16Aug
Posted by Felix on Aug16,2006,8:35 am| Category:
le journal |
Today, the biggest website in China has released the news that the US government appeared to "give up" Taiwan’s president Chen Shui-bian according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS). Is that so? Is Washington really going to abate its support for Mr. Chen? When I read more carefully, I found out that the news itself was merely a translated and inflammatory copy of some headlines of Taiwan’s newspaper.
So, here’s what I came out with, an article from the Taipei Times. This time, it had some quotes from the CRS report, "These political trends have raised anxieties about the possibility of a future political or constitutional crisis in Taiwan that could further complicate US policy" , after mentioning the notorious scandal of Chen’s family.
Now both of them, the news from PRC and TW, are suggesting that the CRS report was made in the wake of "recent" TW political developments, which means the scandals and its subsequence. But the copy of that CRS report I downloaded said that it was updated on January 24th, 2006, long before the scandals got burst out, which was around in the early May this year. And the line quoted by the Taipei times, was obvious not completed, which I think could lead to misunderstanding. The whole paragraph I got is :
Political trends in Taiwan have raised anxieties about its future and the implications for U.S. policy. Some are concerned that a continued emphasis on “Taiwan identity” may lead to ethnic polarization and conflict. Others are concerned about the implications that these trends have for a possible declaration of Taiwan independence, which Beijing has vowed to “pay any price” to prevent. In recent months, political developments in Taiwan appear to be causing the Bush Administration to dial back its earlier enthusiasm for supporting Taiwan. U.S. officials now appear to be balancing criticisms of the PRC military buildup opposite Taiwan with periodic cautions and warnings to the effect that U.S. support for Taiwan is not unconditional, but has limits. This issue brief tracking the situation in Taiwan will be updated as events warrant.

So, the so-called "recent" political developments were about the identiy and independence of Taiwan, not the scandals. Thus, things are getting confusing here. I admit that I haven’t gone through the whole CRS report, but as far as I read, it has no lines concerning the scandals. Is this a planned attack to Mr. Chen? Or just my mistake that fail to comprehend the whole story?
The relevant links are:
- Sina News
- Taipei Times
- CRS Report Download