What have they got against the Mexicans? Two years ago the unfolding H1N1 epidemic revealed a streak of anti-Mexican racism within the Beijing foreign policy bureaucracy, but it takes much less to encourage Taiwan's politicians to show themselves as arrogant haters of things Mexican.
All the politicians needed was a survey in Foreign Policy magazine that ranked Taipei City as No. 34 among the world's most favorable urban sites, a fall of six point from last year's No. 39 slot. A mayoral election is coming up, so the out-of-power (and likely to remain that way: Taipei citizens vote the party, not the policy) DPP blamed the slide on the current mayor's performance. "The ranking of Taipei City fell from 34th to 39th," he said. "Mexico City, on the other hand, was ranked 30th," he quickly added. What does he have against Mexico City that he seems to naturally expect it to rank lower than it did, and certainly far lower than Taipei City? There's an unavoidable hint of anti-Mexican bias, wouldn't you agree?
But wait, there's more! The current KMT mayor, Bu-Hau Lung-been (himself a member of an elite class), responded to these horrendous charges with fury at having Taipei compared with Mexico City. He identified as "ignorant" his opponent's campaign tactic of "belittling Taipei City's performance as inferior to other cities (ahem, Mexico City)." He went on to point out that Taipei ranked higher than Shanghai, Seoul and Beijing. Why would he assume that surpassing these three Asian cities would be better than surpassing Mexico City?
The only answer, beside the obvious that the "we're not racist" Chinese/Taiwanese truly are racist, is that our local politicians are at best guilty of unfounded arrogance.
News Source: "Presidential Office's Lo Slams DPP Candidates" in Taipei Times, August 20, 2010; p. 3.
All the politicians needed was a survey in Foreign Policy magazine that ranked Taipei City as No. 34 among the world's most favorable urban sites, a fall of six point from last year's No. 39 slot. A mayoral election is coming up, so the out-of-power (and likely to remain that way: Taipei citizens vote the party, not the policy) DPP blamed the slide on the current mayor's performance. "The ranking of Taipei City fell from 34th to 39th," he said. "Mexico City, on the other hand, was ranked 30th," he quickly added. What does he have against Mexico City that he seems to naturally expect it to rank lower than it did, and certainly far lower than Taipei City? There's an unavoidable hint of anti-Mexican bias, wouldn't you agree?
But wait, there's more! The current KMT mayor, Bu-Hau Lung-been (himself a member of an elite class), responded to these horrendous charges with fury at having Taipei compared with Mexico City. He identified as "ignorant" his opponent's campaign tactic of "belittling Taipei City's performance as inferior to other cities (ahem, Mexico City)." He went on to point out that Taipei ranked higher than Shanghai, Seoul and Beijing. Why would he assume that surpassing these three Asian cities would be better than surpassing Mexico City?
The only answer, beside the obvious that the "we're not racist" Chinese/Taiwanese truly are racist, is that our local politicians are at best guilty of unfounded arrogance.
News Source: "Presidential Office's Lo Slams DPP Candidates" in Taipei Times, August 20, 2010; p. 3.
Comments