Lu warns about China's ambition to dominate space

CNA , TAIPEI

Vice President Annette Lu spoke out yesterday on the military ambitions underlying China's space technology development, saying the technological achievements of the communist regime pose a major threat to freedom and democracy.

Lu made the remarks while addressing a teleconference between National Chunghsing University and the US' Space Center in Houston.

According to Lu, although China claims the launch of its Shenzhou 6 spacecraft last month was for peaceful purposes, Beijing believes that whoever dominates space will secure supremacy on earth and the initiative to start a war.

Lu said that the launch of Shenzhou 6 indicates China's ability to integrate rocket technology and control and communications systems, making China another space giant after the US and Russia.

She said that China's technology-based military abilities have laid the foundation for the formation of a "space force" in addition to the existing land, sea and air forces.

In contrast, she noted, the FORMOSAT-1, 2 and 3 satellites launched by Taiwan are meant for scientific research relating to the atmosphere, land and oceans, which she said is a mission aimed at enhancing the well-being of mankind and improving the natural environment.

This highlights Taiwan's nature as a peace-loving country and its striking differences from China, she said.

The vice president said she believes that ethnic Chinese, who have made their presence felt in the field of space technology, will be able to enjoy an important status in the field with continuing efforts.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Leroy Chiao, whose parents are from Taiwan, said that there are not many ethnic Chinese scientists working for NASA. He encouraged more ethnic Chinese to take part in space research.

DPP must rekindle fire of freedom

By Li Thian-hok

The survival of Taiwan as a de facto independent democratic nation is facing growing perils from all sides. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is steadily developing the capacity to overwhelm and subdue Taiwan with a combination of a multi-pronged blitzkrieg and internal subversion so swiftly that the US will have no time to react.

After five years of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's policy of "active opening, effective management," Taiwan's economy is becoming increasingly marginalized as capital, technology and skilled manpower migrate westward to China. Ever since then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong made their pilgrimages to Beijing to pledge allegiance to the People's Republic of China (PRC), the voice of the anti-democracy, anti-US and pro-unification minority has become very strident, while the pro-Taiwan and pro-democracy majority of the people are so disenchanted with the DPP's performance that Pres-ident Chen Shui-bian's approval rating has recently hit a record low of 25 percent.

Both Beijing and the KMT/PFP opposition are already confidently counting on the defeat of the DPP candidate in the 2008 presidential election and the peaceful capit-ulation of Taiwan's sovereignty to the PRC soon thereafter. How did Taiwan come to this? Because the governing political leadership lacks a clear vision for Taiwan's future, a vision to commit the nation to the path of freedom.

When the DPP was formed in the late 1980s, the party had a clear vision. Its original party platform stated: "In accordance with the reality of Taiwan's sovereignty, an independent country should be established and a new constitution drawn up in order to make the legal system conform to the social reality in Taiwan and ... the scope of Taiwan's sovereignty over the land and the people should be redefined ... Based on the fundamental rights of the people, the establishment of a sovereign Taiwan Republic and a new constitution shall be determined by all citizens of Taiwan through a national ref-erendum."

This unambiguous goal of establishing a sovereign and independent Republic of Taiwan, however, was abandoned in the DPP's Resolution Regarding Taiwan's Future, passed by the National Party Congress on May 8, 1999. The Resolution stated: "Taiwan is a sovereign and in-dependent country. Any change in the independent status quo must be decided by all the residents of Taiwan by means of plebiscite ... Taiwan should promptly complete the task of incorporating pleb-iscite into law in order to realize the people's rights."

While the Resolution purported to "create a vision for the future," it merely stated: "The ultimate goal of the DPP's China policy is to establish a cross-strait relationship that is mutually beneficial ... peaceful ... and equal."

It was silent on how the goal would be achieved, merely asking the Chinese government to "respect the will of the Taiwanese people." Taiwan's future now rests on the goodwill of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

What caused this backtracking of the DPP in 1999? There was concern that overt moves toward independence might trigger PLA military aggression against Taiwan. There was electoral calculation that to win in the presidential election of 2000 it was necessary to reach out to the majority middle-of-the-road voters who wanted to defer the independence/unification issue and to maintain the status quo.

In 2000 Chen won the pres-idency with 39 percent of the vote. It is doubtful that his victory was because of the dilution of the DPP's original platform, in which Chen played a key role. The ob-vious reason was the candidacy of both Lien and Soong, which split the opposition's votes.

While the electoral advantage from the DPP's middle-of-the-road strategy is unclear, the adverse consequences of this departure from the soul and founding spirit of the party are increasingly evident. The "five noes" pledge in Chen's 2000 inaugural address was a natural extension of the 1999 DPP Resolution. Chen promised that if the CCP regime had no intention of using military force against Taiwan, he would among others not declare independence, change the national title or conduct a referendum to change the status quo.

It should be noted that on such vital issues affecting Taiwan's future, he had no authority to make such unilateral concessions without the consent of the people. Worse still, even as China's intent to use non-peaceful means against Taiwan was becoming obvious as Beijing prepared to pass the "Anti-Secession" Law, Chen signed his 10-point agreement with Soong, apparently without discussion or caucus within the DPP, on Feb. 24.

Critics have said that Chen has co-opted the defeated opposition party's platform. The rationale of the Chen-Soong accord was in Point 7, which stated that Taiwan should acquire weapons needed for its national defense. However, PFP legislators have continued to block any discussion of the arms procurement program.

The many concessions Chen made to Soong betrayed the DPP's lack of vision for Taiwan's future. Point 2 of the agreement asked the international com-munity to recognize the current de facto and de jure status of the Republic of China's sovereignty, while Point 3 asserted that no constitutional reform may touch on national sovereignty, territory or the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. In effect Chen and Soong have asked the international community to recognize Taiwan's sovereignty over the People's Republic of China and Mongolia -- a self-deceiving delusion.

Chen and Soong agreed to promote trade, cultural and academic exchanges across the Taiwan Strait leading to full implementation of the three links, even as the PLA deploys an ever greater number of missiles against Taiwan and works closely with pro-unification forces within Taiwan to subvert the nation's sovereignty and democracy. Such a policy will clearly further weaken Taiwan's economy and endanger its security.

While Point 6 of the agreement did state that any change in the status quo must have the consent of the 23 million Taiwanese people, the key issue was that unification with the PRC would not be ruled out.

By giving up the vision of freedom which formed the party, the DPP has lost much of its support base. Popular support for the party is now 24 percent, compared to 35 percent for the KMT. There is now a pervasive fear that the KMT will regain power in the 2008 presidential election, and that the chance of preserving Taiwan's status as an independent, dem-ocratic nation will be destroyed.

In early spring this year, Chen was interviewed by Newsweek. In response to the question, "Can you envision a future in which Taiwan and China unify?" he replied: "If one day the people of Taiwan choose to unify with China, it must be done [after] their political situations [achieve] complete synergy, in which both sides enjoy democratic elections, multiparty politics, a truly neutral military [and] freedom of speech. Moreover, by then the average income in China should be about that of the people in Taiwan."

The conditions Chen has stated parallel those stipulated in the National Unification Guideline. Another condition which should be added is that China must first renounce any use of force against Taiwan.

The DPP must return to its roots. The party must rediscover the vision of freedom which enabled it to gain power. A great majority of the Taiwanese people want to keep the country's free and independent status. The DPP must reflect this ardent yearning for freedom and channel the people's energy into unity and purposeful action. An unequivocal commitment to democracy is indispensable to Taiwan's survival as an independent and free nation.

Li Thian-hok is a freelance com-mentator based in Pennsylvania.

Diplomatic corps needs reshuffle to retain allies

By William Lo

`Only major diplomatic reform can open the door for Taiwan's international survival and development. I hope that ... the public can support and participate in such reform.'

On Oct. 25, the Republic of Senegal in West Africa suddenly announced it was severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan. President Abdoulaye Wade even wrote a letter to President Chen Shui-bian, stressing that "States have no friends, they only have interests." How cruel international reality is.

Taiwan has only 25 diplomatic allies now. Together, their popul-ation is less than 1 percent of the total world population. As China's economy continues to boom, it will inevitably spend even more money to lure our allies over to its side.

At the moment, our diplomatic ties with the Vatican are also shaky. The Vatican has insisted on the "one China" policy and been disrespectful of the autonomy of the people of Taiwan. Meanwhile, the nation's Catholic church has long been dominated by arch-bishops and bishops originally from China. They seldom speak for the nation's sovereignty and the people's autonomy.

Recently, the Vatican cruelly said that it hopes to establish ties with China and that Taiwan is not a problem. It is thus evident that Taiwan-Vatican relations are at risk.

Ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu said, "In the danger of death, a person will fight for his life with all his strength." It is hoped that Chen will experience a great awakening and quickly propose effective methods to push for diplomatic reform. First, he has to carry out a major reshuffle of Taiwan's diplomatic corps overseas. He has to dismiss all diplomats clinging to the rigid "greater China" ideology, replacing them with others who have a sense of Taiwan consciousness, so as to strive for better diplomacy for the Republic of Taiwan.

For example, both Taiwan's former representative to Japan Lo Fu-chen and incumbent representative Koh Se-kai have significantly improved Taiwan-Japan relations in recent years.

Moreover, it is hoped that Chen, in the last two years of his presidency, can bravely break through the dip-lomatic deadlock and apply for UN membership in the name of "Taiwan."

Although China will certainly exercise its veto in the UN to block the application in the Sec-urity Council, the repeated rejection of Taiwan's bid to enter the world body will surely cause international attention. It will highlight the willpower and determination of the Republic of Taiwan's government and its people to protect the nation's independent sovereignty. It will also counter Beijing's brutal and ambitious legislation as embodied in its "Anti-Secession" Law.

Only major diplomatic reform can open the door for Taiwan's international survival and development. I hope that Chen can work harder to achieve this and that the public can support and participate in such reform.

William Lo is the secretary-general of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance.