10-20-2018, 11:10 PM
*** 21-Oct-18 World View -- Pro-independence rallies in Taiwan press for faster separation from China
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Pro-independence rallies in Taiwan press for faster separation from China
****
![[Image: g181020b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g181020b.jpg)
Pro-independence demonstrators shout slogans during a rally in Taipei, Taiwan, on Saturday (AP)
Thousands of pro-independence demonstrators rallied in Taipei,
Taiwan's capital city, on Saturday to pressure the government of
president Tsai Ing-wen to be more confrontational with mainland China
and to move faster towards independence.
Tsai Ing-wen leads the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP),
which was formed as a reaction to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre
in Beijing, where several thousand peacefully protesting students were
brutally murdered by Chinese security forces in a huge bloodbath.
They have been "pro-independence" from the beginning, but in official
government positions when winning elections, they've adopted the 1992
"One China Consensus" which says that China and Taiwan are one
country, but which leaves the meaning of that phrase ambiguous.
However, since winning the presidential election early in 2016, Tsai
Ing-wen has gone farther than previous DPP politicians by refusing to
endorse the 1992 consensus, instead saying that she "respected ... the
common understanding" between China and Taiwan, without saying what
that means. Her refusal to endorse the 1992 consensus has triggered
the usual stream of hysterical screaming threats from Chinese
officials, and relations between China and Taiwan have been
deteriorating steadily.
The rally was organized by a new pressure group called the Formosa
Alliance. The rally actually represents a split in the
pro-independence movement because Tsai has been taking a relatively
cautious approach to China, while the Formosa group want to take steps
toward independence more quickly.
In 2005, China passed the Anti-Secession Law,
which orders the army to invade Taiwan if any
Taiwanese official makes any move toward independence, whether by word
or by deed. Taiwanese officials have said many things since 2005
that, arguably, could trigger the anti-secession law, and Saturday's
independence rally adds one more.
Because China's armed forces are several times bigger than Taiwan's,
it's generally believed that China would easily defeat Taiwan in a
war, especially if the US did not honor its commitment to mutual
defense. The quick win would be achieved first by a barrage of
missiles striking government and military targets, followed quickly by
special forces ferried across the strait for a quick kill.
However, Foreign Policy has published a detailed analysis by
which Taiwan can win a war with China. The Taiwanese, Japanese and
American leaders will have 30-60 days' notice of an impending invasion,
because China will have to make preparations. So the Taiwanese will
be prepared with booby traps, explosives, sea mines, and the Taiwanese
soldiers will be far better prepared than their Chinese counterparts.
China has been using money and extortion to force a number of
countries and international companies to declare that Taiwan is a
province of China. Since Tsai became president, five countries have
ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan and begun diplomatic relations
with China: Sao Tome and Principe in 2016, Panama in 2017, and the
Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso and El Salvador in 2018. Only 16
countries plus the Vatican now recognise Taiwan under its formal name:
the Republic of China. China has also pressured international
companies, including airlines, to remove "Taiwan" from their company
web sites, or replace it with "Taiwan, province of China," if the
companies want to continue doing business in China.
With China and the Vatican having concluded a historic agreement on
the appointment of bishops in China, people in Taiwan are now
concerned that the Vatican will also switch diplomatic relations from
Taiwan to China. Channel News Asia and <stdurl
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics...eet-taipei
"South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)"#> and Bloomberg and Foreign Policy (25-Sep)
****
**** China continues massive crackdown on non-indigenous religions
****
By one estimate, China’s Christian population has swelled from a few
million in the early 1980s to 100 million this year – in comparison,
the Communist Party has 90 million members.
China this year has become increasingly bloody and violent against the
four supposedly approved non-indigenous religions, Islam, Buddhism,
Catholicism, and Protestantism, as I described in a recent article:
"14-Oct-18 World View -- China defends million-prisoner 'reeducation camps' and Sinicization of Islam in Xinjiang"
In that article, some commenters criticized me for implying that Islam
and Christianity are equivalent in some way. Actually, the article in
no way implies that. The point was that the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) considers Islam and Christianity to be equivalent, and the same
for all of the non-indigenous religions.
In China's multi-millennial imperialistic history, China has always
been at war or close to it -- invading neighbors to exterminate them
and take their land, or planning and preparing for such an invasion,
or being invaded by a neighbor, or in the midst of a massive internal
civil war. China's indigenous "religions" -- Sun Tzu's Art of War,
Confucianism and Daoism -- are all aimed at unifying behind the
government and winning wars.
Each one of the non-indigenous religions has been used at one time or
another, sometimes successfully sometimes not, as a belief system to
create a populist movement to overthrow a dynasty or a government.
This became particularly frightening to the CCP on June 4, 1989, when
tens thousands of students from all over China traveled to Beijing and
rallied in Tiananmen Square, causing the CCP to vicious murder
thousands of them, creating a bloodbath. This show of mass protest
showed the Chinese leadership how easy it would be for them to be
toppled by a mass movement, and so they've been extremely vicious
towards all non-indigenous religions. And then when the Soviet
Communist Party collapsed in 1991, they went into full-scale panic.
So to the CCP, Islam and Christianity are exactly the same, as are all
the non-indigenous religions. And they all must be subject to
"Sinicization," which means that they must conform to Chinese
government policies or face jailing or destruction.
In April of this year, China's government issued its Sinicization
decree, called by the Orwellian name "China's Policies and Practices
on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief."
There are six areas of Sinicization: intensifying political
identification, integrating religion into Chinese culture,
establishing theological thought with Chinese characteristics, setting
up a management system for the church with Chinese characteristics,
exploring liturgical expression with Chinese elements, and using
Chinese aesthetics in church buildings, pictures and sacred music.
According to the decree:
<QUOTE>"It also means guiding religious groups to support the
leadership of the CPC and the socialist system; uphold and follow
the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics; develop
religions in the Chinese context; embrace core socialist values;
carry forward China’s fine traditions; integrate religious
teachings and rules with Chinese culture; abide by state laws and
regulations, and accept state administration in accordance with
the law."<END QUOTE>
This paragraph gives complete administrative control of the religion
to the CCP, and permits the CCP to monitor all religious activities.
The crackdown has been particularly brutal this year.
![[Image: g181020c.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g181020c.jpg)
China's destruction of the Golden Lampstand evangelical mega-church, which reportedly had a congregation of 50,000 people (AP)
Several months ago, China's storm troopers demolished a massive
evangelical church using bulldozers and dynamite. The Jindengtai
("Golden Lampstand") mega-church, which reportedly had a congregation
of 50,000 people, was demolished. Last month, the Zion Protestant
Church in Beijing was banned because the administration refused to
install closed-circuit television cameras that the CCP could use to
monitor all activity.
In other cases, Chinese policies have stormed into people's homes and
replaced the pictures of Jesus Christ and other religious symbols with
pictures of Xi Jinping, with the implication that people should be
worshipping Xi Jinping as God.
Any person who violates the government's rules can be tortured or
jailed or sent to reeducation camps. The most extreme example of this
so far is Xinjiang province, where a million ethnic Uighurs are being
tortured, raped and beaten in reeducation camps.
I was listening to a BBC report a couple of days ago, interviewing
someone who had a number of Uighur friends living in Xinjiang
province. He rattled off a list of the offenses that could get you
sent to a reeducation camp, things like not saying "hello" to a
Chinese official when you pass him in the street. He also mentioned
"giving up smoking." It turns out that if you give up smoking, then
it means that you're planning to become an extremist and terrorist, so
you have to be sent to a reeducation camp. State Council Information Office - Protecting religious freedom and
Deutche Welle (19-Jan-2018) and Reuters and China Today
****
**** China's deal with the Vatican stirs concerns in Taiwan
****
Another section of the sinicization document says the following:
<QUOTE>"Religious groups and religious affairs are not
subject to control by foreign countries.... This principle is a
historic choice made by Chinese religious believers in the Chinese
people’s struggle for national independence and social progress,
as Catholicism and Protestantism, which were known as foreign
religions in China, had long been controlled and utilized by
colonialists and imperialists."<END QUOTE>
This rule has been particularly applied to Catholics, since Catholics
have allegiance to the Pope in the Vatican, and the Pope is presumably
either a colonialist or imperialist.
There are about twelve million Catholics in China. Seven million of
them belong to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which is
actually a CCP political organization, and is "Catholic" in name only.
The other five million belong to "underground" Catholic churches,
which are barely tolerated by the government, but which retain
allegiance to the Pope.
In the last few decades, many Catholic priests in China have gone to
jail for years and been tortured for their refusal to reject their
vows and the guidance of the Pope.
So many of these people feel betrayed by the Pope, because the Vatican
last month agreed to a "compromise" where the Vatican recognized seven
bishops who were ordained by the CCP without the approval of the
Vatican. There was another part to the deal, where China promised to
accept some bishops in the "underground" church who had been ordained
by the Vatican, but China has so far not fulfilled that promise.
It appears that the Vatican has completely given in to China in order
to gain approval from China.
This has raised concerns in Taiwan that the Vatican will go further in
giving in to China by cutting ties with Taiwan.
Taiwan has about 300,000 Catholics, and Taiwan, unlike China, has
complete freedom of religion. The Taiwanese government apparently
does not fear that the Catholics will form a secret society whose
purpose is to overthrow the government, which is what has happened
many times in China. If, as many fear, the Vatican withdraws its
recognition from Taiwan, then the Pope will lose all credibility with
the Catholics in Taiwan, and will be held in contempt by millions of
people in "underground" Catholic churches in China. SCMP (22-Sep) and Diplomat (21-Sep) and South China Morning Post (30-Mar) and Free Catholics in China and
South China Morning Post
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen Democratic Progressive Party, DPP,
China, Tiananmen Square Massacre, Formosa Alliance,
Sinicization, Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism,
Chinese Communist Party, CCP,
Golden Lampstand evangelical mega-church, Zion Protestant Church,
Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Pro-independence rallies in Taiwan press for faster separation from China
- China continues massive crackdown on non-indigenous religions
- China's deal with the Vatican stirs concerns in Taiwan
****
**** Pro-independence rallies in Taiwan press for faster separation from China
****
Pro-independence demonstrators shout slogans during a rally in Taipei, Taiwan, on Saturday (AP)
Thousands of pro-independence demonstrators rallied in Taipei,
Taiwan's capital city, on Saturday to pressure the government of
president Tsai Ing-wen to be more confrontational with mainland China
and to move faster towards independence.
Tsai Ing-wen leads the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP),
which was formed as a reaction to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre
in Beijing, where several thousand peacefully protesting students were
brutally murdered by Chinese security forces in a huge bloodbath.
They have been "pro-independence" from the beginning, but in official
government positions when winning elections, they've adopted the 1992
"One China Consensus" which says that China and Taiwan are one
country, but which leaves the meaning of that phrase ambiguous.
However, since winning the presidential election early in 2016, Tsai
Ing-wen has gone farther than previous DPP politicians by refusing to
endorse the 1992 consensus, instead saying that she "respected ... the
common understanding" between China and Taiwan, without saying what
that means. Her refusal to endorse the 1992 consensus has triggered
the usual stream of hysterical screaming threats from Chinese
officials, and relations between China and Taiwan have been
deteriorating steadily.
The rally was organized by a new pressure group called the Formosa
Alliance. The rally actually represents a split in the
pro-independence movement because Tsai has been taking a relatively
cautious approach to China, while the Formosa group want to take steps
toward independence more quickly.
In 2005, China passed the Anti-Secession Law,
which orders the army to invade Taiwan if any
Taiwanese official makes any move toward independence, whether by word
or by deed. Taiwanese officials have said many things since 2005
that, arguably, could trigger the anti-secession law, and Saturday's
independence rally adds one more.
Because China's armed forces are several times bigger than Taiwan's,
it's generally believed that China would easily defeat Taiwan in a
war, especially if the US did not honor its commitment to mutual
defense. The quick win would be achieved first by a barrage of
missiles striking government and military targets, followed quickly by
special forces ferried across the strait for a quick kill.
However, Foreign Policy has published a detailed analysis by
which Taiwan can win a war with China. The Taiwanese, Japanese and
American leaders will have 30-60 days' notice of an impending invasion,
because China will have to make preparations. So the Taiwanese will
be prepared with booby traps, explosives, sea mines, and the Taiwanese
soldiers will be far better prepared than their Chinese counterparts.
China has been using money and extortion to force a number of
countries and international companies to declare that Taiwan is a
province of China. Since Tsai became president, five countries have
ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan and begun diplomatic relations
with China: Sao Tome and Principe in 2016, Panama in 2017, and the
Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso and El Salvador in 2018. Only 16
countries plus the Vatican now recognise Taiwan under its formal name:
the Republic of China. China has also pressured international
companies, including airlines, to remove "Taiwan" from their company
web sites, or replace it with "Taiwan, province of China," if the
companies want to continue doing business in China.
With China and the Vatican having concluded a historic agreement on
the appointment of bishops in China, people in Taiwan are now
concerned that the Vatican will also switch diplomatic relations from
Taiwan to China. Channel News Asia and <stdurl
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics...eet-taipei
"South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)"#> and Bloomberg and Foreign Policy (25-Sep)
****
**** China continues massive crackdown on non-indigenous religions
****
By one estimate, China’s Christian population has swelled from a few
million in the early 1980s to 100 million this year – in comparison,
the Communist Party has 90 million members.
China this year has become increasingly bloody and violent against the
four supposedly approved non-indigenous religions, Islam, Buddhism,
Catholicism, and Protestantism, as I described in a recent article:
"14-Oct-18 World View -- China defends million-prisoner 'reeducation camps' and Sinicization of Islam in Xinjiang"
In that article, some commenters criticized me for implying that Islam
and Christianity are equivalent in some way. Actually, the article in
no way implies that. The point was that the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) considers Islam and Christianity to be equivalent, and the same
for all of the non-indigenous religions.
In China's multi-millennial imperialistic history, China has always
been at war or close to it -- invading neighbors to exterminate them
and take their land, or planning and preparing for such an invasion,
or being invaded by a neighbor, or in the midst of a massive internal
civil war. China's indigenous "religions" -- Sun Tzu's Art of War,
Confucianism and Daoism -- are all aimed at unifying behind the
government and winning wars.
Each one of the non-indigenous religions has been used at one time or
another, sometimes successfully sometimes not, as a belief system to
create a populist movement to overthrow a dynasty or a government.
This became particularly frightening to the CCP on June 4, 1989, when
tens thousands of students from all over China traveled to Beijing and
rallied in Tiananmen Square, causing the CCP to vicious murder
thousands of them, creating a bloodbath. This show of mass protest
showed the Chinese leadership how easy it would be for them to be
toppled by a mass movement, and so they've been extremely vicious
towards all non-indigenous religions. And then when the Soviet
Communist Party collapsed in 1991, they went into full-scale panic.
So to the CCP, Islam and Christianity are exactly the same, as are all
the non-indigenous religions. And they all must be subject to
"Sinicization," which means that they must conform to Chinese
government policies or face jailing or destruction.
In April of this year, China's government issued its Sinicization
decree, called by the Orwellian name "China's Policies and Practices
on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief."
There are six areas of Sinicization: intensifying political
identification, integrating religion into Chinese culture,
establishing theological thought with Chinese characteristics, setting
up a management system for the church with Chinese characteristics,
exploring liturgical expression with Chinese elements, and using
Chinese aesthetics in church buildings, pictures and sacred music.
According to the decree:
<QUOTE>"It also means guiding religious groups to support the
leadership of the CPC and the socialist system; uphold and follow
the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics; develop
religions in the Chinese context; embrace core socialist values;
carry forward China’s fine traditions; integrate religious
teachings and rules with Chinese culture; abide by state laws and
regulations, and accept state administration in accordance with
the law."<END QUOTE>
This paragraph gives complete administrative control of the religion
to the CCP, and permits the CCP to monitor all religious activities.
The crackdown has been particularly brutal this year.
China's destruction of the Golden Lampstand evangelical mega-church, which reportedly had a congregation of 50,000 people (AP)
Several months ago, China's storm troopers demolished a massive
evangelical church using bulldozers and dynamite. The Jindengtai
("Golden Lampstand") mega-church, which reportedly had a congregation
of 50,000 people, was demolished. Last month, the Zion Protestant
Church in Beijing was banned because the administration refused to
install closed-circuit television cameras that the CCP could use to
monitor all activity.
In other cases, Chinese policies have stormed into people's homes and
replaced the pictures of Jesus Christ and other religious symbols with
pictures of Xi Jinping, with the implication that people should be
worshipping Xi Jinping as God.
Any person who violates the government's rules can be tortured or
jailed or sent to reeducation camps. The most extreme example of this
so far is Xinjiang province, where a million ethnic Uighurs are being
tortured, raped and beaten in reeducation camps.
I was listening to a BBC report a couple of days ago, interviewing
someone who had a number of Uighur friends living in Xinjiang
province. He rattled off a list of the offenses that could get you
sent to a reeducation camp, things like not saying "hello" to a
Chinese official when you pass him in the street. He also mentioned
"giving up smoking." It turns out that if you give up smoking, then
it means that you're planning to become an extremist and terrorist, so
you have to be sent to a reeducation camp. State Council Information Office - Protecting religious freedom and
Deutche Welle (19-Jan-2018) and Reuters and China Today
****
**** China's deal with the Vatican stirs concerns in Taiwan
****
Another section of the sinicization document says the following:
<QUOTE>"Religious groups and religious affairs are not
subject to control by foreign countries.... This principle is a
historic choice made by Chinese religious believers in the Chinese
people’s struggle for national independence and social progress,
as Catholicism and Protestantism, which were known as foreign
religions in China, had long been controlled and utilized by
colonialists and imperialists."<END QUOTE>
This rule has been particularly applied to Catholics, since Catholics
have allegiance to the Pope in the Vatican, and the Pope is presumably
either a colonialist or imperialist.
There are about twelve million Catholics in China. Seven million of
them belong to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which is
actually a CCP political organization, and is "Catholic" in name only.
The other five million belong to "underground" Catholic churches,
which are barely tolerated by the government, but which retain
allegiance to the Pope.
In the last few decades, many Catholic priests in China have gone to
jail for years and been tortured for their refusal to reject their
vows and the guidance of the Pope.
So many of these people feel betrayed by the Pope, because the Vatican
last month agreed to a "compromise" where the Vatican recognized seven
bishops who were ordained by the CCP without the approval of the
Vatican. There was another part to the deal, where China promised to
accept some bishops in the "underground" church who had been ordained
by the Vatican, but China has so far not fulfilled that promise.
It appears that the Vatican has completely given in to China in order
to gain approval from China.
This has raised concerns in Taiwan that the Vatican will go further in
giving in to China by cutting ties with Taiwan.
Taiwan has about 300,000 Catholics, and Taiwan, unlike China, has
complete freedom of religion. The Taiwanese government apparently
does not fear that the Catholics will form a secret society whose
purpose is to overthrow the government, which is what has happened
many times in China. If, as many fear, the Vatican withdraws its
recognition from Taiwan, then the Pope will lose all credibility with
the Catholics in Taiwan, and will be held in contempt by millions of
people in "underground" Catholic churches in China. SCMP (22-Sep) and Diplomat (21-Sep) and South China Morning Post (30-Mar) and Free Catholics in China and
South China Morning Post
Related Articles
- China defends million-prisoner 'reeducation camps' and Sinicization of Islam in Xinjiang (14-Oct-2018)
- University of N. Florida and Pentagon cut ties with China's Confucius Institutes (30-Sep-2018)
- Taiwan says that China is 'out of control' after El Salvador switches allegiance (22-Aug-2018)
- China-Australia relations plummet over China's illegal militarization of South China Sea (16-Dec-2017)
- China Prime Minister warns country becoming unstable (24-Jan-2006)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen Democratic Progressive Party, DPP,
China, Tiananmen Square Massacre, Formosa Alliance,
Sinicization, Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism,
Chinese Communist Party, CCP,
Golden Lampstand evangelical mega-church, Zion Protestant Church,
Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
