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An emergency action regime is needed to ensure safety

By Xiao Shu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-14 13:00

An emergency action regime is needed to ensure the safety of Chinese traveling abroad to prevent a Philippines-like tragedy

The hijacking of a bus, full of Hong Kong tourists, in the Philippines ended in the loss of eight innocent lives recently. Besides mourning the death of the eight Hong Kong residents, we should learn a lesson from the tragedy so that such incidents can be prevented.

Of all crimes, perhaps hijacking needs to be handled with greatest caution, for it is a matter of life and death for hostages. Police must take every step carefully, because even a small mistake could prove fatal. Viewed from this perspective, Philippine police failed on several counts in the tragic hostage drama.

Negotiations, even granting certain concessions, are necessary in hijacking and abduction or hostage-taking cases. The ultimate goal of any operation in such cases is to save lives. Philippine police lost the opportunity to negotiate with the hijacker by refusing his demands outright. They even "infuriated" him by sending a "letter of rejection".

Besides, the police attack that followed was a failure. True, the hijacker was shot, but not before he had accounted for eight innocent lives.

During the crisis, the public watched police's straight refusal to negotiate with the hijacker and their clumsy offensive. This was in sharp contrast to a similar situation six years ago, when the Philippine government insisted on withdrawing its troops from Iraq to ensure the return of a Filipino driver abducted by terrorists. The bloodshed in the bus hijacking could have been avoided had the Philippine authorities given equal importance to Chinese citizens' lives.

This implicit unequal treatment has hurt the feelings of Chinese. China may have taken giant strides in economic development and its stature may have risen in the world, but its citizens traveling overseas still do not enjoy the respect they deserve. The rest of the world seems interested in Chinese people's wallets rather than in protecting their lives. This is cause for concern.

The safety of ordinary Chinese traveling or living abroad has become a big problem. The government recognizes the problem and has taken emergency measures to rescue Chinese citizens from many a critical situation. Immediately after the Haiti earthquake in January and during the Kyrgyzstan riots in June, the Chinese government swung into action and evacuated its stranded citizens from those two countries.

But such measures are applicable more in cases of natural disasters and riots. An emergency action regime is still needed to deal with cases such as hijacking and abduction overseas in which ordinary citizens' lives are threatened. In several African and Southeast Asian countries, the local governments have failed to protect Chinese citizens. Chinese nationals are vulnerable to hijacking and terrorist attacks. The Philippines case is an apt example.

Hence, the government must take measures to prevent such tragedies.

To set up such an emergency action regime, the government can learn from the experiences of several developed countries. In such cases, developed countries like the United States would react with frequent diplomatic negotiations and intense media pressure. Sometimes, they even dispatch their special forces to take direct action after putting pressure on the countries where standoffs have taken place. Such prompt action on the part of their government not only brings relief to their people, but also acts as deterrence to terrorists and other criminals. Most importantly, it offers a sense of security to their citizens both at home and abroad.

The local government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) has set a good example. Chief Executive Donald Tsang put as much pressure as possible on the Philippines government, the Hong Kong media covered the tragedy extensively with special reports and comments, and its residents gathered outside the Philippine consulate in the SAR to protest. All this shows how much value the SAR administration and public attach to the lives of ordinary residents.

It is a global practice for a country or region to take every possible measure within the realm of international law to save its citizens. But a country can do that only if it has an emergency action regime in place. A legislation may be needed to outline the measures to deal with such a crisis.

Such a regime is important because the security of ordinary citizens is directly related to a country's well-being and image.

The author is a senior commentator for Nanfang Weekend, in which the article first appeared.