In some mildly deranged kind of way, I admire the Chinese Foreign Ministry. It has the ability to release brief statements with more holes than a Connect Four board, often appearing as if it has achieved the intellectual ideal of not caring about what other people think. Well why should we explain the situation, these are the facts that involve China if you are interested, it says with a shrug. Xinhua’s diplomatic desk dutifully translates the statements and reports like this one on June 4 are released:
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed that no Chinese people had died in a ship collision involving illegal Chinese immigrants off the coast of Nicaragua.
The Chinese Embassy in Mexico said that it had heard from the Nicaraguan authorities that no Chinese had been killed in the ship collision, said a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry website.
A ship carrying dozens of illegal Chinese immigrants collided with another vessel near Nicaragua on May 25.
A total of 38 illegal Chinese immigrants on the ship, who were detained in Managua, capital of Nicaragua, are now in good conditions, the statement said, adding that the officials from the Chinese Embassy in Mexico had visited them.
As China and Nicaragua have no diplomatic relations, the Chinese Embassy in Mexico has been working with the Nicaraguan side to properly resolve the issue, the statement said.
Good news, it would seem. But what about the previous media reports on this incident? The one from Reuters on May 28 that said:
Nicaraguan police have arrested 69 illegal Chinese immigrants trying to get to the United States after the boat they were traveling in collided with another craft, an migration official said on Monday.
Police also arrested 14 undocumented Ecuadorean migrants who were on the other vessel, the officials said.
“We have 14 Ecuadoreans, seven women and seven men, and from China we have 69, 15 women and the rest male,” a spokeswoman for Nicaragua’s migration office, Magdalena Reyes, said.
The collision, which happened on Friday just off Nicaragua’s largely undeveloped Caribbean coast, left five people dead — three Chinese, an Ecuadorean and a Nicaraguan who was organizing the immigrants’ passage.
Three other Chinese were still missing.
Yet at the time, as Reuters pointed out, Chinese state radio had reported the arrests of only 38 Chinese immigrants.
On June 3, another FM statement was released which put the nationalities of those that died in doubt. The figure of 38 remained firm and the FM was quoting “Nicaraguan sources”.
China is working with Nicaragua on identifying the five people killed in a ship collision involving illegal Chinese immigrants, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry.
It was reported that a ship carrying dozens of illegal Chinese immigrants collided with another vessel near Nicaragua on May 25, said a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).
Five people, whose citizenship cannot be identified, died, while 38 of the survivors were confirmed to be illegal Chinese immigrants, the statement said, citing Nicaraguan sources.
China’s Foreign Ministry had tried various means to confirm the information since the accident took place, the statement said.
“However, we have not confirmed whether the dead are Chinese or not so far,” the statement said.
The following day, the number of Chinese that died was zero. There is no mention of the discrepancy in figures: 69 vs 38. Nothing about the nationalities of the people who actually did die. The report about the three missing Chinese was ignored. Not a sausage about Ecuador. The source for the report was “the Nicaraguan authority” who told the Chinese Embassy in Mexico. Why should there have been any more details? No Chinese died. The FM had done its job. Unfortunately, Xinhua was the only news agency reporting the incident but, in this case, its role was not to provide a news story. The international media had lost interest in the event and the Xinhua statement was ignored. The only information on the accident was coming from a Foreign Ministry that does not have an embassy in Nicaragua (as Nicaragua recognizes Taiwan).
I’m bored of the way my mind tries to concoct reasons for this type of confusion that happens so regularly. Just leave it. The Chinese FM has had the final say. Why dispute everything it reports? But it still bugs me … did the Nicaraguan immigration official report the wrong information to Reuters? How did the Nicaraguan immigration office get the figures so wrong? Is there any reason why the Chinese FM would alter the figures? Is it anything to do with Nicaragua’s choice of Taiwan aid over diplomatic ties with China? As the Reuters report said, this does complicate issues such as repatriation. Were the people that died actually from Taiwan?
I have no idea but I do know that I’m fed up of spewing forth conspiracy theories every time I have to edit a FM statement that poses more questions than it provides answers. But then why should it care.
Jeff | 09-Jul-07 at 4:51 pm | Permalink
A non-responsive and uncaring government occurs only where they dont have to respond to people– in countries that are not democracies. No surprise here, but good example!