We have all heard about the China-Taiwan conflict. Taiwan wants independence, China wants to hold on to what they think is rightfully theirs, tempers flare and debates suddenly turn into childish screaming and yelling.  I have heard bits and pieces about the conflict but never really took the chance to learn more. Through a panel of three professors, Peter Perdue, Ann-Ping Chin and Pierre Landry, here is what I’ve learned:

1.       So it turns out that China and Taiwan share the same fundamental principles? I guess that’s not surprising. The two alternate between civil war and a united front depending on if they had a common enemy. As the saying goes, an enemy’s enemy is a friend.

2.       Taiwan and China entered into an economic cooperation agreement recently, which has improved relations? Taiwan has been in a tight spot due to their economic downturn in the last 10 years and working with China is necessary to revive their economy. The protectionist policies of Taiwan in the previous regime have only caused hardships. The Taiwanese economy may be doing better but some fear that economic integration with China will eventually lead to political integration, something the Taiwanese people do not want.

3.       What is the People’s Republic of China (PRC) thinking? Through economic gains they want to lure the Taiwanese into embracing the motherland but in fact, economic ties alone will probably not be enough. Additionally, the PRC thinks that cultural exchange will only improve ties but who says the Taiwanese can’t go to China and hate it even more. Lastly, China needs to recognize that Taiwan is a democracy so they can’t only ally themselves with one party and assume they represent the whole of Taiwan.

4.       What can happen? It’s hard to say. Though an outbreak of violence does not seem likely now the situation is fragile and military conflicts often arise due to small and insignificant incidents that escalate. A regime change, a reckless Taibei government, the collapse of China economically, a preemptive strike by the PRC or even just a freak accident can cause a change of events.

5.       How will a military conflict affect the US? Depending on how involved the US is with the conflict we may or may not get involved. Though the US stance has generally been to support Taiwan, how many are actually willing to risk their lives for the Taiwanese?

In the end, though we learn a lot from history and can try to prevent violence from recurring, but the turn of events is always unpredictable. No one can really predict what will happen, only possibilities.

-Karmen Cheung

Turnover is just another word for retirement. At this time, those who held positions of power merely get too old to continue. Some of us (when I say us I really mean them, the outgroup) grow copious amounts of white hair and begin to walk in strange manners, start talking about life after college (Wah?), and how to celebrate their birthdays in style (yes, fashionably late, among other things… is a style). That is no different for our turnover.

I’ll just keep this short since the other one took me about an hour of my precious life and write about the important things. I mean do you really want to hear about the dishes that we had? Yea, meat and veggies like any other meal. However, included with this meal was an epic fire-breathing battle of the arch nemesis groups of TAS and CASA. They had the guts to try to show up at our changeover and challenge us to a pepper eating contest. It was game time. No time to back down. We obviously won. Certainly, even by a technicality that one of their competing members wasn’t even Taiwanese. Them wannabes.

Our video attempt was an epic fail. We couldn’t hear a single thing and of what we could hear, it sounded like Darth Vader inhaling. (cue Star Wars music) So onto the actual changeover. There were hugs to be shared, gifts to be given (something like ancestors’ pots and pans, family recipes, and a list of all your positions’ past members, their GPAs and salaries… intimidation always makes you work hard). Of the gifts I actually remember, Tony got a book called “how to make friends”, which to my disbelief, he did not have already. All this time, I thought his moves corresponded exactly with such a book (he probably has “friends for dummies”). Mike got some junky files and a list of pickup lines, which may be used within the next two weeks at speed dating. Frank inherited a bunch of credit card debt, receipts, and the dashingly awkward look characteristic of Mike (Figures. Forgetful treasurers who cannot divide stay together). Jasmine got some Asian fan to do that weird Asian girl thing where they giggle and hide behind the fan. I don’t get it, but that’s probably what she’s doing right now. And Juliana got Drulalalalalalank, probably not. I didn’t get anything because what else could I need with these dashing looks and infallible charm? JK… only partially.

Oh yea. And it was cold that day. Very cold. Jasmine probably lost a toe or two, no wonder she walks funny now…

-Tim Wang

Mood music:

The train ride was marginal at best. We talked about stuff that really didn’t matter so I will not waste your time typing it our here. Probably something about New Jersey being the ugly cousin to New York, or something useless like that. Whatever, beside the point. But you know the feeling with someone for a long time cramped like crazy cause your legs fit like puzzle pieces cause you’re sitting right across from them? Yea. That’s what it was like for an hour and a half. Now, THAT is bonding.

Now, we get off the train and begin meandering around the city, looking for a restaurant, somewhere famous apparently called, Carmine’s? Italian. Yes, Italian like the Guidos from Jersey Shore. Well, you know when you’re from out of state when you walk through the city looking all the way up like there’s money falling from the sky. I could feel my neck elongate as I stared at this cool architecture. Of course, the guy from Oklahoma has never seen anything higher than wheat so this was probably extra special. Anyways. Lunch was good, but the bread was cold though. I guess we didn’t mind cause we were all famished.

We got our Pinkberry! YES! And that obligatory picture, which will be updated soon. DEFAULT.

Walking walking walking. OO something I have to add. The subways in New York are really expensive! $8.50 for a day?!? WHAT?!? That’s like a Chipotle Burrito(even in New York!) and like 8 McChickens! So it was a difficult decision between pulling cash or using a credit card (that would get paid by my parents). I chose plastic.

You all have seen those Asian tour groups in which there’s some late 40s Asian lady wearing bright yellow and speaking on a loud-speaker, something along the lines of “ This, McDonalds.” And everyone would oo and ah. Our tour guides were not so informational. I think a mouse could run a maze faster than they could find the nearest subway station. And the funny thing is, they’re from New York City. I now see why they’re the 51^st happiest state in the US. CAUSE THEY’RE SPENDING ALL THAT EXTRA MONEY ON CABS CAUSE THEY’RE GETTING LOST ALL THE TIME! New Yorkers: Pish Posh.

So after lunch, we went ice skating. We were all prepared for the worst because only one of us had previous training on this slippery surface. We were all like new born giraffes as we stumbled around (some more than others) except for this particular individual, who taunted us with his every move. Backwards and forwards he went. Round and round and round. But those kinds of people are boring. So there’s another individual in the group who didn’t pick up on it so quickly. Of course, me being my nice self decided to give her some words of encouragement. But instead of contributing to her improvement, my words startled her and she fell. I take this time now to apologize. But it’s too late to apologizeeeee, it’s too lateeeeee. Ice skating was fun, and tiring. And for the rest of the day, we hobbled like we had a wooden leg.

So en route to our next destination, we pass some tables and chairs lying on the side of the road. So of course we decide it was a good idea to hold our first meeting there. Under the bridge, in 40 degree weather. It wasn’t actually a meeting ( we played mafia, in which I was the cop and I was killed because, apparently, they like to kill people with the same name). Oh, and I guess it was raining so it wasn’t THAT random of an idea. On a side note, rain in a big city is no good. The stairway to the subway stations become all muddy and nasty and it’s just not a pretty situation.

Then, we went to KTV or for those non-Asian fold reading this, Karaoke. This part showed a lot about everybody. Music choice is often a good sign. If they choose songs like “I’m on a Boat”, then we know that they really can’t sing and that they are just trying to cover up, as was the case. Of course, in every group of Asians, there is someone who can actually sing and sound good. As much as I want to claim that title, it doesn’t below to me, but rather to my colleague with a lovely voice. Of course, she had some qualms about the song choice of the person who couldn’t sing and was like “WHAT?!?” Some of the lyrics in that song are questionable as well. Mermaids are nice. So we bonded as we sang the last song in unison, which was some now popular song that I can’t remember, probably had something to do with wintry tomatoes.

When the night was over, and we were waiting for the metro to take us back to grand central, we opened up our wallets and realized that we were probably the poorest people standing at the station. Zero dollars was in my wallet. That is ZERO chipotle burritos, ZERO McChickens, and LOTS of hours of work to make it all back. But I was content, as I hope were my fellow board members, because it was a great trip, full of fun and mirth and great people and better laughs. I will remember this trip for the rest of my life and some of the people on board will probably become my closest friends here at school.

Just to reward those who read this in its entirety.

I have learned a moral from this trip, a moral already realized by someone of fame: “New York is a Luxury Product” and definitely NOT like Wal-Mart.

With the new semester in the new year comes a new CASA Board. On this page you can see the names and positions of the ten members of the new board. Each of them brings a distinct personality and voice, and I’m excited to see what we can do together.

Our most general ambition is to bring you, the Yale population, more events. That is, after all, our role. Our popular events (Noodle Night, Cultural Show, CASPY) will obviously be back, but we’ll be working on new events, or continuing on recently novel events. The chocolate strawberry fundraiser, for example, will be back. But I’m most excited about the new events, some already thought of, some still only an idea away from happening.

This website is a place for you to get a quick snapshot of what’s coming up in CASA, as well as a place to review past events. Special thanks to Wordpress, Flickr, and Google for making it all work. A lot of work went into making this website happen, and we hope it excites the Class of 2014 and subsequent classes as they gain their first glimpses into CASA.

I’m looking forward to a great 2010, and I look forward to seeing all of you at our events this year!

Tim Xu
President