Transcript of Ma at the Council on Foreign Relations

This link to Ma's conversation at the CFR was passed on to me by Jerome Keating. The topic is largely about Taiwan's sovereignty. The interviewer, Jerome Cohen, is a friend of Ma's and does not challenge Ma on anything, giving him the maximum opportunity to look good. The conservation is structured so that Ma gets no difficult or embarrassing questions. I don't have time to blog on this busload of bad argument, but it is sad -- and scary -- that Ma gets to talk unchallenged, for so long. They let him get away with this lie again:

You know, the U.S. approved the arms sale to Taiwan, the three types—Patriot 3—(inaudible)—and the anti-submarine aircraft P3C in April 2001. But the DPP administration did not take any action until June of 2004, more than three years later. And by the time they sent the proposal to—(inaudible)—on June the 2nd, it was only barely nine days before the recess, so no serious discussion occurred. After the Legislative Yuan members came back in September—that was an election year—they were all concerned about their own election campaigns. So again, there was no serious discussion until 2005.

Once again, the US failed to submit prices on the subs until Dec of 2002, and then the MND took another 18 months to process the purchase. Ma lies a lot.

Ma is right about one thing though:

QUESTIONER:....I noticed in one of your recent interviews you said that the Americans were somewhat naive about—

MA: No, I didn’t say naive. I said gullible. (Laughter.)

No kidding.

[Taiwan] [US] [China] [Japan] [Chen Shui-bian] [Ma Ying-jeou] [Taiwan Independence] [Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)] [US Foreign Policy]