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Only the top two officials at the nation's Permanent Mission to the WTO are identified by their titles, while all lower-ranking officials only have their names and areas of expertise listed.

"This is important because it shows a lack of respect for Taiwan and the dignity of its government," foreign ministry spokesman Michel Lu told the Taipei Times yesterday.

"It is a question of protocol," he said.

Lu noted, however, that the directory did not constitute a legal document and therefore had no practical effect on the status of Taiwan's mission to the trade organization.

Officials from the WTO Information and Media Relations Division in Geneva were not available for comment at press time last night.

When asked whether the Taiwanese government had uncovered any evidence that China had pushed for the changes in an attempt to downgrade the status of the permanent mission, Lu had a quick reply.

"Everyone is aware of the situation. If it's not China, then who is it?" he asked. "Although China has talked about its `goodwill' and helping Taiwan to take part in the international community, the truth is that over the last several years, Beijing has made an effort to squeeze Taiwan's diplomatic space."

Both Hong Kong and Macau's representative bodies are officially called "Economic and Trade Offices," Lu said, the same title that the WTO had previously asked Taiwan to use for its delegation.

"So I ask you: If not Beijing, then who?" he said.

The directory was printed earlier this month and was distributed last week, a statement from the ministry released yesterday said.

Taiwan's Permanent Mission was not informed of the changes in the directory until a day before distribution -- long after the directories had been printed, Lu said.

Taiwan's representatives have lodged verbal and written protests with the WTO Secretariat, the spokesman added.

The ministry previously accused the WTO Secretariat of urging Taiwan to downgrade its status in May 2003. On that occasion, the ministry claimed the secretariat had said that Taiwan's representative body at the organization should take on a status equivalent to Hong Kong's economic and trade office.

In its statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the WTO's move as "ignoring the principles of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization." It also said that the WTO should not allow itself to be threatened by any single member of the 148-member organization.

Taiwan and China joined the WTO in January 2002 under a deal in which Taiwan agreed that it would not be classified as a sovereign state, but rather as the "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."

The country's representative office is called the "Permanent Mission of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."

Spanish lawsuit takes aim at former Beijing leadership

AFP , EL ESCORIAL, SPAIN

A Spanish lawsuit against former Chinese leaders over repression in Tibet will put severe pressure on Beijing and place the government's human-rights record firmly in the spotlight, leading Tibetan dissidents said.

Spain's Committee for Support of Tibet revealed at the start of a five-day human-rights symposium at El Escorial, just outside Madrid, that it had lodged the suit at Spain's high court against former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and former premier Li Peng as well as five other officials.

High-profile dissidents Takna Jigme Sangpo and Palden Gyatso enthusiastically greeted the news at a five-day symposium on "Terrorism and Torture," which chairman and top Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon opened on Monday with a roundtable discussion.

"We are not against the material and economic development of China, which we welcome. But my purpose here is to tell the truth of my experiences and imprisonment and show there are no human rights in China," said Takna, who has spent half of his 79 years in jail for fomenting protests against Chinese occupation.

"I am upset that people keep talking about China and how it is developing -- but not about what is happening in Tibet," Takna said.

"China has been exploiting and destroying Tibet," the bearded former teacher said. "This conference will publicize our rights and suffering so people will listen to our experiences."

Palden, whose dissident activities earned him 33 years in detention in prison and labor camps, wrote a book, Fire under the Snow, about his life-long struggle against Chinese occupation, which has been translated into a number of languages, including Spanish.

"China is like the snow covering us, and I am the fire underneath. I am still burning," Palden said calmly but defiantly.

"China needs more human rights, more democracy. They have minorities of their own," he said, adding that the international community too often "pays too much lip service" to the issue of rights and democratic freedoms.

Ngawang Sangdrol, a nun jailed for 21 years for demonstrating for a free Tibet, also addressed the symposium, remarking that Tibetans were united in their support of the Dalai Lama and stressing dissidents' belief in non-violence because "hatred only engenders more suffering and more hatred."

Ngawang, first jailed for nine months at age 13, spent much of her sentence in the notorious Drapchi Prison in Lhasa before international pressure helped win her release three years ago, nine years before completing her prison term.

The dissidents all related tales of incessant beatings and other forms of torture, including receiving shocks from cattle prods.

"The Chinese said that if we confessed they would be lenient -- but if not the punishment would be severe," Ngawang said. "Tibetans want to see the Dalai Lama back in Tibet and to be in charge of their own affairs."

But "few dare to speak out" in Tibet, where exiles claim that some 430,000 people died in a 1959 uprising.

Garzon, who tried but failed to have former Chilean president General Augusto Pinochet extradited to Spain to face human-rights charges but who is instrumental in pushing the concept of global justice, said governments had to lend unequivocal support.

Call for tests as China's bird-flu outbreak worsens

MIGRATORY THREAT: Thousands of birds have died in Qinghai Province, and UN officials fear the virus has begun to spread to other species of bird

AFP , BEIJING

"So the virus has obviously changed to be more pathogenic to animals. What it means to humans we don't know."

Julie Hall, WHO official

UN experts yesterday called for the urgent testing of a flock of migratory birds in China after they found an outbreak of deadly avian flu was more lethal than previously thought.

A total of 5,000 birds have died in a bird sanctuary in northwestern Qinghai Province, five times more than previously reported, according to officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) just back from visiting the area.

"This is the first time we've seen large numbers of migratory birds dying from bird flu [in the world]," said Julie Hall, the WHO official in charge of communicable diseases in China.

"So the virus has obviously changed to be more pathogenic to animals. What it means to humans we don't know," she told reporters in Beijing.

Some of the species infected in the outbreak discovered last month had not been affected by previous outbreaks in the region.

The officials expressed concern that China has tested only five of the 189 species of birds on the island and only 12 birds in total, all of them dead -- even though live birds pose a greater threat.

"I'm not so concerned about migratory birds if they just get very sick and die, but what concerns me the most is if we have many birds that are asymptomatic and they fly from here to 1,000km away," WHO China representative Henk Bekedam said.

That could affect other wild birds and domesticated animals, potentially devastating poultry industries.

The migratory birds are still on the island but will begin flying to other parts of China and to neighboring countries in August and September, presenting only "a small window of opportunity" to test them, experts said.

Chinese authorities have cordoned off a 50km radius around the "highly contaminated" nature reserve, restricting access and relocating residents, Hall said.

However, no cull has been carried out, as is often done with domesticated flocks, because some species are endangered, experts said.

"There [also] would obviously be logistical issues in trying to catch and kill them all," Hall said.

The five species known to be infected are bar-headed geese, great black-headed gulls, brown-headed gulls, ruddy shelducks and great cormorants.

Hall called for the immediate testing or electronic tagging of the animals to see which are infected and to trace where they are going.

"This is vital if we are to give an early warning to other countries before they come," she said.

The birds are expected to fly to the south and the west soon, but their migratory patterns are not clear, so other areas could also be under threat, FAO China representative Noureddin Mona said.

No human cases have been reported so far, but the fact the virus has now spread to new bird species could pose a greater risk for humans, Hall said.

"The more virus that's around, the more experience it has to experiment what it's like inside a human ... and the more chances it has to learn how to go from human to human," Hall said.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has so far been mainly transmitted between animals, but it has also killed 54 people in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia since 2003.

WHO officials expressed concern that only two people have been tested in the outbreak, saying anyone who has been in contact should be tested.

They are also urging China to supply virus sequencing information to the international community "as quickly as possible," so experts can determine whether the virus has become more pathogenic to birds as well as humans.

"It's very important to understand what this virus is. Is it resembling one we had last year in China, different from one in Vietnam?" Bekedam said.

TSU head says party will never have `China fever'

`FLEXIBLE STRATEGY': The country's most vociferous pro-independence political party said that it was willing to talk to China, but would not go out of its way to do so

By Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTER

In reaction to criticism that the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) had adjusted its policies toward China, TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強) yesterday said that his party will never follow the "Chinese fever" fomented by the pan-blue camp, stressing that the changes aim to give the party a more flexible strategy in dealing with China.

In an internal meeting held on Monday, the TSU's department of policy studies director Lee Hsien-jen, first proposed the idea that the TSU should reconsider its policies and attitudes when it comes to China -- a proposal that caused a lot of discussion.

Many pro-independence groups expressed their objections against the proposal.

To clarify the TSU's stance, Shu yesterday afternoon held a news conference to articulate the TSU's platform and the course of the party's China-policy adjustment.

"Facing such a new situation and developments between Taiwan and China, the TSU should make some changes -- some practical and feasible changes," Shu said.

"We hope that our supporters could know that the TSU is not made of granite that can't be broken," Shu said. "But I would like to assure them that the TSU will by no means catch the recent craze for China, like the pan-blue camp's leaders."

Shu said that the TSU adopted the principle of the "three noes": not self-contained, not rejective and not active, saying that the TSU will not take the initiative to contact China, which has been hostile to the pan-green camp.

The TSU supports "normal" cross-strait relations, but insists that three conditions are needed for the TSU to interact with China, Shu said.

First, China has to stop its suppression of Taiwan's diplomatic space and show its goodwill to Taiwan by not opposing its participation in international organizations such as the WTO or APEC.

Second, China cannot presume any stand on cross-strait interactions, including interaction with the TSU.

"If China doesn't presume its unification stand, the TSU won't presume its stand of [Taiwan's] independence," Shu said.

Third, cross-strait interaction cannot violate Taiwan's interests and the principles of equality, democracy and peace.

The TSU will definitely hold fast to its principles of anti-communism and protecting Taiwan's sovereignty.

"TSU will never accept Beijing's suggestion of unification in any form. It is wrong to say that the TSU has made a U-turn on its China policy," Shu said. "But if China shows its goodwill to Taiwan, the TSU will not shut its door. Besides, it's important for the TSU to have its voice heard in the government's policy toward China."

Shu said that the TSU will hold a series of seminars to collect the opinions of academics and officials to form a more concrete China policy.

Until an explicit policy has been established, the TSU will not initiate its interaction with China's official departments, Shu said. "So it's too early to say that the TSU will engage in inter-party interaction," he said, but added that he will not object to party members making trips to China.

As for the TSU's strong desire to participate in the Committee for Cross-Strait Peace and Development proposed by President Chen Shui-bian, Shu said that there is no problem of joining the committee, but that it depends on the Presidential Office's plan.

Shu pointed out that the notion of interacting with China was still under discussion and was not mature yet. Therefore, he has not reported the proposal to the TSU's spiritual leader, former president Lee Teng-hui.

Seeing its ally's transformation, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Chen Wen-tsang said yesterday that the DPP hoped that any political party that plans to go to China would refer to the DPP's "Resolution on Political Party Visits to China," and should help promote the accomplishments of Taiwan's democracy and freedom.

President Chen Shui-bian's rhetoric in recent days on Taiwan-China issues has alleviated grassroots pan-green supporters' apprehension as to whether the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration might have tilted toward a "gradual unification " policy, political analysts said.

"Gradual unification" refers to treatment of cross-strait relations as an internal affair, including the "gradual opening up" of investment in China and the wearing down of Taiwanese people's vigilance about the threat from China.

"The president's remarks suggested he, after all, had realized that the road to deepening and consolidating `Taiwanese consciousness' is the way to go and continue," said Thomas Hung, a political observer and a graduate research fellow in international relations at National Chengchi University.

In a speech last Saturday pushing for the second phase of constitutional reform, Chen called for the adoption of a more practical approach to national sovereignty to replace the old concepts dominated by a "greater China consciousness."

Chen then said "it will be impossible for Taiwan to become a normal country enjoying independent sovereignty, freedom and democracy unless it frees itself from this unrealistic political dogma."

In addition, Chen, acknowledging that Taiwan's high-tech industries have increasingly tilted to China, said on Monday in an interview with a local TV station that it is imperative for the government to impose some controls on China-based Taiwanese companies.

The stance stated by the president helped allay many pan-green supporters' anxieties over the DPP administration's possible tilt toward the so-called "gradual unification," said political observers, in view of latest add-on to such worries earlier this month, after an announcement made by Premier Frank Hsieh concerning cross-strait relations.

While attending a banquet hosted by an association of Taiwanese businesspeople, Hsieh said he had appointed the Taipei Airline Association to negotiate cross-strait cargo charter flights and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council to negotiate expanded exports of agricultural products from Taiwan to China.

"The remarks made by Chen are soothing to the ears of many pan-greens, who otherwise feared the DPP administration might have fallen into the trap of `gradual unification,'" Hung said.

Chen had also helped to ease relations between the president and pro-independence elders, with whom a rather sour relationship had developed in the wake of Chen's consent to the China visit made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong last month, Hung added.

While some political watchers commented that the bumpy road to reconciliation with the opposition parties was one main reason behind Chen's changes of stance from previous ambiguity to the recent affirmation of pan-green ideology, political commentator and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Magazine Chin Heng-wei had a different view.

"Chen's basic stance [in upholding the construction of Taiwan consciousness] has always been the same," Chin said.

"What changed was his strategy, which varied according to short-term goals," he added.

The Chen-Soong meeting, for instance, was the product of such a strategy, Chin said, referring to the meeting between Chen and Soong in February.

A 10-point joint statement was produced following the meeting, in which Chen reiterated that he would not change the country's official name during his term in office. This had subsequently irked many pan-green supporters.

"The aim of the strategy then was hoping to obtain the PFP's cooperation in the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan to support the government's bills," Chin said.

Echoing Chin's remarks, chairman for the World United Formosans for Independence Ng Chiau-tong said "Chen has always been walking on the road toward building Taiwan consciousness."

Ng, who resigned from the presidential policy adviser post in March to express his exasperation over the content of the Chen-Soong accord, however did acknowledge that the relations between Chen and pro-independence leaders "has improved" lately.

NEW PABILITY: A senior military figural said Taiwan was as good as inviting China to commence hostilities by stalling an arms-procurement package from the US

Taiwan risks losing its military edge over China－and support from the US－if the legislature fails to approve a NT$480 billion (US$15.3 billion) arms budget, a senior defense ministry official said late on Monday.

"Failure to pate the arms purchase bill means our fighting power cannot be improved at a time when Communist China's defense spending is growing at double-digit percentage points every year," General Political Warfare Bureau director-general Hu Chen-pu said.

"The reason Communist China has not used force against us is not because of its goodwill, but because of a lack of capability," Hu said in an interview.

The interview was Hu's first with overseas media since he took office in February.

“As the gap grows wider and wider, we are in fact encouraging them to attack,” he said.

Hu said the package of six Patriot anti-missile batteries, eight diesel-electric submarines and 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft would deter China from waging war and ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait for 30 years.

Without it, China would be capable of launching an attack against Taiwan in two years, he said, citing US experts.

"If we don't buy the weapons we need, other people will think we don't have the determination to defend ourselves," said Hu, whose bureau has launched a series of campaigns to win public support for the budget.

"If we are too weak to fight, they will give up on us. Will the Americans risk its soldiers being killed because of Taiwan?" he said.

The legislature's delay in approving the arms deal has fueled worries in Washington that Taipei is not serious about its own defense, with some senior US officials calling the budget a litmus test for US Taiwan relations.

The Pentagon has raised the alarm over China’s military modernization for years. US secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld accused China earlier this month of expanding its missile forces and capabilities and enhancing its ability to project power at a time when it faced no threat.

Last year, the Pentagon said that China had more than 500 short-range ballistic missiles deployed near Taiwan. It also said that Beijing's defense spending of US$50 billion to US$70 billion ranked third behind the US and Russia, and was aimed at winning a possible conflict with Taiwan and exerting its power across the region.

But opposition parties say the US weapons are overpriced and the money can be better spent on education and social welfare.

Hu also said that Taiwan was trying to prepare its soldiers for a possible war even as closer trade ties and private exchanges with China threaten to confuse them over who the enemy is.

For the first time in years, the military has included a week of psychological warfare training in this year’s annual Han Kuang(“Chinese Glory”) war games to counter threats from China－both military and psychological, Hu said.

"What worries us the most is that our soldiers may mistakenly think a war is unlikely," he said. "It is very dangerous for the military to think that way."

The US first offered the package of advanced weapons in 2001 in what would be the biggest arms sale to Taiwan in more than a decade.

STATE-RUN CHURCH: Joseph Xing Wenzhi promised to `loyally serve' the pope and submit himself to papal authority in a move to improve ties with the Vatican

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Xing Wenzhi, 42, right, is accompanied by Shanghai Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, left, during Xing's consecration ceremony at St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai yesterday.

Hundreds of Catholics packed Shanghai's cathedral yesterday for the consecration of a new bishop who leaders of the official government-backed church hope will help ease a rift with Rome.

Joseph Xing Wenzhi, 42, was made auxiliary bishop in a ceremony led by Shanghai Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, the representative of the government church who at age 89 is giving up many of his administrative duties.

China's government has no formal relations with Rome and rejects the pope's authority to pick bishops.

However, Jin said in an interview earlier this month that both Rome and Beijing authorities have tacitly agreed to Xing's appointment as his top aid and successor.

Many Chinese Catholics reject the authority of Jin and others in the official Church, preferring to worship in underground congregations with their own clergy. They regard another elderly priest, Joseph Fan Zhongliang, as Shanghai's true bishop.

Fan, who reportedly suffers from Alzheimer's disease, has been under virtual house arrest for the past five years.

Jin, however, claims the Vatican has indicated it would not recognize a successor to Fan in the underground church.

"Rome said that after the death of the underground church bishop, no more division," Jin said in the interview

Vatican spokesmen have not commented on Xing's appointment, although experts say such an arrangement was likely.

While Rome insists only it has the right to appoint bishops, it has quietly endorsed an unknown number of clerics appointed by the official Chinese church.

Xing's consecration ceremony appeared to strive for a balance between the sides. He pledged in his vows to "loyally serve" the pope in Rome and promised to subordinate himself to papal authority.

However, he pledged also to work for "social stability" and build a "basically well-off society," key Communist Party buzzwords in its broad appeal for public support.

Dozens of nuns and clergymen from the Shanghai diocese attended the ceremony dressed in colorful vestments. Parishioners were watched outside by uniformed police and plainclothes security officers speaking into two-way radios.

Born into a devoutly Catholic family in Shandong Province, Xing has years of experience as a church educator and has traveled extensively abroad as part of the Chinese church's work to build ties abroad. He spent the last two years as a student in the US.

On Saturday, President Chen Shui-bian said that along with the emergence of a discourse on the country's sovereignty and the gradual fading of outdated ideologies, Taiwan is preparing for an overhaul of the Constitution -- a program about which he feels very optimistic. Chen then cited the abolition of the National Assembly and the incorporation of the public's right to referendums in the Constitution as examples of success in this process -- and indicative of the readiness of this country to commence a second phase of reforms.

The focus of the new phase will likely be shaping a three-branch government, establishing a presidential system and abolishing the provincial government. Among the many flaws in the Constitution is a five-branch government in which the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan play virtually no role in checking and balancing the powers of the other three branches, thus defeating the purpose of their existence and wasting taxpayers' money. This unique "co-habitation" form of government is also unlike the presidential, Cabinet and other forms of government elsewhere in the world. As for the provincial government, almost everyone agrees that it is a waste of money.

The Constitution has been subjected to major amendments on seven occasions. Yet it is still beset with problems. Each time an amendment is made to fix a problem, new ones are created. This process of repeated amendments has become something of a nightmare. When will it end? When will people finally accept that the time and energy spent on revising and amending the Constitution would probably be better spent on customizing a new one? Many came to this conclusion long ago, but are prohibited from acting on the problem because of pressure and coercion from China and China's advocates here at home.

Some changes to the Constitution remain taboo -- namely, any amendment changing its "one China" framework. But this change is the most fundamental problem with the document. All other amendments -- while worthwhile and constructive -- cannot get to the heart of alleviating the predicament of Taiwanese identity.

Also on Saturday, Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen said that the issues of changing the national title and revising the nation's territory will have to be addressed when reforming the Constitution. He speaks the truth. Unless these matters are addressed through constitutional reform, the Constitution will never fully belong to Taiwan and will continue to bear the scars of an alien regime.

Of course, this does not mean that Taiwan should act in haste. While the nation has come a long way in terms of forging a sense of national identity and consciousness these past five years, one can hardly say that a consensus has been reached. As long as domestic divisions remain over these issues, any campaign to reform the Constitution in a way that befits Taiwan's sovereign status and answers its needs will face a serious backlash. In the shadow of China's threats and ambition, Taiwan simply cannot afford further internal disagreement.

Educating the general public remains as important as ever, and this is the next crucial step in building up the kind of consensus needed to carry on with constitutional reform.