Taiwanese officials snubbed in Seoul
　

PRESSURE: Taipei sent a delegation to South Korea's presidential inauguration, but its leaders were asked not to attend after China threatened to pull its representative
　

By Flora Wang AND KO SHU-LING
STAFF REPORTERS
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008, Page 1

Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) confirmed yesterday that National Security Council Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) missed yesterday's inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak because of pressure from China.

"Legislative Speaker Wang and Secretary-General Chen left for South Korea on Sunday, but China began to pressure the South Korean government after learning of the planned participation of our representatives," he said outside the legislature.

"China had threatened to boycott the ceremony by having its representative, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇), leave the inauguration in protest. Under these circumstances, the South Korean government, which was put in a dilemma, said they hoped Wang and Chen would not attend the ceremony for the sake of the harmony of the inauguration," Huang said.

"The incident was yet another stark reminder of the gravity and ubiquity of China's diplomatic suppression of Taiwan," he said.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had appointed Wang and Chen as the nation's representatives to the inauguration. The two men went to Seoul on Sunday and returned home yesterday.

Despite missing the inauguration, Huang said the two men had been able to meet many "good friends" in Seoul.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), however, questioned the government's explanation for the snub.

Lin wondered if South Korea had really issued an official invitation to the ceremony to Taiwan.

"It was a serious violation of international manners to reject an envoy who was invited to a national leader's inauguration," Lin said.

"But given the tough personality of South Koreans, they wouldn't have been so impolite, even if faced with China's pressure. Therefore, the ministry should clearly explain the matter to the public," he said.

President Chen said yesterday that Mark Chen had been invited by Seoul to attend.

Seoul also agreed to allow Wang to attend, the president said, but then Beijing threatened to boycott the event if Seoul allowed any Taiwanese representative to attend.

"The Chinese government politicized the inauguration because it was a diplomatic occasion. There was no flexibility in China's suppression [of Taiwan] even though Wang is a KMT member," he said.

He said Beijing's suppression of Taiwan would only intensify because diplomacy is a symbol of sovereignty: "China will never be soft on Taiwan when it comes to sovereignty.

He made the remarks while meeting two former US officials at the Presidential Office yesterday: Randall Schriver, former US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs under US President George W. Bush, and Dan Blumenthal, who was senior director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia in the Secretary of Defense Office of International Affairs during former president George Bush's administration.

But a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Seoul said that under "the `one China' principle, the government did not extend any official invitation to any representatives from Taipei."

Meanwhile, the Presidential Office said the incident proved that KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) proposed "diplomatic truce" with Beijing was unrealistic.

Ma last night expressed "strong condemnation" of China, saying it had overstepped the line and was extremely "impolite" to Taiwanese.

He urged China to cease marginalizing Taiwanese, as it would not help the cross-strait situation.

Huang said yesterday that news of Wang and Chen being invited to attend had been leaked, giving China an opportunity to pressure the South Korean government to shut the door on them.

Despite knowing that South Korean officials were likely to give in to pressure from China, Wang and Chen still went according to plan in order to maintain Taipei-Seoul relations, he said.

Ma says DPP may use fake papers against him
　

`DIRTY TRICKS': The KMT candidate said people had warned him that the DPP may use a fake US passport to bolster their allegations he holds dual citizenship
By Flora Wang
　

STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008, Page 3
　

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou, right, is accompanied by Liao De-cheng,second right, a relative of a 228 victim, while looking at a painting yesterday at the opening of an art exhibition in the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum marking the 61st anniversary of the 228 Incident. PHOTO: CNA

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday alleged that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) may resort to "dirty tricks" and present a fake US passport to continue their attacks against him.

"Some people have warned us that the DPP used a fake audio tape [to accuse then-Kaohsiung mayor Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) of having] an affair during the Kaohsiung mayoral election 10 years ago," Ma said when asked for comment in Taipei.

"They said such a trick could be employed again [in the presidential election]," he said.

Ma was referring to an allegation made by then-DPP Kaohsiung City councilor Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生), who made public the content of a cassette containing an intimate conservation between a man and a woman in November 1998.

Chen claimed that the conversation was between the married mayor and a local journalist. He claimed at the time that an anonymous man had given him the tape.

Wu filed a lawsuit against Chen, and in September 2005 a judge ruled that the tape was fake.

DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) has accused Ma of holding a valid US green card since January 1977. Ma has said his green card, which he applied for when he was studying in the US in the 1970s, was invalidated 20 years ago when he applied for a visitor's visa to go to the US.

The Central Election Commission has launched a probe into whether Ma and Hsieh hold dual citizenships. The law bans individuals with dual citizenship from running for president.

Ma said yesterday that he and former US government officials, Randall Schriver and Dan Blumenthal, talked about the DPP's allegations that he has a green card during a meeting at his campaign office yesterday morning.

"Everyone knows that it is impossible for non-immigrant visa holders to own US citizenship or permanent residency. This is common knowledge in the US," Ma said.

Khmer Rouge jailer Duch re-enacts crimes for court

AFP, CHOEUNG EK, CAMBODIA
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008, Page 5
　

Detained Khmer Rouge jailer Duch wept yesterday for the victims of Cambodia's 1970s genocide as he re-enacted his alleged crimes for a UN-backed tribunal at the regime's most notorious killing field, a court official said.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, last visited the Choeung Ek execution site outside the capital Phnom Penh nearly 30 years ago, while he oversaw the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison.

The 65-year-old former math teacher, who was seized by Cambodian authorities in 1999 and held at a military prison until his transfer to the tribunal on July 31, is charged with crimes against humanity over his role at Tuol Sleng

The reconstruction of his actions before tribunal judges was a normal part of the genocide tribunal's ongoing investigation, officials said.

"An on-site investigation or `reconstruction' is a normal investigative action, the aim of which is to clarify the declarations by each of the participants by gathering photos, audio-visual recordings and creating material for use in 3D reconstructions," the tribunal said in a statement.

Tuol Sleng was the Khmer Rouge's main torture center, where some 16,000 men, women and children were brutalized under Duch's alleged supervision before being murdered during the regime's repeated purges of its ranks.

Most of those killed at the prison were dumped into mass graves at Choeung Ek, which is now one of Cambodia's most macabre tourist attractions.

Duch, who has not denied his role at Tuol Sleng, walked court officials through the site, "explaining what happened when he was in power," tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.

Four former Tuol Sleng guards were also present as witnesses and were able to speak with their one-time boss, who was escorted to Choeung Ek under heavy guard.

"I cannot tell the details of what they said, but it was very significant," Reach Sambath said, adding that Duch broke down twice in tears during the nearly four hours that he was at Choeung Ek.

At one point Duch knelt to pray before a tree whose trunk was reportedly used to bash out the brains of infants.

At the end of the session, Duch -- a born-again Christian -- also prayed before a towering glass-walled stupa containing thousands of skulls dug out of Choeung Ek's burial pits, many of which are still littered with human remains.

"He asked to pray for those victims who had died and you could see from his eyes that he was very emotional ... We could see the tears coming down," Reach Sambath said.

Yesterday's re-enactment and a similar reconstruction of Duch's actions scheduled for today at Tuol Sleng are not open to the public, but are being recorded and could eventually be released, the officials said.

The tribunal, which convened in July 2006, is investigating atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975 to 1979 rule.

Freedom must win on March 22
　

By Li Thian-hok 李天福
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008, Page 8

On March 22, the Taiwanese should vote for freedom, not servitude. Vote for hope, do not stay away in despair.

Taiwan's presidential race pitting the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been sharply negative.

With less than one month to voting day on March 22 there has been no substantive debate on the real issues challenging Taiwan's survival as a de facto independent country. What is at stake in the upcoming presidential election is no less than Taiwan's sovereignty and democracy.

The KMT now controls three-quarters of the Legislative Yuan, giving the party virtually unrestrained power to pass any laws it chooses. If Ma is elected president, he will control the Executive Yuan as well, thus giving the KMT the authority to adopt policies that will deliver Taiwan irretrievably into China's grasp.

On March 22, 2006, Ma gave a speech at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a prestigious think tank in Washington. He promised then that if elected, he would negotiate a peace accord with Beijing right away. The prerequisite is, of course, that the Taiwanese government accepts China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

Yet a great majority of the Taiwanese people reject Beijing rule.

This is evident in the popular support for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) proposed referendum to apply for UN membership under the name "Taiwan." Nevertheless such a referendum is useful in demonstrating the people's desire for an independent, democratic state, which is recognized as a full and equal member of the international community.

Before such a goal can be realized, however, the Taiwanese people must build the foundation of a viable nation including the following six elements: strong national defense, a self-reliant economy, deft diplomacy, a consensus on national identity, a new constitution and finally, when the time is ripe, a formal declaration of independence.

The first four elements are interrelated and must be achieved before the last two steps become feasible.

To bolster national defense, the defense budget should be increased from 2.85 percent of GDP to 5 percent in two years. Israel enjoys military superiority over its Arab neighbors and strong support from the US. Its defense budget is 9.6 percent of GDP. The conscript's service should be lengthened to 18 months. Modern warfare requires longer training periods to master high-tech weapons and joint force operations. Readiness needs to be improved, for example, by stocking at least one month of strategic oil reserve, ammunition and other war materiel. A civil defense system should be established so as to avoid panic and reduce casualties.

To build a self-reliant economy, the Taiwanese government should encourage the return of businesses from China and diversification into other countries, such as Vietnam. Taiwanese investment in China as a percentage of GDP is about 90 times the equivalent figure for the US and Japan. It is excessive and detrimental to Taiwan's national and economic security.

Good relations with the US are vital to Taiwan's survival as a democratic state. There needs to be better high level communication between the two democratic allies and advanced consultation whenever Taipei decides to take any action which Beijing or Washington may perceive as provocative. After new presidents are in the White House and in Taipei, there could be a new beginning to restore mutual trust and to foster closer political and economic and cooperation. The report just published by the AEI and Armitage International Taiwan Policy Working Group contains many helpful proposals.

To build solid relations with the US, Taiwan must demonstrate by deeds that it is serious about national defense and that it loves freedom more than money.

With the pan-blue camp's super majority in the Legislative Yuan, the agenda proposed above may seem beyond reach. This is where national unity based on allegiance to Taiwan becomes relevant. Except for the old guard elements of the pan-blue parties, a great majority of the public identifies with Taiwan. They also prefer democracy and reject autocracy.

The pan-blue minority that pledges allegiance to China and opposes Taiwanese independence actually works against the welfare of the 1.3 billion Chinese people. China is at a crossroads in history. It is pursuing military aggrandizement and territorial expansion, heading ultimately toward conflict with the US, Japan and the Western democracies. Taiwan's capitulation will accelerate China's confrontation with the West.

Alternatively, China can pursue peaceful development, diverting its vast military expenditures to alleviate poverty, improve the badly degraded environment and provide a social safety net for the masses.

China can embark on political reform, by allowing political opposition, a free press and religious freedom and try to end the endemic official corruption. By becoming a responsible stakeholder in the global community, China can earn respect as a great and humane power. Taiwan can help steer China in this direction by serving as a beacon of freedom to the Chinese people.

Hsieh must address the critical issue of how to maintain Taiwan's fragile "status quo" by outlining a concrete agenda. Only by offering his green base and middle-of-the-road voters a vision of Taiwan's future that is firmly anchored in irreconcilable freedom can Hsieh hope to win the presidency. Time is short. Let us hope Hsieh has managed to convey a sense of crisis to voters and make them understand that the choice is between life with freedom and dignity or servitude under the repressive rule of the Chinese Communist Party in the near future.

Regarding Taiwan's future, Ma asserts that the choice between independence and unification is a false issue. He appears to believe his three noes policy -- no independence, no unification and no war -- will maintain the "status quo" indefinitely.

This is a deceptive slogan.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is already capable of launching a multi-pronged assault on Taiwan and occupying the island in a short time, absent US intervention. Beijing has declared that China will resort to nonpeaceful means to annex Taiwan if the island drags its feet in accepting China's terms of surrender. So Ma can guarantee no war only if he is ready to accept unification.

Ma has deeply ingrained anti-democratic instincts as a result of his KMT upbringing.

The 81-day red shirt protest in the fall of 2006 was an attempt to unseat President Chen Shui-bian through the extralegal means of unruly, massive street demonstrations. As mayor of Taipei, Ma not only fanned the flames of the protests, he said at the height of the crisis: "If Chen doesn't resign, he will die an ugly death. The bullet is in the chamber. The gun is cocked. The next step is to pull the trigger."

If Ma wins the presidency, the KMT could install a Singapore-type political system, that is, a one-party autocracy.

Li Thian-hok is a freelance commentator based in Pennsylvania.