Shenzhen Daily gives an idea of what Chen Shui-bian can expect in prison:

FORMER Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian was formally arrested yesterday accused of money laundering. He is being held in prison awaiting trial.

According to the relevant law governing prison terms in Taiwan, life in jail for Chen is the same as other inmates.

If he is convicted, he would be escorted to the prison in a police car guarded by at least two policemen. He would then have to remove his clothes for body checks, have his fingerprints taken and change into prison garb….

Former Taiwan president Chen Shui- bian requested to be kept in solitary confinement on his first night in Taipei’s Tuchen Jail following his arrest on corruption charges.
Under Taiwanese law, Chen, 57, can be detained for up to four months, but his detention does not constitute a formal indictment.

He will be known by his assigned number, 2630.

It marks an ignominious fall for the man who incensed the mainland and roiled the United States with his contentious pro-independence policies….

“The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) launched a three-day sit-in at Jinan Road near the Legislative Yuan in downtown Taipei Monday to voice opposition to closer ties with China as its top negotiator arrived in Taiwan earlier that day.

DPP members and supporters began to gather at the venue hours before the activity formally kicked off at 7 p.m. They tied yellow ribbons reading “Taiwan Is My Country” on trees that line the street at the site. Some of them tied the ribbons on their heads or necks.

Some people carried the Republic of China national flags to satirize the Kuomintang government’s reluctance to fly the national flags at venues where China’s top point man on Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, will stay or stop over during his five-day visit.

Previously, ROC flags were seldom seen at rallies organized by the pro-Taiwan independence DPP…”

“BEIJING — Mainland China’s top negotiator on Taiwan matters arrived in Taipei on Monday, the highest ranking mainland official to visit the island since the end of the civil war in 1949.

His visit, for five days of talks aimed at reaching agreements on transportation and economic deals, signals a further warming of relations between the two governments.

The official, Chen Yunlin, the head of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, landed at the Taipei airport and went to the historic Grand Hotel, where he made a few remarks to a crowd of reporters. The talks are expected to begin on Tuesday, when Mr. Chen meets with Chiang Pin-kung, the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, the main negotiating body for Taiwan.

‘The step is not easy and is a crystallization of the joint efforts of many compatriots across the strait,’ Mr. Chen said, according to Xinhua, mainland China’s state-run news agency….”

A long video from France 24 gives background and breaking footage from today’s Taiwan negotiations.

Chen Yunlin: “The mission is very clear and very simple. It benefits people on both sides. It won’t involve political issues between the two sides, and it won’t involve political issues within Taiwan.”

Chiang Pin-kung: “The whole world is watching. This is a historic moment we have been waiting for for 16 years.”

Includes footage of pandas and protestors…

How has Taiwan reinvigorated its military cooperation with the US and still become closer to mainland China?

UNDER Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan’s president for eight years from 2000, Taiwan saw markedly worse relations with both its traditional foe, mainland China, and its staunchest ally, America. Ma Ying-jeou, installed as Mr Chen’s successor in May, has hoped to pull off the opposite trick, and improve ties with both. That may not be as impossible as it sounds.

On October 3rd the Bush administration notified Congress that it would sell the island $6.5 billion-worth of weaponry. The package includes 330 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missiles, intended to intercept missiles fired from the coast of Fujian province, opposite Taiwan, where China has stationed some 1,400. Taiwan will also buy 30 Apache Longbow attack helicopters, equipped with night-vision sensors, air-to-air missiles and Hellfire missiles; 32 Harpoon submarine-launched missiles; 182 Javelin-guided missiles with 20 launch units; upgrades to four E-2T airborne-warning and control aircraft; and various spare parts. Congress has 30 days to object to items on the list, but is not expected to. …

John Pomfret looks at a new arms deal for Taiwan:

The Bush administration’s announcement Friday that it plans to sell $6 billion in arms to Taiwan is an interesting one, and a sign that the Bush administration is trying to walk a very, very thin line between supporting Taiwan and enraging China.

For one, the package is considerably smaller than one that was being considered. Taiwan gets Apache helicopters, Patriot anti-missile missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles and spare parts for its air force, among other goodies. But what it doesn’t get is almost as significant; the original package had included 60 Black Hawk helicopters, eight diesel-electric submarines and four Patriot air defense missile batteries. But no mention is made of them on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency…

Is it a “new, gentle area” for China and Taiwan?

“Though the Communist Party in Beijing is still standing firm on its ‘One China’ policy, it has stopped provoking Taiwan with military maneuvers. Taiwan has also suspended its demonstrations for independence and seems satisfied with the status quo. China and Taiwan are both counting on their people, on winning their hearts and minds. Who knows, say the Taiwanese, perhaps people on the mainland will soon start wondering why the people of Taiwan are allowed to elect their government, while they are not?

‘Beijing has realized that Taiwan will continue to drift away if China doesn’t establish contact,’ says Lin Chong-pin, President of the Institute for International Studies. After nearly 60 years of separation, a generation has grown up in Taiwan seeing the People’s Republic of China as a foreign country. Beijing now wants to draw the 23 million Taiwanese closer to the “motherland.” The time is ripe, too: New Taiwanese President Ma Yingjeou got elected partly on a platform of wanting to improve relations with China, thus breaking with the policy course of his political predecessor. The main hope is that improved ties will translate into benefits for Taiwan’s economy.”

Travel guide Burt Wolf hears from Taiwan’s Luo Dexiu about the internal martial arts:

“A bigger circle is like one integration with everything, like your body movement, your power, your mind. And sometimes you’ll find your body rhythm becomes very peaceful and organized together. So this one can train you to become really the one, and trick out your body potential, some kind of spirit, some kind of energy… In every kind of thing, including martial arts, we always try to combine the tao… ‘Stick your hands’ is one of the Baguazhangde, a high level training way. They use the body to ring the temple, circle the temple, and to come out of your body the way the hand moves with, and train you sensitive. So two way, one use the arm, the sensitive way, in a circle, find out the opening, the weaker point, what point you can push him that he lose the balance. And another thing is that, sometimes, you have non-movement, the body movement find a balance, so hold of circle become the one. So this is the weak holder; small circle equal the bigger circle.”