Government prevents visit by Kadeer
　

NOT WELCOME: The premier said the government needed to consider the impact of her visit on Taiwan’s international relations, image, cross-strait relations and economy
　

By Flora Wang and Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTERS
Saturday, Sep 26, 2009, Page 1

The government yesterday decided to deny World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer entry to Taiwan on the grounds that her visit would harm the national interest.

Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said on the legislative floor yesterday afternoon that the government would not allow Kadeer to visit Taiwan if she applied for a visa.

Jiang said the World Uyghur Congress was related to a terrorist organization, while many countries had also been alerted to the congress’ general secretary.

“If Kadeer visits Taiwan, the purpose of her visit would have something to do with Xinjiang’s independence movement,” Jiang said.

“Like the precautionary measures we took during the nation’s previous two important [international] sports events [the World Games and the Deaflympics,] we are trying to prevent terrorism from overshadowing Taiwan. Therefore, we decided to give priority to our national interests,” he said.

Jiang said the National Immigration Agency cited Article 18 of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) as the reason for the rejection. It stipulates that the agency enjoys the authority to deny entry by foreign nationals who may harm Taiwan’s national interests or social order.

Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who was fielding questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, said the Cabinet supported the ministry’s decision.

Kadeer had been invited by two civic groups — Guts United Taiwan and the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps — to visit Taiwan in December.

The groups extended the invitation after China protested against the Kaohsiung Film Festival’s decision to screen The 10 Conditions of Love, which focuses on Kadeer.

After meeting Guts United Taiwan president Freddy Lim (林昶佐) at her Washington office on Wednesday, Kadeer said: “I would love to visit Taiwan, but I have not even applied for the visa yet. I want to tell Taiwanese about our struggle and about the plight of the Uighur people. I hope they will let me visit so that I can tell this human rights story.”

The deputy secretary-general of the KMT caucus, Justin Chou (周守訓), yesterday said he respected the government’s decision.

“Kadeer is a politician and a sensitive figure in the world,” Chou said.

Throughout the question-and-answer session with legislators yesterday, Wu repeatedly said the government would give priority to the national interest when handling Kadeer’s planned visit.

Wu said the government needed to consider the impact of her visit on Taiwan’s international relations, image, cross-strait relations and the economy.

KMT headquarters yesterday also said it supported the government’s decision to reject any visa application by Kadeer and condemned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for manipulating the issue for its own political interests.

KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said US President Barack Obama had recently decided not to meet the Dalai Lama during his trip to the US to protect the country’s national interests. Japan had also prevented visits by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for the same reason.

“The decision made by the government today is based on national and public interests,” he said.

Liao Wei-cheng (廖偉程), executive director of Guts United Taiwan, however, criticized the government for making a decision before Kadeer had even filed a visa application.

“If the Chinese Nationalist Party government doesn’t even bother to wait to see Kadeer’s visa application or look at her reason for wanting to come to Taiwan before refusing her visit, I suspect that there’s a blacklist, and we seem to have returned to the White Terror era,” Liao told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview yesterday. “The government said they made the decision based on the interests of the country — of which country? Of China?”

He said that as a democracy with the rule of law, Taiwan should issue a visa to Kadeer if she follows the proper procedure.

“The refusal has damaged Taiwan’s image in the international community,” he said.

Liao said that if the Taiwanese government says Kadeer has connection to terrorists, “Are we accusing the US of harboring terrorists?”

“The Ministry of the Interior should explain to the public where it received the intelligence,” he said. “After all, we’re the only country other than China that refuses Kadeer entry.”

The DPP made a similar response through a press release yesterday.

“Kadeer has been granted refugee asylum by the US — a country that applies the most strict criteria on terrorists, and her organization, the World Uyghur Congress, has long been sponsored by the US’ National Endowment for Democracy,” the statement said.

“Apparently, the government’s criteria on terrorists are different from our long-time anti-terrorism partner,” it said.

So far, Kadeer has visited Germany, Australia, Japan and the Czech Republic, as well as speaking at a hearing of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights this year, the statement said.

DPP Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said the reasons cited by the government for the refusal were all excuses.

“I think the KMT government is just acting according to a blacklist that China has compiled,” he said.

REJECTION

Meanwhile, the World Uyghur Congress, which is headed by Kadeer, immediately opposed the linkage to terrorism.

“We strongly oppose the minister’s comment, made with no evidence at all,” said spokesman for the congress Dilxat Raxit. “We demand that he retracts his statement at once.”

Guts United Taiwan said in a statement last night that its determination to invite Kadeer to visit Taiwan “will not change and we will not give up applying for a visa for her.”

The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday reported that organizers of the festival, the city government and the film’s producers had reached a consensus to screen the documentary again during the festival.

Chen, in response to the report, yesterday said the city government would respect the decision of the Kaohsiung Film Archive as to whether to screen the documentary during the Kaohsiung Film Festival next month.

China, Britain diverge on Iran nuclear sanctions

REUTERS, BEIJING AND UNITED NATIONS
Saturday, Sep 26, 2009, Page 1
　

China dampened expectations of further sanctions on Iran on Thursday, telling other major powers that more pressure would not persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

In contrast, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the UN Security Council the world should consider “far tougher sanctions” if Iran continues to seek a nuclear weapon.

Both countries signed a letter on Wednesday in which the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany told Iran to prepare a “serious response” by Thursday to demands that it halt its nuclear program, or face the consequences.

Britain, China, France, Russia and the US are the permanent members of the 15-nation Security Council.

“As evidence of its breach of international agreements grows, we must now consider far tougher sanctions together,” Brown told a council meeting on nuclear proliferation chaired by US President Barack Obama.

At the end of the two-hour session, council members unanimously approved a resolution calling for an end to the proliferation of atomic weapons, but did not name Iran or North Korea, which is also in a standoff over its nuclear program.

The US-drafted resolution called for further efforts to achieve “a world without nuclear weapons” and all urged countries to sign the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Obama said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed this week that additional UN sanctions would be considered if Iran doesn’t respond to proposals to end the nuclear standoff.

“We’ll be particularly telling Iran it’s got a decision to make,” Brown told the BBC before the council meeting. “It can work with the international community. We can help it get civil nuclear power, but if it persists with this course, it’s going to be isolated from the whole international community.”

The West suspects Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran insists it is limited to the peaceful generation of electricity and has rejected Security Council demands that it suspend sensitive nuclear activities.

Blast destroys Xinjiang restaurant in Beijing

AFP, BEIJING
Saturday, Sep 26, 2009, Page 1
　

An explosion destroyed a small restaurant in a busy section of Beijing early yesterday in an incident that could to further raise tensions in the capital ahead of National Day celebrations on Thursday.

Police said the blast was caused by a gas explosion and Xinhua news agency said it injured three employees of the restaurant and an unknown number of passers-by.

Residents said the restaurant featured specialties from China’s northwestern Xinjiang region — the scene of deadly July riots by members of the Muslim Uighur minority that left nearly 200 people dead, according to the government.

The blast came amid a massive security clampdown in the Chinese capital to prevent disruptions to sensitive Oct. 1 celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of communist China.

The incident sent police swarming over the Xinjiekou area of central Beijing northwest of Tiananmen Square, sealing off nearby roads and pushing away onlookers.

Local resident Sun Jia, 43, said she was awakened by the explosion shortly before 9am and rushed from her home to see what had happened.

“I looked and I saw that the building was all crumbled and there was some smoke. And I saw a young man with blood all over the side of his head and one side of his body. It looked like his ear had been badly injured,” she said.

Sun said she did not see anyone else who had been hurt. The management of her residential building told her it was a gas explosion.

Those hurt in the blast were taken to hospital but their injuries were not life-threatening, Xinhua said, citing unnamed sources.

The report said the number of passers-by who were injured was not immediately known.

“According to the initial investigation, the explosion was an accident,” a policewoman said.

The building housing the restaurant had partially collapsed, a reporter at the scene said.

“It was a Xinjiang restaurant. All I heard was one loud boom,” said a man who runs a nearby convenience store.

Minister rejects Chen's alternative to detention
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Sep 26, 2009, Page 3
　

“We hope that the opposition party will stop manipulating the issue of judicial human rights and sabotaging the judicial system.”— Justin Chou, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general

CORRECTION
In yesterday’s issue, we reported that the Taiwan High Court judges in former president Chen Shui-bian’s trial voted 2-1 in favor of extending his detention (“High Court keeps Chen behind bars,” page 1). The court does not release such information. The Taipei Times regrets the error.

Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) yesterday said former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) request to wear an electronic tag as an alternative to detention does not have a legal basis.

In his detention hearing on Thursday at the Taiwan High Court, Chen offered several alternatives to detention, including confiscation of his passport, wearing an electronic tag to monitor his movements, house arrest or restricting him from accepting visits from certain people.

However, the three judges of the court of appeals ruled to keep the former president detained for another three months because they said the crimes in question were serious and, as a former president, he has more channels to flee the country than an ordinary citizen.

The judges also expressed concern about the large amount of money and other assets the former first family has overseas.

Wang also confirmed that the Judicial Yuan was mulling a proposed amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) that would allow certain detainees to use electronic tags as an alternative to jail. However, even if the amendment passes, whether it would apply in Chen's case was “up to the judges,” she said.

Late on Thursday night, after hearing the judges' ruling to keep him behind bars, Chen fell back limply into his chair with a look of disappointment. He then closed his eyes and refused to talk or sign the necessary court documents after the hearing ended.

He was sent back to the Taipei Detention Center in an ambulance after medical staff reported that his blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and other physical conditions were normal.

On Sept. 11, the Taipei District Court found Chen Shui-bian, his wife and 11 codefendants guilty. The former first couple were sentenced to life in prison and fined NT$500 million (US$15.4 million).

Asked for comment on Chen's case, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Justin Chou (周守訓) said the caucus respected the court's decision.

“We hope that the opposition party will stop manipulating the issue of judicial human rights and sabotaging the judicial system,” Chou told a press conference.

Chen's continued detention renewed questions on whether the nation's judiciary has compromised Chen's human rights.

Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed regrets over Chen's continued detention.

She said there was no longer a need for Chen to be detained because he had offered to have himself confined at home or wear a monitoring device.

Rejecting Kadeer — and credibility

Saturday, Sep 26, 2009, Page 8

The government’s undertaking to block World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer from entering the country — if, as promised, she applies for a visa — should hardly come as a surprise. What is notable about Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) declaration in the legislature yesterday is the speed with which the government has drawn its line in the sand: It will not be portrayed as provoking Beijing, and certainly not a week out from China’s National Day.

The government is well within its legal rights to deny Kadeer entry, however obsequious its motivation. Regardless of the merits of the applicant, few governments would deny other governments’ fundamental right to call the shots at ports of call. For his part, Jiang may cite the national interest and the public interest until he is blue in the face, but he can be comfortable in the knowledge that this is unnecessary; in most democratic states the distinction between these interests and the interests of the government of the day is blurred.

The recent granting of a visa to the Dalai Lama, a similarly controversial figure for Beijing, was likely forced by a combination of the Dalai Lama’s stated wish to comfort victims of Typhoon Morakot and the government’s embarrassment over its appalling response to the storm, as well as the general respect with which the Dalai Lama is held in this theologically eclectic society.

Kadeer, a Muslim but not a religious figure, can claim no such sympathy or camaraderie among Taiwanese, despite the worthiness of her cause. The government’s refusal to allow her into the country will thus suffer little backlash — even among grassroots supporters of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), many of whom have much more pressing issues with which to concern themselves.

Turning its back on Kadeer, however, places the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government in an interesting, and possibly theoretically vexing, position. The challenge for the DPP is to make hay out of this issue in a way that does not bore the public or distract it from the core of the problem.

This is the problem: When Jiang unctuously associated Kadeer with terrorist activity in Xinjiang, he effectively invited sober observers to ask what policy the KMT has on Chinese affairs other than reaping the immediate benefits of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).

We have observed previously that the KMT’s ideology has hollowed out so dramatically that even its chairman and top party official on “mainland” affairs have demonstrated that they have absolutely no idea — or interest in — what is going on in China in terms of political dissidence and instability, let alone intellectual and ideological debate.

The KMT, once a party with a grand vision, if poorly realized, is now a party with no vision other than denying Taiwan self-determination.

But the government’s speed in dumping Kadeer and the cause of mistreated Uighurs in general in the too-hard basket drags out a paradox that DPP thinkers must exploit: By refusing to engage crucial issues and closing its eyes to the mounting difficulties facing China — whether or not minorities are involved — the KMT buys into the Chinese Communist Party’s bankrupt approach to governance, thus rendering itself irrelevant to the solving of China’s problems and its complex process of transformation.