SAY HELLO TO AH-BIAN

It is very difficult to choose a suitable topic for my assignment. The life of any news is very limited, so I cannot estimate whether the topic I am interested in is tough enough to exist more than 10 weeks. I know some interesting topics, such as Wildlife Conservation, fashion and scandal, but none of them is an ideal choice. Finally, I choose him, a notorious politician, Chen Shui-bian. From the middle of November, 2008, Chen Shui-bian had begun to occupy the headline of many important media of China and other countries. Because of their different benefits and backgrand, various political muscle express categorically different opinions to the same news.
Chinese people have the traditional enthusiasm about politics, because Chinese society experienced huge change in the past 100 years. That situation is different from American society. If Chinese people do not want to participate in political activities, the news about Chen Shui-bian cannot be as interesting as today’s.
Chen was born to an impoverished tenant farming family in Kuantien Township of Tainan on the second day of the ninth lunar month in 1950 but was not formally issued a birth certificate until February 18, 1951 because of doubts that he would survive.
Academically bright from a young age he graduated from the prestigious National Tainan First Senior High School with honors. In June 1969, he was admitted to National Taiwan University. Initially a Business Administration major, he switched to Law in his first year and became editor of the school's law review. He passed the bar exams before the completion of his junior year with the highest score becoming Taiwan's youngest lawyer. He graduated in 1974 with a LL.B. in Commercial Law.
He has no political backgroud, but he is a successful politician. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, took office in 2000, ending more than fifty years of Kuomintang (KMT) rule in Taiwan.
After narrowly winning the Republic of China presidential election, 2004, Chen's second-term was marred by scandals. On November 3, 2006, his wife and three other high-ranking officials under the Presidential Office were charged with corruption for embezzling NTD 14.8 million (~US$ 460,000) of government funds using forged documents.
In January 2008, he resigned as chairman of the DPP, accepting responsibility for the party's defeat in the legislative election held the same year.
Chen's term as President ended in May 2008. Prosecutors then began to investigate allegations that Chen misused his discretionary "state affairs fund". They also investigated his connection to the first family's money-laundering allegations. He resigned from the Democratic Progressive Party on August 15, 2008, a day after admitting to falsifying campaign expenses and wiring campaign contributions to overseas accounts. After a lengthy procuratorial investigation into the corruption charges, on November 12, 2008 Chen was arrested. On December 12, 2008 he was indicted for forgery, money-laundering and misuse of public funds. He is the first ex-President of Taiwan to be indicted for criminal offenses. Chen Shui-bian was released without bail on 13 December 2008 after being indicted for money-laundering and misuse of public funds hours earlier. The district court ordered that Chen remain in Taiwan to face pending trial. On December the 16th 2008, prosecutors of the Special Counsel filed an appeal to reverse Chen's release and to resume his detention out of fear Chen may flee the country. On December the 25th of 2008, prosecutors of the same counsel appealed for the second time for continued detention of the former President. In this second appeal, the prosecution urged the Taiwan High Court to decide to detain or release Chen rather than remit the case to Judge Chou Chan-chun again. Reversing their initial decision not to appeal, Special Counsel prosecutors submitted their written appeal to the Taiwan high court, requesting that Chen be detained. The grounds for the detention remain the same (fear that the former President might leave the country, conspire with witnesses or destroy evidence). Ex-President Chen Shui-bian, on December 28, 2008, was ordered back to jail again. He has to stay in jail during the Chinese New Year.
Taiwan issue is hypersensitive for both China and US. The government of US, always supports Taiwan Independent. Chen Shui-bian advocates that all the time. As a Chinese, I cannot accept this position. But, I can understand why different political muscles have their own opinions. I do not think there is a standard to judge whether the opinion is right or not. A dog cannot enjoy the flavor of fish as a kitty. It is its nature. Since last week, I found 19 comments about Chen Shui-bian’s third jail life (20 years ago, he was in jail for the first time.)
Untill now, the comments about the imprisonment of Chen Shui-bian can be divided into five parts: Mainland of China, Bian’s supporters in Taiwan, Bian’s opponents in Taiwan, US and other countries.
General speaking, the voice of the Mainland of China and the opponents of Bian in Taiwan have the same position. But, they have different tones. Both of them argue against the government of Chen Shui-bian. The voice of Mainland of China is not as emotional as that of the opponents of Bian. The media of Mainland of China just publish several news articles about Chen Shui-bian; they do not comment any event or behavior at random. It is forbidden to do so, but it does not mean the media are just reportors. They always select the negative news in order to express their opinions.
On the other hand, the voice of the opponents of Bian seems very open, because they never conceal their opponian. They focus on any detail of the life of the ex-President and his family members. The political critics attack the scandals of Chen Shui-bian. The most interesting thing is they discover many crazy behaviors of the supporters of Bian, such as fortune-telling by Tarot for Chen Shui-bian. From their viewpoints, Chen Shui-bian and his supporters are all foolish buffons.
On contrast, the supporters of Chen Shui-bian in Taiwan and the media in US share their opinions. Chen Shui-bian is the first ex-President of Taiwan to be indicted for criminal offenses. Whether the judicial process is legal? Whether the human rights are trampled on? They do not respond to the scandals or the crazy behaviors of these supporters, but focus on the other side of the coin. They are clever and diplomatic, because the crime of Chen Shui-bian is difficult to dispute. They transfer the public attention to another part of the whole thing. For example, one of the American media compared Ma Ying-jiu, the current President of Taiwan with Nixon. The overtone is very obvious.
The attitude of the media of other countries is not clear, because I cannot read other languages. But, untill now, I have read the comment from German. In this article, the critic seemd relaxed to treat this news. I think it is reasonable, because Chinese people can deal with our own problems.