Taipei insults peace-lovers
Outside the US, people that have the education, the intellectual capacity and sufficient access to information to build an informed opinion on what is going on and the moral substance to care about human values understand that the US invasion of Iraq is not about bringing freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people or to curb proliferation of weapons off mass destruction.
Many people within the US share this view. It is those people who actually stand for the values of democracy, freedom and reason, while their government only pretends to promote those values to cover a much more sinister agenda.
Taiwan is in a difficult international situation. It is somehow understandable that the Taiwanese government still sees a safer perspective in sticking with the world's mightiest power, however aggressive and anti-democratic this power might have turned out recently.
But to denounce one of the major achievements of mankind following the disastrous World War II -- the international law trying to establish a framework for peace and development -- as merely "UN bureaucracy" whose policy-making process ties up the hands of the US is irresponsible and ridiculous.
And while the government's attitude is formed on the base of the calculation of benefit in terms of military security, to denounce the opponents of this war as following blind (a word which implies that they are uninformed and stupid) opposition of war is an insult to all peace-loving people in Taiwan and abroad. It is a personal insult.
Torsten Nohl
Fengyuan
Neglected in times of need
The world, specifically Asia, has suffered the mysterious severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Saving lives should have no boundary and no nationality.
The people in Taiwan have always been productive in terms of international relief and rescue effort. However, for many past years, the health benefits and the basic human rights and respect of Taiwanese have been neglected and forgotten by the WHO. The WHO has refused to allow Taiwan to become a member of this organization due to political pressure. Even when Taiwan suffered a severe earthquake on Sept. 21, 2001, the WHO was not active or helpful in terms of the effort and medical support.
It is likely that there has been an outbreak of a form of atypical pneumonia, probably severe acute respiratory symptom, or SARS. China obviously delayed the report and the news of this serious illness, not Taiwan. The depiction Taiwan as "Taiwan, China" in the WHO's report (http://www.who.int/disease-outbreak-news/n1998/jun/n16june1998.html) did not reflect the true nature and the true geography of the news. Not just Taiwanese, but even Americans and Europeans would understand the differences between Taiwan and China.
The WHO report's biased and poor choice of words has become an insult. The organization's principle should be free from the bounds of politics and diplomacy. If such spirit and honor still exist, the staff should change the derogatory term of "Taiwan, China" into the factual term, Taiwan, or the ROC to demonstrate such honor.
Spencer Huang
Taiwan
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