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Editorial: Jittery lawmakers calmed

The imminence of a US-Iraq war is of course a matter of great concern for Taiwan as a member of the international community. But, frankly speaking, this country has neither the place nor the chance to play any direct or indirect role in such a war. So, despite the government's repeated support for the US position, Taiwan wasn't included in the list of 30 countries openly supporting the war that was released by the US on Tuesday. The government has received no request for aid of any form from the US. But this changed overnight and Taiwan has never been this close, literally speaking, to the center of the war, or so some think.

This is all thanks to the actions of three stooges: local TV station CTI, which has exalted Qatar-based al-Jazeera station as the "Arab CNN," and has exchanged licenses to air news broadcasts; an overenthusiastic spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Richard Shih (石瑞琦), and a group of lawmakers who consider all people who are either Middle Eastern or Muslim as possible terrorists. If tensions were not as high as they are, this trio would be considered good comedy.

Of course, nothing that CTI has done is illegal. After all this is a country where a high level of press and speech freedom are tolerated. But, above and beyond the law, which is only the minimum standard of conduct, there is something called ethics, in particular in the journalism field, that calls for self discipline. Al-Jazeera is a controversial station that has done a long list of controversial things, such as repeatedly airing video and audio tapes in which Osama bin Laden called on the Muslims to attack Americans and praised the terrorists who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attacks. Under the circumstances, some would seriously question the propriety and even wisdom of CTI's partnership with al-Jazeera.

At the very least, CTI should have enough common sense and decency not to deliver to al-Jazeera a videotape of Shih echoing the US demand that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein exile himself within 48 hours. As a result, the tape was reportedly aired every 30 minutes on al-Jazeera. Years ago, a local Chinese-language newspaper obtained an exclusive license to publish some translated excerpts from the controversial book Satanic Verses, but decided not to do so in the end in fear of provoking militant Muslim groups. Unfortunately, that kind of professional self-discipline has not been seen at CTI at all.

Shih has gone too far. While the government and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) himself have reiterated support for the US' Iraq policy, they have not only placed stress on their hope for peace and on their anti-terrorism stance, but also have avoided directly jumping into the verbal fight during their talks the way Shih did. As the ministry spokesperson, Shih seriously breached his duty when he went outside of the scope of the official position of the government. The evasiveness of both Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) and Shih when confronted by lawmakers about the slip-up only made matters worse.

While one can never be too cautious when faced with the threat of terrorism, the over-reaction of the lawmakers has been most amusing as well. They acted as if doomsday has arrived. Hopefully, the fact that yesterday the US made public a list of countries supporting its war against Iraq somewhat calmed their nerves, because they now know that these countries are now much higher on terrorists' hit lists than this nation.
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