今天的Washingtonpost 的記者John Pomfret在首頁以「Will the Communists Call President Ma "Mister"?」發表了一篇評論，其實在對照這兩天所看到的台灣媒體採訪陳雲林歷史性訪台的角度與方式，我真的無言以對，當大陸崛起已成事實，台灣在別人評論中只是小矮人，"Mister","You","President"都是可能發生的但重點是什麼！看看別人的評論或許就應該更認清事實與內化自己的實力才是正途，遍地開花的抗議最終還不是增加了你我所繳的稅款來支應員警的誤餐與超勤津貼，DPP也執政八年了，應該以更成熟的政策辯論來扮演反對黨，而不是………，茲摘錄原文如下：

The highest ranking delegation of Chinese officials to visit Taiwan arrived in Taipei on Monday. Chen Yunlin, Beijing's top negotiator on Taiwan affairs, is leading a 60-person delegation, in the first Taiwan-China negotiations ever on Taiwanese soil. No one more senior from China has come to Taiwan since the end of the civil war in 1949 (unless you count the Nationalist Party which fled the Communist takeover.)

These negotiations are hugely important and extremely symbolic. For China and Taiwan, they are tantamount to the US elections. While they are not going to usher in new governments, they could set in motion a new era of relations between China and Taiwan -- unless knuckleheads on Taiwan or China mess it up.

The negotiations are expected to result in some deals: an agreement on China and Taiwan's first direct air- and sea-cargo links, and a new air route that for the first time does not go through Hong Kong's airspace, cutting the journey from Taipei to Shanghai by more than an hour. This is important to Taiwan because for years the absence of such direct links with China cut Taiwan out of some parts of the global supply chain. And with the direct links it will, as the Economist has said, "make it easier for the 1 million Taiwanese businessmen in China to come home to spend their money."

But as is often the case with talks like these the real proof of their success will be the atmospherics.

How will the Chinese negotiators react? Will China be smart and give Taiwan some 'face' or continue to deny that the island of 23 million has a legitimate (and democractically) elected government? And will Taiwan's independence extremists succeed in once again ruining the prospect for better ties with China as they push an agenda that is actually hurting the cause of Taiwan's independence?

The key question for China is simple: What is Chen Yunlin going to call Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou when he meets him on Thursday? If he address him as 'president,' that would be enormously significant because it would underscore the fact that China at least recognizes that Taiwan is more than a province. It would give huge "face" to Taiwan.

If Chen calls him "mister," however, it would be tantamount to a rude slap in the face

My guess? The two sides will probably work something out so that Ma enters the room first announced as "the president of the Republic of China." Chen will enter second; so he can pretend that he didn't hear. And then Chen will call him 'you.' This will bomb in Taiwan, however. I really hope I'm wrong.

The reason that I am not that optimistic that the Chinese will act like good guests and call Ma 'president,' is because in general the PRC is a lousy winner. Right now, its position -- its military, its economy and its geopolitical heft -- dwarfs that of Taiwan. So why not give a little? Call Ma 'president.' The reason is that China is run by a group of nine guys -- on the standing committee of the Politburo. If any of these characters suggested that China back off of its global full-court press to limit Taiwan's influence by addressing Ma Ying-jeou as 'president,' that official -- and all the thousands of people who work for him and rely on him for patronage -- would be weakened. China's leadership is run by men (and they are 99.99 male) who are paranoid of being seen as too conciliatory. They basically don't understand that in order to improve ties with Taiwan, China will need to woo not just Taiwan's business class but its people. China's failure to see this limits the Communists' wiggle room on issues like these. The Chinese government will justify its failure to break any ground with Taiwan by cloaking itself in its "principled" stand. And Chen will return to Beijing with a few new deals but nothing else.

Now for the Taiwanese independence activists. Since Ma was inaugurated, there have been a number of protests against Ma and his moderate stand on China. Most recently on Oct. 25, 600,000 turned out against Ma. In late October, a Taiwanese legislator and six associates helped beat up a Chinese official, Zhang Mingqing, who was holding initial talks in Taiwan about Chen's visit.

What are they planning for Chen? Tsai Ing-wen, the chairman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, has said protesters will dog Chen throughout his visit to Taiwan. I must say Tsai's new-found populism is disappointing but pretty predictable and it shows Taiwan's independence movement to be as sclerotic as China's politburo. Why? Well, if you look at Taiwan's situation honestly, the only way actually to ensure its continued existence as a government separate from China, is to improve ties with China. That's what Ma is trying to do. Why would Tsai and her people want to stop it? The only reason I can determine is that they want to create a crisis because only in a crisis do their politics have any traction among most of Taiwan's people.