Reported Dec. 22, 1999 ---

The Chinese communists are commonly viewed by the American people as the biggest threat to the United States, a ROC government official in charge of mainland China affairs said. Citing a recent poll conducted in the United States, Lin Chong-pin, vice chairman of the cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council, said 36 percent of the American people think mainland China poses the biggest threat to America, ahead of 21 percent who cited Iraq as America’s bogeyman. In addition, some 55 percent of the respondents voiced support for Taiwan independence because the island is a democracy.

While 37 percent of them support current U.S. policy which does not condone Taiwan independence, but also does not condone mainland China’s military threats against Taiwan. Around 61 percent of Republican Party members expressed support for Taiwan independence, while 51 percent of Democratic Party members voiced the same opinion, Lin said, citing the poll results.

Report from Taipei ---

President Lee Teng-hui met with foreign participants yesterday (Dec. 17, 1999) in the second general meeting of the Asia-Pacific Security Forum. The meeting acted as a platform for Lee to express Taiwan’s consistent efforts in the pursuit of stable cross-strait relations.

Lee told the visitors at the Presidential Office that only if Taipei and Beijing each respect the “fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are currently ruled by two separate governments with no attachment to one another, whereby two equitable political entities coexist,” can they overcome their political differences and develop their relations to benefit the peaceful unification of China.

This principle must be addressed if the two sides engage in talks on an equal footing, Lee said, adding that this is the reason he put forward the “special state-to-state relationship” theory on July 9.

The president said that the ROC government believes stable cross-strait relations are the key to maintaining peace in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, it consistently promotes a pragmatic cross-strait policy, he added.

He pointed out that the ROC, in 1991, renounced the use of military force to solve the cross-strait dispute, and has since gradually relaxed bans on exchanges between Taiwan and the mainland in the hope of setting up a basis for cross-strait cooperation.

Despite the fact that Beijing has never made any response in the nature of goodwill to Taipei’s efforts, the ROC will continue its efforts to ease cross-strait, Lee said.

Washington, Dec. 17 ---

ROC representative to the United States Stephen Chen is stated to make a report to the legislature later this month on his role in the U.S. Congress efforts to promote the passage of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act (TSEA). But, Chen also told a group of visiting ROC lawmakers which traveled to Washington last month to lobby for U.S. Congressional support for the approval of the TSEA that is not appropriate for his office in the United States to interfere in the legislation of a U.S. domestic law.

It is very pity to hear that vice Foreign Affairs Minister Tawei David Lee and spokesman Henry Chen explained to the committee that it was better for Taipei not to “meddle in” the matter, although the Republic of China government welcomes the legislation by the U.S. Congress of any bill which is conductive to Taiwan’s security. Please don’t let Taiwan voice hoarse!

TOKYO, Dec. 16 ---

Mainland China believes Taiwan’s presidential elections next year are an internal matter but it will not tolerate any move to independence, Vice Premier Qian Qichen said in an interview published here Thursday.

President Lee Teng-hui’s term is to expire next May and elections for his successor are scheduled for March.

The elections “are an internal matter for Taiwan but we cannot accept a phenomenon or change that might lead to Taiwan’s independence,” Qian told the Asahi Shimbun editor in an interview in Beijing.

“Any political change in Taiwan must act favorably for exchange between Taiwan and China and their future reunification,” Qian told the newspaper.

Taiwan split from mainland China in 1949 after a bitter civil war.

“One hundred and sixty-five nations of the world recognize the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate Chinese government and Taiwan is part of China,” said Qian.

“We want to solve the current divided situation by a peaceful unification,” he added.

Beijing says President Lee is to blame for the suspension of dialogue with mainland China because he has called for state-to-state relations between the two sides.

Human rights in China are bast secured by openness to the west. Isolating China could turn it into another North Korea or Cuba. Trade is a constructive way to change China, but trade is two way street, and the west must remove its restrictions as well. On the other hand, the democratic change occurs will ultimately depend on the Chinese people.

Dec. 16, 1999 ---

The U.S. government has agreed to pay China US$28 million in compensation for damage to the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which was bombed by NATO war planes last May. But, on the other hand, who could pay the compensation for the 1989 military crackdown on Tiananmen Square?

We understand that military hardware alone will not ensure Taiwan’s survival. Nevertheless, Taiwan’s weapon power can increase the chips on Cross-Strait relations.

The weak condition of Russia’s army contributes to its reliance on bluster about its nuclear capability. When it comes to nuclear weapons, it doesn’t take much more than a veiled threat to stop the other side in its tracks.

“There is no doubt the Russians are saying, ‘let’s stand up and show the world that you can’t ignore us,’” said Marshall Goldman, professor of Russian economics at Wellesley College and the associate director of the Davis center for Russian studies at Harvard University.

… After Russia test-fires new missile (Dec. 15, 1999), mainland China has continued increasing its military budget since the early 80s to establish modernized armed forces with a view to prevent U.S. military intervention in Taiwan and South China Sea issues.

Frequent missile testing by mainland China and North Korea has forced their neighboring countries to seek effective ways to defend their national security and has triggered a controversy over the development of theater missile defense systems.