Blunders and more blunders FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 08/25/2010

Blunders and more blunders

FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 08/25/2010 One of the biggest diplomatic blunders made by Noynoy Aquino was his clear evasion of speaking with the Hong Kong leader, Donald Tsang, while the hostage taking incident where Hong Kong nationals were taken hostage by a sacked police officer in a bus, and even after the hostage crisis ended in a bloodbath. Tsang, at a press conference in Hong Kong, let out publicly that he could not reach Noynoy Aquino, President of the Philippines all that time. It is evident that Noynoy deliberately avoided speaking with Tsang, or for that matter, any high Chinese official, because it is de rigeur that in such incidents, the line, or Palace hotline, is always open between two government high officials in crisis situations where both countries or their citizens are involved. In fact, protocol dictates that when such situation arises, and since this happened in the Philippines, Noynoy should have initiated the call to his counterpart, in this case, Tsang, as Hong Kong is a special autonomous region. Was there no one in Malacañang — or even in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to advise Noynoy of this protocol? Not only did Noynoy not get in touch with Tsang, but that he also clearly evaded the calls of Tsang..... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100825com2.html

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