Neither Side of the Strait Should Again Utilize the Incident of the Charter Flights to Breed Hatred

 Neither Side of the Strait Should Again Utilize the Incident of the Charter Flights to Breed Hatred

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

February 12, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

After the arrival of the first charter flight ferrying Taiwan residents from Wuhan, it ignited some discussions; the two sides of the Strait have initiated a verbal barrage, causing an indefinite delay of the second charter flight. At the same time, Wu Hsin-tai, a physician of deep Green “Taiwan Statebuilding Party” affiliation, in the name of "resolutely defending the bottom line of epidemic prevention", launched a co-sponsorship drive online, proposing that "only Taiwan citizens can board the charter flights" and two other appeals, with over 100,000 figures in the medical world joining the co-sponsorship drive. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) responded by saying that these three principles are identical to the current planning of the MAC and promising that it would "do even more." If really so, wouldn't it be a virtual pronouncement of a death sentence for the subsequent ferrying charter flights?

During this plateau of the epidemic situation, the Mainland's approach has been not allowing the participation of our personnel in the entire groundwork for operations of charter flights, only handling the matter by the Mainland side and figures of the Taiwan private sector, leading the distrust of Taiwan people on matters pertaining to quarantine procedures and priority boarding list of passengers.

For a policy decision that could obviously create a "win-win" situation, the two sides of the Strait, nevertheless engaged in mutual accusations, mutual witch hunting, and mutual demonizing; this is more impulsiveness than professionalism, politics more than epidemic prevention. Thus "inciting hatred", besides further reducing mutual confidence, it has left over a thousand Taiwan residents in a dire predicament, facing the threat of death, and leaving more members of the public to feel furious.  We urge the governments on both sides of the Straits to be more rational and to think more about the public!

Attachment : none