New law packs no punch

 

By Lin Chieh-yu

STAFF REPORTER

Friday, Nov 28, 2003,Page 3

 

In the face of opposition from the pan-blue alliance in the Legislative Yuan yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) only got a "bird-cage version of a referendum law," which deprives the people of their elementary right to exercise direct democratic mechanisms, according to political commentators.

 

"According to the Referendum Law," said long-time political columnist Hu Wen-huei, "all constitutional issues, such as cutting the number of seats in the legislature in half, must be initiated by the Legislative Yuan, and the citizens only have the right of review.

 

"Other non-legal issues or constitutional amendments must go through a review committee," Hu said, "and this violates the legislative essence of referendums, resulting in an absurd situation in which the representative system overrides direct democracy."

 

The Presidential Office said that it respects the result but is sorry that the content of the law does not meet the Taiwanese people's expectations.

 

An aide to the president said that the DPP has long upheld referendum rights, and the government is well-positioned to realize its strategic target of calling a referendum for March 20 of next year, the date of the presidential election.

 

DPP Legislator Hong Chi-chang said that although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) were forced by public opinion to change their stance on the Referendum Law, the DPP is not the real winner.

 

He said that the US government will continue to caution President Chen Shui-bian and the DPP government against violating the "five noes." Nor can the ruling party ignore China's objections.

 

"The strategy of the KMT-PFP alliance," Hu said, "is to push the DPP to confront the pressure from its supporters and declare whether it will push for a unification-independence referendum."

 

"The pro-independence fundamentalists are not content with the Executive Yuan's defensive referendum version," he said. "What they want is the right to cast a vote for independence or unification."

 

"Once the article is passed," Hu said, "some will start to initiate independence-related referendums, such as changing the country's official name, and that will put the DPP and Chen in a difficult situation in dealing with the international community, especially the United States."

 

An initiative law is the bottom line for the KMT and PFP, two parties that have long viewed referendums as a stepping-stone to Taiwan's independence. Their purpose is to deprive people of the rights to exercise direct democracy.

 

"The KMT reversed [its policy] because the polls show that a majority of the voters support a referendum law and even recognize the need for constitutional reforms," said Chen Sung-shan, commissioner of the Cabinet's Civil Service Protection and Training Commission, who is also the chief aide in the president's legislative office.

 

"The Referendum Law is an initiative law because people cannot exercise their right of referendum directly. They can only hold referendums on the laws in the legislature or in the case of revising the Constitution," he said.

 

"Only the DPP has earned the right to claim a referendum law. The KMT and the PFP in fact have castrated and restricted the law, which in the end is a referendum law in name only," he said.

 

 

Activists let down as law clears legislature

 

By Debby Wu

STAFF REPORTER

Friday, Nov 28, 2003,Page 3

 

Supporters of referendum legislation gather outside the legislature yesterday as lawmakers were reviewing various versions of the proposed law.

 

 

The band on the stage was playing a Mayday song, while the 50 and 60-something crowd was mostly inert, with the exception of some who were shaking their heads like the young ecstasy crowd found in nightclubs.

 

This bizarre scene from yesterday's demonstration outside the legislature was initiated by several social groups, most of which were pro-independence. Organizers included well-known academic groups such as the Taiwan Professors Association and the Northern Taiwan Society, as well as the Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan, the Presbyterian Church and several women's groups.

 

The groups supported the Cabinet's draft of the referendum bill, which called for a referendum to coincide with the presidential election and a referendum to determine the nation's name and territory.

 

The performance on the temporary stage outside the legislature was a bizarre mix of impassioned speeches from organizers and politicians, along with Chinese pop songs from student groups, unrelated to referendums.

 

Rumors ahead of the rally suggested 10,000 people would attend the event, but at the gathering's peak, only 500 people were in attendance.

 

Most participants were in their 50s and 60s and few young faces could be seen in the crowd.

 

The demonstration was like a scaled-down version of a rally in September demanding the nation's name be changed. Yesterday's demonstration featured the same groups, flags and rhetoric.

 

Members of the crowd said, "It is the people's basic right," without elaborating.

 

"The Republic of China is a sovereign country, and that's a fact," Maria Yu said.

 

Yu is the deputy chairwoman of the women's group Wild Orchid, one of the social groups that supported the Cabinet's draft.

 

"There is no need to use a referendum to decide on independence because we are already independent. There is only the need for a referendum when it is reunification we have to decide on," she said.

 

Chen Kuen-song, a 63-year-old former taxi driver, said, "We have to identify with our country."

 

He said other countries such as China and the US should not have a say in Taiwan's referendum because it is a domestic issue.

 

Crowd size dwindled to a few dozen in the evening.

 

The mood soured after the crowd learned most of the Cabinet's draft bill had been rejected.

 

"Referendum is a basic right and it would be a victory for people when there is a referendum law," said a middle-aged housewife surnamed Kuo, who was present at the demonstration.

 

She said she was not clear about the details of the blue camp's draft, but said she thought the pan-green camp's version must have been better.

 

"After all, pushing for referendums is one of the Democratic Progressive Party's fundamental ideals, and they have proposed a draft after careful consideration," she said.

 

"The pan-blue camp offered their draft carelessly only to counter the pan-green version. The pan-blue camp won simply because they've got more people in the legislature," Kuo said.

 

 

DPP slams China's WTO moves

 

IDENTITY ISSUES: Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim described Beijing's efforts to eliminate the titles of Taiwan's government agencies in WTO documentation as `outrageous'

 

By Chang Yun-ping

STAFF REPORTER , WITH CNA

Thursday, Nov 27, 2003,Page 3

 

"We have clearly expressed our stance to WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, who has accepted our causes and said he would come up with an objective and neutral judgment."

－a source at Taiwan's mission to the WTO

 

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday strongly protested China's attempts to get the WTO to downgrade the title of Taiwan's government agencies in the documentation of the nation's legal regulations sent as notification to the body.

 

This is the second time this year China has pressured the world trade body, after it demanded in July that the WTO downgrade Taiwan's representation from the permanent mission to a trade office such as Hong Kong's.

 

Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim, director of the DPP's International Affairs Department, told the Taipei Times yesterday that last year China began demanding the WTO secretariat downgrade Taiwan's representation name and recently it intensified its actions by asking that all titles of government agencies containing references to Taiwan as a sovereign state to be omitted in trade documentation circulated by Taiwan's mission, including such terms as Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Council of Agriculture.

 

"Beijing's demand is outra-geous," Hsiao said. "The Presidential Office is the Presidential Office. What else can we call it?"

 

"This is a very serious issue as it would block Taiwan's progress in participating in the international treaties. It not only affects Tai-wan's international participation, but also damages the interest of foreign investors who expects Taiwan to join in the related international economic and trade treaties so that they could better and fairly understand Taiwan's domestic investment environment," she told the Taipei Times.

 

"China's moves to denigrate Taiwan's place in the international community are getting more and more persistent and frequent," Hsiao said.

 

Hsiao said the name of the governmental agency, such as the Public Construction Commission, an agency that is involved in major government procurement projects, cannot be removed from legal documents, because this would undermine the legality of the nation's laws and national sovereignty.

 

Hsiao stressed that the Republic of China is an independent sovereign state.

 

"This is a stark reality. Beijing cannot deny this truth," she said.

 

When contacted by phone by the Taipei Times yesterday, sources in Taiwan's WTO mission in Geneva said the office and the WTO Secretariat are still tackling the problem.

 

"There is no such problem as Taiwan's governmental agency's name change in the legal documentation. All the legal documentation, passed by Taiwan's legislature cannot be altered in any way when presented as a notification to the WTO," the source said.

 

"We have clearly expressed our stance to WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, who has accepted our causes and said he would come up with an objective and neutral judgment," the source said.

 

"We believe Supachai will tackle the matter objectively, which can be seen from the delay in the printing of the so-called `Blue Book,' a WTO directory which was supposed to be revised in April, following China's attempts to get the organization to change the name of Taiwan's mission early this year," the source said.

 

Taiwan's permanent representative to the WTO, Yen Ching-chang, was not available yesterday to comment on the dispute.

 

 

Suing China to safeguard rights

 

Seven members of the Taiwan Falun Dafa Institute filed a lawsuit at the Taiwan High Court on Nov. 17 accusing former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, former Chinese vice premier Li Lanqing and Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Luo Gan of committing genocide.

 

This is the first time that Taiwanese people have invoked the genocide statute, which was put in place in 1953 in accordance with the UN's 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

 

We have four statements to make regarding this lawsuit.

 

First, we demand that justice be served to safeguard basic human rights and freedom.

 

Falun Gong pursues no political ends and its followers do not harbor any political interests. We are following a judicial path to safeguard humanity's basic rights to free religious expression, free speech and individual liberty. We hope for a fair trial that will encourage the basic values of justice and goodness.

 

Second, violators of human rights should be punished by law so that international justice can be realized.

 

The Falun Gong is a group that cultivates the heart and the mind through exercise and meditation. It does not oppose any political regime. China's suppression of Falun Gong is motivated purely by Jiang's self-interest. Since July 1999, and with the assistance of Li, Luo and hundreds of government agencies, Jiang has arbitrarily threatened political groups, schools and business entities all around China to misrepresent the pure, good and peaceful Falun Gong as an illegal religious sect and target it for political struggle.

 

Using the media, the Beijing government has planted false evidence, slandered the group and stirred up public hatred toward Falun Gong. They have also brainwashed, tortured and killed Falun Gong followers. Such vicious and terrifying means of persecution are quite simply beyond the imagination of Tai-wanese people living in a society that upholds freedom and the rule of law.

 

These atrocities, stretching over more than four years, have deprived millions of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners of their freedom of religion and basic human rights. The atrocities have even occurred outside China. After lengthy investigation by international human rights organizations, including the UN Commission on Human Rights, irrefutable proof of this has been collected. Amnesty International named Jiang one of its "Human Rights Scoundrels" of the year 2000.

 

Over the past four years, governments around the world have issued more than 130 statements condemning China. The persecution that Jiang's system has inflicted on Falun Gong followers has become a focus of world attention.

 

Third, Jiang's brutalities have violated Taiwanese people's rights and must be stopped.

 

The fact that some Taiwanese Falun Gong followers suffered persecution proves that the Jiang clique's atrocities have encroached on Taiwan's territory.

 

Over the past four years, Taiwanese followers have been illegally detained, mistreated and forced to give testimony while in China. When they attended officially approved activities in Hong Kong and Iceland, they were illegally detained and repatriated, and harmed financially, psychologically and physically for no reason.

 

Even the livelihood of the residents of Matsu has been threatened because of China's brutal repression of Falun Gong. Several Chinese women married to Taiwanese men have been secretly detained and questioned after returning to China and then charged, jailed or forced to leave home.

 

The safety and privacy of Taiwanese people are now controlled by China. How can the Taiwanese public allow its good and honest people to live under the shadow of Jiang's conspiracies and threats?

 

Fourth, we call on Taiwan's courts to try the case fairly and we call on the public to view the matter conscientiously.

 

The seven plaintiffs are not the only victims. All Falun Gong followers are victims. In fact, everyone is a victim. The Jiang clique deceived China and the rest of the world with blatant lies. Yet some people failed to see the truth, and they too harbored hatred toward Falun Gong and even participated in Beijing's crimes.

 

The Jiang clique has fabricated data to cover up a weak Chinese economy. It has lured international investors into providing capital for their suppression of justice. Many governments have been blinded by China's economic illusion and have sacrificed their own traditions of human rights and protecting their peoples.

 

A famous quote in the 1980 US human rights case Filartiga versus Pena-Irala said that whoever adopts torture is the enemy of humanity. Now, in addition to the lawsuit filed in Taiwan against Jiang, Li and Luo, human-rights lawyers from around the world have joined hands to help persecuted Falun Gong practitioners sue Jiang and other Chinese officials who joined with him in committing crimes.

 

Since October last year, plaintiffs in the US, Belgium, Spain and other nations have lodged charges of genocide, torture and crimes against humanity. Plaintiffs in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland are also planning to follow suit.

 

Our government has pledged to make Taiwan a human rights-oriented nation. Amid the international wave of support for a public trial of Jiang, we declare that he and other human-rights scoundrels will be brought to justice in Taiwan so that justice can be safeguarded for all. We also call on everyone in Taiwan, China and the rest of the world to try these public enemies in the court of their own consciences.

 

If all the righteous people of the world can condemn these atrocities with one voice, the worst human rights tragedy within Chinese society in the 21st century can be stopped.

 

Then Falun Gong followers, who believe in "truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance," can enjoy freedom, innocent Taiwanese will no longer be threatened by China's persecution of human rights and the light of truth, goodness and justice will shine in every corner of the world.

 

 

DPP criticizes Ma's referendum plan

 

TOO RESTRICTIVE: The party's city councilors said the mayor's proposal sets too many requirements and showed that he does not really trust the people

 

By Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTER

Thursday, Nov 27, 2003,Page 3

 

Taipei City councilors from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday criticized the city government for including too many restrictions in its referendum law, demonstrating its distrust of the people and violating the fundamental spirit of democracy.

 

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou yesterday announced details of the city's referendum law to city councilors, saying that the city government was leading the trend to enact a referendum law that is "farsighted and correct."

 

"The fundamental spirit of the referendum law is to let people exercise their civil rights directly and make up for the inadequacy of the representative system of government," Ma said.

 

"Yet it does not mean that it replaces the representative system," he said.

 

Ma said that the holding referendums was a right of the public, not the government.

 

"Only people can launch a referendum. The government by no means should interfere with it," the mayor said.

 

Ma said that referendums would not be held at the same time as elections to ensure that the focus of the referendum issues will not be confused with other issues.

 

Referendum results would be legally binding, Ma said, and the city would not hold "advisory referendums," as the central government has proposed.

 

DPP City Councilor Lee Wen-ying yesterday described Ma's attitude toward the proposed referendum law as "reactionary" and "vacillating."

 

Lee said Ma's stance now contradicted his previous comments on the issue.

 

In 1991, when Ma was justice minister, he had opposed referendums, Lee said.

 

And in 1993, Ma said that referendums should be held during elections to save resources.

 

"But the city's referendum law is totally reversed," Lee said.

 

DPP City Councilor Wang Shih-chien said the city's referendum was too restricted and lacked sincerity.

 

"Proposing a referendum requires the signatures of 10 percent of citizens who voted in the last mayoral election, which is about 195,000 people," Wang said.

 

"But the population of Neihu, for example, is less than 300,000. The requirement is just too high," Wang said.

 

DPP City Councilor Liu Yao-ren said the requirement that citizens prepare an impact evaluation of the referendum proposal was unreasonable.

 

"Even projects that the city government submits to the city council don't require a so-called impact evaluation," Liu said.

 

"The city's intention to make referendums difficult for citizens is obvious," Lin said.

 

DPP City Councilor Hsu Kuo-yung said that the mayor's insistence for referendums and elections to be held separately to avoid confusing "matters" showed his lack of trust in the people.

 

"There were 202 referendums held together with elections in the United States last year," Hsu said.

 

"I don't see why people in Taiwan cannot be endowed with the same [right]," he said.

 

"In fact, Ma has been holding an assumption that people are irrational and unreliable. I doubt if Ma realizes the real meaning of democracy," Hsu said.

 

 

Stage set for referendum slugfest

 

SHOWDOWN: Lawmakers hope to finalize plans for a referendum law today, but the ruling and opposition camps still have sticking points to work through

 

By Fiona Lu

STAFF REPORTER

Thursday, Nov 27, 2003,Page 1

 

Supporters of referendum legislation chant slogans outside the legislature yesterday, as lawmakers inside were reviewing the different versions of the proposed law. The banner reads, ``Monitoring 2003 referendum legislation.''

 

 

Legislators plan to agree on a proposed referendum law in a final showdown this afternoon, legislative leaders said yesterday, after the first day of a special sitting on the law went nowhere.

 

The legislature plans to vote to decide the fate of controversial clauses among the versions presented by the Executive Yuan, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and the pan-blue camp.

 

Controversies surround restrictions on referendum topics put forward by the alliance of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP); a referendum proposed by the pan-green camp on changing the country's name, flag and anthem; and an article providing a legal foundation for the government to initiate advisory referendums.

 

The legislature also plans to vote on whether the country should have a referendum on the date of the presidential election.

 

The first day of the special sitting aimed at finalizing the law failed to generate any breakthroughs in inter-party negotiations, despite legislative leaders' stated determination to wrap up the bill on time.

 

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whip Chen Chi-mai warned his counterparts from the KMT and PFP not to backtrack on their promise to pass "an unlimited referendum law."

 

"The KMT-PFP alliance would prove to voters that their pledge of referendum lawmaking was the lie of the century if they approve the referendum bill with numerous limitations," Chen said.

 

He acknowledged that the DPP was prepared for the opposition-controlled legislature to try to pass a law going against the Cabinet's wishes.

 

Chen said the Executive Yuan would appeal for a renewed discussion on the referendum law in the legislature should the DPP fail to attain backing from the TSU caucus and independent legislators in today's showdown.

 

KMT legislative leader Lee Chia-chin reiterated that his party was determined to pass the referendum law.

 

The pan-blue camp faced a challenge to persuade two members, New Party Legislator Wu Cheng-tien and PFP Legislator Tsao Yuan-chang, to support the opposition alliance in today's showdown.

 

The two legislators, representing the frontline islands of Kinmen and Matsu, voiced their opposition yesterday to the referendum proposals, arguing the legislation could trigger war between Taiwan and China.

 

"For the sake of maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait and the safety of Taiwanese and the people of Kinmen and Matsu, we are determined to oppose this legislation," the two legislators told a news conference yesterday.

 

Outside the legislature, members of the newly established Alliance for Monitoring Referendum Legislation watched over the special sitting.

 

Over 10,000 people are expected to rally in front of the legislature today to demand passage of the law, rally organizer Hsieh Jung-chen said yesterday.

 

"The alliance will oversee the legislation and look for the passage of an unrestricted referendum law," he said.

 

 

China wants in on holiday charters

 

FLIGHTS OF FANCY?: The Cabinet gave a cautious response to Zhang Mingqing's comment that Beijing hopes its airlines can take part in Lunar New Year trips

 

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER

Thursday, Nov 27, 2003,Page 3

 

China yesterday reiterated its hope that its airlines could join in cross-strait chartered flights for the Lunar New Year holidays -- and the Cabinet said China was welcome to participate if it agrees to negotiate on the issue.

 

"Airlines on both sides can negotiate over technical problems," said Zhang Mingqing, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council, at a regular press conference in Beijing.

 

Zhang said China understood that Taiwan had agreed to allow Chinese airlines to join the charter program.

 

Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced last Friday that Chinese airlines would be able to fly to Taiwan during the Lunar New Year holiday if Beijing agreed to negotiate technical problems with the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

 

Point - counterpoint

l     Zhang said "Airlines on both sides can negotiate over technical problems." l     Zhang said "If Taiwan is sincere on this matter, China will do its best to cooperate." l     Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung said,"The government has an open attitude toward China's participation .... If China does not set any political preconditions, it can immediately talk to Taiwan on the issue."

 

"If Taiwan is sincere on this matter, China will do its best to cooperate," Zhang said.

 

In response, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung said: "The government has been holding an open attitude toward China's participation in the project. If China does not set any political preconditions, it can immediately talk to Taiwan on the issue."

 

Lin said the chartered-flight plan earlier this year for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and their families to return home for the Lunar New Year holiday had established a good foundation for both sides to discuss flights for next year.

 

Lin noted the talks must been conducted by both sides' governments or bodies authorized by the governments.