Ma the Mouse and the International Press Conference that Wasn't International.

Friday November 19, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Just when you think that the hypocrisy and two-faced posing of Ma Ying-joke could not get any worse, Ma comes up with something that does so. In the aftermath of the brouhaha of the Taekwando Set-up to disqualify Taiwan's top female expert in China, and after he saw that it was election time and the public were upset, Ma decided he better make a show of protesting against his "brothers" in China. He called an international press conference, or pretended to call one.

Ma was caught between a rock and a hard place. It is election time so the KMT has to appear to be supportive of Taiwan despite Ma's pro-China policies. On the other hand, Ma does not want to say anything critical of China. What to do?

The solution is to call an international press conference that will allegedly be an international protest, but don't have the foreign media there so it really won't be international.

As a member of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondent's Club, I can testify that there was no invitation to the foreign media to attend. Certainly nothing that crossed my desk. One only has to remember how Ma like an upset junior high school teacher wanted the Associated Press (AP) to rewrite what they had written about him.

Thus Ma garnered another name for himself. Ma the Mouse. Ma the Mouse wanted to appear to be critical of China and supportive of Taiwan so close to the upcoming elections, but at the same time Ma the Mouse did not want to be in anyway heard internationally in that position. Thus the so-called "international" press conference that was never international. Ma the Mouse could be critical of China, but his pip-squeak voiced would not be heard.

Is Taiwan listening? We hope so; the phony pony cannot keep it up forever.