AIR FORCE ONE

Shortly after his inauguration, while inspecting a brand new Boeing 737 destined for service as the ROC's own "Air Force One," Chen Shui-bian invoked a lame metaphor about how Taiwan was an airliner and A-Bian was a Chuck Yeager Pilot with the Right Stuff who would fly 23 million passengers safely to their destination.

A-Bian's risible attempt to do a Ronald Reagan Great Communicator number elicited no little amusement among opposition party legislators, who piled on with extended tongue in cheek airplane metaphors of their own.

In fact the most telling metaphor of all is that 23 million Chinese on Taiwan are nothing less than victims of an airline hijacking, and the Taiwan independence elite are their hijackers.

Citizens of the Republic of China have been dutifully paying taxes to the government of the Republic of China. Citizens of the Republic of China have been dutifully voting for candidates running for the office of President of the Republic of China. Citizens of the Republic of China paid good money for tickets on the understanding their seats were on a plane belonging to China Airlines, and their final destination, One China.

Little did they know that once aboard the air crew would suddenly remove their blue "China Airlines" uniforms to reveal green "Taiwan Airlines" uniforms underneath, and announce that "we have assumed control of the plane and shall be proceeding not to the destination indicated on your ticket, but to a new destination of our choosing. Next stop, Tokyo."

Or as mealy-mouthed DPP spokesmen have become proficient at "explaining" to incredulous ROC citizens, "Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country, its current name is the Republic of China."

Yeah, right. "And I'm Chow Yun Fat, internationally reknowned movie star from Hongkong, my current name is Bevin Chu."

As I said before, for 23 million hapless passengers of China Airlines Flight 2000, a hijacking is the only airplane metaphor that really resonates.

NINETY PERCENT OF TAIWANESE HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN CHEN SHUI-BIAN

On Friday September 22, 2000, on "Er Yi Lin Lin Quan Min Kai Jiang," or "21:00, The People Speak" the question for the evening was,

"Do you have confidence in the government of President Chen Shui-bian?"

Of the 10,814 viewers who called in, 1,000 or 9% said yes, 9,759 or 90% said no, and 55 or 1% had no opinion.

When A-Bian invoked his airliner analogy he was probably thinking Charleton Heston in "Airport." The ROC public on the other hand, was almost certainly thinking Peter Graves in "Airplane."

SEVENTY-FOUR PERCENT OF TAIWANESE SAY DPP SHOULD NOT REJECT REUNIFICATION

On Wednesday September 13, 2000 on "Ba Dian Da Xiao Seng," or "Big and Little Voices at 8:00," the question for the evening was,

"Should the DPP as the ruling party continue to reject reunification?"

Of the 6,654 viewers who called in, 1,760 or 26% said it should, while 4,894 or 74% said it shouldn't.

TAIWANESE 12 TIMES MORE SATISFIED WITH CHIANG CHING-KUO THAN WITH LEE TENG-HUI

On Friday September 1, 2000 on "Er Yi Lin Lin, Quan Min Kai Jiang" or "21:00, The People Speak," the question for the evening was,

"Chiang Ching-kuo, Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian: which of the last three presidents during the past 13 years are you the most satisfied with?"

Of the 10,993 viewers who called in, 8,662 or 79% answered Chiang Ching-kuo, 719 or 6% answered Lee Teng-hui, and 1,612 or 15% answered Chen Shui-bian.

These numbers are all the more astonishing considering "mainlander" Chiang Ching-kuo, whom Taiwan's quisling elite assures us was a ruthless dictator hated by all Taiwan Chinese, died twelve years ago, while "native Taiwanese" Lee Teng-hui, aka "Mr. Democracy" left office only four months ago.

So what happened?

Plenty. It didn't take long for "native Taiwanese" to figure out that while Lee Teng-hui might have been "one of us," so what? Lee Teng-hui was a Ferdinand Marcos crook who was robbing "us" blind. Chiang Ching-kuo on the other hand, while "from out of state" and an authoritarian to boot, was at least an honest authoritarian, a clean authoritarian, an uncorrupt authoritarian who genuinely cared about the well-being of the Taiwan people.

Score one for the Chinese people on Taiwan. Score zero for Taiwan's Quisling elite.

WHO STANDS IN THE WAY OF TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE? THE CHINESE PEOPLE ON TAIWAN

Poll results such as these are clearly devastating to the Taiwan independence elites' transparent fiction, disseminated uncritically by our "objective" western media, by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek magazine, that the ROC public "yearns for Taiwan independence" and considers itself "Taiwanese, not Chinese."

On-air polls are of course, as I have freely acknowledged, not "scientific." No matter. Results such as these are fully consistent with other more "official" gauges of public sentiment, not the least of which was the recent presidential election.

In fact the Taiwan independence elites' conduct, which drowns out their words, is proof positive they know perfectly well how the ROC majority feels about Taiwan independence.

That's why A-Bian campaigned the way he did, talking up his "New Centrist Path" and distancing himself from the DPP's pro independence party charter. That's why A-Bian solemnly promised, if elected, NOT to make the slightest move toward Taiwan independence. That's why the Taiwan independence elite sings one tune inside Taiwan to attract votes from a political center decidedly unenthusiastic about Taiwan independence, while singing a very different one outside Taiwan to perpetuate the false impression held by most westerners that the ROC public longs for an independent Republic of Taiwan.

VIRTUAL CHINA

Most American readers' reaction by now is, or ought to be, "There's got to be some mistake! This can't be right? Our mainstream media can't possibly be that wrong about Taiwan independence, can they?"

As libertarian anti-interventionists familiar with the real story behind Kosovo know, the answer is "No mistake. Our mainstream media has in fact gotten it exactly wrong."

As John C. Dvorak of PC Magazine, a techie with no political axe to grind, put it in a June 17, 1997 op-ed piece, "My Trip to China."

"China was not what I expected... Let me say this: our media is doing a crummy job of keeping us abreast of what's going on over there... Anyone who thinks this is anything like Russia or the Eastern bloc is as wrong in their assumptions as is imaginable. I would advise you to go see for yourself what's really going on."

Dvorak is being far too kind. Our academia/government/media establishment has treated the American public with the same casual contempt that Christoff, the Svengali-ish media mogul played by Ed Harris, treated his unwitting puppet Truman Burbank, played by Jim Carrey, in the 1998 SF hit, "The Truman Show."

THE ROC MILITARY VS. TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE

My father had to be hospitalized last week for an operation. He checked himself into a room at the Veterans' Hospital in Shilin. Both his roommates were diehard anti-communists, veterans of China's Civil War against Mao Zedong's PLA. I should have taped their remarks. They know who the real enemy of the Republic of China is, and weren't shy about sharing their views with anyone who would listen.

One hint: It ain't the PLA.

Just who is it that stands in the way of Taiwan independence?

Is it merely the ruling elite in Beijing? Is it "merely" 95% of 1.3 billion Chinese across the Taiwan Straits? Or is it every other officer, noncom and enlisted man in the Republic of China's armed forces on Taiwan?

Remember Mel Gibson's Scottish nationalist epic, "Braveheart?" Remember the scene where Irish troops unexpectedly defect from the ranks of Edward Longshank's English to join Braveheart's Scots?

Pro Taiwan independence "China experts" and strategic analysts who drone on in authoritative tones about relative troop strengths and armament specifications are utterly clueless about what might in fact happen if Taiwan's Quisling elite provokes open warfare between Chinese soldiers on Taiwan and Chinese soldiers on the mainland.

A-Bian on the other hand, knows this. That's why immediately after his inauguration he dutifully rushed to every last military academy graduation ceremony on the island, frantically waving red, white and blue Republic of China flags and shouting "Zhong hua min guo wan shui!" or "Long live the Republic of China!" at the top of his lungs until he was red in the face.

Let me tell you, pro reunification New Party, People First Party and Kuomintang Reform Faction members got some good belly laughs watching the pro independence A-Bian go through those motions!

Not that it did any good. The TAIEX just fell from a 52 week high of 10,393 to a new 52 week low, below the psychologically important 6500 support level.

Poor A-Bian. He can't understand why nobody believes him. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that four months after his inauguration he still can't bring himself to say three little words, could it?

"I... am... Chinese."

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Singapore's Straits Times is currently featuring a special webpage dedicated to Lee Kuan Yew's newly published autobiography, "From Third World to First."

If there is something else I can do that would enable my fellow Americans to better understand how the Chinese people feel about Taiwan independence, than to turn them on to Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore's superb newspaper, The Straits Times, I can't imagine what it would be.

Read especially the segments on "Relations with Taiwan's Leaders," "SM Lee, the go-between," and "Deng Xiaoping's China," by clicking on the pulldown menu.

An hour devoted to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's uncannily perceptive political insights is worth a hundred squandered on scribblings by China-hating "China experts" such as William Triplett and Edward Timperlake, authors of Year of the Rat and Red Dragon Rising.

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