Dear Mr. Prime Minister John Howard, Beijing, Oct. 9 --- Businessmen betrayed the spirit of United States. WASHINGTON --- The former Reagan administration official said in a statement that "Coming as it did in the midst of the worst communist Chinese crackdown on human rights since the Tiananmen Square massacre, the sight of 300 of the world's leading capitalist businessmen kowtowing to Beijing's thuggish leadership was chilling and deeply troubling." Even as Beijing put its aggressive new militancy on display in
a missile-rattling parade of weaponry to mark the 50th anniversary
of Communist dictatorship, scores of American CEOs attended the
Fortune Global Forum in Shanghai. "Here again we
witnessed the spectacle of U.S. businessmen putting profits ahead
of the principles of freedom and democracy,"
said Bauer. Especially troubling, Bauer noted, was the presence in Beijing of top executives from media conglomerates, such as media giant Time Warner's Gerald Levin, who calls Communist dictator Jiang Zemin "my good friend," and Viacom's Sumner Redstone, who suggested at a press conference in Beijing that American journalists should avoid being "unnecessarily offensive" in covering news in countries. Redstone reportedly told the communist Chinese leaders that "We do not view it as our role to tell government of China how to run China. We want to do business. We cannot succeed without being a friend of the Chinese people and the Chinese government." Under Beijing's one China policy that threatening force to attack Taiwan, should we call communist China is terrorists? WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 --- At the same time, the department removed Palestinian and Chilean organizations from its formal terrorism list, citing good behavior, and also dropped Cambodia's notorious Khmer Rouge, which the department said "no longer exists as a viable terrorist organization." Secretary of State Madeline Albright added to the list al-Qaida, which the State Department says is headed by bin Laden and is responsible for plots to kill the pope and bomb U.S. airlines as well as the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. "They have no place in civilized affairs," said Albright, speaking of all 28 organizations now on the list, which bars their members from the United States, making it illegal to contribute money or other assistance to them and requires U.S. financial institutions to freeze their assets. The decisions are made under a 1996 law aimed at stopping U.S. fund raising and other support for terrorist groups. "Now we have a legal basis to move against them," said Michael Sheehan, chief counterterrorism coordinator. Sheehan acknowledged the impact may be mostly symbolic in some cases. Al Qaida, for example, gets little funding from within the United States, but he said the legal designation helps to cut off its support elsewhere. The announcement came as a Tanzanian pleaded innocent in New York on Friday to participation in the East African embassy bombings. Khalfan Khamis Mohamed was arrested Thursday in South African and became the ninth man held in New York in the embassy bombings. Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire businessman believed to be living in Afghanistan, is on the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted criminals, and the State Department has offered a dls 5 million reward for his arrest. He and his sympathizers deny that he is a terrorist mastermind. He led anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan, and U.S. officials say he now directs al-Qaida, with up to 1,000 Arab fighters. Removed from the list of terrorist organizations because they have committed no recent terrorist acts were the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front Dissidents of Chile and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Palestinian group is a radical Marxist organization that has carried out attacks against Israel but recently dropped its policy of armed struggle and its opposition to peace with Israel. Sheehan said its political statements are important, "but really ... we look at the facts based on the statute of whether an organization is involved in terrorist activity over the past two years." Neither the DFLP nor the Manuel Rodriguez group had plotted or conducted terrorist activity since the list was last reviewed in 1997, officials said. The Palestinian group remains under some
U.S. restrictions, however, including a prohibition of financial
transactions, because it is still covered by a 1995 presidential
order aimed at terrorist groups that threaten Mideast peace efforts. Cambodia, however, still struggles with efforts to prosecute agents of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which two decades ago conducted a reign of terror in which at least 1.7 million Cambodians died. Earlier this month, survivors expressed fears that leaders would never be brought to justice. Some former Khmer Rouge members have threatened to retaliate if trials are held. By President Lee Teng-hui's National Day message ...
"New, internationally accepted concepts of sovereignty ... could offer opportunities for defining Taiwan's international status. Seen in this light, President Lee's state-to-state concept takes on added significance." --- by NAT BELLOCCHI IN TAIWAN AT THIS TIME, little will be of interest except the crushing effects of the earthquake. There will be no greater grief, not higher priority for everyone than to soothe broken hearts and gradually return our focus to the future. This article is based on one element of foreign reaction to the earthquake --- that of the UN. Some weeks before, the US for the first time, spoke out against putting a study about Taiwan's membership on the UN General Assembly agenda. I was personally very saddened by this, as it was clearly unnecessary and therefore in appearance seemed to be simply demonstrating pique with Taiwan --- a form of behavior that has come to be expected from the PRC, but not from the US. For most of this decade, I have been advocating that it is in the US' interest to have Taiwan's participation in the international community. This was so before, during, and after the Taiwan Policy Review was announced in 1994 (that the US will not support Taiwan's membership in any international organization that requires statehood). There was no requirement that this be stated then, no quid pro quo from Beijing. It was one of the list of things the US would "not do" --- more numerous than what the US would do --- to mollify the expected PRC opposition to the review. In rationalizing the policy on international organizations that require statehood before the Congress, the UN example was used exclusively. The UN, of course, as a political organization, represents the most difficult objective. No mention was made of the economic organizations, for example, that are the most favorable for Taiwan with regard to US interests. Security issues, such as arms sales, would clearly take precedence in any review of US policy toward Taiwan, but as that was covered in the Taiwan Relations Act, it was not a part of the policy review. The next in terms of substance, was membership in international organizations. But at that time, the perception in Washington was that Taiwan did not consider this objective as taking any particular precedence over other issues being considered in the review. In the end, the whole UN system was cut out, and the relatively limp commitment was made to support Taiwan's membership in "those [organizations] that do not require statehood," and to "seek opportunities to have Taiwan's voice heard in those [organizations] that do." In the five years since then, there has been no movement in addressing even these commitments, and there have not been any initiatives from either side in exploring other alternatives to outright membership. It is often said that globalization and the information revolution have made international organizations increasingly important. Not only is that clear in the economic, environmental, medical and other global issues, but the forthcoming debate in the UN is focussing on apolitical issue that could become quite relevant to Taiwan in the years ahead. Some time ago, when the Asian financial crisis was catching the world's attention, the point was made about Taiwan and the IMF. In a hearing before Congress I asked the question that if Taiwan's financial situation were to parallel that in other countries in the region at that time, who could Taiwan turn to --- the IMF? While no answer was forthcoming then, I did believe some means would be found in a crisis to open the IMF's resources, in some way, to Taiwan. These last few days have shown that personal assessment to be wrong. When the earthquake hit Taiwan, foreign countries began to respond directly. The UN, with its vast experience and resources in coordinating humanitarian assistance from worldwide sources decided it could not act unless and until approval was received form Beijing. This took some two days --- precious time that could have conceivably saved lives. The UN used the state sovereignty basis for this decision --- it considers Taiwan a part of the PRC. It could not legally deal directly with Taiwan, therefore, without permission from the sovereign state. Ironically, this position was being explained to the media at about the same time the UN's secretary general was delivering a high profile speech which called into question the use of national sovereignty to obstruct humanitarian efforts to save lives. The PRC and Russia, predictably take issue with this effort to downgrade national sovereignty. Tibet for the PRC and Chechnya for Russia are good reasons for them to do so. Other countries with dissatisfied minorities take similar views. But many countries, mostly European but including South Africa, Tanzania and many others, agreed with the secretary general. The debate is likely to take up much time well into the future. The relevancy of this to Taiwan is not what is on people's minds at this particular moment. Most are thinking of Kosovo, East Timor or other places where there is a potential for similar crises. They are thinking of problems that are internal to established, recognized states that are unable or unwilling to cope with them. Still, if new ideas on statehood and sovereignty are beginning to creep into the international consciousness, then it must become of direct interest to Taiwan. Now, internationally accepted concepts of sovereignty, or revised definitions for a state, are matters that could offer opportunities for defining Taiwan's international status. Seen in this light, President Lee's state-to-state concept takes on added significance. Who interference in China's internal affairs? BEIJING, Oct. 10, 1999 --- "Now that the United States has made the bill into law, China is highly displeased with and is firmly opposed to this," Xinhua news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue as saying. President Bill Clinton on Tuesday signed a US$288.8 billion U.S. military budget that increased defense spending for the first time since the Cold War ended and gave troops their biggest pay raise in 18 years. The Xinhua article made no reference to parts of the law that Beijing found objectionable. "The Chinese are demanding that the United States proceed from the overall situation of bilateral relations and adopt effective measures to prevent the anti-Chinese articles in the law from damaging the improvement and development of Chinese-U.S. relations," Zhang was quoted as saying. It was the second time in as many days that China lashed out against the United States. China opened a new rift in the fragile Sino-U.S. relationship on Thursday, reacting angrily to U.S. threats of sanctions over allegations of religious persecution. Ties had been on a gradual mend after hitting their lowest point in a decade following the bombing of Beijing's embassy in Yugoslavia in May by NATO warplanes. "This is in essence a wanton interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of religious freedom," the foreign ministry's Zhang was quoted as saying by Xinhua. A country without respect human rights and going
on democratic way that sovereignty is nothing. DILI, East Timor, Oct. 9 --- Major General Peter Cosgrove urged pro- and anti-independence fighters to seize what he called "a golden opportunity" to take part in a progressive laying down of arms". But he warned the process would not happen overnight, and that the Interfet international force would not lower its vigilance against militia attacks. Meanwhile, 195 more East Timorese refugees flew back home on U.N. chartered aircraft Saturday from Indonesian West Timor, some to emotional reunions in Dili, bringing the total number of returnees to 368. U.N. officials said that despite fears an Indonesian government registration system was endangering would-be returnees among the 260,000 displaced people in West Timor, they hoped to speed up the process. In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata
said she hoped the pace could be speeded up to 1,000 returnees a
day, and officials here said ships might soon be pressed into service
to bring the refugees home. "In think it is going to snowball, once word gets around the camps," UNHCR spokesman Fernando del Mundo said. In Dili, Cosgrove said in his plan disarmament would be linked to "progressive and selective introduction into government service of those elements which by their trust in laying down of arms have shown that they wish to participate in the nation building." He said the third part of his plan involved "progressive reconciliation between those warring parties who are in fact at the heart of the dispute." Australian commander Cosgrove leads a multi-national force which will soon number about 7,500 and was authorized by the U.N. to halt raging violence in East Timor following an August 30 vote in which the former Portuguese territory's people overwhelmingly opted for independence from Indonesia. Cosgrove said he presented his proposals to pro-independence Falintil chief of staff Taur Matan Ruak in a meeting on Friday, but had as yet received no response, and that the offer was extended to the militia. But he added he would push ahead with talks with Falintil even if the militia decided to join the talks. We appreciated the peacemakers in East Timor, that revealed humanitarian can work in our world. Nevertheless, the multinational force is necessary. After the earthquake, many foreign rescue and medical teams rushed to Taiwan in search of survivors and to help heal wounds. These foreign teams expressed the most profound enthusiasm and professionalism while offering this island aid. Let us to express our heartily thanks to you and your warmly support over Taiwan earthquake crisis.
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