Lee made the remarks yesterday while expressing his opinion about the current international situation to the members of the "Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association," a non-profit organization created to support Lee Teng-hui and his localization policies.

However, a senior US military official told the Taipei Times that it had been standing policy for the US to maintain a "nuclear deterrent," most of which is kept aboard a number of nuclear missile subs that are constantly on patrol worldwide.

The patrols were not specifically directed at China, and the missiles would only be given specific targeting instructions on the order of the US president, the source said.

Still, Lee encouraged the Taiwanese people to remain confident and not to be afraid of China, saying as it is "impossible" for China to attack Taiwan.

"Given the US nuclear submarines patrolling in the Pacific Ocean and all of their equipped nuclear warheads, China can't move at all. It would take at least an army of ten divisions for China to attack Taiwan, which is an impossible mission," Lee told the members.

It is unclear how Lee arrived at his conclusion, given that the People's Liberation Army is usually estimated to have at least 20 infantry divisions, 10 armor divisions, and five mechanized infantry divisions, not including its air, naval and special forces.

Lee said that Beijing was restrained by the US' military deployments, so the best measure China could exert to influence the Taiwanese people was to arrange visits by opposition leaders, Lee said.

These "pro-China" people went to Beijing to shake hands with the Communist leaders and to bow to the Chinese authorities because they couldn't accept the fact that Chen Shui-bian was elected president, Lee said.

"They should be blamed for their anti-democratic attitude. Actually, they are considered by many people in China as `fools,' but they don't know that. Ironically, they even tried to scare the Taiwanese people, because they wanted the people to listen to them," Lee said.

Lee reiterated that China is nothing to be afraid of. Instead, Taiwan should be cautious about these "pro-China" people who have tried to cheat Taiwanese people time and again, Lee said.

Despite his confidence about cross-strait security, Lee said that Taiwan can't pretend it cares nothing about arms procurement if it wishes to maintain relations with the US.

A special arms procurement budget bill worth NT$480 billion (US$15 billion) has been stuck in the legislature because of opposition from the pan-blue alliance.

"The new development of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Ma Ying-jeou being invited to visit Washington means that the US wants to preach to him the importance of the arms procurement package," Lee said.

In his wide-ranging comments, Lee also leveled criticism at the government's cross-strait policies.

"If the Executive Yuan decides to include Penghu into the scope of the small three links, I will stage a march against the government. I will oppose this policy to the end," Lee said.

The "small three links" refer to cargo, passenger and postal links between Kinmen and Xiamen, and Matsu and Mawei.

Lee's criticism came in the wake of the report by a Chinese-language newspaper last week that Penghu County could be approved to serve as another transit port between the two sides of the Strait, just like Kinmen and Matsu under the small three links policy, which took effect in 2001.

The government, however, has already responded to the report, saying that it is not true.

"Penghu will still be subject to special regulations under the renewed small three links scheme, which means that only special cases approved by the government can be allowed to travel from Taiwan via Penghu to China," Johnnason Liu, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council was quoted as saying.

Liu said that the government might allow a commercial group to leave for China via Penghu in this September, but that the government was not prepared to let Penghu take on the general transit role.

Chen calls for dialogue

POLITICS: The president called for talks with opposition parties in a wide-ranging speech that also encompassed diplomatic tactics, succession in the DPP and fruit exports

By Chiu Yu-Tzu

STAFF REPORTER

President Chen Shui-bian yesterday said he will adopt an open, flexible mindset to smooth relations between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and opposition parties, and called for rational dialogue.

While delivering the opening speech for the 2005 Leaping Forward Workshop for Association Leaders, organized by the Institute of Democracy which is associated with DPP, Chen said that, when facing diverse issues, he had adopted a mindset that would allow him to both reconcile with stakeholders, while also maintaining an unflinching attitude that ensured a firm stance.

Similarly, when facing speculation on potential candidates in the DPP to succeed him, Chen said he employed the same attitude.

"A real leader cannot be designated in advance. A leader will be naturally recognized based on his or her long-term accomplishments rather than short-term speculation in political circles," Chen said.

Chen said that flexibility has to be kept in mind when dealing with both domestic matters and diplomatic affairs.

"Before leaping higher and farther, you have to squat lower to gather the energy you need. The strategy is about flexibility and nimbleness," Chen said.

Taking cross-strait relations as an example, Chen said that at many critical moments in the past, Taiwan had adopted flexible and practical strategies to deal with China's interference with Taiwan's participation in the international community, enabling the nation's interests to be defended.

"That's why Taiwan became the 144th member of the World Trade Organization and was also able to take part in activities run by the World Health Organization," Chen said.

Chen added that the pleasant atmosphere during cross-strait flights for the Lunar New Year holidays had quickly been destroyed by China's passage of its "Anti-Secession" Law aimed at blocking any moves toward Taiwanese independence.

Chen said that China's luring in of leaders of opposition parties in Taiwan months ago and its recent offer of tariff-free imports for some Taiwanese fruit were tricks aimed at dividing the Taiwanese people.

"However, the Taiwanese government ruled by the DPP continues to adopt cautious, practical and rational strategies to maintain a state of equilibrium ensuring both democracy in Taiwan and cross-strait peace," Chen said.

Meanwhile, Chen said he would also like to adopt an open mindset to smooth relations between the DPP and opposition parties.

"I'd like to reconcile and start a rational dialogue with opposition parties, without calculating political interests," Chen said.

Chen was accompanied by Premier Frank Hsieh at the event yesterday. DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang, meanwhile, was too busy to attend.

Japan recognizes Taiwan's worth

By Tsai Zheng-jia

On Friday, the Japanese Diet passed legislation to give Taiwan passport-holders visa-free entry into Japan. This move is of the utmost significance to Taiwan-Japan relations, both in practical and in substantial terms.

In practical terms, Taiwan's economic strength has gained a high level of recognition. Japan is very protective of its local industries, so whether or not to offer visa-free entry to people from another country is usually decided on the basis of the wealth of that country.

This is done to avoid problems with illegal workers. In Asia, Japan has given visa-free entry to South Korea, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong and Macau, all of which have high per capita incomes. Taiwan is the sixth country to earn this privilege, and we can see from this that Taiwan's economic achievements are now being recognized.

Taiwan and Japan do not have direct diplomatic relations, but officials make regular visits. The biggest source of tourism to Taiwan is from Japan, with a total of 880,000 tourists visiting from Japan last year. According to Japanese government figures, of tourists visiting Japan, Taiwan is second only to South Korea, with a total of 1,080,000 visitors. The approval of visa-free entry for Taiwanese passport holders is a mark of the high level of exchange that takes place between the two countries.

At a time when Japan's economy remains in the doldrums, the large and still growing number of Taiwanese tourists has been very attractive to the Japanese government. Allowing temporary visa-free entry to Taiwanese during the Aichi Expo and then continuing this into a permanent arrangement is an indication of the close economic relationship between the two countries.

In substantial terms, the passage of this legislation takes Taiwan-Japan relations into a new era, and it is also a turning point in the triangular relationship between Taiwan, China and Japan.

Firstly, this is a break from Japan's balancing act on the cross-strait issue. Even after 1972, when Japan broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China, it maintained close economic ties with Taiwan. Taking into consideration both political and economic issues, Japan pursued a policy of finding a balance across the Strait, while trying to avoid antagonizing China.

At the beginning of this year, when Japan announced that it would give Taiwanese visitors visa-free entry for six months over the period of the Aichi Expo, it also announced visa-free entry for Chinese university students visiting Japan on graduation trips. But on this occasion, when announcing a permanent lifting of visa restrictions on Taiwanese passport holders, it made no conciliatory offer to China, a clear break from its past careful balancing act.

In addition, it also indicates that the Japanese Diet has broken from purely practical considerations with regard to the cross-strait issue.

Given the practical considerations of international politics, pro-China members of the Diet far outnumber those who favor Taiwan, so that any measures that favor Taiwan are not generally passed. But in this instance, the formalization of visa-free entry for Taiwanese has won support from ruling coalition parties as well as the largest opposition party. This clearly indicates that members of the Diet have broken away from the ideological constraints in the cross-strait issue, and are gradually not just looking at practical benefits, but are taking a more grounded attitude towards considering its relationship with Taiwan.

Finally, this indicates that Japan's passing legislation in regard to Taiwan will now become routine. In the past, because Japan did not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, if Japan wished to present a bill related to Taiwan before the Diet, special preparatory legislation would have to be passed.

One of the reasons that a bill proposing visa-free entry to Japan was delayed for so long was due to the lack of such preparatory legislation. On this occasion, the Japanese government overcame a host of difficulties to present this bill, requiring the Diet's law committee chairman to make special provisions, before taking the bill to the House of Representatives. Now that special provision has been made for such bills, it is likely that more legislation related to Taiwan will follow.

We might say that the passage of the visa-free entry for Taiwanese tourists was made based on domestic economic considerations with the aim of attracting even more Taiwanese tourists, but in fact this piece of legislation has broken up the precarious balance of Taiwan-China-Japan relations that has existed for so long.

Tsai Zheng-jia is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the National Chengchi University.

Education reform is still needed for Taiwan

By Northern Taiwan Society, et al.

President Chen Shui-bian has put forward a four-stage theory of the development of the Republic of China (ROC): from the ROC in China to the ROC moving to Taiwan, the ROC in Taiwan and now, "The ROC is Taiwan." While what could be called the Taiwan theory inherent in this theory -- the ROC is Taiwan -- is praiseworthy, it also leads to worries over whether this is meant simply as a campaign ploy in for the year-end commissioner and mayoral elections.

In an attempt to get this policy implemented in the nation's education system, we ask the president to instruct Premier Frank Hsieh that he charge Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng with putting in place a policy to announce that national history means Taiwanese history and national literature, Taiwanese literature. We solemnly suggest the following.

First, Tu should draft a long-term plan making Taiwan the focus of curriculum design, including a curriculum outline for the nine-year compulsory school and a temporary outline for a high school curriculum.

Second, the current training of elementary and junior high school teachers does not comply with the requirements for a consistent curriculum during the nine years of compulsory schooling. The Ministry of Education should suggest measures to remedy this situation.

Concrete adjustments should be made to the training of senior high school teachers in Taiwanese history and literature. This could include, for example, reducing the number of education student enrolled in Chinese departments, or requiring that training in Chinese departments' national literature curriculum must come into compliance with the draft outline.

Third, current topics in the high school entrance exam are based on the junior high school curriculum. This does not comply with the spirit of the outline for a consistent curriculum for the nine-year compulsory school. Local elementary school curriculums should also include a basic knowledge evaluation. The basic test should therefore allow for counties and cities to set their own topics in order to fully comply with the demands for basic knowledge.

We are not advocating the desinicization of education in Taiwan. But Chinese history should be seen as just one part of the overall development of Taiwanese history, but given its proper place insofar as it has influenced Taiwan. Despite Tu's current efforts to increase the Taiwan focus in the nation's education system, these efforts are far from sufficient. Still, they are enough already to be criticized by China-friendly political parties, politicians and media.

These people can't really come out and say that the Taiwanese people should not be allowed to study Taiwanese literature or history. So instead they keep complaining about desinicization or pursue other measures to interfere with and try to bring down Tu.

Most regrettable of all is that the Cabinet has repeatedly tried to use the pretext of controversial issues to remove Tu in order to please these pro-China forces.

During the five years of DPP rule, the Ministry of Education has been led by Ovid Tzeng, who wasn't well liked by the public, Huang Jong-tsun, who effected minor improvements and now Tu, who is doing the best he can. If the spirit and knowledge of the sons and daughters of Taiwan remains the same as that of their ancestors, then that is the original sin of education. The Taiwanese people should give cautious and rational consideration to their support for the Cabinet.

This piece was a statement by the Northern Taiwan Society, Central Taiwan Society, Southern Taiwan Society, Eastern Taiwan Society, Japanese Cherry Society, Taiwan Professors Association, and the Union of Taiwanese Teachers.