Of course I felt upset and angry about what Singapore said. And I also agreed with FM Mark Chen. However, what Chen said was not very formal and dipolmatic as he explained that he was trying to make it easier for people in the south to understand better.
In short, I don’t know what to say about the politics in Taiwan…it’s very sad and those politicians are fighting over… is this going to make Taiwan a better country? I doubt. :loco:
The whole incident is absurd. If translated into colloquial American English, what Chen said is that Singapore ‘is a tiny little country that kisses China’s ass.’ First off, Chen is absolutely correct about Singapore’s size and diplomatic policy. Secondly, Chen, unlike Taiwan’s weasel foreign ministers in the past, seems to have some interest in speaking plainly to the Taiwanese about how the way things are in the world.
Has Chen embarrassed Taiwan in front of the world with his crudeness? No. Nobody cares. The best thing that will come out of this is that the more sanctimonious people get about this, the more the man on the street is going to realize ‘hey. that’s my kinda guy.’ Expect Chen to make a half-apology and stay in office.
[quote=“Feiren”]The whole incident is absurd. If translated into colloquial American English, what Chen said is that Singapore ‘is a tiny little country that kisses China’s ass.’ First off, Chen is absolutely correct about Singapore’s size and diplomatic policy. Secondly, Chen, unlike Taiwan’s weasel foreign ministers in the past, seems to have some interest in speaking plainly to the Taiwanese about how the way things are in the world.
Has Chen embarrassed Taiwan in front of the world with his crudeness? No. Nobody cares. The best thing that will come out of this is that the more sanctimonious people get about this, the more the man on the street is going to realize ‘hey. that’s my kinda guy.’ Expect Chen to make a half-apology and stay in office.[/quote]
agreed
The Chinese papers are using the letters LP for “lam3 pa”. Expect your students/colleagues to be making lots of LP jokes.
OK, now the crucial question:
What are the correct tones and spelling of lan3 pa? Is is it lan7[3] or lan3[2]. Is pa really pa (with a ‘b’ sound) or is actually the aspirated ‘ph’ sound? pa or pha? And what is the correct Taiwanese for peng3?
Thanks.
Screaming Jesus, you must be dating some pretty uncooperative women if you think only gay people hold balls.
Yep, my colleague was making fun of these countries already:
Singapore- the country of snots
China- the country of balls
It could be because of subconscious patriarchal assumptions to the effect that a politician must be male. My significant other has a pretty firm hold of the boys, actually. 
I don’t get it. What is wrong with being a patriot in your own country? I don’t understand why use the sneer quotes?
Finally a Politician who says exactly what is on his mind. It was very Taiwanese. :bravo: :bravo: :bravo:
Today the newspaper said he was just using language people learn in school…
Under the KMT? Uhm yeah sure.
While Taidu supporters claim the victim role of not being able to speak anything but Mandarin in school. This guy claim otherwise.
I don’t get it. What is wrong with being a patriot in your own country? I don’t understand why use the sneer quotes?[/quote]
The point I’m making is that the people who are in full support of Mark Chen and his approach to foreign affairs are not patriots Taiwan needs at the moment. The reason is because the true patriots as I see them are people who act, say, promote their country in the most positive light possible. Mark Chen in his 15 minutes of fame has done exactly the opposite. It may feel good to beat the chest and dink your antagonist in the eye but that’s a short-lived and short-sighted approach that does nothing to enhance Taiwan’s position in the world. That is what is important and what Taiwan’s government should be focused on. Instead, Taiwan finds itself in a little pissing match with Singapore and the whole world and many Taiwanese are scoffing at in disbelief.
The language commonly referred to as “Taiwanese” is known in southeast Asia as Hokkien, and it is widely spoken in Singapore. Did the idiot foreign minister really think only Taiwanese people could understand him when, in front of TV cameras, he described Singapore as “a piece of snot,” while doing a pinch-and-roll action with his fingers just to rub the point home?
Besides, the notion that people in south Taiwan are just a bunch of yokels who only understand vulgarities is a gross insult to the people of Taiwan, if you ask me.
I rather thought the same thing. Though I agree with Chen about Singapore I thought his attempt to pass his remarks off as simplifying things for the proles was pretty embarrassing/patronizing. Reminds me of the KMT New Hope Link meeting two weeks ago in which the brightest and best of the young KMT reckoned that they weren’t getting their message across to Taiwanese because Taiwanese were too dumb and their language skills too piss-poor to appreciate the high quality of the KMT’s arguments.
[quote=“Lol”]Reminds me of the KMT New Hope Link meeting two weeks ago in which the brightest and best of the young KMT reckoned that they weren’t getting their message across to Taiwanese because Taiwanese were too dumb and their language skills too piss-poor to appreciate the high quality of the KMT’s arguments.[/quote]If those are the brightest and the best, then KMT is in for a long, long spell in opposition.
Here is an excellent article by Tom Plate in The Korean Times. Looks like he interviewed FM Chen recently.
[quote]Because China looks on Taiwan as a rebellious child that decided to take a hike from legitimate Chinese union, it views the former geophysicist as a
Now we have resorted to Flag Buring.
[quote]http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/109577/1/.html
protesters lit a fire in a metal barrel and dipped Singapore’s red and white flag into the flames while chanting “Singapore is an informer” in Kaohsiung, the island’s second-biggest city. [/quote]
Why don’t we burn the USA flag for officially supporting PRC version of the “One China” policy or call USA a PRC-brown noser for not defending ROC in the UN?
Because Singapore is just a piece of snot, whereas the United States is the world’s only superpower. It’s OK to offend one, but not the other.
Has anyone realized that most of Taiwan’s (well RoC’s) official allies that recognize her are all smaller than Singapore?