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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
GIO Fact Check Fail
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4 comments:
I for one don't mind eating US Beef. Think it tastes much better than Australian beef. This is about the beef, not about the politics.
THink the fear is over hyped.
Has the GIO been studying North Korean propaganda writing techniques?
My understanding is that it was not the beef itself which ignited the public reaction initially. Two things started the fire which qickly spread to burn the beef:
1. South Korea got a FTA deal in exchange to allowing the import of US beef. Ma has not gotten anything back from the US. This got the public to feel being "sold out". The initial report of this being a prerequisite for discussion on some sort of trade agreement was denied the next day by the government. The report did not make sense anyway.
2. Ma agreed to import US cow brain and spinal cord tissue, where prion proteins are proven to concentrate in infected bodies.
Getting to sell beef itself is a good deal to the US. Why on earth did the US force the issue of brain and spinal cord tissue (and other internal organs) is beyond me. The greed gets backfired; everything gets shot including the beef.
The public forums that I've parsed mostly focus on the import of cow brain, spinal cord tissue and ground beef. I have not seen anyone oppose the import of US beef solely.
I support the public reaction because this is a bad deal for Taiwan as Taiwan did not get anything from the US. How can the public trust Ma in external dealings? If the public does not react, will Ma think twice next time when making concessions to China, e.g. in the coming "ECFA" talk?
BTW, at least two Taiwanese academics told me that Taiwan has no choice but to integrate into China given that the US is signing FTA with most of Taiwan's Asian competitors while for years totally brushing off Taiwan's request to talk. The "Standort" competition pressure is getting too great for Taiwan to take alone in the globalized business environment. I disagree with this sentiment for many reasons. But, I just wanted to provide the sentiment that some of the Taiwanese are holding. This beef non-deal probably added insult to injury to them.
Intentionally or incidentally or both, the US is pushing Taiwan towards China. There seems to be a vicious cycle of US/Taiwan act/reaction/re-reaction/re-re-re... that is not working towards the best interests of both sides. The disintregraion of Taiwan's military is one visible example. China is being very skillful in keeping the vicious cycle running. The US is in it unconsciously (yes, in the mind state of being knocked out; this has been so since the Dubya days.)
Wow! Is there anybody of any nationality that is buying this propagandistic, inaccurate piece of horse feathers?
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