Tibetan
Olympic torch relayed
MAKE OUR OWN GAME: As an application by 'Team Tibet' was rejected by the International Olympic Committee, the exiles will hold their own Olympics
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Feb 25, 2008, Page 2
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| Tsering
Chungtak, right, Miss Tibet of 2006, leads a run with Tibetans who live
in Taiwan, at National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall yesterday as part
of the torch relay for the Tibetan Olympics to be held in Dharamsala,
India, in May.
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The Taipei leg of the torch relay for the 2008 Tibetan Olympics took
place yesterday with Tibetan expats in Taiwan, several Tibet support groups and
Miss Tibet 2006 Tsering Chungtak in attendance.
"I feel very, very happy to be here today ? to celebrate the spirit of the
Olympics," Chungtak told spectators, supporters of the free Tibet campaign and
reporters gathered in front of the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall,
where the relay took place.
"The Tibetan Olympics is a chance for young Tibetan men and women to enjoy the
Olympics," she said.
The Tibetan Olympics has been organized by Tibetans in exile, and will take
place in Dharamshala, India -- the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile --
between May 15 and May 25.
So far, 15 Tibetan athletes have signed up to compete in the 10 events that make
up the Tibetan Olympics, said Li Jieh-mei (李介媚), an organizer for the Taipei leg
of the torch relay.
The events include long-distance running, swimming, shooting and archery, and
six track and field events, according to the Tibetan Olympics Web site.
Tibetans in exile have filed an application to the International Olympic
Committee to participate in the Beijing Olympics as "Team Tibet," but it was
rejected.
The Tibetans therefore decided to organize their own Olympics, Taiwan Friends of
Tibet chairwoman Chow Mei-li (周美里) said.
However, Chow still reminded observers to keep an eye on China after the
Olympics.
"We should observe whether the Beijing Olympics will be like the 1936 Berlin
Olympics, or the 1988 Seoul Olympics that helped to push for more democracy in
South Korea," she said.
After a brief introduction to the Tibetan Olympics, the torch was brought
forward as the Tibetans sang their national anthem.
A group of Tibetans and Chungtak chanted "Free Tibet" and "Boycott the Beijing
Olympics"as they made a symbolic torch walk.
The relay began in New Delhi, India, on Jan. 30 and Taipei is the second stop
for the relay after it passed through Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 17.
The organizers of the torch relay purposely chose Jan. 30 to begin the relay,
because that was the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the non-violent
resistance movement against British colonial rule, Chow told the audience at the
ceremony.
After Taipei, the torch will travel to Dharamshala, India for a ceremony to mark
the 49th anniversary of the March 10 Tibetan Uprising.
The relay will then continue through eight other cities in six countries --
including Japan, the US, Bolivia, the UK, South Africa and Israel -- before the
torch finally returns to Dharamshala on May 25 for the Games' closing ceremony.
Miss Tibet
shares thoughts on sports and pageants
By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Feb 25, 2008, Page 2
Standing in front of an oversized picture of the Dalai Lama, the 23- year-old
Tibetan beauty queen from India clasped her palms together and bowed her head
before pulling up a chair.
"I respect His Holiness and I follow his teachings," she said, saying the phrase
"role model" was grossly insufficient to describe the impact that the Tibetan
spiritual leader has had on her and on the world, "because he is everything."
Tsering Chungtak, a sociology major from the University of New Delhi, made
headlines last December when she was expelled from the 2007 Miss Tourism
competition in Malaysia for standing up against the Chinese government and
refusing to wear a sash that read "Miss Tibet-China."
It had been reported that the Chinese government pressured the organizers to bar
Chungtak from participating in the event unless she took off the "Miss Tibet"
sash.
"I refused to wear the sash because the title [Miss Tibet-China] is unacceptable
to me and it will remain unacceptable until the Tibet issue is resolved," she
said.
In an interview with the BBC, Chungtak said she was shocked when she was asked
to leave for her refusal to wear the sash because "this is a beauty pageant,
it's not at all related to politics."
"I did not call my parents when it happened. I made the decision myself on the
spot," she said.
The aspiring actress and singer who repeatedly referred to herself as a "simple,
humble" person, was crowned Miss Tibet in 2006 in the northern Indian hilltop
town of Dharamsala, home of the Tibetan government-in-exile and residence of
1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate the Dalai Lama.
This marked the second time that a Tibetan beauty pageant entrant has claimed
Chinese influence on the competition.
In 2005, Tashi Yangchen also left the contest after the Chinese authorities said
she would have to enter as Miss Tibet-China.
In spite of China's human-rights abuses in Tibet, Chungtak told the Taipei Times
in an exclusive interview that she believes Beijing should still host the
upcoming Olympic Games.
"I think Beijing should get the opportunity to host the Olympics because the
games celebrate the spirit of sports. Moreover, it gives Beijing a chance to
prove its claims about the human rights conditions in Tibet and China," she
said, adding the international event will also give the world the opportunity to
judge the truthfulness of Beijing's claims.
Chungtak arrived in Taiwan last Tuesday at the invitation of the Miss Taiwan
organizers. She also took part in the 2008 Tibetan Olympic Torch relay, which
made its stop in Taiwan yesterday.
"As a Tibetan, I cannot speak for Taiwan. But I believe the future of Taiwan is
in the hands of the Taiwanese people and no one else should be allowed to make
any decisions regarding Taiwan," she said.
When asked about her experience over the last five days, Chungtak said Taiwan
was a beautiful country. However she declined to comment further on Taiwan's
democracy, saying she did not wish to say anything that could be construed as
influencing mext month's presidential race.
Cross-strait threats versus reality
By Lin Cho-shui 林濁水
Monday, Feb 25, 2008, Page 8
POPULAR CHINESE ECONOMIST Hu Angang (胡鞍剛) has famously commented that Taiwan
would not last more than seven days if China were to initiate trade and economic
warfare, as it is overly reliant on China. Some in Taiwan anxiously cite his
words to oppose direct links and the lifting of the 40 percent cap on
China-bound investment, because they believe such moves would make Taiwan even
more dependent on China. These individuals demand that those in favor of direct
links first convincingly refute Hu's argument before they discuss opening direct
links or lifting the investment cap.
The problem is that whether China decides to initiate economic warfare is not
dependent on someone convincingly refuting Hu. Instead, it depends on whether
Beijing has been convinced by Hu's arguments. Although Hu has influenced
mainstream economic policy, he is a rabid nationalist and a total fundamentalist
when it comes to cross-strait policy. There's no country in the world without
fundamentalists. However, they rarely grasp the reins of power.
Under the threat of the fundamentalist faction, China engaged in military
exercises last year, causing Japan and the US to announce a new direction for
their security pact by officially listing China as a target for military
containment. The US even raised the specifications on arms sales to Taiwan on
this pretext. The pursuit of immediate satisfaction brought significant
strategic losses for Beijing -- and later led to transfers for the military
officials who advocated strong offensive attitudes toward the US.
Previously, pro-unification supporters often echoed Beijing's insistence that
China could bring Taiwan to heel militarily in less than one month -- thus
Taiwanese independence, legislative elections, direct presidential elections,
constitutional amendments or referendums must not be pursued for fear of
reprisals. In 2000, then Chinese premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) threatened dire
consequences if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate
were elected president. However, Beijing did not end up taking any action. In
the end, threats abounded, but actions were restrained.
Now, there are only economic sanctions rather than missiles, which project a
very different international image and are apparently capable of bringing about
unification within seven days. This is an ultra low-cost option with an
extremely good payoff, to the point that not pursuing it would be illogical.
Some say that Beijing is only holding off temporarily, rather than holding off
because it is incapable. This is even more bizarre: Why would politicians leave
a good scoring opportunity to those who come after them?
What is the possibility that China will take action against Taiwan? Currently,
in the global electronics industry supply chain, half of China's international
export surplus is made possible through Taiwanese businesses. In The World is
Flat, Thomas Friedman claims that China could not possibly bear the cost it
would have to pay for destroying Taiwan as an independent country. He says that
any two countries that are slave to the same global supply chain would not
actually engage in war. If they did, the consequence of economic recession in
China would probably not something that Beijing's leaders -- who are ever
attentive of their authority -- would be willing to confront.
This is why when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected president on Mar.
20, 2000, China had to use concrete non-military means to refute its own threats
of reprisal prior to the election. Now, Hu is also about to contradict himself,
without any help from Taiwan's supporters of direct links. Actually, he has
already reversed himself: After saying that Taiwan is overly reliant on China,
so that Beijing could defeat Taiwan after just seven days of economic warfare,
he said that Taiwan has marginalized itself in the integration of the East Asian
economy through its "no haste, be patient" policy.
These two viewpoints are completely contradictory. If over-reliance on China is
a fact, and China has been integrated with East Asia, then would Taiwan not also
be integrated because of its high reliance on China? How is this marginalizing?
If the "no haste, be patient" policy effectively prevented Taiwanese businesses
from investing in China to the point that Hu must voice his strong opposition,
then Taiwan would not be overly reliant on China. So how could China defeat
Taiwan in seven days of economic warfare?
Fundamentalists the world over will always come to contradictions between
arguments and reality -- sometimes their arguments are even self-contradictory.
Hence Hu will refute himself, and save anyone else the trouble.
Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic
Progressive Party legislator.
One rule
for Kosovo, another one for Taiwan
By Allen Houng 洪裕宏
Monday, Feb 25, 2008, Page 8
TAIWAN'S RECOGNITION OF Kosovo's independence made headline news in the newly
independent state, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper)
reported. However, China insists that Taiwan is not a sovereign state, and has
no right to recognize Kosovo. Loud complaints from Beijing compelled a Kosovo
Web site to remove Taiwan from the list of countries that had recognized its
independence. As a sovereign state, when will Taiwan's international status and
dignity be secured?
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)
opposes Taiwanese independence because he promotes eventual unification with
China. Faced with rising Taiwanese consciousness, Ma does not dare suggest
unification directly. His anti-independence discourse is instead justified
through Beijing's threat of military attack as well as opposition from the US
and the international community. Taiwanese independence supporters are depicted
as troublemakers for the international community. But is international politics
really so simple? Is Taiwanese independence really just a form of trouble
making?
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US president Jimmy Carter's national security
advisor, said in his latest book, The Second Chance, that the foreign policies
of former US presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton and US President George W.
Bush change with, rather than influence or lead, international developments.
Furthermore, all three were or are frequently guilty of misjudging the situation
and in the end rely mostly on chance to resolve issues.
Ukrainian independence is one such example. Bush senior underestimated the
intensity of non-Russian nationalism, believing that a strong Soviet identity
would prevent non-Russian nationalities within the Soviet Union's borders from
seeking independence.
During a visit to the Ukraine in August 1991, he indicated in a speech that the
US would not support Ukrainian independence. While the US supported Ukraine in
its pursuit of freedom, it did not support using ethnic hatred as a basis for
those who promote suicidal nationalism, he said. He obviously misjudged the
situation in opposing Ukrainian independence to maintain the Soviet regime. Four
months after his visit, the Ukraine declared independence following a national
referendum, delivering a firm slap in the face to the then-US leader.
Now, President Bush is treating the Taiwan Strait issue in a similar fashion. He
also wishes to maintain the stability of the Chinese Communist Party regime, and
understates the nationalistic desires of the Chinese. He believes that Beijing
has firmly established a Chinese identity, that the Taiwanese public identifies
with China and that nationalistic independence and nation building will bring
instability to the region. His government has repeatedly declared its opposition
to Taiwanese independence, and warns against its danger.
In reality, would Taiwan go the same way as the Ukraine? Ukrainian independence
spurred a wave of independence among non-Russian ethnic groups. Would Taiwanese
independence ignite the separatist desires in Tibet, Xinjiang, or maybe even
Hong Kong?
Since Ukraine's independence, Taiwanese have learned that although the US and
the Soviet Union cooperated in blocking Ukrainian independence, and the Ukraine
also had unification supporters similar to Ma, the Ukrainians courageously
escaped the Soviet Union's imperialist oppression through a national referendum
and brought forth the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Would Taiwan's independence also bring about China's dissolution, or as Ma
proposes, only cause China to attack Taiwan?
Allen Houng is a professor in the Institute of Neuroscience at National Yang
Ming University.