Comments on: WHO Name Game: Words Speaking Aloud

By: UNCTAD: Taiwan is a “Province of China” | Justrecently's Weblog

UNCTAD: Taiwan is a “Province of China” | Justrecently's Weblog — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 11:58:28 +0000

[...] isn’t just the World Health Organization (WHO) documents that refer to Taiwan as a “province of China” – the United Nations Conference on [...]

By: Press Review: Raúl Castro’s Visit to China | Justrecently's Weblog

Press Review: Raúl Castro’s Visit to China | Justrecently's Weblog — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 06:29:41 +0000

[...] Words Speaking Aloud (Taiwan), May 18, 2011 » “Cuban Democracy Act of 1992″, State Department » Cuban Americans, [...]

By: justrecently

justrecently — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:51:52 +0000

Such outrage is not yet apparent.

I agree. That’s also why I believe that the Ma administration should talk plainly, but without yelling at either China or at international organizations. The public is real enough to see the quandary any Taiwanese government would find itself in (even if news coverage may create a different impression).

I can understand that the DPP will make use of this issue to show that there is no cross-strait “improvement”. But it should also encourage the public to evaluate their government’s options in a fair and open-minded way. It may soon be their own turn to deal with pressure from China, and they will depend on fair and open-minded public judgment, too.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:39:29 +0000

If the media coverage is anything to go by (a tall order to rely solely on the media) the Ma administration seems to not know what to do. The initial statements by the administration seemed to downplay the memo, and have become more shrill since the administration started trying to publicly show that it could do something about the situation. Yet the more pices such as this (http://taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/05/18/2003503515) come out, the harder it will be for the administration to sell its case. The problem for both Ma and the KMT as a whole is that they cannot simply abandon the narrative that Ma’s diplomatic approach to dealing with China is working. They have invested Ma’s entire reputation in proving that his accommodation of China is the only effective way to manage cross-strait relations. Repudiating the former narrative would mean the repudiation of the KMT’s approach of the last several years. Such changes do not happen overnight and they do not happen when those in power feel they can still keep the ship afloat. I think it would take a major case of outrage on the part of the population, one that would put Ma and the party with a real risk of losing power in the long run, to achieve such a shift. Such outrage is not yet apparent.