He said the KMT registered the properties as party assets after failing to reach an agreement with his family.

DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung demanded that the KMT compensate Yeh for occupying the family's lands, now estimated at NT$1.6 billion in market value.

Nuclear protest campaign launched

REFORM: Former DPP chairman Lin Yi-hsiun said that, although he would never encourage people to set themselves alight, `stronger' protest could become necessary

By Chang Yun-ping

STAFF REPORTER

Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin Yi-hsiung yesterday said hunger strikes and self-immolation could ultimately become part of a campaign to demand that the ruling and opposition parties abide by their promises of halving the number of legislative seats and eliminating the use of nuclear power.

Lin, executive director of the Nuclear [Plant] 4 Referendum Initiative Association, yesterday announced a three-month campaign which is scheduled to start with a sit-in demonstration and hunger strike in front of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) headquarters and the Legislature in early January.

This protest action will continue until the March 20 presidential election.

According to Lin, the campaign is aimed at restoring credibility to Taiwan and putting pressure on both the DPP and KMT to keep their promises that they would reduce the number of legislative seats by half and carry out a 2001 legislative resolution to gradually eliminate the use of nuclear power.

Lin yesterday said the sit-in and hunger strike would take place at the headquarters of the KMT, because the party has a majority in the Legislature.

Prior to the 2001 legislative election, he said, parties of all stripes had promised to promote the policy of reducing the number of legislative seats and to build a nuclear-free homeland.

He urged concerned parties to make an effort to at least pass a proposal to halve the number of legislative seats from the current 225 to 113.

Lin said although limitations in the Referendum Law might prevent Chen holding a referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant issue, this would give people the opportunity to decide for themselves.

"If no concrete results are achieved, we would consider more solemn and strong forms of protest, including long hunger strikes, kneeling down and self-immolation," Lin said yesterday.

These remarks yesterday trig-gered fear and speculation over whether he would actually employ such a drastic means of protest.

Lin responded that he by no means encouraged self-immolation.

"Spiritually I respect the self-immolator's sacrifice and contribution, but I'll never encourage such a drastic form of protest as self-immolation. Self-immolation is simply one of the many forms of non-violent protest," Lin said.

He said what he meant by "more solemn and strong" forms of protest was that, over the years, the association has always conducted non-violent demonstrations as a matter of principle.

Most likely the protests will take the form of rallies, marches, visits with political figures and hunger strikes.

"The reason we are initiating this campaign is to urge all political polities and political figures to keep their promises, because the people are entitled to examine these promises," he said.

The campaign was to start today with a visit by all the members of the association to the KMT headquarters.

A five-day hunger strike will be staged there from Jan. 12 to Jan. 17. From Jan. 24 to Jan. 29 the association will visit the KMT, DPP and the Legislature again and from March 1 to March 10 another hunger strike will be held.

If it comes to that, the possible stronger protests are likely to be conducted from March 11 to March 20, deputy convener of the association Chen Li-kuei said.

Japan sends first batch of troops on Iraq mission

AP , NARITA, JAPAN

Japan dispatched its first military unit for a humanitarian mission to Iraq yesterday, spearheading the country's biggest overseas deployment since World War II.

The advance air force contingent of 23 personnel left yesterday morning, split between two commercial flights to Kuwait and Qatar from Tokyo international airport. The remainder of the 40-plus member advance team was to leave in coming days, but officials would not give details.

"The time has come for us to go," Colonel Tadashi Miyagawa told dozens of reporters at the airport before going through security. "Each individual has his own thoughts, but we'll be unified."

The air force units will assess security and make arrangements for a larger 276-member air force contingent charged with shipping medical and food supplies from Kuwait to Iraq. In addition, more than 500 Japanese ground troops will be deployed in southern Iraq in February and March.

The contingent sent yesterday was part of a total dispatch of about 1,000 personnel, including land, air and sea forces, on a mission to help restore water services, offer medical aid and rebuild schools and other infrastructure.

The deployment has raised opposition in Japan, where many are wary of possible casualties in Iraq and terror attacks at home. But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government has stressed Japan's responsibility to help US-led coalition forces restore stability to Iraq.

Reflecting the government's assurances that the soldiers would not engage in combat, the air force personnel leaving yesterday were dressed in blazers, sweat shirts or jeans, rather than military uniforms. Some of the families were assembled at the airport to see off the troops.

The government has also been keen to avoid the kind of criticism from Washington that Japan received during the first Gulf War in the early 1990s, when Tokyo sent money, but no personnel.

"We want the military to make big contributions to Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian assistance. We expect them to fulfill their duties and make major contributions," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference yesterday.

The Defense Agency plans to deploy armored vehicles and up to six naval ships, including destroyers, to support its units. Eight aircraft, including three C130 transport planes, will also be dispatched.

Japan also has offered the second-largest pledge for Iraqi reconstruction after the US, promising US$1.5 billion in grants for next year and US$3.5 billion in loans for 2005-2007.

The deployment will be a milestone for Japan's military, which is strictly limited by the country's pacifist constitution.

A special law allowing the dispatch for humanitarian missions in Iraq was passed by parliament in July, but only under the condition that the troops be sent to stable areas away from combat.

US treats Taiwan better than it does Japan, Mori says

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER

Visiting former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori said yesterday that the US' friendship with Taiwan was solid and spoke of firm ties between Japan and Taiwan, while Beijing repeated its protest against Mori's trip.

Mori reassured Taiwan over its relationships with Japan and the US during a dinner banquet he hosted for the Taiwanese alumni of Japan's Waseda University and Keio University in Taipei's Grand Formosa Regent Hotel, where he is staying during his three-day private visit.

Lo Fu-chen, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, and Hsu Shui-teh, president of Taiwan's Association of East Asian Relations, accompanied Mori to the banquet.

The banquet started at around 6:30pm and Mori left the hotel before 8pm. According to Hsu, Mori left the dinner early to meet with his old friend Koo Chen-fu, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, Taiwan's semi-official body handling cross-strait affairs.

Banquet participants quoted Mori as saying that "the US has treated Taiwan better than it has done Japan" because Taiwan's geographic position is important to the US.

Mori talked a lot about rugby during the dinner, participants said.

Banquet guests included national policy advisers Huang Tien-lin and Ng Chiau-tong, who is also chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence.

Mori met with former president Lee Teng-hui in a closed-door meeting yesterday. They had lunch together in Taipei's Landis Hotel, but both declined to disclose details of their discussion.

Prime minister from 2000 to 2001, Mori defied pressure from China and at home, including from his then-minister of foreign affairs Yohei Kono, to issue a visa to Lee so that he could undergo heart surgery in Osaka in April 2001.

Still influential in Japan's politics, Mori's faction occupies 51 of his Liberal Democratic Party's 245 seats in the 480-seat Japanese House of Representatives.

Mori is a supporter of current Japanese Prime Junichiro Koizumi, who is also a member of the Mori faction.

After his meeting with Lee yesterday, Mori's heavily guarded motorcade drove him to an undisclosed location at Shihlin. Mori was tight-lipped in his public appearances and declined to answer questions from reporters.

At around 3:30pm, accompanied by Lo, Mori visited the family of his late friend Lin Chin-ching, Taiwan's former top representative in Japan.

Lin, also a national policy adviser and former president of the Association of East Asian Relations, passed away on Dec. 10. Mori paid tribute to his friend and told Lin's five children to take care of Lin's 79-year-old wife Wu Ai-kuei.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested against Mori's visit to Taiwan yesterday.

NHK, Japan's public broadcast network, yesterday reported that Mori told President Chen Shui-bian to be careful in his drive for a "defensive referendum," according to a local Chinese-language newspaper.

The report quoted Mori as telling Chen to consider the difficulties faced by the US, now preoccupied with Iraq and North Korea.

Dangers to security in direct links with China

By Huang Yao-ming

Following the release of a Chinese policy paper on direct cross-strait links, China's civil aviation administration has launched a push for direct links, spearheaded by its Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.

The push echoes the campaign platform of the Lien-Soong clique, which has promised direct transportation links within a year or two if elected.

As for the businesspeople of Taiwan, whose primary concerns are economics and transportation, a sugar-coated direct-links offensive from China that does not involve "one China" can better win their sympathy and votes than can the "one-way" and "indirect" transportation links of President Chen Shui-bian's administration.

From the perspective of protecting Taiwan, the A-bian administration's direct links policy takes into account vital economic factors -- expediting cargo transportation between Taiwan and China -- and Taiwanese businesspeople's need to save time and cut costs. But above all, it takes military risks into account.

We cannot ignore national security simply to curry favor with Taiwanese businesses.

When it comes to defining flight routes, China favors the term "cross-strait routes."

Negotiations are conducted in the private sector, between professional associations or companies; China views the Taiwanese government as it views Hong Kong and Macau -- as special administrative regions -- ignoring Taiwan's sovereignty. Taiwan cannot accept this.

China has made it clear that the negotiations will not touch "one China." In fact, giving up on government-to-government talks will reinforce the "one China principle" -- the claim that Taiwan is a part of China.

If direct links are agreed to through negotiations under the ground rules, Taiwan will have given up its sovereignty and national defense. Taiwan's military will not be able to intervene in cross-strait traffic. It will be no different from opening up air and sea territories to the enemy.

At 11pm on Aug. 20, 1968, a Soviet civilian aircraft complained of a malfunction while flying over Prague and made a forced landing at Ruzyme airport, 15km away from the city center. After the landing, the aircraft did not stop on the runway or evacuate its passengers. Instead, it taxied at high speed and crashed into the apron of the terminal building. Armed members of the Soviet 103rd Guards Desant Division poured out of the plane. Within a few minutes they had captured the flight control tower. The airport guards became prisoners before they could respond.

Air control personnel from the rapid attack force directed Soviet transport planes, which had been circling in the sky, to land at the rate of a plane per minute.

Once Taipei City's Sungshan Airport is used for cross-strait flights, the scenario described above could happen in Taiwan.

Military transport planes using civilian flights as cover in the first wave of attack can evade radar and prevent early responses from anti-aircraft fire.

In addition, ground control personnel cannot be sure what passenger planes are carrying. Air force fighters and anti-aircraft missile units dare not make assumptions or shoot down the planes. Troops guarding the airport cannot use their weapons.

If direct flights are to come about, Taiwan must insist on "curved-line direct links" that fly through air space whose traffic is controlled by a third country.

Taiwanese businesspeople must remember that Taiwan is their motherland. Once sovereignty is lost or Taiwan becomes a part of China, Taiwanese businesses in China will no longer be a rare commodity.

Huang Yao-ming is a member of the board of directors of the Coconut Tree Foundation.

Do not be duped by China's ploys

China's leaders at Zhongnanhai have always looked for ways to influence Taiwanese politics. In the past, China has used military threats, held war games during Taiwan's election campaigns in an attempt to unsettle people's minds, and attacked those candidates it disliked and promoted those it favored.

Such tactics, however, have never yielded the effects that China desired, but instead have proved counterproductive.

China has adopted a different tactic this year. Their new two-pronged approach involves the use of a Taiwanese spy case to broadside President Chen Shui-bian while at the same time Chinese President Hu Jintao has received Taiwanese businesspeople with operations in China.

Apparently, the Chinese leaders are getting better at manipulating Taiwan's elections. China no longer stages military exercises or fires missiles to scare Taiwan. Instead, it is focusing its attack on Chen.

It is very hard to claim that Chen's remarks about Chinese missiles led to the recent arrests of Taiwanese businesspeople. The spy uproar was an attack against Chen's reputation as well as an attempt to constrain Taiwan's government by holding Taiwanese businesspeople hostage.

Meanwhile, the meeting with Hu -- a "soft offensive" aimed at Taiwanese businesspeople -- was unprecedented in the history of the Chinese leadership. During the meeting, Hu reiterated Beijing's opposition to "Taiwan independence" and put the blame for the failure to establish links at the feet of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.

The timing of Hu's meeting with Taiwanese businesspeople, just before the holiday season, apparently had to do with the aborted plan for chartered flights to take them back to Taiwan for annual family reunions during the Lunar New Year holidays. China wants to blame the failure to establish direct links on "the destruction of cross-strait relations by Taiwan's leaders and their deliberate platform and policy of splitting the motherland."

China is trying to hurt the DPP's election chances by taking advantage of businesspeople's desire for direct links.

The offensive began when the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office issued a policy paper earlier this month, followed by remarks from officials at China's transportation ministry, civil aviation administration and trade bodies explaining the content of the policy paper. Now China has brought Taiwanese businesspeople to Beijing to hear Hu's lecture on direct links.

China claims that it wants direct links with Taiwan, but in reality it has ignored the many goodwill gestures made by the Taiwanese government. Beijing's plan is to not let Chen's administration gain any brownie points on cross-strait relations. Taiwan has made all the preparations it can for direct links -- including the three-stage plan for cross-strait links proposed by Chen and the new measures announced by the Mainland Affairs Council in September to expedite cross-strait cargo flights.

The Legislative Yuan has also amended regulations governing cross-strait relations, allowing the government to commission non-governmental organizations other than the Straits Exchange Foundation to negotiate with Beijing. A mechanism for negotiations on direct cargo flights has also been set up.

Beijing, however, has refused to cooperate on even the Lunar New Year charters, which were successfully carried out for the first time last year.

That Beijing's political intentions are overriding economic objectives is obvious. Beijing is saying one thing and doing something entirely different.

Taiwan and the rest of the world should listen to what China says and observe what it does. They should see Beijing's motives for what they are and not be duped.

Only China can help its own cause

By Zhang Jialin

`The main reason that the Taiwan issue still has not been resolved is not the US (frankly speaking, it is not certain that the people of Taiwan would agree to unification even if the US stopped selling arms to Taiwan), but rather that Beijing has not done a good job with the people of Taiwan, has not managed to make them identify with Beijing. The Beijing authorities in charge of Taiwan affairs have for many years declared that hope should be pinned on the people of Taiwan, but China has taken no concrete action in this regard.'

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's recent visit to the US created a certain amount of trust and stability in the Sino-US relationship, placing the two on a track toward mutual reliance in matters of strategic interest.

When it comes to the Taiwan issue, however, the US' clarification of its position can only be said to have temporarily calmed the tense situation in the Taiwan Strait.

The fact that the US got involved in resolving this crisis is clear evidence that it is expanding its role in the Taiwan Strait and that the cross-strait relationship has been included in the scope of matters that can be influenced by the US.

Prior to Wen's visit, the US presented a framework for handling the cross-strait issue -- no Taiwan independence, no armed invasion by the mainland, and no unilateral change of the cross-strait status quo by either of the two sides. The US wants this framework to assure mainland China that Taiwan will not move toward independence and to assure Taiwan that mainland China will not use force against Taiwan. The US policy is to maintain the status quo and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing's Taiwan policy is not to maintain the status quo, but to achieve peaceful unification and the implementation of "one country, two systems." If the status quo is maintained, unification will be permanently postponed.

As for the US' opposition to a mainland invasion of Taiwan, no conditions have been set. Could China take armed action if Taiwan declares independence? Judging from the explanations given by several US officials and scholars, as well as US President George W. Bush's recent statement that the US will do what it takes to protect Taiwan, the US seems to demand that China not take armed action under any circumstances. If this is correct, China will have one hand tied behind its back.

It seems that maintaining the status quo would both block Taiwan independence and eliminate the Chinese wish for a unified nation, a situation that meets the US' regional and global strategic interests.

There is a touch of irony in the fact that though Beijing always has claimed that the Taiwan issue is a domestic Chinese issue, and that it will not tolerate interference by any country, it now finds it more and more difficult to resolve the Taiwan issue without the US.

The US alone can solve the current crisis, which may explode at the slightest touch. This is evidence that Beijing's influence over and appeal to Taiwan is weakening and that its room for action is shrinking as it is retreating toward its bottom line and, step by step, losing the initiative. It seems unification has become just extravagant talk, and that simply maintaining the status quo would be an achievement.

The US can help prevent independence, but cannot (and maybe does not wish to) promote unification. In the final analysis, if we want to stabilize the situation in the Taiwan Strait and solve the national unification issue, we must rely on no one but ourselves.

Beijing should reflect in earnest on why it has been led by the nose by Taiwan on the cross-strait issue since the time of former president Lee Teng-hui. Why is Taiwanese public opinion becoming more and more alienated by Beijing while economic integration is growing closer and closer (public opinion polls show a steady decrease in the number of people considering themselves to be Chinese)?

I have pointed out several times in the past that the ability to solve the Taiwan issue lies with the Chinese people, including the people of Taiwan, and not with the US. In the end, cross-strait unification must rely on the people of Taiwan. If a majority of the people of Taiwan approved of unification, would the US dare resort to armed interference?

The main reason that the Taiwan issue still has not been resolved is not the US (frankly speaking, it is not certain that the people of Taiwan would agree to unification even if the US stopped selling arms to Taiwan), but rather that Beijing has not done a good job with the people of Taiwan, has not managed to make them identify with Beijing.

The Beijing authorities in charge of Taiwan affairs have for many years declared that hope should be pinned on the people of Taiwan, but China has taken no concrete action in this regard. In particular, no studies have been made of changes in psychological attitudes or public opinion in Taiwan.

The early Russian Marxist Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov once divided social thinking into social awareness and social psychology, pointing out that the former is deeply affected by economic and political factors, while the latter is relatively independent and sometimes even contradicts the former. Here, we need earnest studies of public opinion in Taiwan in order to win over the minds of the people of Taiwan. The psychological state of the people of Taiwan must not be simplistically interpreted from an ideological point of view.

Taiwan has often been some other country's colony, and the people's wish to be their own masters has been long suppressed. Once society starts moving toward democracy, self-awareness strengthens and the people make strong demands for participation. This wish to be their own master in fact has nothing to do with unification or independence ideology. Public approval of a referendum does not necessarily demonstrate an approval of independence -- more than 70 percent of the Taiwanese public still wish to maintain the status quo -- but is rather a demand for the right to participate and express one's opinion by using one's vote to resolve issues. The psychological conditions created during this kind of social evolution may be very difficult to understand for a China that still has not experienced democratization.

In the recent referendum dispute between Taiwan's government and the opposition, the pan-blue camp, originally opposed to the referendum, suddenly changed its position and came out in support of holding referendums. This is evidence that they felt public pressure that they did not dare go against.

Another psychological attitude among the people of Taiwan is a strengthened self-respect and a wish that personal individuality and national dignity be respected. This may also be a result of the historical environment. During my many visits to Taiwan, I have traveled deep into the countryside and talked with common people. I have discovered that they harbor no animosity toward the mainland, that they long to understand and get along with the mainland, and that they do not rule out the possibility of a merger between the two sides. Their only dissatisfaction with the mainland lies in its international suppression of Taiwan, with its not letting Taiwan participate in relevant international activities and organizations, and the mainland's stance on the flag and name issues, which makes them feel lowly.

This frustration creates a public attitude where the will to resist increases along with an increase in suppression. This is borne out by the counterproductive effect of the mainland's missile tests during the presidential election in 1996 and the severe warnings by Beijing during the presidential election in 2000.

Beijing should understand and respect these psychological attitudes among the people of Taiwan, which have resulted from specific historical conditions, and act according to these circumstances instead of resisting them and applying forceful suppression.

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin's declaration on "Jiang's Eight Points" concerning Taiwan also mentions full respect for the people of Taiwan's wish to be their own masters.

The eight points do not, however, provide any concrete measures for doing so, nor has the respect that Jiang spoke of been realized.

In fact, as long as the mainland prioritizes the interests of the people of Taiwan when dealing with Taiwan and cares about the demands and prosperity of our Taiwanese compatriots, many problems that now seem difficult are easily solvable.

One example is the issue of Taiwan's international space. There are many existing models that would allow Taiwan to participate in a few non-governmental and charity organizations under the "one China" principle. Not even the thorny and sensitive issues of a national title and flag are impossible to resolve.

Frankly speaking, parts of Beijing's policies are unsatisfactory. On one hand, Beijing does not recognize the "Republic of China," while on the other hand, during the referendum dispute, it opposed a change in national name, demanding that "Republic of China" be maintained.

Remember that Tang Shubei, former vice chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, proposed during a visit to San Francisco two years ago that "Republic of China" and "People's Republic of China" are two "symbols" that both sides should pay less attention to.

I don't know if this was his personal opinion or the policy of the Beijing leadership. Regrettably, the statement has not been repeated, nor has there been any follow-up.

To sum up, if the many doubts and misunderstandings regarding the mainland that exist in the minds of the people of Taiwan are not dissolved through active effort, a minority of the island's politicians will stir up populist sentiment and turn it into independence ideology.

Of course, in the final analysis, the mainland has to handle its own affairs properly, speed up the reform of its economic and political systems, implement democratization and make the mainland more attractive to the people of Taiwan. This is something the US is incapable of doing.

Zhang Jialin is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.