【Second Opinion】No, You Can’t Swim to Taiwan （Mark Simon）
不少香港抗爭者試圖前往台灣尋求庇護。
The Washington Post ran a story earlier this week about the twe
lve democracy activists caught by the Chinese Coast Guard trying to leave Hong Kong in late August. The base details of the escape are correct. The young activists came together out of desperation, trained themselves to operate a small boat, spent weeks getting ready, and then they got caught.
To read the story in the Washington Post one would think this was an adventure by brave young activists worthy of a movie. Yes, the activists are quite brave, and it probably was an adventure. Yet there is one glaring problem. It didn’t work. Not only did it not work, but at every turn there were fatal mistakes that should not be celebrated, but rather cautioned against. Worse, rather than showing the effort the disaster was, the Post story actually encourages future tries.
The Washington Post claims that the Taiwanese are undertaking a nod and a wink policy to people who arrive in Taiwan by any means.Somewhere, the Washington Post found an idiot who is encouraging young kids from Hong Kong to get into a boat and brave rough seas, as well as the most surveilled waters in the world, to reach Taiwan. It is false for the Post to portray their source as speaking on behalf of the government. If anybody wants to double check, please call the Foreign Ministry or the Office of the President, and ask if they think boat trips from Hong Kong are a good idea.
I know I’m burying the lede here.But after speaking with a Taiwanese official about a speech given in the US by a senior State Department official on the future relationship of the US and Taiwan, I mentioned the Post piece. As soon as he finished reading the Washington Post piece he called me back with a Taiwanese National Security official to get it clearly out. Please do not risk your life on open waters. Taiwan has not sent back any democracy activists to Hong Kong and neither of the two sees it ever happening. But if some political jackass is telling people that the Taiwan government thinks it’s just fine for you to come by boat to Taiwan, then that’s incorrect. These were two serious men, who know the dangers of a trip by sea.
There is no doubt if you are an activist and you can make it to Taiwan, the Taiwanese will help you. The same message they gave me weeks ago and today is the same message they gave student leader Sunny Cheung, who made public his talks with the Taiwan government on asylum for Hong Kong activists, Taiwan will help.
Yet, be sure, nobody said, get in a small boat, risk your life, risk capture by the Chinese, to get to Taiwan. That the Washington Post leaves that impression with young activists is irresponsible and dangerous.
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來源 source: http://hk.news.appledaily.com
