So, How's He Doin'?

Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou, I mean.  On his election promises.  Or to narrow things down, why don't we examine just ONE of those promises he made in particular...

If elected next year, Ma said he would not allow China to demand that the country cover national flags . . . during cross-strait exchange events in Taiwan.  [emphasis added]

 

This Monday one of those cross-strait exchange events started rolling, when Chen Yunlin, the chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) flew into Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for a little visit.  And Taiwanese who took CANDIDATE Ma at his word were in for a rude surprise when they met with police under orders from now-PRESIDENT Ma:

Police stationed themselves along the route between the [airport] and the Grand Hotel in Taipei, setting up a number of checkpoints . . .  Several vehicles decorated with Republic of China [Taiwanese] flags . . . were not allowed to enter the airport.  [emphasis added]

But PRESIDENT Ma was just getting warmed up:

When former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taoyuan County councilor Wu Pao-yu (吳寶玉) entered the arrival hall at 8:50am waving an ROC flag, police officers immediately asked Wu to put the flag in her bag.

“The national flag is our county’s flag. Please tell me why I can’t carry a national flag in my country. Give me a reason,” Wu said.

Police officers later removed her from the arrival hall.  [emphasis added]

But surely these were isolated incidents?

Several people waving national flags on a bridge above the freeway in Linkou (林口), Taipei County, when Chen’s motorcade passed the area were robbed of their flags by police officers.  [emphasis added]

Hmm, I think I'm beginning to notice a pattern here . . .

[Sun Chun-chien, a taxi-driver in Taipei] said that although taxicabs bearing the Taiwanese flag on their taxi lights on the roof usually line up in front of the Jiantan MRT station — in close proximity to [the hotel where the Chinese envoy was staying] — yesterday police asked them to leave.  [emphasis added]

Now, what was that promise again that Chinese Nationalist Party candidate Ma Ying-jeou made BEFORE he became Taiwan's president?

If elected next year, Ma said he would not allow China to demand that the country cover national flags . . . during cross-strait exchange events in Taiwan.

So . . . how's he doin'?

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UPDATE:  Jeez, and how could I have forgotten this one:  Taiwan's Grand Hotel Removes ROC Flags for Communist Bigwig.

Comments

[David on Formosa]

I feel like the police have gone insane. They are acting like the Red Guards. We need not fear a Chinese invasion because our very own police are showing themselves as perfectly capable of working for the CCP.

[STOP Ma]

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No one could have predicted this!!!
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[The Foreigner]

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Heh. I'm going to assume you're being ironic, STOP Ma.

I figured he would break his promise. But not so spectacularly.

[STOP Ma]

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Sarcastic. Yes.

Surprised? No.
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[Adrian Wainer]

A bloody disgrace, there is a word for this type of activity in Europe, it is called collaborationism and whilst it might be fine with the likes of Petainists and other fellow travellers with Nazis, Fascists, Communists and Islamofascists, Churchill gave his answer to it, when he ordered the French fleet be sunk by the Royal Navy.

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

[Adrian Wainer]

Any similarity between Verner Von Braun and President Ma Ying-jeou is entirely realistic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer