Wu shrugs off criticism over ‘island’ remarks
　

SOVEREIGNTY: Wang Jin-pyng said the KMT chief’s reference to Taiwan as ‘on the island’ was based on a complex system used in negotiations with the CCP

By Mo Yan-chih and Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTERS
Thursday, May 28, 2009, Page 1

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday shrugged off criticism of his use of the term daonei (島內, “on the island”) to refer to Taiwan during a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on Tuesday, and called on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) not to over-interpret the issue.

Wu used the term in his meeting with Hu in Beijing. During the meeting, Hu emphasized that Taiwan and China belonged to “one China,” and said they had agreed to promote peace and oppose Taiwanese independence.

In response to DPP criticism that Wu was belittling Taiwan’s sovereignty, Wu said his meeting with Hu had proceeded on a reciprocal basis and that he also used the phrase “on the mainland” when referring to China during the meeting.

“We never belittle ourselves ... the KMT pays extra attention to make sure cross-strait exchanges proceed on an equal footing,” Wu said yesterday in Beijing, urging the public not to interpret his words negatively.

KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-rong (李建榮) later urged the DPP not to shift the focus of the Wu-Hu meeting by politicizing Wu’s remarks.

Lee said recent polls showed popular support for Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu’s (陳菊) visit to China.

Many DPP politicians have also visited China over the years, Lee said, adding that the DPP should make public its frequent communications with China.

DPP legislators yesterday asked Wu to apologize for his use of the expression daonei.

“If Taiwan is daonei, [President] Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] is just an island chief, not a head of state. It is unbelievable that the KMT chairman belittled the country to such a degree. The KMT is like a vassal that belittles itself when dealing with the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said.

Gao said people were worried that KMT officials do not have Taiwan’s interests in mind when they engage China.

DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said Wu had avoided referring to Ma as president, in contrast with Chen’s statements last week, and his remarks implied that Taiwan was part of China.

In response, a number of KMT legislators defended Wu’s use of the term daonei.

Urging the DPP not to humiliate the KMT chairman, KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said it was just a general term and did not undermine the nation’s sovereignty.

KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said he “almost fainted” when he heard Wu use the term, but added that it must have been a slip of the tongue.

KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the party chairman was a hero in cross-strait relations and has long been dedicated to promoting cross-strait peace.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) also downplayed Wu Poh-hsiung’s turn of phrase, calling it “a term of tacit understanding” between the KMT and the CCP.

“In a bid to enhance interactions between the KMT and the CCP, they have their own language,” Wang said, without elaborating.

However, Chen said Wu Poh-hsiung’s use of language highlighted the differences between the DPP and the KMT.

KMT caucus ­secretary-­general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said Hu’s references to “Chinese Taipei” during his meeting with Wu Poh-­hsiung were a goodwill gesture.

Yang said this could be seen as recognition by Hu of Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Wu Poh-hsiung is on an eight-day visit to China that coincides with the 80th anniversary of the relocation of Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) remains to a mausoleum in Nanjing. He and the KMT delegation left for Chongqing yesterday after meeting Hu in Beijing.

Wu Poh-hsiung is scheduled to visit China again in July to attend an annual forum between the KMT and CCP.

KMT Vice Secretary-General Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) yesterday defended the importance of the KMT-CCP forum on cross-strait relations in response to critics’ complaints that the forum had been made redundant by the Straits Exchange Foundation’s resumption of talks with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.

Chang said cross-strait relations, like any bilateral relations, developed through various communication channels. The KMT-CCP forum was a form of “party diplomacy” and would continue serving as a major communication channel for the government.

The KMT-CCP forum was initiated after former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) visited China in 2005.

Justice minister denies attempting to oust prosecutor
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, May 28, 2009, Page 3

Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) yesterday rebutted media reports that she held a secret meeting with prosecutors in an attempt to oust State Public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) from the ministry.

The Chinese-language weekly Next Magazine yesterday reported that Wang met prosecutors from the Supreme Prosecutors Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) on May 18, excluding Chen and violating the code of ethics by getting involved in individual cases.

The magazine reported that Wang asked prosecutors to protect the reputation of the heads of major companies when probing the second financial reform.

The prosecutors are still investigating allegations that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), received bribes from several banks in exchange for favors during the former president’s second financial reform program.

When Wang was asked during a meeting whether Chen Tsung-ming was right for the job, she reportedly said: “It’s not a problem to suspend the state public prosecutor-general.”

The ministry held a press conference yesterday morning to clarify the matter.

Wang denied the reports, saying that when she met the Control Yuan, she only discussed “facts” and “legal issues,” and never mentioned anything about Chen Tsung-ming.

“The media reports are completely false,” she said.

A statement issued by the ministry said: “Minister Wang could not and would not suggest that [Chen Tsung-ming] be suspended from his post or that someone else take his job.” Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) said he and Wang had indeed met with several SIP prosecutors, but it was at the request of SIP spokesperson, Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) and Yueh Fang-ju (越方如), who hoped to arrange the meeting to “improve bilateral communications” within the ministry.

Huang said they discussed areas where SIP prosecutors needed the ministry for assistance and did not discuss any particular case.

“The SIP needs the ministry’s assistance in areas including mutual cooperation, gag orders that prohibit prosecutors from discussing a case outside the court, and on the allocation of manpower,” Chen Yun-nan said.

SIP prosecutors decided amongst themselves which prosecutors would attend the meeting, which Chen Tsung-ming already knew about, Huang said.

The democratic backlash

Thursday, May 28, 2009, Page 8

It is becoming abundantly clear that Taiwan’s best — and perhaps only effective — defense against aggression by China is a strong democracy.

It will serve as the ultimate poison pill that would in the long run curb Beijing’s hunger in occupying Taiwan.

That’s why Washington’s attempt to put a ceiling on Taiwan’s democracy runs counter to the spirit of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which was created precisely to promote the security of Taiwan and the welfare of its people.

When the TRA was enacted 30 years ago, neither side of the Taiwan Strait had any substantive experience of democracy. Washington saw a military invasion or blockade by China against Taiwan as the only threats. Washington therefore sought to maintain a military balance in the Taiwan Strait as a means to defend Taiwan.

With China’s military growing at an alarming rate, that parity is now lost at a time when Washington remains stuck in an outdated interpretation of Taiwanese independence as an offensive weapon.

Such an interpretation, combined with its “one China” policy, has turned into folly as Washington praises President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) unabashed subjugation of Taiwan to China while half-heartedly lamenting its inability to join the Taipei-Beijing tango.

This was manifested by Washington’s reluctance to protest against Ma’s ostensible backsliding on democracy.

Significantly, Ma’s 12-month shenanigan might inadvertently have convinced an increasing number of Taiwanese that independence is a dream that Taiwanese have no choice but to pursue.

Whether or when that quest will come to fruition might not matter, because without that dream, Taiwan’s chance of survival is inexistent.

A few years ago, Taiwan’s democracy was paralyzed by Washington’s straitjacket.

Specifically, there was no hope of a constitution that would define Taiwan’s democracy and lay down a blueprint through which Taiwanese can create a new country of their own.

That made Taiwan a fertile ground for Ma and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the quintessential antithesis of democracy, to preach their gospel of “dollar dearer than freedom” and seize near-­absolute power.

Ma and company lost no time in laying the groundwork to undermine the pillars of Taiwanese democracy — outwardly its sovereignty and inwardly the judiciary.

Ma’s anniversary report card then counts among his biggest “achievements” the latest World Health Assembly fiasco and the continuing “preventive incarceration” of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Despite the incessant attacks by Ma and the KMT (or perhaps as their result), Taiwanese thirst for democracy appears to have grown.

The opposition’s political rallies are increasingly taking on an air of urgency.

As Ma’s penchant for using bald-faced lies in various tongues to provide a cover for the subversion of Taiwan’s democracy shows no sign of abating, there is the possibility that Taiwanese could become angry enough to bounce back with such ferocity as to shatter the glass ceiling that Washington has erected above Taiwan.

At the minimum, prospects of a Taiwanese rebound could serve to deter Ma from going too far. To be specific, Ma, drunk with power at the moment, could be reminded that in a democracy, he and his accomplices will eventually have to answer to the people.

HUANG JEI-HSUAN
Los Angeles, California

The CCP continues to see ghosts
　

By Sushil Seth
Thursday, May 28, 2009, Page 8

With the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan rebellion of 1959 still fresh in the memory, Beijing now has to confront the 20th anniversary of the student-led democracy movement that was crushed in Tiananmen Square.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has taken all the necessary steps to prevent — and crush, if necessary — any protests that might take place next week.

In 1989, students seeking political reforms were met with tanks as the regime feared being toppled by a ragtag movement seeking a more open political system with transparency and accountability.

That system was, and still is, racked with corruption.

Was there any serious danger to the CCP from the student movement? Then-CCP general secretary Zhao Ziyang (趙紫陽) didn’t think so and was toppled by the ruling clique led by Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平).

In secret tapes recorded by Zhao during his 16 years in house arrest until his death, he raised some pertinent questions.

“It was determined [by the leading CCP group] that the student movement was a planned conspiracy of anti-party, anti-socialist elements with leadership,” Zhao said.

“So now we must ask, who were these leaders? What was the plan? What was the conspiracy? What evidence exists to support this?” he wrote. “It was also said that that there were black hands within the party. Who were they?”

“It was said that this event was aimed at overthrowing the People’s Republic and the CCP. Where is the evidence?” Zhao said.

His conclusion was that there were no such elements conspiring to overthrow the CCP.

“I had said at the time that most people were only asking us to correct our flaws, not attempting to overthrow our political system,” he said.

One might think that having crushed the last perceived organized threat to its monopoly on power, the CCP would feel at ease. But the paranoia persists.

The system remains alert to any organized sign of resistance that might emerge.

After all, the Falun Gong movement emerged out of nowhere and managed to hold a large public protest in 1999. Soon afterwards, the movement was banned and declared an evil cult, with thousands of followers arrested and tortured.

The persecution continues.

Falun Gong was never a threat to the CCP’s rule. But overkill is still the mark of the ruling oligarchy.

The fact is that China’s rulers do not want to take any chances with unruly masses, believing they need the perpetual control and guidance of the CCP to prevent the country from plunging into chaos.

This is the CCP’s self-serving mythology that has been parroted ever since. In the absence of any kind of popular endorsement of its rule, the CCP has had to create the illusion of impending disaster if the party is not around.

This makes the party and the country indistinguishable. In other words, a Chinese citizen ceases to be “patriotic” if he or she seeks political change.

If a group meets regularly to talk of democracy as a political alternative for the country, soon enough its members will find themselves behind bars.

Zhao, though, favored the democratic alternative. He reportedly said that: “It is the Western parliamentary system that has demonstrated the most vitality … [and] meets the demands of a modern society.”

But the CCP is unlikely to follow this route to commit political suicide. Indeed, it actively works to destroy any challenge (real or imagined) to its political monopoly.

The government freely uses charges of subversion and leaking of “state secrets” as justification to throw people in jail.

Other no-go topics are Tibet, Taiwan and Uighur separatism in Xinjiang.

In other words, the country’s communist rulers have multiple grounds to throw people into jail.

The Internet, though, is posing problems. Despite a panoply of firewalls built by the Chinese government to deny people access to certain types of information, those determined enough do manage to keep themselves informed through alternative sites.

Most Chinese, however, live on a diet of government-fed information that provides a filtered view of their country and the world.

With the economy slowing, however, social unrest has been increasing.

Even with growth rates of more than 10 percent, China has been unable to provide jobs for many of its teeming millions.

The rural economy is so depressed that young men and women from the countryside flocked to urban industrial centers for jobs.

There have been an estimated 140 million migrant rural workers in cities. With the closure of urban factories, about 20 million have already gone back to their homes and farms.

If the process of rural workers trekking back to the countryside continues, it will aggravate social unrest.

There are no jobs for them back home and their families’ farms can hardly feed more mouths. With progressively reduced remittances back home, the rural families will have an even harder time.

Already, there is a three-fold gap between rural and urban incomes. Any widening of this gap is likely to create further tensions.

There is a sense that the Chinese government is aware of the grim social reality of even harder times in rural areas. It is, therefore, diverting resources to the rural sector as part of the overall stimulus package.

Jonathan Fenby, China director at Trusted Sources, said Chinese in rural areas “aren’t benefiting much from the US$1 trillion sloshing out in China in fiscal and monetary stimulus.”

That is because: “That money is going mainly to big urban-based firms, while the drop in remittances from migrant workers in coastal export zones is hitting village income, deflation is reducing income from sales of food, farm input costs have risen and mechanization is uneconomic in many places, given the small size of plots allowed under the land ownership system.”

At the same time, in the cities, the middle class finds itself with fewer economic opportunities. Young graduates coming into the job market find it increasingly difficult to find jobs.

Therefore, even if China’s economy continues to grow (but at nearly half the growth rate reported in the last decade) things are pretty grim.

As economic difficulties create more social tensions and unrest, China’s paranoid leadership will start seeing ghosts of political challenge, which might lead to greater repression.

This is not to suggest that the CCP’s grip on power is in any immediate danger. The suggestion, though, is that an increasing aggregation of social tensions could create an explosive situation in the short or medium term.

Sushil Seth is a writer based in Australia.

Man fined 100 kowtows by god for peeking at women while throwing divination blocks

Thursday, May 28, 2009,Page 15

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One hundred kowtows for thinking lewd thoughts when facing Guan Gong! When Wu Teng-hsing, the fifth generation caretaker of the Deyi Temple in Beigang, Yunlin County, visited the Shuixian Temple in Xingang, Jiayi County, to ask the gods about his future, a pretty woman walked past. Wu inadvertently took a peek as his mind wandered, with the result that he drew the one divination stick with the text “insincere intent, do 100 kowtows.” An embarrassed Wu then had to do 100 kowtows, which left visitors to the temple scratching their head.

The temple to the Revered Narcissus King was built in the fourth year of the Qianlong Emperor, or 1739. The rear hall is dedicated to the Saintly Emperor Guan, who was the spiritual leader of the old Bengang martial arts hall. Whenever there was a problem taking a major decision, people would go to Emperor Guan to ask for direction by throwing divination blocks and drawing divination sticks.

In recent years, Wu has been working hard to pass on the dragon, phoenix and lion array. He has found disciples in many elementary schools, but he was uncertain on how to proceed to the next step. So a few days ago he went to the Narcissus King Temple to ask Emperor Guan for directions. Just when Wu solemnly threw the divination blocks and asked the Emperor for directions, a young woman suddenly walked past and Wu couldn’t help following her with his eyes and becoming completely engrossed.

After a long while, Wu regained his senses and, realizing that he was still holding the divination blocks, hurriedly threw them to the ground three times and received his answer. Happy that things were going so smoothly, he was surprised when he drew the divination stick reading “insincere intent, do 100 kowtows.” Despite all the curious onlookers, Wu had no choice but to do 100 consecutive kowtows, as if he were pounding garlic with a pestle. He said this was the first time in dozens of visits that he had pulled a divination stick giving him a punishment.

Su Mu-kun, an attendant at the Narcissus King Temple, said that 100 divination sticks only contained three meting out punishment. These three are “insincere intent, ask again another day,” “insincere intent, pay more for the incense,” and “insincere intent, do 100 kowtows.” If devotees let their mind wander while asking a question, there is a big chance they will pull one of these three divination sticks, and Emperor Guan often metes out punishment according to the situation. The stick requiring 100 kowtows is the severest of the three punishment sticks.

(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY PERRY SVENSSON)