政壇：睇社論學英文︰兵貴勝而不貴久 對菲制裁須強硬

對於馬尼拉人質慘案，全港市民同仇敵愾，制裁菲律賓必將獲得絕大多數民意支持。三年多來，菲律賓當局一直沒有解決問題的誠意，即使馬尼拉市長早前派人來港商討事件，亦是花樣百出，一時洩露會談內容，一時放出死者家屬及傷者原諒菲方的假消息，一時又責怪香港人命比菲律賓人值錢。當斷不斷，必受其辱。香港人並非不願意用談判方式解決人質事件，而是菲方欺人太甚，根本沒將港人放在眼裏，港府繼續在談判桌上浪費時間，無異對牛彈琴，惟有推出制裁措施，方能迫使菲方認錯。

有人認為制裁行動可以從港方損失較小的方向入手，譬如先暫停旅客簽證，若菲方不肯讓步才考慮加強制裁力度。其實，港府對菲發出黑色旅遊警示三年仍無法迫使菲律賓政府低頭，足證對方根本不把這些溫和措施放在眼內。正如《孫子兵法》所說，「兵貴勝，不貴久」，經濟制裁亦是同樣的道理。我們認為，港府必須拿出一不做、二不休的決心，推出包括暫停輸入菲傭的措施，才可以打到對方的痛處。

“The paramount goal of war is victory; the length of the campaign

is irrelevant.”: sanctions against the Philippines must be tough

“If this is tolerable, what would be intolerable?” On the hostage-taking incident, the government of the Philippines has been playing endless tricks. A few days ago, the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying issued a categorical ultimatum: if no results were forthcoming within one month, the Hong Kong government would take sanction against the Philippines.

All Hong Kong people are angry at the Filipino government because of the hostage tragedy in Manila. A sanction on the country will be supported by most of our people. In the past 3 years, the Filipino administration has never had the sincerity in solving the problem. The mayor of Manila might have sent a representative to Hong Kong earlier to discuss the matter, yet innumerable tricks were still played. He disparately disclosed the content of the meeting, released the wrong information that the injured victims and the families of the dead had already forgiven the Philippines, and blamed Hong Kong people’s lives were supposedly worth more money than those of the Filipinos. The Hong Kong government is inviting humiliation by not being tough. Hong Kong people are not reluctant to resolve the hostage incident through negotiation. The issue at hand is that the Filipino government’s excessive intimidation tactics reflect its blatant disregard of us.[0] It is just like casting pearls before swine if the Hong Kong government continues to waste time on the negotiation table. Only by imposing sanctions can the Philippines be compelled to admit its mistakes.

Some think that the sanctions can start with the ones with less severe consequence for Hong Kong, such as a temporary suspension of granting tourist visa. If the Philippines still does not make concession, the Hong Kong government can consider taking stronger actions. In fact, Hong Kong has already raised the Outbound Travel Alert for the Philippines to Black for 3 years, but the Filipino government has never wavered, proving that they just could not care less about these mild measures. As stated in the Art of War, “The paramount goal of war is victory; the length of the campaign is irrelevant.” The same applies to economic sanctions. We urge the Hong Kong government to be determined enough to see things through to the end. The sanctions have to include the temporary suspension of importing Filipino domestic helpers. Only by doing so will the Philippines be hit in the Achilles’ heel.

重要生字

blatant disregard of 不放在眼內

cast pearls before swine 對牛彈琴

Achilles’ heel 痛處， 要害