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Bush urges Hu to reach out to Taiwan
DIALOGUE: In a phone conversation with George Bush, Hu Jintao thanked the US for `opposing' Taiwan's independence as well as its bids to join international organizations
By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Friday, Mar 28, 2008, Page 1
US President George W. Bush urged Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in a telephone conversation on Wednesday to use Taiwan's presidential election to take positive actions to peacefully resolve cross-strait tensions, the White House said.
In response, Hu indicated a willingness to reopen cross-strait talks on the basis of the so-called "1992 consensus," which stipulates that both sides concede separate interpretations of the "one China" policy. The "consensus" is not universally recognized as valid in Taiwan. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Chi (蘇起) admitted in 2006 that he had invented the term before the transfer of power to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2000.
The Taiwan issue was part of a broader discussion touching on the crisis and violent Chinese crackdown in Tibet, and the embarrassing US Air Force mistake in shipping secret nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile triggers to Taiwan, which the Pentagon admitted on Tuesday.
"On Taiwan, the president said that this weekend's election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides to reach out and engage one another in peacefully resolving their differences," a White house press release said.
Top Bush administration officials said that the Taiwanese election was one of the "triggers" for Bush's call to Hu, in addition to the other US-China issues.
"The Taiwanese election presents an opportunity to encourage China to reach out to Taiwan and to try and resolve differences," Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.
"And the president did not want to let that go by. And the election, of course, was just this last weekend," he said.
One of the things "that struck me" about the conversation, Hadley said, was that Hu "said that it is China's consistent stand that the Chinese mainland [sic] and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of the `1992 consensus,' which sees both sides recognize there is only one China but agree to differ on its definition."
He added: "The interesting thing is whether this is an indication or a signal of a willingness to open dialogue on a basis that, in previous years, had been accepted by both parties. That was very ... pretty interesting."
Hadley described the telephone call as "a serious conversation on really all of the issues," including Taiwan, between Washington and Beijing.
Bush "wanted to ... use the relationship he's built up with President Hu over time to raise these issues and speak very clearly and frankly with him about them. And it was a very good exchange," Hadley said.
Bush's urging of a cross-strait dialogue echoes a statement he made on Saturday in congratulating president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on his election victory, and indicates that Bush hopes that with the departure of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), chances for cross-strait dialogue that can reduce tensions and limit potential US military exposure will be enhanced.
In his congratulatory statement, Bush said: "It falls to Taiwan and Beijing to build the essential foundations for peace and stability by pursuing dialogue through all available means."
"I believe the elections provide a fresh opportunity for both sides to reach out and engage one another in peacefully resolving their differences," Bush said.
Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry released a statement about the Bush-Hu talks that focused on Taiwan and repeated much of what Washington said.
The statement, reported by the Chinese government-controlled news service Xinhua, quoted Hu as telling Bush "it is China's consistent stand that the Chinese mainland [sic] and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of the `1992 consensus.'"
Xinhua said Hu also expressed "appreciation" to the US for its so-called "one China policy," and "opposing" Taiwanese independence, last week's referendum on UN membership and Taiwan's bids to join international organizations which require members to have statehood.
When asked for comment, KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said Hu's proposal to resume cross-strait negotiations on the basis of the "1992 consensus" would be beneficial to Taiwan, because both sides of the Taiwan Strait would be able to maintain ambiguity to interpret what "one China" means.
The DPP legislative caucus said yesterday that accepting the so-called "1992 consensus" would be the beginning of the end for Taiwan's democracy.
"From `accepting the 1992 consensus' to `signing a peace agreement' to `eventual unification.' These would be the three steps that ruin Taiwan's democracy," DPP legislative caucus whip Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said.
DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said that the changeable nature of the Beijing government was his main concern.
"You never know what they are thinking. They can be your friends today, but hate you tomorrow," Chai said.
Ma yesterday declined to interpret Hu's comments to Bush as a reflection of the Chinese government's "good intentions."
"I need more information about their conversation before commenting further. However, the 1992 consensus is a basis for cross-strait negotiation that has been accepted by both sides," he said.
PRC media trip backfires as Lhasa monks speak out
PROTEST: A group of monks shouting that there was no religious freedom disrupted a carefully orchestrated visit for foreign reporters to Tibet's capital yesterday
AFP, BEIJING
Friday, Mar 28, 2008, Page 1
A Tibetan Buddhist monk cries while speaking to foreign journalists during their visit to the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet, yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
Monks from one of Tibetan Buddhism's most sacred temples defied China's crackdown to protest in front of visiting foreign reporters in Lhasa yesterday, voicing their support for the Dalai Lama.
The protest came as China again refused to hold talks with the exiled spiritual leader, after US President George W. Bush added his voice to calls for dialogue in an effort to solve the Tibetan crisis.
Two weeks of demonstrations by Tibetans against China's rule of the remote Himalayan region have angered authorities in Beijing and put them under international pressure as they prepare to host the Olympic Games in August.
China has insisted its response to the protests, the biggest challenge to its rule of Tibet in decades, has been restrained and that it has brought the situation under control.
However, the protest by several dozen monks at the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, indicated the resentment over Chinese rule that triggered the unrest had not been extinguished.
"We want the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet, we want to be free," the monks yelled, said one of the 26 journalists who had been brought to Lhasa for a government-controlled tour of the capital.
The monks shouted down a Chinese official who was briefing the journalists on the unrest and denounced him as a "liar."
The protest was also reported by Japan's Kyodo news agency and other media organizations on the tour, while China's state-run Xinhua news agency carried a brief dispatch on it without mentioning the monks' statements.
Kyodo said about "30 young monks" were involved, while one journalist estimated the number to be between 50 and 60.
After several minutes, the foreign reporters were ushered from the scene by their Chinese minders.
China brought the foreign media delegation to Lhasa on Wednesday for a three-day trip following international pressure to allow independent reporting from the Tibetan capital, after it was sealed off because of the unrest.
Bush telephoned Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on Wednesday to express his concern over the unrest and call for talks between China and the Dalai Lama's representatives.
However, Hu reiterated Beijing's position that the Dalai Lama was fomenting the unrest and trying to sabotage the Beijing Olympics, a Chinese foreign ministry statement said.
No talks were possible until the Dalai Lama gave up his independence push for Tibet and stopped "fanning and masterminding" the ongoing Tibetan unrest, Hu told Bush, the statement said.
"Especially [the Dalai Lama] must stop ... activities to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games," Hu said.
Bush's phone call, which broke his silence on the issue, added to concerns expressed by other world leaders in recent days over Tibet, including those of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Sarkozy said on Tuesday he may not attend the Olympics opening ceremony as a statement against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet, encouraging Tibetan exiles and activist groups who are pushing for a boycott.
China sent troops in to "liberate" Tibet from feudal rule in 1950, and the next year officially annexed the devoutly Buddhist land.
Public still support the nation's UN bid: survey
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Friday, Mar 28, 2008, Page 3
Workers remove the advertisement for Taiwan's UN bid from in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday after the referendums on the bid failed to pass last Saturday.
PHOTO: CNA
Seventy-one percent of people responding to a Taiwan Thinktank survey said the incoming Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration should continue the policy of promoting the nation's bid to join the UN despite the failure of two referendums on the issue last week.
The results of the survey released yesterday revealed that 67 percent of respondents were in favor of the nation seeking UN membership, and 57 percent supported Taiwan's inclusion in the world body regardless of what name was used to apply for membership.
Meanwhile, 23 percent of respondents said the Japanese are the friendliest people toward Taiwan, while 31 percent said the US is the friendliest government.
Fifty-one percent of respondents identified China as the country least friendly, with 70 percent saying China should be condemned for its recent crackdown on protesters in Tibet.
The survey was carried out between Monday and Wednesday this week on 1,078 people. It had a margin of error of 3 percent.
Seventy-five percent of the respondents voted in last Saturday's presidential poll, 34 percent of whom cast ballots in the two referendums, with 35 percent refraining from voting in either referendum.
One of the referendums advocated joining the UN using the name Taiwan, while the other advocated rejoining the UN using the nation's official title the "Republic of China," or any other "practical" name. Both were rejected because the turnout rates did not reach the required 50 percent, although approximately 90 percent of those who voted did so in favor of the initiatives.
Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), deputy chief of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Research and Planning Committee, said that although the referendums' failure had helped to reassure countries such as the US which had expressed concerns over their possible negative impact on cross-strait relations, it had also strengthened the barriers to the nation's participation in major international organizations.
"Everything is back to square one. Major countries will only support Taiwan's membership in international organizations that do not require statehood," Liu said.
Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), a professor at National Sun Yat-sen University's Institute of Mainland China Studies, agreed with Liu, saying that the failure of the referendums would inevitably impact on the nation's bid for UN membership.
While the failure of the two votes has drawn the public's attention to the need for an amendment to the Referendum Act to lower the required turnout threshold, it remains doubtful whether such an amendment would clear the legislature, Lin said.
The KMT, which holds a strong majority in the legislature, is opposed to lowering the minimum requirements for the passage of a referendum.
Memorial dedicated to victims of White Terror
REMEMBERING: Vice President Annette Lu called for human rights experts to look into who was responsible for the crimes of political persecution during the era
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 28, 2008, Page 4
President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu yesterday place flowers in front of a new monument with the names of victims of the White Terror era in the Jieshou Park near the Presidential Office in Taipei.
PHOTO: CNA
A memorial was inaugurated in Taipei yesterday to commemorate victims of the White Terror era, a chapter in Taiwan's history that participants at the ceremony yesterday said still raised unanswered questions today.
The White Terror era loosely refers to the period of political persecution that began when dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) declared martial law in 1949.
"It's unfortunate that the KMT will be back in power again when there are still many unanswered crimes of the White Terror," said writer Yang Chin-chu (楊青矗), who was arrested in connection with the Kaohsiung Incident of 1979, a pro-democracy demonstration.
Yang made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the monument erected at the Jieshou Park (介壽公園), located on the right front side of the Presidential Office Building.
The location bore two meanings -- it symbolizes people's resistance to authority as "Jieshou" means "wishing longevity to Chiang [Kai-shek]," and it also serves as a remainder to the leadership that the "White Terror should never happen again," Yang said.
During the more than 40-year White Terror era, roughly coinciding with the martial law period, about 200,000 people were imprisoned or executed for opposition to the KMT regime, according to a report released by the outgoing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government last year.
"Not only [do we] wish to seek out historical truth and determine responsibility, what's more, we hope to keep in mind the lessons so that whoever governs in the future will not repeat the mistakes of the past," the inscription on the monument reads. "The erection of this monument is therefore our prayer that hereafter Taiwan will become a democratic and free country honoring human rights and justice."
Since a compensation foundation was established in 1998, 8,462 victims' families had submitted applications for indemnification, out of which 6,808 cases have been approved and NT$18.7 billion in compensation has been issued.
The foundation has so far issued certificates restoring the reputations of 3,543 victims.
"Granting compensation, restoring reputation and setting up a monument are ways to rebuild society ... But only by investigating the cause of deaths and restoring the [nation's] true history can the country learn lessons and avoid the occurrence of such tragedy," President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said in his speech.
Chen also called on the public to pray for Tibetans under China's violent suppression.
"Facing the monument in the other direction is the Liberty Square, where a group of people have gathered for two weeks praying for Tibet ... Everyone should come forward to urge China to renounce violence and start a peaceful dialogue with Tibet," he said.
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) urged human rights experts to look into who was responsible for the many crimes of political persecution in the White Terror era that remain unsolved.
Lu said she once suggested the government make public the names of KMT officials, prosecutors and judges that handled political cases, but the DPP didn't dare do that because it was "too kind."
"It would be ironic if the perpetrators, who were either directly or indirectly involved in the political persecution, come into power with the new [KMT] government," Lu said.
Learning from Tibet's experience
By Ruan Ming 阮銘
Friday, Mar 28, 2008, Page 8
'China's strategy has been clear all along: It will hold on tight to what it already has and never let go; and it will also use threats and promises and all other possible means to obtain what it does not yet have.'
President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) may now be basking in a round of congratulatory messages on his landslide victory in last Saturday's election, but the road ahead promises to be a tough one as he has to deal with difficult issues, both domestically and internationally.
One of these tests will be Ma's strategy on China. During the last few days of the election campaign, China cracked down on protesting Tibetans, and when Ma met with reporters after casting his ballot, he emphasized that Taiwan is not Tibet.
This is correct: Taiwan is a free country born of the global third wave of democratization, while Tibet is an area enslaved by the Chinese communists. At the moment, the two could hardly be more different.
History shows, however, that Tibet also used to be an independent country. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the period of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule over China, the Chinese government only sent representatives to Tibet, and the Tibetan government was completely independent and autonomous. The fourth point in the peace agreement that representatives of the Dalai Lama signed under Chinese pressure in 1951 stipulates that: "The Central Authorities will not alter the existing political system in Tibet. The Central Authorities also will not alter the established status, functions and powers of the Dalai Lama. Officials of various ranks shall hold office as usual."
When I met the Dalai Lama in New York in 1989, he said that after he signed the peace agreement, Mao Zedong (毛澤東) invited him to Beijing and personally promised that Tibet would be autonomously ruled by the Dalai Lama. Since the Dalai Lama was still young at the time, the central government had sent Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials Zhang Guohua (張國華) and Tan Guansan (譚冠三) to help him, Mao said, and if they did something wrong, the Dalai Lama could report this directly to Mao. He also said that Tibet could fly two flags, the Chinese and the Tibetan. But in the end all this counted for nothing.
China's strategy has been clear all along: It will hold on tight to what it already has and never let go; and it will also use threats and promises and all other possible means to obtain what it does not yet have.
If Taiwanese can stand united to protect Taiwan's freedom, democracy, independence and sovereignty and reject the so-called "1992 consensus," the "one China" principle and a peace agreement, then China cannot turn Taiwan into another Tibet and it will not dare invade Taiwan, turning Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) "Anti-Secession" Law into nothing more than a useless piece of paper.
But if Taiwan is internally divided and lets China apply pressure from the outside, while having the people who have joined up with China to suppress Taiwanese independence apply pressure from the inside, this double-edged pressure could force Taiwan's president to accept the so-called "1992 consensus" and the "one China" principle, muddle over Taiwan's independence, sovereignty and democracy, and instead sign a peace agreement with Hu. China is hoping for just such a historical opportunity to turn Taiwan into another Tibet.
Ma says there can only be talk on a peace agreement on the condition that China removes the missiles it has pointed at Taiwan. This condition is not enough. Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) had suggested to US President George W. Bush that China could remove the missiles if the US would stop its arms sales to Taiwan and force Taiwan to talk about a "one China" peace agreement to end the hostilities. The suggestion was rejected by both the US and Taiwan.
Hu's strategy for Taiwan is the "one China" strategy. He says China is willing to discuss anything as long as Taiwan recognizes the "one China" principle and gives up its sovereignty. This is Hu using all possible means and making both threats and promises to get his hands around the throat of the Taiwanese public. As soon as he gets a hold, he will act just as Mao did against the Dalai Lama in the 1950s. The CCP will be in total control of when to tighten its grip or strangle its victim, and if this happens, Taiwanese will never again be masters of their own country.
Ma said last year in Tokyo that once elected, he would implement the common vision reached by Hu and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and turn these into policies, plans and agreements. This is absolutely unacceptable. Ma should carefully rethink his strategy toward China instead of perpetuating Lien's acceptance of Hu's "one China" strategy.
Ruan Ming is a consultant at the Taiwan Research Institute.
Can Ma work cross-strait miracles?
By Sushil Seth
Friday, Mar 28, 2008, Page 8
As expected, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has won the presidency. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was worn out and didn't seem to be going anywhere, except backward. The economy under President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had faltered, and there was a stench of corruption enveloping his family and cronies. Chen also had the "distinction" of being disliked both in Washington and Beijing. Indeed, Beijing hated him on a par with the Dalai Lama.
In other words, Ma's election victory has created a sense of relief in both China and the US. Washington worried about Chen's presumed propensity to provoke China. The US hopes that, under Ma's presidency, China and Taiwan will get along better, thus removing a regional flashpoint that has the potential of involving the US in confrontation with China.
As US President George W. Bush put it: "I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity to reach out and engage one another in peacefully resolving their differences."
Bush also pointed out that: "The maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the welfare of the people on Taiwan remain of profound importance to the United States." How this all work out remains to be seen.
One thing is certain, though, that Chen's legacy of fostering a distinct Taiwanese identity is here to stay. Ma's election-time statements on Tibet and the Olympics would seem to suggest that Taipei might not do China's bidding. He has criticized Beijing's repression in Tibet, emphasizing that Taiwan might not participate in the Beijing Olympics, if things get worse in Tibet.
Ma would like to sign a peace accord with Beijing, but China would have to remove missiles targeting Taiwan.
Going by these utterances, Ma might prove a tougher nut to crack for Beijing than it thought. Or Beijing might dismiss his utterances as simple grandstanding to win the election.
But if Ma means to be assertive with China, the relationship is unlikely to be as smooth as everyone is led to believe.
For now, though, Beijing is simply relieved to see the back of Chen and his DPP. With the election over, the hard task of dealing with China will begin. And if Ma is serious that "we will not negotiate the issue of reunification with the mainland," it will be interesting to see how China will react.
Of course, to mollify China, Ma has also said that his administration will not "support Taiwan's de jure independence." He believes that within the broad concept of "one China," both sides might be free to interpret it in their own way. In other words, Taipei will seek to deal with the political side of the relationship through creative ambiguity.
That means Taiwan will maintain its identity and de facto sovereign status without challenging the broad concept of "one China" -- a status quo of sorts.
Ma might have his own reasons to believe that China will fall for this, though it didn't in the past. Either Ma is overestimating his reach or China somehow might agree to accommodate him.
There is a view that, after the gyrations of the Chen period, Beijing will settle for anything short of overt independence for Taiwan. But, so far, there is nothing to suggest that Beijing will settle for creative ambiguity on the question of Taiwan's status.
For instance, while welcoming Ma's election, the Chinese media reportedly referred to him as "leader of the Taiwan region." Indeed, there is nothing to suggest either that Beijing will consider a peace accord with the new administration.
Ma believes that his pragmatic approach to China, based on a wide-range of initiatives like developing a European-style common market, establishing direct air, sea and mail links, fostering tourism and so on, will generate enough momentum to make the relationship work. Above all, he seems to believe that after Chen, China will find him a breath of fresh air.
However, Beijing might not find much comfort in some of his statements. For instance, he reportedly said: "I have been a long-term anti-communist [and] I also recognize that mainland China is a threat to Taiwan's security, with nearly 1,000 missiles deployed against us."
For Ma, China is also "an opportunity for Taiwan's economy." Taiwan would, therefore, "need to minimize the first and maximize the second." How this juxtaposition of security threat and business opportunity would be reconciled is left unclear.
One can only hope that Ma has a clear strategy to get the most out of Taiwan's difficult relationship with China.
Having voted him into power, Taiwanese have high expectations for Ma. Will he be Taiwan's political Houdini? Time will tell.
Sushil Seth is an Australian-based writer.
Up Next
2008年3月31日 星期一
Tibet and Taiwan
2008年3月30日 星期日
2008年3月20日 星期四
2008年3月15日 星期六
我從沒見過這樣的眼神
| 20080315大紀元時報 我從沒見過這樣的眼神 |
| 2008.03.15大紀元時報 【大紀元3月14日訊】我是南方人，為了體驗寒冷的冰雪世界，去年一進臘月，我便去了大興安嶺地區的友人家。 |
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2008年3月12日 星期三
join the UN
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DIVINE INTERVENTION
Trucks carrying balloons representing gods drive through Jhonghe, Taipei County, yesterday to show support for Taiwan's bid to join the UN. The parade, which will drive around the country, was organized by the National Cultural Association and non-governmental organizations and was joined by members of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's campaign team.
PHOTO: CHIU SHAO-WEN, TAIPEI TIMES
DPP plans nationwide pro-democracy parade
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Mar 01, 2008, Page 3
Democratic Progressive Party members dance around a map of Taiwan at a media conference yesterday to promote the ``Democratic Taiwan, 100 Action'' parade scheduled to be held on March 16.
PHOTO: CNA
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced yesterday that it plans to hold a parade entitled "Democratic Taiwan, 100 Action" on March 16 in which 1 million people are expected to encircle Taiwan before walking along the island to voice their determination to protect the nation with democracy.
Participants will be asked to walk along the coastline in an anti-clockwise direction when the march starts at 3:14pm under the slogan "protecting Taiwan with democracy, joining the UN and opposing a one-China market," DPP Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) told a press conference.
Lee said the activity originated from the party's 2004 "Hand-in-Hand to Safeguard Taiwan" and recent "Reversing the Tide: Protecting Taiwan" campaigns.
They hope to "walk toward the bright future of Taiwan" and "make the international community aware of Taiwan's existence," Lee said.
The "100" in the title of the latest parade symbolizes voting for the DPP presidential and vice presidential ticket, which is listed as No. 1 on the ballot, while the two zeroes represent the vote to support the two referendums related to the nation's bid for its seat in the UN, he said.
While March 14 marks the third anniversary of China's adoption of its "Anti-Secession" Law, which gives Beijing a legal excuse to invade Taiwan by force, Lee said that one of the reasons the DPP wanted to hold the event was to declare the party's determination to "protect Taiwan with democracy."
Two separate 500km chains will line Taiwan's eastern and western coasts. Gathering points for the chains will be set up every 5km, he said.
Lin Kuo-ching (林國慶), director of DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign department, said the southernmost points of the eastern and western lines will be Fugang (富岡) in Taitung County and Donggang (東港) in Pingtung County.
The two lines will join up in Taipei.
Once the two lines are formed, participants will begin a 5km walk at 3:14pm, moving in a counter-clockwise direction around the island, Lin said.
What Taiwan can offer China
Saturday, Mar 01, 2008, Page 8
The sight and sound of British Foreign Secretary David Miliband bowing and scraping to Beijing this week on the issue of cross-strait tensions and the relationship between the Olympics and human rights was disgusting, though expected.
But Miliband's parroting of Chinese slogans -- instead of sober reference to the complicated problems of the region -- reminds us that there is a more complex relationship waiting to develop between Taiwan and China.
Close Taiwanese engagement with China is inevitable; equitable engagement is not. But on the assumption that Taiwan can engage with China from a position of strength, it is clear that the Taiwanese government can express this strength through many means -- not just defensiveness.
Taiwanese-Chinese links are largely limited to the commercial sector, but this will eventually change as the two governments become more comfortable with each others' civic and political groups.
It is easy to overstate a potential Taiwanese contribution to a liberalizing China; certainly, considerations of face dictate that Beijing should never need assistance from Taiwanese on matters that would point to deficiencies in governance.
But provincial and lower governments may take a different attitude. It is therefore also easy to underestimate the good that could come of a Taiwanese presence in China on any number of issues.
Eventually, if Taiwan is to fully enter the diplomatic network and enjoy international recognition and membership of world bodies, it must have a long-term strategy of adaptation to a deepening relationship with China and the complex range of links with Chinese society that this requires.
Cultivating goodwill with scrupulous Chinese individuals and organizations wishing to strengthen civic society and democratic institutions should be embraced, and the sooner the better.
Taiwan must retain its sovereignty and its democracy. This is non-negotiable. But sovereignty and democracy do not equal isolationism and parochialism. Neither do these remove the need to project a more virtuous picture of Taiwanese as constructive, humane and concerned for their closest neighbors.
How to deal with the enemy is the dominant discourse in cross-strait relations. But ordinary, struggling Chinese have never been the enemy; it is the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) ultranationalism and system of exploitation and suppression that threatens Taiwan, though nowhere near as much as its own people and future.
The Democratic Progressive Party government has not been able to explore this issue adequately lest it weaken the party's support base. And the build-up to the presidential election is not the time to expect level-headed discussion of this problem.
Yet it is also too early to say that a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government would be any more level-headed. With so many abysmal legislators in the game to rake in the dollars -- regardless of the consequences for Taiwan -- the idea that a Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government could rely on legislative action to cultivate a healthier relationship with ordinary Chinese is laughable.
Most of the opportunities outside the commercial sector that China offers to Taiwan, and vice versa, rely on the foundation of a democratic political mechanism, or at the very least, a massive loosening of restrictions on speech and political activity.
May that day come soon. But until then, when Taiwanese can contribute to a healthier and wiser China, they should feel no guilt at being remote from the wretchedness of so many Chinese. This burden belongs to the CCP, which promised the world to the peasantry but consistently delivers to urban dwellers and party hacks at the peasants' expense.
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2008年3月10日 星期一
Ma aide in green card mission: Hsieh
Prev Up Next
MIGHTY MELONS
Visitors to the annual Tropical Agriculture Fair in Pingtung walk below a trellis of loofah vines yesterday, the last day of the fair. The fair attracted more than 300,000 visitors, almost 100,000 more than last year.
PHOTO: LI LI-FA, TAIPEI TIMES
Ma aide in green card mission: Hsieh
NOT ON THE AGENDA: John Feng conceded that he met with AIT officials, but said it was to discuss the election, not to cancel a US residency permit for the KMT candidate
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTERS
Sunday, Mar 02, 2008, Page 1
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign team yesterday said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) sent an aide, former diplomat John Feng (馮寄台), to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on Thursday to sort out the matter of his green card.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) said in a front page story yesterday that the Hsieh camp had been informed late on Thursday night of Ma's move to send an unnamed aide to the AIT.
At a press conference yesterday morning, the Hsieh camp declined to reveal its informant and did not name the aide, but said it had tried to verify the information it obtained through the AIT and "other reliable channels," the report said.
"We were concerned when we heard the response from the AIT, which told us it could not confirm it. The AIT did not deny it either. We thought there must be something fishy going on," Hsieh's spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) told the press conference.
When approached by reporters for comment at a campaign event in Taipei's Da'an Park, Ma said he had not sent any aides to the AIT on Thursday to fill out public Form I-407 for him.
Ma accused the Hsieh camp of making false accusations for political gains.
"It's totally untrue," Ma said, accusing a "certain newspaper" of cooperating with Hsieh's camp by spreading rumors to manipulate voters.
Hsieh has alleged that Ma still has a valid US green card because he never completed a Form I-407 to relinquish his permanent residency in the US, nor has a US immigration court invalidated his card.
Ma has repeatedly dismissed the claim, saying that his green card automatically became invalid in the late 1980s after he started traveling to the US on visitor's visas.
The Central Election Commission said on Feb. 15 that it would employ the help of foreign diplomatic missions in Taiwan to check whether either of the two presidential candidates holds foreign citizenship. Both have formally consented to the probe.
Ma's campaign team held a press conference at his campaign headquarter's yesterday morning, rebutting the Liberty Times' report.
Ma's spokesman Tsai Shih-ping (蔡詩萍) accused the Hsieh camp of making false accusations and said Hsieh and his staff should apologize.
The Ma camp wants nothing to do with Hsieh's smear tactics, Tsai said.
Hsieh's camp responded by holding a second press conference, during which Chao identified Ma's aide only as a former diplomat surnamed Feng, who had been instructed by Ma to go to the AIT.
Feng was at the AIT all afternoon, Chao said, calling on Ma to explain why Feng went there and what he had done.
Chao was referring to the former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who now serves on Ma's campaign team as the director of the international affairs section.
"Whether Feng was at the AIT to help Ma fill out Form I-407 or for other formalities [a US green card holder has to] go through to invalidate the card, as an informant had told us, we want Ma to tell the truth," Chao said.
"Could it be that Ma wanted to resolve his green card problem secretly, sending Feng to the AIT on a national holiday instead of a business day?" he asked.
"What the informant told us was what he himself heard from Feng. Before we made any allegations, we determined the context in which the dialogue took place as well as the nature of the relationship between Feng and the informant," he said. "The informant did not overhear this by accident."
The informant learned that Feng felt "relieved" after leaving the AIT, telling the informant in private that "the green card problem was finally solved" Chao said.
In response, the Ma camp held a second press conference later in the day, with Feng in attendance.
Feng conceded that he had met AIT officials on Thursday, but said it was to discuss the election and other political matters. He also said the meeting was at the Grand Hotel, not at the AIT.
"I did not go to the AIT on that day," he told the press conference. "I did not discuss Ma's green card with the officials or fill out Form I-407 during our meeting."
He and the official discussed the presidential election and Feng took the occasion to reiterate Ma's request that the AIT tell the media that his green card is invalid.
Feng said Ma sent a letter to the AIT last week requesting that the AIT provide documentation showing that his green card was invalid.
"I meet AIT officials regularly, so it's normal," Feng said.
Asked if he knew in advance that Feng intended to meet AIT officials, Ma said at a separate setting yesterday that it was Feng's job to establish contacts and relations with foreign media and representatives. It is unnecessary for Feng to report about every private meeting he has with AIT officials, Ma said.
With regard to the discrepancies between the accounts provided by the informant and Feng, Chao said the Hsieh camp would attempt to verify the details.
"I suspect that Feng only told part of the truth. He must have concealed many facts," Chao said.
Commenting on the matter yesterday, Hsieh questioned Ma's credibility.
"In the morning, Ma called the report a serious accusation, but in the afternoon, his camp admitted that the meeting took place," Hsieh said. "Ma always modifies his previous remarks. He has no credibility whatsoever. How would people relax with such an unreliable person leading the country?"
Asked for comment, AIT Spokesman Thomas Hodges said: "When it comes to the Taiwan presidential election, the position of the American Institute in Taipei and the US government is neutral."
He said the AIT was closed on Thursday because of the holiday.
Ma's campaign team issued a statement late last night demanding Chao offer an apology within 28 days or else it would file a suit.
Chen Shui-bian joins Frank Hsieh on the presidential hustings
A-BIAN IN ON THE ACTION: The president started to canvass voters for Hsieh at a rally in Taipei yesterday, as well as in Taichung County, Taichung and Miaoli County
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Mar 02, 2008, Page 3
President Chen Shui-bian, right, and Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh pose during a campaign event in Taipei yesterday.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday shared the stage with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and he called on supporters of "A-bian," Chen's nickname, to campaign for Hsieh.
The rally was the first time the two had shared the same stage since the legislative elections in January.
"I hope you all bring the willpower you put into my campaigns in the past into full play to campaign for Hsieh and [running mate] Su Tseng-chang [蘇貞昌]," Chen said to hundreds of supporters, all members of the "Friends of A-bian," which was established in 1998.
After the DPP suffered a defeat in the legislative elections, Chen said he would not take part in campaign events for Hsieh, either in public or in the media, if his participation were deemed to be a negative influence on the outcome of the election.
However, Chen started canvassing voters for Hsieh not only at the rally in Taipei yesterday, but also rallies organized by the "Friends of A-bian" in Taichung County, Taichung and Miaoli County. He is also scheduled to do an interview with the Public Television Service tomorrow.
Addressing the crowd at the rally yesterday, Hsieh said he appreciated Chen's support for him.
Hsieh vowed to follow Chen's lead and give priority to Taiwan's interests if elected president.
"Being president of the country is to be a defender of Taiwan's interests, security and dignity," Hsieh said. "[Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)], who advocates a `cross-strait common market,' is incapable of being such a defender."
With the implementation of a "cross-strait common market," Ma would remove all tariffs imposed on materials and goods imported from China and lift bans on Chinese workers, which would deal a heavy blow to local industries and result in unemployment, Hsieh said.
While US Senator Hillary Clinton solicited votes for her resolution to counter Chinese goods, and her rival Barack Obama has said he supports a prohibition on toy products imported from China, during the US Democratic primaries recently, is it not strange that one of Taiwan's presidential candidates would advocate more opening up to China? Hsieh said.
OUT FOR A STROLL
Members of a traditional performance troupe walk through the streets of an Ilan County town yesterday at a festival organized by the National Center for Traditional Arts. Traditional performance troupes will perform on weekends throughout this month.
PHOTO: CNA
US hopefuls use China-bashing in Ohio
AP, WASHINGTON
Sunday, Mar 02, 2008, Page 7
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama eats a tortilla during a campaign stop at the Sombrero Festival in Brownsville, Texas, on Friday.
PHOTO: AP
China has proven a reliable punching bag, and potential vote-getter, for US presidential candidates: The fast-growing country's massive factories, staffed by underpaid workers, fill US stores with tainted food and dangerous toys, voters are told.
Candidates accuse China's government of crushing dissent and befriending thug rulers in Sudan and Myanmar; Beijing's currency manipulation and trade distortions, they say, make it impossible for US companies to compete.
As a crucial primary on Tuesday in the industrial, midwestern US state of Ohio approaches, Senator Hillary Clinton and Democratic presidential front-runner Senator Barack Obama are each working to convince voters that they are the stronger candidate to confront China.
The campaign China-bashing offers another side to what US President George W. Bush calls the "complicated" relationship with Beijing. His administration has balanced criticism with a recognition of China as an important trading partner and as a world power whose cooperation is needed to settle nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea.
Voters are wary of China's rise. With US recession fears growing, many Americans are more likely to think about jobs lost to China than about the low prices they pay for Chinese products. Their view of China's power can also be exaggerated: A recent survey found that four in 10 Americans believed China, not the US, was the world's top economic power.
Candidates are trying to tap into that unease. Yet, despite the tough talk, whoever wins the White House could take a more moderate approach The next president will need Chinese help to confront a host of global issues important to the US.
Clinton, in a foreign policy speech this week, dealt with voter discomfort with China. "Today, China's steel comes here and our jobs go there," she said. "We play by the rules and they manipulate their currency. We get tainted fish and lead-laced toys and poisoned pet food in return."
Obama has recently called China "the biggest beneficiary and the biggest problem that we have with respect to trade."
He spoke of Ohio workers watching equipment being "unbolted from the floors of factories and shipped to China, resulting in devastating job losses and communities completely falling apart."
In Ohio, where thousands of manufacturing jobs have disappeared this decade, the complaints on China will appeal to voters.
"China is very front and center," Senator Sherrod Brown, an Democrat from the state, said. "My guess is both candidates would acknowledge that trade is a bigger issue in Ohio than even they knew."
China's economic and trade policies have long been criticized by US lawmakers and manufacturers, especially as a huge US trade deficit with China has grown. The trade gap has been blamed for contributing to the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs in the US since 2000.
Dozens of bills in Congress would punish China for what critics see as unfair trade practices.
Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank, said that whatever the candidates say about China during the campaign, Bush's successor will find a way to improve ties with China.
As Obama and Clinton fight for the right to face presumed Republican nominee Senator John McCain, China is closely watching how it is portrayed by the candidates.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) told reporters this week that he spends "more time watching US television channels and reading US newspapers than what I did in previous years."
Asked if US-China relations could be hurt by domestic US politics, Yang said it is a "mainstream consensus" among Democrats and Republicans to "further grow the relationship with China."
Recently, McCain has measured his comments on China, criticizing its pollution and efforts on climate change.
He also has taken a tough line, saying the US "must take note" of China's "warlike rhetoric" toward US ally Taiwan.
China's close economic and diplomatic relations with "pariah states" such as Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe will result in tensions, McCain wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs.
Nations are two-faced
Sunday, Mar 02, 2008, Page 8
While we may congratulate the nations that have recently recognized Kosovo for their boldness or principled assertions of self-rule, we may now take fresh occasion to scold them all for their continued scorn of Taiwan's national sovereignty. And while the merits of Kosovo's case for independence have at least lingering grounds for debate, there is no uncertainty, outside the scope of China's flagrantly false propaganda, that Taiwan is anything but an independent nation.
For the sake of clarity, let it be understood that Taiwan has first, a polity of citizens, second, a democratically elected president and legislature, third, a military that is comprised of citizens, fourth, a national currency that is recognized internationally, fifth, a national passport recognized internationally and sixth, clearly defined national borders and territory, which are not in dispute.
If a declaration of independence is necessary, then many of the speeches made by the sitting president or his predecessor would suffice, as they contain such verbatim phrases. If historical reference is necessary, one may see that Taiwan and the outlying islands that constitute its national territory have never at any time been the property or jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China. While nations accept Taiwan's money and passports (not to mention technology exports), they continue the disrespectful, two-faced behavior of voting against Taiwan's annual appeals to join the UN.
Mark Cartwright
Yuanlin, Taiwan
Identity is the issue posing the greatest risk
Sunday, Mar 02, 2008, Page 8
`There is still no effective domestic consensus on Taiwan's being an independent and sovereign state.'
In his book Risk Society, sociologist Ulrich Beck proposed the concept of a "risk society." He used this concept to highlight the unpredictable high risks that modern technology brings, such as nuclear disaster or global warming. The concept implies that risk distribution has become a major issue external to wealth distribution and can only be prevented by the concerted effort of humanity as a whole.
At our current level of development, the risk society concept can of course be applied to Taiwan, which is why the members of the public who questioned the two presidential candidates during the first televised presidential debate were so concerned with environmental issues.
Of all the challenges that Taiwan may face in future, however, the most important may be the risk posed by our fuzzy national identity. In other words, because Taiwan is so restricted internationally by the "one China" concept, it has never been able to participate as a normal state at any level of global governance, instead being abandoned by the international community.
In the domestic political arena, this peculiar international status translates into a "unification or independence" complex that has resulted in a confused understanding of national identity. This in its turn has led to the insight that Taiwan is a "risk state" that continuously has to deal with a stream of domestic and international attacks and attempts at division.
One example of this is how, when Taiwan's representatives were stopped from attending the inauguration of South Korea's president a few days ago, some people in Taiwan said that Taiwan should not have sent "national" representatives, but rather "party" representatives if they wanted to be assured admittance.
This kind of discourse highlights the huge differences that exist within Taiwan. There is still no effective domestic consensus on Taiwan being an independent and sovereign state, not to mention a consolidated view of "national behavior" shared by the whole citizenry that would serve to strengthen Taiwan's risk management ability.
Against this ominous domestic backdrop, what kind of national leader should we elect? The Taipei Society (澄社) is gathering academics in preparation for a comprehensive investigation into the presidential candidates' personal character, their team, policy suggestions, executive abilities and vision. The most crucial components in this inquiry are their positions on the issue of national status and in what direction they want to take Taiwan.
Taiwan is not a normal state, a position that implies many unpredictable dangers. Because of this, the national leader must not be a president for an era of tranquility. Instead, he must at all times display strong determination and visionary decision-making to lead the country out of this dangerous situation and on toward independence to avoid becoming an appendage to another state.
Whether we will elect a president capable of shouldering the important task of leading a "risk state" will depend on our ability to understand Taiwan's difficult situation.
Ku Chung-hwa is a professor in the Department of Sociology at National Chengchi University.
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2008年3月8日 星期六
referendum
Published on Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/03/08/2003404617
Intellectuals must be the watermelon effect's foe
By Hsu Yung-ming 徐永明
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008, Page 8
It is not the appropriateness of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) referendum boycotts that is dominating debate, nor is it the cloud of uncertainty surrounding KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) nationality that marks this presidential election campaign. Instead, it is the bandwagon effect, more affectionately termed the "watermelon effect."
As many believe that Ma has a good chance of winning the election, they are flocking to jump on the bandwagon and demonstrate their correctness. Even fair-minded individuals are keeping their silence, while the media are enthusiastically directing the watermelon effect out of fear of losing the chance to score points.
Taiwan has become a de facto "Watermelon Republic."
What is the watermelon effect? It is the psychological effect of being on the winning side. Other than hoping that their ballots are not wasted, voters want to be in the winning camp to avoid the psychological consequences of losing.
Voters therefore end up neglecting the candidates' political platforms and their relationship to their own welfare. Indeed, they deliberately ignore squabbles over the character of candidates, as these background noises would interfere with a sense of personal fulfillment. Perhaps this is the most deadly weapon in the current election.
The media help create an environment that fosters watermelon psychology. The question of a "one China" market is therefore covered up and disparities between promises and actions diminished so that Ma could emerge from the green card controversy with hardly a scratch. Boycotting referendums is also rendered inconsequential.
All this contributes to producing a climate in which Ma is guaranteed to win. The uncertainties of elections have completely vanished, and it would now be more unacceptable if Ma lost -- since the maintenance of the watermelon effect has become the common enterprise, or rather, a common conspiracy, of the public.
Therefore, the greatest danger posed by this election would be a Ma loss. The US authorities are keeping a friendly silence over the green card issue, while Beijing has retracted its claws and kept a low posture. Even the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) appears to be preparing for the transition of power.
If Ma fails to win the election, then -- aside from once again proving his lack of ability -- the greatest source of concern would be the irrationality of the watermelon effect.
A rational examination and comparison of the candidates' political histories, the effect of their efforts for Taiwan's democracy, the results of their previous terms of office, the uniformity and viability of their platforms and their regard for national security and sovereignty would yield a clear picture on who is best suited for office.
This is called independent judgment, which is the main motivation behind the establishment of an organization called the Intellectuals' Alliance: The hope that room for rational debate can be illuminated despite the spread of the watermelon effect.
Unfortunately, the watermelon effect has already become part of mainstream society.
The only thing that intellectuals can therefore do is serve as historical witnesses to another period of darkness and warn against the enormous impact and obscuring of reason that is the result of the watermelon effect.
For now we can only comfort the disappointed and the frightened, while hoping that fanning the flames of reason can light the way for Taiwan's democracy.
Hsu Yung-ming is an assistant professor of political science at Soochow University.
Translated by Angela Hong
Copyright © 1999-2008 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
2008年3月5日 星期三
For the love of Taiwan
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Koo joins DPP's 'Walk Against the Wind'
WALK THE WALK: The 82-year-old Koo, former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun, Chthonic frontman Freddy Lim and others took part in the event to back the DPP candidate
STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008, Page 3
Former senior adviser to the president Koo Kwan-min, third right, and supporters of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh hold hands during a rally for Hsieh at the DPP election headquarters in Kaohsiung City yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
Former senior presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) put on his walking shoes in Kaohsiung City yesterday as he took part in a walk organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) camp.
Dubbed "The Walk Against the Wind," the march -- spanning 500km from the southern tip of the nation to its northernmost point -- started on Saturday and is expected to reach Taipei City, its final destination, on Feb. 28.
Event leader Teng Li-chun (鄧麗君), chairwoman of the National Youth Commission, also heads Hsieh's youth division.
Teng said the walk -- which will be entirely done by foot -- was a demonstration of the love Taiwanese have for their country.
Cable TV showed the 82-year-old Koo, a staunch proponent of Taiwanese independence, walking briskly among young supporters.
Koo attributed his motivation to participate in the walk to the zeal he saw in youths.
He said he had joined the walk to show his resolve to protect Taiwan from falling into the wrong hands.
"The people must understand the importance of checks and balances in a democratic system. Taiwanese must become their own leader and decide their own future," he said.
He also urged voters not to vote for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the presidential election next month.
Former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun also joined the event yesterday, saying he would complete the entire walk.
Freddy Lim (林昶佐), the lead singer from the homegrown heavy metal rock band Chthonic, also joined the walk.
International students in Taiwan at an all-time high
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008, Page 3
"You have to make sure you befriend as many people as you can and not just hang around with the people of your own country."－Jay Dring, student
PHOTO: KO SHU-LING, TAIPEI TIMES
The number of international students in Taiwan has increased significantly in recent years, mostly because of a worldwide increase in Mandarin education and efforts by the Ministry of Education to attract students to Taiwan.
Statistics show that the number of foreign students in Taiwan hit a record-high 17,742 last year, 3,263 more than the previous year.
Of those, 5,259 people from 117 countries were pursuing degrees here. Students from Vietnam comprised the largest group, followed by those from Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and the US.
Jennie Wu (吳亞君), chief of the Research Division at the ministry's Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, attributed the hike to the global thirst for Mandarin learning.
The reasons international students choose Taiwan over China vary from student to student, she said, but many come here because Taiwan is a freer society, people are friendlier and the teaching is more flexible.
A large number of international students have enrolled at National Taiwan University, National Chengchi University, National Taiwan Normal University and Ming Chuan University, she said.
Ayrat Sabirian is one of them. The 19-year-old Russian is a junior at Ming Chuan University's International College. He said that before arriving in Taiwan, government bureaucracy and red tape had been troublesome. Luckily for him, his father has a business partner in Taiwan who took care of the matter for him. The person, a Taiwanese, also serves as his guarantor.
The reason he chose Taiwan over China was political, Sabirian said.
"I appreciate Taiwan's full democracy and human rights," he said. "I never thought of going to China. For me, it is more of a place to visit."
Sabirian's older sister, who came before him and studied at the same college, also played a role in his decision, he said. She is pursuing a master's degree at Yuan Ze University in Jhongli (中壢) in Taoyuan County.
The Moscow native said he gets by with his self-taught Mandarin and has had no problems making friends. Had he more time, he said, he would have liked to enroll in a language training program.
Sabirian works part-time for a company that imports wine from Ukraine. He said he hoped his experience would help him become a better businessman.
With increasing global interest in China, Taiwan has become a center for Mandarin language education, said Ellen Chen (陳亦蘭), dean of the International College at Ming Chuan University.
"They come here to prepare themselves for working with the Chinese or in China," she said.
The surge in international students is also attributed to scholarship incentives provided by the Ministry of Education and extensive educational fairs organized to recruit students, she said.
Ming Chuan's International College boasts the second-largest population of international students in the country. Most of them are in the undergraduate program, Chen said.
In addition to pursuing degrees, statistics show that about 2,300 exchange students from 70 countries are studying in Taiwan, mostly from Japan, South Korea, the US, Germany and France.
As of December, 10,177 foreign students were enrolled at the 26 Mandarin language learning centers in Taiwan.
These students come mostly from Japan, the US, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam.
Tess Fang (方淑華), division chief of the Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University, said that student enrollment at the center had grown steadily over the past eight years.
While about 1,300 students enrolled at the center in 2001, the figure jumped to more than 5,700 in 2006 and 6,000 last year, statistics provided by the center showed.
Among them, students from North, Central and South America increased 208 percent from 2001 to 2005, followed by European students at 95 percent and Asian students at 75 percent.
Asian students took the lion's share of the center's student body, at 66 percent, followed by students from the Americas, at 20 percent, and Europe, at 11 percent.
Fang also attributed the growth to the global interest in the language and promotional efforts.
Ted Glomski, of Minnesota, said he chose Taiwan over China because he had already been to China and wanted to give Taiwan a try.
The 23-year-old came because of a nine-month scholarship from the Ministry of Education and the recommendation of a friend here.
Glomski, who has been here for five months, said he has had no problems making friends. Standing 190cm tall, Glomski said one thing he found difficult was buying clothes. Apart from missing his friends and family back home, he misses Mexican food and his black Labrador dog.
After finishing the program at the center, he said he would like to get a job in Taiwan in the technology sector or at a computer company and then go to graduate school, either in Taiwan or elsewhere.
Jay Dring, a 22-year-old from Grimsby, UK, studied in China for a year and lived in Taiwan for half a year before coming back in September. He also received a scholarship from the Ministry of Education to study at the center and completed the program just in time for the Lunar New Year.
One aspect of his stay in Taiwan he found somewhat challenging, he said, was creating an environment that is conducive to learning the language.
"You have to make sure you befriend as many people as you can and not just hang around with the people of your own country," he said. "It is not that easy to make friends with local students, although we are located on campus in a university. It's still a little bit isolated from the local students."
Dring said he would like to get a permanent job here, either in the business sector, in finance, or perhaps a part-time job in a law firm. Should he fail to find employment, he would perhaps consider going to China, he said.
"There are a lot of opportunities over there," he said. "It is quite easy to get quite well-paid jobs with little qualifications."
For the love of Taiwan
Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008, Page 8
Taiwan is a vibrant multi-ethnic country. Most people love its colorful divergent cultures of Aborigines, Hoklo, Hakka, Chinese, Japanese and even Westerners. Its people enjoy free speech under the newfound democracy.
Before World War II, Taiwan was a tranquil society with law and order. It was drastically changed by the arrival of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime after the the war.
Taiwanese were flabbergasted by the arrogant, inept and corrupt Chinese bureaucrats who stole public assets at will. Their disregard of law and the ethical code of civilized society alienated Taiwanese. Within two years, the infamous 228 Incident occurred.
To understand the political situation in Taiwan at that time, the reader could just imagine the probable reaction of US citizens if the current Chinese regime were installed in Washington.
If one cannot remember the unfortunate suffering of Taiwanese under the KMT regime, then one doesn't need to look very far. China under the rule of the corrupt Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is its carbon copy.
Despite being forced out of power in 2000, the KMT is still deeply entrenched in Taiwan and persists in controlling the legislative apparatus, judiciary system and local governments by utilizing massive amounts of stolen public assets, misleading propaganda and reckless boycotts against the democratically elected central government.
Moreover, the KMT has been openly collaborating with the CCP in a united-front campaign against Taiwan.
Amazingly, the leaders of developed nations and officials of the UN are also cooperating with China in suppressing the advancement of Taiwan democracy. Their actions contradict the UN Charter and openly trample the rights of 23 million Taiwanese.
Such open violations of human rights have been well documented by the global media using advanced information technology, and the records will never be erased from the history of mankind.
Facing the aforementioned difficulties, becoming a neutral nation with a direct democracy based on the Swiss model might be the best solution for ensuring the survival of Taiwan Democracy.
Similar to Taiwan, Switzerland is a relatively small country with divergent ethnicities and four official languages.
Although it is bordered by five nations, Switzerland's armed forces safeguard its neutrality, taking advantage of the high Alps with a strategy of long-term attrition to discourage potential military conflicts.
To emulate this type of neutral and democratic country, the KMT must show its genuine love for Taiwan by reforming itself, returning its well documented stolen public assets and allowing fair representation of all people at every governmental level.
It needs to abandon its short-sighted indulgence in one-party domination, which will invariably undermine democracy. It's necessary to work with other political parties to transform Taiwan into a mature democracy that will benefit all Taiwanese.
The leaders of the world community, including those of China, must abide by the UN Charter and support Taiwanese in their struggle to free themselves from the oppression of foreign powers.
In the court of civilized international opinion, the destiny of Taiwan should be decided by the people who truly love and identify themselves with Taiwan.
The neutral Taiwan would become the epicenter of harmonious Asian nations and would also function as a security buffer zone at a strategic location.
Samuel Yang
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
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2008年3月3日 星期一
The KMT is killing national defense
Published on Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/03/04/2003403996
EDITORIAL: The KMT is killing national defense
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2008, Page 8
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has struck again. After years of successfully blocking arms appropriation bills in the legislature, the party has now managed to shoot down, before it could even take off, a venture that could have been of tremendous benefit to the nation's ability to defend itself.
As this newspaper has argued before, Taiwan Goal, the semi-private arms manufacturer at the heart of a recent controversy, could have provided the military with the means to develop weapons systems that would have best suited the nation's defense needs and allow it to circumvent many of the barriers to procurement that the nation faces because of its international isolation.
But as a result of the KMT's smear campaign and threat to launch an investigation should the company not be disbanded, that project is now dead.
This raises a number of issues about KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) promise, made in his speech before the Association for the Promotion of National Security last month, to strengthen the nation's deterrence capabilities.
First, Ma argues that the "offensive defense" philosophy espoused by the Democratic Progressive Party administration -- in which, rather than taking place on Taiwan proper, battle is pushed "offshore" -- is counterproductive. Ma says that the KMT would instead work to strengthen the nation's command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities to ensure that a first strike would not cripple Taiwan's ability to defend itself.
While strengthening one's defenses is a sound strategy, reliance on that alone speaks of a lack of understanding of the concept of deterrence, which involves the threat of force to dissuade an opponent from launching an attack in the first place. This cannot exist if the strategy, as proposed by Ma, is one of homeland defense alone. In other words, deterrence is the promise of punitive action, not merely passive resistance. Security specialists are unanimous on this point: Taking the fight "offshore" is the wisest course for Taiwan.
Second, Ma's defense plan reiterates the need to obtain F-16C/Ds to modernize the Air Force. Again, this makes sense, but it is symptomatic of a policy of reliance on US systems that will be costlier than one of indigenous or semi-indigenous development. The dependence on US weapons is, at best, a short-term palliative and drains national resources that could be better spent elsewhere. One wonders, therefore, if the KMT perhaps does not stand to gain from ensuring that Taiwan continues to buy weapons from the US alone.
Taiwan Goal, while no panacea, would have been a step in the right direction, and unlike what some critics have argued, it would have tapped into the nation's world-class private technology industries -- with or without help from the government.
By shutting it down and by opposing a deterrence strategy, the KMT has demonstrated a total ignorance of what the cost of a Chinese invasion would be for Taiwan. By closing the door on new possibilities for weapons development and acquisition, the KMT has revealed an inability to move beyond the unhealthy reliance on the US as a patron for the nation's defenses, which also imposes a needless financial burden on the taxpayer.
Such an approach to defense could only have been dreamed up by a party that does not believe that China would resort to force to settle cross-strait tensions. But as we saw from the manner in which Taipei's envoys to Seoul were treated last week -- a delegation that included Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of the KMT -- the pan-blue camp has a rare talent for misreading Beijing's intentions.
Copyright © 1999-2008 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.
