Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian took Beijing authorities to task Wednesday for the incident a day earlier off the coast of the central Taiwan county of Miaoli when six mainland Chinese women drowned while trying to enter Taiwan illegally.
Chen said it is regrettable that six mainland Chinese women drowned after being thrown overboard by human smugglers, commonly known as "snakeheads, " to escape pursuing Taiwan coast guard boats early Tuesday. "While human traffickers and the crew of the vessels are to blame for such a callous move, mainland Chinese authorities should also be held responsible for the tragedy," Chen said.
He made the remarks while meeting with an Australian parliamentary delegation.
Chen claimed that the young mainland women had fled their motherland to express their discontent with Beijing authorities. "They chose to flee to Taiwan at risk to their own lives, " Chen said. "What bewilders us is the Beijing authorities' disregard for their own people's lives, rights and safety."
Worse still, Chen said, mainland China has persistently spared no efforts in trying to isolate Taiwan in the international community. "They have blocked our entry into the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) , " Chen said, adding that Beijing's "rude manner" toward Taiwan's plead for observership at the 2003 World Health Assembly -- the WHO's governing body -- held in Geneva in May this year deeply hurt the Taiwan people's feelings.
Equally outrageous is the fact that Beijing has asked its diplomatic allies not to recognize or accept the new version of the ROC passport to be issued from Sept. 1, Chen said.
The new version of the ROC passport will display the word "Taiwan" on its cover in addition to the nation's official designation of the "Republic of China" in order to make it more distinguishable from the passport issued by the People's Republic of China -- mainland China's official title.
Chen said what Beijing urgently must do is to prevent mainland people from trying to enter Taiwan illegally and to refrain from blocking Taiwan's WHO observership or pressuring its diplomatic allies to reject Taiwan's new passport.
The Australian parliamentary delegation is being headed by Sen. Alan Ferguson, who concurrently serves as chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade of the Senate and the House of Representatives.