Faleomavaega Dustup

By the looks of things, the folks at the Taipei Times don't need any of MY help, but a couple things in American congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavaega's letter to the editor caught my eye:

No name is attached to the editorial [which is critical of Mr. Faleomavaega], which suggests that either the author or your newspaper has its own political agenda.

A brief list of OTHER publications which print unattributed editorials:  the New York Times, the Washington Post, the National Review, the Wall Street Journal, and Taiwan's China Post.

Conspiracy theorists in congressmen's offices:  You may begin connecting the dots . . . now.

Faleomavaega also mentioned this:

. . . one might conclude that your newspaper stands in opposition to the will of your people [the Taiwanese], who voted in 2008 for a change in Administration and for a more honest government.  [emphasis added]

Heh.  The Taiwanese may indeed have voted for a government which they thought was more honest.  What they received however, was a president who is described (by his own media DEFENDERS) as a liar who would say anything to get elected.

By the by, I see from a recent post by Tim Maddog over at Taiwan Matters! that Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou's approval rating is currently floundering below the 30% mark, while his Chinese Nationalist Party colleagues in the legislature plumb the depths even further -- below 20%.

Let's be generous, and say Taiwan's legislative and presidential branches enjoy 20 and 30% approval ratings, respectively.  So, what was that you were saying about, "the will of the people," Mr. Faleomavaega?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE (Apr 5/09):  In Faleomavaega's latest letter, he parses the meanings of "vital" and "cornerstone".  No, really.

Oh, and he also says that the REAL problem with Taiwan and China is that "sensible people refuse to get along".  Odd then, that he doesn't say the same about West Papua and Indonesia.

UPDATE #2:  Some of Faleomavaega's Chinese Nationalist Party buddies deliberately misquote him.  From KMTNews.net:

[Faleomavaega] said in his article that the Formosa Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) and the Taipei Times had vilified and insulted the US House of Representatives.

In the interest of the truth, here's what Mr. F. actually said in his first letter:

Since my proposed changes were supported by all members of the Subcommittee as well as the Chairman and Ranking member of the full committee prior to the markup, are these Members of Congress also no friend of Taiwan? I do not believe so.

I don't see Faleomavaega accusing the Taipei Times of "vilifying and insulting" the U.S. House of Representatives.  What he DOES do is attempt to use reductio ad absurdum to negate the Times' argument that he's "no friend of Taiwan".

(At any rate, the Times points out that the reductio isn't terribly convincing: "Mr Faleomavaega’s claim that changes he made to the resolution had full backing from fellow committee members cannot be sustained in light of the reversal and, in substance, repudiation by committee members of the amendments on the floor of the House of Representatives . . .")

KMTNews.net also mentions this:

When granting an interview to CtiTV, Eni Faleomavaega said “FAPA and the Taipei Times have plotted to weaken the US’s “One China Policy” and instigate cross-Strait conflict, in the hope that the US would send troops to maintain peace. He emphasized that the TRA was not a platform for Taiwan independence, and that the US would not be tricked into supporting any such plots.

Plots?  A NEWSPAPER conspiring to start a WAR?  Is the good politician from American Samoa cracking up?  Or are his ideological soulmates in the KMT lying about him for their own political purposes?

Or is the answer a little bit of A, a little bit of B?

Comments

[Michael Turton]

What a complete idiot Eni F is. *sigh*

[Tim Maddog]

I hope you saw that both you and I were quoted on the ABCDEF Group ("Anybody But Congressional Delegate Eni Faleomavaega Group") blog in a post titled "Faleomavaega at War with Taiwan":
http://tinyurl.com/cvraan

Good info there about Faleomavaega's Samoan media connections and more.

[The Foreigner]

*
*
Thanks for the heads up on that. I saw the link at Michael Turton's site, but who knows if I'd have gotten around to checking it out if you hadn't mentioned it.