UN Secretary General Kofi Annan took a fresh jab at US President George W. Bush yesterday, in a clear sign that world opinion was still far from making peace with the war in Iraq.
Annan opened this year's annual debate of world leaders at the UN by criticizing Bush's plan to deliver democracy to Iraq through force in a pointed speech aimed at underlining the importance of the rule of law.
"Those who seek to bestow legitimacy must themselves embody it, and those who invoke international law must themselves submit to it," Annan said, according to his prepared remarks.
"In Iraq, we see civilians massacred in cold blood while relief workers, journalists and other non-combatants are taken hostage and put to death in the most barbarous fashion," he said.
"At the same time, we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused," he said, drawing a parallel between the Iraq bloodshed and the prisoner scandal in a way destined to irk Bush, who was to due to speak after Annan.
Annan has labored for a year to heal the deep divisions over the war that brought down former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, and his wide-ranging address referred to the catastrophe in Sudan, the ongoing Middle East conflict and Russia's hostage tragedy.
But the UN chief, who just last week called the war "illegal," also dropped repeated hints about what he has called Bush's unilateral decision to invade Iraq against the grain of international opinion.
"It is the law, including Security Council resolutions, which offers the best foundation for resolving prolonged conflicts -- in the Middle East, in Iraq and around the world," he said.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
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CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
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