Abuse of ‘compatriot’ again
When China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) brazenly and rudely stated during a Beijing press conference that Taiwan’s future “must be decided by all Chinese people, including [our] Taiwanese compatriots [ton bao, 同胞],” she was not only coming across as a shrill propagandist, but also as an abuser of language.
Language matters in all discussions of cross-strait issues.
Here is what Fan said in Mandarin, with the key words in brackets: “兩岸不是國與國關係, 任何涉及中國主權, 和領土完整的問題, 必須由包括 — [台灣同胞] — 在內的, 全中國人民共同決定.”
Fan knows that Taiwanese are not “compatriots” of Chinese nationals. As a well-educated woman who is fluent in English, she knows full well that “compatriot” in English — and Chinese — is a word that means “fellow countryman” and that it comes originally from Latin.
She also knows that British nationals and US nationals are not compatriots, and that New Zealanders and Australians are not compatriots.
Yet brainwashed and mind-controlled as she is, she comes out telling Taiwanese that they are her compatriots. Rubbish!
Since, as everyone knows, Taiwan and China are separate countries, how can Fan have the gall to refer to Taiwanese are her “fellow countrymen?” And why do so few commentators even in Taiwan take issue with her use, once again, of the word “compatriot?”
I have not seen one commentary in a Chinese-language newspaper in Taiwan criticize Fan for linguistically abusing the word.
Language matters, whether one is speaking Chinese or English. Or Latin or French. Chinese and Taiwanese are not compatriots. Period.
This recent gaffe was not the first time Fan has misused the word.
In June last year, she did the same thing, stating at a press conference in Beijing that establishing reciprocal cross-strait offices would be a good thing beneficial to the safeguarding and enhancement of welfare for “compatriots” on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Fan has constantly misused or, one might say, abused the word, during her entire term as TAO spokeswoman. And her misuse of language reminds many Western observers of the same kind of propaganda that came out of the former Soviet Union, an earlier dictatorship that has been wiped off the map.
When Fan said that Taiwan’s future will be decided by “all Chinese citizens” — adding that she considers Taiwanese to be fellow Chinese citizens — it was only natural and proper that responses inside Taiwan ranged from a diplomatic call for self-determination by Taiwanese to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker asking Chinese officials to stop making such comments.
Yet has anyone called out Fan for not knowing her Latin? It is downright Orwellian, this ton bao nonsense.
Linder Atkins
Boston, Massachusetts
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations