Taiwan Tati Cultural

And Educational Foundation

B16F, No. 3, Ta-tun 2nd St., Nan-tun Dist.

Taichung 408, Taiwan, R.O.C

October 24, 2001.

Dear Mr. Secretary General Walter Schwimmer,

     Mr. Thomas Daschle,

     Mr. Trent Lott,

     Mr. Dennis Hastert,

 

That is our pleasure to send new information of Taiwan for you …

 

President George W. Bush had won Beijing’s support for the war on terrorism.

 

China paid Osama bin Laden several million dollars for access to unexploded American cruise missiles left over from the US attack on his bases three years ago, an alleged senior al-Qaeda agent in Europe claims.

 

The alleged agent's account is contained in the transcript of a secretly taped conversation between supporters of bin Laden. The revelation emerged as US President George W. Bush announced that he had won Beijing's support for the war on terrorism on Oct. 20, 2001. After his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Shanghai, Bush said: "President Jiang and the government stand side by side with the American people as we fight this evil force."

 

The Chinese government has denied it obtained US missiles after the 1998 raid, which was carried out in reprisal for the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

 

Beijing is said to have made a deal with al-Qaeda to acquire the missiles despite the fact that it was facing a growing threat from Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang region. In 1999, China accused bin Laden's organization of training members of the independence movement in guerrilla warfare.

 

The US fired 75 missiles into Afghanistan during the attack on bin Laden's camps on Aug. 20, 1998. A report four months later in the Pakistani newspaper Ausaf, cited Taliban sources as saying that 40 were found unexploded.

 

The story of what happened next was taken up by Lased ben Heni in a conversation with associates this year. Ben Heni, a 32-year-old Libyan arrested in Munich last week, is accused by Italian prosecutors of being the liaison officer between two terrorist cells owing allegiance to al-Qaeda in Frankfurt and Milan.

 

On March 9, in a rundown flat in the Milan suburb of Gallarate, he met the leader of the Italian cell, Sami ben Khemais Essid and told him of his experiences in Afghanistan visiting bin Laden's camps. Unknown to the two men, the flat had been bugged by officers of the Italian anti-terrorist police.

 

"Perhaps the Americans are convinced by the bombardment of the sheikh's [bin Laden's] training centers," Ben Heni is quoted as saying. "For them, it was a victory. But, in fact, it was a defeat because the majority of the missiles didn't even explode.

 

"With these weapons, he [bin Laden] has boosted his financial resources. ... In particular, businessmen have come from China. He works a great deal with China. He's got good relations with them.

 

"Thanks to the money that comes from these studies from outside, he created the army of muhajidin headed by Omar Zayan in Chechnya."

 

The transcript is the first supporting evidence from inside al-Qaeda of sporadic reports in the months following the 1998 attack that China had acquired two unexploded Tomahawk missiles. In March 1999, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman described the reports as "groundless."

 

Paul Lin is a political commentator based in New York. He said that …

 

The Japanese media recently quoted Japanese police authorities as saying that the ideas for Osama bin Laden's terrorist attacks in the US were very likely pulled from Unlimited War, a military textbook used by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The report said that the book details various guerrilla warfare tactics, including the type of terrorist suicide hijackings used on Sept. 11, and terrorist wars waged through computers. The report also said that Japanese police had obtained some related "internal" documents circulating within the PLA, and that the US Defense Department is translating them.

 

The book itself is not an "internal" document. It was written by two PLA officers, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, and published in February 1999. Whether or not other substantive documents are being used as teaching materials within the PLA is not known. Certainly, this book treats the US as a strategic target and elaborates on concrete tactics against it.

 

Why do I say that the US is the book's target?

 

First, Qiao acknowledges in the foreword that he met Wang in Fujian Province in 1996, when China was holding military exercises in the Taiwan Strait to influence Taiwan's presidential election, and that the subsequent intervention of US aircraft carriers prompted them to write the book. As China was forced to suspend its exercises (as a result of the US carrier intervention), Qiao began to wonder how to address US hegemony.

 

Second, the blurb on the book's back cover says that, since the Gulf War, US military strategies and theories have become models for emulation. On the basis of their research over the years, the two authors put forward persuasive arguments against the US strategies. They also present the idea of "unlimited war" as the way to deal with new US military models. Although they wrote the book in 1996, their concept of unlimited war was inspired by the 1991 Gulf War.

 

Third, the book expresses sympathy for the weaker side in the Gulf War, Iraq -- sympathy not only for its defeat but also for its people's sufferings under the sanctions imposed after the war.

 

The authors describe Iraq's invasion of Kuwait as a "family affair" within the Arab community. (In that case, was the Japanese invasion of China also a family affair of the east Asian community?)

 

The authors' attitude toes Beijing's line in pretending to be neutral while in fact supporting Iraq.

 

Fourth, the book asserts that the US "has made itself a terrorist." This is a reference to both the US prosecution of the Gulf War and its intervention against ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, in its role as "world policeman."

 

The authors even express their belief that the US would like to "produce an enemy even if there is none" to ease unemployment among American soldiers and "a sense of emptiness" in the US Congress. The authors deliberately blur the line between terrorist acts against civilians and war between states. In reality, they are speaking for terrorists and turning their guns on the US.

 

The theories of unlimited war contained in the book appear neutral only on the surface. While thinking up strategies for weaker countries, the book also calls on stronger countries to beware. It says that both weak and strong countries may use the unscrupulous "unlimited war" tactics. But because democratic countries are constrained by international norms, the book in fact ends up encouraging terrorists.

 

In one chapter, for instance, the authors discuss trade wars, financial wars, "new terrorist wars" and biological attacks. The section on "new terrorist wars" gives a nod to the bombing of two US embassies in Africa. "State power, no matter how mighty, will find it difficult to gain an upper hand in a game without rules," it says.

 

The book acknowledges that visible states, as well as invisible cyberspace, international and state laws, norms and standards and moral principles cannot constrain terrorist groups waging unlimited war. Despite its statement that terrorist groups have "the destructive characteristics of irresponsibility and the defiance of rules," the book also ambiguously says that "in disrupting international order, non-state powers also curb the destruction inflicted on the international community by some big countries."

 

Such statements in effect glorify terrorists and encourage their arrogance. It was not surprising that in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, the two authors hypocritically expressed their condolences to the US before calling on the US to engage in self-examination.

 

Why does China have such great interest in unlimited war? Because, compared with the US, it is a weak country. But more importantly, American values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law serve as natural enemies for authoritarian rogue nations of China's ilk. China can only expect to deal with the US by means of unlimited war.

 

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks represented only one of the possibilities under this new kind of warfare. Chinese hackers launched cyber attacks after the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and the EP-3 incident in April last year, but China failed to gain any advantage from those attacks.

 

The entire world must be on alert for the type of methods these rogue nations and terrorist groups might employ to oppose democratic countries and humanity at large. If humanity wants to be free from the fear of terrorist attacks, the only way is to exterminate terrorists and root out the hotbeds of terrorism.

 

Look as the same, but not the same as Uighur and Chinese.

 

Reported from Time on Oct. 22, 2001 …

 

Kashgar, the ancient silk road oasis and caravan way station, is again tense. In the bazaars, Pakistani traders in long cotton tunics haggle with Uighur carpet dealers while Tajik merchants in black woolen caps test the bristles on Chinese-made toothbrushes.

 

Mention the Afghan war and people glance around for spies. "I'm afraid to speak; go away," hisses a fig dealer. It was this way in the late 19th century when Russia and Britain built spooky consulates here during their Great Game contest for influence in Central Asia.

 

Today, Beijing fears that fighting in Afghanistan will encourage separatism in Xinjiang among the Muslim Uighurs that make up most of the province's population. In the days after the World Trade Center attacks, Beijing moved hundreds of soldiers into Kashgar's soccer stadium—not to reinforce China's narrow border with Afghanistan some 300 km away but, locals say, to put down potential local disturbances.

 

It seems they'll stay awhile. The soldiers have draped a banner across the stadium gate that reads: "Treat the people as our parents; treat our encampment as home."

 

It is definitely not a great time to be a Uighur. Kashgar police have stepped up late-night searches of homes.

 

"They wake us up to detain people without IDs," says a Uighur shopkeeper. Recently, the police chief in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, announced yet another campaign against separatists. Evidently, the 210 "core splittist elements, violent terrorist suspects and religious extremists" arrested so far this year aren't enough.

 

Or maybe he hasn't yet fulfilled the orders of the provincial governor to turn separatists into "rats running across the street where everybody cries, 'Kill them.'" In any case, the war in Afghanistan will probably increase violence in Xinjiang. Roughly 300 Uighurs from China have trained in Afghan terrorist camps; although Beijing hasn't dispatched the army to quell unrest in Kashgar for a decade, the trainees will someday bring their new skills home.

 

Uighurs bold enough to speak often sympathize with the Taliban. Many tell me the evidence against Osama bin Laden is insufficient, that a strong U.S. is attacking a weak Afghanistan. "If this becomes a war against Muslims," says a bazaar trader, his hair still wet from washing before afternoon prayers, "then we stand with them." Yet opposing the U.S. puts them in an awkward position.

 

Uighurs also know that Washington consistently condemns China's human rights abuses, even against separatists. The same trader who promised to stand with the Taliban later says, "Your army is so close, why doesn't it just attack China too?"

 

A high-paid consultant might tell the Uighurs they need what Tibetans have: an eloquent and photogenic leader to portray them as baby seals facing Chinese clubs. It could work. Uighurs are Sunni Muslims who once practiced the mysticism and ecstatic dance of the Sufi tradition.

 

There are signs of religious radicalism in the region, especially the growth of Wahhabism— the creed of the Taliban— but few Uighurs suggest creating an Islamic state. Their women can drive. They wear colorful hats. Mostly, Uighurs don't want to be subsumed. A half-century ago, Xinjiang was the homeland of a people, with Uighurs comprising the vast majority.

 

Today, official figures say Xinjiang is 40% Han Chinese; the real figure is probably higher and climbing every day. It is, however, a land divided. Uighur and Chinese children in Kashgar attend separate schools. Uighurs run the bazaars, Chinese run the new multistory shops on broad new boulevards. Many Uighurs live in earthen courtyard homes and relieve themselves in chamber pots, while Chinese live in cement apartments with indoor plumbing.

 

Chinese and Uighurs exist in different times, literally. All Chinese I met set their watches to Beijing time, while Uighurs set theirs two hours earlier in accordance with their Central Asian neighbors. Kashgar might be the only Silk Road town lost in time down to the minute.

 

APEC has made new problems over cross-strait’s terrorism.

 

Former president Lee Teng-hui on Oct. 21, 2001 said that Beijing's treatment of Taiwan at an APEC leaders meeting in Shanghai made him cry.

 

Lee accused China of ``barbaric behavior'' because it rejected Taiwan's choice of an envoy for the APEC forum.

 

``Seeing Taiwan treated with little respect makes me cry,'' Lee said yesterday while campaigning for Taiwan Solidarity Union candidates running in the Dec. 1 legislative elections.

 

Lee also urged the Chen administration to be prepared for any possibility when it comes to international affairs -- especially when negotiating with China.

 

This weekend, Taiwan's chosen representative to attend APEC's informal leaders' summit was unable to go because Beijing refused to send an invitation.

 

In addition, when a Taiwanese official attempted to speak out on the matter at a press conference, he was quickly silenced by China's foreign minister.

 

"China is well known for its negotiation techniques, which have even given the United States a headache," Lee said at a media event hosted by the Taiwan Solidarity Union.

 

"Our government must draw up many `scripts' before sitting down at the negotiation table with China."

 

That way, what ever move Beijing makes, Taiwan has responses prepared.

 

Lee said that during negotiations with China, officials at all times must preserve the "state's dignity" and protect its interests.

 

"In dealing with cross-strait affairs -- especially when bargaining with China at international meetings -- Taiwan should take the initiative instead of adopting a passive attitude," Lee said.

 

And preparation is important. During the 1996 missile crisis, Lee said, he had mapped out 18 different "scripts" to react to China's saber rattling.

 

Lee noted that the government has many experts highly skilled in China affairs. He said President Chen Shui-bian should organize this talent and prepare possible "scripts" to deal with Beijing.

 

Lee also said that Taiwan's internal disunity was one of the major reasons why Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan felt he had the liberty to treat Taiwan poorly in Shanghai.

 

Last week, Tang refused to allow Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi speak at a press conference on Taiwan's representation at the meetings.

 

Lee said the disunity in Taiwan emboldened Tang to be rude.

 

"The Legislative Yuan doesn't want harmony with the government and [opposition lawmakers] have continued to be uncooperative in their attitude," Lee said.

 

In addition, Lee said that rumors about his poor health were untrue.

 

He also said it was his responsibility to raise the awareness of the "silent majority" in Taiwan.

 

"The goal that I am advocating now is to help all people in this country to build the true spirit of democracy," the former president said.

 

"Only if the political situation stabilizes after the year-end elections can I really tell my family and friends that I am retired," Lee said.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


So, Taiwan needs your help.

 

 

 

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

Yang Hsu-Tung.

 

President

Taiwan Tati Cultural

And Educational Foundation