EDITORIAL - Taiwan mustn't push its face under our noses

It is regrettable that Taiwan rejected an official Philippine apology and all but completely severed its ties with us over an incident in Philippine waters in which a Taiwanese poacher was shot by a Philippine Coast Guard team.

But Taiwan can neither dictate nor impose its will on the Philippines. No matter how badly Taiwan feels about the shooting, the Philippines is a sovereign country and is bound by its own laws in dealing with the incident. If Taiwan cannot respect that, then sorry, but no dice.

Aside from rejecting our apology, freezing the hiring of Filipinos, and recalling its trade representatives, Taiwan also conducted military exercises close to Philippine waters. Well, Taiwan can do what it must do. But it better not forget a few things.

Taiwan may be rich and powerful. But it is not China. It is a small island whose resources, while ably managed, are not limitless. There are certain actions it may take that can provoke Philippine responses that it can only regret later.

Taiwan must also remember one thing. It is a country that has no sovereign standing in the world community. In fact, as far as China is concerned, it is only a renegade province. This is precisely the reason why it has no diplomatic ties with other countries, only trade exchanges.

What Taiwan needs to do is focus on the incident at hand and not get overly emotional and passionate. The loss of even just one life should rightly move an entire nation. But it is one thing to be justly aggrieved and another to go unjustly berserk.

In case Taiwan has forgotten, let it be reminded that the incident happened inside sovereign Philippine territory and that it happened because the illegal fishing fleet to which the victim belonged refused to heed warnings and tried to ram the Coast Guard ship to escape.

Taiwan should be thankful its illegal fishermen were not caught red-handed inside the sovereign territories of far more belligerent states, where far more serious things could have happened.

The loss of human life is always sad and regrettable. But no court of law is ever likely to convict a homeowner who, on catching a thief inside his house in the dead of night, shoots him down as he tries to attack him in a bid to escape.