The law disappointed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Trong Chai, a leading referendum advocate. He drafted the first referendum bill, which allowed the people to change the nation's title, flag and anthem as well as territorial boundaries.

The president was the only officer in the government permitted to call a referendum, and then only a "defensive referendum," which would be triggered in response to a threat to the nation's sovereignty. The DPP and its pan-green ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, dissatisfied with the emaciated law, said it caged the people's power. The Executive Yuan filed a request to the legislature to reconsider the legislation in mid-December, but this request was vetoed on Dec. 20.

--by Fiona Lu

3.KMT, PFP join up to tackle election

In a bid to avoid a repeat of their defeat in the 2000 presidential election, the leaders of the two major opposition parties, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong, agreed in February to run together on a joint ticket in the upcoming presidential election.

The two parties also signed a memorandum of understanding on the formation of the KMT-PFP alliance to take on President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party.

The PFP was originally a KMT splinter group. Soong, a former KMT secretary-general, founded the PFP after he narrowly failed in his own maverick campaign during the three-way presidential race in 2000. Lien, then the KMT candidate, came in a distant third.

Debates over who was to lead the presidential ticket had been a thorny issue in talks within the alliance. The debate dragged on for nearly two months before the two parties announced in April that Lien would run for the presidency with Soong as his running mate.

Speculation dogged the pair, however, with a Chinese-language newspaper in June running a front-page story claiming that Lien, in a bid to persuade Soong to yield and become the vice presidential candidate, had promised to let Soong run for the top job in 2008.

The KMT-PFP alliance dismissed the report, saying it was "based on nothing but rumor."

The Lien-Soong ticket also met with dissent from within the two parties about whether the former enemies could work together.

--by Huang Tai-lin

4.Tallest building in the world opens

There is little doubt that Taipei 101 is by far the world's tallest building. It is somewhat less clear exactly when construction on the 508m high skyscraper will be completed.

But many Taiwanese would find it hard to forget the inauguration of the Taipei 101 Mall on Nov. 14, which drew over 500,000 people in the first three days after its grand opening.

The five-story shopping mall sits at the base of the 508m tower, which is still under construction and is scheduled to be opened to the public next year. The mall, featuring 161 stores and numerous international brands, hopes to generate annual sales of NT$16 billion to NT$19 billion with customer traffic of between 15 million and 18 million people in the first year after its opening.

President Chen Shui-bian, who cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony, said the mall puts Taipei in the international spotlight.

"It is not only a landmark for Taipei but a sign of Taiwan's development and prosperity. It is Taiwan's asset and pride," Chen said.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou also praised the building as "the pride of Taipei residents" and a symbol of the country's global ambitions.

Despite all the glamor, Taipei 101 made the news several times due to accidents. Just last week two people were injured by marble tiles which fell off a newly decorated wall of a restaurant on the fourth floor of the mall. In November, about 3,000 people were evacuated from the mall after metal debris from the 91st floor of the adjoining office tower fell to the ground, injuring four people.

In January a fire broke out on the roof of the mall, with no casualties. An earthquake in March last year caused two cranes to fall from the building, killing five people.

--by Amber Chung

5.Huge rallies held to demand change

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Taipei and Kaohsiung in September and October this year to support changing the nation's name from the "Republic of China" (ROC) to "Taiwan" and to introduce a referendum law.

The Sep. 6 and Oct. 25 rallies, amassing 150,000 and 200,000 people in Taipei and Kaohsiung respectively, were led by former president Lee Teng-hui in Taipei and President Chen Shui-bian in Kaohsiung.

Lee, who is leading efforts to rename the country, said the name-rectification campaign had woken the entire nation up to the fact that a change was needed to reflect the reality that the ROC didn't exist anymore.

Lee said the facts showed that Taiwan had never been a part of the ROC, and that the ROC had ceased to exist after the Chinese Communist Party ousted the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from China in 1949.

He urged the nation to abandon the use of "ROC," which enjoys virtually no recognition in the international community, to better reflect Taiwan's separate identity.

The massive demonstration in Kaohsiung led by President Chen pushed for referendum legislation to allow the creation of a new Taiwanese constitution in 2006 to replace the current ROC Constitution.

The two events were organized by pro-localization political forces -- the Democratic Progressive Party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and hundreds of civic groups -- and dragged the conservative KMT-People First Party alliance into a debate on referendum legislation, facilitating the passage of the Referendum Law on Nov. 27.

--by Chang Yun-ping

6.Six female illegal immigrants drown

On Aug. 26, human smugglers dumped 26 Chinese women into the sea off Tunghsiao, Miaoli County, while trying to evade Coast Guard Administration authorities. Six drowned and the others were rescued or managed to swim to shore.

The brutal tragedy shocked governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, who blamed each other for the accident.

Bereaved families of the victims flew from China to attend their daughters' sea funerals on the beach of Tunghsiao in September. In November, a court sentenced Wang Chung-hsing to death and Ko Ching-sung to life in prison for their role in the smuggling.

The tragedy, however, appears to have done little to stem the flow of illegal Chinese immigrants.

Taiwan's affluence still attracts relatively impoverished Chinese, especially from the inland provinces.

"They said Taiwan is a great place, it's easy to find work and easy to earn money," said Zhang Hongyan, 22, from Sichuan Province.

The political standoff between Taiwan and China has hindered the government's attempts to contain the crime and other social problems generated by the growing population of illegal Chinese immigrants.

Taiwan's three shelters for illegal Chinese immigrants in Hsinchu, Ilan and Matsu are already packed and police stations around the nation serve as temporary homes for these people.

When cross-strait hostility grows, Beijing simply halts all the boats that routinely ferry the illegal immigrants back to China.

--by Melody Chen

7.President takes hold of reform agenda

Using "Taiwan's autonomy and democratic reform" as the primary theme for his re-election, President Chen Shui-bian announced on Sept. 28 that Taiwan's first national referendum would be held on the day of the March presidential election.

During a speech honoring the Democratic Progressive Party's 17th anniversary, Chen said that he would push for a new constitution in his second term, completing a draft before the end of 2006, then putting it to the public in a referendum for implementation in 2008.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party alliance initially dismissed Chen's agenda as, in the words of KMT chairman Lien Chan, "boring" and "nonsense" election jargon, though public pressure soon reversed this position.

Because Chen did not provide precise details on his referendum and constitutional plans, most international media described his remarks as a move toward Taiwanese independence. The international community also expressed reservations over developments.

Even the Bush administration, which had demonstrated strong support for Chen, said it was concerned. White House and State Department spokespeople reminded President Chen of the "five noes" pledge he made at his inauguration speech, during which he told the world that he would not change the status quo and would not move toward independence.

But Chen stuck by his guns. At a ceremony to receive an award from the International League for Human Rights (ILHR) in late October, Chen expressed his determination to strengthen direct democracy and guarantee basic human rights for the people of Taiwan.

--by Lin Chieh-yu

8.Soong Mayling's death ends an era

The death of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, or Soong Mayling, on Oct. 24 at her apartment in New York marked the end of an age of family-driven politics and personality cults, a feature shared by Taiwan and China.

Soong, 105, the wife of former president Chiang Kai-shek, was the most influential woman in China in the 1930s and 1940s. She used her fluent English and personal charm to win support from the West to defend China against Japanese and communist forces.

After fleeing with her husband and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to Taiwan in 1949, Soong was deprived of a genuine stage for her talents but still enjoyed the benefits of power in a country dwarfed by China until her husband's death in 1975.

Before losing China to the Communists in 1949, Soong and her husband ruled the country as a family. They were married in 1926. Chiang was 11 years older than his bride.

Soong, born in Shanghai to a Hainanese family, had two older sisters, Soong Ai-ling and Soong Ching-ling, who also married two of the most powerful men in China before Chiang made his mark.

Ai-ling's husband was Kung Hsiang-hsi, a wealthy man who controlled the treasures of China. Ching-ling's other half was Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China.

Soong is remembered for her famous address to the US Congress in 1943, in which she asked for support to fight against the Japanese.

Soong was almost worshipped like a goddess by those who fled to Taiwan with the KMT in 1949, but an awakening among Taiwanese in recent years to their cultural and ideological differences has started to debunk the myth.

--by Brian Hsu

9.National Baseball team set for Athens

The national baseball team won the right to take part in next year's Olympic Games, to be held in Athens, Greece, after Japan's 2-0 victory over South Korea on Nov. 7.

It was the first time in 12 years that Taiwan succeeded in gaining admission to the Olympic baseball tournament.

The last time was in 1992 in Barcelona, where Taiwan took a silver medal -- the highest award the country's baseball team has received at the Olympics.

The team won its ticket to next year's Olympics with a dramatic 5-4 victory over South Korea and a breathtakingly tense 3-1 win over China in the final round of the Asian Baseball Championship held in Sapporo, Japan, in early November.

Taiwan and Japan will represent the cream of Asia's baseball talent at the Olympics.

Slugger Chen Chin-feng, a hitter in the US minor leagues who also brought Taiwan the bronze medal in the 2001 World Cup, and Chang Chih-chia, a pitcher in Japan's professional baseball league, played major roles in ensuring that the national team gained admission to the Olympics.

Chen, Chang and pitcher Wang Chien-ming were viewed as national heroes after the team triumphed in Japan.

All three married their partners before the end of the year, because 2004 is not an auspicious year for weddings, according to the Chinese horoscope.

After the team's victory in this year's Asian Baseball Championship, baseball has become a sport that has served to unite public sentiment. Everybody, from regular people to legislators, is now crazy about the game.

--by Jewel Huang

10.'Taiwan' added to passport covers

To more clearly differentiate Taiwan from China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Sept. 1 finally issued passports with the word "Taiwan" on the cover.

Previously, many people had complained of bad treatment due to being mistaken for Chinese nationals because of the words "Republic of China" -- Taiwan's official name -- on their passports.

The word "Taiwan" in Roman script is placed below the national emblem on the passport's cover, while the rest of the design remained unchanged, including the name "Republic of China," in English and Chinese.

The government originally planned to launch the new passports in February, but the Cabinet decided to postpone their release to avoid complications arising from the US-led military action in Iraq and the SARS epidemic.

The Legislative Yuan on May 20 passed a pair of non-binding resolutions on passport reform that contradicted each another. The first resolution stated that the passports should not be changed, while the second stipulated that the word "Taiwan" should be added to the cover.

The ministry later dropped its original idea of adding the words "Issued in Taiwan" to the cover of new passports after both opposition and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers opposed the idea. Opposition legislators argued that this would be a move toward independence, while DPP lawmakers said it would belittle the country and didn't go far enough in clarifying the nation's identity.

The resolution to just add "Taiwan" to the passports received a boost on July 2, when the DPP's Central Standing Committee urged the Cabinet to adopt the recommendation.

--by Ko Shu-ling

In PRC, only liars like Wen survive

By Cao Chang-ching

Wednesday, Dec 31, 2003,Page 8

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was captured recently without resisting. This surprised Westerners because it did not fit with his reputation for brutality. It shocked Arabs because some of them viewed him as a hero.

Saddam turned out to be a coward, cowering like a rat in a hole, and he gave up as soon as he saw US soldiers.

No dictator is a hero. They manage to appear mighty only because the media in their countries cannot reveal their ugliness. State-owned newspapers and TV stations glorify dictators every day.

This is exactly what is going on in today's China. According to the media reports that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controls, all those in power are heroes and wise leaders.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's recent US visit highlights this point. All the reports delivered by the CCP's propaganda tools portrayed Wen as friendly to the public, and wise and brilliant as well. At a welcome party organized by China's consulate in Washington, some people shouted, "Premier Wen is extremely gifted."

But in reality, all Wen does is repeat empty words formulated by the CCP, without sincerity or truthfulness.

Wen told at least three lies while he was in the US.

First, at a banquet held by the National Committee on US-China Relations on the day he met US President George W. Bush, Wen said that he "had to face the bayonets of fascist aggressors" when he was a child.

Wen is 61, which means that he was born in 1942. He was only three years old when Japan surrendered in 1945. How can he remember what happened when he was three? Isn't it more than clear that what he said is an implausible lie?

How could it be possible that his mother held her three-year-old child up to Japanese bayonets? Is this logical?

Now to the second lie. Wen probably did some homework before he flew to the US and found out that Americans often say, "When I was a kid, my mom said..." or "When I was young, my father taught me to..."

Therefore, Wen mentioned his family background in the opening remarks of a speech he delivered in the US.

He said that "I am a very ordinary person ... When I was very young, my mother told me that I should treat people with truthfulness, sincerity, cordiality and devotion."

Some have commented that such sensational remarks are rare among China's high-ranking officials. But if Wen were sincere in making his remarks, it would not matter how sensational they were.

But did Wen's mother really say "truthfulness, sincerity, cordiality and devotion?" When talking to their children, mothers tend to use words that are simple, colloquial and easy to remember, not formal and hard-to-pronounce words. The words that Wen used are nothing like the words that mothers say to their children.

More importantly, Wen was only seven when the CCP gained control of the government in 1949. Ever since elementary school, he has lived under communist rule. At that time, children in China were taught what the "party mother" said and what then party chairman Mao Zedong taught. It is extremely rare for anyone who grew up in China to proudly declare what their mothers taught them and how their fathers influenced them.

Did Wen ever have an adolescence during which he could speak sincere words or when he was taught to tell the truth? Did he or his mother dare do that?

Since he was a child, Wen has lived in a society in which only liars can survive. If he had dared tell the truth over the course of his life, could he have become China's premier?

Because he has climbed so high in a society full of lies, he has lost the ability to tell the difference between truth and lies. It is nonsense for Wen to praise the value of "truthfulness."

Third, when Wen discussed the Taiwan issue, he cited a line by a famous Taiwanese poet. The poet expressed how much he missed Taiwan and cared about its people by saying that the curved, shallow Taiwan Strait is a site of nostalgia.

While the two lies mentioned above only become obvious when looked at with common sense and logic, this third one is immediately transparent. Who would aim 500 missiles at Taiwan and then say "I feel deep nostalgia for you"?

Do Chinese people always convey nostalgia with missiles?

Think about the scenario in which a husband holds five meat cleavers to his wife's neck and gently says how much he misses her. Give me a break! Even a stage play would not contain such a scene.

Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said that communist countries are rife with lies; lies dominate and cover up everything in such countries. Wen's generation grew up in a typical communist system and now he is a core member of a system ruled by lies. It is not surprising that Wen tells lies.

Solzhenitsyn said that only by stopping lying can one free oneself from the shackles of the communist system. But his statement should be reversed -- only by breaking up the communist system can one stop lying.

Cao Chang-ching is a writer and journalist based in New York.

Internet bringing reform to China

By Xiao Qiang

Wednesday, Dec 31, 2003,Page 8

After eight years of explosive growth, there are now almost as many users of the Internet in China as there are members of the Communist Party. China's "information elite," the largely urban, educated professionals who are China's Internet surfers, are becoming a force equal in size to the ruling political power base. What will this new center of power mean for the transformation of Chinese society?

Since the mid-1990s, China's government has promoted the rapid growth of the Internet for its economic benefits. But it has also been developing a sophisticated political and technological system to control online information. The government employs a host of new legal regulations, a shadowy Internet police force, and a powerful, hardware-based national information filtering system.

Control also relies on the demographics of Internet users, most of whom belong to China's economic elite and are more likely to adopt the Internet as part of a newfound consumer lifestyle than as a tool for poli-tical or social revolution.

What is surprising is that the government's control mechanisms have been largely effective. But it is also prompting profound social changes that are rooted in a rising rights consciousness within society, something strengthened -- and amplified -- not only by the growth of the economy, but by the rapid spread of the Internet.

After two and a half decades of market-oriented economic reform, Chinese citizens are increasingly aware of how to protect their economic and social interests by using the language of rights. When confronting abuses of power, people are increasingly using a new term, weiquan (defending rights), to challenge the system. Another new term, zhi qing quan (right to know), has also entered public discourse.

The new terminology inspired by the information technology revolution was especially prevalent after the SARS outbreak last spring, when the government covered up the epidemic until after it had spread throughout China and beyond. The momentum of this rising demand for "rights" can also be seen in the coverage of other major events in the traditional media.

For example, when covering a natural disaster, a major industrial accident, or an urgent public health issue, journalists in the traditional media are not allowed to investigate and report without official sanction.

But the Internet is helping to change these rules. Journalists now learn how to evade government guidelines by distributing and collecting information online, making it more difficult for propaganda bosses to stop the spread of information that is considered "sensitive."

Ordinary Internet users can also write about events they witness and broadcast their reports online, making the suppression of important breaking news almost impossible.

Moreover, the authorities have a difficult time tracking down and punishing people who spread this kind of "subversive" information -- a term frequently used by the government to suppress political dissent -- online.

Because Chinese Internet users are now much more likely to find out about a breaking story in real time and question why the official press hasn't covered it, China's conventional media now feel pressure from the public to cover events that they might otherwise dodge.

Online discussion of current events, especially through Internet bulletin boards, is another new phenomenon. One recent survey shows that the number of users registered with China's 10 most popular bulletin boards, which focus on news and political affairs, range from 100,000 to 500,000. Mainly through bulletin boards, e-mail mailing list services and an emerging "Web log" community, the Internet has begun to provide an alternative public sphere that did not exist in China a few years ago.

Under the state censorship system, most discussions are limited to politically acceptable topics, such as legal reform and anti-corruption efforts. However, within these boundaries, Internet-enabled activism, such as online petitions, have not only expanded the boundaries of traditional media reporting, but presaged some interesting new political consequences as well.

When college student Sun Zhigang was beaten to death by police in the southern city of Guangzhou this spring, for example, it inspired a storm of online calls for weiquan, and provoked debates over the "custody and repatriation system."

That form of "administrative detention," used primarily against migrant workers, was the basis for Sun's detention. The online protest that ensued undoubtedly played a role in the government's decision to abolish the system and arrest the officials involved in the case.

Despite government efforts to control the Internet, a space to support the rising rights consciousness within Chinese society has been carved out. As the pervasiveness and flexibility of the new medium weakens traditional media censorship, Internet-enabled social activism plays an increasingly influential role in China's legal reform and the development of its nascent civil society.

Xiao Qiang is the director of Human Rights Watch China.

KMT's most serious foe is too close by to notice

By Lee Min-yung

Wednesday, Dec 31, 2003,Page 8

`Soong's betrayal of the KMT allowed him to pretend to hold up the banner of reform.'

The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) criminal usurpation and looting of state assets during its long rule in Taiwan have once again surfaced. After the KMT's Lien Chan lost the 2000 presidential election, the party proposed returning its stolen assets. Words are one thing, actions are another. Being able to swallow something does not necessarily mean that it can be spit right out again.

In the run-up to the 2000 election, then independent presidential candidate James Soong focused many of his attacks on the KMT. Soong aimed to highlight the legitimacy of his betrayal of the party and the political conglomerate by acting as a reformer. His core supporters were of course China ideologues in the core of the KMT, a force Lien could not harness at the time. With a conservative and feudal mindset and the appearance of a reformer, Soong proved to be a popular candidate.

But after the Chung Hsing Bills Finance embezzlement scandal was exposed, he lost the reformist facade he had worked so hard to create.

Depending on the China ideologists in the KMT core and the local politicians with whom he had built a relationship during his terms as provincial governor was not enough to win the presidential election.

Now Soong and his erstwhile political rival Lien have teamed up for the upcoming election. Does Soong still pretend to be a reformer?

How does he respond to the KMT's usurpation and robbery of state assets? Of course, he is now left with only one choice -- joining forces with Lien.

The KMT has one renowned member, Ma Ying-jeou, who is said to be like a Teflon pan because nothing ever sticks to him. When Soong, the savior in the eyes of the KMT's China ideologists, proves not to be trustworthy, they place their hope in Ma, who has been molded as the party's ideal candidate.

Unlike Soong, Ma is immune to any repercussions from political persecution cases such as the Kaohsiung Incident or the Chen Wen-cheng incident, even though Ma at the time was a close aide to former president Chiang Ching-kuo.

But how should Ma defend his party, as it once again has to face social criticism regarding its looting of state assets? How should he keep himself out of trouble?

Soong's betrayal of the KMT allowed him to pretend to hold up the banner of reform.

But since Ma, the KMT's poster boy and future star, belongs to the party, can he claim that his party is dirty while he himself is clean? Serving as the chief of the Lien-Soong campaign headquarters, he has to bear all the burdens of not only the KMT but also of Lien and Soong.

The KMT is its own worst enemy, and there is no way it can rid itself of such an enemy. Nor can Ma break away from such an inexorable fate. What blocks the KMT's restoration to power is not just the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, but also the force of justice. That force leaves society a slim chance of survival and brings Taiwan boundless hope.

Lee Min-yung is a poet and president of the Taiwan Peace Foundation.

Editorial: A new year, but no new day for KMT

Today, we are going to send the year 2003 into history. However, at this time of retrospection and anticipation, there is news that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has reneged on its promise to the people regarding the national assets it sometimes acquired at dirt-cheap prices through questionable means and other times simply stole.

How can the Taiwanese public not be angered by such news?

It is difficult for us to know whether the KMT, which ruled Taiwan for half a century and lost the reins of power more than three years ago, wants to regain power. Even when it was in power, the KMT promised the public that it would put its assets in a trust fund, and that it was only waiting for passage of a bill governing the disposition of assets gained through improper means by political parties. The KMT's promises have turned out to be lies.

On top of information revealed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators about the KMT selling off its assets, the December issue of Wealth magazine included a report describing how the KMT has rushed to sell off its real estate assets over the past year. The report listed nine pieces of real estate -- tracts of land measuring almost 1,000 ping in Taipei City alone.

The properties included the party's old Taipei City branch office on Zhongxiao East Road, the Housheng building on Renai Road and the Tsungsheng building on Zhongxiao West Road. The KMT gained between NT$4 billion (US$117 million) and NT$5 billion from the sell-offs, according to the report.

The problem is that those assets stand on government land that was transferred to KMT ownership at dirt-cheap prices. A few properties were transferred without any remuneration, gifts from the KMT-run government to the KMT party. How generous!

These sneaky sell-offs are, of course, a thorough violation of the party's earlier promises to the people.

On Sunday, the DPP's campaign spokesman, Wu Nai-jen, released information showing that the KMT has sold more than NT$190 billion worth of stock and real estate since Lien Chan became party chairman. The money that the KMT has not accounted for is the money it gained from these sales. It has neither put it in a trust fund nor returned it to the government.

In the face of criticism, a KMT spokesperson said the party had used the money to cover the financial losses at KMT-run businesses, to repay bank loans and to pay for party operations.

What nonsense! The Taiwanese public may well be the rightful owners of most of these assets. How can the KMT use the money it raised to pay off its own debts before the assets' ownership is clarified?

Some say that the KMT is hurrying to sell off its assets to "innocent third parties" because it is worried about the growing calls for repossession of illegally transferred or stolen assets. Others say that the KMT is raising large sums of money to fund its presidential campaign, and has sold off its assets cheaply so that it can buy votes and bribe local vote captains.

Either or both of these claims are quite likely. More than 30 times, the KMT and its ally the People First Party (PFP) have blocked the party assets bill from passing committee review and reaching the legislative floor. Without the law, the DPP cannot go after the KMT's assets.

The thuggish behavior of the KMT and the PFP is outrageous. Lies and theft and China; that's all the pan-blue camp stands for. Heaven help Taiwan if it ever sees office again.