Originally posted by paperchicken:
[b]TAIWAN OUTBURST
BG Yeo 'saddened' by remarks
Says minister didn't have to use such strong language
TAIWAN need not agree with Singapore's views on the cross-strait
issue but there was no need for such strong comments, Foreign
Minister George Yeo has said.
Responding for the first time to controversial remarks by Taiwanese
Foreign Minister Mark Chen, Brigadier-General (NS) Yeo said that
Singapore and Taiwan are old friends who had a close relationship
and that the recent comments pained and saddened him.
'This recent intemperate outburst is a source of some pain and
sadness to us that it should come to this. We could disagree, but
there's no need for some of these extreme actions,' he said on
Saturday night.
'If it were a small matter, we could have just laughed it off. But
it is not a small matter the way some of the pro-independence
forces in Taiwan are pushing their way - this will have grave
consequences for the future.
'The reason we take an interest in this subject is we have an
overriding interest in peaceful cross-strait relations. If they
keep pushing, one day there will be war and the whole region will
be engulfed.'
He spoke to reporters at a Mid-Autumn Festival dinner organised by
the Kembangan-Punggol Citizens' Consultative Committee.
In a Sept 24 speech at the United Nations General Assembly, BG Yeo
had urged the international community not to 'allow the
deteriorating relationship across the Taiwan Strait to get out of
control'.
'The push towards independence by certain groups in Taiwan is most
dangerous, because it will lead to war with mainland China and drag
in other countries,' he said. 'At stake is the stability of the
entire Asia-Pacific region.'
Last Monday, in response to BG Yeo's remarks, Mr Chen sparked an
uproar in Taipei by calling Singapore a 'tiny country the size of a
piece of dried nasal mucus'.
Mr Chen also accused Singapore of currying favour with China, using
Hokkien expletive to make his point.
BG Yeo said he found Mr Chen's words 'a little strange', and that
while people who are not Hokkien or Teochew may not understand
their colourfulness, the fact that most Singaporeans are Hokkien
means 'we can relate to the words and phrases used'.
He said he was 'not so much offended' by it, and that his reaction
was 'more one of sorrow than of anger'.
BG Yeo stressed on Saturday that his speech at the UN reflected
Singapore's longstanding position, and was not new.
'Because we have a longstanding friendship with Taiwan, we wish
them well and we do not want them to have trouble. This is why as a
friend of Taiwan and as a friend of China, we take a clear position
on the subject of cross-strait relations.
'It is our own position. It is a position we have taken from the
beginning and we should continue to hold fast to it,' he said. --
Lim Ruey Yan
[/b]
if he's sadden and feels that the remarks are strange, maybe he
should consider hiring a new script writer before the next time he
is required to speak at the un again
