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Editorial: The emperor's running dogs

On Tuesday evening, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and the People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) threw a dinner party for representatives of Taiwanese businesses operating in China. Even though it was billed as a party, Lien and Soong and focused on next year's presidential election in their speeches, repeatedly criticizing President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) management of the country, calling on the businesspeople to support the KMT-PFP alliance's policy on direct cross-strait links and urging them not to "take the wrong side" in the election.

All the blue-camp politicians who spoke during the party sounded as if they were at an election rally. Everything was about the election. Protected by the pro-China media, the pan-blue camp could be said to have good luck. Whatever ridiculous actions they take will be skillfully packaged and sold as if it were something done for the sake of the people, for peace, for anything but the election.

Only the Liberty Times (our sister paper) dared prick the pan-blue camp's lies. The pan-blue camp has become a big fraud since the KMT lost power, weaving the emperor's news clothes out of the threads of "direct links" and "China's market," and telling the people that the economy will revive if they swallow the "direct links" elixir and invest in China.

The pan-blue camp is also fabricating charges against people, calling them conservative and protectionist for not opening the doors to China, calling them arrogant for not singing the praises of China, calling them divorced from the trends of internationalization for embracing localization.

The pan-blue camp can't really be blamed for this. The world of the pan-blue camp politicians is small -- consisting only of China. When the KMT was in power, the party used the state's education machine to teach that China has a glorious 5,000-year history and culture and is the greatest country in the world. Even out of power, it still dominates the media in this country. The pan-blue media saturates the print media and airwaves with one message: Go to China, or sit here and die.

The pan-blue camp has tried to package and sell Sinicization as "internationalization," and tried to use "internationalization" to counter the rise of Taiwanese consciousness. Sinicization is the poltergeist hidden behind internationalization.

Mao Zedong (毛澤東) once said a liar will begin to believe in his own lies if he says it 100 times.

The people of Taiwan are not against China. Nor do they deliberately look down on China's potential. It is just that they know that China is not the whole world. It is only part of it. China's culture was strong for some time, but it is not the only source of learning for Taiwan -- or the rest of the world. Apart from utilizing China's advantages, the people of Taiwan should also look at the strong points of other parts of the world. China is not the answer to every problem.

Unfortunately, the people of Taiwan have nowhere to voice their views. The pro-China camp dominates media outlets. Aided by media brain-washing, Lien and Soong have a strong chance of winning next year.

The Chinese Nationalist Party has remained the Chinese Nationalist Party -- even after all its years in exile. The party charter and platform is all about China.

After starting to call the KMT by its formal name, the "Chinese Nationalist Party," recently, we wonder if KMT spokesman Tsai cheng-yuan (蔡正元) will come after this newspaper, lashing out at it for being a mouthpiece and running dog of the Taiwanese?
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