Space launch greeted by cheers and fears

ONE GIANT LEAP: The successful takeoff of a manned rocket has put China in a very elite club -- which is seen as good news by some and cause for concern by others

AP , TAIPEI

China's launch of its first manned spacecraft left some Asians flushed with pride yesterday, while others saw it as scary evidence of the communist giant's growing power.

As the Shenzhou 5 craft shot into space from a desert launch pad in northwest China, TV stations in some parts of Asia broke into newscasts to report the event. The news quickly spread during the morning rush hour commute.

"I am very happy. We finally made it. Not many countries can reach space," said Alexander Chow, 27, an accountant in Hong Kong. "It's a day that every Chinese is proud of."

Angeline Lo, 22, a Hong Kong medical student, added: "I am delighted. It marks a breakthrough in China's space development."

In Taipei, engineer Frank Kung, 49, said the space launch would help China's military.

"Whatever China does, it does to strengthen its defense, so this is not good for Taiwan," Kung said.

But Brian Tang, 21, an engineering student in Taipei, wasn't worried.

"This is exciting," Tang said. "We should be happy that China has the ability to perform such a feat."

In Japan, Miki Kobayashi, 28, said the launch marked a defeat for her country, which has seen its once-mighty economy decline as China's has grown rapidly in recent years.

"I feel like we have lost," said Kobayashi, a dental hygienist in Tokyo. "Japan had worked so hard on its space program. I guess China is rich. I hope Japan can catch up again."

China has explicitly said it opposes the "weaponization" of space. But some worried that the launch was a sign that China's military was becoming more powerful and could become a new global bully.

"China is more of a threat than ever. Not just for Asia, but for the whole world," said Akira Machida, 54, a white collar worker in Tokyo.

But a spokesman for Japan's space agency, JAXA, praised China's accomplishment and said that it could benefit space technology worldwide.

"It seems we have a new rival. But since this is not a war, China is not a threat," said the spokesman, Hiroshi Inoue.

In Washington, Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin made a brief statement: "We wish them success and for their astronaut's safe return."

The US space agency NASA applauded the launch. It noted that China, after Russia and the US, is only the third nation to successfully launch humans into space.

"This launch is an important achievement in the history of human exploration," NASA said in a statement. "NASA wishes China a continued safe human space-flight program."

Kind words also came from Vietnam, which has long had an uneasy relationship with China. The Vietnamese fought a border war with the Chinese in 1979 -- China's last major foreign conflict.

"This will be a great achievement of China in conquering outer space," Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said in a statement.

Some of China's neighbors have long viewed the country to be a backward, undeveloped country. yesterday's space launch had them reconsidering their views.

"I am shocked," said Monica Kim, an office worker in Seoul, South Korea.

"Usually, such technology is known to come from well-developed countries, and especially, manned space launch requires advanced technology," Kim said.

But 44-year-old Lee Won-hak, a designer in Seoul, said the launch didn't surprise him, although it was making him concerned about China's growing power.

"I feel a bit threatened by the country's development," Lee said.

China's Communists deliver promises but no plans

BABY STEPS: President Hu Jintao has indicated that he wants to tackle the growing wealth gap, unemployment, health care and social security -- but he hasn't said how

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , BEIJING

The new leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) closed a secretive annual planning session on Tuesday with a broad pledge to deepen market reforms and help the poor, but they did not detail any new economic or political policies.

A communique issued at the close of the four-day meeting skirted most sensitive political topics and did not reveal details about a plan to amend the Constitution that had been widely discussed in state-controlled media.

The cautious approach appears to reflect the baby steps that CCP chief and President Hu Jintao has taken to try to assert his own agenda as he labors in the shadow of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin.

Hu has raised expectations that he intends to address China's growing wealth gap, fight rural and urban unemployment and improve health care and social security.

But party officials so far have not explained how they will fulfill such promises at a time when China is spending ever greater sums to build roads and bridges, beef up the military, explore space and subsidize state-owned companies.

Last month, Hu previewed the annual planning session, known as a plenum, with a relatively strident call to make the one-party state more responsive to public opinion. But officials did not announce even the sketchiest outline of political reform on Tuesday, suggesting that any changes of this sort may take many years to implement.

The failure to chart a bolder course is somewhat surprising. Communist leaders have traditionally treated the first major political gathering after the appointment of new leaders as an opportunity to announce policy shifts.

The late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping used a similar session just after he took full control 25 years ago to outline the experiments that led to the flowering of China's market economy.

Today, the economy is racing ahead at such a torrid pace that officials are continually revising growth estimates upward. Some economists now expect that China will grow at a double-digit pace this year, much faster than any other major economy.

But while Hu's stature has increased since he became the top leader nearly a year ago, he is not thought to exercise unfettered command of the party elite.

Many analysts argue that he will tackle the most sensitive economic and political issues only after a prolonged process of consensus building. They say he wants to make sure his flank is not vulnerable to attack from Jiang, who remains chief of the Military Commission, or members of the Politburo Standing Committee who are not considered Hu's reliable allies.

"These are problems that are too important to avoid but also too sensitive to face up to, so they're dealt with by vagueries," said Zhong Dajun, who runs his own economic consultancy in Beijing.

"I guess the rationale here is that they need to wait for conditions to mature. For the time being, these issues are too loaded with conflicts," he said.

Kenneth Lieberthal, a China expert and former US national security council official who is now at the University of Michigan, said that Hu and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao have proven adept at public relations but have yet to demonstrate concrete results.

"They've told us about all the things they would love to do if they have the money," Lieberthal said

"But it will take a year or so to see if there are any real budgetary results," he said.

President sets out `road map' for a new constitution

By Chang Yun-Ping

STAFF REPORTER

President Chen Shui-bian has firmed up a timetable for his controversial plans to write a new constitution, a senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official said yesterday

Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen, who attended a Monday-night meeting of high-ranking DPP officials, told reporters yesterday: "President Chen acknowledged the timetable to start drafting the constitution in 2006 and enact it on May 20, 2008," the date on which the winner of that year's presidential election will take office.

Yao made the comment at a seminar held by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) to examine past attempts to overhaul or replace the constitution.

"It is optimal to bring the new constitution into effect in 2008," Yao said. "If the new constitution is generated in 2006, it will take at least six months to one year for the public to ratify the new constitution through a referendum."

Yao, a member of DPP's newly established "new constitution task force," said a new constitution would be created in three phases: promoting and educating the public about the concept of a new constitution and collecting opinions from society; discussing the procedures to create the new constitution, and finally deciding on its contents.

"Now is not an appropriate time to start writing the new constitution as it takes more time to promote the idea of the need for a new constitution to the public," Yao said.

At the seminar yesterday, pro-independence constitutional experts, academics and legislators pooled their thoughts on shaping the constitution.

DPP Legislator You Ching said the new constitution should resolve constitutional disputes, such as the sovereignty and territorial issues of Taiwan and the national political system.

"The new constitution should seek to ascertain the status of Taiwan's sovereignty; that is, to convert Taiwan's current de facto sovereign status into de jure status," You said.

You also urged the DPP and TSU to work together to decide on a single version of the new constitution before consulting with the pan-blue camp.

Hwang Tzong-leh, chairman of the Cabinet-level Fair Trade Commission and a seasoned activist in promoting a new constitution for Taiwan, said that the campaign has now entered a crucial stage in the wake of former president Lee Teng-hui's recent remarks that the Republic of China no longer exists and Chen's promotion of a new constitution.

Legislators clash over high school history textbooks

By Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTER

The national identity dispute flared up in the legislature yesterday as Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun along with two historians reported on the new guidelines for high school history textbooks.

The late arrival of the convener of the ad hoc committee developing the guidelines for the textbooks, Chang Yuan, at yesterday's legislative conference on education, angered lawmakers.

Following an uproar over Chang's absence, Chang rushed to the conference to report on the new guidelines to the education committee.

Chang apologized for his late arrival, which he blamed on his giving a speech to 30 history teachers explaining the new guidelines.

Under the new guidelines, Chinese history since 1500 -- including the latter part of Ming Dynasty, the entire Ching Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) -- will be considered part of modern world history.

Taiwanese history will be taught in the first semester of senior high school, followed by Chinese history and then modern world history.

The method of instruction will follow the theories of National Palace Museum Curator Tu Cheng-sheng, who is developing changes to social science textbooks.

Tu has served as the director of the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica and Chang is a professor of history at National Tsing-hua University's  graduate school of humanities and social science

Chinese National Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu said the conference was "a guideline paving the road for Taiwan's independence" and is an attempt to "wipe out the existence of the ROC."

Facing such criticism, Chang said the guidelines have nothing to do with ideology, politics or personal interest.

"The goal of the new guidelines is to help students learn history from a global perspective and to start with the things that are most familiar to them," Chang said.

He said it is most important that students have the ability to analyze historical materials with independent judgment.

"Of course there are various kinds of historical perspectives, but there is no doubt that the content of history textbooks needs to be faithful to historical facts, which is also the conviction of the committee members," Chang said.

People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lee Ching-hua said the new guidelines will only confuse students' national identity because "Chinese history is cut in half."

Lee accused Tu of "serving a specific political party."

His remark infuriated Tu.

"Every word in the guidelines was worked out by each committee member, [and do not represent] only a certain person's idea," Tu said, calling for Lee to provide evidence to support the allegation.

Many Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators expressed their support for the new guidelines.

"The guidelines stress progressive concepts and a creative perspective which are closest to the historical truth," said DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui.

"We also hope that Taiwan's cultural history can be increased in the textbooks, which is currently lacking," Lin said.

China thumps chest as it puts man into space

GREAT LEAP UPWARD: China is boasting of the `glory of our great motherland' as it became the third nation to put an astronaut into space after the US and Soviet Union

REUTERS , BEIJING

China put its first man in space on yesterday, sending a single astronaut on a 21-hour odyssey around the Earth four decades after the Soviet Union and the US pioneered manned space flight.

The Long March 2F rocket carrying "taikonaut" Yang Liwei lifted off into a clear blue sky over the Gobi desert at 9am and entered its predetermined orbit 10 minutes later.

Official media quickly declared the launch a success.

"I feel good," Yang said from space as the Shenzhou V, or "Divine Ship V," was making its first circuit around the Earth.

The official Xinhua news agency said by late afternoon the vessel was in its sixth of 14 planned orbits and had successfully shifted its course prior to landing early today.

Yang, 38, is part of a historic mission which, if successful, will make China just the third nation to put a man into space and bring him back to Earth -- over 40 years behind the former Soviet Union and the US.

At the Jiuquan Space Center in Inner Mongolia, onlookers clapped and cheered as the Shenzhou V lifted off.

More than 1,000km away in the capital, pride mixed with relief as state television broadcast delayed pictures of the launch.

The Shenzhou V gave a boost to the leaders of the world's most populous nation. President Hu Jintao, who witnessed the lift-off, spoke of the "glory of our great motherland."

"We look forward to your triumphant return," Hu said.

The launch highlighted the emerging power of China, a permanent UN Security Council member now pursuing more active diplomacy, one of the world's fastest growing economies and chosen host of the 2008 Olympics.

"It is a show of muscle, a show of power to the region," said Tai Hui, an economist with Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, playing down the economic significance.

Earlier, Yang, decked out in his space suit, headed for the launch past rows of beaming, balloon-carrying children who had come to see him off. Once in the capsule he reviewed a flight manual and appeared "composed and at ease," Xinhua said.

Yang, who follows a trail blazed by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and American astronaut Alan Shepard in 1961, was due to orbit the Earth 14 times and touch down in Inner Mongolia at 6am today, Xinhua said.

In the afternoon, the spaceship successfully shifted from its initial elliptical orbit to a circular orbit 343km from Earth, an essential step for an accurate landing, Xinhua said.

Yang, a lieutenant-colonel in the People's Liberation Army, was chosen from a pool of 14 as the country's first taikonaut -- from the Chinese word for space.

Blue-camp obstruction illegal: Lin

ANNUAL SPENDING: The Cabinet spokesman said the opposition's demand the government change its annual budget is against the Constitution

By Ko Shu-ling

STAFF REPORTER

The Executive Yuan reacted angrily yesterday after opposition lawmakers voted down the government's annual budget request on Tuesday, while moving forward with plans for its five-year, NT$500 billion public construction project.

Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung said the government would not comply with opposition lawmakers' demand that the Cabinet adjust its annual spending plan before Monday.

"It's unconstitutional, illegal and jeopardizes the relationship between the executive and legislative branches," Lin said.

Citing Article 70 of the Constitution, Lin said the legislature is not permitted to request the Cabinet increase spending while reviewing the annual budget.

In addition, it was in defiance of the law and encroached on the government's authority for the legislature to ask the executive branch to adjust budget items of the annual spending plan, according to interpretation No. 264 of the Council of Grand Justices, he said.

Lin also dismissed media speculation that the Cabinet is planning to request a constitutional interpretation on the quandary.

"Instead, we'll submit an explanatory note to the legislature and follow up with personal visits to opposition lawmakers in the hope that they'll change their mind and resume the committee budgetary review as soon as possible," he said.

While the Cabinet respects the authority of the legislative body, Lin said, it is impossible for the government to accept a resolution that is illegitimate.

"As the law stands, the legislative body is supposed to complete the review of the government's annual budget request by the end of November. However, it has failed to do so for the past three years," Lin said.

"The resolution not only is illegal but also seriously hampers the execution of government initiatives."

Cashing in on their numerical edge, opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), People First Party (PFP) and independent lawmakers voted on Tuesday in favor of a motion to shelve review of the government's annual budget.

The opposition bloc also requested the Cabinet submit an amended spending plan by Monday, claiming that certain outlays lack a legal foundation.

Opposition lawmakers argued that the Cabinet should not have requested funding to establish a human rights memorial hall because the legislature has not yet approved such a plan.

They also said the Judicial Yuan should not have proposed a budget for its reorganization as the legislative body has not yet decided whether to approve its restructuring.

Lin said the accusations were just another pretext for the opposition camp to boycott the spending plan.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet yesterday approved the special draft bill of the five-year, NT$500 billion public construction project.

The draft, should it be approved by the legislature, earmarks a special budget of NT$500 billion over the next five years. The fund, which would be exempt from the Budget Law and Public Debt Law, would be used to invest in public construction projects designed to improve the nation's competitiveness and increase job opportunities.

The draft stipulates that the government may either borrow money or sell stakes in state-owned enterprises to obtain the funding.

Rice urges continuity in Taiwan Strait status quo

SINO-AMERICAN SUMMIT: US President George W. Bush will meet with his Chinese counterpart Sunday as part of his week-long trip to Asia and Australia

By Charles Snyder

STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

Ahead of a US-China meeting Sunday in Bangkok, the George W. Bush administration has again cautioned both sides of the Taiwan Strait not to change the status quo.

"It is our very strong belief that nobody should try unilaterally to change the status quo here," National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters at a briefing in Washington.

"There must be a peaceful resolution of the cross-strait issue," Rice said, in answer to a question during a briefing on Bush's upcoming trip to Asia.

"And so the United States will continue to remind all parties that that is the position of the United States government and that it is the position to which we expect everyone to adhere," she said.

She also reiterated the US' "one China" policy and said the administration is "basing our policies on the three communiques. And we, of course, always remind people that we also have obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself."

While for the Americans, the situation in North Korea, the ongoing war on terror and such trade issues as the value of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar are expected to be the main issues of concern, the Chinese side is expected to put emphasis on cross-strait relations, if recent bilateral contacts are a guide.

After a period in which Taiwan appeared to take a back seat to other issues, Chinese leaders in recent meetings with the US have given strong emphasis to Taiwan, according to US officials.

The change in emphasis seems to have dated to the visit of Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing to Washington late last month, in which he met with Bush as well as a Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Rice.

Li, the former Chinese ambassador to Washington and a prominent hawk on Taiwan, put great emphasis on the Taiwan issue as a first priority during his meetings, US officials told the Taipei Times.

The same emphasis has been echoed in every contact since, they say.

"It's always Taiwan, Taiwan, Taiwan," one official said.

The shift appears to be in response to President Chen Shui-bian's announcement of plans to hold various referendums, and his pledge to write a new constitution in 2006, plus his recent reiteration of his "one country on each side" of the Strait policy.

Last Sunday, for instance, Li and Powell talked by phone to discuss the issues surrounding the upcoming Bush-Hu meeting.

Official Chinese media reports on the conversation gave Taiwan greater emphasis than would appear to have been warranted by the other issues dominating the coming summit.

Li said he "appreciates US reiteration of sticking to the `one China' policy, three China-US joint communiques and the opposition to the independence of Taiwan during his recent visit to the United States," a Chinese Foreign Ministry report said.

"Li expressed his hope that the United States consistently keeps its promises and handles well various issues related to the Taiwan [sic], and safeguards the healthy momentum of bilateral ties," the report said.

The report quoted Powell as agreeing with Li's views on the "one China" policy, the three communiques and opposition to Taiwan independence.

The Bush administration has not commented on the Li-Powell phone conversation.

Bush and his party, which will include a large number of senior trade and foreign policy officials, will spend about a week in East Asia and Australia. He will arrive in Tokyo tomorrow and leave for Singapore on Saturday.

That evening he will leave for Bangkok and hold bilateral meetings with various Asian leaders, including Hu on Sunday, according to the White House.

He will attend the APEC leaders' summit that will be held Monday and Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Bush will travel fly to Singapore and the next morning will go to Bali before heading to Canberra.

Beijing has forgotten its history

During a recent meeting with foreign guests, President Chen Shui-bian said that there are precedents in many countries for holding referendums without prior referendum legislation, and therefore referendums do not necessarily need a legal basis.

Chen also said the referendums are a universal value, a basic human right and a God-given right that cannot be deprived or restricted.

Chen's argument is not empty talk. After all, as early as 1895 China wanted to stop Japan from taking over Taiwan when Li Hongzhang, then viceroy of the Qing dynasty was signing the Shimonoseki Treaty with Japan.

China was in fact the first country to come up with the idea of following the precedent set by Western countries and holding a referendum in Taiwan without any legal basis in order to resist the invading Japanese regime. If China could do it back then, why is it now trying to stop a referendum in Taiwan by way of threats?

Japan was successful in its Meiji reformation program and became an Eastern power, and it also gained tacit support from some powerful nations for its intent to annex Taiwan. China lost the Sino-Japanese war in 1895 and Li was unable to resist Japanese pressure. This eventually led to the Shimonoseki Treaty. The Qing court was shocked by the news.

According to a book on Taiwan's history by Chi Chia-lin, Wang Zhichun -- a confidante of Zhang Zhidong, the Qing minister in charge of southern China -- went to Russia to attend the coronation of Czar Nicholas II. Wang stopped over in Paris on his way back. He sent a telegram to Zhang from Paris describing the plebiscites held in Alsace and Lorraine after the Franco-Prussian War (1870 to 1871). Prussia wanted to take back the two regions from France, which lost the war. France rejected the idea, saying the people in those regions had voted in plebiscites against the idea of joining Prussia.

Zhang immediately issued an order to Taiwan's governer Tang Jingsong saying that China could follow the precedent and listen to the people of Taiwan. Later, the Taiwanese elite tried to seek international support by asserting -- in a paper written with blood -- the international law concept that local residents must be consulted before ceding a region to another country.

However, because China and Japan already exchanged treaty documents in Shandong Province, China's ceding Taiwan to Japan was irreversible. The idea of a referendum in Taiwan died before it was born. After gaining an understanding with the Chinese government, the authorities in Taiwan started to seek independence and established the short-lived Taiwan Republic.

China wanted to use a referendum to give voice to the Taiwanese people's objection to Japanese rule, thereby seeking international sympathy and garnering the power of international justice. Unfortunately, international justice was no match for the international law of the jungle. Japan still took over Taiwan by force.

Today, the people of Taiwan want to hold referendums and yet they have come under vicious accusations and unreasonable suppression from Beijing. What inspiration can people gain from the past?

The DPP not to blame for economy

By Huang Tien-lin

`Taiwan's economic performance was already getting worse in the 1990s, under the previous government. It fell from the top spot among the "four Asian dragons" and lagged further behind South Korea every year.

What was the primary cause of Taiwan's economic decline in 2001? At a symposium held by the Taiwan Economic Association on Oct. 4, Kao Koong-lian, a research committee member from the KMT-run National Policy Foundation, presented a report on behalf of Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Chiang Pin-kung.

Kao had a heated debate with Taiwan ThinkTank chairman Chen Po-chih at the symposium. Kao blamed the economic decline on political instability, which he said led to a lack of investor confidence and caused a drastic decline in private investment. Chen believes the sluggish US economy had an impact on Taiwan's exports.

Kao was making things up while Chen only told half of the truth. The primary cause was the industrial migration to China from 1997 onward, for which the previous government must take the biggest responsibility.

Was political instability the primary cause of the nation's economic decline in 2001? We only need to look at South Korea to find out.

South Korea replaced its prime minister three times during that period. The post even went unoccupied for a while due to opposition in the legislature. The coun-try's political chaos was by no means smaller than that in Tai-wan, but South Korea's economic activities continued as usual because it is a democratic country that can rely on democratic regulations to operate normally.

To blame political instability for economic decline is to call a deer a horse. If halting construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant could cause negative economic growth, then will the entire economy shake and crumble if contruction of a steel plant, a chip foundry or a power plant is halted? People who advocate this view have no faith in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Chen only told half the story of what caused the economic decline in 2001. It is true that the US market for technology products shrank, causing this nation's exports to fall by 18 percent. However, he did not explain why South Korea saw 3 percent economic growth. Why was Tai-wan unable to achieve this? Per-haps Chen did not have enough time to explain the reasons.

The year 2001 was not the first year Taiwan was outperformed by South Korea. Taiwan's economic performance was already getting worse in the 1990s, under the previous government. It fell from the top spot among the "four Asian dragons" and lagged further behind South Korea every year. This trend was especially obvious in 1999.

In that year, South Korea's economic growth was 10.7 percent, compared to Taiwan's 5.4 percent. In 2000, South Korea had 9.3 percent growth, compared to Taiwan's 5.9 percent. In 2001, South Korea only had 3 percent growth due to the contraction of the US high-tech market -- a decline of 6.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Because Taiwan's economic growth was quite low already, the negative growth in 2001 was quite natural if we look at it in the context of the margin of decline in South Korea's growth rate. It certainly cannot be blamed on the current government, much less on groundless charges like "political instability."

The decline in economic growth has been accompanied by a decline in private savings and investments, a long-running depression in real estate prices and rising unemployment. These phenomena happened before the transition of political power, not after.

Why then have the fall of Taiwan's economic growth and other economic indicators accelerated? Why has Taiwan lagged so far behind South Korea, especially in the past five years?

If we can stay calm and let go of the prejudices of the "Great China" ideology, it should not be difficult to find out that the primary cause was in the migration of Taiwanese industries to China in the 1990s. The more recent Chinese fever in the high-tech industries had the greatest impact.

In July 1997, economic bureaucrats went against then president Lee Teng-hui's "No haste, be patient" policy by surreptitiously relaxing the regulations governing the review of investments in China. They relaxed the rules for investment applications amounting to NT$1.6 billion (US$50 million) or less each, and treated such applications under the "general review" category. This triggered a feverish westward migration of high-tech industries.

Since then, the domestic high-tech industries have become enthusiastic only about low-wage production. They have delayed research and development efforts. As a result, industrial upgrading was sacrificed for the dream of turning all of China into a high-tech kingdom. (With the help of Taiwanese businesses, China has become the world's third largest high-tech kingdom.)

In the five-year period from 1997 to 2001, China attracted hundreds of technology firms from Taiwan and around US$10 billion of capital every year. During the same period South Korean investments in China totaled only US$1.9 billion. There were even some South Korean capital pullouts from China in 2001.

South Korea focused on upgrading its domestic investments and technologies. Because South Korea's high-tech industries have been entirely rooted in the country, technologies have been improved dramatically. Taiwan, not having upgraded its technologies significantly, could not bear the impact when the US tech economy contracted in 2001.

Fortunately, in 2001, the new government bravely corrected the overvalued NT dollar and let it float between 34.5 and 35 to the greenback. In concert with policies promoting domestic investments and myriad other efforts, this finally reversed more than 10 years of decline and allowed some visible improvement in the economy last year.

We no longer need to talk about past disputes, but if one insists on apportioning blame for the negative growth in 2001, the bureaucrats of the previous government are the foremost culprits. They cannot shirk this responsibility.

Huang Tien-lin is a national policy adviser to the president.