Rye at Ni Howdy talks up the Edward Curtis Indian photo exhibition. Craig offers great images of Angkor Wat. And Jiji too. Pinyin news blogs on an article suggesting Mandarin students write characters using software. Meanwhile Talking Taiwanese talks about reading it. And A-gu has a post on a teacher who teaches in Taiwanese. ROC the Boat with an excellent summary of the recent US-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement Roundtable in DC. Josambro, who did the Lonely Planet Guide for The Beautiful Isle, was interviewed on Rick Monday's show. bent on Taiwan's uber-powerful compter industry. Kerim has a great post on how Kevin Rudd might be good for Taiwan.
MEDIA: China's state media say it is the Yankee imperialist's fault that the Kitty Hawk got dicked around on Thanksgiving. A government survey says Taiwanese would choose independence over annexation to China, if those are the only choices, and adds:
Contact between the countries has "carried the public farther and farther
away from China instead of closer," You said.
When asked about their impression of China, 55 percent of respondents said they had a negative impression, while 33 percent said their impression of the country was positive.
When asked about their impression of the Chinese Communist Party, 70 percent had a negative impression and 17 percent a good one.
And the Sports Affairs Council released its book on the 50 greatest cycling routes on the island...
3 comments:
On the Kitty Hawk thing, am I reading this right?
1) China denies entry to minesweepers seeking refuge from a storm.
2) In a separate incident a few days later, China denies entry to the Kitty Hawk after a lot of planning beforehand, then allows it under a dumb excuse after the ship has turned away.
3) A Chinese official calls the whole thing a misunderstanding, even though there were two denials on two occasions, so that would make two misunderstandings in a row (how unlikely).
4) China comes back and says that there was no misunderstanding and it is the fault of the US because of the decision to upgrade Taiwan's patriot missile batteries. This constitutes, as the Chinese say, irrational thinking by Washington which justifies the "yes you can enter HK, no you can't, yes you can." And it fails to account for the distress of the minesweepers.
And I am left wondering, what the hell is the Chinese government thinking? And what impression is this supposed to give to policy makers in Washington? And how can anyone in Washington really argue with a straight face that the Chinese can be counted on to be responsible stakeholders in resolving the Taiwan issue?
Am I the only one who is so dumbfounded by this? It is as if a company made a PR disaster, then denied they ever made a disaster, then followed it up by claiming that the disaster was the fault of the consumer. And then they expected to be taken seriously.
Yup. But you can't talk like that Thomas -- "China is changing" and "you're demonizing China" and "You don't really understand China".
Michael
No, I don't think I ever will (Thomas sheds a silent and brief tear, then gets on with life).
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