Message Understood?: Outgoing Cabinet Poll Shows Wide Support for Bike Policy

In what appears to be an attempt to bolster the deeply tarnished reputation of outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou, a cabinet level survey has revealed a previously unobserved groundswell of public satisfaction with a large swath of Ma administration policies to give the outgoing president a veneer of vindication. The new numbers serve as the final revelation to the ignorance Ma cited leading to the failure of many key policies, including cross-strait relations, economics, tourism, and transportation.

The Straits Times:

ST: And yet, voters delivered a stunning indictment of you, your policies and the KMT (Kuomintang) on Jan 16. What do you think led to such a state of affairs? I know you blame it on communications failure, you’ve said: “Actually there are many good policies that the public don’t understand because we haven’t communicated them enough.” Is that all there is? Do you feel you’ve been misunderstood?

... or (link)

"Ma's policies have painted him as for the one percent and China, at a time when society at large is fed up with both," said Jonathan Sullivan, associate professor at the University of Nottingham's School of Contemporary Chinese Studies in Britain. 

"Adding to these policy outcomes is Ma's personal reputation for aloofness, indecisiveness -- but paradoxically with an authoritarian streak -- incompetence and inability to balance the interests of his party, Taiwan and his own personal objectives," added Sullivan.  

Even staunch KMT supporters have turned their backs, with the party in tatters having lost its majority in parliament for the first time under Ma. 

"We had high hopes, but we saw our faith in him fading away," said Sun Chieh-yi, 59, a retired watch shop owner who comes from a traditionally pro-KMT family.
"People do not feel their lives are any better than before." 

The China Post reports:

The survey also found that about 70 percent of the respondents said they are satisfied with the results of the completion of the Hualien Taitung electric rail system, the Wugu-Yangmei Overpass on a section of National Freeway No. 1 in Northern Taiwan, and the addition of three stops on the High Speed Rail system.  

Policies that received wide support include the expansion of bicycle paths around the country, and the distribution of subsidies for childcare and free tuition for children under the age of 5, at 69.8 percent and 65.2 percent, respectively, the results show.

Let me remind the reader of what this bicycle policy is, in case you missed it. The central government, with a budget of NT1.2 billion (USD 36.4 million dollars), posted a series of brown sign posts along Taiwan's more heavily trafficked highways and maybe installed a few shower areas (not sure exactly where). This is a system that serves leisure tourism interests to better enable periodic long distance cycling trips between major cities. Unfortunately, these paths hardly do justice to Taiwan's beautiful cycling roads, and serve to be more about keeping cyclists close to businesses and transportation. Much of the main route covers the gritty Highway 1, with little more done than sign to tell riders that they are on the Route No. 1. Few, if any, real changes have been made to the route to make it less of a slog through an eyesore. Moreover, the designated cycling routes do nothing to address pollution or traffic congestion.

Of course, the landslide victory for the DPP to ring in the new year was mostly a referendum on the policies of Ma Ying-jiu, whose popularity struggled to cling to double digits for the remainder of his term. Moreover, an economic policy that saw the economy enter contraction as opposed to the salad days of Chen Shui-bian, who ruined the economy with a growth rate averaging 3.8 percent growth between 2000 and 2008, with two years averaging six percent. Ma tried to replace outsourced jobs with jobs in the service industry and in a heavy emphasis on tourism, which has been a net failure for Taiwan.

As far as cycling opportunities outside of tourism, European companies are looking to source less from Asian OEMs and do more of the assembly in Europe to take advantage of the EU. Monday night the editor-in-chief of Bike Europe held a presentation on cutting lead times and the shift to producing final products in the world's most lucrative bicycle market. Currently, The Netherlands is Europe's largest producer of bicycles, followed by Germany and Belgium a distant third. Still, most bicycles are still sourced from Taiwan.

Also:

• Giant is expecting another flat year with Q1 profits dipping 1.4%, full warehouses in the US and the China market imploding. The Ebike in Europe is the only thing keeping the world's largest bike maker from a more rapid decline. The bike maker aims to "innovate" their way to profits.

• The Sports conglomerate, Dorel Sports, the umbrella company representing Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, Caloi, IronHorse, Sugoi, Fabric and Charge, saw a 5% drop in profits for the first quarter.  

• Seven Cycles profits rise 8% in shit market. 

China's Iron Horse: PRC Deploys Giant To Scare Victory For Ma

In a follow-up piece to the Big Bike pre election rally for the incumbent, Ma Ying-jiu, Bicycle Retailer offers up another cheerleading piece for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Taiwan’s manufacturers will benefit from a stable cross-strait relationship, said Tony Lo, chairman of the Taiwan Bicycle Exporters Association and CEO of Giant, the island and the industry’s leading frame maker.

“Taiwan’s high-end bike export to China has grown 87 percent in 2011. It could double again in 2012. This will have a positive influence of the transformation of the Chinese bike market toward recreational and sport in the future,” Lo said in an e-mail.

Lo cited Ma’s ECFA, or Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, which eliminated duties on bikes shipped between Taiwan and China as of January 1. Since Ma signed the ECFA in June 2010—gradually reducing duties on bicycles and other consumer goods exported from Taiwan—the trade pact has already boosted business in China for Taiwan manufacturers like Giant, Merida and rim maker Alex Global.

I think what is important and puzzling to note is that the DPP challenger, Tsai Ing-wen, gave absolutely no indication of repealing ECFA, nor did she indicate anything other than continued business relationships with China. Without the Chinese Nationalist ideology, Tsai's platform actually appeared more pragmatic and tenable for the long term.

So why is cross strait economic stability continually at stake in Taiwan's democratic election cycles?

Simple... It is not.

This is a fantastic example of some of the levers China uses to influence Taiwan's democratic elections.

The only party which can elect to create instability in the economic relations between Taiwan and China... is China. Taiwanese politicians of any stripe gain nothing from poor economic relations with any state, let alone China. China's "anger" is a strategic device. Now, rather than negotiating against diverging interests, Taiwan is reduced to negotiating against the mercurial device of China's potential anger-- a device with no clear definitions or triggers.

So why would China imply it might consider punitive action should its chosen candidate (Ma) not be elected?

The answer would be that China's economic relationships with Taiwan are not designed to be purely economic and in the interest of creating a better business environment, but they also come tainted by China's political designs for Taiwan, which it seeks to annex as part of a greater strategic program of regional economic and territorial expansion.

Ma Ying-jiu makes the perfect foil for Beijing as he also harbors beliefs in Taiwan as a political and cultural dependency of China and therefore, politically, makes sense to Beijing as the candidate who will best cooperate in bringing China's plans to fruition.

Gaint's Tony Lo simply exemplifies how Taiwanese businesses in China can allow themselves to become pawns of a much larger, more dangerous game.

For a long-time observer, it is a little sad seeing a company that has risen on the back of Taiwanese pride, allow itself to be used as a political lever against Taiwanese democracy.

Ma's Victory: The Election Cycles

Although the elections may be over, there is still plenty to think about in the wake of Ma Ying-jou's victory on Saturday.

Ma has found a well of support from big business, which hopes to take advantage of Ma's desire to lock Taiwan's economic fortunes to those of China, despite divergent interests and needs. It is like the meaning of the oft misinterpretation of "What is good for General Motors...." Part of Ma's desire to make Taiwan an economic dependency of China is pragmatic in serving the business community, the other part is his ideological belief in Sun Yat-sen's Chinese nationalism.

Of course we see this each election cycle, where the business community rallies around the president who supports Taiwan's economic and political annexation by China... and then that same community realizes what the more cautious observers are seeing. This is precisely because of the ideological component of the KMT's program.

The American Chamber of Commerce had such a realization in June:

“Taiwan should pursue greater balance by consolidating its economic connections with such other major markets as Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and especially the United States, the world’s biggest economy,” AmCham chairman Bill Wiseman told a media briefing on the release of the organization’s annual white paper.

Wiseman’s warning came a few hours before the release of Taiwan’s latest trade data, which showed China accounting for 40.2 percent of exports last month, while the US took only 12.3 percent.

“Over-reliance on one market is always risky,” Wiseman said. “Taiwan should not turn away growth when it can get it, but it needs to lock in the future. It needs to go and start broadening its economic relationships beyond focusing so much on China.”

Just prior to Saturday's election Nicola Formosa from Bicycle Retailer released this piece detailing what is essentially a list of KMT talking points thinly veiled as a news article promulgated by the big movers of the bike industry.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN)—Taiwan voters go to the polls this weekend to decide a close presidential race that bears implications for cross-strait relations between the island and mainland China.

Incumbent Ma Ying-jeou of the Chinese National Party, or the Kuomintang, is being challenged by the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen. A third candidate, James Soong Chu-yu of the People First Party, represents that party’s first-ever presidential bid. In the past four years, President Ma’s administration has eased relations between Taiwan and China, opening doors to Chinese tourists with direct flights from the mainland—previously Chinese had to fly through Hong Kong or Macau before arriving in Taipei—and signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

The ECFA, a trade pact that ended a 12 percent duty on bikes and most bike parts shipped from Taiwan to China, has already benefitted the cycling industry. Taiwan’s top two frame manufacturers, Giant and Merida, both realized significant increases in revenue from the Chinese market last year. Merida’s revenue from China was up 124 percent through October 2011 and Giant’s rose 40 percent through August. Rim maker Alex Global pointed to the ECFA when announcing that its turnover in China tripled last year. Taiwan exports about 3.8 million bikes annually to the global industry with the U.S. importing about 21 percent of those units. It also exports $480 million in bike parts.

Another term under Ma’s leadership could lead to further cooperation between Taiwan and China, which stands to boost the bottom line for Taiwanese businesses. But, Ma’s opponents believe closer ties across the Taiwan Strait threaten Taiwan’s future independence as the Chinese Communist Party strives to reunite Taiwan and China. Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party have pushed for formal independence from China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.

Now that the results are in and we know Ma Ying-jiu will be continuing to shape Taiwan's economic policies with China at the center, we need to wonder what this means for Taiwan's bicycle industry.

The big bike companies will continue making money hand over fist using Chinese labor and selling to a Chinese market, creating Chinese jobs. This is very good for the few people who are associated with those big corporations... but this begs the question.... If all those jobs are being created by Taiwanese companies in China... what does Ma intend to replace them with in Taiwan?

The jury is still out. From what I have seen Ma intends to block the hemorrhaging with cycle paths and tourism-- A far cry from any real jobs.

One Bike One: Political Tools

The One Bike One Rally, which I have blogged on extensively, has been getting lots of press this week as the government pushes to maximize exposure for incumbent Ma Ying-jiu.

Ma, who has vowed to drop out of the race if he or his party uses the state apparatus to promote his election campaign, has already been accused of leveraging state power against his opponents during this election and this event appears to raise more questions about the intentions behind such a rally.

From Focus Taiwan:

Organized to mark the centennial of the Republic of China, the "One Bike One" tour has so far attracted the registration of more than 110,000 cyclists, organizers said at a press conference in Taipei to promote the tour.

"This event heralds the arrival of the next century in Taiwan as an energy-saving one with a focus on healthy lifestyle options,"said Ovid Tzeng, minister for the Council for Cultural Affairs.

Despite the motives listed above, the event leans heavily on images and symbolism often regarded to be emblematic of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Yes, even the ROC flag is regarded by a large number of Taiwanese to be a partisan KMT symbol.

OneBikeOne 轉動臺灣向前行 not only conflates Taiwan's experience into the construct of the Chinese Nationalist belief in a Greater Chinese epoch centering around the foundation of the Republic of China in 1911 when Taiwan was a Japanese colony, but the clever use of the bicycle also plays on the name of the incumbent candidate Ma Ying-jiu for the shared character for "horse" （馬）

More than 7,000 riders have registered to set off from Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, which will be the largest departure point, said organizers, calling on interested bikers who have not registered to still join in the event.

It is also interesting to see that Chiang Kai-sheck Memorial Hall was chosen as the centerpiece of this event. The CKS hall was commissioned a year after the late dictator's death. For many in the KMT, the Chiang cult of personality is still a binding force despite his opposition to democratic rule and his notoriously bloody rule in both China and Taiwan. Chiang is a recognized symbol of authoritarianism in most parts of Taiwan, but worshipped by many KMT party heads who owe their wealth and careers to the Chiang family.

Bikers with smartphones can check in by downloading an app from the event's website and activating their app to start a GPS track, which will be recorded on the website's homepage.

Those without smartphones can send text messages to a designated number, after which their signals will be tracked.

With the latest allegations of security agents spying on the opposition, I simply found the idea of tracking riders apropos for signaling the lengths this government will go to influence the coming election.

If you decide to attend One Bike One, understand that your attendance will likely be politicized.

One Bike One: Taxpayer Funded KMT Rally?

As Taiwan’s fifth free presidential election heats up, there has been considerable criticism over public funds being used to unfairly promote the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) incumbent, Ma Ying-jiu and his radical policies aimed at appeasing and placating China against the moderate challenger of Tsai Ying-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Now, as we head into the final weeks of the election, the bicycle takes center stage in the battle for the direction Taiwan will take over the next four years.

On December 31, the central government will be heading a massive One Bike One bicycle activity with the stated purpose of simultaneously setting 1 million bicycles in motion around Taiwan to celebrate the centenary of the ROC, the official name of the state governing Taiwan.

I have already elaborated on why events like this should be avoided for their underlying political motivations, but in the wake of the “Dreamers” scandal, in which the government paid US$7 million in taxpayers money to fund a National Day concert headed by a pro-KMT musical troupe free from competitive bidding, more scrutiny is due.

The uproar over the quasi-political nature of the concert and its astronomical cost led to the resignation of Council for Cultural Affairs Minister, Emile Sheng’s resignation.

New criticism is being heaped on the US$2 million One Bike One event for the potential misuse of government funds for clandestine campaigning, an issue I accurately detailed last year. In my post I wrote:

Ma identifies very closely with the ROC, as he has always been a beneficiary of its imbalanced existence on Taiwan. A cycling event that draws riders from 100,000 different points from around Taiwan gives the central government, controlled by Ma's own party, an opportunity to effectively conduct an unofficial island-wide campaign event that would allow the government to spread cash (in many forms) to all corners of Taiwan in the name of the ROC. The campaign gifts may come in the form of tourism dollars and other temporary infrastructure projects aimed at this event. It allows the government to purchase labor in all districts. It gives the government a reason to purchase space, materials, transportation and other goods and services (possibly at inflated prices) from strategically important districts and the politicians who run those districts. It gives the KMT an opportunity to purchase patrons.

Democratic Progressive Party legislator, Huang Shu-ying has recently come to the same conclusion and lambasted the KMT led government for its largesse and for blatantly campaigning on the public dime. I also suspect a clever play on words using tiema/鐵馬(bicycle) is being used as a subtle reference to Ma Ying-jiu/馬英九.

Organizers from the CCAB, in their own defense, have cited the massively successful Hand-in-Hand rally organized in the run-up to the 2004 elections an analog. The Hand-in-Hand rally brought out millions of Taiwanese linking hands from Keelung to Kenting, in a human chain symbolizing a wall of defense against the over 1500 ballistic missiles China maintains aimed at Taiwan as part of its threat to rein in formal declarations of independence so Taiwan can be forcefully annexed by China.

This type of internal propaganda and indivisibility between the party and the state has been a major problem in Taiwan as most Taiwanese do not fully accept the official national ideology, nor do they wholly embrace the historical narratives promoted by the KMT party, which served as the party-state from 1945 until 1988.

------------------------------

The ROC propaganda is not only directed at mobilizing support for the incumbent in Taiwan, but was also recently on full display for the second First International Bicycle Festival. This is one reason I was quiet on the event this past November.

During that time I did have the opportunity to meet with a group of bicycle journalists and their official guide as they toured Taiwan.

What really struck me was how much control the guide insisted on exerting over the experience and exactly what her aims might be for her audience.

She insisted on taking my name and phone number. She also insisted on knowing exactly what I had talked to these journalists about. I was instructed to not say anything "bad" about Taiwan or Giant Bicycles. In my discussion with the cyclists she grew visually upset with me for discussing some of the positive aspects of Taiwan's Japanese colonial experience and on Taiwan's complex relationship with that aspect of history. I guess Taiwan's 50 years as a Japanese colony are "bad". She became frustrated that I was critical over the government's use of bicycle tourism to support some businesses over others. She also mentioned how she got the job because she was friendly with a KMT part official.

Anyway, I could tell she had a job to not only sell cycling in Taiwan, but to also promote a certain image of Taiwan as a "Chinese"nation. She was also selling Giant bicycles.

She complained openly, in Chinese, about having to forbid her group from taking pictures of shark fin soup vendors or betel nut girls and how she needed to steer her charges away from anything too "low class". Her admission that these things exist and are not for foreign visitors are an implication of both guilt and shame.

The meeting left me in absolute shock. This was clearly someone who did not understand the importance of a free press.

During the entire encounter I kept coming back to a quote from George Kerr from his renowned book Formosa Betrayed.

Insulating visitors was a fine art, pursued by talented men.--Kerr p.155

I thought I gave the visitors a fair portrayal of Taiwan's riding conditions, including the dangers of the Su-Hua Highway. The minder was not amused.

What is clear, is that the bicycle has become a prominent feature on Taiwan's landscape of informal propaganda aimed both internally at its citizens to mobilize votes, and externally at foreign visitors and commentators who may take away a certain impression of what Taiwan is or is not. It is often hoped that these visitors will use their experiences at any time they may feel compelled to act politically.

A great example of the effects of this type of propaganda landed in my in-box last year and I have been sitting on it, waiting to use it in a post.

In an article from the Shore News Today in North Wildwood, New Jersey, Jacob Schaad Jr. recalls the 1980 Wildwoods International ProAm, and how it played into a greater game played by ROC propagandists.

Schaad writes:

NORTH WILDWOOD—The passage of years often dims or eliminates memories of historic events.

Such is the case in the Wildwoods, where in February of 1980 the leading officials of Wildwood, North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest took a 16 hour fight to the Republic of China, all expenses paid by their hosts, to establish a sister relationship with the city of Hsin Chu in Taiwan.

Two of the survivors of that trip today are former North Wildwood Mayor Anthony Catanoso, the Wildwoods longest serving mayor at 27 years, and his wife, Phyllis. The arrangement was for each of the three communities here to hold a reciprocal flag raising ceremony on Oct. 10 of each year concurrent with one being held in Hsin Chu. That date, called Double Ten Day, is as important to the Taiwan as the Fourth of July is to the United States, for on Oct. 10 in 1911 a revolution was started, which led to creation of the republic.

The Wildwoods became involved in Chinese-American relations as a result of the International Pro-Am Bike Race held on Five Mile Beach. Chinese representatives from the republic sent a delegation here in 1979, presumably as a public relations gesture to show that theirs was the real place to visit, not the Communist mainland, which was often described as Red China.

The visitors were treated so well by the Americans that they invited a delegation from the island to come to Hsin Chu for a sister city celebration there in February. Don’t worry, the Wildwoods mayors, et al, were told by the Chinese, we’ll take care of the bill. It wasn’t quite that simple for the Chinese, however. But the Chinese were persuasive and their powers that be came up with the air fare and other costs.

At first there was some question here whether it would be internationally correct for the Wildwoods to possibly start an international incident by visiting one China instead of the other, especially since the two Chinese factions didn’t get along, and still don’t today. One of the catalysts for the trip was the then-Wildwood Mayor Guy Muziani who had been to Taiwan at another time, believed to be for the purpose of wooing the big bicycle race to the Wildwoods. Muziani cautioned that the Chinese invitation would be canceled if all the Wildwoods mayors did not go. George Chan, a government official from Taiwan, put on the pressure for the Americans to come and the group finally yielded to take the trip.

The entourage for the seven day journey in February of 1980 included Catanoso, his wife; Muziani ;Wildwood Commissioners Wilbur Ostrander (and his wife) , and Richard Nordaby and Wildwood Crest Mayor Charles Guhr and wife.

“It was a big success,” remembers Phyllis Catanoso from Florida where she and her husband spend the winters. “They held a parade and hundreds turned out. As souvenirs the officials gave all of us Chinese coats. I still have mine.”

Their communities, then officially sister cities, the Wildwood mayors agreed to hold October Ten Day celebrations annually in their communities when they returned to the states. And they did that until they left office after which the celebrations disappeared from the local scene. The closest they came was almost two decades later on May 3, 1997 when, as part of an annual International Day program started by the then North Wildwood Mayor Aldo Palombo, the republic of China and five other nations (Australia, Canada, Greece, Ireland and Italy) were honored in North Wildwood. Dignitaries from each nation participated in the ceremony including Taiwan ambassador Tzu-Dan Wu and Jerry Chang, assistant to the director general of the republic.

The Catanosos, though, would like to see the October Ten Day celebration returned to the Wildwoods.

“After all,” they say, “we still are sister cities and that’s no way to treat a sister when you ignore her.”

The passage above details how something seemingly as far away from international intrigue as a bicycle race, can become the centerpiece of an effective propaganda ploy.

As Gary D. Rawnsley points out in his fantastic Taiwan's Informal Diplomacy and Propaganda:

Propagandists would do well to remember that an audience tends to filter out those messages which conflict with their own predispositions, thus laying to rest the idea that somehow propaganda can miraculously convert a mass audience; and to understand that an audience is also influenced by innumerable pressures from a variety of sources--the media, family and friends, education, class backgrounds, etc.--all of which can affect receptivity. Even the best propaganda will find it immensely difficult, if not impossible, to create emotions and attitudes that are not already present. The most effective propaganda will therefore use 'hroizontal' means of communication.... This is exactly how most of the ROC overseas propaganda is constructed--by targeting groups or individuals. Rawnsley--p.35

Given the KMT's control of the government machinery, it is perhaps inevitable that that this world-view should feed into the projection of Taiwan. It is disseminated abroad by embassies and representative offices, and is controlled by the GIO. It is a distinctly one-sided view of Taiwan's political system and its international status, and is therefore a somewhat distorted picture. Even Taiwean's English-language pages on the internet, a communication innovation heralded with a great fanfare as a breakthrough against censorship and political control, are written by the GIO. --Rawnsley p. 44

I think every observer and guest of Taiwan's government should be extremely cautious of the message they are expected to portray and how that message will be expected to play both internally and externally. Before committing to any of these events, we, as participants should also be asking ourselves, who is the beneficiary of our patronage.

Just because it is about bicycling, does not meant there are not ulterior motives at play. This also reaffirms how the bicycle has become a regular fixture of every election season.

Hold on to your helmets!

Rawnsley, Gary D. 2000. Taiwan’s Informal Diplomacy and Propaganda. London, Macmillan Press Ltd. ISBN 0-333-75119-1

Kerr, George H. 1965. Formosa Betrayed. London, Eyre and Spottiswood Publishers.

Problems Over-Developing A Bicycle Paradise

Map of New Development in the Rift Valley

A couple pieces have caught my eye over at The View From Taiwan, and I thought I could weave cycling into the discussion.

Two articles in particular stand out. The first involves the rapidly expanding development of Taiwan's East Coast. And the other highlights recent criticism of a bill that would critically impinge on the rights of Taiwan's First Peoples.

Michael does such an excellent job with many of the details, so I will simply expand upon the ideas here to better demonstrate how these initiatives impact and will be impacted by cycling and bicycle tourism.

Much of the hoopla surrounding the recent Taiwan Cup and Taiwan's International Bike Festival involved showcasing Taiwan as a cyclist's paradise. Although we each have our own idea of what cycling paradise entails, the thrust of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau's presentation revolved around the amenities and activities specifically constructed to cater to the bicycle tourist. Many of the projects put on display were the result of a tourism building boom that had given the Ma administration plenty to crow about, and moreover, these projects have provided construction and development companies a fertile playground to capitalize on the deliberate transformation of Taiwan from a leader in technology and industry into a tourist Mecca.

Although I support expanding rider support all over Taiwan, the country's penchant for unchecked development, illegal construction, kickbacks , payoffs and creative zoning threatens to not only discourage visitors who are looking to enjoy Taiwan's rugged wildernesses, but it also threatens the collective rights of Taiwan's indigenous inhabitants, many of whom own the lands along the Rift Valley between Hualien and Taidong.

The Taipei Times reports:

Amis representative Konon Panay (古孟巴奈) said the central government did not define and grant Aboriginal lands, but it has been depriving Aborigines of their lands in the name of development.

Under the government of the Republic of China (ROC), the often correlative concepts of "development" and "eco-tourism" can be viewed as demonstrative of Taiwan's problematic postcoloniality.

When the Republic of China (ROC) arrived on Taiwan in 1945, the government instituted a program which located Taiwan's Hakka, Hoklo, Pingpu* and Aboriginal communities as "backward" in need of the modernity the ROC claimed to possess. The authoritarian government of the ROC used development programs in an attempt to "modernize" and transform the people of Taiwan into something subjectively better and "improved". Non-Taiwanese were located closest to the civilizing center and Aborigines at the furthest points.

In many ways the ROC scheme reflected pre-existing beliefs of Qing era transformationalism, or the belief that "savages" could be improved if they could learn to act like "humans", as well as the social darwinism that was popular with Sun Yat-sen and his cohorts. Taiwan's Aborigines were believed to be a degraded people who could be improved through the ROC civilizing program.

Many Aborigines were asked to move from traditional villages into "modern" concrete houses. Not only was the move away from traditional homes an attempt to modernize them, but the act can be viewed through the Confucianist lens as an act of taming; of transporting indigenous people through time to near the present and away from the "wilderness", which has been traditionally viewed by Han people as both savage and degraded. Even during the Qing colonial era, farmers along Taiwan's western plain were implored by official decree to "tame/open the wasteland" through farming. These believes reflect the deep connection between traditional Confucian views and official ROC ideology. Emma Teng's book Taiwan's Imagined Geography provides a great read on how these beliefs manifest themselves in official writing on Taiwan's indigenous peoples.

I think these beliefs can be seen from 2008, when Taiwan's current president and Chinese Nationalist standard bearer Ma Ying-jiu addressed a group of Aborigines.

Ma was quoted as saying:

"I see you as humans and as citizens of this city. I'm going to educate you well and do a good job of providing you with opportunities. That's the place from which the attitude of aborigines needs to be adjusted...now that you've come here, you need to play by the rules here..."

The pejorative distance between city and country, savage and non-savage, degraded and elevated are on full display with Ma clearly envisioning himself in the position of the civilizer.

The moves for development groups to go in and develop the indigenous lands along the Rift Valley while stripping or weakening the rights of indigenes to manage their own development creates a system of patronage, where the indigenous peoples must rely on the development groups and their political benefactors for economic support. Many of Taiwan's development schemes are not only owned by outside investors, but often many of the only jobs created are in service or entertainment where indigenous people are requited to perform quasi-traditional performances for the pleasure of tourists thus becoming the exotic object of desire on their own ancestral land while most of the profits go elsewhere. I recall "Aboriginal dancing" being one of the "highlights" promoted to visiting journalists for the Taiwan International Bike Festival.

The prospect of cycling tourism has become one of the driving forces behind much of this development; development that is neither sustainable, tenable, ethical or just.

For these reasons I would recommend cyclists ask for cycling development in Taiwan with a lighter touch to best enjoy Taiwan. I hope those people who arrive in Taiwan on a government paid junket or for cycling tourism can covey the belief that often less is more and we care about more than simply bike trails or hot springs. We care about the entire cycling environment including how the land was acquired and how much local involvement goes into planning cycling infrastructure. For now many of the decisions on bicycle infrastructure and development are made by politicians, developers and their corporate backers.

* Pingpu existed under the Japanese, but were incorporated into Hakka and Hoklo groups under the ROC by 1953.

ADDED:

Food For Thought: Two thoughtful articles about tourism from Ryan at Savage Minds. Article 1 and Article 2

President Ma Stumps For Bikes and Fitness: Taiwan Sports Island?

As part of his campaign stump speech, Taiwan's reluctant president, Ma Ying-jiu, has made a vow to transform Taiwan into a "Sport's Island".

First, the phrasing is interesting as it avoids defining Taiwan as a "nation", an idea Ma has had great difficulty grappling with during his first term in office.

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said Saturday he is determined to turn Taiwan into "a sports island," where people will exercise regularly.

"It's a very important political platform that I proposed four years ago during my election campaign," Ma said in Taichung at the launch of a countrywide support group for his reelection bid.

Secondly, this pledge contradict his other education and labor policies, which actually run counter to promoting physical fitness and exercise.

At the event at Taichung Harbor Municipal Stadium, Ma said he had built or renovated 80 swimming pools in Taipei during his tenure as mayor 1998-2006. The aim was to encourage every student in the city to learn to swim and perform well in the sport, he added.

He also constructed bike paths in Taipei during that time, and since May 2008 when he took office as president, more than 500 kilometers of cycling trails have been built around the country, he said.

The president said he has seen the development of a trend in which cycling is becoming a national sport.

"The reforms must not stop," he said. "I will continue to do my best to build Taiwan into a sports island."

A critical definition needs to be made between construction and promotion. I have to admit the Ma administration has been bullish on construction... of anything: highways, residential districts, petrochemical factories, nuclear power plants, and practically anything fashioned from concrete.

This may have less to do with promoting... whatever, and more to do with the powerful construction constituency, which is widely acknowledged to be stacked with all types of dirty politics and... "extra"-legal activities from kickbacks to bid rigging.

To really promote health and fitness, the government can start with education and labor reforms.

Taiwanese children are asked to study too much, while physical education is routinely cut in favor of classroom oriented subjects. Children have precious little time to devote to learning a sport. Rather than mandate fewer classroom hours, Ma's administration has chosen to emphasize Confucian studies in schools to help promote his idea of Confucianism as the state religion. Moreover, there are fewer urban green spaces for children to use if they would like to play sports. The government owned land is far too valuable to invest in green space. Instead it has been parceled off to developers. As far as bike paths go, most children, even if they had the time, could not even get to a bike path without someone driving them.

In Taiwan fitness and leisure is the domain of the privileged. A person needs time and money. In Taiwan's modern reality these things are still not granted to everyone. For a few years things had improved with the implementation of the 5 day work week. When I first arrived in Taiwan we were still working every other Saturday. The problem is that the cost of living has been steadily rising while incomes have stagnated. People are having to work more hours for less money to maintain a middle-class lifestyle, pay for the cram schools which have been built into the education system as a necessity, and to pay on an overvalued mortgage as ordinary families compete for housing against property speculators. How many families really have the time or money to spend on biking? Not nearly enough!

When I ask students how they spent their weekends, 90% respond with the same answers: slept, studied and watched TV.

Their parents were too busy working to take them anywhere so they get the TV babysitter.

Funny how complicated these simple promises can get when tied to the larger realities of life in Taiwan.

The Politics of Cycling: Election Season Cycling and Other News

Election season is upon us once more, and Taiwan's president "Mayor" Ma Ying-jiu has announced he will be joining a round-island tour to promote his re-election bid.

Over the past four years we have seen Taiwan shirk from a place of prominence and pride... only to seek a position of marginalized ambiguity. This platform of mediocrity and ambiguity comes as a directive from Ma's office, which is seeking to rein in the two decades of Taiwan centered policies promoted by both the former Lee and Chen administrations; policies that resulted in giving recognition to the Taiwan centered outlook shared by most Taiwanese.

For Ma Ying-jiu, "Taiwan" has been a dirty word. He uses the word sparingly and through clenched teeth as if being forced to take some bad medicine.

Instead, Ma has tried to resuscitate the old term "ROC" or "Republic of China", which, although the official name of the state, is primarily disregarded outside the world of officialdom.

Now we see his hand again in his yearning to appeal to his glory days during the latter years of authoritarian rule in the 1970's.

This cycling event will be called: "ROCbike Taiwan Bravo."

The bicycle tour, “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo,” is a nationwide bicycle tour launched by Ma’s campaign office earlier this month. Ma’s team embarked on a similar tour during his presidential campaign in 2007.

The “long stay” bicycle tour, which saw Ma and his campaign team travel through 18 cities and counties through the country’s western plains and finished in then-Taipei County, was believed to have helped bolster Ma’s chances in the last election.

This year’s 15-day “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo” bicycle tour will cover 1,181km and finish in Hualien County.

King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive director of Ma’s campaign office, met the cyclists last week in Taitung County as part of a campaign activity, while Ma is expected to join more bicycle-related activities as the presidential election approaches.

I just hope he does not feel the need to inform the public on the state of his junk this time around.

In Other News:

After running into health and injury troubles, Taiwan's delegation for the Paris-Brest-Paris race in France have appealed to the Taiwan Representative Office in Paris for assistance, but have been denied.

The deputy representative determined the riders to be too far (5 hours) outside of paris to lend any help and referred them to their travel agent. Complicating issues was the fact that Taiwan's chief representatives have all been called back to Taipei (coinciding with election activities) and were unable to be on hand to make the call on how to handle the situation.

During the ultra-long bike tour, two members of the Taiwanese team were stricken by health problems, which included hallucinations and severe sickness.

In the end, they were forced to hitchhike back to Paris.

And:

Like a lot of Taiwanese who take their dogs out in bags or strollers to join them at the mall... one man couldn't resist brining his pup along for a tour of Taiwan.

Last, but not least...

Please enjoy TIC reader and occasional Taiwan cyclist, Emmanuel Thiry's multimedia tribute to riding the dreaded Route 136. The musical score is also an original Thiry score. Awesome!

The Garden Path: Connecting Bike Routes To Campaign Trails

Like any other season, election season in Taiwan is marked by certain changes that clue us in that change is afoot. Fall has the changing of the leaves and Spring is a vibrant flurry of rebirth.

In Taiwan we don't need groundhogs, robins or Poor Richard to tell us election season is upon us. We simply need to look for the first awkward signs of a politician astride a bike. This past weekend we got our first indication that this is an election year. Like Bambi taking his first, unsure steps onto the ice, Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jiu gingerly made his wobbly way out on his bicycle in an electioneering photo-op thinly disguised as public service.

Unlike the play acting and costumed fantasy in which he hoped to indulge, Ma was not the spry yearling full of boundless energy, hope and possibility. Rather, the ROC's president looked feeble, wooden and old. And unlike his carefully groomed popular image of vitality and virility, the KMT chief looked ghoulishly pale and weak.

This less than flattering image of the ROC's former golden boy as doddering, impotent and out of touch does not come as a major surprise when Ma and his cohorts continue to belch policy and ideology that fits modern Taiwan about as well as a woolen Mao suit.

According to a report from the China Post:

Ma joined the biking trip yesterday morning to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China. He encouraged youths from around the globe to experience the beauty of Taiwan — the gorgeous scenery, delicacies and friendly people — on bike, saying that biking is a good way to discover Taiwan.

During his tenure as ROC president, Ma Ying-jiu has pursued an agenda that has primarily served corporate interests and the interests of the PRC at the expense of the environmental, economic and political interests of the Taiwanese people. Young people have felt the most alienated by rising inflation and stagnant earnings amid skyrocketing housing prices.

Moreover, Ma has led the country headlong into his reality distortion of a rabbit hole that is his own fixation and faith in his Chinese Nationalist ideology; the confluence of ethnic nationalism, racialism and historical fantasy that resembles the Cold War rhetoric spouted by the KMT Central Standing Committee during its heyday as the seat of power during Taiwan's four decades of authoritarian martial law--an era of which Ma was and still is an ardent defender.

Ma's ideology and his fear in its terminability is made clear by his frequent invocation of the "100 year" meme.

We have... and will undoubtedly continue to see the KMT drag out their beloved "centenary" prop during this election cycle capped by their curious denial of historical bifurcation that occurs whenever the slogan "Taiwan 100" is deployed.

It is evident that Taiwan and the ROC are mutually exclusive as one is the common name for the island and the other is the name of the state that extended its political domain over the island 66 years ago... at gunpoint.

To talk about "Taiwan-100" one would have to include Taiwan's experience as a Japanese colony with Viscount Kodama Gentaro and Goto Shimpei featuring more prominently than Sun Yat-sen. This is a fact that is often lost in the idealogical and slanted education system that is still structured as a colonial framework for transforming "backward" Taiwanese into "modern" Chinese and elevating the nationalist construction of the Han ethnic group onto the chauvinistic seat of hegemonic superiority... a charge that has often been leveled at Ma and his party.

The fact of the matter is that the KMT and the ROC are very close and for much of Taiwan's experience with them, they operated as a single party state. This is why we are now seeing such a drive to raise the ROC's profile, especially after 20 years of decline in Taiwan's popular nomenclature where simply "Taiwan" has supplanted "ROC" as the country's common name beginning at the dawn of the Democratic era in the 1980's when Taiwanese gained the space to reinterpret their own narratives.

Yes, Ma will continue these "ROC/Taiwan-100" events to do everything in his power to secure his exalted status as a "Descendent of the Dragon", but it will take a lot more than bike rides to breathe any more life and vitality into the tired political/cultural program he champions; a program that has already been subverted and transformed by Taiwanese while Ma was busy chasing a dragon.

Positive Motion or Political Stunt: CCA Plans Million Rider Event

Why does this blogger write so much from so little?

The CNA and Taiwan Focus recently reported on another cycling event planned at the cabinet level to be held on December 31, 2011. The goal of the event is to arrange for 1 million riders to simultaneously "ride in a clockwise formation" along a specified route around Taiwan.

Emile Sheng, minister of the Cabinet-level council, said at a media briefing that the event would be the grand finale of centenary celebrations and symbolize Taiwan "moving forward" into the next 100 years.

If you have been following my running commentary on the bicycle and its symbolic representations in Taiwanese political life below, you will understand my own skepticism and caution in promoting a cycling event. I would love to be the type who could declare that every bicycle event must be a positive force in the world... but my experience in Taiwan has made me a bit more cautiously cynical. When I read a piece coming from the government, I always must question the motive. A government event is rarely benign and almost always comes with a political price tag. What is the value of this expense? What is the angle? Who is this benefiting and why?

With events like these we really need to be cautious in how our participation may run counter to our own values in the long run or if our participation may actually be to our detriment.

I would like to take a little time to deconstruct this article to uncover a little more about the motives behind this event and the possible outcomes. This provides a very good example of politics at work in Taiwan.

Issue #1: 100 years of the R.O.C

"The event will demonstrate that all Taiwanese people are making a concerted effort to move forward into the next 100 years,"

Here we see the common and problematic conflation of Taiwan into the extrinsic finality of the "Nation".

In 1895 Taiwan was ceded to the Empire of Japan and colonized as a model colony under a program of centralized state modernity that was widely promoted during and after the Meiji restoration period. Taiwanese were subjected to, and active participants in, the colonization of Taiwan by the Japanese. During this period of time the citizens of Taiwan occupied various levels of society with competing and conflicting goals. They adapted their lives to fit within the Japanese colonial structure and negotiated with the state for greater autonomy and opportunities. Under Japanese colonial rule the center of economic, political and cultural life shifted to Tokyo. Times changed, laws changed and people changed to best learn how to take advantage of their realities. Taiwanese, in effect, were becoming Japanese. Many elder Taiwanese I talk to still identify themselves as Japanese.

Meanwhile, in 1911, the Wuchang Uprising finalized the slow decline and collapse of the Qing empire and replaced the dynastic system with a modern republic. The Republic of China was founded without Taiwan or Taiwanese as a part of this new nation. It is also important to note that this is the birth of "China" and "Chinese" as we know them today. Prior there had been no common or unifying culture, language, border, people or anything else modern Chinese nationalists have constructed and projected into the historical past. Prior the the modern Chinese nation, there was simply a succession of empires comprised of cultural and ethnic pluralities undergoing constant cultural change; disparate people living within a system that viewed the world in terms of the center and its periphery. I am always disappointed when I hear people expound on Chineseness without understanding the term's problematic nature or its selective and superficial denial of plurality and change. It would be like calling all English "Romans" because the Roman empire once stretched to what is now modern Britain... or why "Chinese" is indelible when we have no trouble referring to a person from Vietnam as Vietnamese... when they had been Indochinese until very recently.

In 1945 the ROC arrived on Taiwan on behalf of the allies, and by 1949 the ROC government followed after losing the Chinese Civil War. During this period of time the ROC Constitution was amended and then suspended without Taiwanese participation as they were considered "tainted" by their colonial experience under Japan. A period of martial law was declared, which effectively froze the government and suspended elections leaving the ROC dead, lying in state, until 1988 when social forces forced an end to the period of martial law. This is the Taiwanese experience with the ROC.

In 1953 the schools were instructed to focus on teaching ROC ideology. Much of this is still in place today. History was told from the Chinese point of view, which caused much confusion as to who the "we" group represented. For only half of the "100 years" were Taiwanese ever experiencing the ROC... if only in its suspended state, many as second class citizens.

So why is this centenary being so heavily promoted?

I feel it demonstrates the government's own insecurity and the public's obvious ambivalence for the KMT's beloved Republic of China. There is very little in the way of shared positive sentiment for the ROC, when compared to people's pride for "Taiwan". I know many Taiwanese friends who are amazed during the singing of the Star-Sangled Banner, at the spontaneous response to the flag. Many, and I dare say most Taiwanese do not feel the same connection to the ROC. This may be, in part, due to its problematic history on Taiwan as an oppressor or hegemonic entity that sought to suppress local cultures and force ideology down the throats of Taiwan's citizens. The government is trying very hard to make people feel an attachment to "the ROC" in the same way the Chen administration successfully deployed the name, "Taiwan". In the eyes of the KMT, localization is simply the result of political engineering and can be reversed using similar tactics rather than realigning concepts of culture with reality. They deny it is a phenomenon that reflects people's actual identities. Any time a government has a Bureau of Culture, or Government Information Office, then it is clear it does not understand the nature of culture and is trying to artificially construct it.

Item #2: Moving Forward":

"symbolize Taiwan "moving forward"

The second issue is the terminology of "moving forward". I find the underlying meanings to be both a little comical and frightening.

Much of the early philosophy used by the Chinese Republicans focused on the idea of modernity. Sun Yat-sen and his contemporaries at the turn of the 19th century, imagined, like many other thinkers of the time, that the nations of the world were in a constant state of competition and conflict. Only the strongest [fittest] nations would survive. Sun Yat-sen adhered to this Social Darwinist concept and thus constructed a scale of measuring modernity with he and Han people at the fore, and the others being in various states of degradation. Traditionalism became an enemy of the state and was thought to be a weakening force to "the People".

It was not until the 1930's that "Chinese Culture" was identified and defined by the state, and traditionalism found a place within the ROC. Later, during China's Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement was promoted in Taiwan to essentialize the ROC as the vessel and protector for "true" Chinese culture (whatever that means). Kite making, flower arrangement and other activities defined during the late Ming empire were revived and an effort was made by Chinese nationalists to promote their imagined traditionalism. I say "imagined" because it reflects an imaginary time and place that never existed. Still, many confused people fall for this line of thought. "Westerners" are particularly easy bait.

So when I hear how a "Chinese traditionalist" party imagines "time" in terms of forward and backward, I have to chuckle as Confucian thought conceives time from the perspective of falling backward into the future while facing the glorified past... and not the Darwinist evolutionary model.

What I find a little frightening is this phrase's echo of Taiwan's dictatorial past, where the state positioned itself, and those who identified with it, as "modern" and sought to lead the "backward" Taiwanese toward modernity.

The state's monopoly on modernity gave it the pretext to enact its transformative policies on Taiwanese and transform Taiwanese into "Chinese"---something the government felt Taiwanese were lacking as long as they rejected state ideology. The acceptance or rejection of state ideology determined one's opportunities and social mobility. The government unfairly and inaccurately portrayed Taiwanese as ignorant, illiterate and backward, then stepped in to paternalistically "guide/teach" them to accept Chinese nationalism and enter the realm of the "modern" and the loyal. The project was a complete failure.

The use of this phrase may sound harmless, neutral or ambiguous, until it is placed within the context of Taiwan's recent social experience.

What is "forward"?

In this context, forward may very well imply a future relationship with China and the KMT is trying to paternally usher those "backward", "uneducated" and "irrational" Taiwanese toward what the government feels is best for them; a Chinese future. In a white paper issued several years ago, Chinese officials determined that "reunification" (annexation) could be realized by convincing the Taiwanese of its benefits after marginalizing the pro independence voices.

We have seen a similar point of view from the ECFA cartoons released by the GIO, which seemed to criticize Taiwanese for their "unwillingness" to "modernize" by tying their economy to China's.

This terminology leads to a very slippery slope.

Issue #3: Why Bike? Why Now?

One million cyclists are expected to start simultaneously from 100,000 points around the country and ride in a clockwise direction along a route circling the island, Sheng said.

Although this event is supposed to be the finale in centenary celebrations, I really do not think this is the purpose. I feel the real purpose of this event is to initiate the opening salvo of Ma Ying-jiu's 2012 campaign for a second term as Taiwan's president.

Ma identifies very closely with the ROC, as he has always been a beneficiary of its imbalanced existence on Taiwan. A cycling event that draws riders from 100,000 different points from around Taiwan gives the central government, controlled by Ma's own party, an opportunity to effectively conduct an unofficial island-wide campaign event that would allow the government to spread cash (in many forms) to all corners of Taiwan in the name of the ROC. The campaign gifts may come in the form of tourism dollars and other temporary infrastructure projects aimed at this event. It allows the government to purchase labor in all districts. It gives the government a reason to purchase space, materials, transportation and other goods and services (possibly at inflated prices) from strategically important districts and the politicians who run those districts. It gives the KMT an opportunity to purchase patrons.

If we pay close attention to how the centenary and the various related activities will be carried out, we will see a very comprehensive strategy for influencing the election in the KMT's favor at the taxpayer's expense.

So here, in this little article, we can see how the bicycle's use in politics extends far beyond the scope of the semiotic, and into the electoral structure itself: Spreading The Pork!