Not bad - Mayor Ma seemed poised and professional on his BBC Hardtalk interview…
Judge for yourself -
Quite impressed with Ma Ying-jeou, not that impressed with the attempt by the interviewer to dumb-down a very complex issue. I don’t think Ma made the point strongly enough that half the people want independence, half the people want re-unification, and the other half want to keep the status quo…
(Imagine quoting the Taipei Times - jesus is that the best the BBC can come up with 
)
First… it is not the BBC, maybe just a guy in there… they are for sure one of the most reliable sources of information and I would like that newspapers, radios and tv’s in Taiwan would be a little bit more like them. Here, everyone has a POV on everything and expresses it, it has nothing to do with journalism… every reporter is a commentator…
And I believe he was just being simple… trying to figure out for the rest of the world how can you do what Ma wants to do. The BBC was not making an interview for Taiwanese to see, and they cannot spend more than 25 minutes on it, so it was just a superficial thing. Maybe you should spend time looking for what other more deep stuff BBC has about Taiwan ( I specially liked one report about the problem of Chinese woman who are pregnant and waiting to be expelled back to China, which is an incredibly cruel thing to do).
Complex? It’s not complex when you consider that to most people, Taiwan – if it even registers on their consciousness at all – is nothing more than a piss-stain on the back wall of Asia.
Sandman! that’s a terrible thing to say about Thailand. Especially with all those nice holiday islands there… like Bali.
Really, the things some people say.
Sandman, that’s a pretty good summing up of Taiwan. To most people, Taiwan is just one big shoe factory (to paraphrase Roger Waters). As an aside, I was talking to my uncle a couple of months ago. He’s generally fairly informed on world issues, he’s been to Taipei a couple of times for business, and his company deal with Taiwanese suppliers on a semi-regular basis. At one point, I mentioned the Taiwanese language - he didn’t even know that Taiwanese spoke a separate language to Mandarin.
So yeah, to most people, Taiwan is nothing.
As to the interview - I found that it gave me one of the better views of the KMTs version of things here that I’ve ever come across. Each of the English papers here give a very skewed view of Taiwanese politics, depending on the editorial slant of the paper. Plus the fact that they all give as much space to international news as they do to Taiwan news. (Not a bad thing, but it doesn’t help those who wish to know more about Taiwanese politics). And my Chinese is not good enough to fully understand Taiwanese TV news.
I particularly liked Ma’s comeback at around the 17min mark, when the interviewer talked about Chinese human rights violations, then asked if China made a good business partner.
Complex? It’s not complex when you consider that to most people, Taiwan – if it even registers on their consciousness at all – is nothing more than a piss-stain on the back wall of Asia.[/quote]
What? Are you trying to say it’s like a lone piece of carrot adrift in a sea of Stella and Vindaloo next to a huge undigested kebab on the back steps of the Orient?
Complex? It’s not complex when you consider that to most people, Taiwan – if it even registers on their consciousness at all – is nothing more than a piss-stain on the back wall of Asia.[/quote]
What? Are you trying to say it’s like a lone piece of carrot adrift in a sea of Stella and Vindaloo next to a huge undigested kebab on the back steps of the Orient?[/quote]
Not at all. Stella, vindaloo, undigested kebab? A piece of carrot would stick out like a sore thumb in that. Taiwan just doesn’t.
I watched that episode of Hard Talk. Ma acted poised and confident, and he argued well.
However, he looked like crap. Bad makeup, bad lighting, bad hair, and sweaty brow.
Kinda like I look like most mornings, minus the makeup. But I’m not Mayor of a Major Asian Metropolis.
Not yet, anways (insert evil guffaw here) :scooby:
Other than the fact that he lied, waffled and blatantly contradicted himself, he did quite well.
I hope he makes more appearances like that!
Don’t you get it? He’s a politician fer puck’s sake! :fume: It’s the Nature Of The Beast.
You obviously have your own agenda, play on!
Uh…yeah. And your point is?
My point is that he keeps opening his mouth like this, the DPP will have wind behind their sails.
[quote=“STOP_Ma”]
My point is that he keeps opening his mouth like this, the DPP will have wind behind their sails.[/quote]
what sails lol
[quote=“STOP_Ma”]
Uh…yeah. And your point is?
My point is that he keeps opening his mouth like this, the DPP will have wind behind their sails.[/quote]
Great analogy. Taiwan is running before the wind, with about 40 knots of wind behind jib + main wing-and-wing, no reef, and they’re headed straight for a lee shore. And with CSB in charge, the best Taiwan can hope for is an unintentional gybe.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“STOP_Ma”]
My point is that he keeps opening his mouth like this, the DPP will have wind behind their sails.[/quote]
what sails lol[/quote]
They don’t have sails, but they have a million or so hard-core TI/er slaves to row the kamikazi boat whenever Captain Chen stripteases.
Just finally had a chance to watch the interview. I thought he did very well in terms of articulating the new ‘neo-Chinese KMT’ mindset. Very middle of the road, pragmatic, and reasonable on all issues. No hint of idealism in the tradition of Chinese nationalism or Western liberalism.
I’m not the biggest fan of this type of pragmatism, but it’s something that I can live with… and it’s something that I believe will serve Taiwan and mainland China well.
(Had a nice giggle when the interviewer asked Ma about the “two senior people from your party, Mr. Lien and Mr. Soong” visiting the mainland.)
[quote=“cctang”][quote=“STOP_Ma”]
Uh…yeah. And your point is?
My point is that he keeps opening his mouth like this, the DPP will have wind behind their sails.[/quote]
Great analogy. Taiwan is running before the wind, with about 40 knots of wind behind jib + main wing-and-wing, no reef, and they’re headed straight for a lee shore. And with CSB in charge, the best Taiwan can hope for is an unintentional gybe.[/quote]
A pedant writes: If they are being blown onshore on a run, the shore must be to windward. <sorry - dons flameproof jacket> 
What about: “Taiwan is hove-to in a Mirror dingy in the Bay of Mexico, desperately buying up real estate in the Mississippi Delta and giving the two finger salute to the incoming hurricane”?
Do I win
[quote=“zeugmite”][quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“STOP_Ma”]
My point is that he keeps opening his mouth like this, the DPP will have wind behind their sails.[/quote]
what sails lol[/quote]
They don’t have sails, but they have a million or so hard-core TI/er slaves to row the kamikazi boat whenever Captain Chen stripteases.[/quote]
Really?
Well, we’ll see how far Ma gets in his little boat. If he makes it across the straights, methinks he will make quite a cabin boy.
[quote=“STOP_Ma”][quote=“zeugmite”][quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“STOP_Ma”]
My point is that he keeps opening his mouth like this, the DPP will have wind behind their sails.[/quote]
what sails lol[/quote]
They don’t have sails, but they have a million or so hard-core TI/er slaves to row the kamikazi boat whenever Captain Chen stripteases.[/quote]
Really?
Well, we’ll see how far Ma gets in his little boat. If he makes it across the straights, methinks he will make quite a cabin boy.[/quote]
Not if you stop him first…
Oh…, and good luck…
[quote=“TheGingerMan”]
Oh…, and good luck…[/quote]
If he gets into power, it’s “good luck” to Taiwan.