Taiwan Blog Feed

The Voice of Bahrain quoth:

“The US non-governmental organisation’s [Freedom House] Freedom of the Press 2008 report to mark World Press Freedom Day tomorrow lists Taiwan as one of only three Asian countries with “free” media. [...] Of the 195 countries and territories included in the rankings, Taiwan was listed 32nd, up one place from last year. This year’s score for Taiwan was its best ever. Taiwan’s ranking was the highest in Asia, ahead of Japan at 35 and South Korea at 67 - the only three Asian countries where the report lists the media as “free.”

For you China-worshippers out there who, I know, are too lazy to read the article, China’s ranking is still “not free”. Also, while you praise the dictatorial PRC government and have dreams of making a bundle off brain-washed coolie wage-slaves, you will obviously see no connection between this lack of freedom and the low cost of labor or the dangerous outbursts of nationalism going on there.

In related news, I’m still stunned by this bit of news that President Eisenhauer planned to NUKE CHINA in 1958, when the PLA was attacking Kinmen (金門)

The report on the crisis by Bernard Nalty, a then historian with the Air Force, included significant detail on nuclear planning, including an initial plan to drop 10-15 kiloton bombs on airfields in Amoy (now called Xiamen) in the event of a Chinese blockade against Taiwan’s so-called Offshore Islands.”This was in accordance with the drift of Air Force thinking which considered nuclear weapons as usable as ‘iron bombs,’” according to the report released Wednesday by the National Security Archive.

Ike had balls. Unlike Bush, he’d never kowtow or sell the Taiwanese out to the PRC. Ironically, Chiang Kai-shek’s Taiwan wasn’t really worth saving, but the DPP’s was. Not only is Taiwan one of the freest countries in the world, it’s a model of democratic transformation for the numerous authoritarian regimes in Asia. How different things would be today if, on the eve of the March 2008 elections, Secretary of State Rice had said something to the effect that: “to preserve and protect Taiwan’s democracy, if China uses even one of the 1400 missiles it has pointed at Taiwan, we will turn Shanghai and Beijing into molten glass.”

No, nuking China is not feasible I realize, and it’d wreak havoc on our beloved China-based economy, of course; but as the belligerent PRC government has repeatedly proven–a little bit of saber-rattling goes a long way. Instead though, what the morons in the US State Department and AIT did was almost as radical–they bitched and moaned about Chen Shui-bian and Taiwan’s referendum to join the UN loudly enough to ensure the KMT’s victory. Giving the green light to the pro-unification, anti-democratic party of China signals that the US no longer has any commitment to Taiwan’s freedom. They simply want China to shut up and make the Taiwan problem go away. Thus, from our perspective, over-reliance on Washington has made Taiwan feeble and easily manipulated by foreign (US) interests, and this is but another reason why it need(ed)s to join the UN…

And mark my words, after 12 months of KMT rule, I’ll wager that Taiwan’s media will not be the “freest in Asia” this time next year.