An offal conspiracy
Dear Johnny,
I have a (conspiracy) theory.
With all of the commentary about the lifting of the US beef ban by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his A Team too numerous to mention here, I feel that there is another side of the double-headed coin that you’re all missing.
What do we know?
The ban has been lifted without so much as a by-your-leave from the government to the public.
The public and — surprise, surprise — the Taipei City KMT-controlled government and the legislative speaker (also KMT) oppose the lifting of the ban, along with many more public figures around the country.
China opposes any and all purchases of military weapons from the US to Taiwan (this is a clue).
What do we not know?
What has the purchase of these weapons to do with the purchase of US beef? Well, my theory goes something like this (it’s a work in progress):
An envoy from China relays a message through the head of the National Security Council to President Ma that he should instigate a protocol with the US government that US beef is now acceptable.
The following uproar, as now being witnessed, will show the president to be on the side of the US government and hoping to curry favor with them to purchase anything and everything — but in reality focusing on arms.
However, what is actually happening is that as public protests become stronger, with dissatisfaction against the US instead of Taiwan, the US president will recommend, in retaliation, that no weapons be sold to Taiwan in the foreseeable future, thereby making China extremely happy — and without any obvious involvement.
I have no doubt that somewhere down the line the president will be well rewarded, as former US president Bill Clinton was, for stating his own version of the “three noes,” and trying to change Washington’s Taiwan policy forever.
Take good care of yourself during this fluable time.
MICHAEL WISE
Johnny replies: Conspiracy theories are all well and good, but it’s difficult to point fingers at the Chicoms when you have so many ordinary Taiwanese shutting down their critical faculties and swallowing this campaign of dumb-ass panic hook, line and sinker.
Hmmm. Fish and beef imagery? Sounds like mixing metaphors. Let’s call this tactical maneuver “Surfing and Turfing the Rabble.”
Not that I want to appear elitist, but sometimes democracies are only as smart as the dumbest Americabovinophobe.
Father’s Day, as celebrated around the world, has its roots in the early 20th century US. In 1910, the state of Washington marked the world’s first official Father’s Day. Later, in 1972, then-US president Richard Nixon signed a proclamation establishing the third Sunday of June as a national holiday honoring fathers. Many countries have since followed suit, adopting the same date. In Taiwan, the celebration takes a different form — both in timing and meaning. Taiwan’s Father’s Day falls on Aug. 8, a date chosen not for historical events, but for the beauty of language. In Mandarin, “eight eight” is pronounced
In a recent essay, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, Christian Whiton, accuses Taiwan of diplomatic incompetence — claiming Taipei failed to reach out to Trump, botched trade negotiations and mishandled its defense posture. Whiton’s narrative overlooks a fundamental truth: Taiwan was never in a position to “win” Trump’s favor in the first place. The playing field was asymmetrical from the outset, dominated by a transactional US president on one side and the looming threat of Chinese coercion on the other. From the outset of his second term, which began in January, Trump reaffirmed his
Despite calls to the contrary from their respective powerful neighbors, Taiwan and Somaliland continue to expand their relationship, endowing it with important new prospects. Fitting into this bigger picture is the historic Coast Guard Cooperation Agreement signed last month. The common goal is to move the already strong bilateral relationship toward operational cooperation, with significant and tangible mutual benefits to be observed. Essentially, the new agreement commits the parties to a course of conduct that is expressed in three fundamental activities: cooperation, intelligence sharing and technology transfer. This reflects the desire — shared by both nations — to achieve strategic results within
It is difficult not to agree with a few points stated by Christian Whiton in his article, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” and yet the main idea is flawed. I am a Polish journalist who considers Taiwan her second home. I am conservative, and I might disagree with some social changes being promoted in Taiwan right now, especially the push for progressiveness backed by leftists from the West — we need to clean up our mess before blaming the Taiwanese. However, I would never think that those issues should dominate the West’s judgement of Taiwan’s geopolitical importance. The question is not whether
RSS