Anyone familiar with the British antiwar protests before the invasion of Iraq last year is likely to have come across the phrase "Make tea, not war" and a placard showing a gun-wielding Tony Blair with an inverted teacup on his head.
Taiwan's defence ministry has an interesting twist on the theme and, according to Reuters, is asking the island's population to drink less tea to allow it to "afford" a £10bn defence package from the US. What the ministry, facing threats from opposition MPs to block the purchase, is trying to get across is that the package is not as expensive as it sounds. What it actually says, above a colourful cartoon picturing a boy holding a giant plastic cup of tea next to photographs of a submarine, Patriot missiles and military jets, is: "We can buy top-notch equipment to protect our country [if] everyone drinks one less pearl milk tea every week."
Whether the Pentagon will adopt the tactic and ask Americans to swap Starbucks for Star Wars remains to be seen.
