Xi woos Taiwan opposition ahead of pivotal presidential vote Vibrant Mindanao culture at the CCP Pasinaya

Chinese leader Xi Jinping appears to be recalibrating his hardline approach to Taiwan in the year before the island holds a presidential election that his government’s preferred negotiating partner has a shot at winning.

Kuomintang Vice Chairman

Andrew Hsia is expected to visit China on Wednesday, the latest in a series of friendly gestures between the one-time foes in the Chinese Civil War. Hsia is expected to visit several Chinese cities over nine days including the capital, where he’s likely to meet Song Tao, a former top Communist Party diplomat who now oversees affairs across the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing has also signaled it intends to resume imports from more than 60 Taiwanese food companies that were among exporters it barred last year. That move pulls back on an unofficial punishment China has used to show displeasure with President Tsai Ing-wen for activities such as fostering ties with the US.

“Now as Taiwan’s presidential campaign is about to start, it’s a good time for Beijing to lessen its sanctions against Taiwan because if it doesn’t, sanctions are going to be a major liability for Beijingfriendly politicians in Taiwan,” said Wen-ti Sung, a specialist on Taiwanese politics and cross-strait relations at Australian National University. “That’s what we’re seeing now.”

While it’s too early to say the extent of the shift, the strategy coincides with China adopting a more conciliatory tone in its dealings with the US and its allies since Xi and President Joe Biden met in Indonesia in November. The fencemending is aimed at addressing a collapse in public support across the developed world and refocusing on an economy that has been battered by three years of strict Covid Zero rules.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been scheduled to visit Beijing to start this week, in the first such trip by a top US diplomat in more than four years. Blinken postponed those plans due to an uproar over a Chinese balloon that the US says was spying on the country. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao also met with his Australian counterpart Don Farrell on Monday.

When asked whether China is adjusting its approach to the island, Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian said Wednesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing that her nation’s “policy on Taiwan is consistent and clear and won’t change based on Taiwan’s political situation.”

In a further sign of China’s apparent softer tone on Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army command in the east—the military unit that would spearhead any invasion—released a video over the weekend intended to mark a Chinese holiday with the people of Taiwan.

It spoke warmly about the PLA protecting the well-being of the Chinese people over the long term and the good life of “the family” on both sides of the strait.

Yet, it mixed images of fireworks and relatives hugging with fighter jets and short-range ballistic missiles, a reminder of the weapons China fired over the island in response to then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit in August.

A possible visit by Pelosi’s Republican successor, Kevin McCarthy, may show how much China has calibrated in its approach. McCarthy may visit the island either later this year or next year, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul said Tuesday. McCaul, a Texas Republican, said he would lead a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan this spring.

While it’s too early to say the extent of the shift, the strategy coincides with China adopting a more conciliatory tone in its dealings with the US and its allies since Xi and President Joe Biden met in Indonesia in November. The fence-mending is aimed at addressing a collapse in public support across the developed world and refocusing on an economy that has been battered by three years of strict Covid Zero rules.

The presidential election that Taiwan has scheduled for January 2024 is one reason for Beijing to adjust its game plan toward securing control over the democratically run island. Tsai is unable to run again due to term limits, opening up the field to new candidates including Vice President William Lai, a top challenger to be the DPP’s candidate.

Lai once described himself as a “political worker for Taiwanese independence.” That type of rhetoric angers Beijing, whose officials often lash out at the DPP for its “collusion” with the US, Taiwan’s main military supporter.

New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yuih and Foxconn Technology Group founder Terry Gou are the KMT’s current front-runners, according to a poll last month by TVBS, a major Taiwanese broadcaster.

The KMT’s strong showing in local elections in November opened the door to it possibly claiming its first presidential election victory in a decade. Its efforts to win over voters would be aided by China overhauling its image in Taiwan, which in recent years has been marked by threats to invade, elevated economic and political pressure on Tsai’s government, and a crackdown on democracy protests in Hong Kong.

More than 78 percent of the public said they felt China held an unfriendly attitude toward Taiwan’s government, according to a survey that the Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei released in October. Some 61 percent said Beijing was unfriendly to the Taiwanese people.

Despite having lost to Mao Zedong’s Communists in the civil war in the first half of the 20th century, the KMT is Beijing’s preferred negotiating partner in Taiwan because they both share the notion that the island is a part of China.

That preference was on display in August last year, when the KMT’s Hsia visited China amid lingering tensions over Pelosi’s visit. Hsia shrugged off criticism of the trip from Tsai and some in the KMT to lead a delegation that focused on business-related issues.

Under Tsai’s KMT predecessor, former President Ma Ying-jeou, Taipei and Beijing eased decadesold restrictions on tourism and investment.

“Engaging in dialogue with the KMT allows Beijing to say that cross-strait dialogue is taking place even as it eschews dialogue with the Tsai administration,” said Amanda Hsiao, senior analyst at Crisis Group, a Brussels-based policy research organization.

“It also allows the KMT to present itself to Taiwanese voters as the party capable of delivering dialogue—and therefore a more stable relationship—with Beijing, which appeals to segments of the Taiwanese population.” With assistance from Argin Chang and Betty Hou

Dennis gorecho

Kuwentong peyups

The Pasinaya Open house Festival of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is still an effective platform in showcasing various cultures in the Philippines that have been made more beautiful and vibrant because of folk dances and music.

The colorful Mindanao culture again took center stage through dances like Pangalay and Kadal Tahu.

Commonly referred to as the fingernail dance, the Pangalay is a dance traditionally performed by the Tausug people during weddings and other festive celebrations.

It is characterized by hand movements that resemble the movement of ocean waves, enhanced by long, metal fingernails (janggay) worn by the dancers.

Dancers must have dexterity and flexibility of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists as the dance is performed to the music of the kulintangan, gandang, agong and gabang.

The hands are flexed at the wrists and fingers hyperflexed backward. The body is bent slightly at the hips and the knees and, viewed laterally, resembles the shape of the letter “S.”

Two men carry two bamboo poles on their shoulders with a solo female dancer keeping her balance on top of the two bamboo poles.

One amazing part of the show by the Tambuli Dance Troupe of Tawi Tawi was when the main female dancer gradually transferred from two horizontal bamboo poles to one arts and cultural presentations offered by CCP. pole that is in a vertical position.

Tagum City’s Kuntaw Mindanao is a group of music artists known for popularizing indigenous music through its songs that fuses the indigenous sounds with various musical genres. Through their music, the group hopes to share their advocacy of promoting awareness and protection of the indigenous peoples’ rights and culture, as well as environmental protection.

Since 2004, Pasinaya also aims to provide a platform for artists and cultural groups from different fields such as music, theater, dance, spoken word, and visual arts. It seeks to showcase talents while nurturing the broadest public and creating new audiences through interactions and performances.

With dancers wearing Malong and salakut (hat), the T’boli tribal dance Kadal Tahu mimics the hopping and flying behavior of the Tahaw bird to welcome a bountiful harvest during harvesting season.

Tagum City’s Kuntaw Mindanao is a group of music artists known for popularizing indigenous music through its songs that fuses the indigenous sounds with various musical genres. Through their music, the group hopes to share their advocacy of promoting awareness and protection of the indigenous peoples’ rights and culture, as well as environmental protection.

The Pangalay and Kadal Tahu movements were also incorporated in the choreography of the musical play Anak Datu, whose excerpts were shown during the People’s Gala. It follows the historic lives and struggles of the Tausugs based on a short story for children by National Artist for Visual Arts Abdulmari Imao in 1968 in anticipation of the birth of his first son, Abdulmari Jr. (Toym) Imao.

It is a story about the son of a village chieftain in Muslim Mindanao during pre-colonial Philippines. Be- fore the son was born, their village was raided by pirates. His mother gives birth under captivity. He grew up with the knowledge that his father was a former pirate from the land of the Tausug. When the old man dies, only then did the son learn of the truth about his real father.

The play is a collaboration of Chris Millado and Rody Vera that expands its narrative to two other timelines: the socio-political milieu of the Imao family; and the formation of the Muslim resistance in Mindanao, intertwined with incidents such as the Jabidah and Palimbang massacres.

The play is peppered with Toym’s artworks that showed the Japanese cartoon “Voltes V,” which is inseparable from the discussion on Martial Law and the Marcos regime.

In 1979, shortly before the series finale, Marcos issued a directive banning Voltes V and other similarly themed anime series due to concerns about “excessive violence.”

The directive also led to speculations at the time that the series was also taken off the air due to its revolutionary undertones.

“Pasinaya” means an inauguration or a grand opening of the many

With the “experience-all-you-can, pay-what-you-can” scheme, the largest multi-arts festival in the country once again filled various venues of CCP such as the Front Lawn, Liwasang Kalikasan, Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez and its surroundings, and the parade ground of Vicente Sotto Street.

The theaters inside the CCP were not used due to the closing of the iconic 53-year-old main building in January for a three-year renovation project.

This year’s theme is “Piglas Sining,” which CCP Artistic Director Dennis Marasigan explained: “We are breaking away from the notion that the CCP is just the building. We are emphasizing that CCP can be anywhere.”

Pasinaya returned onsite on February 3 to 5, 2023 after being cancelled as a face-to-face gathering for three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At least 3,000 artists participated in the 75 performances of 89 groups from Baguio to Tawi-tawi with an audience of more than 21,000.

Peyups is the moniker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@ sapalovelez.com, or call 0917-5025808 or 09088665786.