Ma would consider peace talks in 2012
　

CLEAR AS DAY: Beijing has a political agenda behind its economic exchanges with Taiwan, the president said, but added that his administration ‘handles it rather well’

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, Page 1

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he would not negotiate unification with China during his presidency, but would consider launching talks on a peace agreement if re-elected in 2012.

Ma said he was not opposed to launching negotiations with Beijing on political matters, including a peace treaty, during a second term as president.

Ma made the remarks in an interview with Taiwan’s China Television yesterday morning.

He said that he had promised in his inauguration address, under the framework of the Republic of China Constitution, not to discuss unification with Beijing during his presidency, not to pursue or support de jure independence and not to use military force to resolve the matter of Taiwan’s status.

“I will not engage in talks on unification with mainland China during my presidency, regardless of whether it lasts four years or eight,” he said.

Nor would political negotiations necessarily have to start in 2012, he said, adding that it would depend on developments and whether more pressing issues such as the economy had been addressed.

Ma said he was aware of China’s efforts to achieve unification, but that his administration was focusing on more urgent, less controversial matters, including the economy.

Although these negotiations inevitably touch on some political matters, both sides have sought to avoid sensitive topics, he said.

Ma said the political agenda behind Beijing’s economic engagement with Taiwan was no secret, yet “some administrations handle it well, some not so well.”

“I think my administration handles it rather well,” he said, adding that Beijing does not seek political gains in all its dealings with Taiwan and that a win-win situation for both sides of the Strait is possible.

Ma said Beijing was hesitant to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), possibly because of differences between Taiwan’s ruling and opposition parties. However, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) have both expressed interest in an ECFA.

As negotiations on an ECFA could take time, Ma said the two sides should start with matters where there is already a consensus.

“It is like an elementary school student doing math. Do the easier questions first, before moving on to more difficult ones,” Ma said.

“Because of the complexity of cross-strait relations, it is rather difficult to reach the goal immediately,” he said.

He said he would not change his goal of pursuing an ECFA regardless of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) opinion, though his administration would continue to negotiate with the party.

Ma said the economic pact would likely be one topic at the next round of cross-strait talks, scheduled for the second half of the year.

The president said he did not have any immediate plans to visit China, adding that high-level visits were complicated by issues of security and national sovereignty and dignity.

“My approach has always been to deal with a problem if we cannot solve it,” he said. “You’ll achieve nothing by fixating on sovereignty. Cross-strait relations have developed since we came to power because both sides set aside their differences and focused on more pressing and solvable matters.”

In response, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said Ma should not lie to the public about unification with China.

Cheng said the DPP viewed Ma’s policies as geared at achieving unification. Ma’s strategy for dealing with criticism is to lie to the public, Cheng said.

The DPP urged Ma to put an end to policies that move toward unification.

Tibetan culture under ‘death sentence’: Dalai Lama

AFP, WASHINGTON
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, Page 5

“If we look at [the] Tibetan issue from a wider perspective, I feel much hope because China is changing.”— Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader

The Dalai Lama said Tibetans felt their heritage had received a “death sentence,” but he said the future looked brighter for his people as China modernizes.

In a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday, the 73-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists also said his reincarnation would be found in the “free world” rather than in Chinese-occupied Tibet.

Chinese hardliners were guilty of “cultural genocide” in their assault on Tibet’s way of life, he said.

Speaking in English, he said the vast majority of Tibetans were “very unhappy” as they saw their “cultural heritage passing through something like a death sentence.”

Viewed locally, the Dalai Lama said, Tibet’s prospects appear “hopeless,” as China’s rulers seek to flood the region with ethnic Han settlers and dilute its Buddhist culture.

“If we look at [the] Tibetan issue from a wider perspective, I feel much hope because China is changing,” he said, also noting strong public support for Tibet in Europe and North America.

“And then on the other hand, the Tibetan spirit inside Tibet is wonderful,” he said.

The Dalai Lama has frequently said he wants to retire but has kept up a frenetic travel schedule.

The Nobel Peace laureate is touring the US, but does not plan to visit Washington.

He is expected to return to the US in October, when he hopes to meet with US President Barack Obama.

China should see the Dalai Lama as “part of the solution” on Tibet instead of trying to isolate him, Obama’s top Asia adviser Jeff Bader said on May 1.

But Beijing brands the Dalai Lama a separatist and has stepped up pressure on world leaders, including Obama, not to meet with him.

The Buddhist leader fled to India 50 years ago as China crushed an abortive uprising in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, an advocate of non-violence, says he is only seeking greater rights for Tibetans under Chinese rule.

However, he said the Tibetan homeland included parts of five Chinese provinces beyond the Tibet Autonomous Region.

“All in part they are Tibetan there,” he said. “My definition of Tibet are those people who speak Tibetan, who practice Tibetan culture.”

The Dalai Lama rejected China’s insistence that it would select the boy reincarnation who will become Tibet’s next Buddhist leader.

The next Dalai Lama would have to continue his unfinished work, “so logically in case I die outside [Tibet],” the new leader would have to be found “in outside free world.”

Taiwan dangling in limbo

The US State Department recognizes 194 states, including city-states such as the Holy See and Singapore and the principalities, or “micro-states,” of Liechtenstein and Monaco.

Excluded from this list is an entity that the State Department says may or may not be considered a country, depending on who you talk to.

The outsider is Taiwan, which meets all requirements for a sovereign country.

That Taiwan meets all criteria of a sovereign country is absolutely indisputable and beyond contention:

1. It has a clearly defined territory with internationally recognized boundaries.

2. It has a permanent population who possess identity cards, passports and home residency certificates.

3. It has a highly organized and advanced economy; it regulates both foreign and domestic trade/commerce. It issues its own currency.

4. It maintains educational institutions at all levels, thus proving itself capable of “social engineering.”

5. It has a highly developed transportation system for moving both people and goods.

6. It has five branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial, oversight and examination), in addition to a police force.

7. It has its own armed forces — army, navy, air force and marines.

8. It has a postal and banking system.

9. It has sovereignty over its defined territory.

10. It is recognized (albeit limited recognition) by other countries.

Tawan’s political problems have their sources in three main areas.

The deluded, megalomaniacal fools who control Taiwan pathetically insist that they have sovereignty over territory that they do not control. They pathetically cling to the chimerical “Republic of China,” which was superseded decades ago by the communist government of the People’s Republic of China across the Taiwan Strait. It is the abysmally wide gap or disjunction between reality and the delusional perceptions of Taiwan’s present rulers that causes so much trouble for Taiwan.

Taiwan’s problems are also a result of China’s incessant bullying, intimidation and meddling.

Lastly, Taiwan’s problems come, in no small measure, from political expediency, hypocrisy and shameful cowardice on the part of other nations — especially the “Great Western Democracies.” As an American, I am forced to admit that the US can be assigned much of the blame in regard to Taiwan’s unfortunate status.

Taiwan’s lonely “outsider” status is the result of dreadfully misguided policies by enemies of Taiwan — both external and internal.

MICHAEL SCANLON
East Hartford, Connecticut

Cross-media mergers hurt sovereignty, trick public
　

By Hung Chen-ling and Chad Liu 洪貞玲、劉昌德
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, Page 8

On Friday, the National Communications Commission (NCC) called a public hearing to discuss the takeover of the China Times group by Want Want China Holdings Ltd (中國旺旺控股). It was a rushed hearing with too many restrictions on public participation, making it impossible to measure public opinion.

The NCC should hold more hearings and allow a detailed investigation into the source of Want Want Group’s capital and shareholding structure, as well as the effect of cross-media management on market competition and public interests.

The conflict over the China Times (中國時報), China Television (CTV, 中視), and CTiTV (中天電視) began with calls for political parties, government and the military to withdraw from the media, which resulted in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) transferring its holdings in the China Times and the Broadcasting Corporation of China (中廣) to former China Times chairman Albert Yu (余建新), thus creating cross-media management.

The first-term NCC handled the case by passively referring to “formal external legality” to bypass the ban on cross-media management of newspapers and radio or TV stations in the enforcement rules of the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法).

The shareholding structure announced by the NCC shows that Want Want chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), by buying shares through two family-owned enterprises, now owns 100 percent of the China Times, 68.12 percent of shares in CtiTV and 44.5 percent of CTV.

It is clear that his shareholdings flout regulations in the Radio and Television Act on cross-media ownership. As stipulated by Articles 18 and 19 of the Act’s enforcement rules, Tsai has declared that these are his private investments. But the application form gives the family-owned enterprises as the shareholders, thus raising the question of whether restrictions applying to natural or to legal persons should be used. In practice, Tsai owns all three media outlets, and he is dispelling any doubt by stressing ownership of the three companies in all internal and external statements.

As far as readers, viewers and employees are concerned, Want Want at present controls the influence wielded by these three media outlets; it is not a future possibility being investigated by the NCC. Under the former ownership of the Yu family, we saw the combined power wielded by the three outlets, with strong promotion of the family’s programs in the news, as well as news content being determined by the group’s business interests.

Today, the Want Want logo is used by the three media outlets and on reporters’ name cards, clearly displaying cross-media ownership. In terms of content, the development toward unitary and positive reporting on China and the Taiwanese government is harming the rights of both media workers and readers and viewers.

Want Want’s simultaneous ownership of these three media outlets violates the spirit of legislation aimed at protecting fair competition and the public interest. We therefore call on the NCC to reject this change in stock ownership.

The NCC should also use the investigation of this case to establish a set of transparent procedures and strict standards for investigating media mergers and conduct a review of shortcomings in legislation and policies. This is the only way to safeguard fair and orderly market competition, the diversification of media content, the rights and interest of readers and viewers and the right of media workers to be independent.

Hung Chen-ling is an assistant professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Journalism. Chad Liu is an assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University’s Department of Communications.