Global weekly The Economist has blamed Taiwanese media for “gross mistranslations” of its article that branded President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a “bumbler” and caused a recent stir in Taiwanese politics, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday
Ministry spokesperson Steve Hsia (夏季昌) said Dominic Ziegler, Asia editor of the weekly magazine, said he had noticed that “bumbler” had been “irresponsibly mistranslated” by some Taiwanese media as “笨蛋” (or “dimwit”), which he said was a “gross mistranslation.”
Ziegler said the two Chinese characters used in local media were an incorrect translation of “bumbler.”
Ziegler sent an e-mail reply to Representative to the UK Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡), Hsia said, in response to the ministry’s reaction to the article titled “Ma the bumbler” in its current edition, which in its body calls Ma an “ineffectual bumbler.”
Hsia quoted Ziegler as saying that the word “bumbler” is not an insult to Ma because it describes a man “who acts indecisively or in a slightly confused manner.”
Ziegler, who is on a trip overseas, also expressed his willingness to explain the matter in person to the Taiwanese government, Hsia said.
The Taipei Representative Office in the UK “registered concern” over the article, which was published on Friday last week, and received the reply from Ziegler on Monday, Hsia said.
The Ma administration reacted strongly to the article.
On Friday night, the Presidential Office called an impromptu press conference, timed to give a response to the piece, followed by Ma’s remarks the next day that he felt “distressed and wronged by incorrect reports,” in an apparent reaction to the article.
On Sunday, the ministry was reportedly told by the Presidential Office to file a complaint with The Economist, which was met by the disapproval of politicians across party lines. That led the ministry to clarify the issue to the media, saying that it had contacted The Economist to explain Ma’s policies, not to lodge a protest.
The Taipei Representative Office in the UK is preparing an article addressed to The Economist to explain in detail the achievements the government has made in every field since Ma assumed office in May 2008, Hsia said.
The Taiwanese economy posted an average growth rate of 3.43 percent between 2009 and last year, outperforming both South Korea and Hong Kong; while Taiwan outpaced the UK in terms of per capital income when adjusted for purchasing power parity last year — known as PPP-based per capita GDP — for the first time in history, Hsia said.
“Not to mention the achievements in diplomacy and cross-strait affairs — Ma’s policies have resulted in the signing of 18 cross-strait agreements, the maintaining of relations with all 23 of the nation’s diplomatic allies and the granting of visa-waiver privileges by 129 countries and regions,” Hsia said.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing