20051202

Cairo Declaration a press release, activists say

By Chang Yun-ping

STAFF REPORTER

Pro-independence activists yesterday visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to question the validity of the Cairo Declaration, which is often cited as proof that Taiwan's sovereignty was ceded to China in 1943.

Advocates for the establishment of the "Taiwan Republic" denounced the idea that Taiwan's sovereignty belongs to China based on the Cairo Declaration.

They said the document was no more than a press communique issued by then US president Franklin Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek at their meeting in Cairo on Nov. 27, 1943, to discuss the war against Japan.

The Cairo Conference ended with the three leaders endorsing a statement to continue war against Japan until its unconditional surrender and promising to strip Japan of all territory acquired since 1895.

Peter Wang, leader of the pro-independence group, said the three leaders did not actually sign the declaration, which cast doubt on its validity.

"A press communique that wasn't signed by any of the leaders at the time later became the evidence that Taiwan's sovereignty belongs to China. Many Taiwanese continue to live with this lie," Wang said.

Wang said the San Francisco Peace Treaty is the only legally binding international agreement that has a bearing on Taiwan's sovereignty.

The treaty, signed by Japan and 48 other countries in 1951, states in Chapter 2 that Japan renounces all rights, title and claims to Formosa and the Pescadores (Penghu County). However, no mention is made of who will be left in control of these territories, leaving the question of Taiwan's sovereignty undecided.

MOFA spokesman Michel Lu, who received the group yesterday, said the ministry is acting in accordance with the Constitution, which returns to Taiwan's national title as the "Republic of China."

Any changes to the sovereignty issue must be made by legislative means, and the ministry has no power to change the name of the country unless legislative changes are made that allow it to do so, Lu said.

Japan prepares to beef up claims on undersea gas

RESOURCES: In a move that is certain to provoke an angry response from China, the ruling party prepared a bill to enable Japan's Coast Guard to protect drilling operations

AP , TOKYO

Japan's ruling party prepared new legislation yesterday to solidify Tokyo's claim to undersea gas fields at the center of a dispute with China and give the Coast Guard the right to protect Japanese drilling facilities there.

The proposed law, to be submitted to Parliament in January, would establish a 500m safety zone around Japanese facilities on the country's continental shelf or in its exclusive economic zone, said Yoshiharu Makino, policy secretary for the bill's sponsor, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Keizo Takemi.

Feud

The concept bill aims to protect Japanese development of ocean-based natural resources and will likely fuel an ongoing feud between Tokyo and China over natural gas deposits claimed by both nations in the East China Sea.

China has already extracted gas from one field, triggering protests from Japan that the reserves might run dry.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which both Japan and China have signed, coastal countries can claim an economic zone extending 370km from their shores.

The disputed reserves lie within both countries' claims, and the UN has until May 2009 to issue a ruling on the matter.

Unauthorized entrants to Japan's safety zone would face up to a year in prison or fines of ¥500,000 (US$4,200). While the bill doesn't mention the East China Sea, it would allow Japan's Coast Guard to better protect Japanese interests there.

"Without this bill, the Coast Guard must wait until facilities are attacked," Makino said. "With this bill, they don't have to wait."

`Serious attitude'

LDP lawmaker Yasutoshi Nishimura was quoted by Kyodo News as saying the bill will "represent Japan's serious attitude" toward the gas dispute and promote governmental talks between Japan and China.

The sides have met on the issue three times in the past year, most recently in September, but have reached no breakthrough.

Japan wants China to stop drilling operations immediately until an agreement can be worked out for joint development.

Beijing says it is within its rights to develop the region's resources.

China bases its claim, in part, on a separate international treaty that lets coastal countries extend their borders to the edges of their undersea continental shelves.

In July, Beijing formally protested Tokyo's decision to give private oil company Teikoku Oil Co drilling rights in the disputed area, calling it a severe provocation.

Teikoku and several other Japanese oil companies had first applied for drilling rights in the late 1960s, following a UN report about possible rich undersea deposits. The Japanese companies have not yet begun drilling in the waters.

Do the locomotion

Retired train driver Yeh Wan-kuo drives a miniature steam locomotive in Hsinchu County yesterday.

General backs arms-procurement package

By Mac William Bishop

STAFF REPORTER

The people of Taiwan support the procurement of three major weapons systems from the US, according to the military's top political warfare officer, and it is important to understand that the issue is not a question of politics, but of defense.

In a recent interview with the Taipei Times, the head of Taiwan's political warfare department, General Hu Chen-pu, spoke at length about the stymied arms procurement from the US.

Originally, a special budget that would have allowed Taiwan to purchase three major weapons systems from the US -- including 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, three PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries and eight diesel-electric submarines was proposed by the government last year. The special budget has languished in the Legislative Yuan ever since, due to opposition from the pan-blue alliance, which holds a legislative majority.

One of the major criticisms of the plan has been the cost of the submarines, which some lawmakers have described as "excessive." Hu said, this is not the case.

"Of course, many people do not understand the complexities of the arms procurement process in Taiwan," Hu said. "Due to the nature of the arms trade, it is important that a budget for procurement is available before production begins. Therefore, the price for this procurement is not the final price, as there has to be a degree of flexibility."

Since the MND has decided to pay for the PAC-3 anti-missile batteries using the military's annual budget, many experts have claimed that this will have an impact on other programs that the military is pursuing. Hu was more specific.

"If the cost of the items on the special budget is included in the annual budget, it will prevent Taiwan from buying any other new weapons systems for 10 years," the general said. "If two-thirds of the cost were included, it would mean that we could not pursue new systems for 8 years."

"As it is, with the PAC-3s included in the annual budget, 109 major military procurement projects will be affected," he said.

But although a lot of people have focused on the three items in the special budget, the political stalemate in the legislature has left the military with more woes than many people imagine.

"For next year, there are 65 items that the military is trying to acquire. Of these, we have had to delay 53," Hu said. "This is why it was very exciting to hear the president say that the defense budget would be increased to 3 percent of the GDP [Ed.'s note: the nation's defense budget for this year stands at approximately 2.4 percent of the GDP, around US$8 billion]. If the budget hits 3 percent, it will solve many of the military's problems."

The general also pointed out that, aside from the issue of arms procurement, the military had made positive steps in other areas, such as in preparing Kidd-class destroyers for delivery from the US.

"[US Marine Brigadier General] John Allen [the Department of Defense's director for Asian and Pacific Affairs] got a very good impression of Taiwan's navy because of the Kidd program. He was surprised by the quality of our logistics," Hu said.

The military was still taking the long view with regards to procurement activities.

"Actually, every country has well-established procurement plans with a long-term view," Hu said. "We are still examining the procurement of next-generation fighter aircraft, minesweeping helicopters, assault helicopters and eight-wheeled armored vehicles for the future."

"In any case, I hope that people can understand that, for the military, procurement is entirely a professional question. Unfortunately, it is now difficult for us to discuss these issues due to the politicized environment, and the partisan efforts to use the military to promote a political agenda," Hu said.

Indeed, most people were behind the military's procurement efforts, the general said, citing a recent poll by ERA television station.

"Seventy percent of respondents [in the poll] wanted the special budget to move forward to the National Defense Committee for review," he said. "And 50 percent supported the purchase of the items outright."

Nationalist comics click in Japan

REINTERPRETING HISTORY: Controversial comic books attacking Chinese and Koreans and touting Japan's `war of liberation' have struck a chord among young readers

AP , TOKYO

The trend, typified by the runaway hits Hate Korea: A Comic and Introduction to China, has struck a chord among young readers who resent Japan being cast as the bully in 20th century history -- and say it is time for a change.

"These books finally depict history from a Japanese perspective, and there is nothing wrong with that," says Atsushi Iwata, 22, a student at Tokyo's prestigious Waseda University who attends a weekly seminar by a co-author of Introduction to China.

"It's the right of any nation to interpret history as it feels it should," he said.

The interpretation in the recent comic books is nothing short of provocative -- at a time of rising tensions between Tokyo and its neighbors, and as Japan takes a decided tilt toward an unapologetic view of previous military action.

Hate Korea tells the tale of wide-eyed Japanese college freshmen who discover that Japan's colonial rule over the Korean peninsula from 1910-45 -- seen in Korea as brutal subjugation -- was a well-intentioned attempt to bring civilization to a backward country.

"It's not an exaggeration to say modern Korea was built by Japan," one of the Japanese students, eyes shining, declares toward the end of the book. Her Korean debate opponent, fuming at the mouth, is unable to respond.

The China tome covers similar territory, vehemently denying Japanese atrocities in China during its invasion in the 1930s and 1940s, such as biological experiments carried out by the Imperial Army's top-secret Unit 731.

Even more venom is reserved for modern Chinese. The book accuses Beijing of distorting history, running crime syndicates in Japan and flooding the country with "AIDS-infested prostitutes," and calls for stricter immigration controls against Chinese workers.

The formula sells: The Korea book has gone through five reprints and sold more than 320,000 copies since its release in September. The China book has sold 180,000 copies since its appearance in August.

The comics build on a genre established by comic artist Yoshinori Kobayashi in the 1990s.

His Manifesto of New Pride series of comics -- which claim Japan waged a noble war to liberate Asia from a racist world order -- have sold over a million copies.

Proponents expect the trend to expand. But many Japanese are disturbed by the trend.

Toshio Hanafusa, an activist who has campaigned for compensation for Korean women forced to work as wartime prostitutes for Japan's Imperial army, blames the insecurity and disillusionment of younger Japanese for the popularity of the books.

"Perhaps they seek pride in the idea of a more assertive Japan," he said. "And cleansing Japan's history of any sense of guilt bolsters that pride."

The upcoming county and municipal elections are inherently local-issue oriented. It follows that, under normal circumstances, concerns regarding national sovereignty shouldn't enter voters' minds when they go to the polls.

For starters, these elections give political observers their first opportunity to take the pulse of Taiwanese sentiment after China's enactment of its "Anti-Secession" Law and the formation of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) alliance.

To add to their significance, these elections have tacitly been transformed by the two major parties into the warm-up for the next legislative and presidential elections.

Given that the coming two years might amount to a very critical period in shaping Taiwan's future -- specifically in deciding whether or not Taiwan's democratization process will continue -- and given that the outcomes of these local elections will provide the most current insight into the shifting political winds, the importance of these elections can't be overemphasized.

For instance, many of Taiwan's supporters in the US are looking to these elections for reassurance. It goes without saying that how this group perceives the direction of Taiwan's democratization will have direct bearing on the US government's decisions regarding its "one China" policy.

Meanwhile, Beijing is watching intently and weighing the possibility of tightening the screws even further. Conversely, Beijing might conclude, after the elections, that its current tactics need rethinking.

Against such a backdrop, talk by pan-green supporters in advocating staying away from the ballot booths to "teach President Chen Shui-bian and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a lesson" seem to make little sense.

The scope of the KMT's past misdeeds is well documented. Most remarkably, the KMT's culture of corruption persists even after Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou took the party's helm, considering that Ma is holding on to the infamous party assets -- the single most vivid reminder of the KMT's 50 years of iron-fisted party-state rule.

Still, the KMT's biggest offense is its continuing collaboration with Beijing to attempt to effect "unification" by stealth.

The KMT is, therefore, not only unrepentant for its decades of abusing power but also actively trying to mortgage Taiwan's future and sacrifice continuing democratization, all for the sake of the revival of its perpetual party-state.

Even though some people might view the upcoming elections as offering two unappetizing choices, it is clear which party should more deservingly be taught a lesson.

If pan-green voters were to stay away in droves, the KMT would make a good showing. In turn, the KMT-CCP alliance would be greatly encouraged and would double its assault on Taiwan's democracy. The momentum could then be carried over to the presidential and legislative elections and eventually prove disastrous for the democratization process.

Instead, the Taiwanese people should place the order of "lessons" correctly, so that the political party that has the potential to do Taiwan the most harm would be stopped first.

Should the KMT perform poorly in the elections and further falter in the elections for the presidency and legislators, it would have no choice but to learn from its defeats. The KMT might decide to localize again so that Taiwan would then possess two major native parties.

The Taiwanese people can then set their collective sights on the day when there exists no need for people to become captives of any political party on account of fear -- be it the fear of war or the fear of losing the nation's sovereignty and each individual's freedom.