Lin greeted Hu again during an IT show on the sidelines of the summit. Later, at the official banquet, Hu introduced Lin to his wife as "Mr. Lin Hsin-yi from Taiwan," Lin told a press conference after the banquet.

Apart from the greetings, Lin said they did not touch on any other issues.

"The interaction was nothing more than natural," said Lin, an economic adviser to Chen.

Lin said he hopes to get the opportunity to discuss trade and investment issues with Hu during the APEC summit. Lin still has the chance to do so today, the last day of the summit.

During the official banquet yesterday, Lin gave a thumbs-up gesture to US President George W. Bush as he watched the US leader eat with chopsticks.

Lin said several bilateral meetings with leaders from other countries have been scheduled on the sidelines of the summit.

Some of these have already concluded, some are ongoing, and some are yet to be finalized, he said.

Sources said that Lin had a private meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday morning. Lin probed the possibility of Japan establishing a Taiwan Relations Act, similar to that of the US, in order to improve relations with Taipei.

His other major bilateral meeting will be with Bush, concerning the reopening of Japan's market to US beef imports and military procurement. Lin and Bush may meet today, sources said.

The talks with the US and Japan are said to be aimed at enhancing cooperation between the three parties in strengthening security. This is the first time that Taiwan has had the chance to meet face-to-face with the leaders of the US and Japan since the two countries identified peace in the Taiwan Strait as a "common strategic objective" in a joint statement made in February.

After the summit, Lin joined the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) meeting, in which he sat with Chinatrust Financial Holding Co chairman Jeffrey Koo, who is leading an 18-member delegation of industrialists.

Leaders from Russia, New Zealand and the Philippines were also at the same table.

Lin discussed Taiwan's energy policy at the ABAC meeting, saying that the nation should build up a sufficient oil inventory while developing sources of renewable energy as a main policy.

Taiwan's progress in protecting intellectual property rights also earned praise from other members, who asked Lin for advice on fighting piracy, he said.

Teco Group chairman Theodore Huang also attended the ABAC meeting. Huang said yesterday morning that he would like to talk with Hu about removing trade barriers between the two sides, such as tariffs on Taiwanese agricultural products, and an initiative like the free trade area of the Asia-Pacific that was proposed by ABAC members last year.

Huang said he would also discuss cooperation on energy exploration with Canada and Brunei.

APEC leaders to push for compromise on farm talks

AGENCIES , BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA

Leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region held a summit yesterday to give new impetus to deadlocked trade talks and the fight against bird flu, as police clashes with protesters turned violent.

The 21 APEC leaders and representatives -- including US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao -- are meeting in South Korea for two days to discuss pressing global issues.

As well as appealing for intensive efforts to ensure the success of the Dec. 13-18 WTO talks in Hong Kong, the leaders will address bird flu, terrorism, North Korea and energy security.

As the motorcades of the presidents and prime ministers swept into the high-tech BEXCO exhibition center in Busan, around 10,000 farmers and anti-globalization protesters gathered nearby.

Chanting anti-US slogans and waving colorful banners reading "No APEC, No Bush" and "Terrorist Bush Go Home," the crowd, some armed with metal pipes, long bamboo sticks and bottles, faced off with thousands of riot police ringing the center.

"We want to hurt them and we want them to hurt us," a farmer from just north of the port city said, as he brandished a weighty 3m-long bamboo stick, his face masked with a red handkerchief and his breath smelling of South Korean rice wine.

On two occasions hundreds of hardcore protesters tried to break through a make-shift police barricade of ocean-liner cargo containers to reach bridges over the Suyeong River to reach the APEC meeting, triggering violent clashes and volleys of water cannon loaded with seawater which left several people injured.

APEC countries account for nearly 60 percent of global trade, and the leaders were to issue a statement today calling for compromises on farm subsidies to prevent the so-called Doha round of WTO talks from collapsing.

"Unless progress is made in this area, we cannot make progress in the round as a whole," a draft of the statement states.

"Avoiding or compromising our ambition on this issue would mean we would lower expectations for the round as a whole," the draft continues..

Asia-Pacific nations have become embroiled in an acrimonious war of words with the EU, and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that APEC felt it was up to the EU to make a new offer on agriculture.

"They are basically saying that now the ball is in Europe's court and they are asking for a very active and flexible attitude in negotiations from the Europeans," Ban said after the first session of talks.

He said the group's leaders would sign off on the "very strong message" today that the Hong Kong WTO meeting cannot be allowed to fail. But calls by Australia and Canada to harden the statement were rebuffed, Ban said.

The EU has refused to match a US offer on cutting farm subsidies, instead making a "bottom line" offer earlier this month to cut the bloc's overall tariff rate from 23 percent to 12 percent.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has this week rebuffed APEC pressure and insisted Europe would not be making a new offer.

Bird flu is also an urgent topic which will be addressed today.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard flagged a new Canberra initiative in a speech here and made thinly-veiled criticism of Thailand, China and Vietnam for being slow to report the extent of outbreaks in 2003 and last year.

Howard stressed the importance of preparing for a pandemic and "of putting aside any sense of national pride or self-consciousness about any outbreak."

Chinese President Hu busy courting the global powers

By Shih Hsiu-chuan

STAFF REPORTER

 From a man who had hardly set foot outside China to a globetrotter who has traveled throughout the five continents. Since coming to power, Chinese President Hu Jintao's extensive travels have had implications on many different levels, analysts say.

Since Hu took the helm of the Chinese government in March 2003, as of this month, he has made more than 30 state visits to many different countries -- including those branded by the administration of US President George W. Bush as the "axis of evil" and many other Western democracies.

Yang Chih-heng, an associate professor of the Graduate Institute of Southeast Asia Studies at Tamkang University, said the strategic goal of Hu's global diplomacy is to lessen the pressure on the Chinese authorities to implement human rights and democracy.

"It seems to China that Bush's pledge to transplant democracy in the non-democratic regimes surrounding China is a kind of democratic containment policy imposed against China, which Hu has been very cautious about," he said.

Lin Wen-chung, a professor from the Institute of Mainland China Studies at National Sun Yat-Sen University, said Hu's visits are designed to help China compete with the US for influence in South and Central Asian countries and to counteract the intended effect of the US' containment policies.

"For example, China has been providing political, diplomatic and security or military support to the failing dictatorships in Myanmar and Nepal ? while they were being condemned by the West for their violent conduct," Lin Wen-chung said.

Despite the negative impression that might be gained as a result of China's alliance with non-democratic nations, China, on the other hand, has been busy trying to create an image of a peaceful rising through Hu's state visits to Western democracies.

In comparison to Jiang Zemin, Hu's predecessor, Hu has made more frequent trips to the major powers, said Lin Cheng-yi, a research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica.

"This year Hu has made more state visits than in the previous three years, demonstrating that he has successfully achieved control over China's internal affairs and that he has gradually consolidated his position at the top of the regime," Lin Cheng-yi said.

Unlike Jiang, who developed the notion of "strategic partnerships" with only the US and Russia, Hu has applied the idea to many big powers that he has visited, he said.

So far during Hu's presidency, China has been considering setting up strategic partnerships with the EU, Brazil, ASEAN, India, Canada, France, Britain, Thailand, Spain, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Mexico and Venezuela in order to to deepen bilateral relations; especially in economic and business matters.

Chen Yu-june, a professor of the Graduate Institute of American studies at the Chinese Culture University, thinks Hu's strategic partnerships with the big powers are inevitable due to those countries wishing to obtain access to China's lucrative market.

"Hu is happy to forge closer ties with those countries as it gives a clear indication to the US that China has the strength to associate with powerful countries and thus the US has to pay respect to China, especially regarding issues such as Taiwan," Chen said.

Yang said the attraction of China's huge market has been used by Hu's regime as a means to repress internal democratic development and as a "bargaining chip" for Hu to lessen the pressure for political reform and human-rights development.

Yang added the widely-believed doctrine that the opening up of China's economy will push the authorities to give way on democracy may prove to be unfounded as Hu has actively established control mechanisms for restricting the circulation of information.

This year, under Hu's instructions, China has enacted four new regulations on media supervision, among which the regulations on Internet control aroused the greatest concern, he said.

Fight the silencing of nation's voice

By Huang Tien-lin

The pro-localization political call-in TV show Voice of Taiwan is scheduled to air its last broadcast on Dec. 3. This news was met with disappointment by many members of the show's pro-localization audience. The station's bosses announced the decision without elucidating the reasons behind it -- a silence that has led to much speculation.

Some people are saying that the station's Hong Kong investors pulled the plug, while others blame falling viewer ratings. But the real reasons behind the decision are likely political, and derive from flawed legislation. It is not too much to say that the program has brought its cancellation upon itself. Why do I say this?

First, the government's bold policy to allow more investment in China has damaged national consciousness. The principle of "active liberalization" has hurt the stock market, caused high unemployment and slowed increases in workers' salaries.

But the most grievous damage derives from the fact that "investing in the enemy" is now seen as normal behavior. A rather flawed concept has appeared in society; namely, the idea that China is not a hostile nation, or even that it is benevolent. This is the main reason that the Taiwanese failed to rally against the visits to China by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan and People First Party (PFP) chairman James Soong, during which they agreed to join forces with Beijing in suppressing Taiwan's pro-independence forces.

When the ideas of "working for the economy" and "unification with China" are become linked in people's minds, the idea of Taiwanese sovereignty loses its force.

On the political front, the policy has increased the number of people who vote for the pan-blue camp. Allowing more investment in China has caused cross-strait business to skyrocket, with 3.8 million roundtrips made to China annually by Taiwanese businesspeople. The more time you spend in a place, the more you identify with it, and the sympathies of these voters have gradually leaned toward the pan-blue camp.

As this happens, issues such as localization, the rectification of the national title and the creation of a new constitution lose their appeal. Some even change their opinions on these issues. This trend is most prevalent among moderate voters, who are gradually becoming more sympathetic to the pan-blue camp's support of the "one China" principle as Taiwan's economy becomes more intertwined with China's. Given this situation, it is natural that the ratings for Voice of Taiwan would tumble.

Also, the policy has meant that fewer companies are willing to schedule pro-localization shows. Taiwan has a relatively modest GDP of US$300 billion, and yet Taiwanese investment represents half of all foreign investment currently made in China. Taiwanese businesses there are subject to restrictions by the Chinese government, and are often too intimidated to give their support to TV programs sympathetic to the pro-localization cause. They have also switched their advertising to pro-unification TV stations in order to demonstrate their loyalty to China.

Under these circumstances, pro-localization programs are struggling to secure the financial support they need.

Second, legislation permitting Hong Kong and Chinese interests to control the Taiwanese media through the back door are just a precursor to what the pro-unification faction has in store for us. The reason this group is so enthusiastic about encouraging investment in China is that they want to create an environment in which unification is the obvious and inevitable counterpart to economic realities.

By the same token, they created the Satellite Broadcasting Law on the pretext that foreign investment would stimulate the industry. The intention behind opening up the industry to foreign investment was to allow investors in Hong Kong and China to influence the advertising and TV business in Taiwan.

Third, the belief that investment from Hong Kong is not investment from China is naive -- and allowing such investment into Taiwan is akin to inviting a Trojan horse through the city gates. Prior to 1997 there may have been good reason to say that investment from Hong Kong and China were different animals. But following the handover, any money coming from the territory should be considered as investment from China.

Even more incredible is that some of our government officials see Hong Kong and Macao as separate from China, an claim that investment from those areas "does not influence the current operation of the economy." As in the case of the Satellite Broadcasting Law, the end goal of all this is unification with China.

After more than a fortnight of tussling, the Government Information Office finally decided to fine TVBS NT$1 million (US$30,000) for being largely financed by a Hong Kong investor. A fine of this size is a mere slap on the wrist for a company the size of TVBS.

In the past, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has given similarly light fines of between NT$1 million to NT$2 million to other firms that illegally invested in China (such as GMSC, which was fined NT$2 million). Such light fines are tantamount to encouraging them to continue to break the law, and others to do the same. If the government continues to pursue these policies, it will create a vicious circle, and Taiwan identity will be totally overwhelmed.

I hope that all those Taiwanese who truly love their country and mourn the silencing of the Voice of Taiwan will understand the true reasons behind it, and react accordingly.

Huang Tien-lin is national policy advisor to the president.

Don't play games with the nation's security

By Dennis Hickey

The Korean people sometimes complain that their country could be described as "a shrimp between whales." Throughout the nation's history, Korea has found itself at the mercy of large foreign powers. Like Korea, Taiwan might also be described as a shrimp between whales. For centuries, the island's fate has been shaped largely by external events and outside pressures.

Beginning in the 1500s, European imperialists sought to occupy Taiwan. From 1683 until 1886 it was loosely administered as a prefecture of Fujian Province, and then it became a province of its own. In 1895, following China's defeat in the first Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was formally ceded to Japan. Efforts by local inhabitants to resist the occupation and establish an independent republic were brutally crushed by Japanese troops and received no support from the Chinese government or other external powers. The Taiwanese were then enslaved by Japan. No outside power seemed to care.

In 1943, the Allies issued the Cairo Declaration which stated that Taiwan should be returned to the Republic of China. Several years later, Chiang Kai-shek's  government moved to Taiwan. As usual, the Taiwanese population was not consulted about these developments.

Taiwan's anticipated fall to the People's Republic of China was prevented by the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. The US did not "neutralize" the Taiwan Strait to save Chiang. Rather, strategic calculations led the US to protect Taiwan.

Several decades later, shifts in the international system led US president Richard Nixon to patch up relations with China. According to declassified documents, the president made many concessions to Beijing. In fact, Henry Kissinger assured premier Zhou Enlai that Taiwan's "political evolution is likely to be in the direction which Premier Zhou indicated." In other words, US officials conceded that Taiwan would be absorbed by the PRC. Once again, the Taiwanese population was not consulted.

Since the 1970s, external events beyond Taiwan's control have continued to exercise an inordinate degree of influence over the island. The end of the Cold War yielded some dividends. But more recently, the war on terror has led Washington to move closer to Beijing.

Like the proverbial shrimp caught between whales, Taiwan must chart a careful course in the troubled waters of international politics. In order to survive and prosper, it must avoid antagonizing Washington, its chief ally, and Beijing, its only adversary. This is not an easy task. And it is complicated by the fact that some Taiwanese politicians are determined to play politics with the nation's defense.

If the Taiwanese people hope to have any say whatsoever in the future of their country, it is imperative that Taiwan maintain a defensive capability sufficient to deter aggression by an external power. In the interest of national security, Taiwanese lawmakers should put politics aside and pass the arms procurement bill designed to purchase diesel submarines, maritime patrol aircraft and Patriot anti-missile batteries. While politicians dither and delay, China is deploying additional missiles directly opposite Taiwan and building up its military.

Taiwan may be a shrimp between whales. As a small island, that is reality. But it should not degenerate into a pitiful, spineless jellyfish. There is much that this proud island can do to influence its future trajectory in the global community. One crucial step is to approve President Chen Shui-bian's request to pass the arms bill before it is too late. After all, quarreling over the mass transit system and TV stations is just everyday politics. But jeopardizing national security for political gain is outrageous. Pass the arms bill now.

Dennis Hickey is professor of political science at Missouri State University.