Is it just me or is only speaking English during their entire press conference a giant slap to the face of President Chen Shuibian? 
(Since he couldnāt do the same without help.)
Will this aid them in spreading international doubt/outrage and pressure, then, eventually, the Presidency?
Any thoughts?
My feeling is that theyāre beginning to realize that they are being perceived abroad as inciting mob rule, so are trying to put a bit of foreign correspondent-friendly spin on the situation.
Damage control, it looks to me. Same old shit, different language.
Is there a transript of that press conference yet?
I havenāt seen a transcript yet. If I had prepared my VCR, I might have been the first to have the transcript online for the world to see.
But I didnāt! 
Next time, be prepared.
[quote=ājwarā]Is it just me or is only speaking English during their entire press conference a giant slap to the face of President Chen Shuibian? (Since he couldnāt do the same without help.)
Will this aid them in spreading international doubt/outrage and pressure, then, eventually, the Presidency?
Any thoughts?[/quote]
No cause their answers sounded dodgy and their whole logic from fayned assisination attempts to do the right thing for Taiwan, to Lien swearing he did not say that 180,000 people who were put on duty on the weekend so could not vote, to saying the people protesting outisde the presidentās office had nothing to do with him and were beyond his controlā¦
They also side stepped direct questions and had to be asked again for answersā¦ then when tehy did they kept reiterating points on a past questions epsically on the supposed 180K that could not voteā¦ at the end they said it was not the number that was important but the fact people could not vote cause of the heightened state of alert
I think this is a possibly valid point of protest.
And I reiterate, I am no fan of the KMT. But I am a big fan of the rule of law.
Unless I am mistaken, and I admit that I very well may be, in the event that a state of emergency is called whereby military and or police are put on duty, elections are supposed to be postponed until the state of emergency is lifted.
If it was decided that the state of emergency was not such that the election should be postponed, then the police and military should not have been put on special duty. If the state of emergency was such that the police and or military should have been put on special duty, then the election should have been postponed.
I heard that the police/military were given two hours time in which to vote. That may be sufficient time for police, who live where they work, to vote. But, any military personnel put on special duty would not likely have been able to take advantage of two hours to go and vote if they are stationed away from the place where their household is registered.
Again, maybe I am misunderstanding the situation and or the rules regarding states of emergency. But, if I have stated these both correctly, then I do think that this is a valid point of protest.
Can anyone explain why I might be in error on this point?
Good point, tigerman. This should be looked into.
Lien said that the election was not valid(doesnāt count), need to immediatly recount the votes and publicly examine the wound by Chen Shui Bian.
A reporter ask if election doesnāt count and the recount results ended up being in favor of Lien Chan would he insist on having the election results becoming invalid still. Couldnāt remember what he said but it was probably not a good answer. It really puts him in a hole.
Itās looking like Lien really needs a way to get out of this mess. Most voters that voted for him are really disgusted with this. He is putting the ball into Chen Shui Bianās court by asking for a meeting with him.
I donāt think they had fully thought out the implications of that dichotomy when they announced it. Or perhaps they never expected it would come to anything anyway and announced them both on the āitās a shame to waste good materialā theory 
The deputy military chief has already come out and said that this is all complete bollocks.
According to a press conference he held today, 13,000 military personnel were on duty during the election, which, given the situation with China and its past record during Taiwanese elections, is rather small. And this number was not because of a so-called `special protocalā but was the normal amount of personnel on active duty during election time.
If soldiers couldnāt vote, then its the fault of this arcane household registration nonesense, but you didnāt see the gruesome twosome complain about this before the election, did you?
Lien/Soong are yesterdayās men who realize that their time is up. The only way they can stay in the game is by bluffing. Unfortunalty it seems as if the international media are believing their lies. That James Soong told the press that he wants (and I quote the English he used) āThe truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truthā is verging on satire. Here is a man who has built his fortune and his career on lies and misinformation. You want the truth Jimbo? YOU CANāT HANDLE THE TRUTH.
Apologizes to Jack Nicolson
(edited because I spelt big Jackās name wrong)
Jack Nicholson. H.
[quote=ājwarā]Is it just me or is only speaking English during their entire press conference a giant slap to the face of President Chen
Shuibian? (Since he couldnāt do the same without help.)
Will this aid them in spreading international doubt/outrage and pressure, then, eventually, the Presidency?
Any thoughts?[/quote]
Lien and Soong are both American educated, and their fair-to-good English gives them an advantage over Chen Shuibian in international forums. Annette Lu also speaks good English, but she does tend to shoot her mouth off. Presumably that is why the DPP government is having the Presidentās interpreter Hsiao Bi-khim (Xiao Meiqin čē¾ē“) talk to the foreign press.
Annette Lu - the woman with the bullet-proof kneecap
p.s. Lee Teng-Hui speaks English too, but with a Japanese accent.
State of emergency, El Tigre? Where did you get that from? There wasnāt any state of emergency declared! Chen and the pan-green camp deliberately downplayed the attempted assassination to prevent it having a destabilising effect on society. All they did was raise the national security alert (which is normal on election day anyway).
Itās Wang Jin-pyng and the pan-blue camp who are calling for a state of emergency to be declared, to make the situation look much more dangerous and out of control than it actually is. That, of course, would be the excuse that Beijing is looking for to intervene, which may or may not be what the losers of the election are hoping for.
Iām rather surprised, El Tigre. Youāre usually much more precise about your facts and far more on the ball than that.
[quote=āOmniloquaciousā]State of emergency, El Tigre? Where did you get that from? There wasnāt any state of emergency declared! Chen and the pan-green camp deliberately downplayed the attempted assassination to prevent it having a destabilising effect on society. All they did was raise the national security alert (which is normal on election day anyway).
Itās Wang Jin-pyng and the pan-blue camp who are calling for a state of emergency to be declared, to make the situation look much more dangerous and out of control than it actually is. That, of course, would be the excuse that Beijing is looking for to intervene, which may or may not be what the losers of the election are hoping for.
Iām rather surprised, El Tigre. Youāre usually much more precise about your facts and far more on the ball than that.[/quote]
I did indicate that I might very well be mistaken as to these facts. I merely wanted some clarification. You, however, are speculating as to the hopes of the KMT losers in connection with this matter.
You got that bit right, El Tigre!
You got that bit right, El Tigre!
[/quote]
Yes. I am no fan at all of the KMT. Never have been.
I just heard something about ādid you hear Chenās concession of the recount today? amazing!ā
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat happened? When? Where? Online yet?
Chen basically gave the Blues what they wanted, but said it had to be done according to law, something that the Blues canāt seem to wait for. Being KMT has always meant the law was applicable to themselves only in as much as it did not interfere with their power.
The post-election strategy of the KMT is as dismal as its campaign was.
The intl media say: āBut a greater source of pressure on the government TO HAVE A RECOUNT FRIDAY was the conspicuous silence of the United States in acknowledging Mr. Chen as the winner of a second four-year term.ā
So was the USA exerting behind the scenes pressure on Chen? Who and where?
