Petitioners in china on July 14, 2004

Petitioners threaten to kill themselves in Beijing protest

AFP , BEIJING
 

At least 20 disgruntled protesters threatened to jump off a Beijing building in a mass suicide bid unless the State Supreme Court agreed to hear their grievances, witnesses and court officials said yesterday.

The petitioners from northeast China were among thou-sands who gathered on Monday in southern Yongdingmen district to file formal petitions over a series of issues with the court.

"In all there was a group of 50 to 60 people from northeast China, among them some 20 climbed up to the top of the building and threatened to jump," Beijing rights activist Liu Anjun said.

"Up to 2,000 people gathered around the building to watch and support them, most of them were petitioners that had come to Beijing from all over the country," he said.

Police climbed the building and after four-and-a-half hours of negotiations persuaded the chanting and wailing protesters to come down and took them away, Liu said.

"There were not that many people who threatened to jump and there weren't 2,000 petitioners gathered around the building. Most of the onlookers were ordinary Beijingers," an official at the State Supreme Court petitions office said.

"Because the complaints of these people do not conform to the court's jurisdiction and are problems that are the responsibility of the government, we told them that they needed to go to the State Council," added the official, who refused to be named.

Protests in China have increased markedly as market economic reforms have led to spectacular growth and a greater awareness of personal rights and interests, especially amid blatant corruption at a local level.

Meanwhile, a lack of political and judicial reforms has resulted in a system that has largely appeared unable to cope with the increasing demands for social justice.

Beijing police refused to comment on the incident.

According to Radio Free Asia, the rooftop petitioners were mostly miners from Heilongjiang Province who had exhausted efforts in their hometowns and so had to come to Beijing.

"Most of them are petitioners, because this is where all the petitioners come," said Zhang Chaoxin, who traveled more than 1,600km from his hometown in southern Guangdong Province to make his complaint.

"It's a highly emotional scene, but it's not out of hand," he said.

The requisition of land by local governments and crony development companies is a frequent cause for complaint in China as residents are evicted with little ceremony and scant compensation.

Tung `planting a time bomb' in HK

AP , HONG KONG
 

Pro-democracy lawmakers yesterday accused Hong Kong's leader of "planting a time bomb" in the territory by ignoring its people's desire for freedom, in their first question-and-answer session since a massive pro-democracy rally on July 1.

Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa responded by saying he had listened to the people's views but had to follow Beijing's instructions.

Pro-democracy Legislator Andrew Cheng accused the unpopular Tung of "taking an unconcerned attitude toward our democratic aspirations."

"If you continue to take this attitude, don't you worry that you are planting a time bomb for your administration?" Cheng asked Tung.

It was Tung's first public showdown with lawmakers since the protest, which organizers said attracted 530,000 people. Police said the crowd numbered 200,000.

"Mr. Tung, how many people do you want to see marching in the streets before you line up with them and urge the central government to give us democracy?" Cheng asked.

Tung said he had relayed the Hong Kong people's aspirations to the central government, but said that was about all he could do.

Beijing issued a "binding" decision in April that ruled out direct elections for Tung's successor in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008, so it was now his job to implement the ruling, not question it, Tung said.

Beijing also said it would need to give advance approval for any political reforms being considered in Hong Kong.

Separately, a top official with China's government liaison office here, Peng Qinghua, again told reporters that it was not practical to make fresh demands for direct elections in 2007 and 2008.

Peng said the recent march was peaceful but called it "irresponsible" to stir up demands for something Beijing has already ruled out.

Tung yesterday repeated Bei-jing's claim that a quick move toward full democracy would be a threat to political stability and the economy.

"The decision by the central government is for the long-term benefit of Hong Kong," Tung said. "We cannot simply view this from the Hong Kong point of view, we have to view the matter from our country's point of view."

Tung refused to respond to a question from opposition Legislator Emily Lau about why he thought a quicker shift toward democracy would be harmful to Hong Kong. Lau is one of Tung's fiercest critics and he said her queries reflected "the lack of communication" between them.

Beijing's actions have escalated tensions between Hong Kong's pro-democracy and pro-government camps. Critics charged that Beijing violated its promise to give Hong Kong a significant deal of political autonomy following its return from Britain to China in 1997.

Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, sets out full democracy as an eventual goal but gives no timetable.

Ordinary citizens in Hong Kong have no say in picking their leader. Tung was chosen by a committee loyal to Beijing, although rank-and-file voters will directly elect 30 of 60 lawmakers in September, up from 24 in 2000.

In a conciliatory gesture, Tung told lawmakers he needed time to help pro-democracy lawmakers obtain the necessary permits to visit China. Beijing has long viewed opposition politicians as troublemakers and banned them from entering, but Chinese officials have indicated they will relent in a bid to improve ties.

Last week, Beijing issued a travel permit to a prominent Hong Kong filmmaker and rights activist, John Shum, who then flew to China for the first time in 15 years.

Report says investment in China may injure Taiwan

By Joy Su
STAFF REPORTER

The large amount of investment Taiwan pumps into China will leave economic development in China's hands, and could result in high unemployment rates and an unequal distribution of income, according to a paper issued by the Taipei Society.

The paper offered a critique of the policies President Chen Shui-bian has implemented over the past four years in office.

"Taiwan's dependence on the Chinese export market has already surpassed Taiwan's dependence on the US export market. This allows China to easily implement policies that interfere with Taiwan's exports, and as such with Taiwan's industrial development. China is thus able to control Taiwan's economic lifeline," the paper stated.

In addition, unemployment has continued to rise, going from 4.71 percent in 2001 to 5 percent in 2002, according to the paper.

However, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), the unemployment rate for 2002 was 5.17 percent, and the unemployment rate for last year was 4.99 percent. The jobless rate now stands at 4.31 percent as of last month, its lowest point in three years, according to DGBAS.

The paper also says that while 28 percent of all unemployment was a result of the closing down of businesses in 1999, the corresponding figure was 46 percent in 2001.

"If investment in China and the replacement of products made in Taiwan with Chinese products happen too quickly, Taiwan will suffer serious unemployment and uneven income distribution. Societal stability could even be affected," the paper states.

Prescribing a remedy for the economic difficulties brought about by cross strait investment, the paper calls for policies that seek to boost Taiwan's technological capabilities and to enter into trade partnerships with nations more advanced than Taiwan.

"Taiwan needs to usher in new technology by cooperating more with countries more developed than our own, and less with countries less developed than Taiwan," said Wang To-far, an economics professor at National Taipei University and author of the portion of the paper focusing on the reform of cross-strait economic exchanges.

"We should encourage innovation ... and award research and development. For example, we need to establish laws that really protect intellectual property rights. The US is not the only source of pressure for better intellectual property laws .... how do you encourage research and development without it?" Wang told the Taipei Times yesterday.

The paper further states that as Taiwanese investment in China could entail external costs, it is important to be careful in establishing regulations.

When Taiwanese apply to invest in China, the government should require a report assessing the overall impact the investment could have on Taiwan's economy and national security, the report said, comparing such a report to the environmental impact assessments necessary for construction projects.

"Wang believes that the government needs to give potential investors more detailed and comprehensive information on the risks and benefits of investing in China," Taipei Society secretary Hsu Yung-ming said yesterday.

The paper also calls for "sunshine laws" governing investments in China to make information regarding investments in China more transparent. Laws to prevent technology from leaking to the Chinese market were also referred to as necessary precautionary measure.

Hsu suggested that the research and development headquarters of businesses be established in Taiwan, instead of China, as a means of protecting Taiwan's technological capabilities.

"The degradation of Taiwan's investment environment in recent years and the lack of business opportunities have led to capital outflow, and in particular to Taiwanese businesspeople investing in China. The main reasons for the poor state of Taiwan's investment environment are the government's administrative inefficiency, the bad timing of legal regulations and the lack of basic infrastructure projects. In addition, the effects of economic liberalization and the privatization of state-run enterprises have not been apparent," the paper said.

Status quo defined by US

The phrase "one China," now ubiquitous, is widely misunderstood and leads to endless problems, as your essay about A-mei and her travails makes clear (online title: "What does `one China' truly mean?"; print title: "Taiwan not a province of China," July 12, page 8).

The US has never recognized Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. This was true even when the US recognized the Republic of China as the legitimate government of all China. Even then, the US acknowledged only administrative control of Taiwan. The whole point of the complex wording of the Shanghai Communique and other documents was to avoid conceding sovereignty, while giving China enough face for the reconciliation process to continue. Our position over sovereignty has been regularly, but quietly, reiterated ever since and is unlikely to change.

So if "one China" does not mean that Taiwan is part of China, what does it mean? I gather that phrase was introduced accidentally during the Clinton administration in the text of a poorly drafted letter to Beijing which has never been made public. This suggests that we did not know what we meant when we introduced the wording; we were above all concerned with mollifying China.

But one interpretation of the phrase does make sense.

Although the US recognized both East and West Germany, and will conceivably recognize both Seoul and Pyongyang, in the case of governments claiming to represent China (as did those of both Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek, though Taipei has discarded the latter's claim in practice), the US has instead chosen to impose upon itself the rule that it must choose only one. "One China" thus tells us nothing about territory. It only tells us which government we recognize, given that we can pick only one. This can be compared to the Hallstein Doctrine, which required recognition of only one Germany -- and which was wisely discarded.

The problem with the US position today is that all of our diplomacy -- at least until the important statement made by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly to Congress in April -- has been premised on the expectation that somehow Taiwan and China would work things out, rendering issues of sovereignty moot. As Kelly has now made clear, this outcome seems unlikely, and therefore the US position is to maintain the status quo "as we define it."

This is not ideal and it will completely satisfy neither side, but it does give official recognition to a situation that both can live with, and if they have any sense, they will work within this new framework rather than challenge it. Ultimate resolution, alas, appears as distant as ever.

Arthur Waldron

Lauder Professor of International Relations,University of Pennsylvania

Thieves and thugs run China

Taiwanese people know that today's China has become a haven for Taiwanese gangsters and economic criminals.

For humanitarian reasons and for the safety of air travelers, the government began in the 1990s to send Chinese hijackers seeking freedom back to China, in accordance with international regulations. This has stopped people from using such violent means to escape. However, to this day, Taiwan's efforts to improve cross-strait relations have not been reciprocated by China. On the contrary, Beijing uses Chinese criminals to repeatedly attack the nation, politically and economically.

Today, not only is Beijing not willing to let illegal Chinese immigrants be repatriated in a timely manner, but it shelters many criminals who have committed serious crimes in this country, allowing them to use China as a base and continue their vicious actions against Taiwanese businesspeople and the public. How can such a bad neighbor ever win acceptance from the Taiwanese people?

For example, fugitive Hsueh Chiu has sent DVDs from China to Taiwan to blackmail people. In addition, investigations often show that the criminal gangs behind many large and small cases of extortion are hiding in China, in particular in the coastal provinces. In fact, just last week Shanghai police solved a case involving a criminal gang teaching Taiwanese how to swindle Taiwanese businesspeople. Police here claim that these people, along with people such as Kuang San Enterprise Group president Tseng Cheng-jen , who recently jumped bail; former Control Yuan member and Kaohsiung City councilor Chu An-hsiung; and former Tuntex Group chairman Chen Yu-hao are hiding out in China, where authorities allow them to travel freely in and out of the country.

In terms of the cross-strait relationship, it is all but obvious that Beijing is hoping to indulge these criminals and thereby achieve its goal of destroying Taiwan's economic stability, social order and political harmony. China's use of Chen Yu-hao to launch a fierce attack on President Chen Shui-bian during the presidential election showed the Taiwanese people that one of the main reasons that these criminals are allowed to hide in China is that China hopes that they can be used as tools with which to attack and vilify Taiwan's leaders.

On the international stage, China has not only sought to prevent Taiwan from gaining observer status in the World Health Organization, but more recently it also sought to obstruct the nation's participation in the International Symposium on Economic Crime hosted by Cambridge University. It was only because the organizers refused to bow to pressure from the Chinese embassy in the UK that Beijing did not achieve its goal. But is there any need for such seminars, which aim to achieve peace, health, safety and happiness for people around the world, to be drawn into such a political whirlpool? China's rulers obviously think so, and they have even sought to drum up blame and criticism over Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit to Taipei. They are hysterical, and their actions cannot but look ridiculous in the eyes of Taiwanese.

Taiwan, with its democracy, freedom and rule of law, stands in stark contrast to the tyrannical ways of China. This is something that all the world can see. Moreover, Taiwanese can now see the ulterior motives behind Beijing's willingness to provide a haven for Taiwan's felons.

This kind of despicable behavior only reveals the true face of the Chinese Communist Party's power. It shows that China's leaders are no better than a pack of thieves and assures that Taiwanese with ideals and aspirations will want nothing to do with them.