Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan’s top foreign affairs official in Berlin was said to have snubbed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during a visit there as part of her Europe trip.

A member of her delegation said Taiwan’s representative to Germany Wei Wu-lien (魏武煉) failed to meet Tsai at the airport or even give her a telephone call, actions normally considered customary for a high-profile trip by the head of the opposition party.

“I have never met this kind of overseas representative,” said Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the head of the DPP international affairs department that traveled with Tsai. “During this trip, the German representative was completely -indifferent to [Tsai] from start to finish.”

Since first emerging in Tunisia, the “Jasmine Revolution” has faced much resistance, especially in Libya, Yemen and Syria. In China, too, any suggestion of a Jasmine Revolution has been met with severe suppression. In February, when the revolution had just started, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said he approved of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, claiming that the suppression of the student movement had been necessary. After two months of bombardment by NATO forces, Qaddafi remains resolute, refusing to step down or go into exile.

Despite frequent civil unrest and unprecedented levels of international pressure, China continues to suppress human rights supporters and dissidents, as well as Christian churches. It seems that neither the Libyan nor the Chinese totalitarian regime will just disappear, although it is likely the Libyan regime will fall first, owing to Western military intervention. China, on the other hand, has been intensifying the suppression of its people — starting with its strong objection to the human rights activist Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) winning the Nobel Peace Prize — fearing the spread of the nascent Jasmine Revolution of North Africa and the Middle East into China.