Supporters bid farewell to Dalai Lama
　

HOPE SURVIVES: Asked whether he thought he would ever be able to return to his Himalayan homeland, the Dalai Lama said: ‘We are always ready to go back to Tibet’
　

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER, WITH AGENCIES
Saturday, Sep 05, 2009, Page 1
　

The Dalai Lama left Taiwan yesterday after a five-day religious mission.

Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader left from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, seen off by more than 100 supporters and monks shouting “Long live the Dalai Lama.”

The Dalai Lama arrived in Taiwan late on Sunday night for a tour primarily aimed at comforting victims of Typhoon Morakot, which battered southern Taiwan last month, killing at least 614 people.

Asked whether he thought he would ever be able to return to his Himalayan homeland, which he left half a century ago at the end of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, he said: “We are always ready to go back to Tibet.”

“Of course, every Tibetan always thinks that way,” he told reporters at the airport as he prepared to depart.

Although he said repeatedly that his visit was “non-political,” China voiced its anger and canceled several delegations to Taiwan, including one led by a central bank deputy governor.
　

During his stay, the Dalai Lama also had a dialogue with Taiwan’s Catholic leader, Cardinal Paul Shan (單國璽), and held audiences with Tibetan expatriates and local followers of Tibetan Buddhism.

His visit was marred by sporadic demonstrations by pro-unification activists.

Observers said that short-term cross-strait tension was inevitable, but that it would not have a longer-term effect because both Taiwan and China had too much to lose.

“The Dalai Lama’s trip will cause the relationship to cool on the surface, with Beijing cutting down on some activities,” said Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a political analyst at Taipei’s Soochow University.

“However, in the long term, the development in ties across the Taiwan Strait will not be affected because it would be bad for both sides,” Hsu said.

The Chinese-language Apple Daily said excessive criticism of the Dalai Lama could backfire on China.

“The more China uses all its resources to suppress a smiling monk, the more international sympathy and welcome he will receive,” it said in an editorial.

After his departure, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday expressed the hope that exchanges with China would soon get back on track.

The director of the KMT’s mainland affairs department, Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), said yesterday it would invite high-level officials from China to visit Taiwan next month, with the possibility they would meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Ma will take over the KMT chairmanship on Oct. 17.

The KMT was negotiating with China regarding the group meeting with Ma, he said.

Chang said the Dalai Lama’s visit had had a negative impact on Taiwan-China relations, and said the KMT expected cross-strait relations to return to normal after the Tibetan spiritual leader left.

“We expect the two sides to continue showing sincerity based on the [so-called] ‘1992 consensus’ and goodwill toward each other, and that cross-strait exchanges will return to normal,” he said.

Chang said he was concerned that negotiations between the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait would be affected by the Dalai Lama’s visit.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday the Dalai Lama’s visit had been a successful humanitarian mission, but lamented the government’s unfriendly treatment of a respected religious leader.

“The Dalai Lama did exactly what he came to do, which was to pray and bless the victims of Typhoon Morakot. It was immoral of the pan-blue camp to politicize the trip and smear Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu’s (陳菊) name,” DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.

Cheng was one of seven local government chiefs who invited the Nobel laureate to visit.

Cheng also panned the government for its inhospitable reception of the Dalai Lama, such as downgrading his security detail and Ma’s refusal to meet with him, saying such gestures had left the public feeling “uncomfortable.”

In related news, an envoy of Pope Benedict XVI arrived yesterday for a nine-day visit to attend an international humanitarian assistance conference in Taipei and to provide comfort to Morakot survivors.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release said Cardinal Paul Cordes, president of the Holy See’s Pontifical Council Cor Unum, will preside over the Spiritual Exercise for the Leaders of the Church’s Charitable Organization in Asia 2009, which opens on Monday at Fu Jen Catholic University.

Cordes will also visit Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties to convey the pope’s concern for Morakot’s victims, the press release said.

“At a time when reconstruction is being carried out after part of our country was devastated by Morakot, the cardinal’s visit and the holding of the conference will bring great comfort and consolation to our people,” the release said.

Fresh protests in Urumqi amid lockdown
　

FEELING THE HEAT: Protesters have called for the resignation of Xinjiang’s Communist Party boss Wang Lequan, a close ally of Chinese President Hu Jintao

AFP AND AP , URUMQI, CHINA
Saturday, Sep 05, 2009, Page 1

Fresh protests erupted in the restive Chinese city of Urumqi yesterday, one day after mass demonstrations over a spate of mysterious syringe attacks that have fanned ethnic tensions.

The new protests took place as thousands of security forces were deployed to lock down the capital of northwestern Xinjiang region, where violence erupted in July between mainly Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese, leaving nearly 200 dead.

The central government dispatched Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu (孟建柱) to the scene to oversee efforts to restore calm in Urumqi, a city of 1.8 million people.

“Maintaining stability is the central task of overriding importance in Xinjiang at the present time,” Meng told local officials, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meng blamed ethnic separatist forces for the needle attacks, saying they were “plotted by unlawful elements and instigated by ethnic splittist forces.”

At one protest witnessed by a reporter, about 1,000 people threw plastic bottles at a similar number of police near People’s Square, where the main demonstrations took place on Thursday.

The crowd repeatedly scuffled with police, shouting “Release him! Release him!” whenever they tried to subdue a protester who had challenged them.

Hundreds of regular and armed police reinforcements rushed to the scene and eventually dispersed the crowd about an hour later.

Xinhua later reported that police had used tear gas to break up two other protests. One man in his 20s was injured and taken to hospital, it said.

A “number of other small-scale confrontations” took place throughout the day, Xinhua said.

Some Han Chinese have blamed Uighurs for the hundreds of reported syringe attacks in the city, but official reports have been vague about the identities of the alleged perpetrators, 21 of whom have been detained.

State media, quoting police, said a total of 531 people had sought treatment in hospital after being stabbed with syringes in Urumqi since the middle of last month. But the report noted that only 106 of them had “obvious signs of needle attacks.”

No one had been infected or poisoned in the assaults, Xinhua reported, and it remained unclear what the syringes contained, if anything.

On Thursday and again yesterday, protesters called for the resignation of regional Communist Party boss Wang Lequan (王樂泉) a close ally of Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). Wang has called for calm and urged residents to show restraint.

Across Urumqi, armed police in riot gear were stationed at key points and erected barricades to block major roads. Traffic was cut off in several areas.

Government notices were posted banning all large gatherings, the use of any weapons and any incitement to violence.

“We seriously warn those criminals engaging in the acts of disruption to immediately cease these illegal criminal activities or pay the price of severe punishment in accordance with the law,” the city government said.

Some shops and banks were open, but at least two key mosques were closed for Friday prayers as Muslims observed Ramadan.

“We were ordered to keep the mosque closed,” said an official at the Hantenggeli mosque in the city’s central Nanmen area. “It is for everyone’s safety.”
　

Lee Teng-hui arrives in Japan
　

HE’S BACK: The former president’s past visits have been controversial, with Lee saying the Diaoyutai Islands are Japanese and visiting the Yasukuni war shrine

AFP, TOKYO
Saturday, Sep 05, 2009, Page 4
　

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) arrived in Japan yesterday for a week-long stay.

The visit is the fifth by Japan-educated Lee, 86, since he stepped down as president nine years ago. During his 1988 to 2000 term, he nurtured democracy and tried to promote a separate identity for Taiwan.

Each of Lee’s Japan trips has triggered protests from China, which sees them as attempts to strengthen Taiwan’s status, although the complaints have grown less vehement.

Japan does not require visas for Taiwanese tourists and Lee has said the visit is private.

Lee, wearing a grey suit, arrived at Narita Airport near Tokyo accompanied by his wife and was heavily guarded by security officers.

He was greeted by a small group of supporters waving the flags of Japan and Taiwan.

Lee plans to deliver a speech in Tokyo on Japanese society today. He is then scheduled to fly to Kochi and Kumamoto in southern Japan to deepen ties with business groups before heading back to Taiwan on Thursday.

On a visit to Japan last year, Lee said that an island group disputed between Japan, Taiwan and China was “a territory of Japan.”

The archipelago in the East China Sea is known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands and as the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) Islands in Taiwan.

“The land of the Senkaku Islands belongs to Okinawa, therefore it is a territory of Japan,” Lee said in an interview carried in the Okinawa Times in southern Japan.

During a visit in 2007, Lee mourned his late brother at Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni war shrine.

The Shinto shrine venerates those who died in wars while fighting for Japan, including convicted war criminals from World War II.

Lee’s elder brother is enshrined at Yasukuni because he died serving in the Japanese navy in the Philippines in February 1945 when Taiwan was a Japanese colony.

Discretionary cash needs oversight

Saturday, Sep 05, 2009, Page 8

News this week that the presidential “state affairs fund” may increase by a third next year likely raised a few eyebrows, and for a number of reasons.

The announcement flew in the face of public opinion. It also ignored the debate over the fund’s lack of transparency and the risk of abuse resulting from ambiguous regulation and inadequate oversight. Furthermore, the Presidential Office’s motivation for boosting the fund — to help disadvantaged groups — seemed contrived and illogical.

Long after the controversy erupted over the presidential state affairs fund and the special allowances that come with senior government positions, the hope of reform has dwindled. Not surprisingly, Taiwan’s politicians are uninterested in changing a comfortable system that has benefited them for decades.

To sober observers, however, it is clear that this reimbursement system, born under a dictatorship, is a relic within Taiwan’s democratic transformation.

Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) has confirmed a report that it is seeking legislative approval to increase the fund from NT$30 million (US$913,000) to NT$40 million. The fund was NT$50 million for 24 years until 2007, when it was slashed to NT$30 million amid corruption allegations against then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family.

The Presidential Office’s statement — that the funds were needed to support marginalized groups not covered by current government programs — was ambiguous. It is not clear what Ma intends to spend the money on, while gaps in the government’s welfare net should be addressed by revamping whatever programs the office was referring to.

As it stands, the public has little reason to believe that misuse of these funds and questionable accounting practices have changed in the past few years. Short of making the system transparent — President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had proposed posting a weekly online report detailing the presidential fund’s use — taxpayers can only hope that a fear of being exposed will keep officials in check. But the public may be forgiven if they do not have much faith in the consciences of officials as agents of restraint.

Unfortunately, Ma’s proposal for an online report, made to Transparency International, has not materialized. Implementing the idea could be a first push toward reform, backing calls for better legislation and stricter oversight of other officials’ special funds.

The Presidential Office’s announcement came just one day before news that three former minor secretaries to Ma during his terms as Taipei mayor had been granted deferred prosecution over shady accounting. Wu Li-ju (吳麗洳), Liu Jin-jung (劉靜蓉) and Hsu Yu-mei (徐玉美) have admitted to forging paperwork detailing non-existent employee bonuses to account for fund reimbursements and have said the practice was nothing new. They will not be indicted in the next three years, however, and could even be spared prosecution after that.

Ma’s secretary, Yu Wen (余文), who was sentenced to 12 months in prison, was not as fortunate.

Ma was indicted in the same case as Yu. Although he conceded to wiring millions of NT dollars from his mayoral fund directly into family accounts, the court said he didn’t break the law. The question is whether the public approves of a system that allows officials to wire public funds into personal bank accounts.

The decision two years ago to cut back the state affairs fund was a welcome gesture, though hardly sufficient to quell concerns about the fund. To justify an increase now, the Presidential Office will not only have to make a better case for why the money is needed, it will have to introduce safeguards to ensure that the funds are spent in the public interest.

No deliverance in a perfect storm
　

By Johnny Neihu 強尼內湖
Saturday, Sep 05, 2009, Page 8

The week couldn’t pass without acknowledging another classic China Post editorial. Its management obviously ignored my plea that its editorial writer be allowed to expire with dignity after decades of toil; clearly, the centenarian on life support who concocts these perplexing missives has some years in him yet.

I feel obliged to share a bit of “Time to think the unthinkable on system of government” (posted online on Sept. 2) because it offers a taste of the mindset of those few Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) figures contemplating the post-Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) era who still give a hoot about ideology — but can’t find anyone to listen. Enjoy:

“Perhaps Western liberal democracy is not the final form of human government. Perhaps the final form of human government is something unfamiliar to most of mankind, and which most of mankind has yet to try. Perhaps the final form of human government, the one that will replace Western liberal democracy, is ‘self government.’”

Anarcho-syndicalism, perhaps? Unlikely, for that would privilege workers — hardly pleasing to the ear of a media outlet that backs intimate ties between corporations and government.

Just what is this “self government”? The editorial cites economist Donald Boudreaux, but not in any detail. So we’re still in the dark. Then, the finale:

“Even mainstream political pundits on Taiwan, far from the cutting edge of political evolution, are beginning to discover the truth about Western liberal democracy.

“Perhaps it is time to think the unthinkable.”

And that’s it. The unthinkable refers to “self-government,” but the rest is up to your imagination. You can be sure, however, that it ain’t liberal democracy.

But enough media nonsense. It’s time to get away from it all.

I propose a canoe trip.

Let’s start on the beautiful southwest flank of Yushan (玉山). It’s pretty steep and rugged up there, with very few roads. We’ll have to work hard to get the two canoes to the starting point, but it’s possible. From the source of the Cishan River (旗山溪), you can see the peak of Yushan, as well as the ridge that heads westward to the Alishan (阿里山) recreational area. To the east is another ridge that includes a couple of peaks above 3,800m altitude. Glorious.

There are no people up here, save for a few tourists on the Yushan hike and perhaps the odd forestry employee or national park official. So I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you if you were hoping to bump into rustic locals and admire their quaint culture and odd way with words. I know at least one of you on this trip was dreaming of having a musical get-to-know-you with the natives, so you will have to settle for your imagination and humming a Bunun Eight-Part Harmony, even though there are only four of us. Relax; you might spot a Formosan Black Bear peering down at us from a suspension bridge.

Off we go! It’s steep, but there’s enough water — even so close to the source — to avoid getting stuck in the riverbed. This river actually serves as the border between Alishan Township, Chiayi County, on our right, and Taoyuan Township (桃源), Kaohsiung County.

A few kilometers downstream is the first sign of human intrusion: Nansi Bridge (楠溪橋), which allows forestry workers coming from Chiayi to go deep into the mountains of Taoyuan to the south. But something’s wrong: The bridge has suffered damage. Still, we’re able to paddle around the debris with little effort. Forward, gentlemen, and no cracks about building bridges with the masses, thank you.

It’s been hours of paddling through wild terrain. Some parts are narrow and this is where we move faster and have to concentrate more to avoid being thown up against rocks or the small cliff faces that fall into the water.

Time for a break. It’s getting dark, so why not stay here for the evening? Make sure we have an early night, for there’s a long way to go tomorrow and we won’t do ourselves any favors by discussing matters of state. We’re on holiday, remember?

The next day has glorious weather. I’m fully rested, but I did warn you not to go up into the hills unless you knew what you were doing. Now look at what you’ve done: While attempting to go to the toilet, you got caught in vines and landed ass first on a tree stump. You look like a wild pig, sitting there with a woody protuberance jammed up your butt. Let me pull out my machete and free you from the vines, then pull you off the log. Try not to squeal.

It’s best we bury your soiled clothes as there are wild creatures around here, and I don’t want them following our scent downriver. Remember: If you stumble around underestimating and damaging pristine parts of Mother Nature, you can expect retribution. I am confident, however, that we’ll be fine. Just do as I say.

Off we go again. Almost immediately we see signs of human settlement. This is Dakanuwa Village (達卡奴娃), once known as Minsheng Village (民生), and all around you see small roads darting through the hills. Odd, though: There are very few people. There’s also a lot of damage to the houses, the activity center and the agricultural plots. What people there are look ragged, unwashed and shocked.

“It was ever thus,” I hear one of you say.

Enough of the wisecracks; concentrate on your paddle. There are large mounds of debris right ahead of us.

As we pass by these indigenous villages we see landslides, homes shifted from their foundations and mud thickly smeared across flat areas by the riverbank. Tree stumps and hundreds of branches are caught in bends in the river. And everywhere there are boulders of various sizes, some freshly broken into smaller pieces, others sitting in the middle of our path.

The scene is altogether unnerving, but there’s no time for regretting this expedition. You say: “But I’m here, aren’t I?” Indeed you are. Keep paddling.

We’ve now passed the last of the indigenous villages. There’s a sharp bend in the river and it is very narrow. Put your lifejacket on, dammit, this is not the time to worry about your hair dye.

This is Gargling Jade Valley (漱玉谷), an astonishing place. The cliff soars up 800m right before us as we take a hard right. On our right the highway has been wiped out in several places. Don’t stand up, you idiot; I don’t want to have to fish out your drowned ass downstream.

This is as close as we’ll get to rapids. Be careful, there’s debris by our sides here; some of those stumps have sharp bits. Try to avoid them as best you can.

Finally the river widens and the landscape opens up, but all has changed. Everywhere you look there is nothing but a vast surface of dried mud, tree branches and landslide detritus.

“There used to be a little village here,” someone says. “I remember coming through this place on a motorscooter when I was in college.”

“It’s under here,” I reply. “Look to your left … that hole in the sky used to be a mountain. It’s been redistributed across the valley.”

“Perhaps it could teach us how to redistribute the national health budget,” someone says, and others chortle.

I ignore the comment and ask myself aloud: What’s stopping the next onslaught of water from digging up the contents of this rootless landscape and sending them crashing down the river?

“Let the merged Kaohsiung government deal with it,” I catch one of you saying.

Enough idle speculation. Let’s paddle on. This place is very hot and sticky; it stinks and there is no shade and altogether too much noise coming from those people wailing over there and the monks attending to them.

On we go; the rest of the trip is less spectacular in terms of mountain scenery, and everywhere there is ruin. Roads, bridges, farms, houses, levies, crops — all destroyed. And that there, bobbing along behind us — is that a human limb?

“Call the Coast Guard!” someone says, to much laughter.

Eventually we pass the main village of Jiasian Township (甲仙), then Shanlin (杉林), then Cishan (旗山).

As our canoes shrink against the vast widths of riverbed, we see less damage on shore and concentrate on the transformation of the riverbed itself, with new channels dug out of the mud and others jammed with upstream refuse.

Here the Cishan River meets the Erchong River (二重溪) — ushering in water from both the massive Laonong River (荖濃溪), all the way from the northern flank of Yushan, and the Ailiao River (隘寮溪), whose tributaries start close to 3,000m above sea level to the east — to become the Kaoping River (高屏溪). And although the riverbed grows ever wider, we see massive new waves of debris.

Onward, onward. Under the Formosa Freeway’s landmark cable-stayed bridge, past Pingtung City to our left and then to the sea at Linyuan (林園) and Donggang (東港) townships. As the sun sets, we admire the duplicated Shuangyuan Bridge (雙園大橋), severed like a ribbon by floodwater, presumably.

“Like I say,” one of you opine as you point at the doomed structure, “reconstruction plus concrete equals progress. What a beautiful thing to behold.”

So we have reached our destination. It was a splendid trip, if a little unsettling in places. But I should tell you, if there are any among us who feel responsible for not quite pulling our weight and helping out the rest of the team, they might just find themselves returning to this river — in their dreams. Particularly one dream, in which a decomposing body suddenly rises to the surface of the river, right before your eyes. Or maybe two bodies.

Or maybe hundreds.

Got something to tell Johnny? Get it off your chest: Write to dearjohnny@taipeitimes.com, but put “Dear Johnny” in the subject line or he’ll mark your bouquets and brickbats as spam.

Senator Ted Kennedy: a true friend of Taiwan
　

By Mark Chen 陳唐山
Saturday, Sep 05, 2009, Page 8

The passing of US Senator Ted Kennedy on Aug. 25 brings back many memories of his actions in the late 1970s and early 1980s in support of Taiwan’s democracy.

The senator’s interest in Taiwan was prompted by contact with the Taiwanese-American community in the mid-1970s. His leadership was most prominent after the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authorities arrested virtually all leaders of the democratic opposition. His office often and openly expressed his concerns to the KMT government about the human rights of the detained political leaders.

In retrospect, we can say that during the dark days after the Kaohsiung Incident, Senator Kennedy demonstrated to us that there is no international boundary when it comes to human rights. It was an opportunity for we Taiwanese to have a close look at — and appreciate — his deeply held beliefs in fundamental values we share with the US.

Together with Democratic Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island and representatives Jim Leach (an Iowa Republican) and Stephen Solarz (a New York Democrat), Senator Kennedy then played a key role in Taiwan’s transition to democracy. We referred to him and his colleagues as our “Gang of Four.” His strong sense of justice and his keen desire to side with the weak and disenfranchised made him stand up for human rights and democracy when it counted.

The Taiwanese people will always be thankful to him for calling attention to the lack of democracy and to the fact that in the early 1980s, Taiwan still lived under martial law, which had been in force since 1949.

On May 20, 1982, on the occasion of 33 years of martial law, he said: “It is clear that too many citizens are jailed in Taiwan for expressing their political views and defending their human rights. I therefore call on the leadership of Taiwan to take immediate action to release political and religious prisoners and to improve the human rights situation on the island.”

He often called on the KMT to release the political and religious leaders who were imprisoned after the Kaohsiung Incident, including Reverend Kao Chun-ming (高俊明) of the Presbyterian Church, and then Provincial Assembly member Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄), whose mother and two of three daughters were murdered while Lin was in prison. The case is yet to be solved.

Kennedy was also concerned about Taiwan’s future. On Feb. 28, 1983, he and senators Claiborne Pell, John Glenn and David Durenberger introduced a resolution in the US Senate urging “that Taiwan’s future should be settled peacefully, free of coercion and in a manner acceptable to the people of Taiwan.” The initiative demonstrated Kennedy’s vision for Taiwan and its future.

In the early 1980s Senator Kennedy also played a leading role in legislation alloting a separate immigration quota of 20,000 for Taiwan. This had been “lost” when — after the US derecognized the KMT government as the government of China and established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China on Jan. 1, 1979 — Taiwan was lumped together with China for immigration quota purposes.

The efforts by Kennedy and his colleagues in Congress helped bring about Taiwan’s transition to democracy and strengthened the democratic opposition, which coalesced and led to the formation of the Democratic Progressive Party in September 1986, and the end of martial law in 1987. However, it wasn’t until 1992 that democratic elections were held for all seats in the Legislative Yuan, and not until 1996 that Taiwanese were able to directly elect their own president.

The people of Taiwan fondly remember Senator Kennedy as one who stood with them throughout one of the most difficult periods of Taiwan’s history. We will dearly miss him.

Mark Chen is a former foreign minister.