In Dubai, where the Commercial Office of the Republic of China is located, Chen met with members of UAE's royal family.

At a press conference held on Friday evening, Chen talked about Taiwan's diplomatic difficulties and its relations with the UAE.

Chen said that his smooth stay in the UAE showed that China's relentless interference sometimes does not work.

"My arrival in Abu Dhabi was not an unreachable dream like those described in the Arabian Nights. It's definitely a breakthrough," Chen said.

Chen said he was touched when he saw that the national flag had been raised at the airport, in a country with no diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Chen also rebutted media reports that he had lied when he said he was going to stop over in San Francisco; adding that, "Even if it was a lie, it was one of goodwill."

Chen was originally scheduled to make a transit stop in San Francisco on his way back to Taiwan.

Saying that he had not lied to the media or the public, the president added that he hoped the media could understand that, as head of state, he had not been able to confirm any information when matters related to his transit stopover the UAE were still being arranged.

The president added that he did not care about the reports because he had acted in the nation's interest, and that achieving a diplomatic goal was most important.

Chen's trip to the UAE might lead to the establishment of a Taiwan representative office in Abu Dhabi in the near future.

The idea was brought to UAE government years ago and received the green light in January 2000. However, because of China's interference it has remained stalled.

On Friday, several government officials flew from Taipei to Abu Dhabi to meet the president, including Parris Chang, deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council and Wu Maw-kuen, minister of National Science Council.

Taiwan exports US$1.07 billion worth of products to the UAE annually, and imports products valued at US$1.32 billion, with crude oil accounting for US$ 1.14 billion.

Both sides are interested in launching more collaborative projects in oil production, tourism promotion, technology transfer and the military sector.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen implied that tensions in the Middle East made the UAE and Taiwan potential partners in the global anti-terrorism movement.

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang said this is an era in which diplomacy is linked to trade and economic development.

Shu is part of the entourage traveling with Chen.

"As long as we treasure our advantages, diplomatic space can be definitely widened," Su said.

Chen's chartered plane will arrive in Taipei this morning if the weather is not too severely affected by Typhoon Longwang, which is expected to make landfall today.

Japan and China gas-field talks end in stalemate

DISPUM WATERS: The two nations have agreed to meet again for continued discussions, with Japan reiterating a demand that China stop work in the area

REUTERS, TOKYO

Japan and China failed to resolve a row over gas exploration in the East China Sea in talks that ended yesterday, but agree to more dialogue this month to discuss Tokyo's new offer for joint development, Japanese officials said.

The row over China's development of gas fields in the sea dividing the two countries －and near waters over which Japan claims exclusive economic, rights－is one of several issues that have strained ties between the Asian neighbors.

Tensions rose last month after Japan said China had sent warships to the area and started producing oil or gas at one of the fields.

NEW PROPOSAL

Japan reiterated its demand that China cease its development work in the area and provide geological data, and also presented a new proposal for resolving the dispute wet includes the idea of joint development, Japanese officials said.

"The Chinese side said they would consider it earnestly and would unveil their at the next round of talks in Beijing, " Kenichiro Sasae, director-general bureau at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters.

But the Chinese side showed no immediate sign of agreeing to Tokyo’s demands, another official said.

The next round of talks will take peace later this month.

"'The Chinese side reiterated that China’s resource development is taking piece in undisputed waters near China,'' the second Japanese offical told reporters.

JOINT DEVELOPMENT

China may consider providing related data to Japan after reaching an in-principle agreement on joint development, the official said.

Tokyo’s offer, a counter-proposal to a joint development plan raised by Beijing in earlier negotiations, demands that China stop its ongoing work, a third Japanese official said.

Japanese officials expressed concern over the fact that China was moving ahead with development, and explained that there were "strong views" within Japan calling for its own test-drilling in the area if China continues its development without heeding Japan's demands, the second official said.

This triggered opposition from the Chinese side, the official said, adding that there was some "harsh give and take" between the two sides.

Japan also took up China's naval activity in the area. China replied by saying that such vessels were conducting normal training activities, and countered by accusing Japanese ships and aircraft of interfering with the work of China's development work in the areas the second Japanese official said

World atomic watchdog passes resolution on N Korea

AP , VIENNA

The US prevailed over China on Friday as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution welcoming North Korea's pledge to give up nuclear arms, but taking Pyongyang to task for violating the nonproliferation treaty.

China refused to co-sponsor the text, which was adopted by consensus, in a reflection of Beijing's displeasure with the resolution primarily reflecting US priorities.

Still, diplomats noted that the resolution was submitted to the 139-nation IAEA General Assembly only after China had indirectly signed off on the text.

Russia -- which along with China is one of five nations negotiating with North Korea over scrapping its nuclear arms -- also refrained from co-sponsorship, showing that it, too, was unhappy with the outcome.

With the meeting lacking enforcement powers, the resolution had only symbolic value.

Still, the dispute reflected the disagreement on how to proceed at a more important level: at upcoming talks among North Korea, China, the US, Russia, Japan and South Korea meant to build on Pyongyang's commitment to scrap its nuclear weapons.

Chief US representative to the IAEA Gregory Schulte told the conference that Washington welcomed North Korea's commitment to have all of its nuclear weapons and weapons materials "declared and ... irreversibly eliminated."

The text adopted on Friday welcomes "the positive result" of the talks that led to the breakthrough announcement, but notes "with serious concern" North Korea's announcement in February that it had manufactured nuclear arms and engaged in fuel-rod reprocessing activities that can make the fissile core of nuclear weapons.

It urges North Korea to resume cooperating with the IAEA in the "full and effective implementation" of the agency's safeguards, meant to prevent nuclear proliferation.

The US was insistent that the text make no mention of the promise of a light-water reactor, which is less easily diverted to weapons use than other models, but can still be harnessed for such aims, diplomats said.

Chinese tourists raise questions

BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN

STAFF REPORTER

"In 2003, 20 years after the opening of Hong Kong to Chinese tourists, the growth rate of Chinese nationals illegally working there was 70 percent." － Wang Shih-hsiung, secretary general of the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association

Chinese tourists traveling abroad are offering a welcome boost to their host country's economic growth, with Taiwan being no exception, but whether the government is capable of minimizing the social problems associated with welcoming Chinese tourists is open to debate.

As more and more countries become approved tourist destinations for Chinese people and with their disposable incomes on the rise, China's outbound tourism market is expected to grow dramatically.

According to estimates of the WTO, China will become the fourth-largest center of tourists traveling abroad by 2020, with a tourist turnout of 100 million person-time in a year, accounting for 6.2 percent of the global tourism industry.

China's lucrative outbound-tourist market also prompted the Taiwanese government to open its door wider to Chinese nationals, in a bid to reduce its tourism deficit.

Taiwan first opened its doors to Chinese tourists in January 2002, but it has accepted only People's Republic of China (PRC) passport-holders who are already living or traveling overseas.

To increase the visits to Taiwan by Chinese tourists residing in China, the government has in June authorized the Travel Agents Association of the Republic of China on Taiwan, a private organization, to assist in arranging negotiations around this matter with Beijing.

The proposed plan to allow 1,000 Chinese tourists to enter Taiwan every day for a maximum 10-day trip is expected to attract at most 365,000 Chinese annually, 12 times higher than the annual average visits made by Chinese under the current restrictions.

"It is estimated that the plan will earn the nation some NT$15.6 billion (US$490 million) in output value," Fu Don-cheng, director of the department of economic affairs of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) -- the country's top cross-strait policy making body -- said.

Despite slow progress in finalizing the cross-strait talks, businesspeople in the travel industry have been preparing for an influx of Chinese tourists.

"The government has given the green light to Taiwanese businesses to attend the International Travel Fair, which will be held in China's Kunming next month," said Sean Chuang, president of Leofoo Development Co.

Led by the Taiwan Visitors Association (TVA), which comprises international airlines, travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, department stores and local visitors associations in the tourism industry, Taiwanese businesses will set up more than 50 stalls at the travel fair.

The Chinese International Travel Fair has been held for years by Beijing's official tourism bureau but, as Taiwanese businesses has now for the first time been invited to take part in it, Chuang regards this year's fair as a kind of warm-up to the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists.

Yao Ta-kuang, vice chairman of the association entrusted by the government to talk with China, hailed the government's new policy welcoming Chinese tourists.

"Based on my experience, the difference between Chinese tourists and other foreign tourists are that the former prefer visiting central and northern Taiwan and the duration of their stay in Taiwan is longer, which is good for the economy," Yao said.

Like Yao, many people liked to use Hong Kong as an example to prove the economic benefits that Chinese tourists might bring.

However, Wang Shih-hsiung, secretary general of the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association, pointed out certain social problems that go together with the opening of Hong Kong to Chinese tourists.

"In 2003, 20 years after the opening of Hong Kong to Chinese tourists, the growth rate of Chinese nationals illegally working there was 70 percent, while the growth rate of Chinese nationals working there as prostitutes was 52 percent," Wang said.

Tourists coming to the country only to disappear and work illegally is also a problem facing Taiwan. For example, in the summer of 2004, 17 Chinese tourists disappeared shortly after they arrived at CKS International Airport, and another 13 Chinese tourists went missing shortly after they checked in at their hotel.

The government has expressed confidence in the mechanisms established to manage the problem, with MAC chairman Joseph Wu saying that the rate of Chinese tourists absconding in Taiwan is only 0.14 percent. This is a pretty low percentage when compared to statistics of other countries.

"In South Korea, the rate of Chinese tourists going missing is about 11 percent to 13 percent," Wu said, noting that the government is studying more effective measures to deal with related problems and won't open the door for Chinese tourists any wider without proper deterrent measures in place.

However, David Huang, a Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator, said that the government should take notice of the number of people going missing, rather than the percentage.

"The rate of 11 percent to 13 percent of Chinese tourists in South Korea going missing represents about 70,000 people," he said.

Huang suggested that the government put some restrictions on Chinese tourists, as prevention strategies employed in advance would be more effective than apprehending missing people after the fact.

Huang said that the new opening-up policy and the low rejection rate of Chinese tourists' visa applications -- 10 percent -- might cause risks to Taiwan's social security.

US using wrong tactic

By Huang Jei-hsuan

With rare exceptions, remarks by US political commentators regarding the difficulty Taiwan is facing in strengthening its own deterrent capabilities have been typically along the lines of "If Taiwan isn't interested in defending itself, the US shouldn't bother either."

There are at least a couple of points to make about this warning. The first concerns the effects of such a warning, and the second concerns its basic assumption.

Taiwan is a democracy with multiple voices. But with regard to cross-strait matters where the nation's security is paramount, there is an abnormal and bipolar division between the two main political camps. The pan-green camp is on the whole for strong deterrence and the pan-blue camp against it, and the difference in sentiment is growing in accordance with worsening political polarization.

In other words, The "deep blue" part of the political spectrum -- including most of the leaders of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People's First Party -- basically favor a China-leaning disarmament for Taiwan.

To them, the issue of security will be a moot point once Taiwan is stripped of the prospect for formal sovereignty and "decides" to "unify" with China.

Conversely, it's the pan-green camp -- which includes the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union -- that would support a strong defense for the country.

These are the people who would like to see an eventual independent sovereign state. They consider adequate deterrence ability in alliance with the US and Japan as imperative to guaranteeing the nation's democracy as well as the freedom of the Taiwanese people.

The Sept. 25 demonstration in Taipei drew tens of thousands of independence-minded Taiwanese in support of beefing up the nation's defenses in general and passing the special arms procurement budget in particular.

Therefore, the warning outlined at the beginning of this article is essentially advocating an approach that only affirms the ironic adage: "No good deed should go unpunished." In this case, withholding defense help would punish those who support the arms procurement and reward those who oppose it.

Of course, one of the intended purposes of the warning is to alert Taiwanese voters so that they can pressure their political leaders to act on the arms bill. But both the deep-blue and the deep-green supporters are firmly committed to their respective causes and not particularly subject to persuasion.

The warning is really aimed at Taiwanese with moderate or no political leaning -- who constitute the overwhelming majority of the population. The problem is that these are the people who would tend to question the necessity of a costly arms build-up if the only purpose is to maintain a fleeting "status quo."

However, by excluding the truly indifferent as well as the pacifists, those remaining in this group would most likely be inclined to support strengthening defense if they believe that Taiwan has a chance to eventually become a normal sovereign state instead of being destined to "unify" with China.

Nevertheless, under the US "one China" policy, it would be difficult to convince this group of voters, especially while they are simultaneously being bombarded by daily propaganda coming from both pro-China media and pan-blue camp leaders.

As to the basis of the warning, it's rooted in the premise that the US commitment to aid Taiwan militarily is simply an obligation left over from switching recognition to Beijing in 1979 and that keeping Taiwan from being violently absorbed by China contributes to regional stability.

In fact, at the time the US withdrew its recognition of the Republic of China, many assumed that Taiwan would eventually be absorbed by China, and little consideration was given to Taiwan's strategic value.

But the strategic importance of Taiwan has evolved considerably from those early days.

To the US, keeping Taiwan out of Beijing's grasp -- at least in the foreseeable future -- is vital to US national security because of the explosive pace of China's arms build-up. If Taiwan falls -- peacefully or otherwise -- the subjugation of Japan to Beijing can only be prevented at an enormous cost.

And, if Japan submits to China's whims, the US will lose it influence in the Western Pacific and perhaps Southeast Asia as well. Therefore, Taiwan has the ominous potential of being the falling block that triggers a domino effect.

The US warning that it might withhold its support if Taiwan does not better arm itself does not make sense and is unhelpful. Instead, the US should soon realize that changing its "one China" policy is the most effective way of encouraging Taiwanese people to strive for sufficient deterrent capability and is also the only safeguard for preventing Taiwan from being stealthily absorbed by China.

Since vital national security interests are at stake here, the US government doesn't have the luxury for procrastination either.

Huang Jei-hsuan

California

Boost investment in nation's allies

By the Liberty Times

While visiting Guatemala on Sept. 22, President Chen Shui-bian announced the "Jung Pang Project," pledging NT$7.5 billion (US$226 million) to assist the nation's diplomatic allies in Central America with their development.

The main thrust of the project is to help reduce the cost of investing in Central America for Taiwanese businesspeople, by subsidizing up to 49 percent of their business ventures and jointly breaking fresh ground in the region.

We believe this is a grand project that deserves the support of all Taiwanese. It will enable Taiwanese businesspeople to plan business strategies from a global perspective, avoid over-investment in China and help them enter the North American market -- while also assisting our diplomatic allies in Central America with their economic development and creating employment.

This kind of economic diplomacy will create a win-win situation for Taiwan and its diplomatic allies. The US House of Representatives approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on July 28, and a free trade agreement for the Americas is likely to follow, creating huge business opportunities in North and Central America.

If the government is able to take advantage of this integration of American economies in a timely manner, it might help the nation extricate itself from its erroneous and risky China-leaning economic policies and speed up its industrial upgrading and transformation.

This kind of policy, which aims to use investment to improve the economies of our allies and Taiwan's diplomatic ties with them was outlined by Vice President Annette Lu when she led a delegation to Central and South America in mid-March. During that trip, Lu also traveled to El Salvador to inspect an industrial park reserved for Taiwan-funded firms.

In April, El Salvador's Vice President Ana Vilma Albanez de Escobar led a delegation to Taiwan to hold talks with government officials on the feasibility of setting up a "Taiwan Park" in El Salvador. This was five months ago, and it unfortunately seems as if the project has remained in the appraisal stage.

The major drawback of the "Jung Pang Project" is that it is too small in scale. A few days ago, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez made a similar observation when he asked why Taiwanese businessmen are being so stingy toward the Dominican Republic, a diplomatic ally, while investing such huge amounts in its enemy, China.

His doubts are reasonable, because, according to a US report, Taiwan has invested US$280 billion in China over the past 15 years.

By comparison, the "Jung Pang Project" valued at US$250 million is simply insignificant -- a drop in the ocean. Therefore, we believe that if the government is genuinely willing to aid our allies, the sum is inadequate. It would still not be much if the government decided to increase that amount ten-fold, since that would still be less than one-tenth of Taiwan's total investment in China.

In short, only by increasing the scale of the investment project can Taiwanese businesspeople form industrial clusters in each of our Central American allies and bring about a wave of investment in the region that will lead them to success.

We also want to remind the government that although it has encouraged Taiwanese businesspeople to invest in Southeast Asian and Central American countries in the past, the results were disappointing.

The problem was not the planning itself, but that the government let businesspeople freely invest in China. This caused them to rush to redirect their investments from Southeast Asia and Central America, to China.

Before long, products manufactured by Taiwanese businesspeople in China knocked out Taiwanese-manufactured products as well as products from Taiwanese businesses throughout Southeast Asia, forcing the government to abort its "go south" policy. We therefore urge the government to strengthen its efforts to regulate China-bound investment rather than deregulating it further. This is a prerequisite for the success of the "Jung Pang Project."

It is Taiwan's unificationists and pro-China politicians in the pan-blue camp who most fear the success of the project, because that could mean an end to their "go West" and "unification" schemes. Since Chen put forth the "Jung Pang Project," they have mobilized the pro-unification media to denigrate the project as being "dollar diplomacy," "illegal diplomacy," and a way of "dodging the supervision of the legislature."

They have even said that, "Rather than donating US$250 million to small countries, we should care for the education of indigenous peoples."

Clearly, these people are showing their true colors. We all understand their ulterior motives and hope that the government doesn't hesitate to make good on its promises.

Not only that, it should expand the Jung Pang project and use all its resources to help our diplomatic allies prosper and become the centerpiece in the revitalization of Taiwan's industry.

May Chin's campaign misses the real threat

By Cao Chang-qing

Amid the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) divide-and-conquer campaign against Taiwan, some Taiwanese politicians are following the CCP's lead, whether consciously or otherwise.

One of these politicians is the former actress and incumbent independent legislator May Chin. Recently she led some people in a protest outside the UN headquarters in New York against the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in Taiwan during the Japanese era.

Their protest was not reported by any of the major US media outlets, and the UN refused to send someone to accept the letter the demonstrators wanted to hand over. Only CCP-friendly media outlets in the US and Beijing's communist newspaper covered the story as if a major scoop had fallen in their laps.

Not long ago, Chin applied for admission to the CCP's Central University for Nationalities in Beijing. In the eyes of the Beijing dictators, this "yearning for the motherland" has increased her value to the CCP's "united front" -- its time-honored divide-and-conquer tactics.

Bai Yansong, a show host on China Central Television (CCTV), a CCP mouthpiece, even traveled all the way to Taipei to interview Chin. During the interview, she made references to "us minorities" in every second sentence. The CCP's propaganda outlets made it sound as if this popularly elected legislator from Taiwan was a representative from Tibet or Xinjiang to China's National People's Congress.

When she talked about herself, the word "legislator" was placed in quotation marks to emphasize that Taiwan's "legislators" aren't really legislators -- with no complaint from Chin.

Taiwan was ruled by Japan, and during World War II, the Japanese slaughtered many innocent Taiwanese. This, of course, is historical fact, and should be morally condemned. But today, Beijing is deliberately fanning anti-Japanese sentiment in China, so the repeated requests that Japan apologize for its World War II atrocities are not an attempt to serve justice.

What's more, Beijing is not at all qualified to make such requests. During 56 years of Communist rule, the CCP may have killed as many as 80 million Chinese. This slaughter still goes on today. According to international human rights groups, executions in China last year made up 90 percent of all the world's executions.

In the many interviews with Chin, however, we have heard no condemnations, nor have we seen her show any concern for Chinese women's human rights.

Democratic Japan has not deployed a single missile aimed at Taiwan, nor does it intend to annex Taiwan. Instead, Tokyo has made an unambiguous declaration that the Taiwan Strait's security is a common strategic objective that it shares with the US. Next to the US, Japan is the biggest power protecting the security of Taiwan.

Public opinion polls show that 81 percent of the Japanese people support UN membership for Taiwan. Chin, however, continues to protest against Japan's past actions, although she never protests against the CCP's military threats against Taiwan or the pressure it applies on Taiwan in the international community.

The CCP's purpose for opposing Japan is to stir up nationalist sentiment to protect its hold on power. Chin's anti-Japanese stance pleases Beijing -- its embassy in Japan supports her, the Taiwan Affairs Office praises her, and CCP media laud her. A representative of the CCP propaganda department branch at the Central University for Nationalities even informed the media that Chin had been accepted by the school. I wonder what performance Chin will put on after she graduates from the CCP's elite brainwashing university.

Cao Changqing is a writer based in the US.