The newsfeeds about Taiwan for the past day or so include these doozies (marked with X's). Behind the asterisks, I've added comments, pointed out the lies, and even noted when some truth found its way into the articles:

X The Times of India has a very short article with the deceptive headline "China and Taiwan bury the hatchet," saying in the body that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the KMT "are set to formally declare the end of hostilities."

* I think they mean "China and the KMT want to 'bury the[ir] hatchet[s]' in the heads of the people of Taiwan."

* Lien Chan, speaking at Peking (Beijing) University on Friday, berated the Taiwanese by saying they were letting "mín cuì," or "populism" (I suspect that they mean "cult of personality") "take the place of democracy," thus indicating his disdain for them, as well as reinforcing his desire to ignore the will of the 23 million people of Taiwan, and further revealing what an ignorant elitist he is. Does he forget that it's because of the KMT that Taiwan is still filled with portraits of Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen? And does Lien forget about his own rallies after losing the presidential election last year?

X Another Indian paper, The Hindu, has a headline reading "China set to formally declare end of hostilities with Taiwan."

* It would be slightly more feasible for China to unilaterally end its bellicosity. They could easily do that without Lien Chan.

* Is the premise of the above headline believeable? If we were talking about an alternate universe, it might be, but we're not, so it isn't. If you keep repeating "one China policy," you'll be less likely to fall into their trap. Lien Chan isn't that smart.

X South Africa's SABC News slightly reduces the distance from the truth with an article bearing the headline "China Communists, Taiwan KMT set to end hostilities," going on to say that the CCP and the KMT "are likely to end decades of hostilities at a historic meeting between their current leaders in Beijing tomorrow. Lien Chan, chairman of the KMT, or Nationalist Party, flew to Beijing on Thursday to a red-carpet greeting and bouquet-waving children chanting "Welcome, welcome".

* The editorial cartoon in today's Taipei Times portrays Lien's welcome in China a little differently.

* And remember the Taiwanese Presidential election last year? Lien Chan lost, but that hasn't stopped him from imagining and behaving as if he had won. If he signs anything, it may not be valid, and he may go to jail -- if Chen Shui-bian has the balls to uphold the law.

* The SABC News article names the Taiwan-based, pro-China United Daily News as one of its sources of "positive news."

X Jianwei Wang, in an Asia Times piece titled "Chen could be Taiwan's Nixon," editorializes that Chen Shui-bian would be "much less vulnerable [than either Lien Chang or James Soong] to the accusation of 'selling out' Taiwan's interest to the Chinese communists" because "[c]ompared with the pan-blue leaders, Chen does not have the historical baggage related to the mainland."

* Wang is either dissembling or doesn't have a freaking clue (perhaps both) about how Chen's supporters would feel about such a thing. They're already feeling rather disappointed at Chen's non-response to the recent and upcoming visits to China by political opposition leaders.

X The Los Angeles Times (reg req'd) has an article titled "China Tries New Tactic With Taiwan."

* If by "new" they mean "the same old tricks," then they're right. If they mean by plying Lien Chan with cuddly pandas in order to destroy Taiwan from within, it's just more out in the open than it previously was. (See the post about the supposed "Secret meeting" between the KMT and the CCP, earlier on this blog.)

X ABC News has one with the headline "China, Taiwan Mustn't Upset Status Quo, Says Lien," adding that "China said Thursday that it wished to establish a relationship with Chen's Democratic Progressive Party."

* Leaving out the word "dominant" before "relationship" sure sounds nicer, doesn't it?

* Which status quo might Lien be referring to, hmmm? Is it the one in 1996, when China fired missiles in an attempt to intimidate Taiwan's voters? Is it the one in 2000 when there were fewer than 500 missiles aimed at Taiwan? Or is it the current and ever-changing status quo which has over 700 missiles aimed at us, a recently passed so-called "anti-secession" law threatening Taiwan with "non-peaceful means" of preventing Taiwan from "act[ing] under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan's secession from [the People's Republic of] China" -- a country to which Taiwan does not now nor has ever belonged?

* The article contains these gems, but buries them in paragraphs 18 - 20 out of 23 paragraphs:

"Beijing is just throwing us some candies in exchange for Lien Chan kissing up to them," said Hsu Chung-cheng, a 23-year old computer engineer.

Joseph Wu, chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, acknowledged that China's overtures would put international pressure on Taiwan. Although the offers looked reasonable, he said, they were designed to make Taiwan accept Chinese control.

"Opposition parties' leaders shaking hands with Beijing officials create the impression that Beijing has ended its hostility to Taiwan," Wu said. "But Beijing is actually aiming more and more missiles at us and building more and more submarines."

That's just about all the bullshit I can stand for the time being.

COMING UP: More on Lien Chan's evil speech: "Taiwan, How do I hate thee?" Let Maddog count Lien's multitudinous motherfuckin' ways.