TOKYO, Dec. 22 --- ROC President Lee Teng-hui said in a recent interview with a Japanese weekly that “one China” is possible, but not right now.

Lee said in the interview published in the latest issue of the “Shin Cho (New Wave)” weekly magazine which hit newsstands on Wednesday, that “one China” could be a reality in the future. But Lee said he cannot answer the question right now whether the future “one China” would be a cultural entity or a geographic one.

Lee gave the interview in Taipei on Dec. 11 with Yoshiko Sakurai, a Japanese columnist who served as a television news anchor before beginning her writing career.

In the interview, Lee pointed out unequivocally that cross-strait ties must be on a “special state-to-state” basis, noting that the Republic of China, established in 1912, is like a father, while the People’s Republic of China, founded in 1949, is like a son. The PRC separated from the ROC to become a new country after the Chinese communists took control of the Chinese mainland, and the ROC continues to exist in Taiwan.

Lee went on to say that Taiwan must develop a culture different from Chinese culture. “It must be a culture of integrity and sincerity, characterized by respect for freedom, democracy, equally and human rights,” Lee said. “In other words, Taiwan must become a mature, full-fledged democracy.”

Lee said the ROC as a sovereign state must exercise wisdom, prudence and patience to avoid provoking a military attack from mainland China. While stressing the importance of beefing up Taiwan’s military strength to safeguard its national security. Lee also said he believes freedom and democracy can better protect Taiwan than military forces.

As for the U.S.-proposed theater missile defense (TMD) program, Lee said it’s still premature to discuss whether Taiwan should take part in the TMD project since the system is still in the planning stage. Nevertheless, he added that Taiwan must forge a missile defense shield in view of mounting missile threats from the mainland.

Lee also said that “Taiwanization” means a Taiwanese cultural renaissance or revival. “We must teach our younger generation valuable Taiwanese cultural heritage and relics,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Lee said “Taiwanization” also means “democratization.” Lee said he believes that making Taiwan a model of democratization for Asia could help safeguard Taiwan’s security in the face of mainland China’s threat in the new millennium.

Lee further suggested that Japan revise its constitution to give more powers to its prime minister in policy decisions.

The EU “urged Beijing to ratify the two U.N. covenants already signed” Lipponen said Finish Prime Minister and current EU President Poavo. Lippon, along with European commission President Romano Prodi and other EU officials, held meetings with Premier Zhu Rongi, which they called “open and friendly”.

The European Union prodded mainland China on Tuesday (Dec. 21, 1999) to ratify two international human rights pacts and raised concern over Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy activists and the Falun Gong, and its treatment of Tibet.

In Taiwan side, we want communist China concern about improving towards a more open and transparent society. It is pleasant that Japan and North Korea ended a first round of preparatory talks aimed at normalizing ties by agreeing to meet again early next year.

The date and venue has not yet been fixed. The last attempt at such talks, in 1997 fizzed out quickly. “We don’t set any precondition for the resumption of full normalization talks, but of course the implicit assumption is there is no missile shooting,” a Japanese official said.

In our view, Japanese government has ability to missile shooting in a short time. Communist’s country developed its missile weapon only for one thing, it let weapons to ask for something. Democratic country can’t do military activity without reliable reason, because it respected human rights and free wills of people.

On the other hand, the countries as North Korea, or mainland China, could do military attack with missile shooting under decision of one man’s will.