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.
SOLIDARITY: A group of European lawmakers condemned China’s aggressive moves, while the foreign minister of Lithuania said Taiwan ‘cannot become a second Ukraine’ A German parliamentary delegation would visit Taiwan in the first week of October, German lawmaker Holger Becker on Monday told visiting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Fan Yun (范雲) and Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) at the Bundestag in Berlin. Asked by Fan whether he is worried about possible reprisals from Beijing, such as banning him and his family from entering China, Becker said he is more interested in visiting Taiwan, as “now is the time for democracies to stand together.” Fan and Lin also met with German officials to exchange views on digital education and governance. Investing in digital infrastructure and protecting equal rights to
As China waged extensive military exercises off Taiwan, a group of US defense experts in Washington was focused on their own simulation of an eventual — but for now entirely hypothetical — US-China war over the nation. The unofficial what-if game is being conducted on the fifth floor of an office building not far from the White House, and it posits a US military response to a Chinese invasion in 2026. Even though the participants bring a US perspective, they are finding that a US-Taiwan victory, if there is one, could come at a huge cost. “The results are showing that under
DRILLS CONTINUE: China’s creation of a restricted zone across the median line of the Taiwan Strait challenges a 70-year-old fact, a ministry of defense official said The nation’s military fully complies with international rules and guidelines when responding to Chinese military drills, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, vowing to continue defending Taiwan in accordance with international law. China on Thursday launched four days of military drills around Taiwan proper in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. The drills were expected to end on Sunday, but neither Beijing nor Taipei confirmed their conclusion, although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it had seen some evidence suggesting at least a partial drawdown. However, China yesterday said the drills would continue, saying “the
A senior Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman has prompted a storm of ridicule online, after a late-night post in which she used restaurant listings to assert Beijing’s claim over Taiwan. “Baidu Maps show that there are 38 Shandong dumpling restaurants and 67 Shanxi noodle restaurants in Taipei,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) posted on Twitter late on Sunday. “Palates don’t cheat. #Taiwan has always been a part of China. The long lost child will eventually return home,” she added. Hua’s post came at the end of a week of tensions around the Taiwan Strait, during which Beijing raged at a
RSS