Fighting fire with fire

After the demonstration on Saturday in support of the commonsense move to change Taiwan's name to, well, Taiwan, pro-China so-called experts were quick to claim that the turnout for the rally marked some kind of maximum mobilization support for the pro-independence camp. This was of course ludicrous, as if pro-independence supporters numbered only the 150,000 who turned out on Saturday. Since we are not as stupid as these "experts" we will not suggest that the 7,000 who turned out yesterday exhausted the support for reunification and the maintenance of the absurd "Republic of China" title. We will, however, note, with thanks to the rally's organizers, that the two rallies appear to demonstrate that people having pro-Taiwan nationalist sentiments outnumber the pro-China reunificationists by 20 to one. Hoist by their own petard, the reunificationists have demonstrated by this show of weakness the size of the mandate for change in Taiwan. Thanks.

Saturday also saw the KMT formally endorse the pan-blue joint presidential election ticket. And this raises an issue of how seriously the DPP wants to win next year's election and to what degree it is prepared to use the flaws in Taiwan's legal and constitutional framework to get what it wants. For it should be remembered that at present it is not legal to field an election ticket with candidates from different parties. "Why on earth not?" ask civil libertarians. "Who cares?" we answer; the reason for this bizarre rule is lost in the history of KMT one-party hegemony. The point is that the pan-blue camp is relying on the law being changed.

Currently the necessary amendment to the Presidential Election and Recall Law is crawling through the legislature and there is little doubt that the blue camp, with its control of that body, will make sure that it is passed in time. But passage of a law does not guarantee it will be enacted. A law passed by the legislature can always be vetoed by the Cabinet. Such a veto can be overturned, but this requires the support of two thirds of the Legislative Yuan, a majority that the pan-blues cannot muster.

It thus lies in the power of the government to stop the pan-blue ticket in its tracks. We advise that they do so. This will not mean that the Lien-Soong pairing cannot run. But it would necessitate that the PFP and the KMT recombine into one party. This is something that the KMT is particularly unwilling to do. Having suffered a severe truncation of its wealth since it lost power and thus the ability to shamelessly manipulate the stock market, the last thing the KMT wants is to let the PFP's kleptomaniacs anywhere near its assets. We say tough luck, there's no honor amongst thieves.

We also say that the DPP should stop fantasizing about getting some KMT big shot -- they have their eye on party vice chairman Vincent Siew -- onto its own joint ticket. There is plenty of talent in the DPP to provide a capable vice presidential candidate should a change be needed. But when such a perfect opportunity for throwing a spanner in the works of the blue-camp campaign presents itself, the DPP should use it.

There will be the usual hypocritical squawks from the blue camp about undemocratic behavior. The answer to this is that the DPP legislative program for the past three years has centered on a number of issues that almost everyone in Taiwan wants, such as greater social welfare provision, legislation against corruption and the referendum law, and which the blue camp has shamelessly blocked out of pure self interest. Time for the blue camp to learn that others can act out of self interest too. And if this can derail the pan-blue election campaign, a victory for which would mean the end of Taiwan as we know it, it is in all our interests.

Name change won't worry UN: analysts

LONG SHOT: The march on Saturday to change the country's name is unlikely to sway anybody considering this year's bid to join the global body, academics said

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER

"None of my foreign friends call Taiwan `ROC.' They all call Taiwan `Taiwan.'"－Lin Shih-chia, executive director of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan

Changing the country's name from the Republic of China (ROC) to Taiwan will do little to boost the nation's chances of entering the UN this year but is a necessary step to building internal consensus, academics said.

Last month, Taiwan's diplomatic allies submitted a joint proposal to the UN in support of the country's entry to the organization.

The proposal asked the UN General Assembly to include a supplementary item entitled "Question of the Representation of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the United Nations" on the agenda of its 58th session, slated to begin on Sept. 16.

Tung Chen-yuan, an assistant research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University, said Saturday's march demanding the country's name rectification was unlikely to be a significant factor in this year's bid, the 11th time Taiwan has attempted to rejoin the global body.

"The best result the march could have attained in terms of boosting the country's bid to join the UN was to let international society see the unreasonableness of excluding Taiwan from the body," Tung said.

"However, the present difficulties Taiwan faces in the international community are unlikely to evaporate because of the march," Tung said.

A national security insider said that whether Taiwan would be able to grow in the international society after changing its name was "debatable."

The official said that based on the current international situation, Taiwan would find it difficult to get into the UN.

"No matter what strategy Taiwan adopts, its chances of entering the UN are very low," the official said.

"China, which has never recognized the ROC, will not approve any name Taiwan may seek to use," the official added.

Richard Shih, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said rectifying the country's name was a big issue.

"We have managed to use `Taiwan' wherever possible. In missions abroad, we use `Taiwan' only when both we and the country where the mission is located agree to adopt the name," Shih said.

Lin Shih-chia, executive director of the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan, a long-time campaigner for Taiwan's entry into the World Health Organization, believes changing Taiwan's name faces two major difficulties.

"The first difficulty comes from within our nation. The other comes from international society," Lin said.

While Taiwanese are not clear about their national identity, it is hard to expect foreigners to have a clear notion of who Taiwanese are, Lin said.

To change the country's name, Taiwan will face pressure from international society because of Beijing's insistence on the "one China" principle, Lin said.

"None of my foreign friends call Taiwan `ROC.' They all call Taiwan `Taiwan,'" Lin said.

Changing Taiwan's name is not a battle of ideology, Lin said.

"We have to be practical," said Lin, adding that Taiwan's use of several names over the past few years to join the WHO caused considerable confusion.

Wu Chih-chung, secretary-general of Taiwan's European Union Study Association, said the country's name change would help its bid to join the UN.

"As the `Republic of China' still contains the word `China,' the name is viewed as a challenge to the People's Republic of China," Wu said.

Wu said if Taiwan changes its name, it could face aggressive opposition from China.

"If so, Taiwan may have difficulty reaching further into the international community in the short term," he said.

However, changing the country's name could definitely help international society tell the difference between Taiwan and China, Wu said.

Senior KMT man advises Lien to get rid of Soong

By Huang Tai-lin

STAFF REPORTER

A senior KMT member yesterday called on his party's chairman and presidential candidate Lien Chan to dump PFP Chairman James Soong as his running mate and pick a locally born talent instead.

Tsai Pi-chan, a member of the KMT's Central Review Committee, said Lien should pick someone such as KMT vice chairman and legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng as his running mate.

Tsai made the unexpected remarks during the KMT's National Party Congress yesterday, shocking the roomful of KMT members attending the meeting.

He said that the Chung Hsing Bills Finance case, in which Soong was implicated, had contributed to the nation's present chaos.

The scandal first surfaced in December 1999 when then KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung accused Soong of irregular transactions involving hundreds of millions of NT dollars of the party's money during Soong's tenure as the party's secretary-general and while he was Taiwan provincial governor.

The case was used by the KMT to attack Soong in the 2000 presidential election, when Soong was running his own campaign against Lien.

The KMT dropped its claims against Soong in February in a move political observers said was a goodwill gesture to Soong to pave the way for cooperation between the KMT and the PFP in next year's presidential election.

"Lien should instead pair with Taiwan-born talents such as Wang and further the party's pro-localization approach," said Tsai, who is from Changhua County.

Tsai also suggested that the PFP should be dissolved.

Before Tsai had a chance to finish his remarks, he was pulled aside by another KMT member and escorted out of the meeting by a number of committee members.

When asked to comment on Tsai's remarks, KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng dismissed them as "simply a personal opinion."

Miss Taiwan is not interested in Chinese pageant

AP , TAIPEI

China is inviting Taiwanese women to compete in its Miss China beauty pageant, but the nation's top beauties aren't interested in the contest, which requires them to "passionately love the motherland" and "support the Communist Party," a newspaper reported yesterday.

The reigning Miss Taiwan, Liu An-na, said she was interested in competing in China's contest, which crowns a winner on Dec. 28, until she found out about the criteria for being politically correct, a Chinese-language newspaper reported.

"I very passionately love Taiwan," the newspaper quoted Liu as saying. "Why would I have to endorse the Communist Party and the motherland. There's no way I could participate."

The newspaper said that women from Hong Kong and Macau have also been invited to compete in the contest. Another Taiwanese, Beverly Chen, who represented Taiwan in last June's Miss Universe contest in Panama, said she doesn't plan to compete, the newspaper said.

"I have no desire to participate. I'll let someone else have the opportunity," she was quoted as saying.

Chen got caught up in the China-Taiwan rivalry during the Miss Universe contest when China pressured the organizers to insist that she not wear her "Miss Taiwan" sash on stage. She was forced to wear a sash that said "Miss Chinese Taipei," the title the country uses in the Olympics.

Chen told reporters in Panama that there were no hard feelings between her and the Miss China contestant, Wei Wu. Chen, who studied at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, said she often helped interpret for Wei, who does not speak English. Neither was in the group of five finalists.

For decades, China refused to hold beauty pageants or send contestants to the major competitions, such as Miss Universe. But last year, China sent its first delegate to the Miss Universe pageant in 51 years.

This year, China plans to host the Miss World contest on Dec. 6 in the city of Sanya on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.