AP strikes once more with a brilliant analysis of the Hu Jintao "peace offer."Alexander Huang, former second-in-command at the Taiwanese government agency responsible for implementing China policy, said Hu's comments were made with the full knowledge that Chen will be leaving office next May, two months after Taiwanese voters elect a new president.
"(They were) intended for the Taiwanese ... presidential candidates, who both have a more moderate approach to China than President Chen Shui-bian," he said. "The Chinese Communist Party has decided not to deal with Chen anymore, so Hu's Taiwan proposal ... is not meant to be carried out before (Chen steps down)."
Andrew Yang of Taipei's Council of Advanced Political Studies agreed.
"Hu's remarks were directed at future elected leaders in Taiwan," he said. "The call for a peace treaty, the insistence on the one-China framework, these things are not on the agenda of the current Taiwanese leadership. And that means President Chen Shui-bian."
Gosh, what deep insight! And the media wonders why blogs are so popular. Peace offer not aimed at Chen? What next? AP: "Sun rises in East, Sets in West."
For seven years China has refused to talk to Chen Shui-bian. One wonders why, at this late date, anyone would imagine that Hu's words were aimed at Chen. Or anyone in particular -- earth to AP: Hu's words were aimed at the INTERNATIONAL MEDIA. That's you, AP. Note that AP says they were aimed at the other candidates -- that would be Frank Hsieh, longtime democracy advocate with the DPP, and Ma Ying-jeou, whose party is already working closely with Beijing (will that ever appear in the international media? Naw). Hsieh will never accept Hu's demand for surrender -- AP's analysis nowhere lets the reader know that the precondition for negotiations is that Taiwan surrender itself to China, nor that Hu announced no concrete peace measures.
Ma Ying-jeou meanwhile is described as a moderate:
Ma, a former mayor of Taipei, is even more a China policy moderate than Hsieh. His party supports eventual unification with the mainland, though Ma himself wants Beijing to dismantle the estimated 1,000 missiles it has aimed at Taiwan as a precondition to any negotiations.
Observe that AP does not mention that the DPP has been calling for the removal of the Chinese missiles for years. Instead, it credits that position to Ma -- a position his party rejected only a year ago!
But just to show you how completely disconnected from reality AP is, let's look at the last paragraph of this "analysis"....
Early polls give a 10-20 point advantage to Ma, but some analysts believe Hsieh's formidable campaigning skills and razor sharp intelligence could eventually put him over the top.
If you are dumb enough to believe the opinion polls in pan-Blue papers, you are dumb enough to believe anything. If there is a 10 point separation, it is most probably in Hsieh's favor.
[Taiwan] [media] [US] [China] [Chen Shui-bian]
I would actually be interested in seeing some analysis of Blue newspaper polls. In general, I have read nothing about polls coming out of Taiwan in months. This is undoubtedly because my Chinese reading skills are not good enough yet to quickly peruse a paper, especially one that espouses positions that I think poorly of.
ReplyDeleteSo does this mean that the blue Chinese-language papers have been publishing polls recently? And what are these polls really asking? No English-language papers I have read have mentioned polls for a while now. So to what polls is the AP referring?
You should go on to the talk show. This made my day:
ReplyDeleteMad Chen©
Hu's words were aimed at the INTERNATIONAL MEDIA. That's you, AP. (Maybe you should add the recently popular word --- STUPID.)
Ever wonder why AP never shows the author of the post? I think you've figured it out already...they'd get hammered by hundreds of people telling them how stupid they are. Not the first or last time I've seen AP act as the mouthpiece of propaganda.
ReplyDelete"Hsieh's formidable campaigning skills and razor sharp intelligence could eventually put him over the top."
ReplyDeleteDid AP just imply that Ma is stupid? lol...
The China made "Mad Chen" label is similar to what the right wingers are trying to do to Gore in the US. Paul Krugman wrote about this phenomenon the other day: Gore Drives right wingers insane
ReplyDelete"The headline on Krugman’s piece is entirely appropriate: “Gore Derangement Syndrome.” The whole “derangement syndrome” phenomenon stems from an increasingly common problem — when contempt for a leader strays from simple political opposition to irrational, reflexive antagonism. If so-and-so says “day,” I’ll say “night,” even if the sun is shining. It’s more important to fight the perceived opponent than to make sense."
BTW: Off topic, but amusing... As I was walking past the Taipei City Hall a couple of days ago, I notice 1000+ ROC flags flying out of every single nook and cranny on the building plus another 1000+ flying in the plaza in front of the building. It looked like Fortress KMT. Really strange to see this in contrast to the lack of flags at the double 10. (*numbers maybe slightly exaggerated, but it was definitely overkill).
First, I've been trying to Google out pan-green polls on the Taiwan elections. It's been a bit of a problem.
ReplyDeleteSecond, AP seems to be directed at the general reader, who may or may not be informed about the global situation. For such things like Iraq, you'd expect that their customers would have been inundated with information from their culture and their acquaintances, but Taiwan is such a small island.
"Hsieh will never accept Hu's demand for surrender."
ReplyDeleteLOL.
First, Hu didn't demand a "surrender."
Second, Hsieh actually accepted the offer.