Ma signs UN rights covenants
　

ON ONE HAND: Protesters said that Ma signed human rights covenants on the one hand, but then supported amendments that violate human rights on the other
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, May 15, 2009, Page 1
　

Amid heavy security and restricted media access, protesters engaged in skirmishes with police outside Taipei Guest House yesterday where President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) signed two UN human rights covenants in the run-up to the first anniversary of his inauguration.

Holding banners reading “The Assembly and Parade Act is unconstitutional, human rights are disappearing” and “peaceful, rational and non-violent,” civic groups gathered outside the Chung Yung-fa Foundation at the intersection of Xinyi Road and Renai Road to protest the government’s proposed amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), which they said violated human rights.

Members of the Wild Strawberry Student Movement proceeded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to continue the protest, but were surrounded by police.

One student surnamed Chang (張) was blocked by a plainclothes police officer when she tried to cross Ketagalan Boulevard.

“Why can’t I cross the street?” she shouted.

A clash ensued.

She was holding a cartoon poster featuring Ma signing the two UN conventions with his right hand while holding a hammer with his left hand striking the Assembly and Parade Act and the Chingmei Human Rights Memorial Park, with the English words “double fisted hypocrite” written at the bottom.

The plainclothes police officer declined to identify himself. Four or five of his colleagues surrounded the student and told her she could not cross because she was “holding a protest banner” and that she was “heading toward a restricted area where the two conventions were to be signed.”

Chang said she would sue the plainclothes police officer or complain to media outlets once she discovered his identity.

Chang and members of the student movement managed to cross the street and join a group of a dozen protesters led by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors outside the Taipei Guest House.

Chanting “police violate the Constitution” and holding banners reading “Ma Ying-jeou, don’t lie!” and “No to leaning toward China, yes to human rights,” protesters said Ma had signed the two covenants with one hand but broke them with the other. The protesters dispersed at 11:45am, shortly after Ma and his motorcade left the Taipei Guest House.

The media were barred from covering the signing ceremony, except for the state-owned Central News Agency and some TV stations on rotation to broadcast events attended by the president.

In a press release later, Ma said: “I want the public to ­understand that the government is committed to protecting human rights, and it is not lip service but real action. I now declare to the world that Taiwan’s protection of human rights will be on the same track as the international community and at the same pace.”

Ma said that over the next two years, his administration would complete a blanket review of all laws and regulations to find those that conflict with the two UN covenants. They will be amended as soon as possible, he said.

Ma described Taiwan’s human rights as reaching “adulthood” and said signing the two UN covenants marked a milestone in the country’s efforts to protect human rights.

Ma said the two covenants he signed should be sent to the UN and will take effect in three months. Although he expected difficulty along the way, he has signed the implementation decree, which became effective on April 24.

Participants at the ceremony included the heads of the five branches of government, foreign diplomats, lawmakers and a handful of civic representatives.

DPP leaders visit Chen Shui-bian
　

By Jenny W. hsu and Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTERS
Friday, May 15, 2009, Page 1

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday visited former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at the Taipei Detention Center for the first time.

The two declined to comment when approached by reporters. TV footage showed dozens of Chen supporters gathered outside the detention center holding signs and shouting slogans to encourage Tsai and Su. One woman gave a bouquet of flowers to Tsai, who thanked her, and the crowd gathered around their car.

The pair’s visit followed former premier Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) visit to Chen at the detention center on Tuesday.

At a separate setting later yesterday, Tsai said the court’s decision to extend Chen’s detention had very little legitimacy and the judicial system lacked impartiality.

Chen has been detained since December on charges of graft, embezzlement and corruption. On Monday, the court extended his detention for another two months, saying Chen presents a high flight risk and might collude with witnesses if released.

Chen’s office said yesterday he has appealed to the High Court to overturn the ruling extending his detention.

Tsai said the purpose of her visit was to encourage Chen and to highlight the “questionable elements” of the legal system.

Tsai told reporters that Chen felt his case was full of procedural errors such as the court’s sudden decision to change judges and flaws in the way witnesses were questioned. The dubious actions taken by the court had greatly harmed his right to a fair trial, she said, promising that the DPP would scrutinize Chen’s trial more closely.

On his personal blog, Su wrote that any politically motivated efforts to persecute people relentlessly would only brew more opposition and jeopardize public security.

Such actions would detract from the court’s credibility when it announces Chen’s verdict, he said.

Su said the purpose of his visit was not only to show his support for Chen, but also to protest political bias in the legal system. He wrote that he wished Chen good health and encouraged the former president to focus on his trial so he can give the public a satisfactory explanation for the allegations. If Chen indeed committed any wrongdoings, he should offer a sincere apology, Su said.

Chen has refused to eat anything since his detention hearing more than a week ago. He has said he will not eat or drink until Sunday to show his support for the DPP’s large-scale rally that day protesting the government’s policies toward China.

Chen has been on two hunger strikes since his incarceration, but ended them after pressure from his family.

A number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday criticized Tsai for visiting Chen.

KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) told reporters the visit meant Tsai had “bowed to corrupt people.”

“I sincerely suggest that Chairperson Tsai hand over her position to Chen Shui-bian ... I believe people in Taiwan will look down on the DPP and Tsai [because of the visit],” Wu said.

Because of the visit, the DPP’s planned rally would be a rally in support of Chen and “a rally in support of corruption on Anti-­Corruption Square [Ketagalan Boulevard],” he said.

Fellow KMT lawmakers Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) and Chiu Yi (邱毅) expressed similar opinions.

Former Pentagon official accused in China spy case
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER , WASHINGTON
Friday, May 15, 2009, Page 1

A Pentagon official has been charged with spying for China in a case that has strong links to Taiwan.

The US government alleges that James Wilbur Fondren Jr, 62, was in the thick of an espionage conspiracy.

“The complaint unsealed today alleges that Mr Fondren conspired to steal our nation’s secrets for a foreign government,” FBI Executive Assistant Director Arthur Cummings said.

Fondren retired from active duty as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force in May 1996. About two years later, he started providing consulting services from his home in Virginia — near the Pentagon — but had only one client.

The client was an old friend from his hometown in Louisiana — a naturalized US citizen from Taiwan called Kuo Tai-shen (郭台生), who was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison last May after pleading guilty to espionage charges in a separate case.

Kuo, the son-in-law of General Xue Yue (薛岳) — a key adviser to dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) — was a prosperous ­businessman involved in the export-import business with China and who maintained a private office in Beijing.

Court papers show that Kuo opened two companies to win contracts related to US sales of defense technology to Taiwan, but was unsuccessful.

At the same time he cultivated Pentagon contacts, including Fondren, and convinced them he was close to officials with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND), including a three-star general with ambitions to be minister of defense, the papers said.

The papers allege that Kuo told Fondren that the general needed advance information about US weapons sales to Taiwan and about military matters relating to China so that he could promote his political career.

In August 2001, Fondren returned to the Pentagon as a civilian to work as deputy director of the US Pacific Command Washington Liaison Office with a “top secret” security clearance, giving him access to highly classified military documents.

The court papers allege that between November 2004 and February last year, Fondren provided Kuo — through his home-based consulting company — with a long series of what he called “opinion papers” containing classified information about a Chinese military official’s US visit, a US-China naval exercise and US-China military meetings.

The papers say that Kuo paid him between US$350 and US$800 for each paper, but the information was not going to Taiwan. Rather, Kuo was selling it to Kang Yu-xin (康玉新), a Chinese woman living in New Orleans who was passing it on to an official in Chinese intelligence in Beijing.

Meanwhile, US intelligence monitored Fondren’s and Kuo’s communication. They discovered that China had given Fondren a codename — “Fang.”

On one occasion, Kuo urged Fondren to be “very quick” in providing information because “TECRO [Taiwan’s representative office] would soon have the report” and Kuo said he wanted to deliver the information to Taiwanese officials before they received it through official channels.

Court papers said one recording made by US intelligence in Fondren’s home had Kuo talking about the phony Taiwan connection.

Kuo: “See, he, he [a Taiwan general whose name has been removed from the transcript] told me, I this, see, I’m going to see him Monday.”

Fondren: “Yeah.”

Kuo: “In Taiwan. He wants to, he wants to be, he wants to work his way to be a Secretary of Defense for Taiwan.”

Fondren: “Um-hmm.”

Kuo: “MND, that’s what that, that’s what he’s right now he a, the position, they, the position really no power.”

Fondren: “Yeah, right.”

Kuo: “Is more, it’s not civilian position, he’s in Taiwan, the, the, the Secretary of Veteran, Veteran Affairs is not civilian position.”

Fondren: “Right.”

Kuo: “He’s still a three-star general.”

While Fondren was only arrested on Wednesday, he has been on paid leave for more than a year as the investigation was completed.

On Feb. 11 last year Kuo and Kang and US Defense Department employee Gregg William Bergersen — a weapons policy analyst — were arrested on espionage charges.

Bergersen admitted that between March 2007 and February last year he provided Kuo with extensive secret information about US military sales to Taiwan. Again, the information went directly to China.

In March last year, Bergersen was sentenced to 57 months in prison. In May, Kuo was sentenced to 188 months in prison and Kang was sentenced to 18 months. All three pleaded guilty to espionage charges.

If convicted when he goes on trial this summer, Fondren faces up to five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.

Aung San Suu Kyi faces charges over man’s visit

REUTERS, YANGON, MYANMAR
Friday, May 15, 2009, Page 1

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was charged yesterday with breaching the terms of her house arrest and faces up to five years in jail for allowing a man from the US to stay at her lakeside home, her party said.

Activists denounced her trial, set to begin on Monday, as a ploy by the country’s junta to keep Suu Kyi, 63, sidelined ahead of elections next year.

The Nobel Peace laureate’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a huge victory in 1990 polls only to be denied power by the military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962.

Suu Kyi, whose latest six-year detention is to expire on May 27, will remain in Yangon’s Insein Prison for a trial that has been scheduled to begin Monday, an NLD spokesman said.

The spokesman said she had been charged under Myanmar’s Law Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements, which carries a three-to-five-year jail term if a detainee “violates the restrictions imposed on them.”

Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the past 19 years under some form of detention, with her latest spell starting in May 2003.

The charges stem from a bizarre incident involving US citizen John William Yettaw, who, according to state media, claimed to have swum across Inya Lake and spent two days in Suu Kyi’s compound earlier this month.

Yettaw, who was arrested on May 6 as he swam back from Suu Kyi’s home, met US embassy officials on Wednesday, but revealed little about his motives.

“We cannot comment. He didn’t tell us any details,” embassy spokesman Richard Mei said.

It was apparently the second time that Yettaw — described by state media as a 53-year-old psychology student and a resident of Missouri — had tried to meet Suu Kyi at her home.

Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, said Yettaw was told to leave after attempting to meet her last year. This time Yettaw refused.

“He said he was so tired and wanted to rest, but she pleaded with him. Then he slept overnight on the ground floor,” Kyi Win told the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Suu Kyi’s detention at Insein Prison will renew fears for her health after she was put on an intravenous drip last week for dehydration and low blood pressure.

The US and human rights groups have demanded that she be allowed to see her main doctor, Tin Myo Win.

However, he was also detained for questioning last week.

Another of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Aung Thein, said that Yettaw had been charged yesterday with “encouraging a violation of the law.”

Aung Thein said two female companions who live with Suu Kyi would probably face the same charge.

UN legal experts have said Suu Kyi’s continued house arrest was illegal under Myanmar law, which permits detention for five consecutive years before the accused must be freed or put on trial.

Suu Kyi launched a legal appeal after her detention was extended last year in an apparent violation of the law.

The junta said it could hold her for a sixth year and denied the appeal.

“The regime filed these charges to extend her detention beyond the six years,” said Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma, a pro-­democracy group.

“It is an act of blackmailing the international community, especially the United States, demanding a ransom to get back an American citizen and better treatment for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.

Bomb survivor granted benefits
　

COMPENSATION: A Taiwanese doctor who had been meters from ground zero when the atomic bomb hit Nagasaki finally qualified for medical aid from Japan

By Yu Hsueh-lan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, May 15, 2009, Page 2

Taiwanese doctor Wang Wen-chi (王文其), 92, a survivor of the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bomb blast, finally received compensation from the Japanese government on Wednesday after more than a decade of trying.

Wang became the first and only Taiwanese to receive a “health handbook” issued to survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Japan during World War II. He is now entitled to free medical treatment in Japan and monthly subsidies of NT$9,000.

“I hope that there will be no more war in the world,” Wang said as he received his health handbook.

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare amended the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law in 2003 to allow atomic bomb victims living abroad to apply for health benefits. However, the victims were still required to undergo a medical check in Japan for confirmation.

Wang applied for survivor benefits four years ago but refused to go to Japan for medical checks, accusing the Japanese government of being insincere. He was finally able to confirm his status through medical checks in Taiwan after Japan amended the law again last year. The Japanese government granted him a survivor health handbook last month.

Wang said he was a 27-year-old student at Nagasaki Medical College in 1945. While he was engaged in practical training at the school’s hospital on the morning of Aug. 9, he saw a flash of harsh red light.

He lost consciousness and was rushed to a nearby clinic operated by a Taiwanese alumnus. Despite receiving medical treatment, Wang remained paralyzed for six months. He and his family then decided to move back to his hometown of Chiayi City.

Wang said the hypocenter of the Nagasaki atomic bomb blast was right behind the hospital he had been working at, and that there were no other Taiwanese survivors at the hospital.

Even some of his fellow students who had been 15km away from the university died of radiation contamination within a few weeks, he said.

Wang remains healthy, even at his advanced age. He joked that perhaps the radiation was protecting him from other diseases.

However, Wang added, he still sets off airport metal detectors as a result of the dose of radiation he had received.

Responding to Ma’s hasty China tilt

Friday, May 15, 2009, Page 8

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) plans to take to the streets of Taipei and Kaohsiung on Sunday to voice its displeasure with the government and what the DPP deems its pro-China policies.

The rally will take place three days before the first anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration and will give those unhappy with his administration’s headlong tilt toward China the chance to express their opposition.

The decision by the opposition to take its case to the streets stems partly from the DPP’s frustration with its impotence in the legislature. With just a quarter of the legislative seats to show despite having garnered 37 percent of the vote, the only way for its legislators to delay the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from pushing ahead with the executive’s pro-China agenda is to boycott meetings and sessions. While such tactics can be effective in the short term, the electorate will soon tire of them.

When Ma took office 12 months ago, it was expected that he would go much further than his predecessors in cultivating ties with Beijing. But the speed at which his administration has moved has come as a great shock.

Even Beijing appears to be surprised by the pace of things and has temporarily put the brakes on Ma’s race to ink an economic cooperation framework agreement.

Meanwhile, Ma and his government have taken a lot of criticism for their inept response to the global economic crisis, which has hit Taiwan’s export-driven market harder than most. But those wishing to revel in the KMT’s apparent economic incompetence should step back and consider the bigger picture.

This crisis could not have come at a more opportune time for the KMT’s unificationist elements. The KMT is using the situation to its advantage and is trying to push Taiwan’s economy even further into China’s sphere. At a loss for solutions to the domestic effects of the meltdown, the KMT has instead resorted to portraying China as the panacea for all of the nation’s economic woes, proposing policies that will allow Chinese investment in most sectors in Taiwan, including, most worrying of all, the media.

Once this happens, it will become very difficult for Taiwan to extricate itself from Chinese manipulation.

The KMT is jeopardizing Taiwan’s sovereignty by putting all of the nation’s economic eggs in China’s basket. But so far public reaction to these proposed acts of economic treachery has been muted. The indifference is either the product of the famous pragmatism of the Taiwanese or the fact that people have been too preoccupied trying to make ends meet to speak out.

Either way, this weekend’s protest will serve as a yardstick for public sentiment.

People are hurting. Unemployment stands at a decades-high and tens of thousands of workers have been forced to take unpaid leave.

The question is how many of them will be willing to venture out on Sunday and give voice to their pain.

While the KMT is able to fend off the DPP in the legislature, a larger-than-expected turnout for Sunday’s rallies would give the DPP a boost and could make government officials sit up and take notice.

History will declare ‘Mr’ Ma a criminal
　

By Paul Lin 林保華
Friday, May 15, 2009, Page 8

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, which occurred in Beijing on June 4, 1989. The massacre has impeded the Chinese democracy movement for two decades, and activists who have continued the struggle have made little headway. Despite this, the movement for democracy must not be abandoned.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe were related to the June 4 massacre as people saw the true colors of communism and consigned it to the dustbin of history. This is why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has blocked information on the massacre and fabricated lies to deceive the public. Although these lies did not work on the participants of the democracy movement, the fenqing (憤青), or angry youth, have been taken in.

Regrettably, the third wave of democratization saw the return of Hong Kong to China, boosting the morale of the CCP. The residents of Hong Kong did not desire the right of self-determination, and the British strictly followed the treaty to return the New Territories to China. The British would have been unable to prevent the CCP from using military force against Hong Kong, while Hong Kong Island and Kowloon had become inseparable from the New Territories and could not declare independence.

However, the British tried their best to obtain rights for the people of Hong Kong. Former British governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten fought for Hong Kong until the last moment and later was derided by the CCP as a “criminal for all time.”

When Taiwan’s democracy took off in the 1990s, China also called former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) “a criminal for all time” and threatened Taiwan with the use of force. Lee’s successor Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) managed to secure Taiwan’s sovereignty by proposing the concept of “one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait.”

But now Taiwan is following in the steps of Hong Kong because President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is allowing the CCP to dismantle Taiwan’s democracy.

Ma may be able to boost the stock market with China’s help, but he is not able to cover up the massive gap between the rich and poor. Likewise, he may be able to cooperate with the CCP to create the chimera of transient prosperity in Taiwan by opening up the country to Chinese tourists, but he cannot solve the fundamental problems of Taiwan’s economic transformation.

Increasing economic reliance on China will only turn Taiwan into a Chinese dependency rather than spur economic transformation and help Taiwan maintain its advantages. This will cause long-term, fundamental damage to Taiwan.

Ma made an even bigger mistake by smothering Taiwan’s democracy and freedom. He is offering Taiwan as a “tonic” to China, which is not only a slight to Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy but offensive to Chinese striving for liberal democracy. In addition, it will cause great harm to global democracy and jeopardize the national security of democracies. Even if he succeeds in his conspiracy, history will declare Ma as another “criminal for all time.”

May 17 is a day when we should take to the streets for our children and grandchildren. Taiwan and the whole world should protest against unification with the CCP and condemn Ma for selling out Taiwan’s freedom and democracy. The Democratic Progressive Party should declare that it does not recognize any agreements the Ma administration has signed with China that may potentially compromise Taiwan’s sovereignty. If the government ignores public opinion, Taiwanese have the ability to paralyze this traitorous regime at the critical moment.

Paul Lin is a political commentator.