Pro-unification supporters protest in front of DPP headquarters over visit
　

NO ONE HOME: Members of the Labor Party said the DPP exploited typhoon victims for political gain by inviting the Dalai Lama, jeopardizing cross-strait ties

By Jenny W. hsu, Shih Hsiu-chuan and Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTERS
Sunday, Aug 30, 2009, Page 1
　

More than 100 pro-unification supporters protested in front of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei yesterday over the Dalai Lama＊s visit, but the party seemed unfazed.

The leader of the Tibetan exiled government is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan tonight to commence his six-day prayer tour for the victims of Typhoon Morakot. The Dalai Lama was invited by local government chiefs in southern Taiwan to comfort and pray for the typhoon victims in areas that were hardest hit by the storm from Aug. 7 to Aug. 9.

China has strongly denounced the trip but rather than laying the blame on President Ma Ying-jeou (堜褙朐), who gave the final approval for the visit, Beijing accused the DPP of sabotaging warming cross-strait ties by inviting someone China brands as a ※separatist.§

Led by Labor Party 〝Secretary-General Tang Shu (衄觤), the protesters accused the DPP of exploiting the victims for political gain and said the presence of the Dalai Lama in Taiwan damages the growing amity between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The protesters, however, had an empty audience because all the major DPP officials, including Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (齍褙湞), were not there.

Police gave the angry crowd multiple warnings to break up the illegal assembly. Officers linked arms to form a human wall to prevent the protesters from entering the building.

※We have no comment on their action, which is obviously a political gesture. We don＊t know who they＊re putting a show on for, but the public is quite clear what the Labor Party is all about and we feel it is unnecessary to elaborate,§ DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (濷湞騞) said.

Cheng said Taiwan is a multi-dimensional society with various opinions and that the one held by the Labor Party is not representative of the Taiwanese public.

China＊s State Administration for Religious Affairs director Ye Xiaowen (蝔幙湞) is currently visiting Taiwan. Asked to comment on the Tibetan spiritual leader＊s visit, he said that ※anyone who truly wanted to come to Taiwan and care for the victims is welcome,§ but added: ※What I fear most is that someone would come here just for show and make more trouble for Taiwan.§

※I don＊t want Taiwan to get hit by a human disaster right after a natural disaster,§ he said.

In response to Ye＊s remark, the Dalai Lama＊s representative, Dawa Tsering, said he believes most Taiwanese would not consider the Dalai Lama a ※human disaster.§

※The real human disasters that frighten the Taiwanese are China＊s missiles, violence, authoritarianism and threats to take Taiwan by force, not the compassion of the Dalai Lama and his sincerity to pray for the victims and for survivors,§ Dawa said.

During his visit to Taiwan, the Dalai Lama will tour areas devastated by Typhoon Morakot, hold a religious service for the victims and speak to the public, according to a tentative schedule released by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the de facto representative office of the Tibetan government in exile in Taiwan.

While the Dalai Lama is scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow before visiting disaster areas, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported yesterday that the press conference may be canceled to keep the visit ※simple.§

※A senior KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] official told [Kaohsiung Mayor] Chen Chu [蠊玾] it was impossible to predict what questions may be raised during the press conference and how the Dalai Lama may respond to the questions, and thus make the purpose of the trip ＆go the other way,＊§ the United Evening News quoted an unnamed senior KMT official as saying.

The report said the KMT official suggested making the ※religious visit as simple as possible§ and thus suggested canceling the press conference.

However, both the representative office and Kaohsiung City Government officials denied the report, but added that they were in the process of creating a final itinerary. The meeting was still in progress as of press time.

Chen yesterday said she would be at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to welcome the Tibetan spiritual leader on behalf of her city.

IF POSSIBLE

If possible, she would accompany the Dalai Lama on his trip to Kaohsiung City by high-speed rail, she added.

Chen also thanked to Ma for approving the visit, saying that the invitation to the Dalai Lama was based on humanitarian grounds.

※There are still hundreds of fellow citizens buried under the mud. I am grateful to President Ma for agreeing to the visit by the Dalai Lama,§ Chen said.

Chen dismissed allegations that inviting Dalai Lama was s political plot.

※The Aug. 8 flooding was a calamity for Taiwan. Members of religious communities all expressed their sympathies and that was beyond partisan politics. I hope more people will give Taiwan blessings,§ she said.

SHUT OUT

Meanwhile, in contrast to Ma Ying-jeou and Vice President Vincent Siew (慬媬薞), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (魦旄讔) said yesterday that he would not shut himself out of events where he might run into the Dalai Lama.

※[I will] not reject meeting with [the Dalai Lama]. It all depends on chance,§ Wang said.

Religious groups mixed on Dalai Lama
　

SNIPING: Prominent Buddhists said the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit was a waste of resources and would politicize relief efforts, while Christians welcomed his arrival
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Aug 30, 2009, Page 3

The nation’s religious groups expressed mixed views over the visit of the Dalai Lama, who is scheduled to arrive tonight and will tour disaster areas in southern Taiwan to hold religious services for Typhoon Morakot victims.

“This is not an appropriate time for the Dalai Lama to come,” said Master Ching Liang (淨良法師), chairman of the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China.

He said that while the government and public were busy with relief efforts for Morakot victims, the visit of an international celebrity such as the Dalai Lama would not help much. He also said part of the much-needed manpower and resources may be moved for the Dalai Lama’s convenience, adding that it would be much better to put all the resources into relief efforts.

Cheng Ming-kun (鄭銘坤), vice chairman of the Jenn Lann Temple (鎮瀾宮) in Taichung County’s Dajia Township (大甲), criticized the invitation issued by seven Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) county heads as a move to use typhoon victims for political gain.

Cheng said that while many local religious groups have been working diligently to help victims, the move “erases local religious groups’ credit.”

He questioned how much a religious service by the Dalai Lama could do to help in reconstruction, and said it was a waste of precious resources to take care of the Dalai Lama on his visit.

“The Taiwanese should believe in the Taiwanese,” he said, noting that the Jenn Lann Temple held a religious service for the victims as well. “Don’t let politicians use helping victims as an excuse to invite someone from abroad.”

Fo Guang Shan Monastery (佛光山), a Kaohsiung-based Buddhist monastery that helped many storm victims, declined to comment, while the spokesman for the ­Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟), another organization that has been helping victims, could not be reached for comments as of press time.

While the vice-chairman disagreed with the Dalai Lama’s visit, Jenn Lann Temple’s chairman Yen Chin-piao (顏清標) said yesterday that religious services for victims were a good thing, whether it’s hosted by local or foreign religious figures, as long as they stay religious and do not get too political.

On the other hand, Christians in Taiwan seem to be more welcoming.

Hsu Cheng-tao (許承道), a pastor and spokesman for the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, said religious diversity should be respected.

He said that instead of turning the Dalai Lama’s visit into a war of words, religious organizations in Taiwan should think about how to turn the visit into a helping force.

Catholic Cardinal Paul Shan (單國璽), who is scheduled to meet with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday, held a similar view.

“I hope the visit [by the Dalai Lama] would not be complicated and politicized as the visit is purely [from] a religious figure who wishes to soothe the victims’ spirits and give them blessings,” he said when reached by the Taipei Times for comment.

“In the face of the disaster, one should transcend partisanship and religious and ethnic differences,” he said. “The most important thing is to comfort and encourage the victims so they have the strength to rebuild their homes.”

Not a good month for Beijing

Sunday, Aug 30, 2009, Page 8

It must have been a bad past few weeks for Beijing officials to basically tell the US to get the hell out of the region — but that’s exactly what it did last week during two days of negotiations on maritime safety between Chinese and US officials, when it requested that the US phase out and eventually end maritime surveillance in the region.

The meeting, called in response to a series of near-accidents off the Chinese coast earlier this year, came at a time when China was least expected to be flexing its muscles before Washington. After all, with US President Barack Obama still new in office and his China policy just shaping up, Beijing has everything to gain from treading carefully, especially when Washington is courting its help in resolving the global financial crisis.

Some could argue that this is an indication of Beijing’s growing self-assurance, or simply the result of rising Chinese nationalism under President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). This is unlikely, however, because China isn’t sure-footed enough yet to order the US around, and many are still undecided as to whether the US and China are strategic partners or strategic competitors. It is surprising that Beijing officials would risk undermining the budding relationship with a US administration that is widely seen as more amenable to China’s objectives than its predecessor.

Beijing’s hardening stance is the result of something else altogether: its sense of weakness on a core issue — Taiwan. Starting with the administration of US president Bill Clinton, Beijing has realized that the road to unification with Taiwan would have to pass through Washington, especially when cross-strait dialogue under then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party was at an all-time low. From late 2001 onwards, China’s charm offensive in the US was effective and managed to isolate Taiwan. It soon became evident that Taiwan’s isolation was contingent on warm Sino-US relations.

What derailed this carefully tuned minuet wasn’t careless policy or growing friction; rather, it was the immediate environment — over which China has no control — that changed and is now forcing a policy realignment. First came Typhoon Morakot, which devastated southern Taiwan earlier this month. Soon afterwards, US military aircraft, helicopters and officers were for the first time in many years officially setting foot on Taiwanese soil, which had an important symbolic impact on Beijing’s perceptions. To add insult to injury, the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has been invited to visit Taiwan, something that would have been inconceivable prior to Morakot.

Another factor is internal conflict in Myanmar pitting government forces against a faction of the Kokang militia, which has forced between 10,000 and 30,000 refugees to cross over from Shan State into China’s Yunnan Province in the last few weeks. Beijing has long dreaded the impact of large refugee inflows from neighboring countries on its internal stability, as well as the potential for those conflicts to result in the deployment of international forces within the region.

That Morakot and conflict in Myanmar, in addition to unrest in Xinjiang, would occur almost simultaneously has made Beijing less confident of its ability to determine the future course of the region. It has also made it more aware that despite its well-crafted — and so far successful — policy of ensuring stability along its border and in the region, some variables remain out of its control. As all these developments have invited — or risk inviting — intervention by outside forces, Beijing will want to ensure that it is the sole regional power upon which smaller players can rely. One way to achieve this, of course, will be to pressure the US to leave.

US, PRC maneuvers post-Morakot
　

By HoonTing 雲程
Sunday, Aug 30, 2009, Page 8

In the past, rich or influential people used to keep a small platform next to the entrance to their house to help people get off their horses. President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) initial rejection of foreign aid in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot and his interaction with the US and China made me think of this platform, which was built to help people get off their high horses.

Ma probably thought criticism of his government’s weak disaster relief effort would blow over in a couple of days; instead, his inaction prompted the US to take action. When US transport aircraft and minesweeping helicopters appeared over Taiwan, the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier from the US’ Seventh Fleet, wasn’t far away. As if expecting something big to happen, international media scrambled to Taiwan.

There is an international aspect to the flood disaster, and it begins with China.

On Aug. 11, China launched its largest military exercise to date. The exercise mobilized forces in the Shenyang, Jinan, Guangzhou and Lanzhou military regions for almost two months, and it took place near disputed areas, such as near the border with North Korea, Afghanistan and in the South China Sea. It included paratroopers, simulated warfare in complex electromagnetic environments, the Beidou Satellite Positioning System and civilian aircraft. The whole exercise was reminiscent of a preparatory blitzkrieg exercise. This prompted the USS George Washington to move into position: On Aug. 10, it left its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, for its first visit to Manila in 13 years. In San Diego, California, the USS Nimitz set out on a westward journey.

As the US and China were involved in polite formulaic exchanges, one unusual incident after another took place in Taiwan. At the height of the onslaught of Typhoon Morakot on Aug. 8, the former chief of the general staff left on a visit to Beijing; on Aug. 9, an undersea optical cable just off Taiwan was severed in five places, and the US military’s Asia Pacific command offered to help Taiwan with disaster relief — not once, but twice. On Aug. 10, several countries offered Taiwan assistance.

However, according to reliable sources, the representatives of the Presidential Office, the Cabinet and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) met and decided to accept Chinese assistance instead. On Aug. 11, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) exercise began and Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an urgent telegram rejecting foreign material aid and rescue teams. On Aug. 12, an underwater optical cable was again severed, this time in six places, China rejected a visit to Hong Kong by a Japanese navy vessel, and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said Taiwan was not rejecting foreign aid, signaling a change in situation. On Aug. 14, US Agency for International Development staff arrived in Taiwan, PLA Major-General Luo Yuan (羅援) said Taiwan should review its relationship with the US before a cross-strait military confidence-building mechanism was established, and Ma called a meeting of the National Security Council. On Aug. 15, a US C-130 aircraft arrived in Taiwan. On Aug. 17, US helicopters landed in Taiwan and the US State Department rejected the notion that it had to inform China about its activities. On Aug. 18, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing was still willing to provide rescue helicopters. On Aug. 20, members of the US Congress traveled on a military aircraft to visit Taiwan. And on Monday, the USS Nimitz arrived at Yokosuka.

Regardless of the cause and intent, the Chinese military exercise, the USS George Washington moving into position in the Philippines, the multiple breaks on two separate instances of a Taiwanese undersea optical cable, the Taiwanese government issuing a “very urgent” telegram rejecting foreign aid, Ma’s neglect of his responsibility as the commander-in-chief and his refusal to declare a state of emergency, the Ma administration’s unthinkable continuous inaction during the height of the calamity and China’s “timely” declaration of its attitude are enough to provide the PLA with a reason to come to Taiwan in the name of humanitarianism. From the perspective of the US-Japan Security Alliance, it could also marginalize the alliance and upset the balance of power that has existed in East Asia for the past 60 years.

Looking back at the first week after Morakot, even if the Ma administration has not been colluding with the Chinese government, its arrogance and public detachment, combined with its eagerness to push cross-strait relations, could still send the wrong message to the US, Japan and China and place Taiwan at risk. The US military’s eagerness to show the flag in this situation is probably a practical matter of “preventive contact.” Whether or not this really is what is going on, we will only know when classified files have been declassified some time in future.

HoonTing is a freelance writer.

Victims of Morakot are ‘climate refugees’
　

By Liu Chung-ming 柳中明
Sunday, Aug 30, 2009, Page 8

Many people do not understand why we should call the victims of Typhoon Morakot “refugees.”

The term “climate refugee” derives from the term “environmental refugee,” meaning people who are forced to leave their homes or even countries because of environmental degradation.

An example of this is the devastation of New Orleans in Louisiana in August 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. Nearly 1 million people in both urban and suburban areas were displaced from their homes.

However, the term “climate refugee” was not included in the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which was approved in 1951 in Geneva. As such, “environmentally displaced people” is still the term used in academic circles to distinguish this group from political or war refugees.

Some Pacific Island states have now begun relocating their populations as climate refugees to New Zealand.

The US Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, or USAID, provides detailed regulations pertaining to post-disaster assistance for victims, including immediate temporary shelter, home repair grants, reconstruction, unemployment assistance, food supplies, legal aid for low-income families and crisis counseling and financial assistance for communities.

The act also includes regulations about relocation assistance: If disaster victims cannot return to their original residence, the government must provide assistance in relocating them.

It was this act that enabled the victims of Hurricane Katrina to be relocated across the country. Thus it is clear that although the US has yet to legally define the term “climate refugee,” it has adopted the spirit of such assistance into legislation.

Since Taiwan does not have an appropriate disaster relief law, the administration provides various assistance programs without legislative oversight and compulsory regulations.

In addition, although the administration has promised daily that it would reconstruct the disaster areas in the short term, it has not given serious consideration to returning the disaster areas to their natural state.

However, if we classified the victims of Typhoon Morakot as refugees, it would be understood that disaster victims, whose villages were wiped out by mudslides or inundated by floodwaters during the typhoon, do not necessarily have to return to their devastated homes.

Other county and city governments can then propose relocation programs for the victims of Morakot and promise to provide assistance with relocation and job training.

As such, those who are unwilling to go back to their disaster-wrecked villages will not need to look for homes in other counties on their own; rather, all other counties and cities would take the initiative to provide victims with assistance.

The recognition of the fact that Taiwan already has a population of climate refugees will not only effectively assist the victims of Morakot, it will also let the natural environment recover by itself.

It also means recognizing the threat that global climate change poses to Taiwan and our need for long-term international assistance.

This would not be a display of weakness, but an official appeal to the international community to view Taiwan as part of the global village.

Liu Chung-ming is director of the Global Change Research Center at National Taiwan University.