Japan should stop appeasing Beijing: top Tokyo official

AP , TOKYO

Japan should establish a more equal relationship with China rather than always trying to appease its giant rival, the foreign minister said yesterday, as he defended a visit by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial war shrine that angered Beijing.

Koizumi sparked angry protests from China and South Korea last Monday when he prayed at Yasukuni Shrine, which critics say glorifies Japan's wartime invasions of East Asia. The shrine honors Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals executed by the Allies after World War II.

The visit -- Koizumi's fifth since taking office in 2001 -- prompted China to cancel a trip to Beijing by Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, while South Korea's foreign minister said he would not follow through any time soon with an expected trip to Japan.

A scheduled December summit between Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun was also put in doubt.

Yesterday, Machimura said Tokyo has long kept a low-profile stance toward China out of a sense of responsibility for its wartime aggression, but that it was time to develop a more equal diplomatic relationship.

"Until now, we have often, though not always, tended to think that it is best for Japan to follow everything China says, not insist on our claims, and keep a rather low-profile posture," Machimura said. "But I think we should be able to say what we believe is right, and also listen to the other side sincerely."

Machimura told a talk show on TV Asahi that Koizumi's visit to the war shrine served Japan's national interest and "was to show that he should not succumb to foreign pressure."

However, Machimura said he hoped that relations with Beijing and Seoul could be repaired through diplomatic efforts.

Koizumi has also defended his foreign policy, arguing that problems between Japan and its neighbors go far beyond the shrine visits.

Public opinion is also split on Yasukuni.

While some Japanese oppose the shrine's association with militarism and fear the visits damage Japan's standing in Asia, others say Tokyo has been apologetic for too long over the conflict and has a right to mourn its war dead.

Lee says China causing a new `cold war'

STAFF WRITER

"The anti-democratic forces within the nation are now allying themselves with Beijing to undermine the democratic achievements of the island."－ Lee Teng-hui, former president

Former president Lee Teng-hui warned that a new global showdown could be emerging because of China's expansionist ambitions, and said that democratic Taiwan was on the frontlines of that conflict.

"Although the Cold War has come to an end, a new cold war may arise," Lee said.

Lee, who is travelling in the US, made the remarks to hundreds of Taiwanese expatriates at a forum held by the Taiwan Advocates in a conference center in Pasadena, California.

"China's attempt to annex Taiwan remains unchanged," Lee said.

"What's worse, the anti-democratic forces within the nation are now allying themselves with Beijing to undermine the democratic achievements of [Taiwan]."

Speaking of Taiwan's future, Lee stressed that the Taiwanese people's drive to maintain the welfare of their homeland will never change, now that their freedom has been won after hundreds of years of colonial rule.

Taiwan should seek to map out an advantageous strategy that recognizes the big power struggle that is in the making: the US is pursuing goals from a global perspective, while China is attempting to become a regional hegemony.

With regard to the nation's economic performance, Lee said that Taiwan's economy should grow at the rate of 6 to 7 percent annually. In the past, Lee said, it was considered terrible if the employment rate hit 2.5 percent.

However, it has now climbed up to 4.4 percent, while growth is now forecast to hit less than 4 percent this year.

"This is what the government has to review," Lee said. "There is no way the nation can enhance its `Taiwan awareness' if the government cannot even solve the economic problems plaguing its people."

Independence activists urge UN to accept Taiwan

BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN

STAFF REPORTER

Taiwanese independence activists yesterday appealed to the UN to extend membership to Taiwan on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the world body.

The Taiwan United Nations Alliance (TAIUNA), an organization advancing the nation's accession to the UN under the name "Taiwan," not the Republic of China, yesterday held a forum to commemorate the birthday of the UN, which was established on Oct. 24, 1945.

"The importance of the UN has been steadily on the increase as the affairs across the nation's boundaries are piling up along with the globalization trend," said Li Ming-juinn, chief editor of the Japanese edition of Issues and Studies.

Lin Wen-cheng, from the Institute of Mainland China Studies at National Sun Yat-Sen University, called for a radical reform of the organization because many of the decisions it makes simply reflect the interests of a handful of powerful countries.

China's use of its veto in 1997 to block the council's proposal to send peacekeepers to Guatemala in retaliation for Guatemala's support of Taiwan's UN accession was a good example, Lin said.

KMT has `evil' intentions, Chen says

PARCEL OF ROGUES: President Chen Shui-bian yesterday said that the KMT's election campaign conceals its evil intentions, while the PFP is the `most loathsome' of the two

BY JEWEL HUANG

STAFF REPORTER , IN TAICHUNG COUNTY

"The PFP is the most loathsome. If they really love the country, why did they obstruct the arms sale bill?"－President Chen Shui-bian

President Chen Shui-bian yesterday said that the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) campaign theme titled "winning Taiwan back" concealed evil intentions, which revealed the KMT's attempts to sell its stolen party assets for less than their true value, abandon Taiwan to China and restore its "black gold" politics.

Chen made the statement yesterday evening at a campaign rally in Taichung County, which was the fourth stop on his campaign-truck tour.

Chen asked voters to support his six reform goals and vote for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) so that the three scenarios can be prevented from happening.

"I believe that everyone knows clearly that Taiwan never loses. How come the KMT said that Taiwan failed?" Chen said.

He pointed out that Taiwan has been ranked tops in the Global E-government evaluation conducted by Brown University for three consec-utive years and that the nation ran-ked among the top five in the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum this year.

"The KMT's attempt is clear. It wants to sell off its ill-gotten gains and keep the money in its pockets," Chen said.

Chen's campaign truck yesterday headed to Hualien County, Taichung County and Taichung City for speeches to boost the year-end local-government election candidates.

Although the Presidential Office has stressed that the truck is not a campaign platform but a mobile podium for explaining the government's policies, Chen still focused his ire on KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou and former chairman Lien Chan, as well as People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong.

Standing next to the DPP's Taichung County commissioner candidate Chiu Tai-san, Chen said Ma flagrantly took advantage of his status as Taipei mayor to help the KMT with its party assets.

"People of Taiwan will never sit by and have a hand in this," he said.

Chen also requested voters to support the government's second economic reform and obstruct economical criminals who are KMT members who fled to China, only to return to Taiwan in an effort to deplete the country's treasury all over again.

Earlier in the day, Chen, in a speech made on the campaign truck in Hualien County, singled out the PFP as being the archcriminal that obstructed the passage of the arms procurement bill 33 times in the Legislative Yuan.

Chen said that Soong not only opposed the passage of the arms-procurement bill but also threatened Ma not to allow the KMT lawmakers to support the bill, otherwise he would let the proposed statute on the disposition of assets improperly obtained by political parties pass the legislature.

"As a result, Ma was scared to death. The KMT only cares about its party assets stolen from the people of Taiwan and ignore national security," Chen said.

"The PFP is the most loathsome. If they really love the country, why did they obstruct the arms sale bills?" he said.

Chen said that the arms bill is aimed at enhancing the nation's self-defense abilities and forcing China to consider the costs of attacking Taiwan, and it was never part of an arms race.

During the KMT's rule, Chen said, the KMT has decided to purchase three major weapon systems, including diesel submarines, marine patrol aircraft and new Patriot anti-missile batteries.

However, the KMT has flip-flopped on its own policy just because it became an opposition party and now incessantly boycotts the weapons bill.

"I believe people know clearly who really loves the country and who is selfish," Chen said.

On Saturday, Chen's campaign truck will move to Taipei County to boost the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) candidate for Taipei County commissioner election, Luo Wen-chia.

Where's the public debate?

By Marty Wolff

Taipei County

Taiwan needs its people to be serious advocates for good laws and government. Too many of its people are just sports fans who enjoy watching their favorite teams play out crude games inside and outside the legislature. Those people seem to enjoy the pageantry and renao that the campaigns bring to the streets and plazas during election seasons like the present.

There is nothing wrong with that enjoyment, but Taiwan's people must also see that they are accountable for the quality of the legislature, because they elect the players.

In the last legislative election the people chose representatives that stage fist fights and food fights instead of discussing the merits of proposed laws. The people chose a legislature whose Procedure Committee repeatedly refuses to allow legislative debate on critically important matters, such as an arms purchase proposal that might allow Taiwan to maintain a viable military force.

And while the legislature fails even to discuss the merits of having a viable military force, political players -- including some of the same elected legislators -- openly engage in collusion with hostile forces across the Taiwan Strait, seeking ultimately to bring about an abolition of the central government, and to replace it with a government subordinate to China's central government.

They seek to accomplish that without any serious debate among Taiwan's people inside or outside of the legislature -- and the tide seems to be running in their favor.

If the result those people seek is the same result as desired by the people of Taiwan, then so be it. Skipping the serious discussion may just save some time and trouble. But if that result is not what the people of Taiwan desire, and is rather what the people of Taiwan get by default because neither they nor their elected legislators seriously discussed the issue, then that will be a tragic price that Taiwan and its people pay for "fiddling while Rome burns."

Seeing through doublespeak

By Lee Long-Hwa

UNITED STATES

I read the white paper on democracy that China released on Oct. 19 called the Building of Political Democracy in China, and was moved to assist those unfamiliar with the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) use of language by offering these translations.

Using its new "Communist Dictionary of Commonly Misunderstood Words," China has once again stepped out onto the world stage and announced with a straight face that it operates under a "democratic" form of government (a lie it floated first in Hong Kong a number of years ago), that it provides religious freedom, freedom of speech and association, and human rights, and that the Chinese government provides a "fundamental guarantee for the Chinese people to be masters in managing the affairs of their own country."

In order to truly understand the white paper, it is first necessary to learn the meaning of commonly misunderstood words in the new Chinese communist dictionary.

For example, the word "democracy" means "no universal suffrage, no freedom of choice, can only vote for the CCP." The word "peace" has been redefined to mean "complete unconditional surrender." All references to "peace" in Tibet, or Taiwan, in reality mean "complete unconditional surrender."

It is interesting to note that this is the definition of "peace" also adopted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Taiwan, for instance in the title of the "cross-strait peace committee" -- the true purpose of which is to arrange a complete and unconditional surrender by Taiwan to China.

There is also the definition of "freedom," which loosely defined means "freedom with Chinese characteristics," but more precisely, means "slavery" or "no freedom." It is important to understand this because the white paper uses the term "freedom" liberally to describe many of the communist government's purported benefits, including "freedom of speech," "freedom of religion" and "freedom of association."

Thus the white paper touts China's "freedom of religion," while the reality for the country's Catholics and other Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, the Falun Gong, or in fact any religion, is that there is "no freedom of religion."

For those who doubt this, just ask the real Panchen Lama, if you can find him. I suppose that another of the CCP's definitions of "freedom" is "10 years of house arrest in an undisclosed location."

As for "freedom of speech," the white paper touts China's numerous newspapers, its Internet, media (TV and radio) and its Constitution.

But to truly understand how "freedom of speech" is used in the white paper, the definition from the "Communist Dictionary of Commonly Misunderstood Words" must be at hand. <> The new definition of "freedom of speech" is "freedom of speech to say only good things about the CCP, and otherwise, no freedom of speech."

The white paper fails to explain the continuing ruthless censorship and filtering of all news and Internet information in China, or the imprisonment of anyone anywhere in the country who dares to criticize the Chinese communist government -- or any of its leaders, actions, policies, rules, laws or principles. In fact the white paper utterly fails to even mention it.

This adds to the understanding of the new definition of "white paper," which is "whitewash."

The white paper also speaks of the purported guarantee in the Constitution for "human rights," but to truly understand this, one must refer to the new dictionary definition of "human rights."

The new definition says "human rights" is "the requirement to live as a CCP adherent, and to praise and follow the CCP, and otherwise, no human rights."

When using this definition, the white paper's meaning becomes crystal clear.

For example, when the following portion of the white paper on human rights is modified to reflect the true meaning, it is more easily understood: "The Chinese Constitution comprehensively stipulates the citizens' [requirement to live as a CCP adherent and to praise and follow the CCP, and other than that, no human rights] and [no freedom]. Based on the Constitution, China has enacted a series of laws on the protection of [the requirement to live as a CCP adherent, and to praise and follow the CCP, and otherwise, no human rights], and set up a relatively comprehensive legal system for the protection of [the requirement to live as a CCP adherent, and to praise and follow the CCP, and otherwise, no human rights]. On the basis of achievements made over the 50-plus years of economic and social development, the Chinese people are now enjoying [the requirement to live as a CCP adherent, and to praise and follow the CCP, and otherwise, no human rights] more comprehensive and fuller than they have ever enjoyed in the past."

Article VII is entitled "Respecting and Safeguarding Human Rights" -- or "respecting and safeguarding the requirement to live as a CCP adherent, and to praise and follow the CCP, and otherwise, no human rights" if read using the new communist dictionary definition.

The white paper states at the beginning of Article VII that "In March 2004, an amendment to the Constitution was adopted by the Second Session of the 10th National People's Congress, which included the statement `the state respects and safeguards human rights' in the Constitution, thus ushering in a new chapter in the progress of China's human rights undertakings."

Well, what they meant to write in the Constitution was that "the State does not respect and safeguard human rights" and, somehow, the word "not" got left out. It is from this source that the new definition of "human rights" springs forth. It is also proof that the white paper (whitewash), is in fact nothing more than the usual "CCP pack of lies" -- defined in the new dictionary as "absolute truth."

How ironic is it that the Constitution was amended to add a provision on human rights without a vote by the people? A government that can do that, can just as easily adopt a provision that takes the right away.

In truth, the white paper is merely a typical justification offered by the CCP for its ruthless dictatorship, using the same paternal arguments about "social stability" that all dictators throughout the ages have used to justify oppression, tyranny, detention, slavery and murder.

One of the most poignant lines in the white paper states that the CCP is the "fundamental guarantee for the Chinese people to be masters in managing the affairs of their own country."

In other words, so long as the CCP remains the dictator of China, no outside nation will interfere. But, the new dictionary is necessary to fully understand this passage. In the CCP's new dictionary the definition of "master" is "slave," and the definition of "managing [their own] affairs" is "doing what the party says, on pain of death."

There are as many as 80 million casualties and billions oppressed by ruthless communist rule who could testify to this reality.

In his novel 1984, George Orwell described the motto that was emblazoned on the government's Ministry of Truth: "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength."

In Orwell's fictional world, the government behaved in a way that is eerily similar to the actions of Beijing's communist government, and characters in the book suffered similar indignities, and lacked similar rights and freedoms.

In the book, "truth" was only what the government said it was.

In this regard, communist China is no different. "No freedom, no free speech, no freedom of religion, no human rights, no information, no truth, no right to vote, no democracy, plenty of unbridled censorship and lots of overwhelming oppression," has been redefined in the "Communist Dictionary of Commonly Misunderstood Words" as "the good life."

To all whom Beijing subjugates it says, "Believe it, and you will be `free.'"

Welcome to 1984 in Beijing.