TWO-HEADED TROJAN HORSE |
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Prof. Dr. Ata ATUN |
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This horse is not as mythological as you might think at first glance. The beast we are thinking of is a political “Trojan horse” and the heads are on both ends. It can trot in both directions, forward and backwards, simultaneously.
This 21st Century two-headed-beast was established recently by China and Greek Cyprus. The President of Greek Cyprus, Mr. Thassos Papadopulos, paid a visit to China at the invitation of President Hu Jintao on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Cyprus and the People’s Republic of China.
Though their relative size is noteworthy, China having a popula-tion of 1.3 billion, and Greek Cyprus a mere 750 thousand, they de-clared their mutual gratitude to each other last night and wished for a lasting solidarity.
The vice-chairwoman of the National People’s Congress of China Wu Yun Qi Mu Ge, deeply thanked Cyprus for its support to China within the EU and noted that China has a good friend and partner within the European Union.
With his reply, President of Greek Cyprus Mr. Papadopulos ex-pressed Cyprus’ gratitude for China’s support to the efforts for a just and viable solution of the Cyprus question on the basis of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions, European principles and inter-national law.
Their political solidarity, on top of economic and cultural ties, calls to mind the ‘special relationship’ between the USA and the UK, and the “Trojan horse” role the UK plays within the EU.
While the arms embargo imposed on China after the Tianenmen square crackdown on democratic protestors is still firmly standing, and while China is experiencing obstacles with her textile and shoe exports to the EU, they are willing to ease and smoothen relations with the Union more than ever before.
Under these circumstances, any country in EU which gives sup-port to Chinese matters is invaluable, relying on the fact that each EU member has equal voting weight in the European parliament, irrespec-tive of the size of their population.
As a good example is the proposal of Greek Cyprus in the discus-sion of Customs Tax to be imposed on Chinese textile and shoes, the proposed 5 years were dropped to 2 years.
While Greek Cyprus undertakes such actions for China in the EU, Cyprus equally pushes China for a similar “Trojan Horse” role in the UN Security Council for matters related to Cyprus, especially relating to her problems concerning the Northern territories of the island, namely the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the KKTC.
China’s concern with Cyprus is due not only to EU relations, but also due the resemblance of the case of Cyprus to China’s headache with Taiwan.
One of the solutions proposed for the settlement of Cyprus issue is the Taiwanese type recreation of TRNC. While China is after annexation of Taiwan, Greek Cyprus is after annexation of TRNC. And both are determined not to give any compromises.
Taiwan overcame political isolation by her strong industry and economical relations with the rest of the world. If the Western world supports the application of the Taiwanese model to TRNC for the solu-tion of Cyprus problem, this would weaken the foreign policy of China regarding Taiwan. She would never accept such a solution and vote against it in UN Security Council and stand firmly by the Greek Cyprus Government.
Exchanging similar roles in the parties where they have a seat, each will serve as the other’s “Trojan horse” for their final mutual ben-efit and solidarity
