PRC must accept Taiwan’s peace offer

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PRC must accept Taiwan’s peace offer, or else: Ma


TRUCE:: In an interview with the ‘Global Views’ magazine, the president painted a rosy portrait of what could happen if his ‘olive branch’ were accepted
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008, Page 3

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that Taipei would immediately engage in a “diplomatic war” with Beijing if his proposed “diplomatic truce” with China did not receive a positive response.

Through a “diplomatic truce” with Beijing, Ma said, both sides would no longer have to engage in malicious competition over diplomatic allies and Taiwan could drop its reputation as a state that engages in “checkbook diplomacy.”

“Some have criticized the proposal as wishful thinking, but it is not,” he told the Chinese-language Global Views magazine in an interview on Thursday.

The interview will be published in next month’s issue, which hits the shelves on Monday.

In the interview, Ma did not elaborate on what he would consider to be a “positive response” from Beijing, nor did he say what “diplomatic war” would imply.

AID

Ma said foreign aid was necessary, but added that it should not be used to secure diplomatic ties and should be limited to helping emerging states and the international community.

While the UN has recommended countries set aside 0.7 percent of their GDP for foreign aid, Ma said there was room for growth as Taiwan’s foreign aid represented only 0.15 percent of its GDP.

Hailing his just-concluded trip to Latin America and the Caribbean as a success, Ma said he did not talk money with leaders of the country’s six diplomatic allies and eight leaders of non-allied countries during the visit.

Ma also proposed to allow Chinese students to study in Taiwan, which in his view would increase competitiveness in schools, help cross-strait reconciliation and resolve the problem of insufficient student numbers.

“Twenty years from now, we might have a Tsing Hua University graduate head China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and the head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council from Beijing’s Tsinghua University. I don’t see anything wrong with that,” he said.

“How do you expect both sides to engage in a war if they are leaders of our government?” Ma said.

Ma said he believed there was trust on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, as highlighted by the fact that against all expectations, weekend charter flight services began soon after he took office in May.

He said, however, that it would take some time before dramatic changes in the cross-strait situation became apparent.

TOURISTS

Regarding the low numbers of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, Ma said this did not worry him and that his understanding was that Beijing had been preoccupied with the Olympics and consequently had not had the time to focus on the matter.

Nor would the economy improve overnight, he said, adding he was confident his administration would overcome the difficulties and that Taiwanese should “just follow me.”

In Taipei yesterday, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said the “diplomatic truce” with Beijing would not only bring peace in the Taiwan Strait but would also help stabilize the global community and expedite investment in Taiwan.

The purpose of the proposal was to rebuild the country’s international reputation from a “troublemaker” into that of a responsible stakeholder, he said, adding that the Ma administration would maintain friendly relations with all countries, especially Japan and the US.

　

　

　

　

An open letter to DPP supporters
　

By Tsai Ing-Wen 蔡英文
Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008, Page 8

There is a kind of sadness so painful it cannot be soothed, and a kind of disappointment so grave it cannot be overcome. I believe this is what Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters are going through.

Since the evening of Aug. 15, when former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), withdrew from the party, many people in Taiwan have turned off their cellphones and avoided going online or watching TV because they do not know how to react to this incident. The truth is so unbearable that it has almost completely eroded the trust of the party’s supporters, who can only remain silent and hang their heads.

As a party, have we returned to square one? Have we been knocked down yet again?

Every time we struggle to pick ourselves up, we’re hit with another powerful blow. As a DPP supporter, it seems that one must always worry about the party and relinquish one’s right to happiness.

Past mistakes periodically return to haunt us at unexpected times. I know that many people would like to just turn around and leave, but the sad truth is, they do not know where to go. For a long time, the DPP has been the only choice in politics for these people, and yet the party has now made some unpardonable mistakes. All of a sudden, our supporters feel like they have fallen into the sea, unsupported and directionless.

Taiwan is in a diplomatic plight; not only is life tough for our citizens, but our national sovereignty is also being eroded. People are afraid that our beloved land can no longer uphold its dignity and beauty.

Unfortunately, at this crucial time, the DPP has once again disappointed them. To be honest, I do not know how to comfort them, but one thing I do want to say is that this is a democracy. Sometimes a democratic system can be ruthless: All the actions of the previous administration will be publicly scrutinized following the transition of power.

Through its mistakes, the DPP has demonstrated that Taiwan’s democracy is gradually heading toward maturation and completion. To our supporters, this is indeed a painful process, but I must reiterate that this is democracy. No one in a democracy can enjoy privileges. When a president steps down from office, he too must assume responsibility for his mistakes.

I had extremely mixed feelings when Chen publicly admitted his mistakes and then withdrew from the party. He will have to face the judicial system, and I hope that he can set a good example for Taiwan’s democracy during the investigations.

I also hope that the judiciary will respect his human rights by not violating the principle that “investigations shall not be public” and refraining from publicizing unverified information. This is an opportunity for the entire nation to learn about democracy and self-discipline, and everyone should remain calm and rational.

It cannot be denied that Chen put considerable effort into bringing the DPP to its height, by which we were all touched and even moved to tears. Now that he has left the party, Chen’s legacy has become a part of the party’s history and memory. I would like to call on all DPP supporters to unite closely and fearlessly at this time of crisis, and to face this collective history and memory together.

Politics cannot return to nothing and start afresh; it is continual. It is impossible to completely cut off and wipe away old ties. As DPP chairwoman, I have the responsibility to shoulder everything that the party has been through in the past eight years. I represent not only the current DPP, but also the past DPP.

I inherited the party’s history without any reservation, and, like everyone, I too feel a lot of pain from the opened wounds. However, no matter how excruciating it is, this is the real DPP.

Only by recognizing this truth and taking on these challenges can we resurrect the party. Therefore, I will definitely not shun the responsibility, nor turn a blind eye to our past mistakes. Instead, I will contemplate these mistakes more attentively than anyone else.

I am aware of my responsibilities, and I will spare no effort in helping the party rise from its wretched plight.

Tsai Ing-wen is the chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party.

　

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Ma's evil -- hate Taiwanese chen

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Chen, Huang questioned upon return
　

‘ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL’: Some KMT members criticized the Special Investigations Panel for failing to pick the couple up at the airport and immediately question them
　

By Jimmy Chuang And Ko Shu-Ling
STAFF REPORTERS
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008, Page 1
　

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s son, Chen Chih-chung, right, and daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching, are surrounded by reporters as they arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning.


PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES

　

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son and daughter-in-law returned from the US yesterday morning for questioning by prosecutors investigating the alleged money laundering by the former president and his wife.

Both have been named defendants in the investigation.

Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and his wife, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), who arrived in Taiwan at about 5:30am, told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport their role in the case was clear.

“We are merely figureheads,” Huang told reporters. “I signed the papers, but I had no idea what they were. I did not ask my mother-in-law. I just did what she told me.”

Huang said she did not know there was so much money in her overseas account until she read the newspapers.

The couple complained that prosecutors had named them defendants before they could talk to them.

Chen Chih-chung and Huang reported to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel office at 4pm for questioning after prosecutors, possibly in response to pressure from a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, brought forward their questioning, which had been scheduled for Friday.

The couple left the prosecutors’ office at about 6:30pm, but declined to make any comment to reporters who had gathered outside.

Prosecutor Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) held a brief press conference later, saying the summons had been made yesterday morning and was delivered at noon. The couple reported to the office on time. He said prosecutors had barred the couple from leaving the country should they be needed for further questioning.

Lin Che-hui, a prosecutor, said that Chen Chih-chung and Huang Jui-ching refused to sign an authorization allowing prosecutors to look into Huang’s back accounts in Switzerland.

According to Lin, Chen Chih-chung said he “had difficulty” in signing the authorization letter.

KMT legislators Chiu Yi (邱毅) and Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) had earlier expressed dissatisfaction at the Special Investigation Panel’s decision not to take the couple for questioning directly from the airport.

Lu, a member of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, said Chen Chih-chung and his wife should be considered “culprits” in Chen Shui-bian’s alleged money-laundering activities, regardless of how much distance they tried to create between themselves and the former president.

Chiu, meanwhile, requested that the Control Yuan launch an investigation into the Special Investigation Unit’s decision not to question the couple immediately upon their arrival.

Chiu sent a letter of complaint to the Control Yuan, in which the Special Investigation Unit was accused of dereliction of duty and lack of professionalism.

Chiu said that as a result of the delay, the couple had had enough time to communicate with their family members and ensure that their versions of the story coincided.

“They were both listed as defendants and the case has drawn a lot of attention both domestically and overseas. Prosecutors should work against the clock,” Chiu said.

Chiu said prosecutors had acted unfairly by questioning Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) over her alleged abuse of public funds for overseas trips immediately after her arrival in the country while failing to do so in Chen Chih-chung’s case.

Asked for comment, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said Chen Chih-chung and Huang had failed to account for the origin of the money wired by the Chen family abroad.

Chang urged the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau to intervene in the investigation.



In response to Chiu’s complaint that prosecutors did not meet the couple at the airport, Chu said doing so was unnecessary.

“If they had wanted to exchange information with other defendants about the case, they could have done so already,” Chu said.

Chu said the couple had failed to provide clear explanations as to why they possessed so much money in their accounts and admitted that they had opened accounts for former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍).

Offering “dummy” accounts to a third party, Chu said, is illegal.

Chen Shui-bian apologized on Aug. 14 for failing to fully declare his campaign funds and for wiring a large sum overseas, while denying he had embezzled money from the government or had been involved in money laundering.

He said his wife had been in charge of the couple’s finances and that he knew nothing about the transfers. Chen’s office later said that more than US$20 million had been sent abroad.

Prosecutors have said they believe Wu used figureheads, including her husband, brother, son, daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law, to wire money overseas.

Soon after being named defendants in the case, Chen Chih-chung and Huang’s whereabouts became unknown.

Huang sent her mother and baby girl back to Taiwan on Aug. 17, saying this had been meant to “send a message” to Taiwanese that they would return and that it would be “strange” if they did not come home, as they were wanted by police.

Saying he would fully cooperate with the authorities, Chen Chih-chung said he and his father had little say in family finances and that he and his wife had simply done what his mother asked them. He said he and his wife knew nothing about the source of the money and maintained that his parents were innocent.

He dismissed speculation that he and his wife had applied for US green cards and that he went abroad 25 times over the past six years to take care of business, including school applications, interviews, car rental and apartment rental.

“There is no travel ban imposed on me, so why can I not travel abroad?” he asked.

Chen Chih-chung had planned to pursue a doctorate in law at the University of Virginia this fall. However, the university said that as he failed to show up for orientation, he had forfeited his place in the program.

The school said that although Chen Chih-chung had paid his tuition, he did not complete the enrollment process and as a result was not issued a student ID card.

Chen Chih-chung, however, showed his student ID to the media yesterday and expressed regret over the school’s rejection of his request to keep his application active.

While he respected the school’s decision, he said he was “shocked” and “sorry” to see the school’s change of attitude. He declined to comment on whether this may have been the result of politics, saying that it was beyond his power to speculate.

　

　

Russia moves to recognize Georgian separatist regions

AGENCIES, MOSCOW AND SOCHI, RUSSIA
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008, Page 1
　

Russian troops partrol in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia, yesterday, as Russian lawmakers voted to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.


PHOTO: AFP

　

The Russian parliament voted overwhelmingly yesterday to recognize the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions, while Russian President Dmitry Medvedev linked the Georgia conflict to tensions over another separatist region.

The EU, which has criticized Russia’s military intervention, called a special summit on the Georgia crisis. Many European countries expressed concern at the Russian parliament vote to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.

With Russian troops still inside Georgia and tensions heightened by the arrival in a Georgian port of a US warship carrying aid, Russia’s two parliamentary chambers approved a resolution calling on Medvedev formally to recognize the two regions.

The Duma and Federation Council held special sessions to debate the region’s calls for recognition.

The two regions are internationally recognized as part of Georgia, where Russian troops rolled in on Aug. 8 to fight off a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.

Addressing the Federation Council, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said Russia had saved his region from “genocide.”

He said there was more political and legal legitimacy to recognizing South Ossetia’s independence than there had been for Kosovo, the Serbian province that broke free with EU and US backing.

The Abkhaz separatist leader, Sergei Bagapsh, said: “Neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia will ever again live in one state with Georgia.”

The parliament appeal was not binding and a final decision on Russian recognition rests with Medvedev.

Medvedev also warned Moldova yesterday against repeating Georgia’s mistake of trying to use force to seize back control of a breakaway region.

Russia sent peacekeepers to Moldova in the early 1990s to end a conflict between Chisinau and its breakaway Transdniestria region and is trying to mediate a deal between the two sides.

Transdniestria, one of a number of “frozen conflicts” in the territory of the former Soviet Union, mirrored the standoff in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

“After the Georgian leadership lost their marbles, as they say, all the problems got worse and a military conflict erupted,” Medvedev told Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin at his Black Sea residence in Sochi.

“This is a serious warning, a warning to all,” he said. “And I believe we should handle other existing conflicts in this context.”

Medvedev, keen to limit diplomatic damage caused by the Russian operation in Georgia, made clear Moldova had no reason to worry for now.

Also yesterday, Medvedev said he was considering a number of options in ties with NATO including halting relations with the military alliance.

“We are ready to take any decision, up to halting relations altogether,” Medvedev said in Sochi during a meeting with Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin.

Moscow also signaled yesterday that it could break off some trade agreements concluded as part of negotiations to join the WTO.

“Russia intends to inform various WTO partners of its withdrawal from accords that contradict its interests,” reports quoted First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov as saying at a “presidium” of top ministers.

　

　

Ma rating plunges to 36.9 percent, DPP survey shows
　

WAITING GAME: KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao said that he believed the government’s approval rating would improve given time to carry out its policies


By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008, Page 3

A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) survey conducted on the eve of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 100th day in office found that his approval rating has plummeted to 36.9 percent, with his disapproval rating standing at 57 percent.

“The poll results indicate that allegations of money-laundering against former president Chen Shiu-bian (陳水扁) did not improve Ma’s approval rating, meaning that the public considers them separate issues,” the party’s Department of Culture and Information Director Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told a press conference yesterday.

Cheng said Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) received an approval rating of 33.2 percent and a disapproval rating of 56.5 percent in the survey.

Cheng said that Liu’s low satisfaction rating was in accordance with the Cabinet’s poor performance, particularly in the economic sphere.

The poll was conducted by the DPP last week with 1,348 valid samples, Cheng said.

A government poll released last Tuesday put the president’s approval rating for his performance over the past three months at 47 percent.

The poll, conducted by the Cabinet’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, found that 36.3 percent of respondents were displeased with Ma’s performance.

Liu received an approval rating of 41.9 percent and a disapproval rating of 37.9 percent for the same period in that survey.

Cheng said the results of the government’s poll were at odds with the DPP’s as well as those conducted by media groups and academic institutions.

He said the government used its survey to cover up the fact that the nation is facing serious economic problems.

While the government claimed that it was doing a better job than three months ago, the public did not agree with it, Cheng said.

When approached for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) defended the government, saying that it was only focusing on laying foundations for the nation’s development.

Lai gave the administration credit for its “hard work,” adding that he believed the government’s approval rating would improve gradually if the administration were given more time to carry out policies that require long-term planning.

KMT Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄) said the KMT government was forced to “clean up the mess left behind by the former DPP administration,” adding that the survey result only reflected the public’s general dissatisfaction with their living standard, not their discontent with the KMT administration’s achievements.

Shyu said it would be more reasonable to poll the public a year after the KMT administration assumed office, as it takes time for certain policies to yield results.

　

　

　

　

Struggling on in times of hardship
　

By Peng Ming-Min 彭明敏
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008, Page 8

A friend who I have not been in touch with for more than 20 years and who has never been very interested in politics recently called me in the middle of the night to ask, “What should we do?” I have no doubt that this was the first reaction of the majority of Taiwanese — not Chinese — on hearing former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) admission of financial irregularities.

The legal implications of his actions may still be unclear, but purely from a moral perspective this came as a bolt from clear skies. This is a massive blow that is difficult to accept mentally, spiritually or emotionally and it most likely will have a huge impact on morale.

We have all fallen into an abyss of disillusion, despair, helplessness, frustration, depression and shame. While some cannot control their emotions, most people swallow their tears and ask: “What should we do?” This has reminded me of some events that I have personally experienced.

On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese navy and air force staged a surprise attack on the US at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, destroying a great number of US vessels and causing severe damage to the US Navy.

Astonished by Japan’s raid, Americans could only ask: “What should we do?”

The following day then-US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt called the day “a date which will live in infamy” and urged the public to unite for a prolonged, toilsome war. After several years of hard-fought battles, the US finally defeated Japan.

In 1944, I was strafed by machine gun fire from US military aircraft in Nagasaki, Japan. When I regained consciousness and realized I had lost my left arm, I thought to myself: “What should I do?”

After a prolonged physical and psychological struggle, I kept going and did what I had to do.

On Aug. 15 the next year, in a store in Nagasaki, I heard the Japanese emperor speak on the radio, saying that Japan had no choice but to accept the unacceptable and surrender unconditionally.

Japan lost millions of people in that long war and the entire country was scorched by incessant Allied bombing, followed by the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite this, the arrogant Japanese could not imagine even in their wildest dreams that the emperor would surrender, and everybody asked: “What should we do?” before falling into an abyss of despair and helplessness.

With their “sacred” national territory occupied by the Allies, the Japanese could not but choke down the humiliation and strive on, and eventually they established a liberal democracy and a mighty economy.

In the same year, Nazi Germany collapsed and Adolf Hitler committed suicide. The entire country was bombed into ruin and trampled by the Allies. Starvation and poverty in the country forced the Germans to ask: “What should we do?” However, the unyielding Germans struggled on and finally reemerged.

Although Chen’s actions are sad and infuriating, from a historical perspective it is just an episode in Taiwan’s struggle for democracy and human rights — don’t forget how many people have lost their lives or their property, families and freedom for these ideals.

Despite its disappointment, I believe the public will learn a lesson and understand that we must never relax in our pursuit of ideals.

We need not react emotionally to the ridicule from those who do not identify with Taiwan, nor should we lash out at them, saying “you deceived the Taiwanese for half a century about being anti-communist and recovering the mainland, doing great harm both to the country and the public,” or “you killed innumerable people and took not a few hundred million, but hundreds of billions of NT dollars, so you have no right to accuse others,” or “you sold out Taiwan and its people.”

We should keep such thoughts to ourselves.

If one wants to find out if the people of a country have moral integrity or a future, one does not look to whether the national leaders are immoral or not. This happens in many countries, such as Israel, where former president Moshe Katsav was indicted for rape and sexual harassment and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is facing allegations of bribery. Rather, one should look to whether the people have the courage to accept humiliation, swallow their tears and struggle toward their ideals in times of hardship.

Peng Ming-min is a former senior presidential adviser and the chairman of the Peng Ming-min Foundation.

　

　

Wipe off that blood and stand up again
　

By Cao Changqing 曹長青
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008, Page 8

The scandal surrounding the former first family’s remittances of huge sums of money has shocked the public, the pan-green camp in particular. Although the affair has yet to be tried in court, secretly remitting US$20 million overseas is itself a serious problem. Even former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) confessed that he did something “not permitted by law.” Undoubtedly, this is a major blow for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the pan-green camp.

The scandal has destroyed the nation’s democratic image. It has become yet another tool for China when attacking Taiwan’s democracy, as state media gloat over such misfortune, calling Taiwan-style democracy a failure and saying that the Chinese Communist Party’s one-party dictatorship is the only way to go.

This is also a major blow to the struggle of Taiwanese for the normalization of Taiwan. Ever since former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) announced there was no longer a need to work for independence in 2006, Chinese media have made Chen their principal enemy and condemned his pro-independence line. As a result, most Chinese grind their teeth in anger when talking about him. The scandal is seen as confirmation of China’s bias against Taiwanese independence.

Does this prove that the red-shirts’ anti-Chen campaign was right and the pro-Chen campaign wrong? Not necessarily. The pro-Chen campaign was launched at that time to protect two principles.

First, Taiwan’s democratic constitutional system, under which an elected president cannot be forced out by street demonstrations. When fighting dictatorial governments, street demonstrations, armed struggle and other means are justifiable, but it would be difficult to reverse the damage caused to democracy if an elected president were unseated this way.

Second, the path toward becoming a normal country, which was the goal of Chen’s government. The pan-blue camp is not only opposed to Chen but also to the normalization of Taiwan. Dancing to the pan-blue camp’s tune would be tantamount to blocking progress toward this goal.

It seems that money has a more corrupting effect in Asian democracies than in other regions. After 50 years of democracy, Japan is still haunted by money politics. Several South Korean presidents have been involved in corruption cases. Taiwan may have gone through a power transfer in 2000, but the “black gold” politics of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government has lived on. Working in such a political environment is a bit like walking into a brothel: People will laugh at you if you claim to have done nothing.

Chen’s case still has to be tried. The KMT, meanwhile, has not returned its stolen party assets. The difference between the corruption of DPP officials and that of the KMT is like that between someone guilty of sexual harassment and someone guilty of rape.

Sexual harassment is indeed a serious crime. But the problem arises when those guilty of rape go free while the one guilty of sexual harassment goes to jail. Even more preposterous is that the rapists gang up on the one guilty of the lesser crime. This is where the tragedy of Taiwan lies.

But even so, there is no need for the pan-green camp to cry in grief and blame everyone else. Chen should be responsible for his own actions.

If the pan-green camp panics and chimes in on the pan-blue attacks, it will only prove that the pan-green camp lacks resilience. A heavy blow is cause for deep reflection.

Regardless of whether one is defeated by an enemy or by one’s own making, it is the one who can wipe off the blood and stand up again who is the true hero.

Cao Changqing is a political commentator.
　

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Do our way --- country Taiwan

李學長平安：

1974年當你在政大教育系三年級，因發表文章遭退學時，我才是法律系的新鮮人。沒有機會與你相識，但是，我們共通引以為傲的基本教義派思維和不向權力中心靠攏、不向威權勢力低頭的硬頸態度，始終讓我覺得我們是「同一國的」。

　雖然，沒有機會和您一樣能夠光榮地被中國黨的中央黨務學校退學，但自從這個黨校發生拒絕續聘莊國榮的醜陋事件之後，我就一直想主動申請退除學籍，以便跟這個黨國體制強加在身上的恥辱做一個徹底的切割。

近日來，常看到昔日同窗（也就是那位特偵組的朱姓檢察官）頻頻上媒體，向閱聽大眾報告，黨國遺孽如何假藉司法整肅阿扁全家的進度。看到他雖然官拜特偵組發言人高位，面對媒體時卻還背著大學時代的書包，就回想起當年在指南山下和系裏、班上的中國人奮爭的時候，咱們朱青天的扭捏和畏縮，還有他那不輕易離身，裝滿了「萬一需要的東西」的大書包。

有的人和剛回民進黨的許信良一樣，會隨時代環境而變，而有些人卻和被牽到北京的牛一樣。朱青天或許能從那個包袱上得到安全感和慰藉，但對我們而言，黨國體制的包袱和烙印是如何的不堪！

拜讀您的近作「這個家庭比國民黨更可惡」，尤其是文後的那句「有了真愛，才會心痛，而真愛是永不止息」，用「感慨萬千」也無法真確地形容我內心裏的絞痛。看來我也要患心律不整了。失掉了我們曾經愛過並傾注了厚重的熱情與期待的人或事物，會讓我們心碎。

愛裏的「真」使我們心靈容易受傷（vulnerable）；如果我們要避免受傷，唯一的方式就是學會中國人那套打屁式──美其名「淡如水」的交誼方式，但是，缺少了「真」的愛，還能算是愛嗎？因為我們「真」，我們不斷地受到傷害。如果我們可以和李登輝一樣身體力行「我不是我的我」，不再是我的我還會受到傷害嗎？

想起上回颱風過後，南部某鄉鎮的果園佈滿了從山上滾下來的飄流木，電視鏡頭裏有位老翁看到慘重的災情，不禁涕泗縱橫。看到即將收成的果實一夕之間付諸東流，誰能不傷心呢？

第一位女性獲得普利茲詩歌獎的美國詩人埃德娜‧聖文森特‧米萊Edna St. Vincent Millay在她著名的十四行詩「Sonnet X of Epitaph for the Race of Man」，形容一個農夫巡視了被洪水肆虐，損失慘重的田園，暮色蒼茫中，只見他依靠著船槳，望著滿目瘡痍的家園，雖然臉部表情扭曲，但是，口袋裏卻裝滿了來春可以播種的種子。

我想，鏡頭裏那位老淚斑流的耕耘者，到現在應該已經清除了大半的飄流木，備好種子、幼苗和所有的機械頭仔，看好黃曆，打算和大自然在搏鬥一次了吧。

如果我們把生命的過程視為是「從一個收成季節到另一個收成季節」的過程，我們必然會失望，因為我們對收成沒有任何掌控的權限。聖經上說：「因我們行事為人是憑著信心，不是憑著眼見」。信心就好比播種，需要我們投注大量的時間、精力和有限的資源在我們毫無把握的事情上。

如果我們把希望寄存在播種後的收成，如此的希望將是一種沈重的負擔，因為我們得隨時準備面對希望的泡滅。如果我們把希望寄託在播種的本身，而不再放在不可控制的收成上；如果我們把信心擺在愛的種仔上，讓希望奠基於播種所帶來的不斷更新和期待，或許我們不但可以從重大災難中倖存，更可以有信心接受另一回的挑戰。把生命視作「從一次的播種到下一回的播種」的過程，或許是一種比較健康的活法吧？！

我們對生命的珍惜，對自由人權的執著和我們對我們的母親台灣的酷愛，讓我們播下了台灣獨立自主的種仔。曾經替我們攻下並佔據敵人山寨八年的陳水扁，甚至號稱要先利用權謀策略取得強盜頭目地位，再起義來歸的李老先生都可以算是我們播種過的種仔。時間證明，這兩顆種仔都面臨敗死土中的厄運。

如果我們因為收獲不成就放棄繼續播種的信心，我們如何等到那最後的莊稼？我們難道不應該像埃德娜‧聖文森特‧米萊詩中的那位堅毅的農夫，雖然掛著扭曲的表情，仍不忘玩弄著口袋裏滿滿的種仔，心中、口裏喃喃自語：「恁爸才不信！再擱試款邁」？

如果許信良像聖經何西阿書裏所描述的淫婦，不安於室，流落街頭，甚至和寇仇犯下奸淫的重罪，都還能被舊日的夫家收容。學長啊！陳水扁只不過是個不成才的浪子而已，他的罪孽絕對比不上淫婦的惡行，為什麼我們一定得把他推下懸崖？以學長對歷史的專攻及對中國黨的認識，我知道您那句「這個家庭比國民黨更可惡」只不過是一種憤怒情緒的渲洩。除了共產黨之外，沒有人比國民黨更可惡。這是個真理，不是嗎？

學過的粗淺心理學教我不可否定別人的情緒emotion或感覺feeling。感覺就是感覺，沒有所謂對的感覺或錯的感覺。在那片充滿悲苦的土地上，已經找不到幾個有用勇氣、願意從內心深處講出實話的性情中人。學長敢愛、敢恨的摯情，令人景仰，學長對阿扁匯出巨款到國外的事情，絕對有憤怒的權利。

然而，學長在獨派人士間所擁有的意見領袖地位，也替您帶來許多的負擔；其中的一項，就是學長的一言一行，動見觀瞻。很多人曾經因為您的文章和話語受到鼓舞和激勵，但是，也會有很多人因為您一時氣憤的言語而被誤導而踏入歧途，不得不謹慎啊！

歌林多前書十三章是學弟最喜歡的經節，裏頭說：「愛是恆久忍耐，又有恩慈；愛是不嫉妒；愛是不自誇，不張狂，不做害羞的事，不求自己的益處，不輕易發怒，不計算人的惡，不喜歡不義，只喜歡真理；凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。」末尾又說：「如今常存的有信，有望，有愛這三樣，其中最大的是愛。」

讓我們把信心置放在無所不在、無所不能、無所不知的造物者身上，把希望奠基於播種所帶來的不斷更新和期待。最重要的是：讓我們把對生命的珍惜，對自由人權的執著和對我們的母親台灣的酷愛放在心裏繼續不斷地燃燒。

誰還關心我們曾經播種過的那粒種仔？經過酷冬嚴霜的摧殘，那粒我們寄以重望的種仔雖已死在土裏，這次的收成雖然無望，但是，我們的口袋裏的種仔可還多的很呢！

我們口袋裏裝滿著種仔的人，可別忘了我們這些帶種的人carriers的工作是播種sowing。有人負責播種，有人職司灌溉，也有最後收成的人。誰在乎誰的功勞比較大？我們寧願能有埃德娜‧聖文森特‧米萊另外一首詩裏所描述的瀟灑：

「My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-- It gives a lovely light!」

我們對台灣的熱愛、對台灣獨立建國的嚮往，好似兩頭燒的蠟燭，雖然無法燒過長長的黨國專制的黑夜，卻是在黑暗中閃耀出絢麗的光芒！
http://www.southnews.com.tw

2008.08.21

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KMT's evil way to kill Taiwan spirit

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All took money: Chen’s daughter

OUTBURST: Cornered by reporters near her office, Chen Hsing-yu said she doubted any Taiwanese politician had ever declared all of his or her campaign funding

By Ko Shu-ling, Meggie Lu and Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008, Page 1

The daughter of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members yesterday of taking money from her father when they were running for public office but not declaring it.

Describing the money laundering scandal enveloping her father as the result of “political strife,” a visibly angry Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) called the honesty of all politicians — both in the DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — into question, saying she wondered whether they ever truthfully declared their political donations or leftover campaign funds.

“Oh, yes, the KMT wants us dead. Chen Shui-bian is their No. 1 enemy,” she said. “If Chen Shui-bian were dead, [President] Ma Ying-jeou would not have to do anything and would easily get elected. It doesn’t matter that his approval rating is as low as 1 percent or he sells out Taiwan to China.”

Chen Hsing-yu, known for her quick temper and sharp tongue, lambasted DPP members she said had taken money from her father but now pretended to be clean. She singled out former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as well as Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊).

Her outburst came in response to questions from reporters as she headed into her office yesterday morning.

The former president created a political shockwave last Thursday when he apologized for failing to fully declare his campaign funds and for wiring a large sum overseas, while denying embezzling money from the government or being involved in money laundering. He said his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) had been in charge of the couple’s finances and that he knew nothing about them.

Chen Shui-bian’s office later said that more than US$20 million had been sent abroad.

Prosecutors have said they believe Wu used figureheads, including her husband, brother, son, daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law, to wire money overseas.

Saying her father had told her to keep quiet, Chen Hsing-yu was trying to call her mother on her cellphone to tell her that she was going public even as she yelled at reporters that the alleged scandal was a political attack on her family.

“It is OK that I die, but I cannot die for nothing,” she said. “Before I die, I want the public to know who took the money.”

She criticized the campaign finance laws as “unreasonable” and said that it was not fair that her father was taking all the blame.

She said that all she knew about the scandal was that all the money that had been wired overseas came from her father’s surplus campaign funds, but that she did not know if money laundering was involved.

When asked about why her parents wired the money abroad, she said: “Do you think it was legal to keep it here?” before asking if reporters knew why and where KMT officials had sent their money overseas.

She also shouted at a reporter who asked her why the money had not been deposited under her parents’ names, but under those of her and her brother and other family members.

“Do you think that would work? If you ask around, people will tell you they always use figureheads,” she said.

She said she had not known there was an overseas bank account in her name until she read about it in the newspapers. She said she had never thought she had so much money.

“If I had that much money, I could have just stayed home. Why do I have to work so hard?” she said before stepping into her office.

Meanwhile, Hsieh’s office issued a statement denying that he had taken money from Chen Shui-bian during “this year’s presidential election,” adding that it was natural for party members to help raise funds for candidates.

A staffer for Su denied that he had ever taken money from the former president, but thanked him for his campaigning efforts.

Chen Chu said she had received “resources distributed by the party headquarters” when she was running for Kaohsiung mayor in 2006. She said it had been the former president’s duty to raise funds for the DPP given his seniority, but his problem now had nothing to do with party fundraising.

The DPP’s Taipei chapter decided yesterday to suspend the party rights of Wu, her son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚). They have 15 days to appeal the decision with the DPP’s Central Review Committee.

DPP Secretary-General Wang Tuoh (王拓), speaking on behalf of the party, said that if there were widespread problems in declaring leftover campaign funds across party lines, then the law should be amended to resolve the problem.

However, the DPP did not know about individual fund declarations, Wang said.

Meanwhile the DPP caucus convener and financial management director Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said most of what Chen Hsing-yu said was true, and that he had received fundraising help from her father.

However, in regards to political contributions, Chen Shui-bian had opened the biggest Pandora’s box in politics, he said.

Every political party and figure has problems of this nature — the problem was not who received money from whom, but that there was no firm set of laws to regulate fundraising, Ker said.

In an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that she expected the party’s anti-corruption committee to investigate all members who may have involvement in corruption.

The committee has the authority to initiate investigations and to rule in any corruption cases, Tsai said after a meeting with DPP representatives yesterday. In addition to the former president, the committee would “investigate all the cases that occurred in the past,” so that the DPP could be answerable to the public, she said.

She also said the DPP will rely on small donations in the future

Meanwhile, Ker said that while the Chen Shui-bian scandal would hurt fundraising efforts in the short run, the party would continue to push its small-donations program, since it would be beneficial in the long run, the Central News Agency reported.

In related news, Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien told reporters yesterday that any public official found to have helped the former president deposit large sums of money abroad will be punished.

“The Control Yuan will investigate any crimes or malfeasance committed by government officials, but we must discuss how and when we should intervene [in the investigation of this case],” he said.

“Former president Chen’s case involves not only the former president but also the former director-general of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau [Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂)] and may also involve other government officials,” he said.

“Those who have helped Chen with his bad deeds should also be brought to justice,” he said.
　

Tibet activists accuse China of increased repression

AGENCIES, BEIJING
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008, Page 1

China has stepped up repression in its ethnic Tibetan regions to prevent any protests during the Beijing Olympics, an activist group said yesterday.

“To prevent potentially embarrassing protests inside Tibet, China has turned large parts of Tibet into a virtual prison for the duration of the Games,” Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the Free Tibet Campaign, said in a statement.

China poured security forces into its Tibetan areas after riots in March to quell the unrest, and the Free Tibet Campaign said the military build-up was accompanied by policies aimed at punishing activist monks and monasteries.

China’s Foreign Ministry did not have any immediate comment.

But an editorial in the state-run China Daily said foreign countries had been unfairly critical of Beijing’s treatment of its ethnic minorities: “Many should feel ashamed of their groundless accusations once they know what the Chinese government has done for ethnic minorities.”

China is planning to build six new railway lines in and around Tibet that will go into operation before 2020, the Ministry of Railways said in an announcement on its Web site on Saturday.

It said two of the new lines would run from Lhasa to other areas in Tibet, while the other four would be built in other provinces on the Tibetan plateau.

In other developments, the government received 77 applications from 149 people who wanted to hold protests during the Olympics, but all were withdrawn, suspended or rejected, Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

The complaints ranged from labor and medical disputes to inadequate welfare, it said.

Citing a spokesman for the Public Security Bureau, Xinhua said 74 of the applications were withdrawn because the problems “were properly addressed by relevant authorities or departments through consultations.” Two other applications were suspended because they did not provide sufficient data and one was rejected because it violated laws against demonstrations and protests, the spokesman said.

Human rights groups and families of people who have applied for permits to protest say some were taken away afterward by security agents, prompting critics to accuse officials of using the plan as a trap to draw potential protesters to their attention.

Wang Wei (王偉), vice president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, yesterday defended the protest plan to journalists.

“Many problems have not been solved, not even by the United Nations, and some want them to be solved during the Olympic Games, putting pressure on the International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Olympic Committee,” Wang said. “This is not realistic ... We think that you do not really understand China’s reality.”

A China has stepped up repression in its ethnic Tibetan regions to prevent any protests during the Beijing Olympics, an activist group said yesterday.

“To prevent potentially embarrassing protests inside Tibet, China has turned large parts of Tibet into a virtual prison for the duration of the Games,” Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the Free Tibet Campaign, said in a statement.

China poured security forces into its Tibetan areas after riots in March to quell the unrest, and the Free Tibet Campaign said the military build-up was accompanied by policies aimed at punishing activist monks and monasteries.

China’s Foreign Ministry did not have any immediate comment.

But an editorial in the state-run China Daily said foreign countries had been unfairly critical of Beijing’s treatment of its ethnic minorities: “Many should feel ashamed of their groundless accusations once they know what the Chinese government has done for ethnic minorities.”

China is planning to build six new railway lines in and around Tibet that will go into operation before 2020, the Ministry of Railways said in an announcement on its Web site on Saturday.

It said two of the new lines would run from Lhasa to other areas in Tibet, while the other four would be built in other provinces on the Tibetan plateau.

In other developments, the government received 77 applications from 149 people who wanted to hold protests during the Olympics, but all were withdrawn, suspended or rejected, Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

The complaints ranged from labor and medical disputes to inadequate welfare, it said.

Citing a spokesman for the Public Security Bureau, Xinhua said 74 of the applications were withdrawn because the problems “were properly addressed by relevant authorities or departments through consultations.” Two other applications were suspended because they did not provide sufficient data and one was rejected because it violated laws against demonstrations and protests, the spokesman said.

Human rights groups and families of people who have applied for permits to protest say some were taken away afterward by security agents, prompting critics to accuse officials of using the plan as a trap to draw potential protesters to their attention.

Wang Wei (王偉), vice president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, yesterday defended the protest plan to journalists.

“Many problems have not been solved, not even by the United Nations, and some want them to be solved during the Olympic Games, putting pressure on the International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Olympic Committee,” Wang said. “This is not realistic ... We think that you do not really understand China’s reality.”

Also See: China confiscates Bibles from US Christians

A newer KMT method of torture

Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008, Page 8

Although there is no historical evidence that it was invented by the Chinese, it may be appropriate to note that one of the oldest forms of coercion is known as “Chinese water torture.” By continuously dripping water on a victim’s head over an extended period of time, it is said that the technique can drive a victim insane.

Nowadays, it seems like those drops of water are being applied to Taiwan’s forehead, with each droplet taxing the nation’s identity a little more each time. What’s worse is that — like a real victim of torture — Taiwanese appear to be strapped to a chair and fated to a long period of suffering. And the torturer is a tag team: the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Drip: “Chinese Taipei.” Drop: “Chunghwa Post.” Drip: No WHO or UN application under the name “Taiwan.” Drop: Our elected president is but a “Mr.” Drip: The possible renaming of National Democracy Memorial Hall, after the murderous dictator the monument was built for. And drop: In the Dominican Republic over the weekend, where President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) delegation was referred to — for all to see and without as much as a complaint — as “China, Taiwan.”

This latest instance, however, may just be too much to bear, as it was not only unacceptable but also an insult to the intelligence. Queried by reporters about the name, a Taiwanese embassy official in Santo Domingo (the ambassador could not be bothered to meet the media) said that “China, Taiwan” had no ideological connotation because when people in the Dominican Republic say “China,” they mean “Taiwan.”

National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起), who was part of the delegation and who himself seems to find it difficult to differentiate between the two countries, echoed those comments.

Not only are we supposed to swallow that asinine explanation, but Su and the official’s comments were insulting to the people in our allied country, who are said to be unable to tell the difference between Taiwan and the country next door, in the glare of the Olympic Games media frenzy as we speak, 267 times the size of Taiwan and whose population is about 57 times bigger. To think that people in the Caribbean cannot tell the difference between the two countries is condescending and fails to explain how using “China, Taiwan” could help those supposedly ignorant people differentiate between Taipei and Beijing.

At the minimum, it is no way to treat a diplomatic ally who has stood by us for more than 60 years. At the worst, it is consistent with a blurring of the lines the Ma administration has undertaken and the confusing signals that make it increasingly difficult for the rest of the world to tell the difference between Taiwan and China.

If those signals continue, the world could very well reach the conclusion that Taiwan just doesn’t care whether people can tell the difference between the two countries, which can only result in further isolation for Taiwanese.

Before the penultimate drop drives us insane, let’s give those straps a good yank and get up from that chair. The torturers have had enough fun.

Ex-first couple and son named suspects

‘money laundering’: The justice ministry said it had expanded its cooperation with countries where Chen Shui-bian’s family was suspected of wiring its funds

By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008, Page 3



Chen Chun-ying, the wife of former president Chen Shui-bian’s brother-in-law, is rushed to hospital after she fainted during questioning by the Special Investigation Panel of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Taipei yesterday.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES



Prosecutors yesterday named former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), Chen’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), Chen’s daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) and Wu’s brother Wu Ching-mao (吳景茂) as the five main suspects in their investigation into money laundering.

Prosecutor Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) said that prosecutors had summoned Wu Ching-mao and his wife Chen Chun-ying (陳俊英) for questioning on suspicion that their overseas accounts served as the depository for the funds the former first couple remitted out of the country.

However, the questioning came to an abrupt end at around 5pm when Chen Chun-ying passed out during the interview, Chu said.

Chen Chun-ying was sent to National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment.

Wu Ching-mao, who accompanied his wife to the hospital, told reporters that his wife tried to commit suicide by taking a number of sleeping pills because she felt had been “unfairly” treated during the interview.

“Prosecutors asked her [Chen Chun-ying] to admit doing things she did not do and refused her request to have lawyers present during the questioning.”

— Wu Ching-mao, brother of former first lady Wu Shu-jen


“Prosecutors asked her to admit doing things she did not do and refused her request to have lawyers present during the questioning,” Wu Ching-mao said.

Chu said the interview of Chen Chun-ying was conducted in accordance with the law.

Chu said that Wu Ching-mao detailed to prosecutors the process they used to deposit or transfer money for the former first family over the years.

The prosecutor added that former state-owned China Steel Corp (中鋼) chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) was also summoned for questioning yesterday morning as a witness.

Lin was in charge of Chen Shui-bian’s campaign funds during the 2000 presidential election.

Lin left the prosecutors’ office at 12pm.

Chu said prosecutors learned that Chen had four undisclosed bank accounts used for political donations for the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections — three for 2000 and one for 2004.

The former president admitted last Thursday that he failed to truthfully declare funds collected from two mayoral and two presidential elections between 1993 and 2004 and that his wife had wired surplus campaign contributions overseas.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office announced on Saturday that Chen Shui-bian and Wu Ching-mao had been barred from leaving the country. Wu Shu-jen has been prohibited from leaving since May.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said yesterday it was cooperating with law enforcement authorities in several countries to probe Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) overseas accounts.

“The MOJ is expanding its legal assistance with several countries. The ministry not only has cooperated with Swiss authorities to investigate Chen’s accounts there, but it has also contacted Singapore, the US and other countries where the former first family had allegedly wired funds,” Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) told a press conference yesterday.

He said the ministry was determined to clear all bank accounts the former first family opened overseas and to retrieve the funds.

The deputy minister asked businesspeople who know where the Chen family’s money came from to report the matter to prosecutors, and prosecutors would handle them according to the Witness Protection Law (證人保護法) and grant them a NT$10 million (US$319,000) reward.

He also urged businesspeople involved in the scandal to come out and act as state witnesses.

Meanwhile, Taipei Prosecutor Ching Chi-jen (慶啟人), who traveled to Switzerland to trace the alleged Chen family funds, returned to the country on Sunday night.

“I offered legal documents involving Chen and the former first family to Swiss prosecutors to assist in their investigation into suspected money laundering, and I also expressed the hope that Switzerland would return the money to Taiwan,” Ching told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Huang said prosecutors were also investigating Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂), a former chief of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, on suspicion of concealing information about the suspected money laundering.

Prosecutors were still questioning Huang as of press time.

Prosecutors on Sunday asked immigration officials to notify them if they found Yeh trying to leave the country.

Yeh had said on Sunday that the bureau’s Money Laundering Prevention Center had received information from the Cayman Islands in late January that the former president’s daughter-in-law had a bank account there and that it was likely being used for money laundering.

In related news, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday it would not rule out filing suit if it found any trading irregularities in the auction of Changhwa Bank (彰化銀行) shares in 2005.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) has accused the former first family of taking bribes from Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) in exchange for Changhwa shares.

As a result of the auction, Taishin Financial won a majority of the seats on Changhwa Bank’s board, with a 22.5 percent stake, compared with the government’s 18 percent.

A high-ranking ministry official said on condition of anonymity that he believed investigators would soon ask the ministry for trading documents to see if there were any irregularities in the transaction.

“The ministry and failed bidders could lodge lawsuits if the auction turned out to be tainted,” the official told reporters. “It would be up to the court to settle the dispute. No one can predict the outcome.”

The official, however, said it was unlikely that the Changhwa deal would be invalidated.

“People who played unfairly would not be able to shake off their legal responsibility,” the official said. “They would be unfit to chair the company, but the company’s dealings would probably remain unaffected.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CRYSTAL HSU

TSU to rally against China policy

‘Mistake’: The party said that the administration’s adoption of China-friendly economic policies was a ‘flawed’ strategy that had seriously hurt the country

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008, Page 3

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) is set to proceed with a demonstration tomorrow to protest against the government’s pro-China economic policies.

TSU Secretary-General Lin Jhi-jia (林志嘉) said the demonstration would be a protest against the administration’s China-friendly economic policy, which he called a “mistake.”

“The policy, which is irresponsible in nature, has caused the economy to bleed and seriously hurt the country,” he said.

As the party has suspended the party rights of Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛), a TSU member, for her endorsement of the administration’s liberal economic policy toward China, Lin said his party would wait until the demonstration was over to “carefully consider” possibly early next month how to deal with Lai.

There have been calls for Lai’s resignation from the post or expulsion from the party.

POLL

Citing a survey conducted by its opinion center, Lin said that most people considered the administration’s cross-strait economic policy was flawed and that his party was duty-bound to reflect public opinion.

The survey, which questioned 1,029 adults around the country between Aug. 12 and Aug. 15, showed that more than 72 percent of respondents believed the recent relaxation of cross-strait regulations would benefit big businesses more than the general public.

The policies included loosening the regulation restricting a listed company’s investment in China to a maximum of 40 percent of its net worth and banning Taiwanese companies from setting up 12-inch wafer fabs in China.

The poll also found that nearly 38 percent of the people polled said the administration had eased cross-strait policy too hastily, while only 12 percent said it should pick up the pace.

More than 41 percent said the deregulatory measures had not helped the stock market, but nearly 31 percent said they did.

More than 46 percent of those polled said the economy had worsened since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May, while about 11 percent said it had improved.

Nearly 35 percent of respondents said their quality of life had deteriorated since May. Only 6 percent said it had improved.

However, not all the respondents were unhappy with the administration’s cross-strait policy.

Nearly 48 percent said the relaxation of cross-strait measures had helped the economy, while 35 percent said it had had little effect or none at all.

MIXED VIEWS

Fifty-six percent said the measures helped improve cross-strait relations, but about 31 percent said they did not.

In addition, 45 percent said they were generally satisfied with the new measures. About 37 percent said they were unhappy with them.

Regarding Ma’s performance over the past three months, nearly 43 percent found it satisfactory, while about 42 percent said they were not satisfied.
　

‘One dream’ Beijing can’t deliver

By Cao Changqing 曹長青
Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008, Page 8

The Chinese government went to great lengths to show China’s best face to the world by having a large-scale Olympics opening ceremony that cost a lot of money, with loads of fireworks, lots of color and droves of people. Many Chinese Internet users, however, criticized the ceremony for being a big mishmash, even saying the ceremony resembled “an upscale version of a North Korean group calisthenics performance” and that was “overly large with too many people involved and was devoid of content and human nature.”

Some said all the colors and modern lights used during the ceremony merely turned it into “an elegy to China’s superficial and extravagant past,” while others said the huge sums of money spent only served to make “the most tacky opening ceremony in the history of the Olympics.”

After seeing the sheer size of the opening ceremony and the large-scale performance, one cannot deny that director Zhang Yimou (張藝謀) really did go to a lot of effort in planning and choreographing the event. Zhang gave attention to every last detail and did a very professional job. Why then has Beijing’s opening ceremony received so much criticism? The real reason is that Zhang failed to understand the true spirit of the Olympics.

The official theme of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, “The Power of the Dream,” and the symphony Summon the Heroes perfectly represented the spirit of the Olympics, which, among other things, is the spirit of freedom, realizing one’s dreams and becoming an individual hero.

Zhang may not understand the Olympic spirit, but he does have a profound understanding of the spirit of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) government. During the opening ceremony, Zhang showcased the knowledge that Chinese have had spoon-fed to them since birth, using historical imagery such as the four great inventions of ancient China and the Silk Road. Zhang also used rows and rows of people to form the Chinese character for peace (he, 和). This clearly and skillfully put forward the exact message Hu wanted to express: a message of a “harmonious society” and a “peaceful rise to power” that was in perfect harmony with China’s official ideological line.

Zhang primarily focused on showing the pride Chinese feel about their country and themselves as a people — not the Olympic spirit. As a result, no matter how spectacular the lighting, colors and digital technology Zhang used, and irrespective of how many people he had line up in neat, geometric formations, shouting at the top of their lungs, he was still unable to inject the Olympic spirit of freedom into the opening ceremony.

Regardless of how painstakingly Zhang worked in planning the ceremony, the Chinese culture and history that he tried to express was very hard even for Chinese with an understanding of Chinese culture and history to grasp, let alone the non-Chinese people watching the show. And even if some people watching could clearly understand the content and its meaning, because it was devoid of spirit and soul, no matter how technically perfect it was, all they could do was stand in the crowd and look on at the “fun.” However, the opening ceremony’s “fun” was not fun in the true sense of the word, nor was it pleasing to look at.

The entire opening ceremony was painfully slow and monotonous, and apart from the fireworks displays that punctuated the show at appropriate intervals, the show had no single point capable of moving anybody in the audience.

On special occasions such as the Olympics, especially when people are watching the event on their television sets, they do not want or need the profound thought of philosophers or the research of historians; what they want is music and performances that resonate deep within their hearts.

The music and songs used at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta moved people on a deep level and made them want to see the Games for themselves. The music and theme song of the Beijing Olympics, on the other hand, were very bland in comparison and were so boring that they almost put the audience to sleep.

The slogan of the Beijing Olympics is “One World One Dream.” Let’s leave aside the fact that this is a typical empty slogan — the only dream common to all mankind is freedom, the one dream Beijing does all it can to eliminate — but even if it made sense, the opening ceremony did nothing to express the main theme of the slogan. There was no expression of “one dream,” nor of “one world.” It was all a self-obsessed attempt to place China at the center of the world. It was, however, very Chinese to see this poor and backward dictatorship portray China as a paradise characterized by harmony between heaven and man since the beginning of time.

Cao Changqing is an independent political commentator.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON




　

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red terror at olympics

Published on Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/08/14/2003420330

Journalists and activists arrested outside Olympics
FACE VALUE: Meanwhile, officials insisted that the decision to have a girl lip-sync another’s song during the opening ceremony was not about who was cuter

AP, BEIJING
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008, Page 1

This undated video frame grab image originally aired by China Central Television and taken from the Chinese Web site Sina.com shows seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, the girl who actually sang during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
PHOTO: AP
Up to eight Tibet activists who staged a protest yesterday near the main Olympics venue and a British television journalist were detained by police, a rights group and a TV producer said.

The New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said two of their members hung a banner that said “Free Tibet” on a bridge in the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, south of the National Stadium.

Another five or six members handcuffed themselves to each other and to bicycles at the front gate of the park, said Lhadon Tethong, the group’s executive director.

All — including Pema Yoko, a half-Tibetan woman with Japanese citizenship — were detained by police and plainclothes security agents, Tethong said.

The journalist was identified as John Ray of ITV News.

“The Tibetan protesters were in the park, John Ray was running behind them, the police were running behind him,” said Bessie Du, a Beijing-based producer for the program, who watched the situation unfold from afar.

Du said police put Ray into a car, despite his efforts to show them his Olympic press accreditation.

A man who answered the telephone at the Beijing Public Security Bureau refused to comment. The park’s security director who would give only his surname, Dong, confirmed the protest took place.

The demonstration was the largest in a string of brief protests — mostly by foreigners hoping to use the Olympics to draw attention to their causes — throughout Beijing since the games started last week.

Most have had less than five people and foreign activists have been deported.

Also yesterday, a rights group said a Chinese activist who applied for permission to protest against corruption during the Olympics has been taken away by security agents.

Ji Sizun wanted to demonstrate in one of three protest zones Chinese officials have designated for the games, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Olympic officials insisted yesterday that the decision to have one girl lip-sync another’s voice during a song featured in the Beijing Games’ opening ceremony was not about who was cuter, but about the best performance.

Organizers were put on the defensive after the musical director of last Friday’s Games curtain raiser revealed the last-minute switch — the latest embarrassment for officials who have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure the Games are flawless.

In a sparkling red dress, nine-year-old Lin Miaoke (林妙可) soared on wires above the Bird’s Nest national stadium and mouthed the words to Ode to the Motherland.

But the voice everybody heard was a prerecorded version of the song by seven-year-old Yang Peiyi (楊沛宜), who officials decided sounded better than Li Miaoke but did not look as good.

Sun Weide (孫維德), the spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee, said the decision to use both girls was made by the artistic director after consulting with broadcasters, who had recommended the change. He did not name the broadcasters.

Chen’s original interview was posted on Beijing Radio’s Web site on Sunday night. By Tuesday the link was shut down. The Chinese government routinely blocks sites that could cause embarrassment to the country’s communist rulers.
Copyright © 1999-2008 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved.

Taiwan must play a waiting game

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US dance and piano instructors praise Taiwanese students

By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008, Page 2

“The bottom line is, if you can’t get hyper, then get off the dance floor.”— Tiziano Hsieh,hip hop student

The key to helping Taiwanese students overcome shyness is to use lots of encouragement and humor, said Michael Parks Masterson, an acclaimed US performer and hip hop dance instructor at this year’s American Performing Arts Academy program in Taipei.

“I encourage the students a lot and sometimes even use reverse psychology to get them to do what I ask,” he said yesterday, adding that the Taiwanese dance students he met were almost always able to step up to his demands.

This is Masterson’s second trip to Taiwan to teach at the academy, which has returned to Taiwan after a successful first visit in 2006.

Compared with the students two years ago, Masterson said that participants this year were “faster and smarter,” as a group of eight dancers demonstrated at the press conference after only two hours of practice.

Another academy instructor and well-known American pianist John Ferguson praised the students, calling them “talented and hardworking.”

He said that many classically trained young Taiwanese pianists tell him that their teachers try to discourage them from playing jazz piano because “it’s bad for their fingers.”

“The thing is, anything is bad for you if the techniques are bad,” he said, adding that one of the things students would learn at the piano academy was how to play the instrument in a more percussive style.

Cheng Wen-wen (鄭雯文), a classically trained pianist of 16 years from Penghu, said although jazz piano is very different from what she was used to, “I am excited to learn all varieties of music, especially from good teachers.”

Some hip hop dance students said that even though they only had Masterson as a teacher for two days, they would sign up for the course next year if he comes back.

“Masterson’s style is not mainstream hip hop, but more jazzy and old-school,” said Kenny Kuo (郭文瀚), a high school senior.

“We might have been shy at first, but we have no problem getting all hyper and excited,” said another hip hop student, Tiziano Hsieh (謝念羽). “The bottom line is, if you can’t get hyper, then get off the dance floor.”

Students from the hip hop and piano academy will put on a free concert on Friday night.

The Broadway academy students will perform next Saturday with excerpts from Guys and Dolls, Rent and others musicals.

Group tells sports fans to shout it out: ‘Go Taiwan’

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER, WITH AP
Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008, Page 2

A local newspaper reported yesterday that Taiwanese fans were planning to skirt a ban on displaying the nation’s flag at the Olympics by waving the Myanmar flag instead.

The Chinese-language United Daily News said fans would wave the Myanmar flag because, like the Republic of China (ROC) flag, it features a star-studded blue square at the upper left-hand corner of a red backdrop.

From a distance, the two flags look the same.

Under a protocol signed in 1981 between the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Taiwan competes under the name “Chinese Taipei” and the ROC’s national flag and national anthem cannot be used at competition venues.

Meanwhile, 10 members of the New Culture Team, a group affiliated with former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), yesterday launched a “Go Taiwan” campaign, encouraging the public to show their support for the nation’s Olympic team by spreading the phrase online and through mobile text messages.

At a press conference outside the Legislative Yuan, the group suggested that users of instant messaging software change their screen names to “Go Taiwan! Taiwan is innocent” to show that there is nothing wrong or illegal about using the word “Taiwan.”

Cellphone users can also send text messages with the slogan to friends, the group said, and bloggers can post articles and video clips with the slogan on their Web pages.

The slogan should be a greeting for telephone and face-to-face conversations, they said, encouraging the public to show their pride by getting together with friends to watch the Games and cheer the nation’s athletes.

“We should cheer for our own team and shout out our feelings. Let’s shout ‘Go Taiwan’ and cheer for the Taiwanese team without hesitation,” the New Culture Team said.

The New Culture Team also voiced support for Cheerleading Squad for Taiwan captain Yang Hui-ju (楊蕙如), who was denied entry at Beijing airport on Saturday on her way to cheer for Taiwanese athletes.

Yang told reporters upon returning to Taiwan that Beijing airport police questioned her for one hour and went through her luggage before ordering that she leave the country.

Fang Yen-hui (房彥輝), a member of the New Culture Team, condemned China for rejecting Yang.

“The way China treated Yang and [fellow squad member] Lee Kun-lin (李昆霖) revealed China’s true stance against ordinary people,” Fang said.

EDITORIAL: Beijing only has itself to blame

Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008, Page 8


What would it have taken for China to avoid the onslaught of criticism that has rained on its Olympic parade? Just days into the Games that China has spent seven years preparing as a symbol of its rising strength and wealth, concern about Beijing’s iron grip on basic freedoms continues to cast a shadow on the celebration.

What has become a public relations disaster for Beijing might have been stemmed with some key — if ultimately insincere — concessions to its critics. Instead, the Games have again illustrated China’s poor understanding of what makes the free world tick.

Even basic public relations in dealing with the West seem to elude its decision-makers. China never stood to gain from blocking “sensitive” Web sites at its foreign media center, a move that was bound to spark an outcry. The majority of the thousands of international reporters covering the Games come from countries with unfettered Web access. They very likely had no interest in spending their time in Beijing browsing Falun Gong Web sites. Censoring the Web, however, quickly turned Beijing’s fear of international news sites and repression of dissident voices into a top story just a week before the opening ceremony.

The ensuing clash between Beijing and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — ending in the IOC backing down on uncensored Web access for reporters — only hammered this impression into the minds of a global audience.

With the Games now in full swing, the furor over media restrictions shows no sign of receding. Although Radio Free Asia received permission from the IOC to send two reporters to the Games, Beijing let its Chinese-speaking correspondent into the country, but blocked its Tibetan-speaking reporter. And despite reports of unrest in Xinjiang, journalists are being denied access, while two Japanese reporters were mistreated by police there last week.

China has been equally inept at presenting a positive face to Taiwanese spectators. Where a little respect would have gone a long way in building trust, Beijing instead rolled out the title Zhongguo Taibei in the lead-up to the Games, blocked Taiwanese cheerleaders from entering the country and insisted on referring to Taiwan’s “home team” advantage in Beijing.

From the day China bound itself to human rights pledges in exchange for hosting the 2008 Olympics, a barrage of criticism from activists of its rights record was inevitable. But offering even a few concessions would have helped China convince observers that it is making gradual progress.

The Duihua Foundation, arguably the group that has made the most progress in securing the release of prisoners of conscience in China, suggested Beijing offer a gesture of progress ahead of the Games. An “Olympic pardon” of long-term prisoners — freeing the remaining Tiananmen activists jailed since 1989 — could make a lasting, positive impression, Duihua argued.

Instead, Beijing has stepped up its “war on terrorism” and clamped down even more tightly on dissidents, particularly in the capital, carrying out a series of “clean-up” detentions and arrests to silence domestic critics in time for the Games.

Beijing must now deal with the consequences of its choice: an international community that has only grown more skeptical and is concerned that, rather than improving its record to meet Olympic pledges, China has backtracked on the freedoms that it grants its population.
　

Taiwan must play a waiting game

By Nat Bellocchi 白樂崎
Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008, Page 8

Since the change in Taiwan’s government in May, there have been statements in the media about what the government plans to do, especially on cross-strait relations. There has been a reopening of meetings between the two sides, which is important. There has been an opening of charter airline flights and visits by Chinese to Taiwan, neither of which has gained much economically.

Taiwan has continued to lay out a long list of issues it hopes to address with China, however, understanding that Beijing will be completely preoccupied with the Olympics until after Aug. 24. In the meantime, Taiwan has to deal with a sluggish economy and a poor stock market performance. It has already allowed many companies to invest up to 60 percent of their net worth in China. There are still concerns even in the media that the government will soon lift a ban on some investments by Taiwan’s semiconductor industry in China.

In addition, foreign firms with Chinese equity investment will be allowed to be listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, lifting a long-standing rule that bars companies with 20 percent or more Chinese equity from investing in Taiwan. The government will also lift a rule that bars companies from using funds they borrow or raise in Taiwan to invest in China.

A plan to allow Taiwanese liquid-crystal makers to set up panel factories in China is also under consideration. At the same time, the Straits Exchange Foundation openly discussed closer economic cooperation in the meeting with the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait in June. There were even discussions on different economic agreements, including the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement that exists between Hong Kong and Beijing.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) complains that such serious matters should not be launched so hastily on matters that could have impact on the country and the people.

Taiwanese companies worry about Chinese investors’ methods of using the capital generated in Taiwan back in China; that rules and regulations do not have real comprehensive policies that cover Chinese investments in Taiwan (considering that many if not most of the Chinese investors have connections to the Chinese government).

While making changes in Taiwan that will please China, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) often states the wish that the two sides can find a way of interacting in international society.

Ma has frequently warned that if Taiwan continues to be isolated on the international scene, there could be no significant progress in cross-strait relations, but he continues to propose “viable diplomacy” and a “diplomatic truce” in cross-strait relations.

At any rate, the Olympic Games have begun, and political issues regarding China, including cross-strait relations, will have to wait until after Aug. 24 — at least. Even then there could be problems within the Chinese government.

There have been many articles about what China will be like after the Olympics. Two recent ones in the Wall Street Journal show the differences.

In James Mann’s “Reform Fantasy,” he said: “China has reached the point where it no longer seeks to mollify or accommodate the international community’s expressions of concern about human rights.”

The question, Mann said, was not whether China will be nationalistic, but what sort of nationalism it will have. The Olympics should prompt the rest of the world to start thinking about the implications of a China that is not opening up in the way that was hoped.

In Bruce Gilley’s “China’s Democratic Acceleration,” he said: “No one expects the Games to lead to regime collapse in China, especially not immediately. But change? Yes ... By denying the Communist Party its moment of glory, the dissonance created by the Olympic year will accelerate the values transformation in China needed to erode the regime’s popular support.”

What these two sides suggest is about China and the differences in how the rest of the world sees it. But Taiwan could have a different concern — how China will see Taiwan.

It will be seen, however, after the Games are completed and talks between the two sides start again.



Nat Bellocchi is a former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan and a special adviser to the Liberty Times Group. The views expressed in this article are his own.

　




　

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Chinese police attack Japanese press in custody

AFP AND AP, BEIJING AND KASHGAR, CHINA
Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008, Page 1

Chinese border police apologized yesterday for their treatment of two Japanese reporters covering a deadly assault in the northwest of the country, state media said.

The apology came after the border police “clashed” with the Japanese reporters, who had arrived in Xinjiang Province after an attack there on Monday left 16 police officers dead, according to Xinhua.

A photographer for the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper was forcibly detained late on Monday in the city of Kashgar, his employer said.

A reporter for the Nippon Television Network was also detained and manhandled by Chinese police who pushed his face to the ground, the network said.

Masami Kawakita, 38, was detained “and then kicked by police,” said a Tokyo Shimbun spokesman. “He was released two hours later.”

Nippon Television Network said Shinji Katsuta was held for two hours and then questioned for about an hour at his hotel, describing the incident as “extremely deplorable.”

The network received word that local police had requested a meeting to apologize for the incident, a spokesman said.

“We heard that the Chinese side pointed out that it is forbidden to film military facilities, and it seems like there was confusion because the scene of the assault was just 50m from a military facility,” he said.

Security checks on roads and public buses were stepped up in Xinjiang yesterday with Xinhua reporting that authorities had reinforced the police presence on roads leading into Kashgar and ordered a full security alert in public places, including government office buildings, schools and hospitals. Police boarded vehicles at checkpoints to search passengers’ bags, Xinhua said.

Meanwhile, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province yesterday, near the area devastated by a quake earlier this year, the US Geological Survey said.

An official with China Earthquake Administration confirmed that an “aftershock” hit the area.

“So far, we have not received any report of casualties,” he said.

Xinhua said the quake was felt in the Sichuan capital Chengdu. The Olympic torch relay passed through Chengdu yesterday, its last leg before reaching Beijing.

　

　

FEEDING TIME
A Muller's Barbet feeds its two chicks in a hole in a tree outside the emergency room of the National Taiwan University Hospital in downtown Taipei.


PHOTO: CNA

　

　

　

　

No more 'mutual' goodwill, please

Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008, Page 8

When Beijing's hegemonic epithet for Taiwan's Olympic team made an unwelcome reappearance on China Central Television (CCTV) over the weekend, the response by the Taiwanese government was equally disappointing.

Reporting on taekwondo gold medalist Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎), CCTV again swapped the nation’s official Olympic name for Zhongguo Taibei. An apology from Beijing seems unlikely, however, judging from the Presidential Office’s timid statement on Sunday.

The re-emergence of this contrived moniker was bad news for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who only a week earlier said that China had agreed to end its name game and so declared a diplomatic victory for his administration. For Ma, Beijing’s about-face was a scarce and sorely needed gesture of “goodwill” to combat critics at home who have said cross-strait “compromise” is a one-way street.

That may be why the office was reluctant to raise its voice over CCTV’s recent decision to keep using the non-official title, lest it erase the earlier triumph. Instead, the Presidential Office said it would monitor the situation, adding that CCTV had reportedly admitted to a “technical error.”

The government is not alone in its reluctance to react. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), who last month bristled at the name change, is now strangely quiet. Wu had said he would cancel his trip to attend the Olympics if China continued to play “word games.”

But choosing not to issue an immediate protest this time was a risky tactic for Ma. The administration’s stern objection to altering Taiwan’s Olympic name was as important for the president’s image at home as it was for building trust with Beijing. Silence on the issue now could be interpreted as spinelessness, further compromising the nation’s bargaining position with China and eroding Ma’s already sagging approval ratings.

The timing was also awkward for Ma, who, on the same day as the Presidential Office’s ineffectual response to CCTV, touted his administration’s diplomatic prowess to a group of former foreign ministers. At a dinner honoring the officials, Ma sung the praises of agreeing to disagree, saying that his modus vivendi approach to foreign policy had already paid off.

But there is cause to object to this recurring theme. When Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office first dreamed up Zhongguo Taibei, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), after meeting with the president and premier, called on China to remember its consensus with Taiwan to set aside disputes. Unfortunately, there is scant evidence that Beijing sees itself as having reached any such deal. Instead, China seems more interested in testing the waters to see just how eager the new government is to maintain a show of “mutual goodwill.”

On Sunday, Ma said his “practical” approach would “protect the interests of the Republic of China” and “restore mutual trust” with other governments. The strategy had already improved relations with China as well as with allied nations, he said.

The sum of Ma’s many conciliatory remarks, however, has not put a stop to Beijing’s encroachment on Taiwan’s identity and international space. In that context, soft reactions to provocations like CCTV’s “error” may be setting the nation up for a hard fall when it becomes clear that Beijing was never interested in agreeing to disagree.

　

　

Stop criticizing China — they've come so far
　

China celebrated when it won the Olympics, sensing a chance to show its true self, but all it receives are Western attacks

By Lijia Zhang
THE OBSERVER, BEIJING
Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008, Page 9
　

'With only a few days to go before the opening ceremony, Beijing, having undergone a facelift, has never been so beautiful, clean and quiet.'


　

When I was at school, sports lessons included an exercise where we threw hand grenades (made from wood topped with metal to resemble the real thing) against a wall over which a red slogan had been stretched offering the reason for such a militaristic pastime: “Exercise our bodies and protect our motherland.”

We feared that China might be invaded one day by the American “imperialists” or Soviet “revisionists.” Indeed, the whole West held evil intent towards us. Living in a closed country, we had little idea about the outside world.

I went to school in Nanjing in the early 1970s, when the revolutionary fever of the Cultural Revolution was calming down. A few years earlier, my father had been banished to the countryside for criticizing the government. My grandfather, a small-time grain dealer, had committed suicide, as he worried his not-so-politically-correct background would land him in trouble.

These were the darkest of times for my family, as well as for our nation. China has come a long way since then, yet the image of those dark days remains deeply imprinted on Western minds. I wonder whether the West is a little too keen to report the negative stories. Or perhaps the West feels more comfortable hearing such stories?

That’s my impression, as a Chinese who has lived abroad, but has returned to Beijing. Even during those days throwing grenades, I dreamt of becoming a journalist and writer. That dream was shattered when I was 16 and my mother dragged me to work at a state-owned missile factory.

My journalistic career started with the Olympics. In 1993, on the night when the result of the first bid was announced, I was at Tiananmen Square. I recall the fountain going off as we thought China had won the bid. It was heartbreaking to interview the bitterly disappointed crowds. But, in truth, China wasn’t really ready. The memory of the bloody crackdown in 1989 was still fresh.

I was also in Beijing eight years later when China did win the bid. In our neighborhood, grannies spent the whole afternoon practicing their dance steps and their husbands beat drums and gongs. This time, we were not disappointed. The wild celebration, the deafening noise of firecrackers, laughter and ecstatic cries went on the whole night. I was interviewed by the BBC.

I said: “In the ecstatic cries, I heard Chinese people’s longing for the recognition and respect from the world.”

I was just as happy as everyone else. Ever since the economic reforms, China has lifted millions of people out of poverty — an incredible feat. As a child, I used to roast cicadas to satisfy my craving for meat; now my 19-year-old nephew, a student in Nanjing, drives his own car. People are enjoying a great deal more personal freedom. As a girl in the rocket factory, I had to endure so many rules. I worked there for 10 years. I was never promoted, partly because of my naturally curly hair — my boss thought I wore a perm. Back then, only those with a bourgeois outlook would curl their hair. These days, young women curl their hair, shave off their hair or change the colors of their hair whenever they want. It’s not a small thing.

Over the past few years, I have seen how the capital has been transformed. State-of-the-art buildings — not just Olympic buildings such as the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube — have popped up like mushrooms after a spring rain. With only a few days to go before the opening ceremony, Beijing, having undergone a facelift, has never been so beautiful, clean and quiet.

Huge efforts and sacrifices have been made. To ensure the best possible air quality, polluting factories around Beijing have been shut down, construction work has been halted and cars have been taken off the roads (the results, admittedly, have been mixed). Other measures are excessive: beggars, the homeless and migrants without documents have been driven out. Petitioners who bring their grievances to the Supreme People’s Court have been stopped from entering the capital. Potential troublemakers are being monitored or are under house arrest. Such has been the stance the authorities adopt while dealing with uncertainly.

Yet Beijing’s Olympics will be a success because the majority of the population wants them to be, not just because the government wants to use Olympic success to gain legitimacy. Xia Fengzhi, a 67-year-old retired worker and a volunteer, told me how happy and excited he is about the Games.

“I want foreigners to see what China has achieved. We were called the ‘sick man of Asia.’ Now we are strong and rich enough to hold such a major international event,” he said.

No doubt there will be many more negative stories abroad, criticizing China’s human rights abuses, the lack of media freedom and the over-tight security. Of course, some Chinese have no access to the reports, but those who do tend to dismiss them as grumbles from anti-China forces. In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, China’s people ranked first among 24 nations in their optimism about their country’s future, buoyed by the fast economic growth and the promise of the Olympics.

There is, I believe, another factor — the timing. The survey was conducted this spring, just after the unrest in Tibet and during the troubled Olympic torch relay, when China experienced a surge of nationalism in response to what many Chinese regarded as an “anti-China feeling” in the West and “biased” Tibet reports.

I have no problem with the negative stories, but I think it’s wrong for the West to stand in moral judgment, especially when some of the accusations are not true. For example, what happened in Lhasa, in my view, was far more complicated than “the Chinese government’s ruthless crackdown on Tibetan protest.” There was a peaceful protest, but there was also a violent racial riot, one I doubt that would be tolerated in any Western country.

As a journalist, most of my stories criticize the government, which seems to have little idea as to how to present itself. Blessed with such domestic support and armed with skills in mass organization, the authorities could have taken a more relaxed approach to this festival of sport. Why didn’t it make the Olympic Games a fun event — China’s big coming-out party? It didn’t need to cause so much interruption to people’s lives. It would have been far better to let the world to see China as it actually is.

I can’t help feeling there’s been a missed opportunity on more important matters, too. Our leaders could have made use of this to address the real issues: cracking down on corruption, improving the rule of law, relaxing media control and opening the country further.

But don’t doubt our support for the Beijing Games. The Olympics are meant to be an occasion to bring different people with different views together. It’ll provide a chance for China and the rest of the world to understand each other. Although I can understand how China’s undemocratic political system and lack of transparency make the West uneasy, especially when matched with the country’s rise, much of the fear is generated by ignorance.

Today’s schoolchildren enjoy far more sophisticated sports than throwing hand grenades. They know a lot more about the outside world. I wonder if Western children know as much about China? And if they did, would there be still be the same fear? Maybe the Olympics will bring us closer.

Lijia Zhang is the author of “Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China.

　

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