Taiwan, Philippine reconciliation looks dim
The Taiwanese are feeling cornered. By Manila raising their adherence to the “one-China policy” to address what Taiwanese investigators have now called the “murder” of a seaman in open waters, the Philippines has further ostrichised their previously amiable northern neighbour.
“After all, Taiwan is just a renegade province of the People’s Republic of China. With our ‘one-China policy,’ we do not consider it as a country,” an opinion piece recently read in the Philippine Star.
In rebuttal, reams of dual-language commentary have emerged on social media in defense of Taiwan, claiming that the Philippines has unfairly used their inherit high levels of English proficiency to goad the international community onto their side.
“Speaking better English doesn’t mean you can distort the truth,” one unverified source reads.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t tell everybody the true [sic] in English version like the Philippines. Now people in the world [sic] believe the Philippines,” a Taiwanese netizen lamented.
Clearly, at this rate neither side looks ready to cool off, despite hopes otherwise.
“We are waiting for the right time [to redress the issue] because I was told by the secretary-general for Asian affairs, we should wait for the temperature in Taiwan to cool,” Amadeo Perez, chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office said in an interview with DZMM radio, broadcast from in the Philippines.
“The Taiwanese are highly emotional and… the media in Taiwan is heating things up so tempers are running high.”
Straight-laced media aren’t the major culprits this time around, however. A cartoon image of the fishing boat that was gunned down by the Philippine coast guard last week has been making its rounds on social media, incensing Taiwanese with apocryphal pinpoints of bullet holes – reportedly amounting to about 50 times. (see picture)
The immediate recipients of Taiwan’s spiteful sanctions on the Philippines will be the Filipino workers currently on the island and those waiting to head there.
Statistics from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration show close to 30,000 Filipinos are hired as workers in Taiwan every year. The office of the Philippine President issued an advisory to the some 87,000 Filipinos working in Taipei on May 19 after an upsurge in attacks against overseas Filipino workers was reported.
“They have issued an advisory to our countrymen to limit their going out… They should avoid doing unnecessary things, in other words, to keep within their workplace and their homes,” Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson, said via state radio.
The US has asked for calm between the two allied nations, but the dynamic between them continues to bubble to a precarious point.
When asked if compensation should be given by the Philippines for the lose of the Taiwanese fisherman, an ethnic Chinese Filipino living in Taipei told Inside Investor: “The truth is that anyone with enough connections or money can get away with murder in the Philippines. How can the government pay up when the politicians themselves have already pocketed the nation’s money?”
[caption id="attachment_9269" align="alignleft" width="288"] Photo showing bullet holes of fisherman boat in Taiwan-Philippines incident. (Source: unconfirmed )Tempers are running high in Taiwan after the shooting.[/caption] The Taiwanese are feeling cornered. By Manila raising their adherence to the “one-China policy” to address what Taiwanese investigators have now called the “murder” of a seaman in open waters, the Philippines has further ostrichised their previously amiable northern neighbour. “After all, Taiwan is just a renegade province of the People's Republic of China. With our ‘one-China policy,’ we do not consider it as a country,” an opinion piece recently read in the Philippine Star....
The Taiwanese are feeling cornered. By Manila raising their adherence to the “one-China policy” to address what Taiwanese investigators have now called the “murder” of a seaman in open waters, the Philippines has further ostrichised their previously amiable northern neighbour.
“After all, Taiwan is just a renegade province of the People’s Republic of China. With our ‘one-China policy,’ we do not consider it as a country,” an opinion piece recently read in the Philippine Star.
In rebuttal, reams of dual-language commentary have emerged on social media in defense of Taiwan, claiming that the Philippines has unfairly used their inherit high levels of English proficiency to goad the international community onto their side.
“Speaking better English doesn’t mean you can distort the truth,” one unverified source reads.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t tell everybody the true [sic] in English version like the Philippines. Now people in the world [sic] believe the Philippines,” a Taiwanese netizen lamented.
Clearly, at this rate neither side looks ready to cool off, despite hopes otherwise.
“We are waiting for the right time [to redress the issue] because I was told by the secretary-general for Asian affairs, we should wait for the temperature in Taiwan to cool,” Amadeo Perez, chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office said in an interview with DZMM radio, broadcast from in the Philippines.
“The Taiwanese are highly emotional and… the media in Taiwan is heating things up so tempers are running high.”
Straight-laced media aren’t the major culprits this time around, however. A cartoon image of the fishing boat that was gunned down by the Philippine coast guard last week has been making its rounds on social media, incensing Taiwanese with apocryphal pinpoints of bullet holes – reportedly amounting to about 50 times. (see picture)
The immediate recipients of Taiwan’s spiteful sanctions on the Philippines will be the Filipino workers currently on the island and those waiting to head there.
Statistics from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration show close to 30,000 Filipinos are hired as workers in Taiwan every year. The office of the Philippine President issued an advisory to the some 87,000 Filipinos working in Taipei on May 19 after an upsurge in attacks against overseas Filipino workers was reported.
“They have issued an advisory to our countrymen to limit their going out… They should avoid doing unnecessary things, in other words, to keep within their workplace and their homes,” Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson, said via state radio.
The US has asked for calm between the two allied nations, but the dynamic between them continues to bubble to a precarious point.
When asked if compensation should be given by the Philippines for the lose of the Taiwanese fisherman, an ethnic Chinese Filipino living in Taipei told Inside Investor: “The truth is that anyone with enough connections or money can get away with murder in the Philippines. How can the government pay up when the politicians themselves have already pocketed the nation’s money?”
