Thengo Maloya, Malawi ambassador in Taipei, had more than enough reason to be indignant the other day.He was forced to take off his jacket during a security check before attending an Asian Democracy and Human Rights awards ceremony, although he had told guards of his diplomatic status.Because President Chen Shui-bian would attend the ceremony, guards had to tighten security requiring all guests to undergo checkups.
President Chen’s security guards probably did not know all diplomats enjoy personal inviolability.A state which accepts the establishment of a foreign diplomatic mission is bound to ensure complete protection of all members of that mission and their families against physical violence whatever its source, and from attacks on their dignity and freedom.By compelling Ambassador Maloya to doff his jacket, the guards encroached on his dignity and freedom.
The National Security Bureau that provides security service for the president issued a statement in which it apologized to the Malawi ambassador.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Maloya had accepted the apology.But that is not enough.President Chen has to personally apologize to Maloya or at the very least has his foreign minister do so in person for failure to ensure complete protection against an attack on the ambassador’s dignity and freedom.
Or does the president, who described the security check as merely “excessive,” think the kingdom of Malawi is a mini-state in dark Africa not even on a par with Singapore which his former foreign minister Chen Tang Sun called one just as small as a piece of nose-dirt and therefore no personal apology is necessary? If it had been the representative from Singapore who was humiliated at the hands of his security guards, President Chen could simply care less.A Singaporean representative in Taipei is not a diplomat, at least officially.
But the chances are that President Chen himself does not know what a diplomat’s personal inviolability is.He may be a consummate defense lawyer but he does not even understand common Western etiquette.If he did, he wouldn’t have propped up before Mrs. Laura Bush to grasp her hand for a handshake at an inaugural ceremony for the Costa Rican president at San Jose last year.Chen did not know he had to be properly introduced to the first lady and wait for her to extend a hand to be shaken.A man who doesn’t know Western etiquette certainly doesn’t know diplomatic immunity and privileges.
No one has heard President Chen offer an apology to Mrs. Bush.He is unlikely to apologize to Ambassador Maloya.Is it so hard for the proud president to attempt an apology?
（本文刊載於96.12.18 China Post第4版，本文代表作者個人意見）
