Chen's ridiculous Trip Again

Chen Shui-bian, the president of Taiwan, is going to have holidays again! This time he is going to visit Palau and Nauru, two small countries in the Pacific, and he will detour to Guam on his way back. I can't help but think this trip is more like an island holiday than an official visit, and he is indeed an island hopper! Let's put it this way, since he is having a difficult time in Taiwan, why not go out to breath the fresh air and enjoy the warm sun at the beach. I guess he will come back tanned and relaxed!

I wonder how much money he is about to waste this time. What scares me more is that almost every time he goes out, it causes great damage to Taiwan's diplomatic relationships with other countries. The latest example is his visit to Central America in May this year. Because of his insistence on stopping over either in New York or Los Angles, he annoyed the U.S. first and then spent more time and money to complete the journey. Without offering any information or press release to the public of Taiwan, we absolutely had no ideas where our president was. We only knew that he took the most ridiculous westbound itinerary to fly from Taiwan to Central America. Even the journalists on that plan had no ideas where they were. I have no idea how those government officials deal with Taiwan's diplomatic policy. This ridiculous journey doesn't contribute to the positive image of Taiwan but brings about negative effects.

True, a month later, Republic of Chad decided to cease the diplomatic relationship with Taiwan. There is no direct link between these two events. However, Chen's ridiculous and childish behaviour and decision irritated Beijing government. Giving pressure to Taiwan is never a difficult task for China, and all they need to do is to offer better deals to Chad. Logically, Chad immediately welcomes Beijing government as her new dear friend. Moreover, according the local news, our friends in Central America are not as loyal to us as before. China, who has already increased her great political and economic capital to date, can offer better deals to these countries. As a result, Chen's trip, as he always called as 'official visit to establish concrete and fruitful friendship with our friends', did not achieve what he had planned but failed in an ugly sense. Worse than that, as a president, he never admits his failure to the mission but always blames China for suppressing Taiwan's pathetic diplomatic situation. Does Chen really think that everyone in Taiwan is as naive as he? We all have eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to feel. As a Taiwanese myself, of course I blame China for trying to suppress Taiwan in the international affairs. But I do know that it is never this simple. If we can use our brain to think before we act, we may get a better result in a less harmful way.

How sad! The latest news reported the same old story again. Chen is trying to use his old tricks to go to the U.S. He is really naive to propose that he will be flying to Guam, the territory of the U.S., in our Airforce One. Of course, you don't need to guess what the U.S. government says. So he said he would use this Airforce one to Palau, and then China Airlines would provide two other aircrafts to fly him to the rest of the destinations. Why make the whole issue so complicated? Who is going to pay the fuel for empty flights? Us! My tax will be used to pay for his ridiculous decision. Another local news says that recently Taiwan just helped the national airliner of Nauru purchase their only plane, and our president is going there for this special reason. Is this necessary? In other words, we are trying to keep the friendship by providing money to them. Here is my question: can we really establish a friendship by the use of money? I believe a grade 2 student can give you an answer. How could our government officials be so innocent? Is this how we deal with diplomatic policy in Taiwan? This is truly pathetic. It seems they are taking diplomatic policy as a game, and this is irresponsible.

I can imagine this now. After this trip, if another issue appears, such as losing diplomatic relationships with other countries, our dear president would say 'it is China's fault'. It is never his fault. He will say that with his lovely tanned skin and relaxed attitude. After all, he is a great leader who suffers from vicious attacks of the opposite parties. He deserves a nice holiday at the beach with a glass of pina colada. The most important is he will be the first president of Taiwan to fly to our friends in our national Airforce one. That is truly a milestone. Because of his great efforts, we will all remember that, and this trip really has its 'diplomatic and historic meaning'. Let's cheer for him!