Washington-based group slams opposition arrests
　

WHITE TERROR REDUX?: FAPA asked the US to speak up in response to the ‘deterioration of human rights and democracy in Taiwan’ after recent detentions
　

By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008, Page 1

A prominent Taiwanese-American organization on Friday accused the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration of eroding Taiwan’s democracy during his term, and charged it with conducting a spate of “politically inspired” arrests of opposition leaders over the past two weeks.

The organization, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) based in Washington, asked the US government to express its concern over what it called the “deterioration of human rights and democracy in Taiwan” under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration of Ma.

In its biting statement, FAPA, a leading pro-green lobbying group, also recalled the days of martial law “White Terror” under earlier KMT rule.

The arrests — coming just before a visit from China’s top cross-strait negotiator, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) — have resulted in the detention of four Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians and the indictment of a fifth on charges ranging from corruption and embezzlement to assault.

The latest case involved former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), who was detained on Friday on suspicion of embezzling US$500,000 from a diplomatic fund.

Chiou, who is also a former deputy premier, was considered in Washington to be one of the prime diplomatic and political liaisons between the administrations of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and US President George W. Bush through much of the Chen administration.

His detention came within days of other indictments and detentions. Tainan City Councilor Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) was indicted in connection with a melee in which visiting ARATS Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) fell to the ground during a visit to Tainan in advance of Chen’s trip. DPP Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) and former environmental protection minister James Lee (李界木) were both detained.

Complaining about the Ma administration’s legal action against those four officials, FAPA also cited the Oct. 15 arrest of former interior minister Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) in Kaohsiung on corruption charges.

In a statement, FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) called the prosecutions unfair and a violation of the officials’ basic rights.

“We also question the fairness of the procedures: While one or two of the accused have been formally charged, the majority are being held incommunicado and without charge,” he said.

“This is a severe contravention of the writ of habeas corpus and a basic violation of due process, justice and the rule of law. In the meantime, the prosecutor’s offices leak detrimental information to the press. This kind of ‘trial by press’ is unacceptable,” Yang said.

In urging the US government and Congress to express “their deep concern” over the situation, Yang said, “the present cases endanger the progress made during the 21 years since the end of the Kuomintang’s [KMT] martial law in 1987. As members of the Taiwanese-American community, we believe that a return to the KMT’s ‘White Terror’ days of 1945 to 1987 should be avoided at all cost.”

Yesterday in Taipei, former vice-president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) also condemned the government for its detention of Chiou and other aides of the former president, calling the detentions a violation of human rights.

“I’ve not seen such large-scale detainments since the Kaohsiung Incident. It seems like the prosecutors detained people before finding any evidence, and I feel disturbed by such a procedure,” she said.

The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, was an anti-government demonstration organized by Formosa Magazine on Dec. 10, 1979. The event turned into a violent confrontation, and as a result, Lu and seven other pro-democracy activists were arrested by the former KMT government.

Lu said recent developments in the allegations against former president Chen Shui-bian and his former aides were “unbelievable” to her, adding it was difficult for her to believe that what the prosecutors have said was all true.

Protesters heckle Ma ahead of meeting
　

HEAD OF STATE: During an interview with a radio station, the president vowed to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty, joking that he hoped he would be called ‘president’
　

By Jenny W. Hsu And Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTERS
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008, Page 3

“You [would] bet he calls me [President Ma]? I hope you win.”— President Ma Ying-jeou

Protesters in Changhua County heckled President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s arrival of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) for a second round of cross-strait negotiations.

Dozens of pan-green protesters accused Ma of “selling out” Taiwan and shouted “Ma Ying-jeou, step down!” as he arrived for a dedication ceremony for a century-old Buddhist temple in Lukang Township (鹿港).

Holding up banners that read “Taiwan is a sovereign, independent country” and “Traitor to Taiwan,” the protesters chanted against what they called Ma’s China-leaning policies and said that “Regional Head Ma” must step down immediately before he destroys Taiwan’s hard-won democracy.

A minor scuffle broke out when protesters, led by a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilor, tried to confront Ma inside the temple. Police apprehended several protesters and dragged them out of the temple.

“Ma’s personal police won’t let me go worship in the temple,” one protester angrily yelled, saying he lost his religious freedom when the police prohibited him and his group from entering the temple ground.

Ma did not acknowledge the protesters and made no comment.

Later, during an interview with a local radio station in Taichung, Ma vowed to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty as the nation’s leader, while joking about placing a bet with the radio show host over whether Chen would address him as “President Ma” when they met this week.

“You [would] bet he calls me [President Ma]? I hope you win,” the president told the radio show host.

Ma said later that he would implement his “three noes” policy in handling relations with China.

The “three noes” referred to no pursuit of unification, no Taiwanese independence and no use of force.

Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday urged Ma to skip the meeting with Chen in order to prevent the country’s sovereignty from being belittled.

“President Ma should not meet Chen if he sees himself as the leader of the ROC. His rank is higher than Chen’s, and the people in Taiwan should protest if he insists on meeting Chen,” Lu told a press conference yesterday after returning from a trip to Mexico.

“ARATS is not an official organization, and President Ma should not act like a daughter-in-law who is going to meet the Chinese in-laws,” she said, adding that Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) should also refuse to meet Chen.

Lu further condemned the government for deploying over 7,000 police to maintain public order for Chen’s upcoming visit of Chen, while calling on DPP members and supporters to treat the Chinese official as a guest and demonstrate a democratic spirit to the Chinese delegates as long as he does not humiliate Taiwan’s sovereignty during his visit.

“We should give Chen Yunlin a chance to see that Taiwan is a democratic sovereignty and that we have our own culture,” she said.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that Chen must refer to Ma as “president” if they meet, or Ma must cancel the meeting if he refuses to do so.

Tsai hunger strike stoked by ‘helplessness’
　

FEEBLE: During his hunger strike, chairman of the Taiwan Association of University Professors Tsai Ting-kuei has only had water, but has received intravenous nutrition

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008, Page 3

On Friday night, more than 1,000 people gathered outside the legislature, flashlights in hand. Encircling the legislature and shining their lights at the compound, they called on the country’s lawmakers to overhaul the Referendum Law (公民投票法).

The demonstrators were there in support of Tsai Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), chairman of the Taiwan Association of University Professors (TAUP), who was on day seven of a hunger strike intended to call attention to what he said were fundamental problems with that law as well as the legislative election system.

“Hand in hand, protect civil rights,” the protestors chanted. “Amend the Referendum [Law]. Safeguard Taiwan.”

In an interview with the Taipei Times, Tsai said it was a “feeling of powerlessness” that led him to adopt the approach of a hunger strike.

OPPOSITION

Tsai decided to stage the hunger strike during the Oct. 25 rally organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in opposition of the current administration’s cross-strait policies.

After the march ended, he began his hunger strike outside the legislature, without even telling his wife of his plan. Other TAUP members held a sit-in protest.

“I didn’t want to go home and wait for the next time I get a call to take to the streets again. The rally was a success but it was not enough, because the KMT always turns a deaf ear to us,” Tsai said.

“How much longer can we tolerate [President] Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)], who is about to capitulate to China?” he asked, referring to Ma’s statement that he hoped to sign a peace accord with China during his term.

AGREEMENT

As described by Ma in an interview with the India and Global Affairs quarterly, the peace agreement would come once economic relations with China have been normalized. This included normalizing direct air and sea links, which was on the agenda for the second round of cross-strait talks in Taipei this week.

In July, cross-strait charter flights were launched and the quota for Chinese tourists raised to 3,000 per day.

Tsai called Ma’s steps “clearly a timetable for Taiwan’s unification with China,” and added that this week’s visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) for the talks made amending the Referendum Law even more “imperative.”

The checks-and-balances system enshrined in the Constitution is being undermined, Tsai said, adding that the KMT had won an overwhelming majority in the legislature because of the “flaws” of the new electoral system, Tsai said.

CRITICISM

Tsai’s criticism centered on the “single district, two votes” system adopted for the legislative polls in January. Tsai said this resulted in disproportional results in terms of the population of each constituency compared with the votes received by each political party.

Under the new system, the KMT won 58.12 percent of the votes but won 81 seats of the legislature’s 113 seats, while the DPP’s 41.88 percent of the vote gave it just 27 seats.

Because of this imbalance, Tsai said the public must exercise its right to initiate referendums to veto Ma’s cross-strait policies, which he said were selling out national interests to Beijing.

The problem, he said, was that the plebiscite law was “toothless.”

Since the Referendum Law was promulgated in 2003, it has been dubbed a “birdcage” law by critics who said the thresholds for putting a referendum proposal on the ballot and passing it were excessively high.

To apply for a referendum, the signatures of 0.5 percent of all eligible voters in the most recent presidential election — approximately 80,000 — must be collected. An additional 5 percent of the population — appropriately 800,000 — must sign the petition before the referendum can be put to a vote.

For the results of the referendum to be considered valid, more than 50 percent of the electorate — approximately 8 million people — must vote on it.

“These unreasonable thresholds limit direct democracy and deprive the people of their right to decide the future of the country,” Tsai said.

Tsai’s voice was feeble.

During his hunger strike, he has only had water, refusing food, but has received intravenous nutrition.

The 60-year-old hydraulic engineering professor from National Taiwan University was sent to the hospital for a health examination after joining the 1,000 or so people at the rally in front of the legislature on Friday night in a wheelchair.

He then called off his hunger strike temporarily, and Wu Li-hui (吳麗慧), secretary-general of the TAUP, began her own.

Tsai promised to continue his hunger strike once his doctor allowed it, saying that he looked forward to seeing young and old people alike join in supporting reform.

A three-pronged confidence crisis
　

By Lai I-Chung 賴怡忠
Sunday, Nov 02, 2008, Page 8

Debate on the so-called mobbing of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) in Tainan last week has focused on whether the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should draw a line between itself and those involved so that its image won’t be tarnished.

Commentators have largely overlooked the real problem here: There is a high degree of uncertainty about Taiwan’s future and a crisis of confidence about the nation’s sovereignty.

A concern that Taiwan will disappear as a country within four years is gradually spreading. The lack of confidence among Taiwanese, the incompetence of Ma’s government and gloom over the economy are the biggest problems at this time. They are also the factors that sparked the incident with Zhang and will likely lead to protests against ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin’s (陳雲林) next week.

This crisis is a result of three factors.

Today’s international environment is unfavorable to Taiwan’s development. In terms of security, the US, bogged down as it is by the Iraq War and the War on Terror, has been paying scant attention to East Asia while China’s influence has grown significantly. In Japan, unstable domestic politics have made the country very cautious, causing it to take a step backward in diplomacy. Since the US-Japan alliance is key to security across the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s situation in the face of such developments is worrisome.

These worries have been further deepened by the impact of the global economic downturn on the national strength of the US and Japan. International security and the economic order are being reshaped and there is an impression that dictatorships seem to be able to respond more effectively to market competition. As a result, democratic values are being downgraded in assessing international strategic interests. While Taiwanese have been told repeatedly that Taiwan does not necessarily have legitimacy simply because it is a democracy, the public’s interpretation is that the international community may no longer be willing to assist Taiwan against annexation by a dictatorship. In fact, the US has warned Taiwan several times by pointing to its non-intervention in Georgia.

The next factor is international relations. China has not ceased efforts to downgrade and obstruct Taiwan since Ma’s election. China has continued deployment of missiles targeting Taiwan. In response to Ma’s capitulationist line that Taiwan should seek “meaningful participation” in UN activities rather than full membership, China not only blocked Taipei’s efforts but also stressed that such proposals must be dealt with first through cross-strait talks. This set a precedent for Taipei having to ask Beijing’s permission to participate in the international community. Only then would Taiwan have room to exercise its initiative in international relations.

As for Ma’s remark during Zhang’s visit that there would be no war in the next four years, Zhang publicly embarrassed Ma by making the thinly veiled threat that “there will be no war if there is no Taiwan independence.” Considering Zhang’s haughty attitude during his visit to Taiwan and his complete disregard for Taiwan’s democratic diversity and desire for peace, what can we expect when Chen arrives?

China’s actions also lend substance to speculation before the Olympic Games that it might adopt a tougher stance. Is unification now on the agenda as China’s strength reaches new heights following the Games? Worthy of note is that Beijing is facing a power transfer in four years’ time, and it is not certain that Ma will be reelected in 2012. Many observers believe Beijing sees this four-year period as an unmissable opportunity, and that constructing a framework under which Taiwan has no chance of independence has become a priority between now and when Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) retire. This is a cause of much concern in the pro-independence camp.

Finally, Taiwan’s society lacks confidence in the determination of Ma’s government to safeguard national sovereignty. That the government is incompetent is hardly in dispute. Some observers believe that the government is looking to greater business exchanges with China to save its declining approval ratings. To achieve this, it has yielded again and again on the sovereignty issue. Concerns over the government’s willingness to sacrifice Taiwan’s sovereignty in exchange for commercial gains have grown stronger as it leans heavily toward China, a trend that runs contrary to both Ma’s campaign promises and public expectations.

The unfavorable international situation, a powerful China and the weak stance of Ma’s government on the sovereignty issue are causing a crisis of confidence in Taiwan’s sovereignty. An extreme variant of this concern is the prediction circulating that Taiwan will perish as a country within four years. Why did Zhang’s remarks trigger disturbances? How does Chen’s visit differ from regular cross-strait talks? The problem lies in public doubts.

Today, Taiwan is suffering from waning confidence in the market economy and government performance. If, in addition, the public loses confidence in Taiwan’s sovereignty, a matter crucial to the country’s sustainability, the pressure of social anxiety will be even more intense. Even if the incident with Zhang had not taken place, something similar could well happen when Chen or other Chinese officials visit. Zhang’s case is then a political leadership lesson for both the ruling and opposition camps. The question it poses is: Who can face such social anxiety pragmatically and propose new visions that can overcome that anxiety? Whoever can do that will be the one who can lead Taiwan’s society forward.

Lai I-chung is an executive committee member of Taiwan Thinktank and former director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s Department of International Affairs.