A few good links:
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Daily Links:
- Should Tsai Ing-wen pardon Chen Shui-bian?
- Nick Frisch: How China lost Taiwan
- Gwen Wang and Albert Tseng: President Ma makes waves in the South China Sea
- Video: Ketagalan Media Panel on the 2016 elections. I was there. It was great.
- National Interest: What Xi can do about Taiwan. Would have been great, had it been written in 2008.
- Latest TSIR poll translated by Solidarity. As Taiwan becomes more China, support falls.
- MA VISIT to Spratlys: AP report. Ma shares US goals for peace in South China Sea.
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!
Regarding Ma Ying-jeou's visit to Spratlys, one thing that should have triggered an earth quake but has been totally missed by Taiwan's media:
ReplyDeleteAt a press conference after his visit yesterday (2016-01-28), Ma said: "Regarding the sovereignty claim to the South (China) Sea, the ROC ("中華民國") had already officially announced (it) in 1947; later, the Chinese Communist regime ("中共政權") inherited ("繼承了") the claim of the KMT government ("國民政府"; NOTE: he didn't say "ROC government" - "中華民國政府"); therefore, of course, both sides (of the Taiwan Strait) share the same stand on the claim to the South (China) Sea, we didn't particularly made an effort to take the same stand."
The key wording that shocked me was "[CCP regime] has inherited ('繼承了') [KMT regime]". This is an official announcement of the death of ROC and an official recognition of CCP regime as China's legitimate government.
Am I reading it wrong?
To read his wording at the press conference yesterday (2016-01-28), see the report of Liberty Times (in Chinese though; see the first paragraph), link below:
http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/focus/paper/953794
This visit is meant to be much much more than meats the eyes. The Chinese Nationalism Fundamentalist Ma Ying-Jeou won't rest without a resistance of "Boxers' Rebellion" Geist.
The key wording that shocked me was "[CCP regime] has inherited ('繼承了') [KMT regime]". This is an official announcement of the death of ROC and an official recognition of CCP regime as China's legitimate government.
ReplyDeletePossibly, that's really shocking. If true, what will he say about Taiwan when he steps down?
Michael
The English isn't even close
ReplyDeletehttp://english.president.gov.tw/Default.aspx?tabid=491&itemid=36616&rmid=2355
I don't believe the LT has correctly transcribed what he said. Is there another source??
ReplyDeleteJust found the press conference transcipt in Chinese on Apple Daily site; link below:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20160128/785654/
The Liberty Times' report refers to the following Q&A, the fifth Q in the transcript. Please allow the full Chinese text, only to be fair to all parties, including Ma's Co.:
Q：亞太社區關切台灣是否傾向中國大有關於南海主權爭議議題，因為台灣跟北京用同樣地圖，且爭議上立場類似，加上今天中國發出聲明兩岸華人有共同責任捍衛南海主權，總統是否可以澄清中華民國是否支持中國大陸在南海的聲明主權？
A：有關南海主張當時中華民國36年12月1日發布，當時中共政府還沒出現，它出現後在這議題上繼承原來國民政府主張，所以當然一樣，不是我們使它一樣，他後來把我們畫南海諸島位置圖的11段線減少2段，變成9段，它提出一些東西仔細分析我們也不見得都提，還是有差別。就好比東海，有關釣魚台列嶼，我們跟日本簽台日漁業協議，大陸也不滿意，認為應該跟他簽，但是我們還是簽了。假設用心的學者應該可以看出來當中差異，我提出南海和平倡議，他們沒提，我提主權爭議擱置資源共享，他們也沒提，還是有不同。不過要提醒您，再過1周就過年，大陸也過年，台灣也過年，我們有很多共同歷史血緣這是無法切開，我們過年喊恭喜，不能說跟大陸一樣親共，這沒有關係，立場不完全一樣，如果細心分會看出不同。
The text can be read the way Liberty Times did but may also be twisted a bit to sound "a tad ambigous"; just as Ma may try when pressed, in his typical they-misunderstood-me way.
The key is the first sentence of the Answer part. Here's my translation:
"Regarding the (sovereignty) claim to the South (China) Sea, at the time of Dec 1, 1947, the ROC ("中華民國") did make the official announcement; at that time the Chinese Communist Government ("中共政府") was not yet in existence, after it [CCP government] came to exist, it inherited ("繼承") the claim of the previous/original ("原來") KMT government ("國民政府") on this matter. Therefore, of course, [both China and Ma hold] the same claim, we didn't cause them to be the same...."
(To be fair: here gain the original text = "有關南海主張當時中華民國36年12月1日發布，當時中共政府還沒出現，它出現後在這議題上繼承原來國民政府主張，所以當然一樣，不是我們使它一樣，...")
The key word "原來" (the previous/the original) is also very telling. Ma has studied law and has always been very picky about wordings.
I also notice that Ma talked about the claim to the South (China) Sea, not only to the Taiping Island (Itu Aba Island) which he just visited.
The claim to the whole South China Sea overlaps the claims of all claimant countries. The is an agressor's claim.
If Ma claims that he didn't mean it that way, it at least reflects his strong sense of being a Chinese patriot in my opinion, because he was using his native language and was speaking at a press conference.
Ma apparently made his "inheritance" comment to answer a foreign reporter's question. That's why you can't find it in the transcription of his speech.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20160201/787951/?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Android_Share&utm_campaign=%E5%8D%B3%E6%99%82%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%2F%E6%9C%80%E6%96%B0%2F%E9%A6%AC%E8%8B%B1%E4%B9%9D%E6%AD%A3%E5%BC%8F%E8%B7%9F%E3%80%8C%E4%B8%AD%E8%8F%AF%E6%B0%91%E5%9C%8B%E3%80%8D%E8%AA%AA%E6%8E%B0%E6%8E%B0
ReplyDeleteThe author of this opinion piece also believes that Ma said the CPC has inherited the claim.