Go back whence you came!

KMT vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kun returned from China Friday night and was met at the airport by throngs of protesters screaming that he had "sold out Taiwan."

Contrast this fact with Xinhua's interpretation that things went "smoothly." The opening sentence of the article is a whole mess of lies:

The Kuomintang (KMT) delegation has completed all its tasks for the mainland journey, smoothly, said KMT Vice President Chiang Pin-kung at the airport, when he and other members of the delegation arrived at the Taoyuan International Airport, in Taipei, Friday evening.

Actually, things were not going very "smoothly" for the KMT Friday night. (Even the China Post mentions the protesters amidst its own lies.)

What's in a name?
Just as people do with airports whose locations are outside of the metropolitan areas after which they're named, most Taiwanese will say that the airport is in "Taipei," when it's actually in Taoyuan -- but not when mentioning the correct location in the same sentence.

Why does Xinhua do it here? It's probably because the real name of the airport is the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport.

Having illegally signed a "10-point consensus" with Chinese officials, those involved in this incident may now be facing criminal charges. We'll have to wait and see if the Chen Shui-bian government deals with this situation in a quick and appropriate manner.

Legal, Sméagol
Despite the fact that the preciousssss "consensus" will not have a legal basis in Taiwan, too much news coverage of the trip (especially from China, but even in Taiwan) falsely gives the impression that the KMT -- and China -- are doing something "good." [Here's an ugly example under two equally bad headlines.] Every news report that fails to mention this in the context of the March 26, 2005 Rally for Democracy, Peace, and the Protection of Taiwan fails to tell a huge part of the story.

The British Guardian Unlimited is fortunately one of the ones that gets it:

Applying the old adage "my enemy's enemy is my friend", Beijing's attempt to forge closer relations with the opposition Kuomintang party appears to be aimed at weakening the position of the Taiwanese president, Chen Shui-bian.

The only reason Taiwan's media doesn't get it is that they're owned and controlled by the pan-blues.

Going back to the China Post article above, let's take a look at some of the pan-blue media collaboration:

[A]n opinion poll by Taiwan's private ERA cable news network found 52 percent of 987 respondents believed the KMT visit had helped to soothe tensions.

Only 36 percent thought the trip was unhelpful, according to the survey.

"Private" like FoxNews. Ha! The pan-blues have infamously quoted a survey done by Era News as "evidence" that President Chen Shui-bian staged the election-eve assassination attempt on himself and V-P Annette Lu and that this was the key to winning the election. (See "Shooting down 'Bulletgate'" links in the sidebar for more on that subject.)

Lest we forget this
I also wonder if those who support the KMT's activities recall that in the old days, their constant motto was "You can never believe what China says." Look at them now, all lovey-dovey.

Look who else is "welcome"
Xinhua has also reported that People First Party chairman and crybaby sore loser vice-presidential candidate James Soong "is welcome to visit the mainland at a proper time." I'll tell ya what -- he's already not welcome here. If he goes to China, he won't like the kind of reception he'll get upon his return. Feh!