Care for a game of thermonuclear war?

Taiwan's pan-blues seem to keep outdoing themselves. Earlier today, a Taiwanese Navy frigate with Minister of National Defense Lee Jye, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, and 13 or 15 legislators aboard traveled 100 km off Taiwan's coast with the purported mission of "protecting Taiwan's fisherman" from Japan.

First of all, recent problems related to Taiwan-Japan fishing disputes that have been in the news were caused by a Taiwanese fisherman who admitted being in Japanese waters. Was this accidental? Was it done on purpose due to profit motives? Or was it done merely to provoke Japan? I think that remains to be seen, but read on, and you'll see where my thoughts on this are leaning.

Second, it's not the Navy's job to be involved at this stage -- it's the Coast Guard's.

Third, talks with Japan regarding long-existing fishing disputes with Taiwan are only about two weeks away.

Despite these upcoming talks, the frigate, carrying advanced Standard-I missiles, left port this morning for "waters near a disputed part of the East China Sea."

Stop hurting Taiwan!
This is already a huge mistake. What the fuck are they thinking? The slightest escalation of this situation will most certainly bring disaster, and I'm speaking about disaster of a specific kind.

China. That's what they're thinking.

The pan-blues aren't just trying to paint Taiwan as the "bellicose" one in this equation. They also know that China would use any escalation of this situation as an excuse to "defend" Taiwan and would both attack Japan and take over Taiwan in the process. In fact, I would be shocked -- shocked! -- if this weren't the pan-blues' precise plan.

Note this abbreviated progression of events over the past few days:

* According to the June 16, 2005 Taipei Times, fishermen plan to fly China's flag to "avoid trouble with Japanese patrols" but are reminded that it's a completely brainless idea because not only are they flying the flag of Taiwan's enemy, but because "Japan has chased away or confiscated more fishing boats from China than from Taiwan" -- in fact, by a 38:11 ratio. Ridiculous motherfuckers!
* The Taipei Times reports on the same day that the People First Party (PFP) wants to use Taiwan's military to "retake [the] Diaoyutais" (a group of small islands whose control is disputed by Taiwan, China, Japan, and others), threatening to "boycott the special arms budget and also try to cut the [Ministry of National Defense]'s annual budget." The MND says it has "no intention of getting involved in the fishing dispute with Japan."
* A report the very next day says that the MND "cave[s] in to pressure from the PFP" -- a minority opposition party -- and says that they "will waste no time rushing to the area to let the fishermen see [their] presence."
* Four days later, a group of mostly pan-blue politicians (along with 3 traitorous DPP members) board a warship.

Note also the caption of this photo which says that the protesters shown are "accusing Japan of encroaching on Taiwan's fishing grounds" without telling readers about the Chinese-language signs which are visible. They read: "Oppose U.S.-Japan Security Alliance" and "Protest Japan's revisionist history textbooks." It can't possibly be merely a coincidence that these echo the sentiments of the Chinese government in Beijing.

The strangest thing that occurred today were problems caused by reporters that were aboard the ship. TV reports on FTV showed them arguing with the ship's personnel about using their satellite uplink while on board. Reporters from CTI-TV also whined about being under "house arrest" because of limits imposed on what they could photograph -- on a Navy ship!

Despite no military escalation having occurred, the whole thing was just wrong. I can only ask, "Why do these politicians hate Taiwan?" and "Shouldn't they be put in jail for what they did today?"