The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that it never called Australians "moral cowards" but had urged the Australian government to be even-handed in dealing with relations between Taiwan and China.
In an article entitled "Taiwan calls us moral cowards" in yesterday's edition of the Australian daily, director-general of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Gary Lin (林松煥) was quoted as criticizing Australia for "lack of moral courage."
The quote "lack of moral courage" in the lead of the story, however, did not appear in any other context in the online version of the report.
Lin, who was interviewed by the Australian's China correspondent in Taipei on Thursday, was quoted as saying that Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer "was like British prime minister Neville Chamberlain prior to World War II who, by appeasing Hitler, had missed the chance to avoid war."
The paper said Lin criticized Australia's "one-sided" support of China and that such support could "hasten a war or even make a war possible."
"If Australia puts its weight behind the People's Republic of China [PRC], and the PRC feel they are assured they will not face any opposition when they invade Taiwan, in that case they will really start a war," Lin was quoted as saying.
Lin, in a telephone interview with the Taipei Times, yesterday stressed that he never used the word "cowards" and that the editors at the Australian had come up with the title of the report.
Saying that Australia needed to readjust its "one China" policy, Lin insisted that his comments were aimed at Australia's policy on China and Taiwan rather than at Downer personally for his recent comments which riled Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山).
Downer, during a visit to Beijing last month, spoke of a new strategic partnership between Australia and China extending beyond commercial interests and into the political sphere. Downer said Australia would not necessarily side with the US against China in support of Taiwan if hostilities broke out.
"Personally, I have nothing against Downer. He is an outstanding minister and I respect him," Lin said, adding he hoped Australia could adopt a more "reasonable, flexible and even-handed" approach in tackling cross-strait issues.
"It is the responsibility and duty of Australia, a democratic country, to urge China to change its mindset and tactics in dealing with Taiwan," Lin said. "Taiwan wants peace in the Taiwan Strait."
"It's not a troublemaker," he said.
He added that Australia should not support China in sabotaging Taiwan's relationship with diplomatic allies in the South Pacific.
Lin also told the Australian that Australia went too far last November by intervening on behalf of China and protesting against Kiribati's move to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
"You instructed your high commissioner in Kiribati to urge [President] Anote Tong not to establish relations with us," Lin said.
A spokesman for Downer told the Australian that "Australia has supported a `one China' policy since 1972 and it is a bipartisan position."
MOFA spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said Taiwan "wants to maintain smooth communication channels with Australia."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MARTIN WILLIAMS
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS