Driven by the US, anti-terrorism has become the main issue at this year's APEC summit. This is not unreasonable, as the issue has been a serious problem for many APEC members. Since hijacked planes crashed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania two years ago, Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines have also been attacked. Images of wreckage and dead and injured people drenched in blood continue to haunt us.
Fortunately, Taiwan has been spared direct harm from terrorist attacks, but Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
pro-unification media. With next year's presidential election in their sights, these media outlets, which favor the joint Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-
People First Party (PFP) ticket, have apparently been trying to create the false impression that Lee holds a "one China" position in line with the pan-blue camp's platform. This is an attempt to influence middle-of-the-road voters and sow discord among supporters of President Chen Shui-bian's (
Since the APEC leaders' summit opened on Monday, the pro-unification media have been publishing groundless, unconfirmed reports about his remarks. First they misquoted Lee as saying that Taiwan should resume talks with China on the basis of the "1992 consensus." After Lee denied the reports, they immediately created another rumor that US President George W. Bush had told Lee that the US opposes the "one country on each side" dictum. All these reports are fictitious and just as ridiculous as the China Times front-page report earlier this month saying that the IMF had warned Taiwan about its government debt. That report was laughable, considering that Taiwan is not an IMF member. How could this UN-associated institution issue any warning about Taiwan's economic condition?
Still worse, these irresponsible reports were aired by pro-unification TV channels over and over again, forcing Lee to clarify an issue that threatened to whip up a major political storm back home. On top of this came the Chinese delegation's numerous activities aimed at suppressing Taiwan's status and visibility at the summit.
Faced with so many enemies, how could Lee possibly concentrate on defending Taiwan's rights at this international gathering and tackle APEC's unfair treatment of Taiwan -- including preventing the nation's head of state from attending the summit in person?
The pro-unification media have tried to besiege Lee with endless harassment and "terror" tactics. Is this not an obstruction of Taiwan's voice and visibility in the international community? Their actions are based solely on the electoral considerations of KMT and PFP candidates. They have put partisan interests above the nation's interests and seriously weakened the Taiwanese delegation's work at the summit. The people of Taiwan should strongly condemn such actions. They should also call for the media to stop harassing Taiwan's delegation.
In fact, the people of Taiwan should abandon these unprofessional media outlets. The sooner the better.
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