Taiwan accused China yesterday of exploiting its misfortune in trying to assert sovereignty over the island and accused Beijing of slowing international aid efforts by political meddling.
"Their words and deeds violate international humanitarian principles ... and will be condemned and regarded with shame and regret by the international community," Foreign Minister Jason Hu said, referring to Beijing.
Taipei has thanked Beijing for its offers of aid, but has chafed at reports that it was expecting foreign countries to seek its blessing when dispatching emergency relief on the grounds that Taiwan was a province under Chinese sovereignty.
"In many cases this delayed foreign rescuers in carrying out their relief work in Taiwan," Hu said.
Taiwan's Red Cross urged international donors to contact Taipei directly -- not Beijing -- if they wanted to help.
Mainland Affairs Council deputy chairman Sheu Ke-sheng said China was "making political gestures at the expense of one country's disaster" and added: "This is extremely inappropriate."
Meanwhile, political commentators here said that while China is trying hard to "politicize" international humanitarian aid to Taiwan in the aftermath of earthquake, Taipei should seize the opportunity to help transform cross-strait relations.
Following the killer quake early Tuesday morning, Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
However, China's goodwill gesture was replaced by a series of attempts to push its "one-China policy" among the international community during the past few days.
First came China's political meddling at the UN, which had delayed sending a relief mission to Taiwan while waiting for "permission" from China.
The UN's Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva reportedly decided to send a six-member team to help with relief efforts only after close consultation with China.
To make matters worse, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent his sympathies to the people of the "Taiwan province of China."
China's Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇) also took advantage of an opportunity during a UN meeting on Sept. 22 to promote its position that Taiwan is a part of China by expressing gratitude for international humanitarian aid "on behalf of the Taiwan people."
In addition, China's Red Cross chapter asked other international chapters to "consult" with it before they decided to offer help to quake-stricken Taiwan, and a Russian earthquake relief mission en route to Taiwan was forced to make a lengthy detour over Siberia because China refused to allow the Russian plane carrying the team to pass through its airspace.
In response to China's actions, Foreign Minister Jason Hu (
"Their behavior has violated international humanitarian principles," Hu said. "Such actions won't be accepted by the people of Taiwan, and they will be condemned by members of the international community."
Hu also criticized the way Annan worded his letter and said he filed a letter of protest with the UN.
Although some members of the international press, legislators and students have also protested against China's recent statements and actions, observers acknowledge that criticism is unlikely to come from official authorities of foreign countries.
"There is no question which issues are more important, humanitarian or political considerations. But yet don't expect any strong attacks from any official authorities, which have chosen to stick to the `one-China' policy," David Chou (
Although the Straits Exchange Foundation politely rebuffed China's offer to send medical teams to help relief efforts here, Taiwan is prepared to accept China's offer of US$100,000, sources said.
In view of the government's prudence in accepting aid from China, political commentators said yesterday that a friendly response from Taiwan might help transform its image as a troublemaker on cross-strait issues.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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