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Latin American leaders arrive for today's summit

AGENCIES , TAIPEI

Four Latin American leaders arrived in Taipei yesterday for the fourth Taiwan-Latin American summit to foster diplomatic ties.

Panama President Mireya Moscoso, El Salvador President Francisco Guillermo Flores, Guatemala President Alfonso Antonio Portillo and Sergio Grullon Estrella, secretary-general of the Presidential Office of the Dominican Republic, will take part in the the one-day summit tomorrow.

Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos, Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco, Honduras Vice President Jose Alberto Diaz and Belize Prime Minister Joan Musa arrived in Taipei on Tuesday.

The Fourth Summit of the Heads of States and Governments Taiwan, Central America and the Dominican Republic will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

The leaders will discuss Central America's development and integration and Taiwan's cooperation with these countries.

The leaders will issue a joint communique at the end of the summit and President Chen Shui-bian and Moscoso are expected to sign the Taiwan-Panama Free Trade Pact.

Meanwhile, Chen said yesterday that he planned to visit Costa Rica and other Central American countries this year after shelving a planned trip to the region earlier this year because of the SARS epidemic.

"The original plan to visit Costa Rica in the first half of this year was put off because of the SARS epidemic," Chen said while meeting visiting Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco.

"I hope that state visits will be resumed in October or later," he said.

In his talks with Pacheco, Chen said he was sorry that he could not attend the inauguration ceremony of a bridge built with the assistance of Taiwan due to the SARS epidemic, but said that he hopes Pacheco can accompany him to witness the splendor of the bridge when he visits Costa Rica in November.

The bridge, which connects the main territory of Costa Rica with the Nicoya Peninsula, was inaugurated late last month.

Chen also expressed his gratitude to the Costa Rican government for its staunch support for Taiwan's bid to enter the UN and the World Health Organization.

He added that he was pleased to know that Pacheco will personally attend this year's UN Assembly in September to speak in favor of Taiwan's cause.

HK's sleeplessness problem is worse than Taiwan's

DPA , HONG KONG

Eight out of 10 people in Taiwan and Shanghai and nine out of 10 Hong Kong people have trouble getting to sleep, according to a survey yesterday.

Ninety-one percent of people surveyed in Hong Kong, which has been rocked by a prolonged economic downturn and the SARS crisis, said they had sleeping problems compared to 83 percent and 80 percent in Shanghai and Taiwan respectively.

Sixty-two percent of Hong Kongers said they did not get enough sleep compared to 52 percent in Shanghai and 46 percent in Taiwan, according to the survey by market research company ACNielsen.

Forty-two percent of Hong Kong people said they woke up in the middle of the night compared to 38 percent of people in Taiwan and 37 percent of people in Shanghai.

Fifty-four percent of Hong Kong people said it took them more than 15 minutes to fall asleep compared to 43 percent of people in Shanghai and 41 percent of people in Taiwan.

Researchers say the findings are linked to Hong Kong's economic woes which have left people in the city worried about their jobs and the value of their property.

Joblessness has risen to an all-time high of nearly 9 percent in Hong Kong and property prices have fallen 65 percent from their 1997 peak.

Around 400 people from each territory were questioned for the survey, which was commissioned by UK health-care products chain Boots.

KMT legislator takes Austria to task over visa rules

By Sandy Huang

STAFF REPORTER

KMT Legislator Sun Kuo-hwa lodged a protest yesterday against a number of countries that have signed the Schengen Agreement for requiring financial statements from ROC nationals applying for tourist visas.

Sun said Taiwan's government does not impose such a requirement on nationals from Schengen countries, adding he believes these countries' visa requirements are "unfair and discriminate against Taiwanese tourists."

"Based on the principles of equality and reciprocity, and for the purpose of promoting people-to-people exchanges, I, as a convener of the legislature's Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee, solemnly lodge this protest," Sun said at a press conference.

Based on reciprocity, Sun urged Schengen countries which impose the requirement on Taiwanese visa applicants to revoke the measure.

The Schengen visa is the unified visa system designed to end internal border checkpoints and controls. At present, there are 15 countries in the Schengen zone, all in Europe.

With a Schengen visa, visitors may enter one country and travel freely throughout the Schengen zone.

Taiwan's government grants visitors from Schengen countries visa-exempt stays for up to 30 days.

Sun said he was only aware of the "unfair" visa requirement when he went to apply for a Schengen visa last month to visit Austria for a holiday and to attend festivities with the local Chinese community.

"I was surprised and confused to receive instructions that a financial statement, including my bank statement and a copy of my credit card, was required for the visa application," Sun said.

"I find it unfair that people from Taiwan applying for a Schengen visa are required to provide these financial statements when Taiwan grants nationals of these Schengen countries the convenience of a 30-day visa-exempt stay," Sun said.

"I hope that all visa-issuing agencies operated by Schengen countries will remove these unfair measures against people from Taiwan," Sun said.

Claiming the practice was an obvious act of discrimination, Sun brought his protest to the Austrian Trade Office following his press conference.

Werner Posch, deputy director of the tourism office, didn't come out to accept Sun's protest letter. Sun left his letter with office staff to forward to Posch.

Sun said he would also forward the protest letter to other Schengen countries' representative offices in Taiwan.

According to staff at the Austrian Tourism Office, the office had decided on Aug. 7 that Taiwanese no longer needed to supply financial documents with their visa application.

The staff, who wished to remain anonymous, declined to comment on why the office lifted the requirement.

Sun also urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work harder in its visa negotiations with other countries.

In response to Sun's call, ministry spokesman Richard Shih said it has long been the ministry's goal to simplify the visa-application process for Taiwanese wishing to visit other countries.

"The ministry has been trying," Shih said. "The ultimate goal of the ministry is to gain visa-exempt stays for Taiwanese tourists in other countries."

SAY SORRY: DPP legislators Lee Chun-yee and Chen Chin-jun, members of Annette Lu's delegation, say that Boeing must explain its perceived snub of the vice president

A DPP lawmaker announced yesterday that his colleagues are considering asking for a legislative resolution calling for Boeing Co to formally apologize for its rude treatment of Vice President Annette Lu.

"Ruling party lawmakers are studying the possibility of proposing a legislative resolution in the next session to demand an official apology from Boeing after its rejection of the vice president's visit angered Lu and the entire country," said DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yee.

"The resolution would also demand that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications not make any further deals with Boeing if it refuses to make an apology," Lee said.

Lee was one of several lawmakers who traveled with Lu to Latin America via transit stops in the US. Lu's delegation returned home yesterday morning.

Other DPP lawmakers had previously called for the government to reconsider China Airlines' contract for 10 airplanes from Boeing.

"We would like the government to review the deal since Boeing apparently violated the rule that business is business by overturning a promised visit by Vice President Lu," DPP legislative whip Chen Chi-mai said on Tuesday.

DPP Legislator Chen Chin-jun, another member of Lu's delegation, confirmed that the Boeing visit had been on the itinerary for Lu's stopover in Seattle.

"The official itinerary stated that the delegation was to visit the aircraft maker from 3pm to 5pm on August 18," Chen said, showing reporters his copy of the itinerary.

He said a legislative resolution could also include a call for the government to consider rescinding the Boeing deal.

But he said he didn't think the Boeing incident indicated a possible change in US-Taiwan relations.

"Boeing's handling is irrelevant to the US government's attitude since the vice president received a high standard of welcome from the US government on her transit stops," Chen said.

His colleague, DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-fang, told the news conference that he disagreed with a pan-blue lawmaker's view that the Boeing incident was indicative of deteriorating ties with Washington. Tsai said Legislator Sisy Chen's analysis was biased.

"Sisy Chen's interpretation of the Boeing issue is debatable. She seemed delighted to label the upset as a warning of a deteriorating ties between Taiwan and US," Tsai said.

He said that it was going too far to link a private company's conduct to a change in the US government's attitude.

Meanwhile, Premier Yu Shyi-kun called on both public and private enterprises to do business with the national interests in mind.

"Let's keep politics within politics and business in business. They shouldn't be mixed together," Yu said. "I am sorry that the vice president's planned visit was rejected and I think it's very inappropriate for Boeing to act rudely to Taiwan due to pressure from China or any other country."

Yu said that he has instructed the China Aviation Development Foundation to handle the matter, adding that the Cabinet will respect China Airlines' final decision.

The company has sent a letter to Boeing asking for an official explanation of its decision to deny Lu a visit.

"The letter said that the airline is an important client of Boeing and that it regrets and disapproves of Boeing's denying Lu a visit," said Wu Chih-hou, an airline spokesman.

"We asked Boeing to give us an explanation. The letter does not discuss the [plane] order," he said.

The KMT-PFP alliance has found a new excuse for demanding direct cross-strait charter flights. On Monday, KMT legislative caucus whip Lee Chia-chin called a press conference to announce that there should be direct chartered flights next March to facilitate the return of Taiwanese businesspeople in China to vote in the presidential election.

Lee said non-official statistics showed that there are around 1 million Taiwanese running businesses in other countries around the world. Around 500,000 of them reside in China on a long-term basis. He said plans are under way to propose a Constitutional amendment to allow absentee voting by overseas Taiwanese. However, since it will be difficult to set up the necessary mechanisms in time for the March election, the KMT called for direct chartered flights to bring the business people home to cast their ballots.

The KMT-PFP alliance will apparently use any excuse to plug direct flights or direct charter flights. Last year, KMT Legislator John Chang proposed charter flights to bring businesspeople and their families home for the Lunar New Year holiday; the government did allow such flights. When the SARS epidemic broke out, PFP Legislator Kao Ming-chien called for direct charter flights to allow businesspeople in Beijing to return home without having to stopover in Hong Kong. Luckily for the people of this country, more rational heads prevailed and such flights were not arranged.

The notion of direct charter flights is an aphrodisiac for the pan-blue camp; nothing else can get them excited so quickly. What's next? Why not call for charters for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Tomb Sweeping Festival and the Beijing Olympics? With such easy charter flights, what would be the use of the government evaluating direct flights or trying to launch negotiations for such flights? Chartered flights could be run every day. The government and legislation could be set aside.

Taiwanese businesses which have legally invested in China have taken into account the lack of direct transportation links before making an investment. They have factored in the need to travel indirectly across the Taiwan Strait. People working in China can also make up their own minds whether to take time off to return home to vote in the presidential election -- or any other election.

Now the KMT-PFP alliance wants to bring businesspeople back to vote, using charter flights to mobilize the 500,000 Taiwanese in China in order to boost the pan-blue camp's vote count. They seem to have concluded that Taiwanese businesspeople working in China will invariably support their pro-Beijing policy. Will former Tuntex chairman Chen Yu-hao and his wife -- who left massive debts behind in Taiwan and are wanted on embezzlement charges -- be among those who would welcome a charter flight so they could return to vote?

The pan-blue camp is a sponsor of thieves, thugs, criminals and collaborators. Even traitors are all right with them. Every time a Chinese spy is caught, legislators from the pan-blue camp always jump up and cry "Green terror!"

Some Taiwanese businesspeople may be unscrupulous and do not care about others, but some may also have a strong national identity despite their investments in China. Those who sympathize with Taiwan will do so even more after seeing the countenance of the Chinese Communist Party. People who really care about their right to vote and the development of Taiwan's democracy are willing to take the time and effort to return home to cast their ballots. Those who value their time and money more won't. There is no reason to spend taxpayer money catering for the second group.

`Seeing that Hong Kong's democracy, human rights, freedoms and the rule of law have been trampled on since the handover -- and this in fact violates the promises of a high level of autonomy and that "Hong Kong people shall rule Hong Kong" -- how can the people of Taiwan have a friendly, optimistic view of "one country, two systems?"'

Hong Kong's handover to Chinese rule in 1997 marked a major setback for democratic government there. The Chinese communist government "set up shop" in Hong Kong by getting a small circle of 400 people picked by Beijing to elect a "provisional legislative council" in lieu of a legislature elected by the people. Instead of monitoring the functions of the executive branch, the legislature has become a rubber stamp. Meanwhile, the executive branch, which already monopolized power and prioritized the interests of businesspeople, has become even more reckless.

Ruled by businessmen, Hong Kong's government has become unbalanced. The rights of residents have been drastically rolled back. Being Chinese, they are happy to have been freed from British rule, but as human beings, they are angry at the loss of democracy and freedoms.

At the constitutional level, the formulation of the Basic Law was undemocratic. The will of the people was not res-pected. No ballot was ever held for the people to confirm the use of the Basic Law as the mini-constitution for Hong Kong. Besides, many articles in the Basic Law restrict the legislature's powers to enact laws as well as its supervisory functions over the executive branch.

The Basic Law also stipulates that the chief executive shall be elected by an election committee consisting of 800 members. It also limits the number of Legislative Council seats to be directly elected by the people. As a result, the first Legislative Council has only 20 directly elected seats -- a violation of the principle of universal suffrage.

At the constitutional level, the Chinese government already controls Hong Kong's future development entirely, thereby curbing the Hong Kong people's rights to democratic participation.

The limited franchise is in fact a tactic for the politically privileged class to defend their own interests. How ironic and sad it is that Hong Kong now has a more authoritarian electoral system than the one it had in the colonial era. But the unprecedentedly high turnout at the first Legislative Council election in 1998 washed away the bad name of Hong Kong people as politically aloof. The residents used their votes to show support for democracy and their dissatisfaction with the special administrative region (SAR) government.

The people of Hong Kong know clearly that the territory is now part of China, and that Hong Kong cannot go it alone on the path to democracy. A democratic political system is a basic right that every citizen is entitled to. While emphasizing economic reforms, China must also speed up the pace of political reforms and allow democracy to develop. It must also guarantee the basic rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong. Only then can the spirit of "one country, two systems" be realized in Hong Kong. Only then can the Taiwanese people's suspicions about Beijing's credibility be eased.

However, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's poor leadership and governance has worked against Hong Kong people over the past six years. Tung is given to one-sided views, nepotism, covering up his mistakes, indecision, capricious policymaking and contempt for public opinion.

Today, the rich-poor gap has widened in Hong Kong. Politi-cally, it has become a haven for special privileges. The rule of law is not respected; the economy has shrunk on all fronts. What's more, laborers have lost their jobs; the middle class has negative equity; education has withered; the quality of life has fallen; society is filled with complaints. Also, the heavy-handed Article 23 would trample on human rights and do away with the freedoms that the people have always valued and taken seriously.

In a democratic country, the leadership would have long ago stepped down. Deplorably, the SAR government is not a product of popular will.

Common sense is more or less the same for everybody. Seeing that Hong Kong's democracy, human rights, freedoms and the rule of law have been trampled on since the handover -- and this in fact violates the promises of a high level of autonomy and that "Hong Kong people shall rule Hong Kong" -- how can the people of Taiwan have a friendly, optimistic view of "one country, two systems"?

The Chinese communist government has avoided crude interference in Hong Kong's affairs over the past six years, except for when the National People's Congress overturned a Hong Kong court ruling in 1999. This, however, is not because of the Chinese government's generosity, but because it has arranged for the Tung government to be its puppet.

In its every act, the Tung government has never considered the position of the Hong Kong people. On the contrary, it has defended the interests of the Chinese communist government, pro-China people and businessmen at every turn. Besides, the SAR government continues to use the colonial government's methods and ignores the residents' interests. It has been favorably biased toward the industrial and business elite. This reflects the fact that the interests of the general public cannot be treated fairly under dictatorial governments.

The people of Taiwan are perhaps very clear about this reasoning. In Hong Kong, however, the British and Chinese communist governments have long emphasized the separation of politics from economics. Democrats will have to expend enormous efforts to convince the residents that the two are inseparable.

The people of Hong Kong have become aware that there are problems in the system. During the demonstration on July 1, more than 500,000 people took an important step in the struggle for democracy, thereby making it a historic day. Undeniably, the local constitution -- the basis for the current Hong Kong government -- restricts the development of democracy. On top of this is the power of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

It will not be easy for Hong Kong to move toward real democracy, but this should not obstruct the Hong Kong people's struggle for democracy because no dictatorial political system can match the power of a people fighting for democracy. The development of democracy in Taiwan attests to this point. From martial law under the KMT to the Kaohsiung Incident to today's situation, in which the people of Taiwan can vote to elect their own president, the primary factor has been that the Taiwanese public have never abandoned their quest for democracy.

Therefore, only by learning from history can we look forward to the future development of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Beijing government and its puppets are still obsessed with black-or-white political ideology. They simply cannot understand that there could be an alternative to the CCP's unification model.

With a dictatorial government's thinking, it will be difficult for them to understand a democratic, free and open society. More exchanges and more understanding will be beneficial to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan alike. This will also be a winning solution for all three sides.

Emily Lau is a legislative councilor in Hong Kong and convener of the Frontier Party.