On May 8

On this day in ...
...1895 (115 years ago today), the Treaty of Shimonoseki entered into force, weeks after it was signed at the Shunpanrō Hotel (right) (credit), in the treaty's namesake Japanese city. By this pact, which ended the 1st Sino-Japanese War, China "recognise[d] definitively the full and complete independence and autonomy of Korea." Furthermore, China ceded many territories to Japan, among them the island then known as Formosa, now Taiwan.


(Prior May 8 posts are here, here, and here)

On February 11

On this day in ...
... 1964 (45 years ago today), reacting to news that France was extending recognition to the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, which since losing the mainland a decade earlier had been installed on Taiwan, broke diplomatic relations with France. Just this past October, The China Post reported that a French court had "stirred diplomatic tensions by recognizing Taiwan's right to make its case in a legal dispute" -- concerning land in Tahiti -- "despite Paris not having recognized it as independent..." In comments that bring to mind the Gaza situation on which we posted here, the Post elaborated that

in an interim judgement, the court ruled that Taiwan's case could be heard 'independent of the diplomatic situation' even given Taipei's status as 'a Chinese state not recognized by the international community'.

(credit for above French embassy image, circa 1964, of President Charles de Gaulle, far right, and unidentified Chinese official)
... 1964 (45 years ago today), a daughter was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, to Sarah and Charles Heath, a school secretary and a science teacher/track coach, respectively. The family moved to the 49th state in the Union. The girl competed in athletics and beauty pageants, and attended a number of colleges before receiving her bachelor's degree in communications/journalism from the University of Idaho. In 2006 Sarah Palin (left) -- having married and served as mayor of her hometown -- became 1st woman and the youngest person ever elected Governor of Alaska. Since losing her bid to be U.S. Vice President last November, Palin's remained on the media trail, most recently railing against "'anonymous, pathetic bloggers.'' Surely she didn't have IntLawGrrls in mind: We've signed all our posts about her.

On February 10

On this day in ...
... 2005, African National Congress member and activist Sophia Williams-De Bruyn was appointed the deputy speaker of the legislature of Gauteng, South Africa's 2d most populous province, home to the country's capital, Johannesburg. (photo credit) Born in 1938, Williams-De Bruyn entered a textile factory as a young girl, and soon became a labor activist; eventually she would help to found South Africa's Congress of Trade Unions. In 1955, she was appointed full-time organizer of the Coloured People's Congress. The following year Williams-De Bruyn, "then barely 18," helped lead 20,000 women in a march against the apartheid government's pass laws. Today, as a legislative leader, she works for gender equality.
... 1955, the U.S. Navy evacuated the Tachen Islands off of China's coast. Using "used 132 boats and 400 aircraft," it transported "14,500 civilians, 10,000 Nationalist troops and 4,000 guerrillas, along with 40,000 tons of military equipment and supplies," to what the BBC called "the anti-Communist, Nationalist power-base of Formosa (now called Taiwan)." The evacuation began a day a day after the U.S. Senate approved the Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of China and a day before President Harry S. Truman ratified the document, which did not entered into force until March 3. The Tachens soon were seized by Communist troops; Nationalists remain on Taiwan (left) to this day.

On January 6

On this day in ...
... 1950, Britain announced that it would extend official recognition to the People's Republic of China -- in the words of the New York Times, to "the Chinese Communist regime of Mao Tze-tung." The Republic of China -- the Nationalist regime in exile on the island then called Formosa, and now, Taiwan -- objected, and the United States remained silent.
... 1919 (90 years ago today), in Berlin, Germany, a Revolutionary Committee, "the representative of the revolutionary socialist workers and soldiers," adjudged the government in power to have "rendered itself impossible," and thus declared it "deposed." This Spartacist Manifesto called upon "Comrades" and "Workers" to support a general strike. The uprising would last for a week; soon after its leaders, among them Rosa Luxemburg (right), would be arrested and killed.

On October 25

On this day in ...
... 1971, the Republic of China (flag at left), a charter member of the United Nations which once had controlled the mainland but had been confined to the island of Taiwan since 1949, was stripped of membership in the U.N. General Assembly. The so-called "China seat" -- including permanent membership in the U.N. Security Council -- would be given to the People's Republic of China (flag at right).

... 1892, a girl named Helen Foster-Barham was born in Victoria, British Columbia. Under the stage name of Nell Shipman (left), she would become "one of the first women in the world to direct her own films and establish her own production company." The Canadian-born "silent film pioneer" died in California in 1970. (photo credit)

Taiwan's New President

The Man of the Moment is Ma Ying-jeou (left), the newly elected president of Taiwan. One of the central issues in the Taiwanese presidential election was the question of China. An NYU and Harvard-educated lawyer, Ma rejects calls for Taiwanese independence. Instead, he advocates greater rapprochement with the mainland, and he has “offered a mechanism and some thoughts on a formula for achieving a peace agreement” with China. One aspect of that rapprochement is for the two countries to establish greater trade and economic ties. Taiwan’s economy is sluggish at the moment, and President Chen Shui-bian's anti-China rhetoric held little sway with the cash-strapped Taiwanese. Can trade lead to a lasting peace between Taiwan and China?

On this day

On March 5, ...
... 1898 (110 years ago today), Soong Mei-ling was born in Shanghai, China, to Chinese parents who were devout Christians. Her father, a Methodist minister, had spent 15 years in the United States before her birth; she herself moved there at age 10, earning a degree from Wellesley College in 1917. She then returned to China, where she met Chiang Kai-shek, "a severe-looking military aide." Not long after the 2 met, divorced his 1st wife and married Soong. Chiang would become President of China and then, along with his wife and their Kuomintang allies, flee the Communists to Taiwan. Fluent in English (her husband was not), Madame Chiang visited the United States often; she's pictured above with U.S. 1st Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943. Madame Chiang became, in the words of The New York Times, "a dazzling and imperious politician," "a pivotal figure in one of the 20th century's great epics -- the struggle for control of post-imperial China waged between the Nationalists and the Communists during the Japanese invasion and the violent aftermath of World War II." She died in 2003 at age 105.
... 2003 (5 years ago today), referring to U.S. President George W. Bush, Texas native Dixie Chick Natalie Maines said that she "'ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas" before a concert audience in London. The remark touched off a U.S. boycott of the band's music; a week later, Maines (left) commented, "I feel the President is ignoring the opinions of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world."

On December 2, ...

... 2007 (today), is marked the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. It was chosen to commemorate the adoption, on this day in 1949, by U.S. General Assembly resolution 317 (IV), of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. That Convention entered into force in July 1951.
... 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that the United States had formally pledged to protect the security of the Republic of China (flag at right), led by Chiang Kai-Shek, who had fled to the islands of Formosa (also known as Taiwan) and Pescadores when Communists led by Mao Tse-Tung had taken over the mainland in 1949.
...1952 (55 years ago today), U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) was born in New York City.

Indigenous Peoples Declaration

By an overwhelming margin, the U.N. General Assembly's voted to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The 1st article of the Declaration, which was "twenty years in the making," provides:

Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law.

The 45 articles that follow elaborate, setting forth explicit rights to, for example: self-determination, financial and technical assistance, land use, conservation and environmental protection, and enforcement of treaties.

In favor were 143 states, with 4 in opposition and 11 abstaining. Against the nonbinding instrument? Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, each of which has significant indigenous populations. According to a U.N. release, here're their reasons for opposition:

Australia: Asserting that self-determination ought to apply only in narrow, often colonialist situations, it "supported and encouraged the full engagement of indigenous peoples in the democratic decision-making process, but did not support a concept that could be construed as encouraging action that would impair, even in part, the territorial and political integrity of a State with a system of democratic representative Government."

Canada: "[P]rovisions in the Declaration on lands, territories and resources were overly broad, unclear, and capable of a wide variety of interpretations, discounting the need to recognize a range of rights over land and possibly putting into question matters that have been settled by treaty."

United States: Stating that in mid-2006 the Declaration had passed by a "splintered vote" of the Human Rights Council [the vote was 30 votes to 2, with 12 abstentions -- ed.], expressed concern regarding the risk of "'endless conflicting interpretations and debate about its application, as already evidenced by the numerous complex interpretive statements issued by States...'"

A day after the General Assembly vote, New Zealand said it had opposed the Declaration on the ground that it "disadvantages non-indigenous people and conflicts with the country's laws."

In a twist, the Taipei Times, a newspaper in the capital city of non-U.N.-member Taiwan, praised the Declaration as giving to "[l]ocal Aboriginal activists ... new, concrete benchmarks against which they can judge and, as is often necessary, embarrass the government." The paper concluded, "The scene is set, then, for a test of how committed Taiwanese officials, politicians and members of the public really are to a subset of UN principles that are genuinely honorable."

The same might be said for officials elsewhere in the world.

The Olympics card

The approach of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is giving China increased international attention -- some of which Chinese leaders no doubt would be happy to do without.
With Mia Farrow in the lead, some celebrities advocate boycotting what they've begun to call the "Genocide Olympics" unless China urges Sudan, its trading partner, to stop the violence in Darfur and let U.N. peacekeepers in. When Steven Spielberg, artistic director for the '08 games, expressed concern, China appointed a special envoy to the region.

Members of Congress have joined in, proposing resolutions to pressure China on Darfur. "'With the Olympics coming, China is now in the international spotlight," U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) noted, then declared that it's time for "'China, finally, to join the world community and acknowledge that genocide is taking place.'"

China's new Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, lashed back: "'There is a handful of people who are trying to politicize the Olympic Games. This is against the spirit of the Games. It also runs counter to the aspirations of all the people in the world, and so their aims will never be achieved.'"

Yang thus endeavored to disregard decades of politicization of the Olympics. The 1992 Barcelona games were the 1st in modern history that no country boycotted for some political reason. Among the political disputes that has played out in Olympic arenas -- and continues to do so -- is China's chronic tiff with Taiwan.

Still, Yang's response to Darfur-related pressure counsels care in playing the Olympics card. Is a boycott in fact possible, and if not, is threatening it a good idea? The complexity of China's relationship to Sudan and Darfur -- and to the rest of the world -- was evident yesterday: U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, on "The News Hour" to promote the U.S. increase in sanctions against Sudan, took pains to state that although Chinese leaders do not support sanctions, "they appreciate the importance of this situation and they, along with us, have worked hard to impress upon the government of Sudan the importance of Sudan accommodating the wishes and demands of the international community in regard to Darfur."
In any event, is Darfur the best reason to play the card? Surely it is not the only one. Last month Amnesty International asked the International Olympic Committee to pressure China on account of repression within China itself -- a concern that's particularly noteworthy today, just 5 days short of the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen killings. Of additional concern ought to be China's newfound penchant for giving foreign aid with no human rights strings attached. To the extent that it displaces the tradition of conditional aid, China's new policy of unfettered assistance promises to undermine a key means by which donor states from regions like North America and the European Union have prodded beneficiary states to treat their children -- and their women and men -- well.