Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

In an interview, newly appointed National Security Council Deputy Director-General Arthur Iap (葉國興) said: “The current domestic situation is grim, the enemy is already in the country.”

Regardless of what Taiwan’s future looks like, and regardless of whether the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) salvages the situation, this statement will become a classic.

“When I hear the word ‘culture,’ that’s when I reach for my revolver.” So goes the mistranslated and often misattributed line from German playwright Hanna Johst’s Schlageter.

Although Hermann Goering might not have said it, it does fit his character or that of any dedicated, hardline pragmatist wary of being manipulated by “fancy words.”