Empty rhetoric, bluffs and lies were abound when President Ma Ying-jeou discussed his policy in a recent video conference with Harvard University faculty and students. Obviously, Ma was attempting to win international support to try to reverse the decline in his approval ratings. However, since Ma has failed to convince his own people, how could he fool those well-trained foreign experts? In terms of economy, Ma told the Harvard audience that his administration has successfully led Taiwan out of the latest economic downturn. But the fact is that even if Taiwan achieves 4.72 percent economic growth this year as projected by Ma, the performance would still be the worst among the 'four little dragons' in Asia. The unemployment rate of 5.7 percent recorded in February, meanwhile, is the highest among the four. Ma also said that 'agreeing to disagree on 'one China'' has been a principle of his China policy. However, over the past two years, we have only seen Ma fawn over Beijing and honor the People's Republic of China as the legitimate heir of 'one China.' He has seldom dared to show any hint of 'agreeing to disagree.' On the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, Ma said that only by signing the trade pact will Taiwan prevent itself from being marginalized and increase the likelihood of forging similar agreements with other countries. The fact is: Begging for China's patronage to help Taiwan seal free trade agreements with other countries is as foolish as hoping the sun will rise in the west. (April 8, 2010) 