Perhaps it is because President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) team of officials tell too many lies that former Academia Historica president Lin Man-houng (林滿紅) felt it necessary to explain, during a question-and-answer session at the legislature, the difference between lies that are beautiful and ones that are not. She evidently thought this would help her keep her job. In the end, her own lies caught up with her when it was proven that she had signed an official document about an issue that she originally said she knew nothing about. Once she was found out, she had little choice but to step down.
Being able to tell “beautiful” lies and making oaths in a “high-class” manner are key to the Ma administration’s rule. Of course, the most skilled in the art of telling beautiful lies is none other than Ma himself.
Ma has told a heap of lies. I am sure everyone has heard the following ones:
‧ “I love Taiwan and would be Taiwanese even if I were burnt to ashes.”
This campaign statement moved Taiwan’s well-meaning electorate, who duly voted Ma into power. However, Ma has his own special understanding of what “loving Taiwan” means. He keeps on jumping into bed with China and God only knows how many secret talks are going on between his government and Beijing. Ma’s actions in this regard speak louder than his words.
‧ “There is only one China and that is the Republic of China.”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) were chased out of China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and were forced into exile all around the world, with the vast majority of KMT members ending up in Taiwan and claiming that the KMT was the sole legitimate government of China. Former Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來), who made Lin’s poll of the top 100 most influential figures in the Republic of China’s (ROC) history, tore this lie apart years ago when he said that former KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was hated by the people in China and that he had no right to talk about there being only one China because the legal status of the small island that he later took control of was never settled.
‧ “The Treaty of Taipei affirmed the transfer of Taiwan’s sovereignty from Japan to the ROC.”
Lin did well with these comments, landing her position as president of Academia Historica on the strength of them. However, this idea paints former foreign minister George Yeh (葉公超) and former ambassador to the US Wellington Koo (顧維鈞), who were responsible for negotiating the treaty, in a bad light, making them look like idiots. After all they did for the “ROC,” they are now being accused of being weak negotiators by disingenuous legislators.
‧ “Taiwan is where Ma grew up. Why would anybody betray the place where they grew up?”
If this were true, there would never have been any talk about people being traitors to the nation, traitors to the Han Chinese (漢奸) and traitors to Taiwan (台奸). Now the KMT would have its members running around China selling out Taiwan left, right and center, surrendering in the hope of appeasement.
According to the Treaty of San Francisco, the sovereignty of Taiwan does not belong to China and regardless of whether they were born in Taiwan, anyone who accepts the “one China” principle, which means that China has sovereignty over Taiwan, is guilty of selling Taiwan out.
A lie is a lie and lies are ugly and have nothing to do with beauty. Lies do not become the truth just because they are phrased beautifully.
James Wang is a media commentator.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday unilaterally passed a preliminary review of proposed amendments to the Public Officers Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) in just one minute, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, government officials and the media were locked out. The hasty and discourteous move — the doors of the Internal Administration Committee chamber were locked and sealed with plastic wrap before the preliminary review meeting began — was a great setback for Taiwan’s democracy. Without any legislative discussion or public witnesses, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the committee’s convener, began the meeting at 9am and announced passage of the
Prior to marrying a Taiwanese and moving to Taiwan, a Chinese woman, surnamed Zhang (張), used her elder sister’s identity to deceive Chinese officials and obtain a resident identity card in China. After marrying a Taiwanese, surnamed Chen (陳) and applying to move to Taiwan, Zhang continued to impersonate her sister to obtain a Republic of China ID card. She used the false identity in Taiwan for 18 years. However, a judge ruled that her case does not constitute forgery and acquitted her. Does this mean that — as long as a sibling agrees — people can impersonate others to alter, forge
In response to a failure to understand the “good intentions” behind the use of the term “motherland,” a professor from China’s Fudan University recklessly claimed that Taiwan used to be a colony, so all it needs is a “good beating.” Such logic is risible. The Central Plains people in China were once colonized by the Mongolians, the Manchus and other foreign peoples — does that mean they also deserve a “good beating?” According to the professor, having been ruled by the Cheng Dynasty — named after its founder, Ming-loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) — as the Kingdom of Tungning,
RSS