Singapore: 'Size of booger'

2004-09-28 11:39

Taipei - Taiwan Foreign Minister Chen Tan-sun has sparked an outcry after he derisively described Singapore as "a country the size of a booger", officials said on Tuesday.

Chen was responding to comments from Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, who had told the United Nations General Assembly that an independence drive by certain Taiwan groups would lead to war with mainland China.

An angry Chen, an advocate of the island's independence drive, fired a salvo at Yeo while meeting dozens of independence activists at the foreign ministry on Monday.

"Even a country the size of a booger brazenly criticised Taiwan and former president Lee Teng-hui in the United Nations," Chen said in Taiwanese dialect.

'Improper'

"It was nothing but an effort to embrace China's 'balls', forgive me using such a word," Chen said.

"What he (Yeo) said was to try to please China."

The remarks drew widespread criticism, with critics warning that ties with Singapore could be damaged.

"It is improper to term another country as a 'booger' (United States slang for dried nasal mucus)," said Chen Chien-ming, a parliamentarian from the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which is allied to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party..

"If necessary, he should apologise to the Singapore government."

Government spokesperson Chen Chi-mai said he could understand Chen's frustration at Taiwan's 12th failed bid to join the UN "but the comparison is not proper".

Beijing replaced Taipei in the UN in 1971 and has blocked attempts by Taipei to join the world body.

Despite diplomatic links with Beijing and its support for a "one China" policy, Singapore has been operating three military training camps in Taiwan.

China was infuriated after Singapore's then-deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Taiwan in July.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification - by force if necessary. The two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

- AFP