After a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck Hualien on Feb. 6, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrote a personal letter to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), stressing that Taiwan and Japan are “old friends” and that “Japan stands ready to provide any necessary assistance to Taiwan at this difficult time.” In addition, Abe also wrote a piece of calligraphy that read, “Taiwan, good luck,” which he posted on his official social media account to express Japan’s condolences and support.
Other countries also joined Japan in expressing their support and condolences to the government.
However, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) did not fail to take advantage of Taiwan’s difficult situation and chose to get in direct touch with Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) instead of contacting the national government. Zhang “reminded” Fu that, if necessary, China was willing to provide full support and would send a rescue team to Taiwan.
Such a hypocritical display of friendship from China only leaves one with a feeling of disgust, and there are three reasons for these feelings.
First, it was low to intentionally belittle Taiwan’s national sovereignty while it was suffering from a natural disaster.
According to international customs, regards should be paid by the leader of a country to the equivalent counterpart of another country, just as Japan’s prime minister expressed his condolences to Taiwan’s president.
Bypassing the president and the central government by directly getting in touch with local government officials does not express concern about the disaster in Taiwan, but rather about taking advantage of it for political maneuvering.
Second, Zhang should have called for humanitarian consideration rather than talking about the “sentiments of fellow compatriots.”
In the office’s statement, Zhang said that “the people on both sides [of the Taiwan Strait] are one family” and that “blood is thicker than water.”
International rescue missions should be based on human dignity, respect for human life and mutual care. Zhang does not need to make an issue of sharing the sentiments of “fellow compatriots.” Moreover, Taiwan is not a part of China, so Taiwanese are not his “fellow compatriots.”
Third, China used talk of a disaster rescue mission to intentionally throw mud at the Taiwanese government.
In an interview with Chinese-language China Times, Beijing Union University Institute of Taiwan Studies deputy director Li Zhenguang (李振廣) said that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should focus on rescuing victims of the natural disaster.
He then made a point of adding that, as cross-strait contacts have been suspended, direct contact with local governments in Taiwan is “the only solution when there is no other choice.”
There are communication problems precisely because China does not want to treat Taiwan as a country, and it has unilaterally ceased all official communications and exchanges between the two sides.
China’s actions serve explicit political purposes. It is shameless of China to say that “political issues should be put aside and left behind to be solved at a later date.”
In everything that Beijing does, political concerns are given the first priority, while the rights and interests of those living in China remain the least important. Does it really think that it can clean its dirty hands simply by selecting one person to talk big?
Politicizing a rescue mission and pushing its “united front” strategy, this is how low Beijing is sinking to implement its despicable “rescue politics.”
Chen Chi-nung is the principal of Nantou County’s Shuili Junior High School.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
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