Asia-Pacific News
Taiwan's vice president demands apology from CNN
Mar 6, 2007, 16:47 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan's Vice President Annette Lu, angry at being called 'insane' and 'scum of the nation' in a CNN broadcast quoting an attack by China, demanded an apology Tuesday and indicated she may seek damages.
'The vice president is shocked that CNN reported her running for president using the headline Taiwan's 'scum of the nation' runs for president. She finds it a big insult to herself, who was elected by the Taiwan people, and to Taiwan people's dignity,' Lu's office said.
'To make CNN live up to the public expectation of CNN's news coverage standards (and) to safeguard Taiwan's dignity, the vice president expects CNN to make a formal apology to herself and the Taiwan people and to make necessary amendment, and does not rule out seeking damages.'
Lu's office issued the statement late Tuesday. By then, CNN had changed its headline to 'Lu seeks to be first Taiwan woman president.'
Lu, 63, a former dissident and lawmaker, angered China by openly declaring that Taiwan and China are two countries and condemned China's missile threats against Taiwan as terrorism, prompting China to brand her 'scum of the nation.'
Foreign news agencies have already reported this, but she has not protested before.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Title or not, the UP reporter and the CNN editor were referring Lu as 'Scum of the nation'. and I think this is an insult to most Taiwanese who elected her twice to the vice-presidency. How insane the title was, quite a scum of the press!
Yes, the headline writer for CNN should hang in a Chinese communist prison for a while to see how it feels. Meanwhile, Min Lee, the AP reporter, also should stay in mainland commie china and see how he likes life there. AP has egg on its face, CCN has disgraced itself. the person who wrote the CNN headline should be canned. today.
Who's ''insane''? Well, for one, the leadership of China. They are
mental midgets, control freaks, communist bullies. The entire world
knows this.
Certainly, Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu is not insane. She is just
outspoken, feisty and a good target for the Chinese communists in
Beijing.
When Premier Su Tseng-chang criticized some elements of the foreign
media for using old 2002 quotes from communist China's control freaks
that insulted Vice President Annette Lu when CNN ran a questionable
headline on its news crawl, he was only partly right. 'China uses
words to insult and humiliate our leaders. If foreign media quote
these words, it is very unfair and very wrong,' Su said.
But China used those words way back in 2002 and the Associated Press
reporter who wrote the current story was just reporting what had been
said earlier. Neither CNN nor the AP were trying to insult Lu.
However, the way the two news agencies handled the matter in the
beginning was not very professional. But the criticism should not be
directed at the foreign media agencies. No, the criticism must remain
focussed on the bullies in China who use language carelessly when it
suits their goals.
Later, when Lu said that 'many foreign reporters were sent over from
Beijing or Hong Kong [and] their thinking totally reflects the
thinking of Beijing authorities, and their reports have seriously
damaged our national image,' she was only partly right. True, the AP
reporter Min Lee did fly over from Hong Kong to write her story, but
she is not in the pay of the communists in China; she works for a
prestigious international news agency, and her work has always been
completely professional.
As readers with good memories will remember, Lu has angered China over
the years by openly declaring that Taiwan and China are two countries,
in addition to saying in 2002 that China's missile threats against
Taiwan amounted to a form of 'terrorism', prompting China's so-called
Taiwan ''expert'' Liu Jiayan to call Lu the ''scum of the nation' in a
silly propaganda article.
It is true! This woman is the scum of the nation.
I agree, Lu is a scum of the nation. She's a criminal. She's shameless. She just wanted to create some headlines for herself now that she's running for local election. She's been given that name for years now. Did she ever care in the past? It's all because of her political goal. For those people who claim the leadership in China is insane? Be careful with your language. If you think other people should act in a professional way, learn to behave yourself first. Have you lived in China? Are you Chinese? Don't be fooled by Taiwanese propaganda.
The woman is indeed a scum of Taiwan. Look what she has done in the past. She deserves the title!
Whether you think she is 'scum' is irrelevant, that depends on political views. The point is that it is very unprofessional for CNN to use this kind of headline. This type of 'PRC-centric' view has no place for a true International media. What next? Label Dalai Lama as separatist scum? Label jailed Chinese freedom fighters as unpatriotic thrash? Label Japanese as little Jap Devil?
There is nothing wrong with quoting Chinese Communist government's view. As a rising power with heavy economical pull, its views must be reported accurately because they do affect world events. However, the media should never let itself become mouthpiece of any particular power, Chinese or not.
Whether or not vice president Lu is a scum; whether or not one stands with her. Insulting a county's leader with foul phrases is unforgivable.
I think Anneth Lu forget her family name that spell she is a chinese. Nobody insulted her.She also forget that her ancestor come from china.She speak and write MANDARINE.She should wake up now before its too late.Insanity can invite catastrope.May god guide her to walk in the right PATH.
I THINK ITS A BIG DEAL
page: 1
JayMar 7th, 2007 - 02:43:48
It seems to me she's not protesting for their reporting that China called her 'scum of the nation.' It's the headline that she's protesting. 'Taiwan's 'scum of the nation' runs for president' doesn't tell us that was a name used by China, it only tells us that some piece of trash is running for president. At first sight, anyone could reasonably have thought it was referring to some criminal.
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