For those of you that haven't seen it yet, here's a video of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) getting roughed up by a group of Taiwanese protestors led by Tainan City Councilor Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) while Zhang was on a visit to the city's Confucius Temple. The second-highest ranking negotiator on Taiwanese issues and dean of Xiamen University's Journalism School was pushed to the ground while protestors shouted "Taiwan does not belong to China!" Zhang has since cut short his trip and returned to Beijing, presumably for a health check.
Related links
Taipei Times: 'Unwell,' teary Zhang returns to China
Xinhua: Mainland negotiation envoy to visit Taiwan despite mob assault of scholar
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Seems democracy makes not only corrupted president but also lynching mobster city councilor as well.
The first time I realize Taiwanese are not Chinese since they dont know hospitality to guest, the very same hospitality their convoy recieved in mailand months ago.
'Taiwanese are not Chinese'
Eastman
It's a breakthrough, people.
'I' 'recieved' 'not only' 'The' 'Taiwanese' 'president' 'but also' 'mobster city councilor' 'in' 'my' 'corrupted' 'Seem' 'months ago'
Eastman
Taiwan is democracy with Chinese characteristics: Corrupt and rotten to the core.
I thought it an interesting development in the media when I saw this story runing in the Shanghai Daily. Not so long ago it would have been unthinkable to publish any view other than the Taiwanese people loved the mainland and were somehow being held prisoner by the gov there.
to jimmy page,
yes it's true 'taiwanese are not chinese' though they voted in landslide a new president who called himself chinese to your dismay. it's sure a breakthrough, people.
i only wish the original taiwanese president would still have enough stolen money to keep his cell-mates from screwing him one day.
@eastman
Democracy in Taiwan is similar to "voting" in China's "National Peoples Congress". People do not vote to get the best man in, they vote to keep the worst men out.
Given the choice between Ma and Chen, this is what happened in Taiwan, IMHO. It certainly has nothing to do with sudden, all-consuming love of the poor cousins on the "motherland".
What do you think Taiwan - under Mr. Ma - buys USD 6 billion of arms for?
young students roughing Chinese envoy is understandable but led by a city councilor? is Mr. Wnag so in need of public attention?
Ah, Taiwanese politics. Zhang should consider himself lucky he didn't get punched in the head. I love Taiwanese legistlative meetings.
to pirx,
Thing amazed me is not how a local conciller on political show biz treated an old man who is famous in taiwan for going in person to quake epicentre to rescue the 2 dozen old taiwan tourists. anyway taiwaness are like that.
but i am most amazed all the time how come over one million taiwaness gave up their hard-won democracy and come to live with their "poor cousins" under communist rule on the "motherland". I thought only few of you alone were the type who are living in shanghai and pretending to be a big-belly while everybody except yourself know you are on debt like an true american.
"but i am most amazed all the time how come over one million taiwaness gave up their hard-won democracy and come to live with their "poor cousins" under communist rule on the "motherland"."
Because their dirty, poor, rotten mainland cousins need to be managed like zoo animals and Taiwan knows alot about inferior China. How did this pushing incident happen? The local police let it happen because they can't stand the idea of filthy, ugly, smelly China wrecking their nice little island and raping their young girls and boys.
"yes it's true 'taiwanese are not chinese' though they voted in landslide a new president who called himself chinese to your dismay. "
Eastman, you either are being dishonest (shock!) or you have absolutely no idea why Taiwanese elected Ma Ying-jeou, who promised prosperity AND protection for Taiwan's sovereignty.
Ma has done neither. In fact, he has broken almost every one of his campaign promises and has only been in office for half a year.
One example: Ma promised 6 percent GDP, per capita income of US$30,000 per year and unemployment below 3 percent, all of which were out of reach before the current financial troubles started. The public believed him. Then, he came out and said just months ago that he wouldn't be able to offer that in the next year, which, after the public outcry became too loud, he changed that to four years.
And by the way, Ma also regularly called himself Taiwanese during the election. Most of the island's population does not identify itself as Chinese and he knew that the vote of pan Greens was necessary to win.
Is it any wonder why his DISAPPROVAL rating now stands at 67.6 percent according to a poll released yesterday by Global Views? As for his approval rating, it stands at 23.6 percent according to the magazine.
The protestors never should have gotten so heated, but the fact remains that ARATS officials are visiting a country where the public doesn't trust them at all. And how could they? Zhang said just days ago that there would be no war if there was no independence (which the ROC already enjoys).
If China were serious about making progress through negotiations, then Chinese officials would be reined in and not be allowed to make such insensitive comments, whether you agree with them or not.
But this is all beside the point. Within Taiwan, there is currently a widespread disgust at the Ma administration due to economic reasons, due to Ma's handling of the melamine scandal and other disasters, due to his constant waffling, and due to his disrespect for Taiwan's sovereignty which most Taiwanese really do believe in.
Zhang, according to reports, left Taiwan early with tears in his eyes. You can bet that most Taiwanese did not shed any.
"Then, he came out and said just months ago that he wouldn't be able to offer that in the next year, which, after the public outcry became too loud, he changed that to four years. "
By the way, there is a typo here. He claimed he could not honour his 6 3 3 promise within the next eight years, which he later changed to four when there was a public outcry.
"gave up their hard-won democracy and come to live with their "poor cousins" under communist rule on the "motherland"."
You know when you move somewhere, you don't give up democracry. All of my Taiwanese friends flew home to vote. I just voted in the US election last week.
China is doing much much better than Taiwan economically. However, in my opinion, Taiwan is a much better place to live. So why not move there? Again, China's economic opportunities are much greater - and just because one place is a better place to live, doesn't mean that the other - in this case Shanghai - is a bad place to live. This repeated meme of "you don't like it here, then move back to where you came from" reveals narrow-minded thinking and paper thin skin sensitivity.
I am happy to see the mainland media doesn't have Taiwan-style populism journalism. If a mainlander beats a Taiwanese , Taiwan media would play it up and claim that all mainlanders were barbaric, like what they did during a basketball match(held in Taiwan) in which a mainlander player had a body conflict with a Taiwan player. some naive people tend to adopt black or white stance. and their mentality is since Taiwan is democracy, everything is acceptable;Even they did something bad, that is still forgivable.And since PRC is not democracy, everything is not understandable and forgivable.
to nanheyangrouchuan,
--'they can't stand the idea of filthy, ugly, smelly China wrecking their nice little island and raping their young girls and boys?'
how many time have i heard of 'rape' from your foul mouth? if you find the way to pull out that long tapeworm from your belly, your rapist complex can be sure controllable.
to T,
the saying "you don't like it here, then move back to where you came from" may fit to a simple choice between usa and europe but not fit to a choice between 'dictatorship' china that taiwanese hate and 'democracy' taiwan the taiwaness say they love. it speak a lot about the hypocracy that 6% of island population moved to mainland china to live. who said it-- 'rather die if not free'?
Regardless of the merits of your views, its wrong to physically assault someone.
Don't get mad. Get even. Next time round when a Taiwanese official visits China, rough him up the way the Taiwanese goons did to Mr. Zhang.
It is never wrong to beat a knuckle dragging, snot blowing, free peeing, child molesting PRC official.
to nanheyangrouchuan
---'child molesting PRC official'?
first time i started to understand and forgive your rage with china. damn prc officals who just reminds me of americna way of life, lol!
You see, Larbord, that would seriously backfire. From a Chinese point of view, the ones who need to be made comfortable with the Chinese are the Taiwanese and not the other way around. Beat up a Taiwanese official, even one of the wafflers of sell-outs of the Ma administration, would pretty much be the end of any attempts at negotiation, which is exactly what the PRC administration does not want. Ma is their great chance right now, even if Taiwanese think he is a waffler and a terrible crisis handler.
@eastman
With the glorious exception of sometimes irrational attachment to their home villages in China, the Taiwanese only come to China for one thing: Money.
When the environmental laws in Taiwan got stricter, they moved the dirt factories to China.
As employers, many of them are slave-drivers. Salaries are substandard, and so often are working conditions.
They were among the first to pack up and leave from China to Vietnam/elsewhere, when the new labour law went into effect, because their business models usually base on more or less obvious exploitation of workers.
A poor example of attachment to the "motherland". The reunification for the love of the motherland is a joint propaganda stunt of the Chinese and the Taiwanese governments, serving different purposes on either side.
I believe the lamb shashlik is a child molester who frequents Cambodia a lot!
It's nice to see the Taiwanese enjoying their "freedom".