no comment

Ma mixes up nation’s West African

Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) once again demonstrated his gift for the gaffe yesterday, raising a laugh during his welcome of the foreign minister of Sao Tome and Principe and his wife at the Presidential Office.

In his welcoming speech, Ma hailed Foreign Minister of Sao Tome and Principe Carlos Alberto Pires Tiny as coming from another of Taiwan’s West African allies, Burkina Faso. The blunder drew a round of laughter before Ma realized his mistake and corrected himself.

In a bid to avoid further embarrassment for the president, the Presidential Office asked the media not to report the faux pas ...

VftH therefore passes "no comment"

[But the Taipei Times article goes on to list a whole range of Ma's foot-in-mouth disease since his May 2000 assumption of the role of Mr.]

And it has always been a mystery where Ma got his reputation for good English. After all, on May 20th 2008, his very first day in office, he had himself inaugurated as 12th president of the ROC. Or maybe he's just bad at mathematics.