Friday, October 23, 2009

Can you spot the lie?

The following letter by Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) was published today in the New York Times:

Regarding “Taiwan and China” by Philip Bowring (Views, Oct. 7): In a turnaround from the confrontational stance of the past, the government of Taiwan is pursuing negotiations with mainland China. Cross-straight relations are progressing into a new era of peaceful development that bodes well for the prosperity of people on both sides.

Most of Taiwan’s people favor the decision to bar Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled Uighur leader, from visiting Taiwan but the government has allowed her film to be shown in Taiwan. This is in accordance with the law and out of concern for Taiwan’s national security and the public interest (by protecting freedom of speech).

As for the notion that Taiwan’s government has launched a witch-hunt against members of the previous administration in the name of fighting corruption, several points require exploration. Former President Chen Shui-bian, who was suspected of involvement in several illegal acts, including corruption and money laundering, was indicted in December 2008. Since then, many of Mr. Chen’s former aides and family members that were also accused of crimes admitted to some or all of the charges against them.

I want to stress that Taiwan sees the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan as the cornerstone of peace in East Asia. Improved cross-strait relations between Taiwan and China are advantageous to all parties.

President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration is determined to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and hold to the principle of putting Taiwan first for the benefit of its people. There is no question of accepting a Hong Kong-style “one country, two systems” arrangement. We need the international community to gain a deeper and more balanced understanding of Taiwan.

4 comments:

Άλισον said...

The KMT is such a rich party, it can buy up any English mainstream media's opinion space even if NY Times does not give it any space.

If any uninformed citizens of the world would just check the recent opinion polls widely discussed on the Taiwan-related blogosphere, it will be very clear if this GIO head speaks the true opinion or not for the Taiwanese citizens in the NY Times.

What a slave working against conscience and just protecting his position!

Dixteel said...

Just my personal opinion, 蘇俊賓 is a very good liar. I blogged about it several months ago. He, like Ma, can lie "sincerely."

That is why Ma needs him in GIO, to put up some good makeups.

Spoink said...

why doesn't anyone question where the KMT got ITS money from? I'm not defending Chen Shui-Bian's actions, but the KMT are using him as a scapegoat and a smokescreen for their own illegal practices. the KMT is currently among the wealthiest political parties in the world, if not THE richest.

imo, mah's henchmen are all full of bs, just like him. Mah is known to be an avid supporter of the martial law regime imposed on Taiwan prior to 1987, being under the guidance of Chiang Ching-kuo...

Gergely Imreh said...

The scariest thing is that they have the skill to say things that almost makes sense - grammatically. If you stop and think about it for a second, even for a brief second, it is complete utter bullshit, but for the casual listener it sounds like a proper "argument" for their decision...

Many times, reading such press releases I'm on the verge of screaming: you contradict yourself a dozen times and still pretend that everything is reasonable! ....

That's the big difficulty: how do you argue based on reason, with something that does not have to obey the rules of reason? That's the last 1.5 years in Taiwan, the China relations, the trials, the interference with the media, the typhoon, the construction projects, the incompetence of KMT appointed personnel.... everything. Just blows my mind.