Group of 10 US Senators launches Taiwan caucus

 

SUPPORT: The caucus, launched in Washington on Wednesday, says it is committed to ensuring Taiwan can defend itself and that it remains a land of free people

 

By Charles Snyder

STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

 

Aiming at giving Taiwan issues more of a hearing in the US Congress, 10 senators announced the formation of a Senate Taiwan Caucus on Wednesday, joining more than 100 members of the House of Representatives who formed a parallel group last year.

 

The caucus was initiated at a reception in the US Capitol building attended by a six-member delegation of Taiwanese legislators who are in Washington as part of a Taiwan-US Parliamentary Amity Association visit, and dozens of Taiwan's US friends.

 

"We today recommit ourselves to ensuring the people of Taiwan are able to defend themselves. Taiwan must continue to be a land of free people," said Senator George Allen, a Republican and one of the two co-chairmen of the caucus.

 

The Senate caucus joins the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, which was formed in April last year, and which has grown to 121 members, with several new members this week, according to the office of Democrat Representative Robert Wexler, a co-chairman.

 

That gives it a membership of more than a quarter of the entire House, and makes it the second biggest foreign-affairs caucus after the India caucus, a Wexler aide said.

 

The formation of the Senate caucus is itself unusual, given the reluctance of senators to join such groupings, especially those involving foreign affairs.

 

President Chen Shui-bian sent a congratulatory letter to the caucus, saying, "The launch of the Senate Taiwan Caucus with strong bipartisan support is a reflection of the importance of the relationship between Taiwan and the United States, and marks a new high point in our bilateral relations."

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Trong Chai, the chairman of the Amity Association, pointed to the need of the Senate caucus and US support by noting, "Unfortunately, we are so far away from God and so close to China" that Taiwan lives in "constant fear of the Chinese taking over to destroy our freedom and democratic way of life."

 

Taiwan's top representative in Washington, Chen Chien-jen, said with the new caucus "the future relationship between Taiwan and the United States will definitively be even better and stronger."

 

Allen told reporters the Senate caucus will initially concentrate on such issues as Taiwan's participation in the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), especially if the SARS epidemic reappears as expected this winter, and assuring sufficient US arms sales to Taipei.

 

On the other side of the coin, the new caucus will also zero in on the divisive issue of Taiwan's failure to stem violations of intellectual property rights.

 

The same issues are likely to take up the attention of the House group, in addition to the promotion of a free-trade agreement with Taipei, an aide to Wexler said. He said the creation of a Senate caucus will allow for coordination between the two groups and make for a more powerful voice for Taiwan in the Congress.

 

Answering questions about Taiwan's bid this year to join the UN, Allen said he thought "Taiwan ought to be in the United Nations," but cautioned, "You see how difficult it is to have even observer status in the World Health Organization."

 

"I think it will be very difficult to get into the United Nations. I think we have to take it step by step," Allen said.

 

Getting Taiwan to participate in the WHO "is the No. 1 priority," he said. "I want to be straightforward with you. I don't want to give you false hopes. It think it will be very difficult getting into the United Nations."

 

 

UN bid fails again, more speak against

 

LITTLE VICTORIES: That more countries than before spoke against the bid was interpreted by officials as a good sign because it meant the issue was still alive

 

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER , WITH AGENCIES

 

Taiwan failed in its 11th bid to join the UN on Wednesday when the General Assembly rejected a proposal presented by 15 of Taiwan's allies to put the issue on the UN agenda. The government nevertheless vowed to continue its efforts to enter the world body.

 

The assembly, which began in New York on Wednesday, did not include an item called "Question of the representation of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the United Nations" in its agenda.

 

"The question of Taiwan will not come up in the General Assembly," said Michele Montas, spokeswoman for the 191-member General Assembly, after daylong deliberations on Wednesday marked by stiff resistance from China.

 

"No sovereign state in the world would allow one of its provinces or regions to participate in the United Nations, an organization whose membership requires statehood," Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya told the General Committee, the body which draws up the General Assembly's agenda.

 

"There is but one China in the world; both the mainland and Taiwan are part of that one and the same China," Wang said.

 

The US, as it did last year, did not speak on the issue, while Russia, China's close ally, opposed the inclusion of the issue on the agenda.

 

The other two permanent members of the UN Security Council, the UK and France, said that their stance on the issue, which opposes Taiwan's participation, had not changed.

 

The UK, nevertheless, welcomed continued democratic development in Taiwan, said Tung Kuo-yu, director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of International Organizations.

 

Tung said Taiwan needed to put more effort in promoting its UN bid.

 

"Taiwan is the only country in the world that remains excluded from the United Nations," said a statement by the countries backing the bid.

 

Tung said 104 countries spoke on the issue, the most since Taiwan began its UN bids in 1993.

 

The 24 who spoke in support of the petition all have official ties with Taiwan. The 80 countries who opposed the proposal mostly cited UN Resolution 2758.

 

The resolution, passed in October 1971, recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the sole legitimate government representing China in the UN. But many argue the resolution did not resolve the question of how the people of Taiwan would be represented in the UN.

 

Taichung Mayor Jason Hu, a former foreign minister, yesterday said that although the resolution recognized the PRC as the sole legitimate government representing China in the UN, it had nothing to do with the Taiwanese people's representation in the body.

 

Hu said Taiwan should try to reduce the significance of the resolution but stressed that pressure from China was the biggest challenge to Taiwan's bid to join the UN.

 

Hu regarded the increasing number of countries speaking about the bid as a good thing because hotter discussion about the problem ensures that the bid will not become a "lost issue."

 

The UK and France's speeches in the General Assembly were not a surprise, Hu said.

 

"China might have requested both countries to speak on the issue because if they remained silent, it might be taken as showing indirect support for Taiwan's bid," Hu said.

 

Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien yesterday called on the international community to recognize the existence of the Republic of China (ROC).

"I believe [Taiwan's] participation on the UN is not only a reasonable appeal but an action to pursue international justice. We will succeed as long as we persist," Chien said.

 

Chien thanked all the countries that supported the bid and urged the international community to help seek solutions to the issue.

 

Andrew Hsia, director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, said: "We have no delusions at all of becoming an observer or a member soon."

 

"We just want the world community to debate one issue -- namely whether it is fair to exclude 23 million peace-loving citizens from the UN family," Hsia said.

 

Not allowing the issue to be debated is a gross violation of the spirit of the UN Charter, Hsia said.

 

"We will never stop until it is solved," he said.

 

 

Government told to keep high-tech gear out of China

 

CAN, SAN FRANCISCO

 

The US will continue to control exports of high-tech products to China, and Washington expects Taiwan to control the relocation of semiconductor design and information centers to China, a high-ranking US official said on Wednesday.

 

Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Technology Security Policy and Counterproliferation Lisa Bronson made the remarks at a seminar on the this year’s prospects for the semiconductor industry in Taiwan and China, sponsored by the US-Taiwan Business Council and the Fabless Semiconductor Association.

 

Bronson said American observers are still divided over whether China is a rival or an opportunity for the US. What is certain is that China is using foreign investment to develop its electronics and semiconductor industries and that it is ambitious militarily. This is why the US does not want high-technology to flow through Taiwan into China.

She stressed the importance of controlling high-tech exports to China and said that,to safeguard national security and economic interests, the US and Taiwan should work closely to play a leading role in the semiconductor industry.

 

China is behind most other countries in the protection of intellectual property rights: therefore, dual-use high-tech products can be used for military purposes by the Chinese, she said.

 

 

DPP urges Ma to press KMT on referendum law

 

By Chang Yun-Ping

STAFF REPORTER

 

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urged Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou yesterday to get behind the referendum law to provide a legal basis for the Cabinet's proposed plebiscite next March.

 

"Since Mayor Ma has agreed on the necessity of referendum legislation, he must act on his word and press his party lawmakers to pass the referendum law in the current legislative session in his capacity as the vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]," DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan said yesterday.

 

Lee said it is a basic right for citizens to show their opinion through referendums, which are guaranteed by the Constitution.

 

"It is not acceptable that the nation can't hold a referendum simply because the legislative process has stalled and failed to pass the referendum law," Lee said.

 

In the Cabinet's regular closed-door meeting on Wednesday, Ma criticized the legality of the Cabinet's plan to hold non-binding advisory referendums, which he likened to the Cultural Revolution.

 

Ma said advisory referendums are unnecessary and could be replaced by public-opinion polls. He urged the legislation of a referendum law before the government holds a plebiscite next year.

 

Lee yesterday denied a plebiscite could be replaced by an opinion poll, saying, "Anyone who makes such a comment lacks common sense and has a serious misunderstanding [of the issue]."

 

Lee said the nature of opinion polls and plebiscites differs in that the former represents only a sample and are unpredictable due to the possibility of undeclared opinions, while the latter involves the participation of the entire public and each ballot represents true public opinion.

 

"If a poll could replace a plebiscite, does that suggest Taiwan would not need any elections and that a presidential election would be unnecessary since we could let the poll decide? In that case, does that mean we don't need to talk about democracy anymore?" Lee asked.

 

He cited several European countries' experiences in holding advisory referendums as a means to decide contentious domestic issues.

 

Lee said a number of European countries have held advisory referendums since 1972, including Norway, Finland and Sweden, which used them to decide whether to join the EU. He said the UK and Greenland used them for joining the then European Community.

 

The KMT yesterday accused Cabinet Spokesperson Lin Chia-lung of wrongly accusing Ma by releasing a tape containing Ma's remark comparing the holding of referendums to the Cultural Revolution.

 

KMT caucus whip Lee Chia-chin said, "As the Cabinet's spokesperson, Lin should not have sowed discord and misquoted Ma according to his own political ideology."

 

Lee Chia-chin also accused the DPP of being responsible for the holding up the referendum law in the legislature.

 

He said the KMT would submit its own referendum draft to the legislature next month and will put the bill at the top of its legislative agenda.

 

 

This nation shall one day prevail at the UN

 

By Chen Lung-chu

 

The 58th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday. This is another year in which we seek support for Taiwan's participation in the UN.

 

Since 1993, the government's primary strategy has been for our diplomatic allies to file a joint proposal asking that the General Assembly set up a special committee or working group to study how to let "the Republic of China" participate in the UN, or demanding that the General Assembly's 1971 Resolution 2758 be overturned or amended.

 

Due to China's maneuvers, however, the proposals have been rejected by the General Committee time and again and failed to make it onto the General Assembly's official agenda.

 

According to UN regulations, the agenda of the annual assembly session must be arranged by the General Committee. The proposal on Taiwan's participation must be approved by the committee before it is put on the assembly agenda for any substantive discussion or a vote. None of our previous bids have made it through the committee.

 

The committee consists of the president of the General Assembly and 21 vice presidents, which always include the five permanent Security Council members. The committee can conduct a non-substantive review of each topic proposed for the assembly's agenda, discuss whether to put it on the agenda and provide suggestions to the assembly, which then makes the final decision. Therefore, gaining majority support among the committee members is a precondition for putting any joint proposal on Taiwan's participation on the assembly agenda.

 

Seeking the support of the committee members is the first step in prying open the UN's door. We need to unite the power of all our diplomatic allies and continue to voice Taiwan's wish to join the world body.

 

At the same time, we must also strengthen civil society, realize human rights guarantees, improve the democratic system and promote technological and economic development so that the international community may be persuaded that Taiwan's participation in the UN will be a great help in maintaining international peace and security, and in increasing the welfare of all humanity.

 

Taiwan has the will and the capacity to join the UN. This demand is compatible with international justice. With perseverance, we will succeed.

 

Chen Lung-chu is chairman of the Taiwan New Century Foundation.

 

Cabinet spokesman threatens to sue Taipei mayor

 

By Ko Shu-ling

STAFF REPORTER

 

Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung yesterday said he would not rule out the possibility of suing Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, who accused Lin of twisting comments he allegedly made likening government plans for non-biding referendums to China's Cultural Revolution.

 

"His accusation seriously tarnished my personal image and [that] of the government," Lin said. "I didn't interpret his words out of context as he alleged because I was just telling the truth."

 

Lin, however, said that he would not ask Ma to apologize.

 

"Apologizing is not the key. The key is whether the public knows about the truth," Lin said. "I'll have no choice but to take legal action for the sake of the government's accountability if the erroneous accusations continue."

 

Ma compared the referendum plan to the Cultural Revolution during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, according to Lin.

 

"Some China-based Taiwanese businesspeople have mentioned to me that they didn't know the Cultural Revolution was still going on until they came back here," Lin quoted Ma as saying.

 

Criticizing Lin as "interpreting his words out of context" and "putting words in his mouth," Ma held press conferences and went on TV later on Wednesday to clarify his statement. Ma also called on Lin to make public the heated debate among government officials during Wednesday's Cabinet meeting.

 

As well as playing an audio tape of part of the meeting, Lin provided printed copies of the debate to the media during a press conference held yesterday morning.

 

"I'll leave the public and the media to decide whether I put words in his mouth and interpret his words out of context," Lin said.

 

As a government spokesperson, Lin said his job is to convey government information to the public.

 

"My job is not to interpret the words of any government official or judge their personal behavior," Lin said. "I believe the media, the fourth estate, can easily find out whether Ma actually made such a statement."

Cabinet Spokesperson Lin Chia-lung shows reporters a cassette tape containing a recording of the heated exchanges between Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou and a number of Cabinet officials on Wednesday.