Ma's former mentor at Harvard, Jerome Cohen, interviews him for an NYU publication. The questions are softball, and some of the answers will make you laugh out loud:How has the advanced legal education of the kind you got at NYU influenced you as a leader?There is no record of Ma supporting democracy until a decade after his return to the US -- he opposed the lifting of martial law, opposed the repeal of anti-dissident laws, and served the dictator and mass murderer Chiang Ching-kuo as his private secretary. This remark is pure cant.
My studies taught me about the ideas of constitutional democracy—freedom, human rights and rule of law. Those are probably the most important that have influenced me in the days since I left the United States.
One of the great things about Ma is that he is always promising what the DPP administration has already been delivered:
Back in the 1970s, when you were a student at NYU, we couldn’t get mainland people to come to the States.
And now people from Taiwan and the mainland are on university campuses everywhere. One of my campaign promises was to let [mainland] university students come to Taiwan. I would like to see more young people cross the Taiwan Strait so 20 years down the road we will see them as the leaders of their respective societies. Education is the best way to bring the two sides together.
Let Chinese university students come here? That's a DPP innovation -- in my PHD classes at NCKU we had two last year. Note Ma's thinking -- the "two sides" must be "brought together." Why? The answer is obvious....
There's more in that vein. I won't say "enjoy".....
[Taiwan]
"the two sides must be brought together"
ReplyDeleteBy the grace of God!!!!
What is really interesting is the lack of an alternative outcome. It reminds me of South Korea where the concept of non-unification with the North is never an option. Sacred ground.
That "interview" sounds an awful lot like a script that was written by Mr. Ma's people. Doesn't it sound rather unnatural for an American to use the phrase "mainland people" (大陸人)?
ReplyDeleteAlso, this is certainly not the first time Cohen and Mr. Ma have done this kind of thing. Check that transcript for Cohen saying, "You're an international lawyer." (Perhaps he meant to say "liar"?)
Even more obvious scripting can be witnessed when Ma says, "You didn't give me [an] A+ when I was in Harvard," but he waits for the applause to fade before poorly delivering his line. (It's almost at the very end of this video. [very large file in MP4 and WMV formats])
Tim Maddog
Weren't you leaving Blogger for something else at some point? Your blog has gotten pretty big, something with a better, threaded commenting system might be something to look into.
ReplyDeleteLet's not get too worked up about this article, folks.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it's just a feature puff piece on a celebrity alum and was written to promote the university.
Second, I don't know why it would be considered unnatural for anyone to refer to China as the "mainland," since it is a common geo-political name. Clearly we can see China often referred to this way in the world press.
It is noteworthy, however, that Ma is referred to as the "President of Taiwan." There is no mention of the ROC.
Who is Ma to decide that Taiwan and China must be brought together? Isn't that dependent on the wishes of the people of Taiwan or does Ma not really value Taiwanese freedom and right to self determination?
ReplyDeleteConstitutional democracy? You mean from the same guy that worships Chiang Kai Shek and reverted the "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" back to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall? Seriously this is just propaganda. The man doesn't walk his talk.
Professor Jerome Cohen is probably just dazzled that one of his students is somebody and milking it for all its worth. Sooner or later Ma will be undressed as the goon he really is, and I'll wonder what Jerome Cohen will do then.
The history of the deliberate use of "The Mainland" finds its roots in KMT propaganda from the GIO during the period when James Soong was the chief of the GIO. The GIO was known to comb through information detailing China and change it to "the mainland". This is the source of the term as it is used in the mass media. KMT propaganda machine. It seems this method is being revived by the Ma government.
ReplyDeleteMarc wrote:
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Second, I don't know why it would be considered unnatural for anyone to refer to China as the "mainland," since it is a common geo-political name. Clearly we can see China often referred to this way in the world press.
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I was referring to the linguistic awkwardness of a native English speaker using the phrase "mainland people." More commonly-used constructions would be "people from the mainland" or simply "mainlanders."
Tim Maddog
"I was referring to the linguistic awkwardness of a native English speaker using the phrase "mainland people." More commonly-used constructions would be "people from the mainland" or simply "mainlanders.""
ReplyDeleteTim, you are exactly right - that's the first thing I thought when I read through it. Not that it's necessarily bad that it's scripted, but it is certainly obvious.
Looks like Ma Ying-Jeou's professor, Jerome Cohen, has some advice for Taiwan's new president.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/11/14/2003428580