To give the public and the media a better understanding of the navy's anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities, the navy yesterday invited reporters to visit a naval air base in Pingtung County, and displayed the S-2T aircraft and its weapon systems.

The navy has urged the public to support the purchase of 12 P-3Cs from the US -- one of three big-ticket items in a purchase that has been blocked for months by the pan-blue controlled legislature.

"The radar, infrared, magnetic anomaly detector and sonar systems fitted on the S-2T aircrafts to detect submarines and monitor unknown vessels are too old to efficiently complete the mission," said a commander of the S-2T force, Captain Wu Chun-wei, as he stood by an S-2T and introduced the aircraft's equipment and capabilities.

He said the S-2T could only stay in the air for three hours and 20 minutes, with a top speed of 180 nautical miles per hour, which only allows them to operate in a small area.

He added that the S-2Ts have no air conditioning, no Global Positioning System (GPS) and few computer systems, and that pilots have to operate the aircraft manually -- all of which makes for a high-pressure ride for pilots.

"When S-2T pilots carry out missions in the summer, they are already sweating a lot before they get in the aircraft, but then when they fly in the winter, they must withstand the cold," Wu added.

He said most S-2T pilots consider the aircraft dangerous to fly.

In comparison, Wu said, the P-3C can stay in the air for 17 hours with a top speed of 405 nautical miles per hour.

The aircraft is equipped with a much better detection and weapon systems. And more importantly, the P-3C would be able to link to the military's command and control system, which would significantly enhance the navy's ASW capabilities.

He added that S-2Ts are unable to detect China's best submarines, such as the Ming-class, Song-class and Kilo-class submarines, as well as its nuclear-powered subs.

"We have found that China is obtaining much quieter submarines," Wu added.

He said only sustained patrols using advanced maritime patrol aircraft such as the P-3C can detect China's submarines when they are underwater around Taiwan.

He added that the navy has calculated that if it procures US P-3Cs, those aircraft could be used for more than 20 years.

Wu said the navy mainly patrols the waters northeast, southeast and east of Taiwan, and that 12 P-3Cs would be sufficient to protect the nation's waters.

Wu said that of the navy's 26 S-2Ts, only 16 of the 50-year-old aircraft are serviceable.

The navy's anti-submarine force includes 26 S-2Ts, eight 500MD helicopters and 18 S-70C helicopters. Taiwan purchased 32 used S-2Ts in 1976.

DPP blasts KMT over `anti-corruption' protest

By Mo Yan-chih and Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTERS

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is the party least qualified to talk about "anti-corruption" and to propose holding a parade with that theme, Democratic Progressive (DPP) Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang said yesterday.

"The history of the KMT is a history of corruption and privilege, and if the party wins back ruling power then its `black gold' [system] will be restored for sure," Lee said.

Lee made the remarks in response to a parade slated to be staged by the KMT on the last weekend before the Dec. 3 local-government elections to protest against what it terms is the DPP's corruption.

The KMT discussed the parade idea during a meeting on Monday, calling it an "anti-corruption, anti-rottenness and anti-insider trading" protest.

The party said it would have local candidates join the protest in their respective cities and counties.

Lee said that recent DPP scandals had been perpetrated by a handful of people and the party had dealt with them quickly. Most DPP members believe in integrity and reform, he added.

Lee said the DPP had faced difficulties from the financial mess left by the KMT government, but had still taken on responsibility for coping with the bad-debt crisis among Taiwan's banks and successfully prevented a financial meltdown from happening.

"If the DPP government's hands were not clean, how could we do it?" Lee said.

The KMT should examine itself and let the public judge which is the real corrupt regime, Lee added.

KMT Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou said the party's organization and development committee would continue to evaluate whether to organize the protest.

Ma, whose father died recently, returned to work after taking bereavement leave on Monday, and will begin campaigning for party candidates on weekends again. He declined to confirm whether he would take some time off as mayor to focus on campaigning for party candidates as the year-end elections approach.

"If we hold campaign events during weekdays, most people have to work and won't be able to join in ... There is no need to take any time off," he said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the KMT yesterday launched its first TV ad for next month's election, titled "Myth." The ad uses a current DPP member to criticize the DPP government, and urges voters to express their disappointment with the government through their votes.

The ad's protagonist, Luo Wu-chang, is former director of the DPP's Taipei City chapter and a long-time DPP member. He has been an activist since his days as a political science student at National Taiwan University, participating in student movements, social movements and political protests to fight for democracy -- against the then-ruling party the KMT.

From being a hard-core supporter to a critic of his own party, Luo said the DPP government has strayed too far away from the party's initial ideals of democracy and justice.

"Like me, I know many DPP supporters must be disappointed in the government. Now we have to fight against the party that we used to believe in, because it is turning away from its own ideals," he says in the ad.

The law applies to everyone

The Government Information Office's (GIO) probe into cable network TVBS has recently become a cause for concern in the local media, as well as the US. Will this be the first domino to fall in the collapse of Taiwan's hard-won press freedoms?

It will not, for the nation's democratic system is not so fragile. However, the case has highlighted a number of important issues.

The question of TVBS' ownership has arisen at a time when the network has been especially critical of the government, so the government's response has been viewed by some as revenge. But TVBS is also trying to blur the issue.

Whether TVBS has violated regulations to such an extent that its operating license should be revoked is a legal question. Claiming that the government is taking revenge appears paranoid, especially as the matter is far from settled. And it was inappropriate for President Chen Shui-bian to announce, at this early stage, that no TV network would have its license revoked, for the law should be allowed to take its course.

At the heart of the dispute is the question of whether or not TVBS has violated Article 10 of the Satellite Broadcasting Law, which says that "The total shares of a satellite broadcasting business directly held by foreign shareholders shall be less than 50 percent of the total shares issued by the said business."

TVB in Hong Kong has used Bermuda TVB Investment Co to set up a sister company, Countless Entertainment (Taiwan) Co, in Taiwan. Countless Entertainment holds a 53 percent stake in TVBS, and the Hong Kong-based Bermuda TVB holds the remaining 47 percent. Although the amount of shares that TVB holds in TVBS through Countless Entertainment exceeds 50 percent, that stake is indirectly held, and this would seem to avoid prohibition against a foreign company directly holding a majority of shares.

A careful look, however, reveals that the shareholders in Countless Entertainment are the same as those in Bermuda TVB Investment, and that both companies are registered at the same address. Although TVBS says that Bermuda TVB Investment owns shares in TVBS indirectly through Countless Entertainment, the fact is that the Hong Kong-based shareholders in Bermuda TVB Investment own 100 percent of TVBS.

Although many have sought to defend TVBS on legal technicalities, we must remember that the spirit of Article 10 of the Satellite Broadcasting Law is to "protect local Taiwanese culture and avoid a foreign-owned media monopoly." TVBS has attempted to duck the accusation of being fully Hong Kong-owned by talking of indirect ownership, but its actions clearly conflict with the intention of the law.

There are clearly some problems in TVBS' share structure, and the law provides for a variety of measures, varying in severity, that can be employed against the organization. Revoking the network's broadcast license should only be resorted to if TVBS is found to have presented false documentation in its license application, or refuses to restructure despite the NT$1 million fine imposed by the GIO. At the same time, the persons responsible for the renewal of TVBS' license in July, given its ownership structure, should also be found and the matter investigated.

At any rate, legal proceedings have only just begun and numerous options remain -- so there is no need for the public to assume that a withdrawal of TVBS' broadcasting license is in any way inevitable.

In protecting its press freedoms, the government must of course adhere to the law. But it must also take into account the security and interests of the nation. At a time when China has launched a media war against Taiwan, Beijing should not be able to use China-funded media outlets such as TVBS to infect Taiwan's body politic.

And if this case demonstrates a weakness in the legal system, then the Satellite Broadcasting Law should be brought forward for public debate and revision.

Deal with Internet cafes, too

By Elizabeth Powell

Chiu Tai-san, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate for Taichung County commissioner, has the right idea. Ridding the country of illegal gambling machines is a smart move. Gambling is addictive for many people, and the resulting cost to society is great, as is the cost to individuals themselves.

Perhaps the next move would be to put a stop to 24-hour Internet cafes. Studies show video games can also be addictive.

Going to various local Internet cafes before work in the early morning, I see Internet cafes filled with (mostly) teenage boys who clearly have been playing video games all night. These teenagers eat and sleep in front of their rented computers, and look spent.

This is an addiction, and it needs to be dealt with.

Shut these places down at 10pm. Open them at 7am or 8am, but get these kids home. Their health depends on it, and so does their future.

Elizabeth Powell

Taoyuan County

Build up nation's defenses

By Yen Lung-chu

Today in Taiwan, people tend to live a comfortable and peaceful life. And things remaining this way is in everyone's interest. On the other hand, China has clearly expressed its opinion on Taiwan's military procurement with the US. China is absolutely against any military interaction or cooperation between the US and Taiwan, including the stalled budget for procuring arms.

Every country has a huge budget to strengthen military power. The motive is to defend themselves and to provide a peaceful environment for the people and the nation. The US disregards China's protests against Taiwan's arms procurements to protect its national interest. Yet the real issue is the battle between politicians inside Taiwan and the intentional delays in the passage of the arms-procurement budget.

If peace is so easy to achieve, who would spend money on it? Arms procurements are necessary and vital. If we break our agreement on the budget with the US, we would lose an ally. If the US stops providing weaponry to us, it will have an undeniably strong impact on our national defense.

Yen Lung-chiu

Miaoli

Pan-blues abusing the system

By Chen Ming-chung

The pan-blue coup after March 19 last year succeeded after all. We now have a "procedure committee" in the pan-blue dominated Legislative Yuan, dictating national policy on issues from national defense and arms purchases, blocking all nominations in the Control Yuan, making foreign policy through the "peace" bill and determining the freedom of the press in the form of a bill to create a national communications commission.

The incompetence of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng allows this blatant abuse of the ROC Constitution to go on forever. Is anybody even bothering to ask exactly what "procedures" these bills violate to warrant their blockade by the "procedure committee"?

The pan-blues' blatant stand in favor of unification is forcing the hand of Taiwanese voters. There is no "middle of the road" for voters anymore. It is the DPP's duty to point out to the voters that they must choose freedom or be like Hong Kong.

Chen Ming-chung

Chicago, Illinois

US policy stuck as China's changes

By Nat Bellocchi

One scenario many China watchers now see is that Beijing has shifted policy regarding Taiwan, placing a priority on preventing Taiwan's independence in the immediate future, while continuing to insist on eventual unification. This places it in a position equivalent to the platform of Taiwan's opposition parties.

For China, this in effect sets aside the issue of absorbing Taiwan while it works to establish an equal, or even better a dominant, position in the region. If this is so, what might be the impact of the relationship between the three cross-strait players -- the US, China and Taiwan?

China is already actively conducting a vigorous effort to strengthen its connection with the pan-blue opposition leaders. It encourages visits by them to China and the strengthening of trade and investment exchanges. It is also helping opposition politicians gain votes at home by aiding Taiwanese businesspeople in China, or taishang, expanding cultural activities to demonstrate Taiwan's Chineseness and liberalizing rules for Taiwanese businesses in China.

At the same time, it is using its influence to expand efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community and demonstrating its ability to block Taiwan's independence by expanding its military capability.

China has also shifted its policy regarding the US by establishing better relations with countries that surround China (minus Japan), which will help strengthen Beijing's hand to deal with the US on regional matters on an equal basis. All of these regional nations likely already accept the idea of not supporting Taiwan's independence. The next step for China would be gain their support for unification.

As for Beijing's relations with the US, China sees it as necessary to play by the rules of globalization in order to carry out its vital economic expansion and soften its relationship with Washington, at least in the short term. It needs to do that to establishes its position in the region and gain support for unification. (Already in a conservative magazine in Washington, there has been a call to make room for China in the region, and to support a version of "one country, two systems" to settle the cross-strait issue).

In Taiwan at the moment, change is taking place in a far different way. The administration in Taipei, though it has been on a bumpy and often unclear path, was nonetheless steering Taiwan in the direction of strengthening democracy and aggressively pursuing a separate identity. By last year, much had been done, but much more had still to be done.

The victory by the ruling party last year was gained despite an all-out effort by the still powerful opposition and an unwelcome US intervention. The inability of the ruling party to win a majority in the Legislative Yuan in the following election a few months later, however, checked the momentum and has possibly moved it in a different direction.

China risked becoming a catalyst for Taiwan's ruling party to regain momentum when it passed the "Anti-Secession" Law, but the opposition parties -- in particular the KMT with its greater abundance of experienced personnel, its influence in the media and its access to significant funds -- moved to check that possibility. The opposition parties, which have flirted with China over the past four years and which continue to dominate the Legislative Yuan, shifted into high gear to gain the initiative.

As a result, governance seems to have come almost to a standstill, while politics flourishes. The two sides -- the pan-green and the pan-blue -- are playing by different rules. The pan-blue side's objective is to regain power to assure eventual unification with China, while at the same time opening the gates for China's entry into Taiwan.

The pan-green side's objective is to assure democracy is strengthened. But it seems to be placing a greater priority on stability as a defense against its opponents rather than defending the freedom that is being challenged by the opposition's behavior. Both sides may lose.

These changes in the policies and actions of China and Taiwan have not influenced the US' policies toward either one -- yet. Washington's preoccupation with domestic and other external issues has absorbed the attention of top decision makers. That does not mean that other issues are being ignored by the bureaucracy. More likely, decisions are being postponed by senior officials who are preoccupied with the crisis of the day, or awaiting policy personnel that have not yet been chosen.

Even when an issue is addressed -- cross-strait issues as well as others -- a decision may be stalled by a lack of consensus (or interagency approval in foreign service jargon). Differences are inherent in some agencies and branches of government: Forging a consensus among foreign affairs, security and Congress inevitably requires very difficult concessions. Political realities, security requirements and national values clearly form part of cross-strait policy.

But for Taiwan, danger lingers over the changes being made by China, and potentially by changes the US may make in the future when decisions cannot be avoided.

It remains unclear what pressures will develop in the US-China relationship, how well and in what direction Beijing will manage its changing environment and whose consensus will prevail in Taiwan. An important question though is are opportunities for furthering Taiwan's future being lost in its internal struggles?

Nat Bellocchi is a former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan and is now a special adviser to the Liberty Times Group. The views expressed in this article are his own.