The best party is but a kind of conspiracy against the rest of the nation.-- Lord HalifaxThe secret meeting between Raymond Burghardt, Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), our officially unofficial representative body here in Taiwan, and Vincent Siew, the Vice Presidential candidate for the KMT, the officially unofficial pro-China party in Taiwan, was splashed all over the media this week, to much merriment on the part of observers here. The Taipei Times offered this account this morning....
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday dismissed media speculation that the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) had pressured the KMT to identify who leaked the minutes of a secret meeting.I suppose you'd have to be living on a moon of Jupiter to not realize by now that the US favored the KMT. The minutes were reproduced in several news stories, but TVBS provided three juicy ones in its report that ESWN translated:
"I have not received any such information. I also have no comment," Ma said in Ilan when approached by reporters about the meeting between his running mate, Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), and AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt earlier this month.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily, which published what it said were minutes from the meeting, reported yesterday that AIT was upset by the leak and urged the KMT to probe the incident.
The private meeting between Siew and Burghardt was not disclosed until Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Sandy Yen (莊和子) on Friday informed Chinese-language newspapers including the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) and the United Daily News.
Burghardt arrived in Taipei on Dec. 8 for a four-day visit. During his stay, in addition to meeting President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Burghardt met publicly with Ma and Ma's DPP counterpart, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), and expressed concern over the DPP-initiated UN referendum.
Yen said Siew and Burghardt met for one hour on Dec. 8.
The minutes, which have not been confirmed as authentic by either AIT or the KMT, seemed to suggest the US favored the KMT.
When AIT chairman Raymond Burghardt came to visit recently, he met with KMT vice-president candidate Vincent Siew. During the meeting, Siew spoke about three foul plays by the DPP. Foul play #1: President Chen does not like his party's candidate Frank Hsieh, and so Hsieh will be assassinated in order to make way for Su Cheng-tseng to become the candidate. Foul play #2: On the 228 march or the 314 anti-Chinese-anti-splittism-law march, riots will occur that lead to imposition of emergency laws that will postpone the election. Foul play #3: Assassinate the KMT candidate.
The Taipei Times continued:
The alleged minutes said Burghardt had asked Siew about rumors that Chen could resort to destabilizing tactics in order to ensure victory for his party in the upcoming elections.
The minutes said that Siew, in response, said the KMT was concerned the DPP might stage a disturbance ahead of the presidential election to create a situation that would justify declaring martial law.
Burghardt also inquired whether the KMT presidential campaign office maintained secret channels of communication with Chinese authorities, to which Siew replied no, the minutes said.
The minutes also said that Burghardt asked about the long-stalled arms budgets, including funds to purchase PAC-3 missiles.
Burghardt allegedly expressed concern that if the KMT wins the presidency and advisers to Ma are against arms procurement, this could hinder US arms sales to Taiwan.
Siew said he would ask Ma to pay particular attention to Burghardt's concerns.
Siew confirmed that a meeting occurred, but denied that it offered UFO conspiracies to Burghardt -- the KMT simultaneously refused to confirm or deny anything that was said, but demanded to know who had leaked the minutes. The rest of the meeting seems pretty natural for an AIT-KMT shindig. The only reason that the news reports on the conspiracy claims shouldn't be dismissed out of hand is the KMT's penchant for such talk. Although I admit that positing Chen Shui-bian would have Frank Hsieh assassinated is a bit over the top, even for the KMT....I would pay money to have seen the look on Burghardt's face when Siew said that -- if he really did.
As if on cue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs delivered a report to the Legislature that claimed that US Taiwan ties aren't really so bad...
Taiwan's upcoming legislative and presidential elections and the referendums to be held alongside them are not affecting the country's bilateral ties with the United States, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Tzu-pao said Monday.
Yang said while delivering a report at the Legislative Yuan Foreign Affairs Committee that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has repeatedly stressed to the U.S. government that the referendum on Taiwan's bid to enter the United Nations as a full member under the name Taiwan will not alter the political status quo across the Taiwan Strait and is by no means a move toward Taiwan independence as Beijing has claimed.
It's funny, because everyone inside the US government keeps saying that ties between the two sides are at an absolute nadir. Ah well, you say tomato, I say fan chieh.....
[Taiwan] [KMT] [DPP] [media]
“Yen also said Siew had told the AIT chairman that the KMT insisted on adopting two-step voting in the elections because it wanted to hinder the DPP's UN referendum.”
ReplyDeleteI don’t know about you fellow Taiwaners, but my mojitos-induced tunnel vision focused on the excerpt above only. It stood out amidst the KMT-spewed drivel that surrounds it. I assume any Taiwaner worth is salt will feel as partial to this tidbit as I do. And take heart from it.
While the origin of the leak remains blurred, one can entertain the notion that may be, just may be, the leak originates from Burghardt himself or anybody at AIT with his/her heart in the right place. Were the assumption proven correct, it would represent a most Chinese-like kind of back-stabbing.
Anybody remembering Ma’s gaffe when he confessed to a US broadcaster the KMT wisdom that "Americans were a gullible breed." And boy, do they know, those KMT types. Well, big-mouthed Siew has earned is US passport. Revenge is best relished cold. This will be my parting shot.
My heart-felt gratitude to Michael for another year-long of his daily dishing out Formosan horrors. Michael, I’ll forget that you withheld from me details of the last Shannon Meet up.
I had written to Jerome The Elder that, ““Yes, I am looking forward to reading Michael Turton's report of today's Shannon meet up with Steven Yates. I am curious to learn what was said at the table there.”
It’s fortunate I did not send this mail on that Sunday as first intended, or I could have sworn that he had “leaked” it out.
To all, be mindful that with 2008 the buffalo rises from the bog. Gongxi Xinnien. Taiwan banzai.
Rats! '08, year of the rat. My apology. Just got corrected by who else but Jerome-the-Elder.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Jerome, fantastic comments. I doubt AIT leaked anything (to UDN?). I suspect the leak was directly to UDN and then UDN arranged for Yen to take the blame. I bet they were leaked by someone who actually believed the allegations and wanted them out in public. I also think they've been massively embellished.
ReplyDeleteDrop me an email, I just didn't want anything in the Yates summary that might embarrass him.
Michael
Thanks, Michael. But no thank you. I am too mindful of all you already have on your plate without adding to your burden. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI just got corrected. Next year is the year of the rat. That'll leave the buffalo a whole twelve months to summon the will to rise up.
That bodes for murky troubled waters around the Taiwanese buffalo in 2008.