According to a popular 1990s jingle in China, “0.9 billion out of 1 billion people cheat, the other 0.1 billion are in training.”
More than 20 years on, this nation of liars — from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to facilitators such as talk show pundits and the average citizen — is still demonstrating its deceitful skills.
The so-called “1992 consensus” — that there is “one China, with each side having its own interpretation of what ‘China’ means” — is obviously a fabrication, yet Beijing is giving this idea the hard sell to the international community at every opportunity.
Taiwan’s people, territory, government and sovereignty clearly have nothing to do with China, but Beijing insists that its diplomatic allies, such as the US and Japan, “recognize” that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of the sacred territory of China.”
China does not give up after being turned down, but includes Taiwan in its territory on maps published in China and has even set up an “Anti-Secession” law to fulfill its desire.
China is really putting on the act in its attempts to turn fiction into reality.
It is no secret that the main objective of the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress in October last year was to enshrine “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” in the party’s constitution.
On television, Xi was seen “solemnly” and “ceremoniously” calling on the 2,300 party representatives to vote and raise their hand if they approved, raising his hand first and looking around to see if someone dared not to raise their hand.
Then he asked those who disagreed to raise their hand — no one did.
It was not a secret ballot and no one would want to die in a “car accident,” “heart attack” or “suicide,” so who would dare openly disagree?
Xi has known all along that he controlled the answer, but he still put on this game.
Yu Li (于力), a Chinese pundit whose real name is Sima Nan (司馬南), has never held back in his praise of China and criticism of the US in the media.
However, ironically, on Lunar New Year Day in 2012, local Chinese-language media reports said that he was injured when an elevator door closed on his head at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
Just prior to boarding an airplane in the US, Sima posted on his Weibo account: “The US is the enemy of the people of the world; it exploits all countries in the world, just like a global tumor, and people all over the world are questioning the US.”
Sima’s wife and children moved to the US long ago and bought property there.
He says one thing and does another — but his double standards have been exposed.
When talking about the Nanjing Massacre, Chinese become indignant and scold the “Japanese devils” as if they were not worthy of sharing this Earth with the rest of humanity.
Then they get in their Toyotas to drive home or fly to Japan for a shopping spree, enjoy Japanese food or buy Japanese property.
They seem to suffer from a severe case of split personality disorder.
Chinese talk loudly about patriotism, travel frequently to Japan and fall over each other to emigrate to the US.
The whole country is putting on a play of “devotion” to the “great motherland” and “opposition” to the “evil American imperialist” and the “Japanese devils.”
Chang Kuo-tsai is a former deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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