China's tyranny on Sep 16, 2004

Is the world led by China's tyranny?

China has once again been issuing orders to an international organization, which, as usual, afraid of disobeying China's "imperial decrees," belittled and oppressed Taiwan on China's behalf. This time, that organization was the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and the target was Taiwan's first lady Wu Shu-jen, who is confined to a wheelchair and doesn't constitute the slightest threat to the Paralympic Games. The IPC not only stripped Wu of her status as leader of the Taiwanese team, it also issued her with a GT card, a low-level pass.

In fact, the name of any international organization could be substituted for the IPC. Each time Taiwan participates in an international event, all China has to do to humiliate Taiwan is to apply a little pressure, making it appear that there is no room for international justice or humanism. As even the lofty Paralympics are sacrificed on China's political altar, it seems the whole world is being lead by China's tyranny.

China and the world won't even leave a disabled Taiwanese woman in peace! We really do live in a world that bullies the weak and fears the strong.

To our knowledge, the primary goal of the Paralympic Games is to highlight the athletes' spirit and to encourage the disabled. It is a symbolic way of saying that the world has space for them. Not only do the nation's athletes actively participate in the sports event, Taiwan has also sent its first lady to lead the delegation. Instead, she has been humiliated by China and the IPC, which stripped her of her status as head of the delegation, outrageously saying that the Taiwanese team leader should be Chen Lee-chou, the president of Taiwan's National Paralympic Committee (NPC), because Wu is only the honorary president of the organization.

The IPC pointed out that, according to the Committee's policy, a team leader should be either the president or secretary-general of each country's NPC. However, both New Zealand and Australia have also broken this rule. Their delegations are led by neither their NPC presidents nor secretaries-general.

The situation for Wu's husband, President Chen Shui-bian, is even worse. With Taiwan being blocked from UN participation, the video conference between Chen and the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), originally planned to be held inside UN headquarters yesterday evening, was in the end held in a hotel outside the UN premises as a result of China's objections and the UN authorities' compliance to these. When not even a video transmission of Taiwan's president can be broadcast from inside the UN headquarters, we wonder what the UN's founding principles were? To leave the weak at the mercy of the strong? To assist wrongdoers and support tyrants?

We cannot help but admire Anthony Jenkins, a lone and brave journalist. Using what little power he has as president of UNCA, he gave his full support to Chen's video conference, standing alone against the evil Chinese empire and its appendage, the UN.

Compared to Jenkins, the section chief of the UN desk in China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one Kofi Annan, is a small-minded wimp. Jenkins, the solitary hero, will be the person whose name should be remembered in the annals of international political history, not Annan. The UN has had a host of secretaries-general. Who will remember Annan?

Chen holds conference with UN media

INTERNATIONAL PLEA: The president last night reaffirmed the nation's commitment to joining the international organization, while calling for an open dialogue with China

By Huang Tai-lin
STAFF REPORTER , WITH AGENCIES

In an unprecedented video conference with the United Nation Correspondents Association (UNCA) last night, President Chen Shui-bian called on the organization to help arrange a summit meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and himself.

The president spoke on behalf of Taiwan's UN bid, saying that Taiwan's unfair exclusion from the world body was tantamount to being an "international vagabond" and thus the country was the "victim of political apartheid."

Arguing that UN Resolution 2758, which recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the representative of the people of China, did not address Taiwan's status, Chen said it is regrettable that "Resolution 2758 is wrongly interpreted to justify Taiwan's exclusion from taking part in the UN, and to deny the basic right of Taiwan's 23 million people to join the UN family."

According to UN Resolution 2758 in 1971, the PRC was dubbed the "only legitimate representative" of China. China's UN seat had previously been held by the Republic of China under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime of Chiang Kai-shek.

"Taiwan is Taiwan. It will not and can not compete with China's representative in the UN," Chen said. Citing the participation of both North Korea and South Korea and West Germany and East Germany as examples of a similar situation during his speech, Chen made a point of saying that Taiwan's pursuit of UN membership was not a challenge to the PRC's place in UN.

"A free and democratic country like Taiwan ... should not be a missing piece [in the world community]," Chen said during his 10-minute opening remarks in the conference.

Noting his recent decision to cancel a portion of the Han Kuang live-fire military drill, Chen stated that his intention was to demonstrate Taiwan's sincere desire and determination for cross-strait peace.

China's incessant obstruction of Taiwan would only further lacerate the feelings of Taiwanese people toward China and further the distance between the two, Chen said, adding that Taiwan would not shy away from its duty to get involved in international affairs.

"The president will, through the event, highlight the unfairness of Taiwan's exclusion from the world body and call on the international community to support Taiwan's UN membership bid, based on the principle of equality," said Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang yesterday, prior to the staging of the one-hour conference which started at 10:30pm Taiwan time.

Due to "obstruction from China" and the UN's assertion that holding the videoconference on UN property would violate UN resolutions, officials were forced to relocate the interview to nearby UN Plaza Hotel from its original location, the association's clubroom inside UN headquarters.

Given the location change, the videoconference thus was no longer hosted by the UNCA, but rather the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York, as UNCA president Anthony Jenkins said that he did not want to set a precedent.

During the one-hour videoconference, Chen gave an introductory speech, which was then followed by an English translation presented by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim.

In major shift, Japan to dub China a military threat

Hu Jintao attacks `Western' reform and local corruption

AFP , BEIJING

Chinese President Hu Jintao said yesterday that Western democratic reforms would lead China into a "blind alley," but he also lambasted the country's corrupt officials.

In a major speech marking the 50th anniversary of the National People's Congress (NPC), Hu urged legislators to crack down harder on corruption and abuse of power.

He also reiterated the Communist Party's (CCP) belief that China was a democratic country where the people were the "master of the nation."

"Exercising power without restriction or supervision is bound to result in power abuse and corruption," said Hu, who looked pudgy and pale as he spoke to the gathering at the Great Hall of the People in a 45-minute address.

"We must improve and strengthen the supervisory work of the people's congresses and increase the effectiveness of their supervision," he said.

"Currently, some local governments and government departments fail to strictly abide by or implement laws. Local protectionism, abuse of power and corruption have greatly impaired the image of the party and the state," he said.

Hu's speech came ahead of today's high-level meeting of the CCP Central Committee. It is expected to enact policies aimed at polishing the party's image and implementing a more robust anti-corruption regime.

After 25 years of unfettered capitalist economic reforms, government and party officials are increasingly seen as having enriched themselves through their powers and relationships, often at the expense of ordinary people.

As Hu delivered his speech, Beijing police continued rounding up thousands of disenfranchised petitioners who are in the capital largely to complain about injustices and corruption.

Hu, long seen as still being in the shadow of his predecessor Jiang Zemin, has been unable to make his personal mark on his period in office.

Yet on Wednesday he urged improvements to the system of people's congresses as a way to remedy power abuses and return political power to the people.

"The people's congress system, established under the Communist Party, lays a political foundation for China's socialist system and greatly mobilizes the enthusiasm of the people of all nationalities in building and administering the country," Hu said. "The 50-year practice has fully proved that the people's congress system, as the fundamental political system, fits China's special conditions by embodying China's socialist characteristics and representing Chinese people's rights as the master of the country."

But Hu stressed that "people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees must consciously put themselves under the party's leadership."

Hu said that no Western democratic practices -- such as separating the powers of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary and direct multi-party and multi-candidate elections at the top levels of government -- would be implemented.

"History indicates that indiscriminately copying Western political systems is a blind alley for China," Hu said. "All the political systems introduced into old China ... failed to change their nature as representative of the interests of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism, and the Chinese people remained in the miserable position as the oppressed, the enslaved and the exploited."

Taiwan can win broad support by using sport

By Lin Wan-yi

Thanks to the Olympic gold medals won by Taiwanese athletes in Athens, the people of Taiwan can now believe that our nation is capable of winning internationally. The feeling of always ranking second is very frustrating.

After experiencing how sweet victory tastes after Taiwan's sports achievements, what will we do next? Minister of the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Chen Chuan-show promised President Chen Shui-bian in person that Taiwan's goal is to win seven gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Based on our big population, stable economy, broad-based education and benign climate conditions, it is without doubt that Taiwan has the ability to win at least seven gold medals. Many small and medium-sized countries around the world perform better than we do. Taiwan had performed poorly in previous Olympic Games; if we want others to respect us, we must first possess the fundamental will to win.

Earning a gold medal in the Olympics is not easy for a country. There are three principle requirements: A large number of participants, a strategic cultivation program and sufficient funds. The making of a professional athlete doesn't simply come by diligent practicing and training, but also requires athletic talent; thus, the more people participate in sports, the more likely it is that quality sports potential can be singled out.

Furthermore, participating in sports activities needs opponents as well as applause to stimulate excitement and a sense of competition. Taiwan's former education system overemphasized intellectual development. This has caused Taiwan's young generation to be weak physically. On top of this, computer technology, wealth and insufficient sports facilities combine to reduce the number of people taking part in sports.

There are two approaches to winning prizes: One is choosing the right sports categories, and the other is strategically cultivating athletes. If our ultimate goal is to win gold medals, it would be wise to select sports categories that best suit the Taiwanese physique.

Nevertheless, regarding our national situation, we should challenge others by also going for sports categories that attract a wider audience and participants. A systematic cultivation of athletes requires a graded training and competition program, which will facilitate the process of chasing medals.

The auxiliary measures such as sports nutrition, coaches and training facilities all cost money; therefore, they should be integrated with sports funds to give athletes a friendly training environment. Nevertheless, it is not ideal to use money as an incentive for athletic excellence.

Though it may seem cost effective to give out rewards of only some NT$100 million to medal winners and have our national flag hoisted in the international sports arena, it in fact degrades the essence of sports by making it a marketable commodity rather than an activity for developing the body.

Today, Taiwan's situation in the international society is charged with danger. We cannot display our national flag and sing our national anthem. Therefore, apart from taekwondo, archery and baseball, we must find some other sports categories that can better summon group cooperation, give a boost to the morale, touch the public's hearts and stir up national dialogues. I think soccer would be a good choice since it is a sport that invigorates people's passion and strengthens national identity.

I dream of one day, maybe after 12 years, we will be able to enter the top 32 in international soccer. By that time, the international support we receive will definitely outweigh competition through military armaments.

Lin Wan-yi is a professor of the department of social work at National Taiwan University.