in-one local elections are very important and Taiwanese really need to show their determination.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) used its national congress to put on a show of strong unity. Regardless of whether that unity is real, KMT infighting never gets to the point where party members lose their tempers with each other in public.

Taiwan and HK united in resisting China
Taipei Times  2014.9.14
By Paul Lin 林保華 
In June this year, Beijing released a white paper entitled The

Practice of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Policy in the Hong Kong

Ma’s dirty work stains China ties
By Paul Lin 林保華

Despite the American Institute in Taiwan’s denials of US involvement in the case involving former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), the nature of the circumstances in which the allegations of leaking confidential information to China have emerged only makes sense if the US had played a crucial role.

Of course, countries involved in espionage do not go around broadcasting their clandestine actions unless they are, for example, trying to secure the release of an agent who has been caught. Given the circumstances, several questions have arisen.

First, MAC Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) initially said that he had been informed of Chang’s alleged transgressions by an “outside source,” and it was this information that instigated the case. Who was this outside source?

Eviction of pro-Beijing influence
Taipei Times  2014.8.7
By Paul Lin 林保華
The recent news regarding the closure of the two-year-old Hong Kong news Web site House News shocked many, as it had been getting 300,000 visits per day.
Whether in Taiwan, Hong Kong or even the rest of the world, people are faced with China’s use of its huge financial power to influence the media and distort universal values.

PRC hackers preparing for Internet war with US

By Paul Lin 林保華
This year marks the 120th anniversary of the beginning of the First Sino-Japanese War and the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. It is also the 64th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Trying to build a new international order following China’s rise is creating a multitude of problems and a warlike atmosphere.
The import of the hacker attacks on Hong Kong media outlets and the Web site for Hong Kong’s online “referendum” on “true universal suffrage” must not be underestimated. It is almost certain that this was the action of Chinese hackers, because the organizations that were attacked had no quarrel with ordinary people, but challenged China’s authoritarian rule. The attempts to resist the incursions have sparked an Internet war.
Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, a US Internet services company trying to help Hong Kong’s civic society, is personally watching over defensive operations and has finally succeeded, earning the gratitude of many Hong Kongers.

‘Lai effect’ accents evolving views

By Paul Lin 林保華
During his visit to Shanghai last week, Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) broke out of the constraints imposed by China on its relations with Taiwan by openly talking about Taiwanese independence and the 1989 Tiananmen Square student movement. Lai dared to do so because he adheres to Taiwan-centric values and has always been concerned about human rights issues.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has done many things to sell the nation out, leading to the outbreak of the student-led Sunflower protest movement. As young people in Taiwan take matters into their own hands and come forward to salvage the nation’s prospects, Lai has had the courage to seize the opportunity by speaking out in China, confident that there is a strong current of public opinion to back him up.
The Sunflower movement has led the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to reflect and reconsider. Former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) decided not to stand for another term, and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) quit as a potential DPP candidate for Taipei mayor. Meanwhile, Lai has stepped forward into the limelight.

Why China is concerned by Taiwan’s Sunflowers

By Paul Lin 林保華
In the middle of last month, the Hong Kong-based Chinese-language Trend Magazine (動向) featured an article that questioned whether Taiwan will become an Asian version of Crimea and highlighted the problems China faces.
First, cross-strait relations are problematic because talks about economic issues cannot get started and the two sides do not agree on political issues. China has long-term plans for its national security policy, but it has concerns over setting definite plans for cross-strait relations.
Second, China is not worried that the student movement might lead to a revolution in Taiwan, but it is terrified that the nation’s student and civic movements could spark copycat protests in China, which could cause the sudden collapse of its politically inflexible regime. The political anxiety that comes from guarding against internal implosion has greatly weakened China’s ambitions for unification.

Soong and Ma played off against each other

By Paul Lin 林保華
While President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was

mourning the death of his mother, Beijing

announced the invitation of People First

Sunflowers could unify dissenters

By Paul Lin 林保華
Since the beginning of the Sunflower movement, pro-unification media have linked it to the promotion of Taiwanese independence.
In an attempt to shift the focus, they said that the banners and flags hung outside the Legislative Yuan during the demonstrations by pro-independence organizations were put up there by the students.
By doing so, they tried to stir up the unification-independence issue in an attempt to cause a confrontation between the pan-blue and pan-green camps. The student leaders handled the issue with great caution and the media were unable to create any sensational headlines regarding their position on the issue.

Fast shows Lin’s fierce dedication to democracy

By Paul Lin 林保華
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin Yi-xiong (林義雄) began a hunger strike on Tuesday to demand that the government stop construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮). Lin has put his life on the line to rid the nation of nuclear power in a heroic and honorable way worthy of the highest praise.
This nation is small, densely populated, surrounded by water and in a seismically active zone. It does not need nuclear power. Why does the government keep on acting as though it is desperately needed? How can the government guarantee that there will never be a problem with atomic power after the disasters of Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima Dai-ichi in 2011? In the event of an accident, where are residents and visitors expected to go?
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) insists on building nuclear plants. Apart from his policies aimed at helping large corporations make money, his daughters live overseas and have foreign passports. Ma has his own airplane and can escape a disaster at any time. This is why he remains unswayed, regardless of whether those against nuclear power account for the majority in opinion polls or how many people take to the streets in protest.

DPP growing up due to Sunflowers

By Paul Lin 林保華
There is resentment among supporters of the pan-green camp with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for failing to live up to expectations.
Yet while the DPP has not achieved its full potential, it is maturing. This is why, under the influence of the Sunflower movement, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) announced that he was withdrawing from the DPP chair elections.
Sometimes, taking a step back makes it easier to resolve problems. This is true not just for Su, but also for the DPP and even for Taiwan as a whole. Of course, this all depends on the party’s future performance.

Students must protect gains from president
By Paul Lin 林保華

The students involved in the Sunflower movement have announced they will be leaving the Legislative Yuan with honor and taking their battle to the outer perimeters of the building. Their decision is understandable.

However, while the student movement has achieved certain results, it is still quite far from its goals and if it mishandles the situation now, it will lose what gains it has achieved.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is utterly shameless and controls the Chinese National Party (KMT) caucus. It is thus possible everything will go back to how it was before. If that happens, the student movement will have to start all over again and will take on a much more radical form, or a “revolution.”

Cross-strait relations need radical reassesment

By Paul Lin 林保華
The 500,000-strong protest on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard on Sunday last week ended peacefully. More people participated than ever; but the police clearly understated the numbers — reflecting President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) real attitude. As expected, the Presidential Office was quick to issue an indifferent response.
The speech given by protest leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) clearly stated the movement’s aims. He said it was not just about occupying the legislature, but also about initiating reflection on the nation’s constitutional and democratic system and redefining cross-strait relations. These ideas show great foresight.
After a decade of observation, it is clear that Ma is incapable of reflection and thus constitutional reform is out of the question. He is an extremely selfish, power-hungry political hack who is good at dissembling. He is incapable of running a nation and has no intention of implementing reform.

World events reflect Taiwan’s risks

By Paul Lin 林保華
This year has already proved to be very strange. Three major international news events have occurred that should cause Taiwanese to think deeply about their future.
The first is the incident surrounding a Hong Kong newspaper, the Ming Pao. In early January, Kevin Lau (劉進圖), the paper’s editor-in-chief, was relieved of his duties. Most people in the industry believed this was because Ming Pao’s new owner, Malaysian media tycoon Tiong Hiew King (張曉卿), was trying to please authorities in China. The paper’s staff opposed the change and people outside the paper supported them.
However, Tiong did not change his decision to replace Lau and merely found a replacement editor to cool things down momentarily. By the time the new editor took over late last month, Lau had been stabbed on the streets of Hong Kong and ended up in a hospital fighting for his life.

DPP must solve its problems first

By Paul Lin 林保華
Taiwan’s two-party politics can be seen in the interactions between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The two parties represent different interest groups and this is reflected in the nation’s political situation and has a bearing on its future prospects.
Last month, Steve Wang (王思為), an assistant professor in the Institute of European Studies at Nanhua University, published a thought-provoking article (“Public’s voice lost in China relations,” Jan. 17, page 8). He said that China’s “next step will definitely be to use compradors to directly influence the decisions made in politics in order to complete the last stage of their [unification] plan. This begs the question of whether the public should prepare to welcome in an era characterized by comprador politics?”
Although Wang does not mention names, it is mainly a group of compradors within the KMT who are using KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cooperation to monopolize Taiwan’s China policies to further their own economic and political interests. They have been diluting Taiwan’s political and economic sovereignty and continue to do so.

Ma treads a beggar’s path to China

By Paul Lin 林保華
More than a year ago, Former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee member and potential candidate for November’s Taipei mayoral election, ridiculed President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) by saying that with the economy so bad, there is nothing so great about being the “grandmaster of a beggar’s clan.” Average Taiwanese have been turned into beggars as a result of Ma’s incompetence at ruling the country, but as chairman of the KMT, which has hundreds of billions of New Taiwan dollars in party assets, control over national resources and endless political contributions from corporations, Ma is still a very wealthy man.
“Begging” is normally understood as a way of gaining money, but what has been most interesting about Ma lately is the way he has become a “political beggar” seeking an “audience” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). This is evident from the way Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) acted during his recent trip to China.
First, before visiting China, Wang had to accept China’s condition of three forbidden categories of topics — politics, the Republic of China’s (ROC) title and status, and anything related to human rights, democracy or the rule of law. He did not even protest against the denial of visas to some Taiwanese media outlets.

Rumors of Sino-Japanese conflict

By Paul Lin 林保華
This year is the 120th anniversary of the start of the First Sino-Japanese War, a war that was to see a newly invigorated post-Meiji Restoration Japan defeat China, which had hitherto been the most formidable power in the region. Now the pendulum of power is swinging in the other direction and it is China’s turn to be in the ascendant.
China, ever-mindful of its century of shame and ignominy at the hands of other powers, has started making provocative overtures, but Japan is refusing to back down. Could this year also be the year that sees another conflagration erupt between these two old rivals?
According to Chinese military reports, two foreign fighter jets entered China’s East China Sea air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Friday last week, the first day of the Lunar New Year. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force responded by scrambling two Sukhoi Su-30 fighters. The two sets of fighters played cat-and-mouse for three hours before the Sukhois finally expelled the outsiders, the reports said.

Mimicking Hong Kong’s trajectory?

By Paul Lin 林保華
The UK has declassified records of its negotiations with China 30 years ago regarding Hong Kong’s future. That these papers have been declassified early might have something to do with the emergence of political reform in Hong Kong as an item on the agenda.
Media reports about the published files tell us that although the Britain was keen to leave Hong Kong with a bit more democracy and human rights, it found itself in a passive position in relation to China. Besides the imbalance between a small nation and a large one, the sense of guilt that British “China hands” felt about the Opium Wars and colonialism was another factor. At the time of negotiations, Hong Kong’s pan-democrats were in favor of China taking back Hong Kong, and this view was largely based on anti-colonialist sentiment.
With the passage of time, some young Chinese academics have been re-evaluating the Opium Wars and colonialism. There are those who say that if it had not happened, there would have been no Self-Strengthening Movement, no Hundred Days’ Reform and no Xinhai Revolution, and China would have remained a feudal society in which men had to plait their hair into long queues and girls were crippled by foot-binding. Would that not have been worse? The social setup in China today compares poorly with the way things were in Hong Kong under colonial rule. Even though Hong Kong’s democracy and human rights have been losing ground, Chinese are still flocking there.

US places economy over security

By Paul Lin 林保華
US President Barack Obama is expected to appoint Senator Max Baucus as the next US ambassador to China. Ambassador Gary Locke is a former commerce secretary, and the appointment of Baucus demonstrates Obama’s continued focus on the economy in US-China relations.
Locke has done a good job. Under former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, who took a hard diplomatic stance, Locke, thanks to his personal qualities and his Chinese background — he is the first Chinese-American ambassador to Beijing — acted with caution. As a result, he navigated several major incidents safely, such as the case of Wang Lijun (王立軍), the ex-police chief of Chongqing municipality who sought asylum in the US during the Bo Xilai (薄熙來) affair, and the Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠) incident. His accessibility has also helped the Chinese people understand the difference between democracy and dictatorship.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Baucus has followed US-China economic relations for years, but he is inexperienced when it comes to national security and human rights issues. US Secretary of State John Kerry is not as tough as Clinton, which means that we should pay close attention to the future of US-China relations.