20051118

US, S Korea will `not tolerate' a nuclear N Korea

UNITED: The South Korean and US presidents played down recent difficulties in their nations' relationship and agreed to `peacefully' address the North's threat

AP , GYEONGJU, SOUTH KOREA

"We'll consider the light-water reactor at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is after they have verifiably given up their nuclear weapons and/or program."－US President George W. Bush

US President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun declared yesterday that a nuclear-armed North Korea "will not be tolerated" and agreed that the international standoff with the nation over its weapons ambitions should be resolved through peaceful diplomacy.

Bush and Roh met in Gyeongju, an ancient capital of Korea, ahead of a summit of the APEC forum whose 21 members include the leaders of the five countries negotiating with North Korea for its nuclear disarmament. North Korea isn't attending the summit.

Roh said the second phase of the fifth round of disarmament talks should be held as soon as possible to reach a breakthrough.

"We have no disagreements at all that this issue must be resolved," Roh said, calling his fifth meeting with Bush "constructive."

"We reiterated that a nuclear-armed North Korea will not be tolerated and reaffirmed that the issue should be resolved through peaceful and diplomatic means," Roh said.

Bush agreed.

"It's in the world's interest that this happen," he said. "It's also in our interest that we continue to work together to solve the problem. I see a peninsula one day that is united and at peace."

Separately, China's President Hu Jintao said his country -- the North's main benefactor and a key player in the six-nation talks on the North's nuclear programs -- also remained committed to the process. The two Koreas, the US, Russia and Japan are the other parties to the talks.

"We firmly support whatever is conducive to safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula," Hu said in a speech in the capital Seoul to South Korea's National Assembly. "As proven by facts, the peaceful resolution to the peninsula's nuclear issue through dialogue is the most realistic and reasonable method."

Bush said Washington would not comply with North Korea's demand that it be provided with a light-water nuclear reactor before it disarms, a stumbling block in the talks.

"We'll consider the light-water reactor at the appropriate time," Bush said. "The appropriate time is after they have verifiably given up their nuclear weapons and/or program."

Roh said the two leaders talked at length about the North Korean nuclear issue.

"We are basically looking to resolve this North Korean nuclear issue, and we are exploring more ways that we can resolve this issue," Roh said.

The leaders endorsed a declaration expressing satisfaction with "the steady development" of the US-South Korean alliance.

Roh played down disputes with the US and said relations with the North represented "perhaps the most stable situation between the two Koreas that you have ever seen. And the Korea-US dialogue is going on very smoothly."

Native-language teachers lash `disrespectful' ministry

By Jean Lin

STAFF REPORTER

No progress in native-language education has been made in schools despite the central government promising to encourage local culture and language education three years ago, native-language teachers said yesterday.

Liu Feng-chi, director of the Taiwan Association of Mother Language Teachers and a teacher of Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), said he felt cheated that the government had "not taken in any of our suggestions to improve native-language education in school" over the past three years.

Liu said the Ministry of Education had not put much effort into reform nor native-language education. Classes in schools were not being planned carefully and lack continuity, he said.

"Classes [for native languages] should continue after elementary school so that students can keep learning the languages in junior high," Liu said.

Association executive director Huang Hsiu-jen said teachers of Hoklo are being "reselected" every year and must undergo a "disrespectful" selection process.

Huang said the selection committee was sometimes composed of teachers who did not speak Hoklo themselves.

"The selection team tends to choose young Hoklo teachers who can sing and dance in class, while older teachers like us end up with no job," Huang said.

Liu also said that the salary for teachers was based on the number of hours worked in a week and that the hourly wage was a mere NT$320.

Furthermore, native language teachers are called "assistant teachers," and schools do not provide them with health insurance, Liu added.

The association also expressed concern that many schools were using the time reserved for language classes to teach other subjects, and that many language teachers were required to teach mathematics or science as well.

Meanwhile, Perng Fuh-yuan, section chief at the ministry's Department of Elementary Education, said there are more than 300,000 children learning native languages in the country.

Perng said the selection process applied not only to language teachers but to teachers in general, and that former language teachers were added to the selection committee to provide specialist advice.

"It is hard for students to continue native-language classes in junior high school under all of the exam pressure," he said. "However, schools have tried to incorporate these languages into extracurricular activities connected to the school, such as Hoklo language clubs."

The ministry spends NT$400 million (US$11.9 million) annually on native-language courses, while English classes have NT$200 million per year in funding. Elementary school students are required to take at least one period of native-tongue classes per week.

Taiwan's native tongues include Hoklo, Hakka and a variety of Aboriginal languages.

Pan-blue camp is `toadying' to the PRC: DPP caucus

By Ko Shu-ling

STAFF REPORTER

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday criticized the pan-blue camp for changing its political stance from fighting against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to currying favor with Beijing.

Singing an old military song taught at schools and commonly broadcast on TV under Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule, DPP caucus whips William Lai and Jao Yung-ching said the generation educated under the KMT regime was well aware of the lyrics, which exhort the citizenry to fight communism and "reclaim the mainland."

"We're sorry to see the pan-blue camp becoming a toady for China," Jao said. "We're worried that they would give away the nation's sovereignty and kowtow to Beijing if it one day seizes power."

Jao cited the possible visit to Taiwan by Chen Yunlin, director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, saying that the pan-blue camp cut the budget of the Mainland Affairs Council simply to "suck up" to Chen.

Chen has been invited by the KMT to attend a forum the party will host with the CCP next month in Taipei.

Taiwan said prior negotiations are necessary to review Chen's visa application.

The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday wrote a second letter to its counterpart in China, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, urging its officials to start negotiations with Taiwan on the matter of Chen's request to visit Taiwan.

The second letter was sent given the Taiwan Affairs Office's slow response to the SEF's first letter, which was sent on Monday.

Jao added that the pan-blue alliance should stop complaining about being described as putting on a "red hat," implying a link to the Chinese Communist Party, as that was "what they do by buttering up Beijing."

Jao called on the pan-blue camp to take into account what the people of Taiwan really need and to give Taiwanese an opportunity to choose whether they want to be the master of their land or the subject of an authoritarian regime.

Lai, meanwhile, said that although former KMT chairman Lien Chan and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong endorsed the arms-procurement bill during the last presidential election, the bill has been blocked by pan-blue lawmakers on 37 occasions.

Alluding to a remark made by US President George W. Bush, who on Wednesday praised Taiwan's democratic development, Lai said he hoped the pan-blue alliance would listen to what Bush says and help China become a more democratic country rather than help China attack Taiwan.

In response, KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang dismissed the DPP's criticism as an "election gimmick."

Pan said that as the DPP administration is not fit to govern the country, it does what it can to smear the opposition parties with black paint (referring to the allegation of black-gold politics), yellow paint (sex scandals) and red paint (intimacy with China).

Chinese reaction doesn't worry Bush: aide

BLASE BEIJING: A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said people in his country enjoy democracy and freedom and do not need to take Taiwan as their model

AGENCIES , WASHINGTON AND BEIJING

US President George W. Bush was not worried that his praise of Taiwan as an example of a country that was under a repressive government and then liberalized would irritate China, a senior White House official said on Tuesday.

Mike Green, senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council, made the remarks in reply to a media question during a briefing in Kyoto before Bush mentioned Taiwan in a speech.

"The president ... is going to talk about his freedom agenda in a universal sense -- that countries that are successful economically, in order to continue being successful, are going to have to give their people opportunities to worship freely, to own property freely, to express themselves freely," Green said.

These are "elements of a strong and stable society," and there are examples across Asia where countries have found that they're stronger when they've done that, he said.

In his speech, Bush cited South Korea and Taiwan, "because Taiwan is an important example that this kind of pattern knows no cultural or historic line," Green said.

He said the point is not to lecture China or any other country in the region about what kind of system they should have exactly, but rather to make the point that Asia has had a pretty good run -- there has been peace and stability, as well as economic prosperity -- and that if countries want to keep being successful, these other elements are going to have to be brought into the political process.

Green acknowledged that the Chinese are sensitive but that Bush was not worried about antagonizing them with these words, which he said will be repeated when the president is in Beijing, because "we approach this from the premise that US-China relations are good and that we're committed to making them better, and that President Hu [Jintao] has outlined a vision for China's development."

"So it's in that context and done in a way to explain what else will help China succeed," Green said.

Beijing, however, yesterday deflected Bush's call to embrace democracy and religious freedom.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said China hoped to improve ties with the US during Bush's three-day visit, which begins tomorrow.

"Chinese people enjoy all forms of democracy and freedom under law, including freedom of religion and belief," Liu said.

"We hope to increase consensus and mutual confidence through President Bush's visit," he said.

China was willing to discuss its human rights "on the basis of equality, mutual respect, and non-interference in internal affairs," Liu said.

But Liu said China need not take Taiwan as its model.

"Taiwan has its circumstances, and the mainland has its circumstances," he said.

Analysts worried about change in military balance

TIPPING POINTS: A paper for a closed-door meeting said the US may not be able to intervene to help Taiwan even if it wanted to in the event of a conflict

By Chang Yun-ping

STAFF REPORTER

Military trends in the Taiwan Strait are evolving in an unfavorable direction that may ultimately trump political considerations and limit US ability to aid Taiwan, former US officials said during a private US-Japan-Taiwan strategic meeting held in Taipei last month.

According to a discussion paper drafted by the US participants at the closed-door meeting, a copy of which was obtained by the Taipei Times, "Given developing PLA [People's Liberation Army] capabilities, as well as deteriorating Taiwan capabilities, some analysts in the United States fear we are on the cusp of a tipping point where the PLA developed a capability to attack Taiwan and accomplish its political objectives in a speedy enough manner that the US could not reasonably expect to get to the fight in time, even in the event of a political decision to engage."

Among the seven US participants at the US-Japan-Taiwan Strategic Dialogue held by the Taiwan Thinktank at the end of last month were Randall Schriver, deputy assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Robin Sakoda, a former Pentagon official; Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, and John Tkacik, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

SERIOUS DENT

The paper said the Legislative Yuan's allowing the special arms procurement budget to languish has seriously dented the country's will for national defense, which is making it more difficult for the US to justify its pledge to defend Taiwan.

The paper said there were two "tipping points" in the military equation on how the US would intervene in a potential crisis in the Taiwan Strait.

"The first tipping point relates [to] the PLA's capability to inflict sufficient damage on US forces to significantly raise the cost of US intervention on US forces," the paper read, adding that "many analysts believe that Chinese acquisition of modern cruise missiles and submarines [both anti-aircraft carrier capable] have moved us beyond the first tipping point -- there is no longer envisioned a low cost US intervention."

The second tipping point relates to the PLA developing the capability to attack Taiwan before the US can "get to the fight."

The US participants believed the military trend line is approaching that second point.

DIVIDED NATION

They said the lack of consensus in Taiwan to pass the special arms budget has restrained Washington from showing more support for Taiwan's security.

Although the US is abiding by the Taiwan Relations Act to maintain Washington's capacity to resist any resort to force that would jeopardize the security of Taiwan, "the US support, however, is predicated on Taiwan's demonstration that it takes its defense seriously," the paper said.

BAD HABITS

As for how Taiwan can contribute to the US-Japan security alliance, the paper said Taipei has "three very bad habits" that compromise its standing with its defense partners.

First, "It regularly exaggerates the level of its existing military and intelligence interactions with Washington and Tokyo -- exaggerations which have the unhelpful effect of irritating Beijing.

"Second, it gives the impression that it is not taking seriously its own responsibilities for defense as coastal defense has eroded, command and control centers, submarine bases, air strips, communications nodes, fuel and supply storage facilities and the like go unhardened, conscription terms for draftees shortened, professional pilot, engineering, technical personnel allowed to drop," the paper said.

Third, "it allows the languishing `special budget' items to become an irritant in Washington," the paper said.

The paper also outlined opportunities for Taiwan to contribute to the US-Japan alliance, such as continuing to upgrade its naval and air forces to complement that of the US and Japan in real time, and reinforcing the surveillance and reconnaissance cooperation between the two countries, which "has proven useful in processing real time data on Chinese military operations."

The US is also interested in making Taiwan a larger partner in the procurement of certain systems to help reduce its own budget, the paper indicated.

Court ruling on Lee `not fair,' TSU complains

By Ko Shu-ling

STAFF REPORTER

"It is disappointing to see such a political ruling, which has seriously sabotaged the integrity of the judicial system," said TSU Legislator Lai Shin-yuan.

On Wednesday the Taipei District Court ruled that Lee must pay Soong NT$10 million (US$297,365) for saying that Soong had abandoned pan-blue supporters after an April 10 protest against President Chen Shui-bian and returned home to play mahjong.

The court also said Lee must publish half-page notices of apology in nine Chinese-language newspapers for three days in a row.

PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao yesterday praised the court ruling, saying it teaches political figures a lesson and the ruling is aimed at correcting the chaotic political situation marked by verbal attacks.

Chang also called on Lee to mind his words and actions and doublecheck facts before making any accusations.

TSU caucus whip David Huang yesterday argued that Lee did not specify the target of his criticism and the crux of the criticism does not lie in whether the person was sleeping or playing mahjong during the post-presidential election disturbances, but in whether the person left the crowd there and let them engage in violent clashes.

"It is clear that both Lien and Soong were nowhere to be found after they led supporters to demonstrate in front of the Presidential Office," Huang said. "The narration of this mere fact should lie in the realm of freedom of speech, and we support the former president's appeal 100 percent."

Another TSU member, Chien Lin Hui-chun, criticized the justice system for applying a double standard toward Lee.

"While Soong was acquitted in the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal and no ruling has been handed down in the first lady's slander lawsuit against Lien, it took little time for the court to rule on a case of an insinuating remark by the former president," she said.

Soong is alleged to have embezzled millions of US dollars from the KMT. The Taipei Prosecutor's Office and Ministry of Finance discovered that he sent more than NT$200 million to relatives' accounts, and this money is thought to be surplus campaign funds, as well as cash skimmed from the KMT.

First lady Wu Shu-jen filed a defamation suit in January last year against Lien, after a KMT campaign speech accused the president of taking kickbacks.

US President George W. Bush has at long last demonstrated that he is aware of Taiwan's value as a democracy. Given recent US attitudes and commentary directed at this country, Bush is to be congratulated for his sudden enlightenment.

The question that now remains is this: Since the White House appears ready to accept that Taiwan is no longer an authoritarian state controlled by a murderous dictator, how will it translate this knowledge into a meaningful strategy for Taiwan?

Even as Bush praised Taiwan's progress in democratization, he committed the usual fallacy of placing Taiwan under the category of "Chinese society" as a whole -- thus pandering to the knee-jerk "Greater China" myth that is at the heart of Taiwan's difficulties in the first place.

"By embracing freedom at all levels, Taiwan has delivered prosperity to its people and created a free and democratic Chinese society," Bush said on Wednesday in Kyoto, Japan.

Loose talk about "Chinese society" may make for good rhetoric, but it hardly makes for good historical fact. When, during the past 200 years for a start, has Taiwan's historical experience been even remotely akin to China's experience? The short answer is that it has not. One would be better off comparing Canada and Pakistan, as they were both part of the British empire at some point.

Eventually the US must realize that the "Taiwan issue" can not be treated as a subset of the "China issue." Many people in the US have become accustomed to treating Washington's policy toward Taiwan as a small and irksome outgrowth of Sino-American relations. This approach may have had currency in 1951, but it makes little sense now.

From the US' perspective, preserving Taiwan's de facto independence is not the end game -- nor is maintaining trouble-free relations with China.

US policymakers seem to be unable to decide how to deal with China, and as a result, they lack a grand vision for US policy in the region. Merely playing "diplomacy" -- which by current US standards means not doing anything that someone might find distasteful, ever -- is not going to help the US achieve its aims in the region.

The ultimate US goal in East Asia must be the preservation of the current strategic situation, with the US as the undisputed guarantor of regional stability and security. Every policy that Washington employs should be working toward this end. Unfortunately, the shortsightedness of successive US administrations has undermined this strategy, especially when it comes to Taiwan.

After all, one could look at how China deals with Taiwan as a barometer for how China will deal with the rest of the world. Add to this the vital geographic and strategic importance of Taiwan, and one arrives at a pretty compelling argument for ensuring that this country remains a "buffer" between the world's second and third largest economies -- Japan and China, respectively.

Washington is going to have to make a decision about whether or not it wants to retain the mantle of leadership in the Asia-Pacific. The choice should not be too difficult, given that the alternative -- letting Japan and China slug it out for control of the West Pacific -- could well lead to World War III.

Taiwan has been compared to Spain in 1936 -- a troubled, fledgling democratic state at threat internally and externally. The democracies of the world stood aside as Spain fell victim to authoritarianism, backed by Nazi Germany. Are they going to wait until it is too late for Taiwan, as well?

It seems more and more apparent that the pan-blue camp's strategy is to cripple the government in this country -- its legislative, judicial and executive branches -- in an effort to be able to later demonstrate that the government did a bad job.

This is an extended election campaign that aims to ruin Taiwan's prosperity out of spite and bad temper over losing control of the presidency and the government.

Recent attacks on the Government Information Office and the Mainland Affairs Council illustrate that the pan-blues care not for Taiwan but rather about power for power's sake. They are determined to push Taiwan in the direction they deem best, at the expense of its identity, independence and the wishes of its population, for whom they have disdain. This intentional sabotage of the political process should allow the president to disband the legislature and call new elections, so the people can decide again who they want managing the country at the macro level -- gangsters and traitors, or people who wish to serve and improve Taiwan.

Another good start would be to arrest People First Party Chairman James Soong and former KMT chairman Lien Chan -- for conducting dialogue with the People's Republic of China (against the Constitution and law) -- and to prevent the director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Yunlin, from coming to Taiwan unless he recognizes the visit on state-to-state terms.

Fear and ignorance are the only things that stop most Taiwanese (and most people around the world) from taking the necessary steps to preserve their way of life.

The economy is not going to crash tomorrow, China will not invade willy-nilly, not all politicians are dirty (though that dubious honor is spread evenly amongst the leading cadre in all parties) and we don't have to lie down and accept our "fate" just because a bully tells us to.

China is a bully and if you don't stand up to bullies, they will only take more. It's time the government got some courage, ignored the salivating media, cleaned up its act and started being proud of Taiwan and it's vision for the future.

Trying to timidly push forward an independence agenda gains no respect. Please, be bold or you will allow the snakes and rats to run amok and open the back door to what will become the third foreign occupation of Taiwan in 150 years.

Recently, a group of former Government Information Office (GIO) officials who were responsible for oppressing opinions and journalism under the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) party-state system held a press conference, calling on every Taiwanese to donate NT$10 to support TVBS -- a Chinese-invested local cable TV channel.

This move was not surprising. What was strange was why they did not feel ashamed. Especially former GIO chief Shaw Yu-ming, who boastfully said that the former officials had never closed down TV stations or searched any newspapers during their terms, while condemning the Democratic Progressive Party for closing down seven TV stations since it came to power.

Indeed, Shaw did not close down any TV stations during his term from 1987 to 1991. But he closed down several magazines. When democracy activist Deng Nan-jung, the head of the Freedom Era weekly, immolated himself in 1989 to protest against the KMT's oppression, Shaw was the GIO boss at that time. Although he may not have carried out searches of any newspapers, his hands were stained with Deng's blood.

Perhaps Shaw's honest statement can be interpreted in another way. While saying humbly that he had not closed down any TV stations, he did go all out to protect the only three TV stations in Taiwan at that time.

Controlled by the KMT, the government and the military, the three TV stations never listened to anyone but Shaw, and never said anything that wasn't what he wanted them to say. Most interesting is that the China Television Co remains tightly controlled by the KMT to this day. Thus, Shaw and the other GIO ministers failed to close down the TV station that was the most eligible candidate to be shut.

The KMT focused on magazines rather than TV stations, and it was common for the party to close down magazines -- it did not hesitate to do so. This is exactly what the KMT was good at at that time.

Shaw's ferocity during his term become evident through the following example. During the 1989 legislative elections, the Journalist weekly and Era TV jointly produced a series of videos entitled "witnessing the elections." The first episode was called "The battle between two parties." However, before the video was aired, Shaw ordered that it be banned unless some changes were made to the content.

Control over whether or not a video could be aired lay solely in his hands. Under such circumstances, why would he need to close down TV stations or search newspapers?

But in terms of holding a fascist attitude, Shaw could not compete with his predecessor, People First Party Chairman James Soong, who also served as GIO chief. After all, when Shaw took the post in 1987 Taiwan was moving toward abolishing martial law. If the GIO boss after martial law was lifted was scary, it goes without saying that his predecessors during the Martial Law era were worse. From Ding Mou-shih and Chang King-yuh, to Loh I-cheng and Hwang Yih-jiau, all these former GIO officials were cruel and ruthless during their terms.

Interestingly, during that time TVBS' general manager Lee Tao and his wife Lee Yen-chiou were the accomplices of those officials. Lee Yen-chiou, a former anchorwoman at Chinese Television System, once complained that she was a "puppet." Today, she is dancing with those who manipulated her strings.