Dear Mr. Trent Lott,
        Mr. Denny Hastert,

The reports from ROC Ministry of National Defense in Oct. 31, 1999 ... "While Taiwan is cutting defense spending, China is sparing no efforts to strengthen its military buildup," he said that.

Nov. 1, 1999 ---
The Ministry of National Defense has expressed concerns about Taiwan's shrinking defense spending in the past 10 years, saying the trend will make it more difficult for Taiwan to cope with military threats from Mainland China.

While Taiwan is cutting defense spending, China is sparing no efforts to strengthen its military buildup, the MND said.

Defense Minister Tang Fei, who is scheduled to report on his ministry's work to the Legislative Yuan's Committee on National Defense today, warned that the gap in military capabilities of the two sides is widening.

Tang emphasized the need for the people to heighten their vigilance and to maintain a sufficient deterrent force to prepare for the possibility of China starting a war in the Taiwan Strait.

The MND also said that in the past decade, the budget for national defense has shown a greater decrease than that of advanced countries that face no immediate military threat.

In another report published over the weekend, the ministry admitted that military threats from Mainland China have increased since President Lee Teng-hui redefined cross-strait relations as "state-to-state relations" in July.

The report, which analyzes recent mainland troop movements and military exercises and their effect on Taiwan's security in the wake of Lee's statement on July 9, is also scheduled to be delivered to the Legislative Yuan today.

The reported said the MND believes that Beijing's recent defense budget increase, its purchase and production of advanced Sukhoi-27 and Sukhoi-30 fighter jets, K-class submarines and battle ships, and the beefing up of its artillery forces have all put increased pressure on Taiwan.

The report noted that between July 13 and the end of September, mainland fighter jets have conducted frequent exercises, adding that Chinese planes twice crossed the dividing line in the Taiwan strait on July 25 and July 30.

The MND said the planes were on patrol and reconnaissance missions, adding that they crossed over the middle line in an attempt to put pressure on Taiwan, though there have been no drastic increases in the size of its air force.

With respect to the navy, the report said vessels from the mainland's East China See Fleet conducted anti-submarine and strategic exercises 90 nautical miles northeast off the coast of Keelung between August 4 and August 7.

Between September 1 and September 5, more than 30 vessels, in conjunction with the Nanking military region also conducted amphibious landing exercises off Zhejiang province in southeastern China. Between August 10 and August 12, vessels from its Nanhai Fleet conducted live missile firing exercises off the coast of Guangdon province, some 500 nautical miles from Kaohsiung.

The report said mainland ground forces had also heightened combat readiness between July 13 and September 25, though there were no unusual troop movements.

The Nanjing and Guuangdong military regions have also conducted amphibious landing exercises in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces.

Beijing also flexed its military muscle by test firing its long-range strategic Dongfeng missiles on August 2 so as to try to establish its status as a military power in the Asia and Pacific region and to intimidate Taiwan, according to the report.

In addition to military intimidation, the report said Beijing has actively whipped up anti-Lee fever within its military. It said Taiwan should guard against Beijing's attempts to incite antagonism toward the island.

Face with this verbal and military intimidation, the MND urged Taiwan to heighten its guard so that Beijing will not dare to start a war.

We believed the believers of Falun Gong spiritual sect, has created a trust of being bullied or humiliated, is a training course, in which the cultivation will achieve high level of fruitful result.

Communist China can't to understand the power of religious sacrifice that achievement in spiritual regimentation.

It's a wrongdoing those who giving religious believers a definition of superstition.

Ten years ago, China was a pariah, shunned by Western nations for its brutal crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.

The regime is cracking down again on democracy campaigners and rounding up Falun Gong practitioners who have converged on Beijing to protest a three-month campaign against the spiritual movement.

This time, the suppression has cost China little in diplomatic terms.

While four members of the banned China Democracy Party were being paraded in court and police hauled Falun Gong followers off Tiananmen Square last week. President Jiang Zemin was on a high-profile visit to Europe where he got royal treatment.

He was the first head of state invited to French President Jacques Chirac's country estate. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II rode with Jiang through central London in a horse-draw carriage and put him and his wife up in Buckingham Palace.

The British and French did raise human rights issues with Jiang and handed lists of individual cases to his aides.

That Jiang was accorded such a warm welcome was seen by some in China as a victory for Beijing's argument that human rights are an internal matter. It also highlighted a willingness by Europe and the United States to opt for quiet dialogue rather than public confrontation over human rights.

"After so many years of work by China, many countries, including in Europe, have gradually come to understand China's viewpoint on human rights," said Xin Bo, an international affairs expert at the Communist Party's leading training school.

Washington, usually the leading critic of China's rights abuses, has been hampered while trying to repair strained relations over NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war. Human rights talks suspended by China after the May attack remains on hold.

Despite concerns raise by Western governments over the Falun Gong crackdown, China is preparing show trials for the group's leaders. The legislature approved a law specifically drawn up for the trials that would lengthen prison terms for members and organizers of Falun Gong and other suspected cults.

Last week's trial of the four democracy activists on subversion charges, in eastern Hangzhou city, was part of a yearlong government campaign that has seen most China Democracy Party leaders jailed or arrested, all but decimating the fledgling group.

One of the four on trial, Zhu Yufu, 46, had not been seen by his family since he disappeared into custody in June. His younger brother, Zhu Chaofu, said Zhu's face was dark and swollen and he had trouble standing.

After meeting with a judge two days before the trial, Zhu's lawyer told the family ---for reasons he would not explain --- that he could not plead for Zhu's innocence, the brother said.

That, according to an account of the trial by the brother, led to the absurd scene of Zhu pleading innocent while his lawyer was saying he was guilty but should be treated leniently.

Prosecutors got ample time to lay out their charged, but the defendants each were allowed less than 40 seconds before the judge interrupted them, the brother said.

When Zhu tried to read a statement defending pro-democracy activities as constitutional, the judge interrupted: "Don't talk about things that aren't related to the case," the brother said.

"My brother ignored him, and carried on speaking. The moment he opened his mouth, the judge said, 'Bailiff, take that piece of paper out of his hands and give it to me.' The bailiff immediately ripped the piece of paper away," he said.

Zhu Chaofu is certain his brother will be convicted and, based on the jail terms given to other China Democracy Party leaders, expects a sentence of around 10 years.

Chirac's spokeswoman, Catherine Colonna, said the French president did not mention the trial to Jiang, although French concerns about the crackdown on the China Democracy Party were raised. She said the two leaders spent nearly three hours one evening discussing rights issues.

"It used not to be possible for these questions to be raised between Western governments and the government of China. So that's progress," Colonna said in a telephone interview.

Clinton's Taiwan policy misguided

"Clinton's Taiwan policy, which sacrifices Taiwan's sovereignty and America's own long-term interest for the economic benefits of U.S. multinationals, has now come under increasing suspicion."

By Ruan Ming ---
The controversy surrounding the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act --- now mired in disputed between the White House and Congress --- may be an indication that U.S. President Bill Clinton's Taiwan policy has deviated from political realities, and that the time has come to redefine the U.S.' foreign policy direction.

The key second section of the act --- titled "Findings" --- deals with the issue of redefining the status of democratic Taiwan, which is even more significant than the concrete measures for strengthening security. The section contains two key points:

1. Articles Two, Three, and Four of Section Two state that Taiwan has experienced a "major political transformation" and is now a "true multiparty democracy" with an economy based on "free market principles." It is also "separate and distinct from" communist China. "Any determination of the ultimate status of Taiwan must have the express consent of the people on
Taiwan."

These statements amount to confirmation of a political reality: Taiwan's sovereignty is independent from communist China. Clinton's "three no's" policy toward Taiwan amounts to turning a blind eye to reality in order to placate communist China's desire to swallowed democratic Taiwan.

2. Articles 15, 16, and 17 of Section Two state that it is in the national interest of the U.S. to "eliminate ambiguity" and clearly express its support for Taiwan's democratic government and ensure that the Taiwanese people can
"maintain their democracy free from coercion." Ambiguity and lack of clarity will lead to "unnecessary misunderstandings or confrontations" between the U.S. and communist China, with "grave consequences for the security of the Western Pacific region."

Communist China has used ambiguity and obfuscation to pressure Clinton administration to adopt so-called "One Three Three Policy" (one China, three communiques, three no's). First of all, it tried to squeeze away Taiwan's international space, secondly to press Taiwan into accepting the "Interim Agreements" and into the "one country, two systems" mold, then finally to cause Taiwan to lose its sovereignty and become party of communist China. If Taiwan tries to make a realistic clarification of the ambiguity --- for example, Lee Teng-hui's model for special state-to-state relations --- then communist China immediately resorts to military threats, which lie at the root of tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

The Taiwan Security Enhancement Act was drafted jointly by Republic and Democratic representatives in the House Foreign Relations Committee. The act was passed 32-6, despite fierce opposition from the White House and a lackluster attitude from Taiwan. In fact, there is little ground on which to oppose the act. U.S. Representative Tom Lantos said the act is a deliberate move by the Republicans to humiliate the Clinton administration. But Democratic House members said in response that the act was proposed jointly by Republican and Democratic representatives. Another Republican representative gave a rather different reason for his opposition to the act; the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the U.S. had said it had not asked for the promulgation of the act. Representatives of both the ROC and the PRC believe there is no necessity for this act because the PRC will not attack Taiwan as long as Taiwan does not declare independence, he said.

Undoubtedly, the most vehement attacks on the act came from Clinton's national security adviser Sandy Berger and U.S. Assistant Security of State Stanly Roth. Berger said the act will increase rather than alleviate danger, while Roth said the act will damage Taiwan's security instead of protecting it. They seem to be following the rule of opposing whatever China opposes and catering to whatever China likes --- regardless of how true it is. When Jiang Zemin calls a deer a horse, none of them dares to correct him.

The climax came in New Zealand, where Clinton said Lee Teng-hui's "state-to-state" remarks had brought difficulties for both him and Jiang. Clinton also accepted a book Jiang gave him --- The Heretic Cult of Falun Gong --- effectively extending his endorsement for Jiang's belligerent polices.

Clinton's Taiwan policy is a byproduct of his appeasement-oriented China policy. He believes sacrificing the sovereignty of a small democracy (as Chamberlain sacrificed Czechoslovakia before WWII) will let an expansionist know where to stop. In fact, the policy of bullying the weak to placate the vicious, as practiced by Chamberlain and now Clinton, will only whet China's appetite. After swallowing up Czechoslovakia, Hitler set his sights on Poland, then France and Britain.

Now, while Jiang Zemin has many of his M-class missiles aimed at Taiwan, aren't his DF-41 missiles meant for the U.S.? Clinton's Taiwan's sovereignty and America's own long-term interest for the economic benefits of U.S. multinationals, has now come under increasing suspicion. This is the background on which the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act was created. However, those who oppose Clinton's policies may also require further analysis.

One group of opponents is the old containment faction, who think purely in terms of military strategy. They see Taiwan as merely a pawn in the military containment of communist China. This group's policy may actually put Taiwan in greater danger than the appeasement policy of Clinton, Berger and Roth. In fact, China has never cared much about containment. It can close its doors to the outside world and spend all its energy on developing nuclear weapons and missiles. The common people in China will have to suffer for it because a contained communist regime can sacrifice the welfare of its people and escalate its reign of terror to maintain its grip on power. Rather than renouncing the use of force, a contained China is more likely to threaten Taiwan.

Finally, there is the group advocating democratic peace, who maintain that freedom, democracy and human rights --- rather than military containment --- are the guarantees for peace and security. They advocate clear, unambiguous support for Taiwan's democratic government and for the right of the Taiwanese people to be free from aggression. They also advocate unambiguous support for the Chinese people's struggle to achieve freedom, democracy and human rights. They oppose the Chinese government's trampling of the freedom and rights of its own people. They also oppose China's escalating war-mongering against Taiwan, which has made more and more people aware of how peace and security have been damaged by Clinton's compromise toward China over human rights and Taiwan.

Even if the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act is passed by both the House and the Senate next year, Clinton may still veto it, in view of his policy.

Doing that, however, will not be able to stem the rising tide of criticism against his misguided foreign policy.

In over view, if we oppose the Chinese government's trampling of the freedom and rights of its own people, it needs to protect Taiwan "democratic condition" and let mainland's leaders learn the international way for democratic routine.
          --- Ruan Ming is a visiting professor at Tamkang University
              and a former special assistant to the Chinese Communist
                                       Party's Secretary-General Hu Yaobang.

The problems sharp population attack an anxiety of mainland China and at the same time, depressive Taiwanese people was swimming in ambiguity and lack of clarity of "Clinton's Taiwan policy."

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