I went down to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall last night. My friend had tipped me off to a giant pre-election KMT rally, and I was keen to see the madness for myself. Rumour was that the country was fed up with the ruling Democratic People's Party (DPP) and that the KMT's Ma Ying Jeou would get the goods on election day.
Up to this point, I had gotten the impression from talking to younger Taiwanese friends that the Taiwanese were generally apathetic about politics. Boy, was I off. The rally was a massive flurry of bodies, bullhorns, flags and baseball caps. It was like the city had been posessed by World Series frenzy. Vendors even lined the streets selling Ma Ying Jeou bobbly heads and little horse statues (his last name means "horse"). Because the KMT is the oldest political party in Taiwan, and because many of the older generations have KMT roots and came to Taiwan after being exiled from Communist China, the rally kind of looked like all the geriatric wards of every hospital in the city had been invited out to a charity ball game. The most fervant hoots and hollers, the most decked out pendant wearers, the most passionate flag wavers all came from those in the crowd over the age of 60. The speeches were accompanied by an awesomely uplifting soundtrack a la Dragon, the Bruce Lee Story, or maybe the battle scene from Lord of the Rings. I didn't even understand what they were saying, and I thought I was gonna cry...The rally was on the street just outside the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. Inside the hall, there was a Taiwan for Tibet sit-in, and a peace concert. It's a pretty obvious political statement just to be there. As the leader of the Kuomingtan (KMT), Chiang Kai Shek represents reunification with China- that's the party's official mandate in Taiwan, although they've softened it over the years. On the eve of the election, as the KMT rally began to dissipate, many rallyers curiously wandered into the hall to observe the sit-in and concert. The sight of this contrast- of political dissidence and acquiesance, of two sides to the China problem- was really interesting for me.
The Taiwanese view Tibet as the worst-case scenario for Taiwan, which is why the DPP's talk about independence and a Taiwan seat in the UN is setting off alarm bells all over the country. They see how this bid for independence has failed Tibet, they see how the DPP is widening the gap between China and Taiwan and they see their hopes for economic stability disappearing into the void. They're anxious to scurry back on the mainland bandwagon, and Ma Ying Jeou seems to have just the right amount of grease in his smile to be the perfect brown-noser. In truth, no one here is interested in a China lovefest either, so in this sense, the Taiwanese are apolitical. All they want is to be left alone. Maintain the status quo. Don't rock the boat, and most importantly, don't bite the hand that feeds you.
But in a way, Tibet has tried this route- all it is really asking for is to be left alone too. Throughout it's history, Tibet has tried and failed in all its demands, it's asked for less and less and China has taken more and more, it has absolutely no leverage. It is the child that is being continually punished for being bold ONCE. Taiwan is the child hoping to disappear from scrutiny. In a way, it is using Tibet as a counterpoint in order to win favours from China. That's what has people up in arms here- they've seen how the "bad kid" has been punished, and they want to show China that they're going to behave.
Someone once commented that the Dalai Lama was the only force keeping Tibet peaceful, like a thin fence trying to hold back a flood. In fact, Tibet's early history is full of violent rebellion- some successful, but most were utter failures. I used to think I was resolutely against the idea of armed revolution... but when I think about all the horribly unjust conflicts in the world, I really can't say anymore. Non-violence has frankly gotten Tibet nowhere. Full-fledged violence obviously wouldn't work either, as China's army could probably defeat Tibet with a sneeze. I don't like the fact that people are getting hurt, but I do support the noise Tibetans are making. I just hope it's not for nothing. If China does do something extreme, I really hope those corrupt Olympics people have the courage to pull the plug on the Beijing Games. I really hope that the governments of the world have the courage to tell China to fuck off, despite the cost to their piggy banks. We are treating China like the little one-child-policy boys they have bred in abundance, and it is responding like one- arrogant, spoiled little brats who've realized that they can have whatever they want, and they don't have to be nice about it. We DO NOT want to keep feeding the spolied fat little buggers... and we don't want the spoiled fat brats to beat on those cute little Tibetans, do we??Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, China has 900 missiles aimed at Taiwan. Under the DPP, a quiet arms race was building, and a lot of nervous taunting, the way boys do when they don't want to fight but need to look tough. Now, with the KMT (it's official, they've won the election), Taiwan is hoping to use the civilized businessman approach to negotiate with the mainland. As in "please help us survive economically, but please don't mess with us politically". Ma Ying Jeou is all slick like that. ["money money?" he says. "money money" she says. then they shake hands and climb back into their briefcases]. The Taiwanese blame the DPP for sinking the economy, saying things were a lot better 8 years ago when the ol' KMT was in power, but that seems a tad unfair to me. Eight years ago, the world was a different place. The US economy was still competitive, China had just begun to undercut the world in manufacturing, and India was on the slow rise in the IT industry. Taiwan hopes that the more diplomatic KMT can smooth out relations with the mainland, and win back some economic favour. Fear and conservatism won this election for the KMT. Well... that and Ma Ying Jeou's cute smile and dashing good looks. This was such a slick Kennedy vs. sweaty Nixon victory. The DPP guy looks a bit too yokel, and his ad campaigns played like slanderous conspiracy theory spots- he's one of them... Thank god I couldn't vote. [question to self- are politics everywhere a joke??] We Asians are weird folk.
[Pictured- Ma Ying Jeo bobble clown in some sort of Taiwanese Napoleon getup. chortle.]
