AIT head urges the government to beef up the armed forces

By Ko Shu-ling

STAFF REPORTER

A top US envoy yesterday expressed apprehension about the military balance between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and urged the government to upgrade its combat readiness to give the US time to send troops should China invade.

Therese Shaheen, chairperson of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), also threw her weight behind President Chen Shui-bian's controversial plan to write a new constitution in 2006.

"China's military buildup is one of the cross-strait issues the US government is most concerned about and one of the urgent problems that needs to be taken care of," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung quoted Shaheen as saying yesterday afternoon.

Shaheen, who is in Taiwan for a five-day visit, made the remarks yesterday morning while visiting Premier Yu Shyi-kun at the Executive Yuan.

According to Lin, the one-hour discussion touched on three major topics: cross-strait security, a new constitution and intellectual property rights.

Beyond voicing her concern over China's military buildup, Lin said that Shaheen reiterated the US government's pledge to help Taiwan defend itself against any invasion.

"She also called on our legislature to support arms procurement funding and the Cabinet to maintain and replenish military equipment and ammunition because it costs less than buying new equipment," Lin said.

In response, Yu promised to do his best to safeguard regional security in the Asia-Pacific area.

Shaheen also expressed interest in how the Democratic Progressive Party government would draft a new constitution by 2006.

"She was very curious about how the Cabinet plans to put into practice Chen's plan: is it to hold a national referendum before forming a constitution drafting committee or to hold the referendum after the public reaches a consensus on the new version of the constitution?" Lin said.

Theoretically, Lin said, the Cabinet plans to solicit opinions from lawmakers, experts and the public between next year and 2006.

"We suspect it might take one to two years to prepare for a new constitution to take effect in 2008, as planned by the president," Lin quoted Yu as saying.

Likening Taiwan's democratization process to an adolescent passing through puberty, Yu said that the drafting of a new constitution is a period the nation has to go through.

"It's impossible to suppress our democratic development unless we head back to the martial law era, when there were bans on political parties and newspapers," Yu said.

Shaheen said she could understand why some have cast doubt on Chen's resolve in rewriting the Constitution.

"Taiwan has been regarded as a good student, so it's bound to raise eyebrows when it says or does something different or controversial," Lin quoted her as saying.

Yu also stressed that Chen's controversial plan has nothing to do with next year's presidential election.

"That's why the president hopes to see the new constitution go into effect in 2008," Yu said.

Another `Great Leap,' continued poverty

On Wednesday, China sent a manned spacecraft into orbit for the first time. The move by itself is of course no major scientific breakthrough. Nevertheless it holds economic, political and military implications for both China and the world.

Forty years after the Soviet Union sent the first man into space, space technology no longer holds the same kind of mythical allure. Scientifically there is not much China could do with a man in space that could not have been done with an unmanned space program. The question for many countries has long been not whether they have the technology to do it, but whether it is worth the astronomical costs it entails. This is one reason for the US government's seemingly reduced enthusiasm for NASA spending over the past few years. For a country such as China that continues to wrestle with serious wealth gaps, massive unemployment and corruption, what makes the 19 billion yuan spent on the project a worthy price?

Just like winning the 2008 Olympic Games, the space program incites heightens nationalism and pride among the Chinese people that makes them forget about the more pressing problems in their lives and demands for reform that could seriously shake the Chinese government. Chinese President Hu Jintao was quick to praise the mission as "the glory of our great motherland" and "a historic step for the Chinese people." There will likely be nationwide fascination about space technology over the next few years, similar to the public frenzy over table tennis and soccer when China first began to turn in exceptional performances in these sports in international competitions.

Lost in the hoopla is the miserable hand-to-mouth struggle that is still the lot of the majority of Chinese, especially farmers and others in rural areas. And while Chinese are now free to dream of space, their intellectual parameters will still be strictly controlled and limited by the Chinese Communist Party.

For Beijing's rulers, however, China becoming only the third country to send a manned craft into space makes every yuan spent on the project more than worthwhile. It sends the message that China is now one of the elite. The US must be somewhat alarmed about this development in view of Beijing's ambition to compete and challenge Washington's dominance among world powers.

US anxiety is surely driven by the belief that military use will be high on the priority list of China's space program, which is run by the People's Liberation Army. In fact, the development of space technology has long been a core component of the Chinese military's modernization efforts. The foreseeable resulting military threats are even greater to regional powers such as Japan and South Korea.

As for the people of Taiwan, the immediate concern is whether peace and security in the Taiwan Strait will be further threatened by this break-through. The truth of the matter is that China's military is already fully capable of striking Taiwan. So, additional threats are only icing on the cake for Beijing. In the long run, Chinese advancement in space technology may allow it to improve the precision of its missile strikes and information gathering about this country.

Of greater concern should be what propaganda value the space mission will provide for those believers of the "Great China" ideology. Unfortunately it might deepen their conviction that Taiwan should be overwhelmed by the desire of the "great motherland" to want to rule us.

Know what could be lost

In some respects, next year's presidential election is as important as the first direct presidential election, if not more so. It is not because new ground is being broken, or new directions adopted, or even because new principles will be pressed or heralded. No, this election is more important for what will remain the same, as for what will change. It is the last best chance to preserve the status quo, which, looking at Hong Kong and Tibet, is pretty damn good.

Clearly, as the early party strategies appear to have been formulated, a vote for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) slate carries with it the high risk of unification with China (the greatest proof of this risk is that no KMT official has yet to deny this is part of the KMT platform).

While it is true that a vote for President Chen Shui-bian carries with it the risk that some provocative statement or act will further erode the non-relationship with China, in the long run, it is likely Taiwan will retain its independence only if the Democratic Progressive Par-ty (DPP) is returned to power.

However, the problem with the election is not the choices so much as the overwhelming apathy of the electorate. Tai-wan's populace appears to have adopted either the fatalistic approach (whatever happens happens), or the "all I want is to earn a good living" approach, which is of course riddled with peril, as it is both shortsighted and a disservice to the generations that follow.

Many say there is no hope in supporting Chen because his economic policies were a disaster (ignoring the fact the entire world's economy has been crawling out of a hole for his entire incumbency), and that supporting him would result in further isolation from China and the world.

Many see promises by the KMT of a bright economic future with China (likely as a new "special administrative region."), even whispering that "it wouldn't be so bad to be part of China." The KMT is pandering to the baser side of politics, to the basic instinct to gather wealth. It is tantamount to buying loyalty with promises of sugarplums.

It is alarming that the average citizen may not truly appreciate the rights and freedoms available to them which are now routinely taken for granted. These include the freedoms of press, TV, radio, Internet, movies and culture, protection of human rights, including the freedoms of religion and political affiliation, and the right to travel and move about freely (subject of course to any unreasonable limitations imposed by the posturing and blackmail by China of various nations).

Nor does the average citizen appear to appreciate the significance of the right to choose the future of Taiwan through a presidential election. Over 1 billion Chinese are disenfranchised. They are ruled by a handful of old men who sit in a dark room and decide the political future of one-sixth of the world's population. The government those men design regularly deprives the Chinese populace of human rights, freedom and free thought and beliefs (and Taiwan itself is not so long from its own brand of tyranny). This virus of oppression has crept into Hong Kong, and has been boiling in Tibet for decades.

That China wishes to export the virus to Taiwan is beyond doubt. The question is whether voters have the courage and determination to make a stand as they did in the last election, and say "no" to the path gilded with gold and laden with tears and tyranny, and opt for another term of de facto independence with the DPP. One can only hope the thirst for freedom prevails over the cries of wolf from the KMT, and its loathsome quest for power at the price of democracy.

Lee Long-hwa

Pasadena, California