[Radix] Disaster Diplomacy: China/Taiwan & Greece/Turkey

[Ilan Kelman]

To Radix:

I have posted a short commentary as appended below to the disaster diplomacy website http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/chinataiwan.html indicating China-Taiwan disaster diplomacy developments regarding the typhoon that recently struck Taiwan. With thanks to James Lewis for highlighting this situation. However, my commentary is not based on much depth of knowledge, so please point out any misapprehensions--plus more robust thoughts and commentaries on the situation would be welcome.

Information regarding and thoughts on Turkey's response to the fire situation around Athens would also be appreciated.

(Note that I tried to post this message earlier in the week, but problems with this email list prevented that. Two updates are: (i) The Dalai Lama being invited to Taiwan to visit typhoon victims, not a positive development if disaster diplomacy was supposed to work, which is not necessarily the case and (ii) The fires in Greece appear to be under control, for the moment, and international assistance from Italy, Cyprus, and France was received along with offers from Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey, but without information on whether or not those offers were enacted.)

Ilan
http://www.ilankelman.org

> -----------------------
>
> By Ilan Kelman (23 August 2009):
>
> China-Taiwan relations continued to improve and to receive political
> backing from the electorate in Taiwan irrespective of disasters. Then,
> on 8-9 August 2009, Typhoon Morakot swept over Taiwan, killing
> hundreds. Numerous Taiwanese politicians apologised for their late and
> incompetent response to the typhoon, especially regarding slow and
> inept rescue efforts. Taiwan's President was publicly criticised by
> those affected, especially by those bereaved and he continues to
> apologise.
>
> On 17 August, Taiwan's deputy foreign minister resigned
> because his ministry refused international assistance for rescuers and
> rescue equipment immediately after the typhoon. On 19 August, the
> defence minister and cabinet chief offered to resign to acknowledge
> their role in the botched response. Given the Taiwanese government's
> plummeting popularity and the loss of credibility of key members, the
> stance supporting reconciliation with Beijing could be affected by the
> public's backlash. The poor disaster response could have a political
> fallout whereby politicians favouring links with Beijing are replaced
> by others, leading to frostier relations between Beijing and Taipei.
>
> Other elements of disaster diplomacy--actually lack
> thereof--have been reported. The USA's military assistance from nearby
> Japan did not arrive until a week after the typhoon, a delay linked to
> Washington's continuing efforts to stay friendly with Beijing. Spats
> between Beijing and Taipei erupted over Beijing's offers of assistance.
>
> Throughout these unfolding events, the biggest disappointment
> is that these issues are emerging after a disaster, when people have
> already been killed. Why are the Taiwanese politicians not receiving as
> much criticism for poor disaster risk reduction and for inadequate
> disaster preparedness? Why have the Beijing-Taipei-Washington protocols
> not been worked through for disaster risk reduction, and for disaster
> response, before the disaster? Yet again, the failure of disaster
> diplomacy is highlighted in a post-disaster setting without full
> consideration or implementation of pre-disaster opportunities for
> disaster risk reduction--opportunities that could in turn avert the
> post-disaster failures in terms of both diplomacy and disaster response.

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