An independence activist once said that China will never disappoint us (independence proponents) because it would always trigger the Taiwanese people's abhorrence at the crucial juncture. Looking at China's disparaging and vicious treatment of this country over the years, one has to say that he was a prophet.
Distant instances range from China's moves to fire missiles into the seas near Taiwan in military exercises, to then premier Zhu Rongji's (朱鎔基) saber-rattling to threaten voters in the run up to the 2000 presidential election. Such behavior not only disgusted the people here but also resulted in strong countereffects.
In the wake of the 921 earthquake, what China did is a fine example of requiting kindness with ingratitude, completely forgetting how Taiwan had enthu-siastically made donations to help its flood-relief efforts earlier. When journalists later asked flood victims whether they had received donations from abroad, they said they had never heard of any and only got a box of cookies. Journalists then realized that Beijing had imposed a news blackout on the donations from Taiwan and Hong Kong and that the money had been embezzled by cadres at various levels.
After the 921 earthquake, China required countries that wanted to send personnel to help Taiwan to first get its approval. It even denied the use of its air space to a Russian plane, with a rescue team and relief supplies on board, headed for Taiwan. This disgusting bullying manner simply repelled the Taiwanese people.
Four years on, has China changed its attitude? Has it learned the lesson? Not a bit. As SARS has spread from filthy China to nearly the whole world and Taiwan has seen a rising number of SARS cases, Beijing even required the World Health Organization (WHO) to get its ratification before dispatching personnel to investigate SARS situation here.
In addition to reiterating its platitude that Taiwan is part of China, Beijing aims to cheat the international community into believing that China is capable of "taking care of" Taiwan's medical health.
This is as ridiculous as India boasting that it has the ability to resolve the health problems of England and the US. When the SARS outbreak had just started, China forbade the WHO from putting Taiwan on its list of reported SARS cases, wholeheartedly aiming to turn this country's SARS problem into a part of "China's internal affairs." This move politicized the SARS issue.
When the SARS outbreak had just surfaced in early March, one of China's airlines wanted to provide Taiwan with the passenger list for a plane suspected of having carried a SARS patient, but it was unexpectedly barred from doing so by China's Civil Aviation Administration. What a shitty government!
This is not the end of China's folly. KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has said he will visit Bei-jing if he is elected president next year. To everyone's surprise, Chi-nese government officials were stupid enough to say that they "welcome anyone to come and visit under the precondition of the `one China' principle." That response got Lien into hot water because it almost confirms President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) ridicule of Lien's plan as a "voyage of surrender."
Now many countries feel uneasy to see that Taiwan is fighting the SARS epidemic in isolation and they have proposed to make the country a member of the WHO. China, as usual, spares no efforts to oppose the plan.
Apparently, this plague cannot waken China. The fact that Taiwan is moving farther and farther away from China is driven by its imbecility.
Pu Ta-chung is chief editorial writer of Apple Daily, where this article first appeared.
Translated by Jackie Lin
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to