Let’s say you have a mango tree at your backyard. Do you kill your neighbor for stealing some of your mangoes? You might think about it, and yes, the neighbor is an @$$, but doesn’t killing him make us more of an @$$? There are better ways.
We should stand up for our own country, no doubt, but that’s not the way. They did wrong, we did wrong. It’s not about “who did it first” Did they really have to “defend” themselves from that boat w/ a 65 year old fisherman (who’s probably just going to fish or poach) by shooting him? Yeah, ok, they rammed the boat? O tapos? A life is a LIFE. Gotta respect that, man. They have families, they have people who love them, they have problems, they’re human. Taiwan is surely dependent on some of our people. I think an apology is the least our country can do. That doesn’t mean we’re weak. It means, we, as a nation respect that man’s life and understand the value of things. Compensation for the family. Sure. Further investigation on the matter and our own coastguards. That’s it.
The thing is, pride gets in the way on both sides when one demands apologies. You don’t demand an apology. The moment you start demanding an apology, everything else feels forced —and that’s probably why we don’t want to apologize, precisely because it becomes a play on power and it makes us look like we can get bullied. It makes the other who demanded it ‘appear’ to be more powerful, but deep inside, the apology, given and taken, won’t feel authentic so the cycle continues.
