HK official concerned over Shenzhen's pork recall

AP AND DPA , HONG KONG

A Hong Kong health official made a rare public complaint yesterday about China taking five days to explain why a massive pork recall was ordered just across the border in Shenzhen.

The pork recall last weekend caused a big health scare in the territory, which imports much of its pork and other food from China.

Hong Kong officials first found out about the massive pork recall last Saturday through media reports, Eddy Chan, deputy secretary of the Health, Welfare and Food Department, told lawmakers.

"At that time, we had not received any notification from Shenzhen about the reason behind the operation," Chan said.

He complained that a formal letter explaining why the pork was being recalled finally arrived from Shenzhen on Thursday -- five days after the recall began.

"They forwarded the reasons to us rather late," Chan said.

He said Shenzhen officials recalled the pork because they feared that some pigs might have been infected with the swine-borne illness streptococcus suis, which recently killed 39 people in Sichuan Province. But he said Shenzhen reported the pork tested negative for the bacteria.

Hong Kong Health Secretary York Chow told lawmakers that the city would send its own inspection team to Shenzhen and Henan Province -- where the media have reported there are problems with pork.

Communication between Hong Kong and the mainland has long been a sore spot between the two sides. It became an issue of extreme concern for Hong Kong after the 2003 outbreak of SARS.

Yesterday, some lawmakers urged Hong Kong officials to be tougher on their mainland counterparts.

Legislator Vincent Fang said, "Sometimes being nice is not going to be useful. If you just say maybe our measures are better than yours, they won't listen to you."

Fang suggested that Hong Kong station health experts on the mainland could quickly check out reported problems.

Meanwhile, the territory's residents were told not to buy eels from China after tests yesterday confirmed the presence of a suspected cancer-causing chemical in the imports.

Eleven of 14 eels from China tested this week were found to contain malachite green, Chow told legislators yesterday.

Malachite green is a chemical used to treat parasitic infections at fish farms. It has been been banned in the US and the EU.

MAC calls upon China to return to cross-strait talks

CNA , KAOHSIUNG

An official from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) renewed yesterday the MAC's calls for China to return to the negotiating table to facilitate efforts in seeking peace across the Taiwan Strait.

MAC Vice Chairman You Ying-lung called for the Beijing authorities to resume talks with Taiwan on issues including China's plans to give a pair of pandas to Taiwan and visits to Taiwan by Chinese citizens.

You said that despite Beijing's two-handed maneuvering against Taiwan, the country will stick firmly to the policy of "seeking friendly reconciliation, active cooperation and eternal peace" with China.

This policy is a reflection of President Chen Shui-bian's advocacy of "negotiation and reconciliation," You said.

He said that the MAC will work to shelve controversial differences and hard-to-resolve issues, push for cross-strait negotiations and promote exchanges based on the principles of equality and reciprocity.

You said Taiwan needs to adopt new strategies to face the challenges from the other side of the Strait because of Beijing's passage of its "Anti-Secession" Law authorizing the use of force if Taiwan edges toward formal independence on the one hand, while on the other putting forward a spate of gestures ostensibly to improve cross-strait interactions.

You made the remarks during a colloquium sponsored by the Kaohsiung city government, titled "Perceiving China While Being Concerning about the Strait."

Wu stresses the need for defense

TAKE NOTE: Mainland Affairs Council chairman Joseph Wu yesterday said that China's rising power is mirrored in its military might and Taiwan must be able to defend itself

BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN

STAFF REPORTER , WITH CNA

The chief of the government's cross-strait affairs council yesterday defined the rise of China as the rise of military force, urging the people of Taiwan to enhance the country's defense capabilities so that a peaceful East Asia can be secured as a result.

Joseph Wu, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), made the remarks when asked about a possible invasion of Taiwan's territorial waters by Chinese vessels.

Problem

"There has been a recent growing tendency among Chinese vessels to make incursions into other countries' territorial waters," said Wu, noting that such Chinese invasions are a problem not only for Taiwan but also other countries.

"These invasions should be considered as part of China's efforts to expand its power. We have to take note to its intention as the joint wargames of China and Russia further demonstrated that the rise of China is a rise of its military force," Wu said.

Given this phenomenon, Wu said that Taiwan has to double its efforts to enhance its own defense capabilities.

"Taiwan has to maintain the ability to defend itself so that the situation in East Asia can remain stable," he said.

Wu was speaking to reporters while attending the opening ceremony of a large-scale fruit fair held by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).

According to MAC, 22 companies from eight Asian countries came to the fair to purchase Taiwanese fruit, including three buyers from China.

Other potential buyers included those from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Commitment

Wu said that the exhibition demonstrates the government's commitment to facilitating fruit exports and its desire to help farmers.

The fair, held from yesterday through tomorrow in the exhibition hall of Taipei's World Trade Center, boasted 300 stalls displaying local products from around the country.

Jack Lin, a general manager of a company based in Shanghai, said that he plans to buy 100 tonnes of Taiwanese fruit during his stay in Taiwan.

"Taiwanese fruit is very popular in Shanghai. I came especially to order Taiwanese fruit for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival," Lin said.

More than 300 fruit growers and processors from 21 cities and counties displayed a wide range of fresh and processed fruit.

A total of 101 one-on-one meetings will be arranged between suppliers and their potential customers, TAITRA said.

Under the promotion of the Council of Agriculture (COA) and TAITRA, fruit from Taiwan is being sold around the world and has been well received on the international market, including China, Wu said.

Wu said that the government has never placed any restrictions on the shipment of fruit from Taiwan to China and that TAITRA has been commissioned to negotiate with China on the issue of quarantine. Wu also appealed to China to launch chartered cargo flights with Taiwan for such shipments.

China paid for wargames: newspaper

AGENICES , VLADIVOSTOK

Chinese and Russian commanders began the practical phase yesterday of their first-ever joint military exercises, coordinating the creation of a combined unit that will stage a landing on a Chinese peninsula to practice stabilizing a fictional country.

The chiefs of staff from both countries' militaries departed early yesterday from Vladivostok back to their capitals after inaugurating the drills Thursday, a spokesman at Russia's Pacific Fleet command said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to speak on the record.

The exercises began Thursday with a day of consultations between the two countries in Vladivostok before the war games moved Friday into the "practical phase," the Russian spokesman said.

The exercises running through next Thursday, named "Peace Mission 2005," will climax with amphibious and paratrooper landings and an aerial blockade at the Shandong peninsula on the Yellow Sea. Some 10,000 troops, mostly Chinese and about 1,800 Russians, are taking part.

The Russian daily Kommersant reported Thursday that the prime goal for Russia in the exercises was to show off its high-tech weaponry to a potential big customer. The entire cost of the wargames was being met by China, party so that it might see the Russian weapons in action and partly to send a message both to Taiwan and Washington about the disposition of power in the Far East.

As the drills began, the top generals from China and Russia sought to reassure the region that the exercises weren't directed against anyone. Under the fictional scenario for the exercises, the forces have been given a UN mandate to stabilize a country plunged into violence by ethnic strife.

The exercises "are being run under the goals and principles of the UN, and are not directed against a third country and don't concern the interests of other countries," Chinese General Liang Guanglie told journalists Thursday.

The war games are the result of strengthening ties between Russia and China over shared concern about US dominance of world affairs. US officials have said they hope the exercises help support a shared interest in regional stability.

Russia is also seeking to sell more arms to China, one of its leading customers, including long-range strategic bombers able to carry nuclear weapons that are being showcased during the exercises.

Beijing police detain radiation whistleblower

`SERIOUS CRIME': Sun Xiaodi told foreign reporters about radiation poisoning affecting people living near a uranium mine, information classed as a state secret

AFP , BEIJING

A Chinese man who spoke to foreign reporters about severe radiation poisoning affecting people living near a uranium mine has been detained and accused of crimes related to state secrets, a rights group said yesterday.

Sun Xiaodi, a former employee of the Gansu No. 792 Uranium Mine in northwestern China, met journalists on April 28 while he was in Beijing to petition authorities about what he said was serious pollution from the mine.

He said residents near and downstream of the plant suffered a high incidence of cancerous tumors, leukemia, birth defects, miscarriages and other afflictions.

A day after the meeting, Sun was bundled into an unmarked car near Beijing's southern railway station and has not been heard from since, Human Rights in China (HRIC) said, citing numerous witnesses.

It said that later the same day several plainclothes police officers searched the Beijing home of a friend of Sun, whom they then took to a State Security Bureau office.

They reportedly told the friend that Sun was a "wanted criminal" and that he had committed a "very serious crime related to state secrets."

Police produced Suns cellphone, wallet, telephone diary and other personal belongings, the rights group said.

Sun's daughter, Sun Haiyan, has inquired into her fathers whereabouts many times but has repeatedly been told by Beijing authorities that they know nothing, HRIC said.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau refused to comment yesterday and the State Security Bureau could not be reached.

The No. 792 Uranium Mine in Diebu County, Gansu Province, was established under the State Nuclear Industry Department as one of China's most important sources of uranium.

But it was "closed as a matter of policy" in 2002 on the basis of mine-exhaustion.

After the closure, mine employees accused mining and Nuclear Industry Department officials of plundering employee and state assets and damaging the environment, but their complaints were ignored by the authorities, HRIC said.

Local medical workers report that nearly half of all deaths in the area are from some form of cancer, but patients case histories are routinely altered because of "state secrets" concerns, HRIC said.

Sun began reporting the health concerns to the Nuclear Industry Department in 1988. But instead of an official response, he was fired and his family was put under surveillance, the group said.

"HRIC condemns the unlawful abduction and secret detention of Sun Xiaodi, which violate both his Chinese constitutional rights and his human rights," the group said in a statement.

"HRIC calls on the Chinese authorities to immediately release Sun Xiaodi from custody, and as a matter of urgency to address the dangerous environmental contamination and severe health hazards to humans and animals near the No. 792 Uranium Mine," the group said.

Tibet's cause through Tibetan eyes

By Khedroob Thondup

`Tibet existed as an independent country for centuries with its own customs, traditions, culture, religion and national language.'

Tibet is the homeland of Tibetans. Tibetans perceive themselves as Tibetans and certainly not Chinese. An average Tibetan's perception of China is one of disinterested ignorance.

Tibet existed as an independent country for centuries with its own customs, traditions, culture, religion and national language. Although bordered by China and India, Tibet always maintained its sovereignty independently for centuries until 1959. Today Tibet is totally occupied by the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Let me first lay out the demographic profile of selected parts of what is historically acknowledged as "Tibet" under the PRC's totalitarian rule over the last 46 years.

Since the invasion or so-called "peaceful liberation" in 1950, there are over 250,000 People's Liberation Army (PLA) stationed in Tibet. The PLA is used today to impose Beijing's absolute control over Tibet. Any uprising is squashed by a massive show of force, as seen in the 1959 and more recently, the 1987-1989 uprisings. Since 1959, Tibet has been under a controlled martial law.

To reduce the small Tibetan population of 6 million to a minority, Beijing has encouraged a large Han influx of equal proportion. According to figures available from the 1990s, the total population in Kham was 2,504,207, out of which there were 1,008,606 Tibetans making up 40.27 percent and 1,179,969 Han, or 47.12 percent. Out of a total population of 762,373 in Sichuan Province of the Ganzi Tibetan Prefecture, there were 554,633 Tibetans (72.5 percent) and 188,001 Han (24.66 percent). The same goes for other Tibetan prefectures.

In 1980, Inner Mongolia had a total population of 11 million, of which only 2 million were ethnic Mongolians as compared to a majority population of 9 million Han. Beijing has resorted to a strategy of "minimizing nationalities" other than the Han, such as the Tibetans and Mongolians, in order to make them minorities in their own countries.

To further secure its control in Tibet, Beijing is close to completing the Qinghai-Tibet railroad link. This railroad has serious ramifications. It will create an even larger influx of Han people into Tibet. It will speed up the transportation of military personnel and supplies into Tibet. The railroad will also create a serious imbalance in the already fragile ecosystem.

More than 99 percent of Tibetans have great faith, love and respect for their religion. There were more than 2,500 large, medium and small monasteries or centers of religious learning prior to 1959. Today, there are only 70 or so monasteries, a reduction of more than 97 percent. In the whole of Tibet in the past there were more than 110,000 monks and nuns, of which possibly 10,000 fled to India.

Today there are around 7,000 monks and nuns, a reduction of 93 percent. In 1979, after 20 years of occupation, most of these monasteries have been decimated and the clergy dispersed.

While traveling in the grasslands in Inner Mongolia in 1980, I met a monk from Kumbum Monastery who had been expelled from the monastery -- ? his only crime being he was born in Inner Mongolia.

Very few monasteries have been allowed to be rebuilt, and the monk population is controlled even though there has been an upsurge in young people wanting to enter the monasteries, which has led to an exodus of young people to India to join the re-established, large monasteries of Sera, Drepung and Ganden in the south of India, where they are free to study and practice. All over Tibet Tibetans are extremely concerned with the future of the religion and the freedom of religious belief. In the last 46 years, more than 1 million tibetans have lost their lives due to abnormal reasons. During the initial PRC campaign to take over Tibet, thousands of Tibetans who resisted were killed. The 1959 uprisings saw thousands massacred.

After the Dalai Lama fled to India, thousands of people were summarily arrested and imprisoned. Most of those imprisoned languished into ill health, many losing their lives due to total disregard.

In Qinghai, for example, there are around 4,000 villages and towns, each having 3,000-4,000 families with 4,000-5,000 people. From each town and village about 800 to a 1,000 people were imprisoned. Out of this, at least 300 to 400 people of them died in prison. This means almost half of the prison population perished.

It was discovered that only a handful had resisted the PRC, and most of the people were innocent. During the years of the Cultural Revolution, thousands more died of starvation. Villages disappeared completely. For a time, the life of the masses was poverty-stricken and miserable, and many people -- ? principally the young and old -- ? died of starvation or because they were physically so weak that they could not resist minor illnesses. Consequently, there was a clear and severe reduction in the Tibetan population.

The Tibetan plateau, spanning 4 million square kilometers is the highest and largest plateau on earth. It is home to over 5,000 higher plant species and over 12,000 species of vascular plants, 532 different species of birds, 126 identified minerals and has rich old-growth forests. It is also the source of many of Asia's major rivers whose tributaries are the lifeblood of millions of people in the Asian continent.

Research figures show that rivers originating from Tibet sustain the lives of 47 percent of the world's population. Thus the environment issue has a huge global significance that warrants international attention.

Ever since the PRC occupation of Tibet, widespread environmental destruction has taken place due to the logging of virgin forests, uncontrolled mining, water pollution and nuclear-waste dumping, which has resulted in the degradation of grasslands, extinction of wildlife, desertification, floods, soil erosion and landslides.

Given the high altitude and the extreme climatic conditions of Tibet, the damage caused to the environment and the fragile mountain ecosystem is becoming irreversible. The need to save the Tibetan plateau from ecological devastation is urgent as half of humanity is also affected.

Ever since its occupation by the PRC, Tibet has been controlled by cadres sent from China. The nonchalant attitudes of these cadres and disrespect toward the Tibetans and their religion has been highly damaging. These cadres openly criticized our religion as heretical and preposterous.

Implementation of policies became difficult all over Tibet, often resulting in violence as the cadres wanted to suppress the people. Their methods were extremely clumsy, and they made no effort to understand the religion and culture of the Tibetan people and showed no respect for their basic rights. Han cadres in the Tibetan areas do not have a profound or a sufficiently comprehensive understanding of the different characteristics, specific circumstances, and ideological mentality of the Tibetan people. Therefore, it was difficult for cadres to govern within the actual situation in the Tibetan areas.

Matters did not help when because of their superiority complex, they refused to give sufficient thought to the reality of the situation. Even when President Hu Jintao was Chinese Communist Party chief in Tibet he found it difficult to administer effectively. His chief complaint was the ultra-leftist attitudes among the cadres under him. He finally had to feign illness due to altitude sickness and return to Beijing to be re-assigned to another post.

Thus, Tibet has been completely misruled by the PRC for the last 50 years. In 1979, when Deng Xiaoping started a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, several fact-finding missions were sent all over Tibet. To their horror and amazement, the delegations reported a bleak picture of suffering of Tibetans from all walks of life over the past two decades. Starvation, imprisonment, arrests, torture, absolute genocide and infringement of every human right were widespread all over Tibet.

With this scenario why did Deng start a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, and what did he intend to achieve and what were the results of the first round of dialogue?

Deng was responsible for the initial forced invasion and takeover of Tibet. He knew what had happened inside Tibet from 1950 through 1979. Deng realized the key to the Tibetan issue was the Dalai Lama. He felt that if he solved the Dalai Lama issue, the Tibetan issue would be resolved. He did not realize that the Tibetan issue was not of the Dalai Lama alone. So he tried to entrap the Dalai Lama to return to China with false promises to his person.

His strategy failed because he was not sincere in resolving the Tibetan issue. Thus, the first round of dialogue failed in every sense, as both sides agreed to disagree on everything and no mutual trust was formed.

The beacon of hope for all Tibetans is the international recognition given to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan cause. Since his escape to India, the Dalai Lama has worked relentlessly to further the cause of Tibet. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. The Tibetan cause stands on the moral ground on which it has received massive international support and sympathy which puts a lot of pressure on the PRC.

With the spread of the Internet, news of Tibet and events concerning the Dalai Lama are flashed all over the word in an instant. Therefore, it is important for the people of China to realize what injustices their government has done and is still continuing to inflict upon the people of Tibet.

It is difficult for Tibetans co-exist with the PRC after the disastrous 46-year-rule under Beijing, especially if it continues with its rigid policies toward Tibet. But if the PRC were to collapse and communism were to disappear, then the road to independence would be smooth and Tibetans would be able to co-exist with the people of China within a democratic framework. Tibet's cause in the 21st century, in very simple terms, is its very survival.

Tibet's message to the world is that it has offered its best in the person of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama to the world community. Preferred to be called a simple Buddhist monk, his personality, charisma and most important his message to all faiths and all races of tolerance and compassion is enduring, and endearing to all. The Dalai Lama, temporal and religious ruler of Tibet, is the eternal spokesman for all Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet.

Tibetans aspire to live as free human beings and constantly pray for the protection and preservation of Buddhism. They pray that all sentient beings be free from want and suffering and achieve happiness through realization that this world is but a transitory point to the next world.

They always remember their compatriots who continue to suffer in the snowy land of Tibet. Above all, their primary wish and prayers surround the long life of the Dalai Lama and his return to an independent, sovereign Tibetan homeland.

Khedroob Thondup is a former parliament member of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

How will joint war games affect security?

By Hung Mao-hsiung

Joint Sino-Russian military exercises are taking place around Vladivostok and East China's Shandong Peninsula. The exercises, which draw to a close on Aug. 25, have been dubbed the "Peace Mission 2005."

Above all else, this is a breakthrough in the policies of both nations, who are cooperating for the first time with the military forces of a non-allied nation. The significance of this action is threefold.

First, both China and Russia are gradually shedding their mutual suspicions. Extensive negotiations have finally resolved disputes over the thousands of kilometers of land border between the two nations, and they are now moving toward building mutual trust and becoming continental allies.

Second, from the selection of the location for the exercise and the insistence by both sides that it is not directed at any third nation, it is clear that the political significance of the exercises outweighs the military value. Third, the atmosphere of a new Cold War in the Asia-Pacific has been heightened. Following the regular US-Japanese and US-South Korean military drills, China has held several joint anti-terrorism and sea rescue exercises with the UK, Indonesia and France. It is now embarking on large-scale military exercises with Russia. This new Cold War is sometimes obvious and sometimes hidden.

So why have China and Russia chosen to carry out these unprecedented war games at this time? And what are their intentions? The intentions that Beijing and Moscow share in carrying out the military exercises seem legitimate at first glance -- ? enhancing their anti-terrorist capability, especially against Islamic fundamentalism in the Xinjiang region and the Middle East; and, jointly resisting pressure from the US.

The US has been putting pressure on China and Russia through NATO in Europe and the US-Japan alliance in East Asia. Following the Sept. 11 incident, the US has further intervened in the Middle East, making both China and Russia feel still more threatened by the possibility of being militarily hemmed in.

Third, China and Russia are making joint efforts to tackle the North Korean nuclear issue, as any deterioration on this front will have a negative impact on both nations. Also, their choice of Shandong as the location of military exercises was because of its proximity to the Korean Peninsula. So both countries are taking the strategic potential of this region into account.

China and Russia also have more selfish objectives. Moscow hopes that staging joint military exercises will encourage Beijing to sign a massive arms deal to buy more Russian weapons.

Meanwhile, it can gain a better understanding of China's military capabilities. China wants to improve ties with Russia, hoping that Moscow will agree to sell it more advanced and effective weapons systems, and possibly nuclear ones. China hopes to elevate relations with Russia to make it a potential counterweight against the psychological threat posed by the US-Japan alliance.

What impact will the exercises have on Asia-Pacific security? China's "hegemonic" rising has become a key threat to security in the Asia-Pacific region. The decision on the location of the exercises came after a disagreement with Russia over Beijing's initial desire for the exercises to take place further south, opposite Taiwan -- over which it hopes to gain control, by force if necessary.

At least Russia recognizes the sensitivity of the situation, and was unwilling to act provocatively in the face of the designation of the Taiwan Strait as a "common strategic objective" by the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee. Nor does it wish to cause undue anxiety for Taiwan.

Hung Mao-hsiung is a standing committee member of the Taiwan International Studies Association.