China condemns Sarkozy’s meeting with Dalai Lama

AGENCIES, GDANSK, POLAND AND BEIJING
Monday, Dec 08, 2008, Page 1

French President Nicolas Sarkozy defied China on Saturday by meeting the Dalai Lama and said Europe shared the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s concerns over the situation in his homeland.

China called the meeting an “opportunistic, rash and short-sighted approach to handling the Tibet issue,” despite Sarkozy saying he regarded Tibet as part of China and that there was no need to “dramatize” the encounter.

“The meeting went very well ... The Chinese authorities knew perfectly well this meeting would take place before the end of the year,” Sarkozy told reporters after the 30-minute talk.

China called off a summit with the EU last Monday in protest against Sarkozy’s plan to meet the Dalai Lama, branded by Beijing as a “splittist” for advocating self-determination for his mountain homeland.

On Saturday, China condemned the meeting.

“This development is indeed an unwise move which not only hurts the feelings of the Chinese people, but also undermines Sino-French ties,” the Xinhua news agency said in a commentary. “The French side ... took an opportunistic, rash and short-sighted approach to handling the Tibet issue.”

Sarkozy said the Dalai Lama, who welcomed him by draping a kata or traditional Tibetan white scarf on his shoulder, had said at the meeting that he does not seek independence for Tibet.

“I told him how much importance I attach to the pursuit of dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities,” he said.

The two met in the Polish port of Gdansk where they joined 25th anniversary celebrations of Polish pro-democracy leader Lech Walesa’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Playing down any possible negative impact on Sino-French ties, Sarkozy said: “There is no need to dramatize things.”

Beijing’s vocal criticism of Sarkozy’s plan to meet the Dalai Lama is linked to the fact that Paris holds the EU’s rotating presidency, diplomats say.

In Paris, an official said there had been no sign yet of any Chinese boycott of French products. The EU is China’s biggest trade partner and supermarket chain Carrefour employs tens of thousands of people in China.

Sarkozy said he was “free” to talk to whoever he wants.

“I am free as the French president and the EU president, I have values and convictions. Let’s not make things tense, the world doesn’t need it and it doesn’t correspond to reality,” he said.

Chen’s office to hold candle vigil
　

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY: Seeking to draw the attention of foreign media, organizers said that they would issue English-language press releases on the day of the vigil
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Dec 08, 2008, Page 3
　

The office of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday it would hold a candlelight vigil at the Taipei Detention Center on Wednesday to mark Human Rights Day.

“We want to send a message to the world that [the quality of] Taiwan’s human rights, sovereignty, democracy, judiciary and justice have declined,” Ketagalan Foundation executive director Su Wang (王時思) said.

Wang said that as the Taipei Detention Center has become a new location for human rights violations, the foundation would hold its vigil outside the center on Wednesday. Organizers include the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and other local civic groups, including the Taiwan Society.

Wang said organizers did not intend to invite any politicians, but welcomed local and international media and private groups to participate. They hoped to attract about 200 people, she said.

While Taiwan has transitioned from authoritarianism to democracy, Wang said many international groups found it difficult to accept the many human rights violations that have occurred recently, which they see as threatening the nation’s sovereignty.

To allow international media to reach a better understanding of the situation in Taiwan, Wang said organizers would issue English press releases on Wednesday.

“Taiwan has elections, but elections do not guarantee genuine democracy,” she said. “Democracy can only be ensured when the government is of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Chen has been detained without charge since Nov. 12. He is suspected of money laundering, accepting bribes, forgery and embezzling NT$15 million (US$450,000) during his presidency.

Chen has accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration of “political persecution” and of waging a “political vendetta” against him to curry favor with China.

Many human rights groups, both local and international, have expressed concern over human rights violations since Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taipei early last month.

A substantial number of foreign experts on Taiwan have also expressed concern about the series of detentions of present and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government officials and called for reform in two open letters.

They said the incarcerations gave the impression that KMT authorities “are using the judicial system to get even with members of the former DPP government.”

Setting a poor precedent

Monday, Dec 08, 2008, Page 8

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said last week that the Dalai Lama would not be welcome to visit Taiwan anytime soon. The Presidential Office said such a visit, given the current state of cross-strait affairs, would undo its efforts, and that Ma’s decision was based on national interest. This view ignores the existence of Taiwan and only takes aim at short-term benefits.

Since the question was hypothetical — the Dalai Lama hasn’t applied for permission to visit — Ma could have avoided controversy by simply pointing this out. Instead, he chose to say the Tibetan spiritual leader would not be welcome. His statement was clearly aimed at currying favor with China. Even if such a visit had been in the cards, Ma could have stressed that it was purely for religious reasons, and that he would not meet the monk. Instead, Ma caved in completely.

China sees the Dalai Lama as the leader of the Tibetan independence movement. His every move is followed by Chinese protests and suppression. In advance of his meeting on Saturday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy — who currently holds the rotating EU presidency — Beijing tried to intimidate Sarkozy by postponing a planned EU-China summit. The US, Germany and Canada have received similar treatment as a result of the Dalai Lama’s visits, but the leaders of these democracies have insisted on allowing him to visit and meeting with him. They do so out of concern for Tibetan human rights, democracy and religious freedom and because the Dalai Lama insists on achieving Tibetan autonomy through peaceful means.

The cross-strait relationship is indeed important to Taiwan and we all hope the two sides will be able to coexist peacefully. The cross-strait relationship, however, is not the same as the national interest — a free economy, democracy, human rights and national dignity are more important. Because the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have divergent views of these supposedly universal values, it makes no sense to sacrifice Taiwan’s longstanding pursuit of these values for the sake of cross-strait relations.

Ma’s public rejection of a visit by the Dalai Lama will have far reaching consequences. Taiwan will now be seen as working together with China to intimidate the Dalai Lama. Taiwan has long claimed to be a representative of democracy, freedom and human rights in the face of bullying and intimidation by China. Most countries may have sacrificed Taiwan because of Chinese pressures and their own national interests, but they remain sympathetic to Taiwan.

Ma has shot Taiwan in the foot: If Taiwan can’t resist Chinese pressure, then how could we ask for international support?

Taiwanese democracy and human rights have deteriorated since Ma became president. Currying favor with a neighbor that has more than 1,000 missiles aimed at Taiwan and treating the cross-strait relationship as the only national interest is tantamount to bowing to brute force by refusing to allow a visit by an international symbol of human rights, religious freedom and democracy.

Ma has seriously damaged Taiwan, but there may still be a solution. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has suggested that religious organizations invite the Dalai Lama to visit as a religious leader, as was the case before. This could be the way to save Taiwan’s international image.

Obama faces China’s challenge
　

By Sushil Seth
Monday, Dec 08, 2008, Page 8

There is palpable anxiety in Beijing about the direction of US-China relations under US president-elect Barack Obama. It was apparent in Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) remarks at the APEC conference in Lima, Peru. He said that he was hoping Obama would recognize the importance of US-China ties, while treading carefully on the thorny issue of Taiwan.

From Beijing’s viewpoint, US President George W. Bush’s administration created conditions for China to loom large on the international stage.With the spy plane incident and Bush’s tough remarks on the US commitment to defend Taiwan with whatever it takes, however, its start was a bit rocky.

But it didn’t take long for the bilateral relationship to recover. Indeed, the US’ China policy became a hostage, more or less, to a few key issues. The most important, of course, was the global war on terror, where China’s broad support was greatly welcome.

The second issue was North Korea’s nuclear proliferation, where Beijing-sponsored six-party talks became the venue for any worthwhile progress.

The third issue has been Iran’s nuclear ambitions, where Beijing hasn’t been as supportive, but has been willing to go along, short of confronting Iran.

The upshot of it all is that with the US mired in the Middle East, and the North Korean imbroglio far from resolved, China never had it so good in promoting and projecting its image of international respectability.

As the Bush administration is nearing its end, the US is now plunged into an economic crisis that could be the worst since the 1930s depression.

Obama has said the US is facing “an economic crisis of historic proportions.” He will now have the difficult task of restoring both the US’ international image and bailing out its ailing economy.

In some ways these are related problems. For instance, the US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have been increasingly contributing to the US budget deficit. Some estimates put the US war-related expenditures between US$2 trillion and US$3 trillion.

Therefore, any winding down of US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (the latter might prove more intractable) would not only have a beneficial effect on the US economy, but also give Washington more flexibility to deal with challenges to its international supremacy — like the one from China’s enhanced position.

One important area of discord between Washington and Beijing is likely to be the US’ ballooning trade deficit with China. China’s foreign currency reserves, largely from trade surpluses with the US, are now approaching US$2 trillion. Much of it is invested in US Treasury bonds.

With the Democratic Party controlling the presidency and the Congress, and the US in deep economic crisis, the demand within the country for a significant correction of its unsustainable trade deficit with China is likely to become louder and shriller.

It will take two forms. First, protectionist sentiment in the US will rise, with China accused of indulging in unfair trade practices.

Second, China will be under greater US pressure to revalue its currency. China’s currency is under-valued to make its exports cheaper, flooding the US market.

As James Fallows wrote in The Atlantic, “Chinese leaders have deliberately held down living standards for their own people and propped them up in the United States. This is the real meaning of the vast trade surplus … that the Chinese government has mostly parked in the U.S. Treasury notes.”

In other words, it is the Chinese foreign reserves parked in the US Treasury bonds that have, in a large way, financed the never-ending appetite of US consumers to keep buying. With borrowed Chinese money and cheap goods from China, US consumers seemed as addicted to more of everything as Chinese were to opium foisted on them by British colonialists in the 19th century.

Could this be a Chinese payback, wittingly or unwittingly, for the indignities they suffered in the colonial period?

Surely, at some point, the US will wake up and realize how vulnerable they are to Chinese credit and cheap Chinese goods and the current economic crisis is likely to become the catalyst for an overhaul of US-China relations not long after Obama takes office.

In the economic area, it will increasingly be reflected in seeking balanced trade with China. That is not going to be easy and it will lead to tensions.

There is a view that China can further destabilize the US economy by diverting some of its reserves in the US Treasury bonds to other currencies, such as the euro. It seems unlikely though, considering that the European economies (and Japan) are as much in economic crisis as the US. In that sense, there is no real safe haven for the Chinese reserves parked in the US or elsewhere. As of now, the US dollar seems a better bet.

Besides, China’s economy is heavily dependent on exports to the US. If China were to withdraw its currency reserves from the US, thus eroding its credit line, it would mean a significant decline in US imports from China. This would seriously damage China’s economic growth.

At the same time, any precipitate withdrawal of Chinese currency reserves would depreciate US dollar, damaging China’s returns on its US investments.

There is an argument that China can stimulate its domestic economy with all the savings and reserves it has at its disposal. That might be true to a point. But to turn around an economy geared to large-scale exports is not as easy as it might seem. Starting from a low per capita income (with the country’s 800 million rural masses with even lower incomes than their urban cousins), any stimulation of the domestic economy hoping to make an appreciable difference in the short, or even medium, term, will be a difficult task.

By most estimates, China needs to keep growing at 8 percent or more to create employment opportunities for its people. There are fears already that the growth rate is likely to be below 8 percent, further deepening social unrest.

What that means in terms of US-China relations is that Beijing is not in a commanding position economically to dictate the tone and direction of their bilateral relationship. The US is still the world’s largest economy, even with all its problems.

And politically, if the incoming Obama administration manages to wind down its military commitments in the Middle East, the US should be able to reassert its global leadership.

Indeed, China has suddenly found itself catapulted into a competing position not because of its inherent strength, but because the US is mired in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It doesn’t mean that China wouldn’t like to be the global leader. But it needs to follow late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s (鄧小平) advice for it to consolidate its position over a period of time.

As Deng said, China should “observe developments soberly, maintain our position, meet challenges calmly, hide our capacities and bide our time.”

Regardless, Obama will need to face the challenge before it is too late.

Sushil Seth is a writer based in Australia.