Taiwan tells Saddam to heed US call

IRAQ ULTIMATUM: As MOFA warned the Iraqi leader to take steps to avert war, Taiwanese aid agencies were gearing up for an impending conflict in the Middle East

By Monique Chu

STAFF REPORTER

"It's our hope that Iraq will follow UN Resolution 1441 to disarm and destroy weapons of mass destruction swiftly."－Richard Shih, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday urged Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to meet a US ultimatum to leave his country and avert the imminent outbreak of US-led war against his country.

"It's our hope that Iraq will follow UN Resolution 1441 to disarm and destroy weapons of mass destruction swiftly," said ministry spokesman Richard Shih yesterday morning.

"We hope Saddam will leave his country within 48 hours," Shih said, echoing the demand by US President George W. Bush made yesterday.

Shih reiterated the government's support for what he termed a "US-led war on terrorism on a global scale."

Despite the government's apparently firm backing of a campaign to oust Saddam, Shih said Taiwan is a "peace-loving" country and "the last thing we want to see is the outbreak of war."

A senior foreign official at the department of West Asian affairs urged Taiwanese near possible areas of conflict to "book a flight as soon as possible" before the 48-hour US ultimatum comes to an end.

Shih said the ministry has yet to come up with a definite timetable for a compulsory evacuation of Taiwanese in the region.

According to the ministry's statistics as of Monday, around 1,762 ROC passport holders -- including diplomats, businesspeople, students and technical mission members and their families -- are based in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, the United Arabic Emirates, Israel, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Meanwhile, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation has begun humanitarian aid targeted at the large number of Iraqi refugees expected to flood into Jordan in the wake of a war against Baghdad, foundation staffers said.

"The United Nations estimated that around 1 million Iraqis will sweep into Jordan, while the local government intends to control the number of refugees under 50,000," Chen Chiou-hwa, chief of the foundation's office in Jordan, told the Taipei Times over the phone.

Fresh from a coordination meeting with the Hashemite Jordanian Charity Organization for Arab and Islamic Relief Development and Cooperation yesterday, Chen said Tzu Chi's voluntary workers would start building tents in a refugee camp on the Iraq-Jordan border today.

The Tzu Chi charity foundation's headquarters in Hualien has sent US$100,000 to its office in Jordan to finance food and equipment aid for any urgent humanitarian crisis in the wake of war, said Joe Wang, key coordinator for the Jordan project.

The foundation has prepared two containers with 15,000 blankets and canned food to send to Jordan to boost the humanitarian resources available to the Jordan office, Wang said.

Tzu Chi's office in Jordan delivers food to the country's poor and refugees at 13 sites, while the outbreak of war would make incoming Iraqi refugees its top priority, Chen said.

The WHO has estimated that as many as 500,000 people could need treatment for direct or indirect injuries in the wake of war in Iraq.

The Jordanian charity organization, a national institution for charitable work, has been coordinating various charity groups for their work in lending a hand to cope with the imminent humanitarian crisis in the wake of war.

World Vision Taiwan announced yesterday in a press release that it planned to collect US$50,000 to help the international Christian charity group's participation to handle a humanitarian crisis following the war.

Taiwan playing full role in US war on terror, envoy tells London newspaper

CNA , LONDON

The government is actively participating in the war against terrorism, an official at the Taipei Represent-ative Office in the UK said in a letter to the editor carried in the Financial Times on Monday.

Liu Dao-ming, assistant director at the Information Division of Taiwan's representative office in London, pointed out in the letter that since the Sept. 11 attacks and last year's bombing in Bali, more than 2,000 foreign nationals suspected of having ties with terrorist groups have been listed in Taiwan as persona non grata.

The letter to the editor was in response to a Financial Times report on Friday that blamed Taiwan for turning a blind eye to the illegal entry into the country of more than 100 Pakistanis with possible links to terrorist networks. The report said Taipei was reluctant to take action for fear of losing trade and tourism visitors.

The envoy wrote, "At present, there is no evidence that Pakistani terrorists have entered Taiwan illegally."

He noted that the National Police Administration is making extensive in-depth investigations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is directing its overseas offices to increase their vigilance when issuing visas to suspect applicants from the Middle East and Pakistan.

"In the aftermath of the [Sept. 11] attacks that shocked the world, Taiwan strengthened its anti-terrorism capabilities, increased vigilance at its embassies and overseas representative offices and tightened security in the airports," he wrote.

"Taiwan will do everything in its power to stop terrorism, " Liu added.

Yu says name change would weaken stability

WIDER DEMOCRACY: The premier said the Cabinet did not want to do anything provocative, but he reiterated his support for referendums on important public policies

By Ko Shu-ling

STAFF REPORTER

Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday expressed his opposition to former president Lee Teng-hui's recent proposal to change the nation's official name from the Republic of China to Taiwan.

"A change to the nation's official designation would sabotage stability across the Taiwan Strait. The Cabinet is not planning, and doesn't think it's necessary, to change the national designation," Yu said, adding that he totally respected the freedom of speech of the former president.

Amendments to the Constitution are needed if the public wishes to change the official designation, national anthem or national flag, Yu said.

"Our cross-strait policy is clear, that is, stability and peace. To that end, we don't think it's a good idea to do anything provocative to sabotage stability," Yu said.

Yu made the remark in response to the question from PFP Legislator Chen Chien-sung.

Chen asked Yu whether he thought it would pose any danger to change the nation's official name from the Republic of China to Taiwan.

Yu yesterday also reiterated the Cabinet's support for holding referendums on significant public policy issues, including the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

"The government will continue the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant unless there's irresistible force hampering the project or a referendum is held to halt the project," Yu said.

Yu, however, said that it is difficult for the government to hold any binding referendum before the legislature approves a draft referendum law that the Cabinet sent to the legislature in April last year.

"We're not opposed to, nor afraid of, holding referendums on significant public policy issues since it's a democratic norm to do so and we hope to see it take place soon," Yu said.

In the meantime, the Cabinet will evaluate various opinions and review the "technical problems" of holding a referendum, including non-binding ones, before rushing into anything, Yu said.

Yu also insinuated that the former KMT government procrastinated on passing a referendum law.

"While the Cabinet sent the draft bill to the legislature in 1993 and 2001, the legislature failed to pass it into law," Yu said.

"The bill should've been enacted a long time ago since it's a right guaranteed by the Constitution;" however, the former administration hesitated to do so because it was afraid of giving the people too much power, Yu said.

Also during the interpellation, both PFP Legislator Lin Yu-fang and KMT Legislator Wu Den-yih called on President Chen Shui-bian to hand over the evidence he claimed would help solve the long-running Lafayette scandal.

Citing legislative minutes dated March 18, 1994, Lin and Wu requested Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan to ask the president to provide the crucial evidence he possesses.

Chen Shui-bian alleged, when he was a lawmaker, that he held a cassette tape proving that a commission of US$500 million was paid by France in 1991 when six Lafayette-class frigates were sold to Taiwan.

The president recently, however, reportedly denied that he had questioned the scandal in the legislature.

Refusing to intervene in the investigation process, Chen Ding-nan said that he would convey the two legislators' opinions to the investigation task force.

The warship-purchase scandal was exposed in December 1993 after a fishing boat found the body of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng in the seas off Taiwan.

Yin was believed to have been murdered before being able to blow the whistle on colleagues over alleged kickbacks.

Wishing to solve the case, the defense ministry has offered a NT$100 million reward to anyone offering information leading to the resolution of the scandal.

China's Wen speaks softly on Taiwan

AGENCIES , BEIJING AND NEW YORK

China's new premier quoted a sad poem about national division yesterday as he promised that Beijing would seek expanded cultural and economic exchanges with Taiwan.

During his first news conference as China's No. 3 leader, Wen Jiabao stuck with Beijing's long-standing policy that hoped-for talks with Taiwan should be based on the premise that both sides are part of ``one China'' -- but avoided the threatening tone often used on such occasions.

Wen said ``lots of feelings well up'' inside him when Taiwan is mentioned.

Appealing to Taiwanese, he cited a few mournful lines written by Yu You-jen, a participant in the 1911 revolution that toppled China's last dynasty:

"Bury me on the highest mountaintop so I can get a sight of my mainland," he said. "Mainland, I see none. Tears of sorrow touch my face."

Wen, 61, was elected premier on Sunday by the National People's Congress.

Taiwanese officials did not immediately respond to Wen's remarks yesterday. President Chen Shui-bian has repeatedly said he won't agree to talks that require him to accept that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.

In previous years, Chinese premiers have used such news conferences to warn the Taiwanese that ruling out eventual unification could lead to war.

But Wen avoided the usual bellicose rhetoric, which has previously backfired on Beijing, causing many Taiwanese to become even more distrustful of the communist leadership.

Wen said China was seeking "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan.

He also added that the government "will continue to support more economic and cultural exchanges" so that direct shipping and air links can start.

In related news, the China Support Network reported Monday that Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng has urged the people of Taiwan to embrace the Chinese democracy movement as their own cause.

The group said Wei made the call in Atlanta last week.

Wei reportedly noted that the specter of war in the Taiwan Strait would recede if China became a democracy, saying this is why Chinese democracy matters very much to the people of Taiwan and why they should treat Chinese democracy movement as their own.

Noting that Taiwan is in fact an independent state, Wei cautioned the Taiwanese that the "one country, two systems" promises of the Chinese government are not trustworthy.

According to the China Support Network, Wei also said that it is best for the people of Taiwan to maintain the status quo for the sake of peace and freedom, urging that the discussion on unification versus independence be shelved until such time as China is ruled by a truly democratic government.

US fears future Asian nuclear weaponry race

AP, SEOUL

Suspicious Asian nations bristling with nuclear weapons, each striving for an atomic war chest bigger than their neighbor’s—Washington’s latest worry about North Korea reads like a Cold War flashback.

Analysts admit that’s unlikely to happen soon but warn it could erupt if North Korea keeps dabbling with atoms.

“There’s a very high likelihood that North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons will trigger an arms race in East Asia,” said Paik Haksoon, a North Korea expert with the Sejong Institute, a foreign relations think tank outside Seoul.

Cheney’s scenario begins with a nervous Japan considering the nuclear option in response to North Korea, and thereby firing the ire of Beijing.

“The idea of a nuclear-armed North Korea with ballistic missiles to deliver those will, I think, probably set off an arms race in that part of the world,” Cheney said while appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press in Washington.

“And others, perhaps Japan, for example, may be forced to consider whether or not they want to readdress the nuclear question. That’s not in China’s interest,” Cheney said.

North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have been the focus of an intensifying international standoff since October, when the US said Pyongyang admitted to having a secret atomic weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement.

Washington believes North Korea already hs one or two nuclear weapons, and the country can process the raw material for several more in a matter of months.

Of particular concern is the possibility of North Korea already has one or two nuclear weapons, and the country can process the raw material for several more in a matter of months.

Of particular concern is the possibility of North Korea mounting bombs atop missiles aimed at Seoul or Tokyo. While the North’s ability to deliver a warhead this way is in doubt and the accuracy of its missiles suspect, the communist nation shocked the world in 1998 by firing a long-rang ballistic missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean.

Just last month, Japan’s Defense Agency admitted that Tokyo considered developing its own nuclear arsenal in 1995 to counter the threat of a nuclear-armed North Korea. But Tokyo ultimately rejected the idea because it might deprive Japan of US military protection and alarm Asian countries.

Paik said a nuclear Japan would likely trigger a domino effect, with China buttressing its own arsenal of an estimated 410 warheads as an insurance policy. Pointing to its nuclear-armed neighbors and the potential increased threat from Beijing, Taiwan would then feel justified in joining the atomic club, he said. So far, Japan’s post-World War II pacifist Constitution has kept its overseas striking capability in check, said Toshiyuki Shikata, a former lieutenant general in Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Forces and a law professor at Teikyo University in Japan.

Japan has no aircraft carriers, bombers or long-range missiles to project force. And as the only nation attacked by nuclear weapons, by the US at the end of World War II, there is ingrained abhorrence of possessing atomic bombs.

Japan has approximately 72 tonnes of plutonium in spent fuel rods from its nuclear power plants, according to 1999 figures of the International Atomic Energy Commission. North Korea, by contrast is believed to possess no more than 30kg.

Both South Korea and Japan have largely relied on the US nuclear umbrella as insurance against attack. But when f aced with the verified presence of atomic bombs on the other side of the border, South Korea may consider arming itself, Paik said.

In 1991, US tactical nuclear weapons were removed from South Korea as part of arms reductions following the Cold War, according to South Korea defense experts. In the same year, the to Koreas signed a joint declaration pledging not to deploy, develop or posess atomic bombs on the peninsula.

Internet slows to a crawl in China

China’s tens of millions of Internet users are suffering sharp slowdowns in access, which industry experts blame in part on heightened efforts by the communist government to police online content.

The slowdown highlights the clash between China’s efforts to reap the Internet’s benefits and communist zeal to control what its people read and hear.

Authorities have invested both in spreading Web access nationwide and installing technology to scan Web sites and e-mail for content deemed subversive or obscene.

Problems emerged in October after “packet-sniffer” software was installed that briefly holds each chunk of data to be screened. Beijing has built an online barrier around China, requiring traffic in and out to pass through just eight gateways, a step that heightens official control.

Ordinary users say access sometimes is so slow that they can’t reach Google, Hotmail and other popular foreign sites—many based in the US.