The Aegean region of Turkey was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake last Friday (30 May), and expressions of concern and condolences have been received from around the world. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later posted flags of various countries or international organizations on his official Twitter account to express his gratitude. However, the “blue sky and white sun flag” representing the flag of the Republic of China was subsequently deleted. Taiwan’s Executive Yuan President Su Tseng-chang criticized Beijing for reducing Taiwan’s international space and reiterated his commitment to continue to make humanitarian contributions as a member of the world family.
In response to Beijing’s pressure to force the Turkish president to remove the flag of the Republic of China from the thank-you posting, Executive Yuan Su stated that Taiwan, as a member of the world, would be the first to express its utmost concern over any misfortune that occurs anywhere in the world, and that Taiwan, as a member of the world family, is willing to contribute its goodwill.
In fact, it’s normal for countries to interact with each other,” Su said. It is only when we can stand on our own feet and work together that we will be able to preserve our place in the world.
In the past few days, the government has been promoting the idea of “humanitarian aid” as a way to help the people of Taiwan.
The reason for the change in this matter, which our representative office in Turkey has mastered, is because of Chinese interference and pressure,” Wu said. In the case of China’s actions, which have no political connotation, China has to interfere and suppress us to express regret and condemn China’s actions on humanitarian matters. However, as a nation founded on humanity, we in Taiwan will not retreat from China’s suppression of any place in need of assistance, and we in Taiwan will lend a helping hand to any place in Turkey, the Philippines, or Vietnam that needs assistance.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement expressing strong regret that international humanitarian cooperation is once again being politically interfered with.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that after the earthquake disaster in Izmir, Taiwan expressed its concern and condolences to the government and people of Turkey at the first instance out of the spirit of international humanitarian concern that people are hungry and others are drowning, but it was unreasonably suppressed by China, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condemnation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that it will not stop there and will continue to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the international community, including Turkey.
In addition, the legislators were concerned about the upcoming U.S. presidential election and how the government will respond to the changes, as well as whether Taiwan prefers to support the Republican candidate. Wu reiterated that Taiwan does not particularly support the Republican Party and that this stereotype is wrong.
In the past decade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has had a tradition of dealing with both the Republican and Democratic parties in parallel, and has maintained good relations with both sides. I think you can see from several examples that we have bipartisan support in the Congress, and no matter which bill is passed, it is always passed with an overwhelming majority of the members of the Congress, or even without dissent. So we have cross-party support, and we are not going to change what the Foreign Minister has been doing for a long time just because someone has a stereotype.
For the U.S. presidential election, Wu Zhao Xie said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has many assessments, one of which is that the U.S. will be plunged into a longer period of uncertainty after the election, and that China may have inappropriate ideas and use its military to threaten Taiwan.
But Wu emphasized that, sure or not, he believes that the U.S. military deployment in the region is the same as it has been in the past, or even strengthened, to avoid China’s use of force abroad.
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