The presidential election was just three weeks ago, and certain media outlets have already begun Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) deification. The editorials in some newspapers have complimented Ma for having a good physique and for working out daily.
They have also called him wise and said that he has learned a great deal from his wisely chosen companions.
Not only has this kind of sycophantic praise become an Internet joke, embellishments made by television stations are even more jaw-dropping: Ma is frugal, squeaky clean, full of filial piety, sincere, loyal to his party and patriotic to his country, adept at negotiations, as charming as former US president John F. Kennedy, and radiates gentleness from his double-lidded eyes.
With such a fine husband, even Chow Mei-ching’s (周美青) way of tying her shoelaces is extraordinarily sleek. Needless to say, the beauty of their daughter, Lesley Ma (馬唯中), and her many talents, are also praised.
The presidential cult of personality isn’t new. Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was known for having deduced great wisdom from observing swimming fish in his childhood: no wonder he became the saviour of his people, as well as a military strategist, politician, philosopher, educator, thinker, calligrapher, and artist all rolled into one.
It would have been difficult for his son and heir, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) to have been anything less than magnificent.
The economic miracles, political liberalization and his Ten Major Construction Projects, are all credits to his name; whereas the Taipei Tenth Credit Cooperative corruption scandal and the murders of Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) as well as Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) and his family, are swept under the carpet to prevent harm to his achievements.
Presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) were not of the same ilk. At most, they enjoyed a short media honeymoon.
Once Lee was in power, Chinese-language United Daily News columnists opposed him on principle, as though he were the source of all evil.
Even worse, Chen was criticized at least three times daily, and became equated with corruption.
Comparatively, Ma is the carefully honed star of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), a fact to which the media pays homage.
In fact, in most circumstances, the media go so far as to purposefully package Ma so that problems great and small eventually amount to nothing: Taipei’s flooding during typhoon Nari, the death of a young girl surnamed Chiu (邱) due to medical negligence, the ill advised response to SARS, the green card scandal, and the first ever presidential candidate to have been charged with corruption – these are non-issues for Ma.
The media has also created the impression that Ma’s success is generating economic momentum. Yet the stock market performed well for only one day after the election.
Since then, there has been more outgoing than incoming foreign capital and the realities of the property sector have also performed below expectations.
The members of the Taiwanese media, which often call themselves the “fourth estate” and the “eternal opposition,” have suddenly become the vanguard for flattering the future president.
Those who should have confined themselves to accurate and balanced reporting for the benefit of the public have gone so far as to produce intoxicating myths of deification.
This is but another symptom of the Taiwanese media’s festering illness.
Lu Shih-hsiang is an adviser to the Taipei Times.
TRANSLATED BY ANGELA HONG
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
In an article published by the Harvard Kennedy School, renowned historian of modern China Rana Mitter used a structured question-and-answer format to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Taiwan and China. Mitter highlights the differences between the repressive and authoritarian People’s Republic of China and the vibrant democracy that exists in Taiwan, saying that Taiwan and China “have had an interconnected relationship that has been both close and contentious at times.” However, his description of the history — before and after 1945 — contains significant flaws. First, he writes that “Taiwan was always broadly regarded by the imperial dynasties of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will stop at nothing to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty, going as far as to create complete falsehoods. That the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never ruled Taiwan is an objective fact. To refute this, Beijing has tried to assert “jurisdiction” over Taiwan, pointing to its military exercises around the nation as “proof.” That is an outright lie: If the PRC had jurisdiction over Taiwan, it could simply have issued decrees. Instead, it needs to perform a show of force around the nation to demonstrate its fantasy. Its actions prove the exact opposite of its assertions. A
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
RSS