Who needs national security?

A few days ago, there was a news report on tv describing the conditions of a hallway in Taipei International Airport.

The report noted the number and types of rooms along this hallway, as well as the width and how long it takes to walk from end to end. From the number above the door of entry to who frequents it the most — even down to the color of the carpet, not one detail was spared.

I was shocked to find out that this was actually the National Security Secret Hallway (國安密道) used by the president and his family.

Reporters Without Borders

I recently found the reporters without borders website and decided to look into the reporting on the olympics.

There are reports of death threats against foreign reporters, where reporters’ personal details have been posted on Chinese websites. In response, foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said the government “is not in a position to control the messages”.

I don’t understand how a government that has enough control to filter tv broadcasts and internet access, as well as cut off a whole region of the world to outsiders, can claim to not be able to control death threats.

Even in the US where that kind of control does not exist, police will immediately look into it for any citizen and find out or arrest the perpetrators.

They control internet access, but cannot bring themselves to censor/catch those who put reporters’ personal details on websites?

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels very insincere and irresponsible.

Tibet

I read a pro-China socialism declaration the other day (because of the Olympic torch relay in SF) which mentioned CIA funding the free Tibet movement. I admit I don’t know too much about the history of Tibet, so I looked into it a little.

I found this article from the Chicago Tribune, which describes CIA involvement in Tibet during the cold war. It’s an interesting contrast to today’s perception of Tibet.

According to the article, CIA trained Tibetans in warfare to make it costly for China and delay their progress during the cold war, and then cut funding once US renewed relations with China.

With that as background, that accusation makes more sense. Still, openly giving money to a pro-democracy group which then uses it to help Tibet is not the same thing as secretly training Tibetans.

Side note: It seems that backlash from the Chinese community regarding the free Tibet movement tends to be rooted in an mentality that everyone is against China.