I didn't understand why Taiwan was giving the Philippines such a hard time over the incident where the Philippines killed a Taiwanese fisherman. Taiwan wasn't dealing with China. Taiwan could count on a friendly nation to resolve the issue without threats.
But this is some sanity:
The Philippines on Tuesday agreed to apologize for the fatal shooting last week of a fisherman from Taiwan by Filipino coast guard officers.
The agreement was announced hours before an ultimatum from Taiwan for an apology was due to expire at midnight.
Manila agreed to apologize, clarify the truth, punish those held responsible and start early negotiations with Taiwan on a fishery agreement.
Ahead of talks, Manila hasn't agreed to payments.
I suggest international arbitration to turn those Peking smiles into scowls. Precedent, baby.
And while the Taiwanese are feeling good about bullying the weak Philippines--who admittedly did wrong--can the Taiwanese really look at themselves in the mirror and say they'd stand up to China?
UPDATE: Are the Taiwanese freaking kidding?
The Taiwan government enacted the second stage of retaliatory measures toward the Philippine government to show dissatisfaction with their responses to Taiwan's demands over the Hung Shih-cheng fisherman shooting incident, yesterday.
Are they insane to pick a fight with the Philippines over this incident when the Taiwanese cringe and look busy when the mainlanders look their way?
And well the Taiwanese should be wary of China:
China is trying to strengthen its claim on tiny, uninhabited, Japanese-controlled islands by raising questions about the much larger Okinawa chain that is home to more than a million Japanese along with major U.S. military installations. The tactic, however, appears to have done little but harden Tokyo's stance.
Got it? Now China is wondering about Japan's ownership of Okinawa! Nothing within reach of China is apparently off limits.
Hey, fancy that, but Taiwan is within reach of China.
The Taiwanese have enough problems without alienating potential allies in war by creating a bigger crisis than this should be. Taiwan and the Philippines should be capable of resolving this dispute without raising it to the level of a crisis--and potential exchanges of fire--that spoils relations. Manila knows they screwed up. They did apologize. Build on that rather than escalate. Even if Taiwan gets Manila to grovel over this, I hope Taiwan doesn't need Manila any time in the near future to grant American forces basing privileges during a crisis between China and Taiwan.
Freaking dolts. Taipei just looks brutish, and loses an argument against China doing the same to them. It would be one thing if Taiwan had the military power to keep the Chinese from exploiting that double-standard, but Taiwan doesn't have that power.
UPDATE: Let me emphasize the stupidity of this:
Taiwan on Wednesday recalled its envoy to the Philippines, froze applications for work permits and ordered military exercises in waters between the two sides to press its demand for an apology for the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman.
I hope the Taiwanese are enjoying the Taiwanese template for dealing with weaker powers that China is watching and recording for dealing with Taiwan. Because Taiwan will play the role of the Philippines soon enough.
It's madness.
