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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Tsai reiterates support for quake victims in new year
President Tsai Ing-wen extends her Lunar New Year greetings in a video released yesterday. Photo: Screengrab of the video
ACROSS THE STRAIT: The president also extended her condolences to the families of Chinese tourists killed in the quake and her hopes that they find peace
By Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） yesterday said that the government would continue to stand alongside victims of the Hualien earthquake, as she extended Lunar New Year greetings to the Taiwanese public, as well as ethnic Chinese living across the Taiwan Strait and in other parts of the world.
In a five-minute video, Tsai said that while people across the nation were holding family reunions on Lunar New Year’s Eve, her administration and 23 million Taiwanese continue to stand by victims of the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck the nation on Tuesday last week.
Hualien bore the brunt of the quake, with 17 people killed, 285 injured and several buildings toppled.
“I have been to Hualien twice since the earthquake. I have seen the full mobilization of our armed forces for relief and rescue efforts, as well as rescue teams from different parts of the country volunteering to join the front line and risking life and limb to aid people trapped under rubble,” Tsai said in the video.
“What I have also seen during this period is a society filled with love and unity,” Tsai said, adding that in the face of tragedy, Taiwanese have demonstrated mutual support and the brightest side of human nature.
In an attempt to minimize the effects of earthquakes, Tsai said her government has begun efforts to conduct a comprehensive, nationwide examination of buildings that may be vulnerable to earthquakes and establish a rigorous disaster prevention mechanism.
Turning to cross-strait relations, Tsai said there was no distance between Taipei and Beijing when it comes to humanitarian assistance.
Despite her government’s best efforts, nine Chinese tourists were among the victims killed by the Hualien earthquake, she said.
“We also feel the pain felt by the families of the victims. Hopefully, in the year to come, they could recover from the tragedy and find peace,” the president said.
Tsai said the two sides of the Taiwan Strait shared many similar traditions and activities during the Lunar New Year, which is arguably the most significant holiday for people on both sides.
“I would like to take this opportunity to say Happy [Lunar] New Year to our friends on the other side of the Taiwan Strait and to all ethnic Chinese in other parts of the world,” she said.
Tsai’s goodwill message came at a time when cross-strait ties reached a new level of political standoff, after Beijing earlier this week pressured the Papua New Guinea government to force Taiwan’s representative office to change its name.
The name change followed China’s unilateral activation on Jan. 4 of four Taiwan Strait aviation routes last month in defiance of a 2015 cross-strait agreement.
As a countermeasure, Taipei refused to approve applications from two Chinese airlines for 176 additional cross-strait flights during the Lunar New Year holiday.
China’s state-run Global Times newspaper, known for its stridently nationalistic stance and which often calls Taiwan’s president “provincial governor Tsai,” said it would normally criticize her, but in this case would reciprocate the goodwill.
“If Tsai Ing-wen really wants to use the Spring Festival to show goodwill, of course we welcome it,” it said on its Web site, using another name for the holiday.
Underscoring China’s continued suspicion though, the Global Times also posted a screenshot of disparaging comments — one extremely vulgar — made by people on Facebook responding to Tsai’s greeting. Facebook is blocked in China.
Additional reporting by Reuters
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
