I have no time tonight to comment. The panda media offensive continues as Taiwan nears a decision on April 3. Evidently Beijing has stimulated a new round of media interest in the issue, in an effort to paint Taiwan as churlish and childish and put pressure on the Taiwan government. This article from Newsweek is the latest outgrowth of this campaign. The article gets quite a bit right, actually, correctly understanding the hidden sovereignty issues involved here, although it doesn't get into the conservation issues, nor mention the cost problem, except by indirectly noting the vast investments required for local zoos (the size of the investment seems to indicate that Someone already knows what the outcome will be). China has been successful in suppressing those in articles in the US media, and has done a good job controlling the presentation. Note how the last paragraph ends not on a discussion of the animals' endangered habitat, but on a discussion of the success of the center in China in caring for the pandas. Positive press for China -- I also like the way they got the Chinese pandakeepers to piously intone that this has nothing to do with politics.[Taiwan] [China] [pandas]
Did this make it to the American print version?
ReplyDeleteNo clue. Haven't seen the print version.
ReplyDelete'Panda trojan' illustration from article in Next magazine last year.
ReplyDeletehttp://static.flickr.com/44/119105604_e4dbb0bec2_b.jpg
or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/naruwan/
if the link does not work.
stop-george,
ReplyDelete"Chen's hardline apporoach has increased since those elections?" is everyone's nightmare - starting a war because he has nothing to lose and is desperate for attention.
Is it so bad that the "KMT and China are now (supposedly) arm and arm together" in the political arena? Like it or not, Taiwan and China are arm in arm in economics and culture. Denying the relationship is irresponsible, as is fomenting unnecessary conflict.