Phils/Taiwan Take 7: Linkfest and Pocket Analysis edition

A road warrior weaves through rush hour traffic on a narrow Taipei street. Lovin' the new Sigma 17-70mm lens.

The Taiwan/Phils mess, some recent stuff....

• Ritual slaughter: David Lin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, "grilled" by the legislature. Lawmakers -- especially the DPP's emptyheaded support of the gov't -- helped feed Taipei's botched response. Hinting that Lin, who probably had no hand in the real decision making, should resign, is unconscionable. 
• Manila, Taipei, will reach consensus after the probe. Which will naturally be what Taipei wants it to be, right?
• Fisheries Director Sha says the Taiwan-Japan pact can be a model for a Taiwan-Phils pact. That's nice, but if the gov't really cared about Taiwan's fisherman, it would have resolved this issue quietly to score brownie points with Manila so it can maybe negotiate a fisheries treaty (unrealistic anyway), but that is impossible because....
• ...as Ben Goren says, so much going on here is driven by Han Chauvinism. Taipei's historical cold shoulder to Manila while sucking up to higher status advanced powers is just one manifestation of this. 
• An awful analysis of the Taiwan-Phils mess. Quick, if I say the phrase "Taiwanese nationalism", what do you think of?  Sun Yat-sen and China, right?
• The Taipei Times editorializes that the media must remain "balanced." Would love to see some soul searching there about the media's uncritical acceptance of the government's jingoistic line and more importantly, in fostering public ignorance about the ROC, Taiwan, territorial claims, and the behavior of Taiwanese fisherman overseas. 
• Of the articles that have appeared on this brouhaha, this one is my favorite, priceless comedy: Batan Islands not part of Philippines. Why did the Taipei Times kill trees to print this? Who is the real writer?
• Phils national roundball team not invited to Jones Cup.
• A Phils perspective of the problem of marine resources in this issue, which -- wonder of wonders! -- has hardly been forthrightly and directly mentioned in the Taiwan English papers. "Caught red-handed and obviously poaching inside Philippine waters, Taiwan is obscuring the issue that led to the unfortunate death of its fisherman."
• Finally, the Phils media reports that investigators from Taiwan have seen the video of the killing. I hope this means it will be out in the next couple of days.
• Oh and.... Phils demands that China withdraw ships from Second Thomas Shoal

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