"Singapore's the size of a booger"
Just something to distract you guys from the elections for a while.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040928/1/3neoa.html
Quote:
Taiwan Foreign Minister Chen Tan-sun has sparked an outcry after he derisively described Singapore as "a country the size of a booger", officials said.
Chen was responding to comments from Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, who had told the UN General Assembly that an independence drive by certain Taiwan groups would lead to war with mainland China.
An angry Chen, an advocate of the island's independence drive, fired a salvo at Yeo while meeting dozens of independence activists at the foreign ministry Monday.
"Even a country the size of a booger brazenly criticized Taiwan and former president Lee Teng-hui in the United Nations," Chen said in Taiwanese dialect.
"It was nothing but an effort to embrace China's 'balls', forgive me using such a word," Chen said.
"What he (Yeo) said was to try to please China."
The remarks drew widespread criticism, with critics warning that ties with Singapore could be damaged.
"It is improper to term another country as a 'booger' (US slang for dried nasal mucus)," said Chen Chien-ming, a parliamentarian from the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which is allied to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party..
"If necessary, he should apologize to the Singapore government."
Government spokesman Chen Chi-mai said he could understand Chen's frustration at Taiwan's 12th failed bid to join the UN "but the comparison is not proper".
Beijing replaced Taipei in the UN in 1971 and has blocked attempts by Taipei to join the world body.
Despite diplomatic links with Beijing and its support for a "one China" policy, Singapore has been operating three military training camps in Taiwan.
China was infuriated after Singapore's then-deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Taiwan in July.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification -- by force if necessary. The two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
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I thought it reflected really badly on Taiwan that the Foreign Minister uses this kind of language . It would not do them any favour in the international arena, even though it's true that Singapore is really really small in terms of land mass.
However, the thing that is most interesting is the reply of Singapore's Foreign Minister. I think it took a lot of restraint to say:
"resorting to intemperate language cannot assuage these concerns." If this happened in the West, the response would surely be a lot harsher than this. |
