Rights group criticizes China's record

`CARELESS ATTITUDE': Analysts said one striking feature in the past year has been the escalating number of controveries stemming from land compensation cases

By Shih Hsiu-chuan

STAFF REPORTER

The human-rights situation in China in the past year has worsened, proving that the Chinese government is the most laggard administration in the world when it comes to taking care of its people's basic needs, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy said yesterday.

The foundation examined China's human-rights situation during the period from July last year to June for its report, focusing on five aspects -- social, political, judicial, economical, and educational and cultural human rights.

Lin Wen-cheng, the foundation's vice president, said that its report tallied with the Annual Report on 2005 by the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the Country Report on Human Rights Practices -- China by the US State Department.

"The main reason of the regression lies in the brutal nature of the Chinese government and its strong desire to permanently retain power," Lin said, adding that "the government also has a careless attitude toward the lives of its people."

With regard to social rights in China, director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP)Department of Chinese Affairs, Tung Li-Wen, said the most striking phenomenon over the past year has been the controversies over land compensation.

"As of last year, it was estimated that 70 million Chinese farmers were forced to abandon their land as part of the government's efforts to advance industrialization. Most people were not given proper compensation or help to resettle," Tung said.

Tung said 6,027 people had died in mine accidents during the period studied, accounting for 80 percent of the world's total mining fatalities, while a total of 137, 000 people died at work last year.

Fort Liao, an assistant research fellow of the Institute of European and American Studies at the Academia Sinica, said that many aspects of China's judicial practices were inconsistent with international conventions.

"Of all the countries in the world, China implements the death penalty the most frequently. While the exact number of executions is kept secret, it has been estimated that the death penalty was carried out at least 3,400 times last year, or 90 percent of the world's total," Liao said.

Tsai Chang-yen, an assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University, said three book-banning orders announced last year demonstrated the repressiveness of China's cultural human rights.

"Access to diverse sources of information has not kept pace with its economic development. The Chinese government has sealed off information unfavorable to its rule," Tsai said.

The Chinese people are not allowed to access to the Web sites that reference democracy, Tibet, Taiwan independence, Falun Gong or the Tienanmen Massacre, Tsai said, noting that about 20,000 Web sites are blocked by the Chinese government.

The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy is partially funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Tensions remain high after shooting in Dongzhou

AFP , BEIJING

Tension was high yesterday in a south Chinese village where numerous demonstrators were allegedly slain in an incident suggesting the nation's paramilitary troops are prepared to shoot to kill.

Hundreds of police were stationed in and around Dongzhou, near Shanwei city in Guangdong Province, where locals said law enforcers opened fire on a crowd of protesters earlier in the week.

"The police have blocked roads leading into the village and they are patrolling the streets," a Dongzhou resident, who gave his surname as Chen, said by telephone.

The shootings occured on Tuesday during a clash between hundreds of members of the paramilitary People's Armed Police (PAP) and more than 1,000 villagers.

The special police unit opened fire after villagers set up a blockade to prevent them from entering and threw gasoline bombs at them, according to residents.

The death toll was unclear but one villager said on condition of anonymity that about 30 demonstrators were killed. Others said several more were unaccounted for.

"It's definitely not correct," Liu Jingmao, vice director of Shanwei city's publicity department, said when asked to comment on the figures. "It's pure rumor."

He said China's state-run media would carry a report with the official version of the events today.

In Dongzhou, villagers were pleading with the authorities for the return of bodies of their loved ones for proper funerals but so far in vain, according to eyewitnesses.

"I've seen relatives of the people who were killed kneeling in front of the police asking them to return the bodies," said a villager surnamed Wei. "But the police have refused to hand over the bodies."

Ex-AIT boss Bush praises Taiwan's democratic progress

By Jean Lin

STAFF REPORTER

Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Richard Bush said yesterday that the US and other democracies will support the efforts of democratic consolidation in Taiwan.

He made the remarks during a forum held by the Taiwanese Political Science Association to discuss the challenges and prospects of Taiwan's democracy.

Bush, currently the director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institute, said during his speech that the US has high hopes for Taiwan's democracy and that the democratic system would benefit everyone in Taiwan.

Although democracy does not necessarily represent popular will and at times distorts it, the consolidation of democracy is still vitally important, Bush said.

Bush also made three suggestions for Taiwan that he thought would help the nation consolidate its democracy.

First, political scientists in the country should challenge politicians to transcend the dysfunctional stalemate [in the Legislative Yuan], in which they are currently trapped, Bush said.

Bush also said that it is necessary for political scientists to draw up an agenda for democratic reform.

Politicians should also be held accountable for their actions, Bush added.

The best way to handle cross-strait relations is probably through inter-governmental talks between Beijing and Taiwan, Bush said.

"Beijing's refusal to talk is the wrong approach," Bush said. "But both sides [Beijing and Taiwan] have missed opportunities to make progress."

Since civil society plays a major role in the consolidation of democracy, Bush told the Taipei Times that from his personal observations, civil society in the country has developed quite broadly in terms of quantity.

Now is the time for civil society to develop in terms of quality and increase its impact, he said. Also, political channels must exist in order for civil society to be consolidated, he added.

When asked how cross-strait relations would be affected should China begin to democratize in the future, Bush said that that prospect would have a positive impact on Taiwan-China relations in the long run.

However, new democracies tend to be more reckless, nationalistic and unstable, Bush said, and democratic transition is usually a very long process.

Transparency is good for all

On Tuesday, the Access to Government Information Law passed the third reading in the legislature. The law requires the government to create indexes and summaries of all official documents -- with the exception of national secrets and information that infringes on privacy, business secrets and intellectual property rights -- and provide fee-based access to this information to all Taiwanese. The overdue passage of this law is of great importance for reporters, and aids in the protection of the rights of the general public and the supervision of the government by civil groups.

In the run-up to the Dec. 3 local elections, candidates from both camps suffered the effects of smear campaigns. A "culture of disclosure" overshadowed discussion on public policies and marked a new low for election campaigns. Several lawmakers used their legislative immunity to attack their opponents by disclosing incomplete or false data without stating their sources. Since it was impossible to verify the information, the media became the puppets of political parties. Although the public was fed up with these disclosures halfway through the campaign, it was impossible to end it it.

The new law will change all this. It is now possible to supervise the government and officials, and determine whether they have been involved in misconduct, by carefully searching for, reading, comparing and compiling treaties signed by the government, documents dealing with foreign relations, policy plans, research reports, budgets, public construction and procurement contracts, as well as reports on subsidies to agencies and meeting protocols.

Non-governmental organizations and the media can now request that the government provide the tender documents for the MRT project in Kaohsiung or financial information provided by electoral candidates. Political parties, candidates and reporters will now have the wherewithal to expose government corruption or claim that government policies are inappropriate, while government officials will be able to defend themselves in an open and fair manner.

Article 18 of the law, however, lists nine categories of government information to which access will be limited or denied. These include information legally designated as state secrets and information that is deemed secret under other laws whose publication is limited or prohibited. Information that involves human rights, individual privacy, maintaining fair examinations, benefits to state-operated enterprises and cultural capital, can also be exempted.

The question now is who will define what constitutes a state secret. Because the government is both the supervised and the supervisor, it may put the label "state secret" on information that it does not want publicized, which would lead to disputes.

Article 21 addresses this, stating that an applicant who does not accept the information a government institution has decided to provide has the legal right to file an administrative complaint.

The government should also amend the State Secrets Act to meet the requirements of both national security and the public's right to know.

Friday was International Anti-Corruption Day. The results of the annual Corruption Perception Index showed that Taiwan's ranking among 12 Asian countries fell from fourth in 2003 to sixth this year. The Taiwan chapter of the international non-governmental organization Transparency International also recently published a report saying that about 80 percent of the public believe that the legislature and the political parties are the most corrupt entities in the nation.

Fighting corruption was regarded by many as the most important issue in the local elections, so the Access to Government Information Law has been passed in the nick of time. It will help Taiwan build a society with several monitoring agencies and will promote clean politics.

DPP must reconnect with its roots

By Richard Hazeldine

The resounding defeat of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in last week's local government elections should not have come as a surprise. This is just the manifestation of overwhelming public disappointment with the current state of the party.

While some of the credit for the election results must go to the rise of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou and the new hope that his leadership has instilled in pan-blue supporters, the Kaohsiung MRT scandal also had an impact. However most of the responsibility for its electoral pummelling must be placed squarely on the shoulders of the DPP and its ineptness as a ruling party.

Since it came to power almost six years ago it seems that the party has gradually lost sight of its founding principles, what the party stands for and the kind of people who put it in the position it presently occupies.

Two of the core principles that the DPP once stood for are the promotion of Taiwan and a Taiwanese identity in the face of China's continued threats, and standing up for ordinary citizens.

DPP supporters look to the party to uphold the idea that Taiwan is an independent country and absolutely not a part of China, but since it came to power its policies have not reflected this ideal.

By giving in to business interests time and time again on cross-strait matters the DPP is gradually eroding Taiwan's strong economic identity and helping China to complete its goal of full economic integration with Taiwan (an all too obvious facet of the communist leadership's "united front" tactic).

By pandering to the demands of the business sector and ignoring the rural areas of Taiwan the DPP government is alienating the very people it should be looking after. Bending over backwards to high-powered foreign investors and local business conglomerates may be good for the economy, but it does not necessarily benefit the vast majority of Taiwanese.

Most industrialists and businesspeople are only interested in pleasing their investors and shareholders; they are not concerned about whether their workforce is Chinese or Taiwanese. Allowing them free rein to invest in China will help these companies to boost competitiveness and profitability, and increase the amounts of capital repatriated to Taiwan, but it also puts a few more everyday Taiwanese out of work, Taiwanese who are more than likely to be DPP voters.

Even the KMT, when it was still anti-China under former president Lee Teng-hui, managed to divert full-scale business investment from China with its "go south" policy. Why can't the DPP continue to do the same? It would help to protect Taiwan's identity and bolster national security: two things the DPP reportedly stands for.

Joining the WTO is another case in point. Of course joining such a global organization was somewhat of a coup for Taiwan in its constant struggle for international recognition, and membership certainly benefits the nation's industrialists, businesspeople and consumers. But what benefits does it bring to thousands of small-scale Taiwanese farmers?

Entry into the WTO for Haiti in 1994 and the elimination of agricultural protection resulted in bankruptcy for thousands of chicken and rice farmers within four short years. The population is now totally dependent on the US for imports of cheap rice and turkey meat. In another example, the livelihoods of millions of small-scale and efficient cotton farmers in nations like Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad are under threat thanks to entry into the WTO and subsidized cotton from richer countries.

Of course Taiwan and its farmers are more competitive and in a better position to compete with cheap imports than those poorer countries, but the case of the "rice bomber" has already highlighted the effects of WTO entry on parts of the nation's agriculture sector.

Remaining outside the WTO is obviously not an option for a manufacturing and trade-based economy like Taiwan's, but policies that protect and help farmers should have been implemented by the government both prior to and following WTO entry. The "rice bomber's" rise surely indicates that this is not the case.

This is another example of the DPP's neglect of its grassroots support. The party needs to revitalize its rural policies, especially as it now faces direct competition from China, which is attempting to woo southern-based farmers from their pan-green leanings with tariff-free fruit imports.

The DPP's supporters are fully aware that the party has its hands tied in the legislature, with the opposition parties constantly blocking its reform and policy proposals, but this cannot be used as an excuse for it deserting them.

The leadership of the DPP really need to take a long hard look at the party and reassess its priorities and start taking care of its party faithful again.

It is no wonder the DPP's supporters deserted it at the recent polls; since it came to power more than five years ago the DPP has been slowly deserting them.

Richard Hazeldine is a Taipei-based writer.

Turn the focus to Taiwan's future

THE LIBERTY TIMES EDITORIAL

The pan-green loss in the local elections has caused concern among observers in the US and Japan who are worried that it will bring Taiwan closer to China. In Taiwan, there have been political demands for the government's China policies to be further tightened, which emphasize that barring direct transportation links is not enough to resuscitate Taiwan's economy.

Discussing these worries based on the election results is too simplistic. These elections were local elections from the county level and down, not a referendum on the government's China policies. The number of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) county commissioners and mayors fell from nine to six, a drubbing in other words. Post-election introspection and policy adjustments are only natural. The total DPP vote only fell by 3.3 percentage points, so it is certainly not appropriate to draw too many conclusions about public opinion from the results of the elections.

Furthermore, voters did not cast their ballots in order to monitor the government's China policy. It is important that the government not misjudge these factors and make any rash decisions.

A clear pro-China trend has developed in the wake of the elections. We can only hope now that the government will not misinterpret public opinion and carelessly relax cross-strait policy, and that the pan-blue camp will not overestimate the support voters gave them and let their legislative majority lead to fanaticism and the passing of defeatist laws or laws pandering to China -- such as the cross-strait peace advancement bill or the plan to open Taipei's Sungshan Airport to direct flights between Taiwan and China. Such measures would run counter to the wishes of the public.

The fact is that a recent opinion poll released by the Mainland Affairs Council shows that 76 percent of the public said that direct cross-strait flights should be "conditionally opened," while only 29 percent wanted them to be "unconditionally opened." Also, 57.8 percent said that the government should be "a bit stricter" toward companies investing in China, while 55 percent said that cross-strait negotiations should be directed by the government. This is the public's real opinion on China policy. Unless they want to commit political suicide, politicians from either camp should take care not to act rashly.

Public opinion is a reflection of common sense. The opinion poll not only expresses suspicion of and dislike for China's Taiwan ambitions, it also highlights the opinion that the government has gone too far in deregulating trade with China -- not that too little has been done. Exports to China, including Hong Kong, already make up 37.6 percent of Taiwanese exports, while China-bound investment makes up 60 percent of all Taiwan's foreign investment. In addition to doing all it can to annex Taiwan, China's many crises -- such as the widening rich-poor gap, the collapsing financial industry, environmental pollution, out-of-control public health and corruption -- have already led to a decrease in foreign direct investment this year.

Taiwan's "active opening, effective management" policy may have fattened some enterprises in recent years, but at the price of undermining industry, and seeing capital and manpower flow out of the country, together with employment opportunities. This has exposed the economy to an extremely high China-related risk.

The government should try to determine why it has been incapable of directing Taiwan's transforming economy over the last few years and guaranteeing growth as it followed pro-China opinion -- with its enthusiasm for developing export trade -- and mistook the deregulation of trade with China for globalization. The result is that when the alarm is raised because dependence on China is clearly too high, this is seen as being isolationist.

Additionally, although the massive move of industry to China has helped businesses grow and cut costs, important tasks such as technological upgrades, innovation, and research and development have been neglected. This includes the local technology industry, whose production volumes are among the world's highest. Profits and added value in this segment are on the low side, which shows that further efforts are needed to improve the economy and industry as a whole.

What the transforming Taiwanese economy needs is improvement. In other words, it needs to strengthen trade, technological cooperation and exchanges with other advanced countries. This is true for the technology sector as well as other industries. When it comes to developing tourism, for example, the focus should be on attracting tourists from the US, Europe and Japan, and not on suspicious Chinese tour groups. In the same way, there is much more money to be made by exporting the many excellent varieties of Taiwanese fruit to Japan and the US rather than China.

As for international development, foreign investors have in recent years shown an interest in investing in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, as well as India. Taiwan should consider reinstating the "go south" policy. When necessary, Taiwan should cooperate with Japan, and reduce the risk that comes with big investments in China.

The domestic investment environment must be improved and the government should pay attention to and service those who work hard in Taiwan. Legislation should be relaxed, administrative efficiency improved, the tax system made more reasonable and the financial system reformed.

But these issues cannot be suddenly brandished during election campaigns, and it is particularly inappropriate to let them become mere formalities handled in big meetings. Instead, such meetings should be carefully planned and debated throughout society, and efforts should be made to bring hope for Taiwan's future to those who make their lives here, be they business owners or workers. This is the government's unshirkable duty and the legislative opposition should also stop their prolonged protests which are affecting the economy as a whole.