Wake up, our sovereignty is at stake

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First Chinese tourists satisfied: survey

SUCCESSFUL START: There were only minor criticisms that the tours were overly hectic and some said they would have liked to have visited the tomb of pop singer Teresa Teng

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Friday, Jul 25, 2008, Page 4


An overwhelming majority of the first batch of Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan via weekend direct charter flights were satisfied with their tours, the results of a survey released on Wednesday showed.

The Tourism Bureau distributed 644 questionnaires to Chinese tourists who arrived in Taiwan on July 4 on the maiden cross-strait charter flights and collected 193 valid samples.

More than 90 percent of respondents gave either a “very good” or “good” rating for the treatment they received during their package tours and up to 87 percent rated as “very good” the quality of the coaches used and their drivers’ customer service skills.

Meanwhile, 91.19 percent of those surveyed said they were most impressed by their tour guides’ attitude, professionalism and communications skills, while 86.54 percent said they were satisfied with tour guides’ ability to deal with emergencies or unusual incidents.

Generally speaking, most Chinese tourists gave a positive review of local tour guides’ hospitality.

Asked about their views on the prices of goods at stores where the travel agencies had arranged for them to shop, more than 70 percent said prices were generally reasonable. Major items they bought at the shops included foodstuffs, snacks, gift items, clothing and coral jewelry.

Many respondents also identified late-night snacks, spas and local specialties as their favorite aspects of their tours.

The Chinese tourists gave a mixed response to the local dishes arranged for them by travel agencies. Some suggested the addition of one or two more spicy dishes, while others said they felt the local dishes were generally good.

Most tourists were also satisfied with their lodgings, saying hotel accommodation was more than adequate and clean.

Up to 58 percent of the tour groups that visited via the maiden weekend charter flights spent 12,000 yuan (US$1,750) on group tour fees, the survey showed.

On their tour itineraries, many tourists said they hoped to see the addition of visits to the tombs of pop singer Teresa Teng (鄧麗君) and former dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son, former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).

Some respondents said they felt their travel schedules were too hectic and that they planned to make longer trips in future or hoped to go backpacking. At present, Chinese tourists are only permitted to visit in tour groups.

　

　

Wake up, our sovereignty is at stake

By Paul Lin 林保華
Friday, Jul 25, 2008, Page 8


The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has released a statement rejecting comments by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been rushing into the relaxation of cross-strait policies and that the lack of clear accompanying measures to handle problems this could cause represent an unprecedented threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty.

The MAC said the majority of relaxed cross-strait policies promoted by the government had been promoted by the DPP government, and are in line with what the public wants and beneficial to Taiwan’s economic development.

Direct cross-strait charter flights and allowing a greater number of Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan are policies promulgated by the former government. However, Beijing chose to ignore them so that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could use them during his electoral campaign. In order to make these changes a reality, however, Beijing had to sacrifice agreements on chartered cargo flights negotiated with the DPP administration. In addition, the list of eight Chinese travel agencies monopolizing the market for visiting Taiwan had nothing to do with the DPP.

We can only thank the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party for this “development.”

Other relaxations also vary in principle with those promoted by the DPP government. The biggest difference is that the DPP never agreed to abandon the title “president.” Ma, however, has made a decision that may make dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son, president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), turn in their graves. Nor did the DPP administration ever recognize the so-called “1992 consensus.”

For its part, the KMT government does not even have the courage to mention “one China, with each side having its own interpretation.”

To facilitate direct flights, some local KMT government officials have disregarded national and personal dignity and openly rebuked Taiwan during their visits to China. When the KMT chairman and other senior party officials went to China, they were too afraid to uphold Taiwan’s sovereignty. On the other hand, DPP member and Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) said at the opening of Yunlin’s liaison office in Beijing that Taiwan and China were two separate countries. Based on this, it should not be too difficult to determine who cares more about Taiwan’s dignity.

Although the DPP administration also advocated relaxing restrictions on Taiwanese investment in China, Ma has gone overboard and removed the 40 percent cap on investment. He has also failed to explain the logic behind allowing Taiwanese businesses to set up factories using 12-inch wafer technology in China.

The DPP government refused to allow the Olympic torch onto Taiwanese soil on the grounds that Beijing insists on changing Taiwan’s Olympic title from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taipei, China” and because Beijing is constantly attacking Taiwan’s sovereignty. Before his election, Ma said he would consider boycotting the Olympics over China’s treatment of Tibet. However, two months later, his government was unable to provide a strong response to Beijing changing Taiwan’s name from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taipei, China,” with only the MAC vice chairperson speaking out.

Why did Ma step up when it came to allowing Chinese officials to address him as “Mr,” only to take a backseat when it comes to safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty?

While the DPP government strongly opposed recognizing academic qualifications from China, Ma has been heavily in favor. He also wants to allow Chinese students to study in Taiwan. No clear policies to deal with those moves have been proposed, leaving the government agencies that would have to deal with the ramifications scratching their head.

Caution will be in order when Chinese investors are allowed onto the Taiwanese stock market. The TAIEX has plummeted in recent months and Ma’s attempts at reviving it have been in vain. It was only when the stock exchange announced it would look into insider trading that the market finally stopped falling.

Political analyst Wang Kung-yi (王崑義) wrote on his blog: “Last week, I went to Hangzhou to take part in a large symposium organized by the Taiwan Affairs Office. Some people at the meeting who work for Taiwan-related departments told me that certain members of the KMT have told them the KMT will push Taiwan’s stock market down to 5,500 points so that Ma will be forced to reshuffle his Cabinet and get the members they want in office.”

Absent new policies, interest groups could very well control Taiwan’s stock market and countless Taiwanese could be bankrupted if the stock market is buffeted by Chinese and KMT insider trading.

It is high time Taiwanese realized the severity of the crisis we are facing.

Paul Lin is a political commentator based in Taiwan.

　


'Smoke free' Games just a pipe dream

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has declared the Olympic Games will be ‘smoke free' and the municipal government has implemented a ban on smoking in public places, but that doesn't seem to discourage China's 350 million smokers
　

By Andrew Jacobs
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, BEIJING
Friday, Jul 25, 2008, Page 9

A smartly dressed man carried a lighted cigarette into the elevator of an upscale apartment building in Beijing one recent morning and something remarkable happened. A fellow passenger, a middle-aged woman with a pet Maltese tethered to her wrist, waved a hand in front of her face and produced a series of mannered coughs that had the desired effect — the man stepped on the cigarette and muttered an apology.

In a country where one in four people smoke, and where doctors light up in hospital hallways and health ministers puff away during meetings, it was a telling sign that a decade of halfhearted public campaigns against tobacco might finally be gaining traction.

In May, the municipal government banned cigarettes in schools, railway stations, office buildings and other public places. Chinese athletes are no longer permitted to accept tobacco company sponsorships. Cigarette advertising on billboards will be restricted during the Olympics. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) has declared that the Games will be “smoke free.”

Despite the new laws and proclamations, the impact might elude non-smoking visitors who arrive in the capital next month. Most restaurants remain shrouded in smoke, the air in clubs and bars can be asphyxiating and a year-old prohibition against lighting up in Beijing taxis has had little effect.

“If I point to the no-smoking sign, the passenger will just laugh and keep smoking,” said Hui Guo, a cab driver who does not smoke.

Government officials say that 100,000 inspectors have been dispatched to ticket smoking scofflaws, but the US$1.40 fine offers little deterrence, especially to the nouveau riche entrepreneurs who proudly brandish the gold-filtered Chunghua brand, which sells for US$10 a pack.

Li Baojun, the manager of a popular restaurant on Ghost Street, explained why he did not dare tell patrons to stop chain-smoking during meals.

“My customers would rather starve than not smoke and I would go out of business,” he said, as a thick pall hung over the diners. “In China, you cannot drink, eat and socialize without a cigarette.”

About 350 million of China’s 1.3 billion people are regular smokers — more than the entire population of the US — and even though 1.2 million people die each year from smoking-related causes, there is a widespread belief that cigarettes hold some health benefits. A cigarette in the morning is energizing, many smokers will declare, and even when confronted with scientific reason, they will cite Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), an inveterate smoker who lived to 92, and Mao Zedong (毛澤東), who lived to 82.

Health care workers are not exactly the best role models — more than half of all Chinese medical professionals smoke and a 2004 government survey of 3,600 doctors found that 30 percent did not know that smoking could lead to heart disease and circulation problems. Unlike cigarettes in much of the world, Chinese brands carry no health warning on labels, although that is scheduled to change in 2011.

Smoking with one hand and wielding a pair of chopsticks with the other, Li Na, 26, a secretary, was unapologetic as her two-year-old son sat next to her at a restaurant here enveloped in a bluish haze.

“If you overprotect your children, they don’t build their immunity,” she said. “Breathing a little smoke when they are small makes them stronger.”

At wedding parties, the bride often passes out Double Happiness brand cigarettes to guests, a tradition meant to enhance her fertility. Mourners at Chinese funerals are generously plied with smokes and a handful burned at the grave site is meant to satisfy the craving of the deceased.

When the police pull over a driver for a traffic infraction, a pack of cigarettes, not registration papers, is often the first thing pulled from the glove compartment. And during tough business negotiations, a round of smoking is an invaluable lubricant for a logjam.

“Cigarettes have an extra value in China that helps improve many social interactions,” said Tang Weichang (唐為昌), a researcher at the China Tobacco Museum in Shanghai, a pro-smoking institution financed by China’s tobacco industry.

Smoking here is largely a male pastime — more than 60 percent of all men smoke compared with 3 percent of women — and declining a cigarette is sometimes taken as an insult.

Guo Fei, a nonsmoker whose restaurant is largely smoke free, said he would often accept a proffered cigarette and later throw it away.

“To reject a cigarette would make them lose face,” he said.

The nation’s lukewarm efforts to curb smoking are complicated by the government’s control over the tobacco industry, which provides about US$31 billion in taxes each year, about 8 percent of the government’s revenue.

China produces a third of the world’s tobacco, with more than 400 domestic brands offered at Beijing’s ubiquitous tobacco shops. During a debate over anti-smoking measures last year, Zhang Baozhen (張保振), a vice director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, warned that “without cigarettes the country’s stability will be affected.”

Earlier this year, Beijing officials announced a ban on smoking in bars, restaurants, karaoke lounges and massage parlors, but that proposal, opposed by business interests, quickly died. The new law only encourages eating and drinking establishments to set aside nonsmoking areas — few restaurants have obliged.

It does not help that cigarettes are extremely cheap. Some of the more popular brands cost less than US$0.50 a pack. With less than 5 percent of the market, foreign brands like Marlboro and Camel have made little headway.

At Block 8, a fashionable Beijing nightclub, cigarettes dangled from the lips of half the patrons. The other half seemed to be taking a break from smoking, their cigarette packs set out before them.

Emma Cheung, 32, a magazine fashion editor, said smoking made her thin and fueled her creativity. She said she would support a ban on smoking indoors, but that she would not quit until co-workers did.

“Yes, I’m addicted, but so is everyone else at the office,” she said. “If we didn’t smoke, I don’t know how we would get anything done.”
　

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