China faces up to jobs problem

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , BEIJING

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003,Page 12

When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the White House yesterday, a pressing issue on the American side of the table was jobs, and the impression, fair or not, that the US is losing them directly to China.

But as US leaders in both parties complain about lost manufacturing jobs and push for China to revalue its currency, China has its own serious jobs problem. In recent years, the shock therapy of China's economic restructuring has caused widespread layoffs at old, unprofitable state-owned factories, while a crowded countryside has too little usable land and too many farmers.

severe problem

"Unemployment is a severe problem," said Zhong Dajun, who runs an economic research center in Beijing. "It's a problem that is affecting not just ordinary farmers and workers but even university graduates, who are finding it very difficult to find any work. I don't know if it's going to worsen, but it's bad enough already."

Factory unemployment is highest in the northeastern Rust Belt, where state-owned enterprises have either closed or downsized. Experts estimate that as many as 200 million farmers and rural workers are either unemployed or underemployed in a country of 1.3 billion people. And one report in the state news media found that only half of college graduates got jobs this year, compared with 95 percent in 1997.

China's economic growth rates remain the envy of the world, but many economists say the continuing boom is still not providing enough jobs to curb unemployment.

skepticism

With Western academic experts often regarding Chinese government statistics with skepticism, there is debate over the true unemployment rate and the exact number of jobs lost and gained in the past decade. A new International Monetary Fund working paper, however, predicts that China's urban unemployment rate could double to 10 percent by 2007, even with annual economic growth rates of 7 percent.

For Wen and his political ally, Chinese President Hu Jintao, unemployment is a pressing economic and political issue. The Communist Party, which long ago cast aside its founding ideology to embrace capitalism, has emphasized rising personal incomes and fast economic growth.

For many Chinese, that promise has been delivered, particularly in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where incomes have risen sharply in the past decade. But a divide between rich and poor is growing. Consumption is soaring in big cities, particularly of cars, including luxury sedans like BMWs. Still, peasants can occasionally be seen riding mules on the outskirts of Beijing.

In recent years, some of those cast off by the new economy have vented their anger in labor protests. Many demonstrations are small and peaceful, with fired workers denouncing low severance pay. But some are large and violent.

leaders worry

Dorothy Solinger, a professor of political science at the University of California at Irvine, said the nondemocratic government had largely kept the protests under control by arresting the leaders and appeasing the mass of workers with small concessions and payments. Still, she said, government leaders worry that political opposition could arise from alliances of different groups of disgruntled workers.

"They are terrified that all these people with grievances could coalesce," Solinger said of the government. She added, "They put a lot of energy into trying to keep the boiling pressure down."

The government is putting some of that energy into trying to develop a nationwide social safety net to replace the discarded cradle-to-grave socialist system. A pilot program is under way in Liaoning, a Rust Belt province, which provides a range of welfare and health payments for unemployed and furloughed workers.

Presidential Office, Lee, brush off Wen's comments

REBUFF: Remarks by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were criticized as misguided sentiment as well as being unhelpful

By Lin Chieh-yu

STAFF REPORTER , WITH AP

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003,Page 3

The Presidential Office yesterday urged Beijing's leaders to concentrate their attention on understanding what people of Taiwan really want instead of wasting time in making sentimental appeals to Chinese nationalism.

"While President Chen Shui-bian has endeavored to maintain the peace in the Taiwan Strait since he took over the power, it is China's ballistic missiles deployed to target Taiwan that pose the biggest threat to regional peace," said James Huang, the Presidential Office spokesman.

Huang was asked by reporters yesterday to comment on those remarks made by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his US visit.

Wen first displayed a tough tone against Taiwan in New York, saying the Chinese government would not renounce the possibility of using military force against Taiwan and would not tolerate any separatist force attempting to use democratic practices such as a referendum as "a cover" to achieve independence.

A day later, he turned to literary allusion, citing a line from the famous poet Yu Kuang-chung to describe his feelings about the split between Taiwan and China.

"The curving, shallow strait is our biggest national grief, our biggest nostalgia," Wen told a group of Chinese supporters in New York.

Yu fled to Taiwan in 1949 with the KMT forces at the end of the Chinese civil war. About 20 years later he wrote, "Nostalgia is the curving, shallow Strait. I'm on this side, the mainland on the other."

"In fact, those 496 ballistic missiles rather than the [Taiwan] Strait, are the shadow and pressure on the people of both sides of the Strait," Huang said.

"To show off with sentimental poetry will do nothing good to improve the cross-strait relationship," he said, "and therefore, we sincerely hope that China's leaders should clearly understand what people of Taiwan are concerned about and expect."

As to the question whether Wen's visit will have a negative impact on US-Taiwan relations, Huang stressed that the communications and interactions between Taiwan and the US are good, and "without any gaps."

"The president has expounded his idea in implementing a national referendum, and the US government also made its stance clear," Huang said.

"The US understands that the president's defensive referendum has no relation to the independence and will not violate his `five noes' promise," Huang said.

"We also understand that the US government's remarks about not supporting any referendum that will lead to a change in Taiwan's status quo," he said.

"Both sides agree on each others and there is no gap between us on the referendum," Huang said.

Former president Lee Teng-hui also said yesterday that Wen's remarks proved to the international community how completely ignorant China's leaders are about democracy.

"Taiwan is a democratic country while China is a communist country," Lee said when asked by the reporters to comment on Wen's remarks.

"Those people who regard a democratic development as a divisive movement are not qualified to talk about democracy," he said.

"Not to mention the question of how there could be nostalgia between two different coun-tries," Lee said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary General Lee Ying-yuan was equally dismissive.

"We can't feel the warmth of Wen's remarks," he said.

"China's use of soft rhetoric to package its military intimidation toward Taiwan is simply for the purpose of international propaganda," he said.

US reiterates referendum criticism

UNILATERAL MOVES CONDEMNED: Bush administration officials deny there has been any change to the US' China policy and also warned Beijing against using force

By Charles Snyder

STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003,Page 3

A top George W. Bush official criticized President Chen Shui-bian's referendum plan once again Monday, just hours before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Washington for a visit to be capped by a planned lengthy meeting with President George W. Bush yesterday in which Taiwan is expected to be a major topic of discussion.

But White House and State Department spokesmen stressed that Bush will reiterate Washington's long-standing Taiwan policy when the two leaders meet.

Wen kicked off his visit with a half-hour evening meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell, who then hosted a dinner for Wen and his party.

In remarks before the dinner, Powell avoided any discussion of Taiwan or other differences between Washington and Beijing, saying the occasion was meant for both sides to "relax."

Earlier in the day, a senior US official criticized the referendum planned by Chen on March 20, reiterating the Bush administra-tion's position that it does not support Taiwan moves toward independence, and indicating that the administration sees the referendum plan as an independence move.

"We don't want to see Taiwan moving toward independence. We won't want to see any unilateral moves in that direction," the official said to a group of White House reporters, according to wire service reports.

At the same time, the official said that Bush would warn Wen when he meets him against any provocative action in the Taiwan Strait.

"We don't want to see the main-land moving toward coercion," the official was quoted as saying.

He said that Washington must "make it clear" to China that recent US criticism of Chen and his plans "is not a green light for you to contemplate the use of force or coercion against Taiwan," the reports said.

The official criticized Chen, saying he "seems to be pushing the envelop pretty vigorously" on issues related to Taiwan's status, which makes the administration "uncomfortable."

"We're giving the Taiwanese the message very clearly and authoritatively," the official reportedly said, a possible reference to earlier reports that National Security Council China expert James Moriarty last week delivered a letter from Bush to Chen warning against provocative cross-strait actions.

He also said that Washington has been more explicit than in the past on its "one China" policy.

"What you're seeing here is the dropping of the ambiguity for both sides because we cannot sort of imply to the Taiwan side that we're sort of agnostic toward moves toward Taiwan independence," he said.

However, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said at his regular daily press briefing on Monday that the US position toward Taiwan and China has not been altered in recent weeks.

"The president's position is very clear, and it remains unchanged when it comes to Taiwan and China," he said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher echoed McClellan's statement.

"The Chinese are quite clear on our position," he told reporters. "They understand what we've said before. And we'll be happy to make very clear once again our `one China' policy."

Bush was to welcome Wen with a formal ceremony on the White House south lawn replete with a 19-gun salute, and the two will meet through lunch.

Wen arrived in Washington Monday afternoon from New York, where, in a joint press conference with UN Secretary-General Kofni Annan, he warned that Beijing would not tolerate an independent Taiwan and charged that the planned referendum is a "cover" for a break away from China.

"Separatist forces within the Taiwan authorities attempt to use democracy only as a cover to split Taiwan away from China, and this is what we will never tolerate," Wen told reporters after his visit to at the UN's headquarters.

Seminar focuses on identity issues

By Joy Su

STAFF REPORTER

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003,Page 3

Taiwan's ambiguous national status is its most fundamental problem, former president Lee Teng-hui said yesterday at the opening ceremony of a conference on overseas Taiwanese independence activities, as he reiterated his call for the rectification of Taiwan's name.

"People need to have a sense of self-awareness to know themselves. This in turn leads to an understanding of personal and national identity," Lee said at the conference in Taipei, entitled "Self-Awareness and Identity: A Seminar on Overseas Taiwanese Movements from 1950 to 1990."

"In my 12 years as president, I pushed for democratization and localization in an effort to realize special state-to-state relations between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. I also wanted to reform the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT], pushing the party towards identifying with Taiwan and leaving behind notions of Greater China consciousness," Lee said.

"During the KMT's authoritarian rule in the post-war era, the voices of those living in Taiwan were silenced. Fortunately, overseas Taiwanese movements sustained the national spirit and insisted on the principles behind the pro-Taiwanese campaigns," he said.

"The development of democratic politics in the post-war period is a significant part of human rights history," Lee said.

Bringing together high-profile overseas political activists, the seminar aimed to translate the experiences of the activists into historical record.

Chang Yen-hsien, president of the Wu San-lien Foundation for Taiwan Historical Materials, which organized the seminar, said that while the overseas movements were slowly being forgotten, no complete documentation of overseas Taiwanese activities from 1950 to 1990 exists.

"Young people do not know about this period of history, but it's important because after 1990, the overseas activists were absorbed into movements in Taiwan. There needs to be a historical coherence," Chang said.

"Whether people oppose or affirm this bit of history is not of concern to me. What really matters is that this historical record actually exists," Chang said.

"These activists are all getting on in age. They may not be alive in 10 years' time," he said.

Chang said that following the seminar the foundation would be collecting and publishing the papers that overseas activists had prepared for the meeting. He said the papers form a comprehensive survey of overseas activities, ranging from the early independence movements in Japan to North American organizations and publications that still exist.

While overseas activities played a significant role in relation to post-war authoritarian rule, conference participants said that the importance of overseas activities was no longer the same.

"Given the high degree of freedom in Taiwan, overseas activities will be less important in the future," said Wu Shu-ming, chairman of the Medical Professionals Alliance and a national policy advisor to the president.

"Second-generation overseas Taiwanese who are citizens of other countries should put those countries first. However, they should realize that their roots are in Taiwan ...They should know that the White Terror mentality is hotwired into the KMT's DNA," said presidential national policy advisor Alice King.

Well-known historian and president of the Association for Taiwan Independence, Su Beng, questioned the seminar's influence.

"The stories of overseas activities cannot be confined to independence activists," Su said.

Dutchmen's role in democracy effort recalled

COMMUNICATORS: Gerrit van der Wees and his wife published the `Taiwan Communique' for more than 24 years, while Coen Blaauw lobbies for Taiwan in the US

BY Debby Wu

STAFF REPORTER

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003,Page 3

"Taiwan independence is a big task, but the good news is that every passing day we come a little closer to the solution."

－Coen Blaauw, executive director of the Formosan Association for Public Relations

The Taiwanese are familiar with American and Japanese support for Taiwan's democratic movement during the martial law period, but few know of European support during that period.

While European support is not often mentioned, two Dutchmen, the publisher of the now defunct Taiwanese Communique, Gerrit van der Wees, and Coen Blaauw, executive director of the Formosan Association for Public Relations (FAPR), were invited to attend "A Journey of Remembrance and Appreciation," the conference organized by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, to tell about their participation in the pro-democracy movement.

Both men were blacklisted by the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration for their efforts.

"It may be a Dutch conspiracy," Gerrit van der Wees, a 58-year-old aerospace engineer, said tongue-in-cheek.

Van der Wees with his Taiwanese wife Chen Mei-chin published Taiwanese Communique, an English-publication reporting on political developments in Taiwan for the international community.

The publication started in 1979 around the time of the Kaohsiung Incident. The couple published newsletters to report on and analyze the incident and its aftermath.

A total of 105 issues were published over a 24-year period. The publication folded in June, but the couple continue to update its Web site (www.taiwandc.org) to provide information on current events.

Van der Wees said that his involvement with Taiwan dated back to when he was a graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and was active in Amnesty International.

"At first I had little idea about Taiwan's authoritarian state until a fellow Taiwanese student one day came to me and asked me to help Taiwan's political prisoners," he said.

Van der Wees and his wife moved back to the Netherlands in 1981.

In 1983 they invited Chou Ching-yu, now a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator, to visit the Netherlands and arranged for her to lobby members of the Dutch parliament to pressure the KMT administration to release its political prisoners.

In May 2000, Van der Wees and his wife were invited to attend President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration as honored guests.

"When I shook Chen's hand, my heart was filled with joy to see Taiwan transformed into a democratic country. This was like a moment when one's dream finally comes true," Van der Wees wrote in an article published in the conference's brochure.

Blaauw voiced a similar sentiment in his article.

"I know I am making a difference. I know that I have contributed to Taiwan's democracy over the past years and that I am still doing so today," Blauuw wrote.

A case of the flu kept Blauuw from attending the conference.

"Taiwan independence is a big task, but the good news is that every passing day we come a little closer to the solution," he said in an telephone interview with the Taipei Times from his home in the US.

Blauuw had his first contact with Taiwan when he was doing his master's thesis in international law in the 1980s.

At first he wanted do something on Japan, but most of his classmates were doing Japan because it was a fashionable subject.

"So I decided to be different, and due to the historical connection between Taiwan and Holland, I thought something interesting might come of this," Blauuw said.

He ended up doing a thesis on the Dutch-Taiwanese submarine deals in 1981 and 1983.

He met with members of the Formosan Association of Public Affairs (FAPA), a pro-independence group, at a conference in Washington in 1988, not long after his graduation, and has been working for the association ever since.

He is now the executive director of its lobbying arm, FAPR.

"FAPA's main aim is to lobby the US Congress," Blauuw said.

"What I am most proud of is the success we had in getting Taiwan-ese Americans allowed to list `Taiwan' instead of `China' as their place of birth in their American passports," he said.

Blauuw said that in previous research he had done for Van der Wees on Taiwan's future, he had concluded that the nation's future should be determined by its 23 million people.

"And I won't get married before Taiwan becomes independent," said Blauuw, who is 45 and still single, half-jokingly.

Lessons from the Kaohsiung Incident

By Lee Shiao-feng

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003,Page 9

To know more about the Kaohsiung Incident, we must first learn about the so-called tang wai ("outside the party") democratic movement which began to take shape in the early 1970s. To learn about the tang wai democratic movement, an explanation of the relationship between Taiwan's democratic movement and elections is required.

We know that in normal democratic countries, elections stimulate policies. However, the system of so-called "local autonomy" introduced by the KMT after it took over Taiwan was in reality a "semi-autonomous" system; the local government had no money, manpower, police power, or power to educate, among other things.

Moreover, before 1969, there was no re-election of the legislative representatives by the Taiwanese people at the central government level because of the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion in force at the time. It was not until after 1969, after amendments to the temporary provisions, that elections for a small number of the seats were permitted.

Therefore, with a political backdrop such as this, although there were elections in Taiwan, they did not serve the purpose of stimulating policy proposals. Parliamentary politics was insignificant. However, elections did serve to educate the general public.

Living under martial law and the White Terror for a prolonged period of time, the people were not free to assemble or organize themselves. But, at election times, campaign activities offered members of the opposition or dissident camp a forum to speak about democratic movement from within the "system." So Taiwan's democratic movement virtually moved forward along with election campaigns.

`tang wai' forms

After numerous elections in the 1970s, some activists in the democratic movement began to congregate under the tang wai banner, forming a political group in the private sector. Near the end of 1978, an election for newly added seats in the central-government-level legislatures was called off after the US declared official recognition of China and severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan. When the election was called off, tang wai candidates sought to forge an alliance under the leadership of senior democracy activist Yu Deng-fa.

The KMT government arrested Yu and his son on charges of "intentionally failing to report communists," inciting a series of protests. During the first half of 1979, serious tensions emerged between the ruling and opposition camps. Against this backdrop, two important magazines of the tang wai movement were launched that year. The Pa-Shi-Nien-Dai magazine (meaning "The 1980s") was launched in June, while two months later the Mei-Li-Tao (meaning "Formosa") magazine was also launched, with Huang Hsin-chieh as the publisher, Hsu Hsin-liang the president, and Huang Tein-fu and Annette Lu the vice presidents.

A committee ran the Mei-Li-Tao magazine, but in reality it had the fundamental elements of a political party that included tang wai activists from all parts of the island. The magazine established branch offices in all major cities. Each time a new branch office was established, it began to host grassroots meetings. A series of meetings hosted by the magazine began to attract the displeasure and attention of the KMT regime.

Dec. 10, the day hailed as International Human Rights Day in all democratic and free countries, but a painful day for Taiwan, finally arrived. On that evening, the Mei-Li-Tao staff members organized a commemorative ceremony for International Human Rights Day by an intersection in the Hsinhsing District of Kaohsiung, attracting tens of thousands of individuals. As the crowd got ready to march to the intersection to listen to the speeches there, some decided to light torches on their own.

Based on this, the police concluded that it was a "protest with torches" that required prior government approval. Therefore, they sent in tanks and proceeded to "put down the riot" by first surrounding the intersection. People cornered by the riot squad began to panic, and the situation escalated into a major confrontation between them and the riot police. As a result of the confrontation, around 100 military and regular police officers were injured.

On the morning of Dec. 13, the Garrison Command launched a crackdown, arresting the major participants in the Mei-Li-Tao magazine as suspects in a "civil rebellion." Chang Chun-hung, Yao Chia-wen, Chen Chu, Annette Lu, Lin Yi-hsiung, Wang Tuo, Yang Ching-chu, Chou Ping-te, Chi Wan-sheng, Chen Chung-hsin, Wei Tin-chao, Chang Fu-Chung, Chiu Yi-pin, Su Chiu-cheng and Shih Ming-te went on the run.

On the same day, the Garrison Command prosecutor sealed off the Mei-Li-Tao magazine headquarters and branch offices. On Dec. 14, the Garrison Command obtained approval from the Legislative Yuan to arrest Huang Hsin-chieh. Thereafter, the Garrison Command arrested dozens of suspects.

After going into hiding for more than a month, Shih Ming-te was arrested on Jan. 8. Individuals who had assisted him and offered him refuge while he was on the run, including Taiwan Presbyterian Church pastor Kao Chun-ming, Lin Wen-Chen, Chang Wen-Ying and Shih Jui-yuan, were also arrested.

On Feb. 20, 1980, the investigation into the Kaohsiung Incident was completed by the military prosecutor. Eight of the suspects -- Huang Hsin-chieh, Shih Ming-te, Lin Yi-hsiung, Yao Chia-wen, Chen Chu, Annette Lu, Chang Chun-hung and Lin Hung-yi (林弘宜) -- were prosecuted on charges of "civil rebellion."

cold-blooded murder

Even more shocking was that on the morning of Feb. 28, a most despicable and cold-blooded murder took place in Lin Yi-hsiung's household. An unknown number of people broke into the Lin residence and murdered Lin's mother and two twin daughters, Lin Liang-chun and Lin Ting-chun. Another daughter, Lin Huan-chun, was seriously wounded. The murder shocked people within and outside of Taiwan, causing the entire tang wai campaign to suffer even more grief.

On April 18, the Military Court under the Garrison Command sentenced Shih Ming-te to life in prison, Huang Hsin-chieh to 14 years and Yao Chia-wen, Chang Chun-hung, Lin Yi-hsiung, Annette Lu, Chen Chu and Lin Hung-yi to 12 years each.

The Kaohsiung Incident resulted in the overnight collapse of the tang wai political group, which had emerged only after more than a decade of hard work. However, the islandwide crackdown and arrests shook and awakened many people who had previously had no interest in politics. In particular, the ensuing high-profile military trial (beginning on March 18, 1980, and lasting nine days) further stimulated the general public's enthusiasm for political issues. Because the case attracted much international attention (US Senator Edward Kennedy even issued a statement commenting on the case, which was recorded in the records of US Congress), major international news media sent people to Taiwan to cover the news.

To demonstrate its openness, the ruling regime, unlike before, did not impose too many restrictions on the news coverage of the military trial. Therefore, all major newspapers had extensive reports on the process of the trial. The defenses of every single defendant in the court were disclosed by the newspapers, triggering much reflection by the general public about political issues in Taiwan. Since the focus of the trial was not on confrontation with the military and police, but on issues of "rebellion" and "supports for Taiwan independence," the answers of each defendant included his or her views about political issues in Taiwan, fully revealing their concern for the future of the country.

Through the news coverage of this military trial, the people of Taiwan began to brainstorm, and underwent a "political lesson" that left a lasting impression. As a result, in the election for legislative representatives at the central government level during the following year, tang wai candidates were able to recover from previous defeats and enter a new phase of integration.

lawyers join in

While the Kaohsiung Incident had caused the instant collapse of the Mei-Li-Tao political group, the ensuing large-scale military and criminal trials had served as a forum for a group of defense attorneys. As a result of taking over the defense of the defendants in the case, this group of well-learned attorneys emerged from behind the scenes and began to take part in the tang wai movement, becoming major players in the dissident movement after the Kaohsiung Incident. Frank Hsieh, Yu Ching, Chiang Peng-chien, Su Tseng-chang, Lee Sheng-hsiung, Chang Chun-hsiung and Kuo Chi-jen all joined the political movement after serving as defense attorneys for the Kaohsiung Incident defendants.

Near the end of the 1980s, the election that had been put on hold finally went ahead. The family members of many of those prisoners serving sentences resulting from the Kaohsiung Incident ran in the election. Yao Chia-wen's wife Chou Ching-yu, Chang Chun-hung's wife Hsu Jung-shu, and Huang Hsin-chieh's younger brother Huang Tien-fu were elected to the Legislative Yuan and the National Assembly. Kang Ning-hsiang was re-elected by a landslide. Huang Huang-hsiung and Chang Te-ming, who had helped to find defense attorneys for the defendants before the trial, were also elected lawmakers. Later, Yu Ching was elected to the Control Yuan with votes from five tang wai members of the provincial legislative assembly.

The election of the Kaohsiung Incident prisoners' family members and their defense attorneys encouraged more family members and defense attorneys to take part in the political movement. With this new blood, the quality of the dissident movement was further upgraded. Perhaps this was something that never crossed the mind of the ruling regime when it relied on coercive power to crack down on the Kaohsiung Incident and tang wai movement.

On the other hand, the Kaohsiung Incident also stimulated self-examination by members of cultural circles, cultivating many new artists and writers. For example, the writer "Pi-chu", who was once absorbed in romantic literature, evolved into the writer "Lin Shuang-pu" of native Taiwan literature. The evolution came about due to the shock of the Kaohsiung Incident and the murder of Lin Yi-hsiung's family. Soong Tse-lai also became even more active in promoting native literature and human-rights literature after the Kaohsiung Incident. The direction of cultural circles in Taiwan became even more oriented toward recognizing native cultures and human rights.

On Sept. 28, 1986, the tang wai activists ignored the government ban on organizing political parties and organized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The following year, martial law was lifted.

a lesson

The Kaohsiung Incident taught the ruling dictator a lesson -- that is political questions cannot be resolved mathematically. 10 - 5 = 5 is a mathematic equation. However, arresting five dissidents out of 10 won't necessarily leave five. Many more dissidents will rise to take their places.

Looking back at the appeals of the Mei-Li-Tao and earlier campaigns -- such as lifting martial law, total re-election of the legislature, respect for human rights, opening up the organization of political parties, lifting newspaper censorship, freedom to travel abroad, freedom of speech and judicial independence -- they were mere fundamental elements of a democratic country. However, those who made these demands were labeled as "conspirators," "ambitious elements," having "ulterior motives," "disturbing peace," "causing civil unrest," "deceiving the public," and "friends of the communists." Now most of these appeals have been accepted. Were those who made these democratic demands in the past "conspirators" and "friends of the communists" or prophets?

It is OK for a person to be a slow learner. However, if slow learners use dirty tricks to obstruct and put down those proposing insightful views, then only to later join the demands, they will find themselves with a very embarrassing place in history. Often irreparable injuries are inflicted as well. Such examples can be frequently seen in history. Empress Tze-hsi's crackdown on the Kang-Liang reforms campaign during the Ching dynasty serves as a good example. After efforts to reform were launched, the conservative forces led by Tze-hsi started the Wu-Hsu coup, killing the six major instigators of the reforms.

But two years later, because the extreme right Yi-ho boxers group had incited an invasion of Beijing by the joint forces of eight Western allies, Tze-hsi had to flee Beijing. She was forced to first issue an imperial decree proclaiming her own crimes, and then launch reforms, which were substantially similar with those launched by individuals persecuted by her before.

The embarrassing role played by Tze-hsi reminds me of People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong. Both before and after the Kaohsiung Incident, the role played by Soong was the oppressor of democracy. Yet he now is a self-proclaimed reformer, and behaves as if he is a democratic activist. The difference between him and Tze-hsi is that at least the latter knew better than to issue an imperial decree to proclaim her own sins. Yet Soong has yet to make any apology or self-examination about his conduct in oppressing the democratic movement. In fact, he continues to shove all the responsibilities onto others.

History should serve as a wake-up call. The demands rejected by the then-ruling regime in the Kaohsiung Incident era have now been mostly accepted. No one can deny that this is a fact. Had they known how things would turn out, would they have behaved any differently? Today, many progressive demands are being made -- such as joining the UN under the name of Taiwan and establishing a new and independent country -- continue to be opposed by the KMT, the New Party, the PFP and many so-called mainstream media. The establishment of a new country in Taiwan is an inevitable path. Instead of following the crowd after it becomes a trend, one might as well stop stepping in its way. Help out, so as to avoid being embarrassed in history.

Lee Shiao-feng is a professor at Shih Hsin University.

China asks US to aid in suppression

By James Wang

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003,Page 8

'The medicine Wen wants to sell doesn't address the illness. He talks extravagantly about democracy without understanding the meaning of the word. He said that "We completely understand the desire of the Taiwan compatriots for democracy," but he still demanded that "the US side must be crystal clear in opposing the use of a referendum or writing a constitution"--basic rights in a democratic system.'

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has repackaged the Taiwan policy drawn up by former president Jiang Zemin and is bringing it with him to sell to the US. In an interview with the Washington Post before leaving for the US, Wen gave a more detailed explanation of this repackaged policy. The most obvious feature was that "placing hope in the people of Taiwan" has been omitted; hope is now placed in the US suppressing Taiwan's democratic development.

Overall, Wen's repackaged policy is gentler compared to Jiang's. It is meant to create an image of Beijing as the protector of peace and stability and blame Taiwan for any possible unease created by Beijing. Wen told the Post that "the Chinese people will pay any price to safeguard the unity of the motherland," but did not repeat the naked threat that China does not abandon the option to use armed force.

Even so, the medicine Wen wants to sell doesn't address the illness. He talks extravagantly about democracy without understanding the meaning of the word. He said that "we completely understand the desire of the Taiwan compatriots for democracy," but he still demanded that "the US side must be crystal clear in opposing the use of a referendum or writing a constitution" -- basic rights in a democratic system. The fact that he can make these contradictory statements shows his lack of understanding of democracy.

Placing hope in the US was the new direction that Jiang adopted following the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, when China fired missiles across Taiwan into the Pacific Ocean. He felt that if China were to use armed force to invade Taiwan, US intervention was a factor that would have to be considered. But neither he nor any military leader dared say that China had the power to deal with the US and force an armed invasion of Taiwan.

lessons learned

Beijing did not believe that the US bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade was a mistake, seeing it as a deliberate show of force by the US to make China realize its shortcomings. Jiang and former premier Qian Qichen learned a lesson from the collapse of the Soviet Union -- to become the hypothetical enemy of and enter into an arms race with the US without having real economic and technological power would amount to digging one's own grave.

The direction laid down by Jiang gives the highest priority to developing the domestic economy and technology. Under this guiding principle, China needs US markets, capital, technology as well as friendly Sino-US relations, and it should avoid becoming a hypothetical enemy of the US.

The Taiwanese people's self awareness has improved following democratization, and China's past guideline of placing hope in the people of Taiwan is no longer realistic. It cannot, however, say that it places its hope in the pan-blue camp. Therefore, it has to look to the US to suppress the development of democracy in Taiwan to give China time to use economic benefits to co-opt Taiwanese businessmen who will, in turn, pressure Taiwan's political leaders.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Wen have just taken power and, although Jiang is not loved by the people, he emulates former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping by holding onto the post of chairman of the Central Military Commission and reserving the right to speak up on issues concerning the US and Taiwan. Hu and Wen are unlikely to immediately change Jiang's guidelines. The most reliable and appropriate way for them to proceed is to continue handling matters according to Jiang's guidelines. If they are impractical, it is not the fault of Hu and Wen.

This, the safest way, puts the Taiwan issue squarely in the lap of the US. For China, handing the issue to the US means that they have a negotiation counterpart, and that they have something to show domestically. China hopes the US will pressure Taiwan and achieve the goals China wishes to see. If the US fails to put pressure on Taiwan, then China hopes the US-Taiwan relationship will become tense, which is also what Beijing wants.

quack medicine

But China's strategy of placing its hope in the US isn't a sure winner. In the past, China has always insisted that Taiwan is a domestic issue and that US intervention cannot be tolerated. China's negotiations with the US consist mainly of demanding that the US stop selling military equipment to Taiwan. Its placing hope in the people of Taiwan means that Taiwan should accept being annexed by Beijing. Given that the people of Taiwan persist in their refusal to be annexed, Beijing has placed hope in the US opposing the right of the Taiwanese people to hold referendums and create a new constitution. This only proves that the medicine China calls "peaceful unification" and "one country, two systems" is an unmarketable quack medicine. It also proves that the Taiwan Strait conflict is not a domestic conflict solvable by China.

What is the US reaction to China's demands? Fundamentally, the US follows two main principles. First, its major strategic interest in the Western Pacific region is to guarantee that Taiwan does not fall into the hands of a hostile state. Second, the US cannot suppress democratic progress in a democratic country based on the demands of a non-democratic country.

american position

Based on these two principles, recent statements by US government officials are representative of the firm US position. First, the conflict between the two sides must be peacefully resolved, and the US opposes the use of armed force. Second, the US role is merely to create an environment for peace talks between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Third, Taiwanese referendums and the creation of a new constitution are domestic issues in which the US does not want to interfere. Fourth, if holding referendums and creating a new constitution ultimately leads to Taiwan independence, the US will not support such a development. Fifth, the US believes that cross-strait dialogue will be helpful to peace and stability.

Only the fourth of these positions is a new formulation, but it is still an extension of the US position of not supporting Taiwan independence. The guarantee not to support independence, which dates back to the Nixon era, meant not supporting a Taiwanese independence movement, and there is currently no definition of the meaning of Taiwan independence. The US' unwillingness to formulate a clear-cut definition of independence is of course meant to leave the US space to maneuver and does not mean that the US follows China's definition. According to the US, holding referendums and creating a new constitution are not the same as Taiwan independence. If the goal of holding a referendum or creating a new constitution were the same thing as Taiwan independence, then the US would simply "not support" such a development.

China demands that the US "oppose" referendums and the creation of a new constitution, but all the US can say is that if the goal of a referendum or the creation of a new constitution is to achieve Taiwan independence, it will not support such a development. The US does not have a foundation upon which it can oppose Taiwan independence. Based on China's strategy of overtly placing its hopes in the US and covertly in the blue camp, together with the huge economic benefits stemming from its US$100 billion annual trade surplus with the US and Taiwanese annual investments of more than US$60 billion, Wen's talk of being willing "to pay any price" is just empty talk. Beijing can only continue to threaten Taiwan with empty rhetoric. It will not dare any rash actions lest the economy collapse and the government crumble.

During the Cold War, the US sacrificed its relationship with Taiwan in order to co-opt China and restrict the Soviet Union. This was not fair to Taiwan. Now, Taiwan has evolved into a true democracy and the things the US wants from China are not as important as is China's dependence on US markets.

The US should take a clear position on China's demands, firmly oppose military threats and reject the use of military force to solve differences. It should also reiterate its responsibilities under the Taiwan Relations Act. The US should demand that China and Taiwan conduct talks on an equal footing and without any preconditions, and it should not take on the role of suppressing Taiwan's democracy on behalf of China.

The US should clearly point out one fact -- cross-strait differences must not be resolved at the expense of Taiwan's democracy, but rather by China itself becoming democratic and respecting the wishes of Taiwanese. If China wants peaceful and stable development, it must maintain domestic peace, its people must enjoy democracy and freedom, and it must maintain peaceful co-existence with its neighbors. It must not violate these principles and demand that Taiwan abandon democracy and freedom, and accept rule by another government.

`no' to colonization

Taiwan should take a firm position and explain that holding referendums and creating a new constitution are necessary to deepen democracy and break through the problems facing the development of the nation's democracy. Taiwan must also explain that these are the demands of a majority of the people of Taiwan, and not merely the position of individual political leaders. During next year's presidential election, the people of Taiwan have the opportunity to elect a president who insists on Taiwan's status as a sovereign country, to leave the "one China" trap far behind and to disappoint those red and blue parties that think the people of Taiwan are still willing to be colonized.

James Wang is a Washington-based journalist.

Editorial: Democracy an alien concept for Wen

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the UN after arriving in New York on Sunday. During a meeting with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Wen said, "China will not allow Taiwan to engage in splittism in the name of democracy."

Wen's remarks were laughed at in Taiwan's media circles. Beijing has never implemented democratic politics but instead has repeatedly trampled on human rights. Now one of its leaders is at the UN, which passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948, and is vociferously attacking the democratic reforms being carried out by the people of Taiwan in accordance with the basic spirit of that declaration. Such a scene flies in the face of the UN's raison d'etre and is a blow to its dignity. The UN should not become a venue from which authoritarian countries can threaten democratic ones. It also should not become a place where bullies can interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Wen, you have given the UN a bad name.

We must ask: how could Taiwan's holding of a referendum in accordance with modern democratic procedures become splittism? When was Taiwan part of the People's Republic of China? Besides, hasn't the Chinese government always emphasized that a majority of the Taiwanese people long for unification with the motherland? In that case, wouldn't that majority vote for unification if a referendum on the unification-independence issue were actually held? Beijing would then be able to take over Taiwan without wasting a single soldier and fulfill its stated wish of "peaceful unification."

In this respect, Beijing should be bending over backward to encourage the people and government of Taiwan to hold various referendums, including one on the unification-independence issue, so that the people of Taiwan can choose their political future in a most peaceful and democratic way. What reason does Beijing have to attempt to stop the holding of referendums in Taiwan? What is Beijing scared of?

Responding to misgivings about the referendum issue on Sunday, President Chen Shui-bian said the "defensive referendum" he plans to hold next March will demand that China withdraw all its ballistic missiles deployed along the coast facing Taiwan and that China renounce the use of force.

Consider the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the more recent India-Pakistan missile crisis. In both cases, the missile deployments provoked an immediate and belligerent response. Now, China has deployed 496 missiles across the Taiwan Strait. Facing such a serious military threat, can't Taiwan promote a referendum to express its opposition to the missile threat and the threat of war? We must call on the US government, which has always prided itself on human rights and democracy, not to dance to Beijing's evil tune. Nor should it make comments that Taiwan is provoking Beijing by holding referendums.

If Wen really understands American democracy, and if he still has some conscience, he will understand why the people of Taiwan are unwilling to accept another alien regime that wants to enslave them.