Streamlining no guarantee of peace

 

Recent news reports said both China and Taiwan are streamlining their armed forces. Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission, said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will be downsized by 200,000 people over the next two years. Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming has also announced that Taiwan's armed forced will be reduced by 85,000 over the next 10 years. Despite the downsizing on both sides, the tense atmosphere persists and there is no sign of peace.

 

Both sides want to streamline their armed forces, but that does not necessarily represent a peaceful attitude. The main targets of China's downsizing plan include navy and air force personnel charged with art and entertainment, sports and hygiene work. The plan will reduce military expenditure, but it will not affect combat power. The PLA will still have 1.8 million troops after the downsizing, compared to the 300,000 troops Taipei plans to retain after its cutback. China's defense budget for next year is US$23 billion, but this is an underestimation. Its real defense spending could be as high as US$65 billion -- a far cry from Taiwan's less-than-US$8 billion budget for next year.

 

Apart from its greatly superior size, the PLA is also rapidly increasing its weapons and equipment. Tai-wan still enjoys a qualitative edge, but both Taiwan-ese and US military experts are worried that the military balance across the Taiwan Strait may tilt by 2005. In light of this, President Chen Shui-bian has announced that Taiwan will spend several hundred billion NT dollars over the next few years on the purchase of submarines, Patriot PAC-3 missiles and anti-submarine weapons in order to upgrade the country's defense capabilities. However, both the budget and the purchase procedure remain unclear.

 

A tilted military balance across the Strait may help boost China's intent to launch a military attack against Taiwan. Jiang also said modern warfare has moved from mechanized to information warfare. China has deployed more than 450 ballistic missiles along its southeast coast, and the number continues to rise by 75 per year. According to the Ministry of National Defense's estimates, Taiwan has the capacity to weather 96 ballistic missile attacks. China has long surpassed that number. In other words, China's missile deployments are not merely meant for Taiwan -- they are also causing anxiety in southeast Asian countries.

Both US and Taiwanese military experts predict that, in the event of a military attack, the PLA will use asymmetrical tactics and use a variety of electronic means to paralyze Taiwan's weapons, communications and computer equipment. Missiles will be used in concert to destroy ground facilities. Such tactics can be executed without using large numbers of troops. China's military streamlining therefore has nothing to do with peace in the Taiwan Strait. Neither Taiwan nor the rest of world should harbor any illusion about this.

 

A resolution of cross-strait tensions will have to be built on dialogue. Chen has recently announced a three-phase plan for direct transportation links across the Strait, but the problem is that Beijing still harbors hostility towards Taiwan and continues to insist on the "one China" principle as a precondition for any talks. If Beijing can remove this hurdle, this will open the way for pragmatic negotiations on direct links. China also needs to renounce the use of force and sign a cross-strait truce. This will be the only true manifestation of peace in the Strait, which will bring happiness to people on both sides and also contribute to world peace.

 

 

Calm down, Powell tells N Korea

 

DIPLOMACY: The US secretary of state told his South Korean counterpart the US had no intention of invading North Korea and that it would not be frightened by its threats

 

AP AND REUTERS , WASHINGTON AND NIIGATA, JAPAN

 

"We are looking for a diplomatic solution. We have no intention of invading North Korea or attacking North Korea."－Colin Powell, US secretary of state

 

US Secretary of State Colin Powell called on North Korea to refrain from making military threats and to take seriously US proposals for ending the impasse over the country's nuclear weapons programs.

 

In Japan, a ferry linked to the nuclear program arrived at Niigata yesterday, defying protesters who want to stop the trips in which it takes back goods and cash seen as vital for the ailing communist state.

Powell met for an hour Wednesday with South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan and then commented on last week's six-nation talks in China on East Asian security issues.

 

"We are looking for a diplomatic solution," Powell said. "We have no intention of invading North Korea or attacking North Korea."

 

In contrast, he said, North Korea has engaged in "threats and truculent statements that are designed to frighten us. We will not be frightened, nor will we be caused by such threats to take actions that we do not believe are in our interests or the interests of our partners."

 

He expressed hope that North Korea will respond in a serious way to the US proposals that were spelled out at the meeting in Beijing.

 

Powell showed his irritation toward North Korea after being asked to respond to a statement by Pyongyang's chief delegate in Beijing, Kim Yong-il, that North Korea planned to carry out a nuclear test.

 

Kim also said his country has the means to deliver nuclear weapons, an apparent reference to its highly developed missile program.

 

At the same time, Kim told the gathering in Beijing that North Korea would be willing to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs if the US met a number of conditions.

 

The Bush administration hopes to cut a deal with North Korea that would involve economic benefits and security guarantees for North Korea in exchange for nuclear disarmament.

 

Powell declined to speculate on when the next round of six-nation talks will be held. In addition to the US and North Korea, other countries taking part in the process are South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.

 

In recent days, Chinese officials have said that both the US and North Korea have to change their policies if there is to be forward movement.

 

Asked to respond to those comments, Yoon registered disagreement with Beijing's position. "Key policy-makers of the United States have already expressed that they don't have any intention to invade North Korea," he said. "They don't have any hostile policy."

 

Yoon's activities Wednesday also included a White House meeting with President George W. Bush.

 

In Japan, the Mangyongbong-92 arrived for the second time in 10 days at the northern port of Niigata, where it was awaited by protesters, pro-Pyongyang Korean residents and hundreds of police.

 

Over 100 protesters, many holding portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his late father Kim Il-sung with a big "X" over their faces, shouted "Go home" and ripped up the pictures.

 

The ethnic Koreans, meanwhile, welcomed the ship by singing Korean songs. The ferry's passengers lining the rail responded by waving small North Korean flags.

 

Anti-North Korean sentiment has flared up in Japan following Pyongyang's admission last September that it kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies.

 

 

Lawmaker's office attacked

 

Pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau, one of the Hong Kong government's most vocal critics, has complained to police after her office door was smeared with faeces in the latest of a string of attacks against her. "I am flabbergasted and very angry. I want to know if there is still a rule of law in Hong Kong if a legislative councillor's office can be attacked like that," the lawmaker said yesterday. A police spokeswoman said the culprit had yet to be found. Lau came under heavy criticism from China's official newspaper, the China Daily, and pro-Beijing figures after she addressed a Taipei seminar last month, hosted by a pro-Taiwan independence think-tank. "My office has been attacked several times in the last few months, and the police could not solve anything, and they said it was nothing orchestrated. But this is going too far," she said.

 

 

 

TSU legislators want maps to reflect reality

 

By Chang Yun-Ping

STAFF REPORTER

 

TSU legislators yesterday demanded the Ministry of the Interior correct the name of China's territory from Republic of China (ROC) to People's Republic of China (PRC) on the ministry's official world map.

 

The legislators say the move will recognize the reality that the territory of China belongs to the PRC.

 

TSU Legislator Liao Pen-yen said that, on the ministry's official map, territory which falls under the PRC's jurisdiction is labelled ROC territory, contradicting the reality of world affairs.

Given that society is calling on the government to change the nation's name from the ROC to Taiwan, Liao said, the government should recognize the PRC and that it governs China.

 

TSU lawmakers yesterday called a press conference to display various versions of world maps issued by the government and private publishers.

 

TSU Legislator Chen Chien-ming said some maps have been changed to be in line with the so-called "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait principle in which the ROC governs Taiwan, including Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and the PRC governs the territory in China.

 

However, Chen said, the official world map the ministry issues still includes China and Mongolia as territories belonging to the ROC, while some private maps fail to point out that the PRC claims the current territory of China.

TSU Legislator Liao Pen-yen yesterday shows how the Ministry of the Interior's world map fails to reflect political reality. The sign in Chinese reads, ``To break the `one China' trap, clearly demarcate the territory.''

 

"Since we all agree that Taiwan is a sovereign state controlling the island of Taiwan, as well as Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, we should recognize this fact and change the name of the Chinese territory from ROC to PRC so as to realize the `one country on each side' of the Taiwan Strait formula proposed by President Chen Shui-bian," Liao said.

 

"To label Chinese territory the ROC is a lie to the world. Most countries recognize the national title of China as PRC. Therefore, the ministry should be more observant of the international reality in making the map," Liao said.

 

"The TSU demands the Ministry of the Interior make the correction immediately so as not to make [the country] a joke internationally," he said.

 

"The issuance of the new passports with the word `Taiwan' on the cover is a good example to realize the `one country on each side' remark by President Chen Shui-bian. However, there are still a lot of areas where we need to make corrections in order to reflect Taiwan's independence and separate identity from China," Liao said.

 

The lawmaker said, for example, that ROC stamps should be called Taiwan stamps and that the "China" part of names of state-run enterprises such as China Steel, China Shipbuilding and China Airlines should be replaced with "Taiwan."

 

 

KMT looks to cut funds for Lee

 

PENSIONS: The party wants to reduce the allowance of former presidents, but the DPP says any changes should include the funds given former vice president Lien Chan

 

By Fiona Lu

STAFF REPORTER

 

KMT lawmakers denied they had a personal vendetta against former president Lee Teng-hui as they announced they would give priority to a bill to reduce the pension allowance for former presidents.

 

"The KMT decided to push forward revisions to the Regulation to Honor the Outgoing President in the new session," said KMT legislative leader Lee Chia-chin.

 

Lee and his KMT colleagues said the existing outlay for former presidents was too generous when compared with allowances in other developed countries.

 

"The government plans to spend NT$68.574 million this year on special treatment for former presidents, whereas former US president [Bill] Clinton received approximately NT$33.18 million and his predecessor [George] Bush got NT$20.99 million for his presidential pension and allowances," Lee said.

 

The NT$68.574 million cited by KMT lawmakers comprises NT$18.574 million for the income and expenses of former presidents in addition to an extra NT$50 million from the Presidential Office to cover the cost of drivers and security personnel.

The amendment aims to cut the presidential pension, staff and office allowance to NT$29.54 million a year and halve the number of related staff.

 

But a DPP lawmaker reminded his KMT counterparts that any review of the allowance for former presidents must include a review of the treatment accorded former vice presidents.

 

KMT Chairman Lien Chan served as vice president from 1996 to 2000.

 

KMT legislators Chuo Po-yuan, left, and Lee Chia-chin compare the allowances given former presidents in Taiwan and the US, at a press conference yesterday.