The Philippine government’s estimate for the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan stands at approximately 2,500 dead, although non-official estimates have placed the death toll nearer 10,000. The lack of food and clean water in the hardest-hit areas are another serious problem.
Looting was observed on the day after the typhoon hit, and although there is some truth in suspicions that this theft was due to opportunism, the need for food and water supplies was also a major factor.
Disaster victims interviewed stressed the immediacy of their need for relief. The past few days have seen the public security situation on the streets of disaster areas very much in flux, with intermittent flare-ups of gunbattles between police and civilians.
INTERNATIONAL AID
International aid continues to arrive in the Philippines; Taiwan has dispatched several C-130 Hercules tactical airlift planes and the Japan Self Defense Force has sent a 1,000-strong relief team to help in post-disaster efforts, along with Ise-class ships carrying US Air Force MV-22 Osprey helicopters to help in the relief operation.
The USS George Washington, cutting short its stay there, has led a fleet of vessels out of Hong Kong Harbor bound for the Philippines and laden with relief supplies.
The UK and Australia have also sent disaster relief.
The Philippines is an archipelagic nation. The north and the south of the country differ greatly. The north is predominantly Catholic, heavily influenced by its Spanish colonial past.
The south is predominantly Muslim, and consists of scattered islands and islets with forested areas, and uneven economic development.
INSURGENCY
For many years there has been an insurgency in the south seeking independence from the national government in Manila.
After much effort and help from Japan, in August 2011, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front laid down their arms and signed a peace agreement with Manila in Tokyo, which allowed for the establishment of a “state-within-a-state” highly autonomous zone.
However, the government is still fighting the Maoist New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and the NPA has been ambushing government convoys transporting relief supplies for typhoon victims.
The ability of the Philippine government to handle the situation is a source of concern. Even disregarding the endemic corruption, it does not have sufficient resources to guarantee the safe transport of disaster relief into the hands of those who need it.
UPRISING?
If the situation drags on, there is a danger that the frustration and desperation of the disaster victims will erupt into an uprising.
If this does happen, all political progress made after many years of hard work may well be lost, and it will be back to the drawing board.
A fragmented Philippines in the east of the South China sea will not be in the interests of its regional neighbors.
Given this, and despite the previous tensions between Taiwan and the Philippines over the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine Coast Guard personnel, it is important that Taiwan helps the Philippines, and that the government sends emergency relief to the victims of this latest disaster, if not for humanitarian reasons, then for our mutual strategic interests.
HoonTing is a commentator in Taipei.
Translated by Paul Cooper
Chinese agents often target Taiwanese officials who are motivated by financial gain rather than ideology, while people who are found guilty of spying face lenient punishments in Taiwan, a researcher said on Tuesday. While the law says that foreign agents can be sentenced to death, people who are convicted of spying for Beijing often serve less than nine months in prison because Taiwan does not formally recognize China as a foreign nation, Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said. Many officials and military personnel sell information to China believing it to be of little value, unaware that
Before 1945, the most widely spoken language in Taiwan was Tai-gi (also known as Taiwanese, Taiwanese Hokkien or Hoklo). However, due to almost a century of language repression policies, many Taiwanese believe that Tai-gi is at risk of disappearing. To understand this crisis, I interviewed academics and activists about Taiwan’s history of language repression, the major challenges of revitalizing Tai-gi and their policy recommendations. Although Taiwanese were pressured to speak Japanese when Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, most managed to keep their heritage languages alive in their homes. However, starting in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enacted martial law
“Si ambulat loquitur tetrissitatque sicut anas, anas est” is, in customary international law, the three-part test of anatine ambulation, articulation and tetrissitation. And it is essential to Taiwan’s existence. Apocryphally, it can be traced as far back as Suetonius (蘇埃托尼烏斯) in late first-century Rome. Alas, Suetonius was only talking about ducks (anas). But this self-evident principle was codified as a four-part test at the Montevideo Convention in 1934, to which the United States is a party. Article One: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government;
The central bank and the US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a joint statement that both sides agreed to avoid currency manipulation and the use of exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage, and would only intervene in foreign-exchange markets to combat excess volatility and disorderly movements. The central bank also agreed to disclose its foreign-exchange intervention amounts quarterly rather than every six months, starting from next month. It emphasized that the joint statement is unrelated to tariff negotiations between Taipei and Washington, and that the US never requested the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar during the
RSS