Subject: soc.culture.taiwan FAQ ( part 4/5 ) -- Politics
Date: 1 Apr 1996 16:43:39 GMT
Summary: The fourth part deals with some questions about politics in
. Taiwan.

Posting-Frequency: approximately monthly

  "soc.culture.taiwan" Frequently-Asked Questions -- Politics

                                by

                          Tung-chiang Yang 
                         tcyang@ee.ucla.edu 


=======================================================================

***** FAQ's of SCT *****
<< Politics >>
  (P. 1)  What do these abbreviations mean?
  (P. 2)  Are there any Internet accesses for the major political
.  parties in Taiwan?
  (P. 3)  Is it New Party or Chinese New Party?
  (P. 4)  Are there any Internet accesses for political figures in Taiwan?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(P. 1)  What do these abbreviations mean?

   228  -- A massacre taking place on February 28, 1947 in Taiwan.  Due
.   to the corruption in the provincial government which took
           over Taiwan from Japanese control, the news about the mis-
           treatment by the police of a Taiwanese female smuggling
           unregistered cigarettes sparked uprisings in major cities in
.   Taiwan, which resulted in the armed suppression ordered by
.   then-governor CHEN, Yi.  A lot of Taiwanese intellectuals
.   were arrested and prosecuted, and a lot of people who just
.   relocated themselves from Mainland China became scapegoats
.   and were killed or injured.  Civilian historians estimated
.   widely from 10,000 to 30,000 casualty, while the estimate
.   from government officials is much less.

.   This tragic incident more or less resulted in a "White
.   Terror" period, which lasted for around 30 years during which
.   people related politics with a taboo.

   AIT  -- American Institute in Taiwan, a non-profit civil organization
           serving the purpose of a "pseudo-embassy" of the US in Taiwan.

   BSR  -- "Ben Shen Ren", or "Inside Province People" literally, means
           "native provincials" which refers to the people "originating"
.   from Taiwan instead of Mainland China.  Roughly most people
.   believe those arriving in Taiwan before the 1945 ROC take-
.   over or so are considered BSR.  Their offsprings are also
.   considered BSR, though now there are a lot of marriages
.   between BSR's and WSR's.  Refer to "WSR" for more information.

   CCK  -- CHIANG, Ching-kuo, the son of CKS who succeeded CKS as the
.   leader of ROC and KMT after CKS' death in 1975.  He died in
.   1988.

   CCP  -- Chinese Communist Party, currently the governing party in PRC
.   government.

   CKS  -- CHIANG, Kai-shek, the leader of ROC and also KMT since the
.   1930's.  He died in 1975.

   DPP  -- Democratic Progressive Party, currently the largest opposition
.   political party in Taiwan.

   DXP  -- DENG, Xiao-ping, currently the most significant and most
.   effective statesman in PRC in spite of his deteriorating
.   health.

   EU   -- Eventual Unification ( with China ), maybe currently the mo-
.   derate status quo proposal winning the most support in Taiwan
           because it does not promote any sudden change, as compared to
.   TI and U.  This proposal puts off the discussions about TI
.   and/or U until the time when China can catch up with Taiwan
.   both economically and politically ( in terms of democracy ).
.   Refer to "TI" and "U" for more information.

   FAPA -- Formosan Association for Public Affairs, an association based
           in District of Columbia, USA which promotes freedom and
           democracy for the people of Taiwan.  It believes the people of
           Taiwan should be given the opportunity to vote for
           independence.

   KMT  -- Kuomingtang, or Nationalist Party, the current governing party
.   in ROC government.

   LTH  -- LEE, Teng-hui ( Deng-hui ), the current President of ROC and
.   also Chairman of KMT, who succeeded CCK after his death in
.   1988 as Vice President then.

   MAC  -- Mainland Affairs Council, the agency in ROC government which
.   deals with the policies toward Mainland China.

   NP   -- New Party, currently the second largest opposition political
.   party in Taiwan.

   NT   -- New Taiwan ( Dollars ), often seen as "NT$", the official
           currency used in Taiwan.

   PLA  -- People's Liberation Army, the name used for the army of PRC.

   PRC  -- People's Republic of China, the current effective government
.   in Mainland China.

   RMB  -- Renminbi ( people's money ), the official currency used in
           Mainland China.

   ROC  -- Republic of China, the current effective government in Tai-
.   wan.

   ROT  -- Republic of Taiwan, the proposed name for Taiwan should TI
.   movement succeed.

   SCT  -- "soc.culture.taiwan", the newsgroup you are currently rea-
.   ding.

   SEF  -- Straits Exchange Foundation, a civilian association in ROC
.   which plays the "white gloves" when ROC wants to negotiate
.   with PRC without violating its current laws and policies.

   TI   -- Taiwan Independence.  One of the political proposals made by
.   some people in Taiwan who claim that Taiwan should be in-
.   dependent of China, and that Taiwan should abandon the current
.   name of "ROC" if it wants to participate in the world stage.

.   Officially the ROC does not support this idea and claims it
.   will simply bring disaster to the residents of Taiwan; instead
.   it promotes the idea that "the ROC is different from the PRC".

.   The PRC views TI and this ROC policy as approaches to
.   independence, and vows to use force should Taiwan ever
.   announces independence.

.   Note that a lot of problems arise because of the confusion
.   over "Taiwan = ( or != ) ROC" and "CCP = ( != ) PRC".  Refer to
.   "EU" and "U" for more information.

   U    -- "U" here refers to the Chinese Unification, the counter-
.   proposal to TI.  Refer to "EU" and "TI" for more informa-
.   tion.

   WSR  -- "Wai Shen Ren", the opposite of BSR, means the "visiting
           provincials" which is for the people arriving in Taiwan
.   after 1945 or so.  Their offsprings are also considered WSR,
.   though marriages between BSR's and WSR's have already
.   blurred this classification.  Refer to "BSR" for more infor-
.   mation. 

   WUFI -- World United Formosans for Independence.  An association based
           in Houston, Texas which is dedicated to the establishment of
           Republic of Taiwan.


(P. 2)  Are there any Internet accesses for the major political
        parties in Taiwan?

   For New Party, you can try the mailing list at
   "np@ic.eecs.berkeley.edu".  To start the subscription, you can send
   an E-mail to this address with subject "[HELP]" to know more about
   the mailing list.  The '[' and ']' marks are required.

   The mailing list for New Party is run by a computer server program,
   not by a human being.  Therefore the syntax for the "Subject:" line
   of your E-mail must satisfy the specified format for your message to
   get processed correctly.

   New Party sets up its homepage at

      http://www.np.org.tw/

   Unfortunately, it supports Chinese Big-5 code only.

   For Nationalist Party ( KMT ), you can try their homepage at

      http://kmt.org.tw

   You can also visit the homepage for KMT Overseas Dept. Office in Midwest
   U.S.A. at

      http://www.kmtroc.org/

   The BBS for Democratic Progressive Party, "formosa.dpp.org.tw"
   ( 139.175.249.24 ) no longer exists, which is confirmed by the Taipei
   City Government Information Center.  The homepage for DPP can be found at

      http://www.dpp.org/

   DPP branch in Taipei also set up a Web site at

      http://www.dpp.org.tw/


(P. 3)  Is it New Party or Chinese New Party?

   It is New Party, one of the major political parties in Taiwan.  On
   March 31, 1995, New Party replied the author's querry that

      "...... The English name for New Party is 'New Party' instead of
       'Chinese New Party'.  We have already made many clarifications
       with the media by repeated announcements.  By the way, please
       also announce for us that the name in the registration certificate
       with Ministry of the Interior is 'New Party' ......"


(P. 4)  Are there any Internet accesses for political figures in Taiwan?

   For Mr. LIEN, Chan, Premier of ROC government, you might reach
   him by E-mail at "eyes@inform.nii.gov.tw" or
   "lienchan@inform.nii.gov.tw".  You can also try the WWW page at

       http://inform.nii.gov.tw/      or
       http://140.92.80.42/

   For Mr. SUNG, Chu-yu, Governor of Taiwan Province, you can reach him
   at "governor@tpg.gov.tw".

   For Mr. CHEN, Shui-bian, Mayor of Taipei City, you can reach him
   at "abian@missbbs.tcg.gov.tw".

   You might also reach Legislator YEN, Ching-fu (D) at the address
   "ygf@pc2.hinet.net".

   Taiwan Provincial Assembly and Kaohsiung City Council have created the
   homepages for each assembler and counciler.  Kaohsiung City Council
   also assigned the E-mail addresses to each counciler.  You can go to
   their respective homepages to find the addresses.

   For independent presidential candidate hopeful Mr. CHEN, Li-an, you
   can reach his WWW page at

       http://www.lachen.hinet.net/

   or send an E-mail to him at "cla@serv.lachen.hinet.net".

   Independent presidential candidate hopeful Mr. LIN, Yang-kang's
   supporters set up the Web site at

       http://203.66.165.10/

   "Friends of LYK" in North America also set up another Web site at

       http://gus.net/home/f/flyk

-  which includes an English page at

-      http://www.webcom.com/~mongurro/LYK.html

   It can be reached at the E-mail address "flyk01@gus.net".

   DPP presidential candidate hopeful Mr. PENG, Ming-ming's supporters
   in North America set up the Web site at

       http://www.jinco.com/peng/

   To reach "Peng's Foundation for Culture and Education", you can try
   the Web site at

       http://www.seed.net.tw/~pengfd/

   KMT presidential candidate hopeful Mr. LEE, Teng-hui's campaign sets
   up the Web site at

       http://wwwkmt.kmt.org.tw/


   ( Permission to repost the finished document or make copies of it in
     electronic, mechanical, photocopied, or other form as appropriate
     will be granted provided it is not modified in any way whatsoever,
     and it is not used for profit purposes without prior explicit consent
     from the author.  Copyright 1995, 1996 by Tung-chiang Yang ).
