Taiwan as the World Turns: Mid-may Mania

Thursday May 19, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Two big items have been keeping the media busy in Taiwan this past week: in one, another KMT official exhibited the haughty, carpetbagger attitude that the KMT waishengren have for things Taiwanese. In the past people like Kuo Kuan-ying, then working for the Government Information Office (GIO) insulted Taiwanese by calling them rednecks who should be happy to learn from the elite KMT who ironically Taiwan took in after they got beat on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.

This case involved Central Standing Committee menger Liao Wan-lung; he focused on insulting Taiwan's indigenous population--more on that shortly.

The second item was how after having to listen to the Ma government boast that their kowtowing to Beijing was bringing peace to the Taiwan Strait and yet preserving the nation's dignity. More duplicity in action. In this one, you will see how the Ma government continues to talk out of both sides or possibly three sides of its mouth as it tries to explain the latest insult from the WHO and WHA. More on this shortly as well. At the end of the day, one can only still wonder, when the Taiwanese will finally see through this ongoing bamboozle.

One can also wonder, which is worse: the blatant bigotry of those like Kuo and Liao and more; or the veiled false and condescending deceptions of the Ma government.