Beijing's war games

This is in response to the Reuter's Beijing report entitled Beijing sends message to Taiwan with missile tests, which appeared on page 5 of The Jakarta Post Aug. 15, 1995.

Mr. Mark O'Neill, the correspondent who filed the report, seemed to be agreeable to, if not applauding, what Beijing has been doing in trying to bring its "little brother", across the Taiwan Straits, to its knees. Judging from the fact that he didn't mention a single word about the negative effects of the tests on the Global Village in which we all live, and the fact that he quoted, at length, what the Chinese official and one western diplomat had to say -- Taiwan stands alone in the dispute; there is no concern of others.

Mr. Mark O'Neill's warning, and others looking at the issue from the side-lines, has been voiced by a Filipino senator, Senator Blas Ople, vice chairman of the foreign relations committee, on Aug. 11, 1995. The warning is that Southeast Asia might be dragged into a potential conflict between China and Taiwan as tensions between the two escalated over China's missile tests. He called on the Philippine government to convene a meeting for top defense and foreign officials, to assess the political and economic impact of such a conflict on the country. And on the same day, U.S. State Department Spokesman David Johnson said the missile test "does not contribute to peace and stability in the area."

The Global Village in which we live is becoming smaller and smaller. A small fire, if not put out quickly, will spread to your residence in no time. Just look at how the refugees of war or hunger in one country moved to the ones near-by, or even far away, in the past decade. They are still moving and struggling. Can you say their fate and their plights are not the concern of others?

While former South Africa and Israel had been isolated because of apartheid and historical disputes with Arab states, ROC on Taiwan's diplomatic isolation in the international community today, results merely from its refusal over the decades to accept communism, which is considered by many as dead or dying. Is ROC on Taiwan's unbending stance losing its touch? Don't the 21 million people on Taiwan deserve some moral support from the international community?

If the international community still stands idly by and lets Beijing continuously play its war games, the peace and security of our Village will be put in serious jeopardy in the years to come. The war games should be stopped.

DAVID Y.S.TZOU

Information Director

Taipei Economic & Trade

Office, Jakarta