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Dear
Mr. Colin Powell, In Taiwan, during the last
presidential campaign, most surveys showed that the public felt ashamed of
the rampant official corruption and gang-linked politics. President Chen’s pledge to
eradicate black gold was a key campaign plate form and contributed to his
victory largely because of Lee Yuan-tseh, the president of Academic Sinica
once said that “organized
crime is terrible, but corrupt officials are a lot worse.” The
publics belief that he could remove this political tumor. We thought any country in world has the same problems
more or less. We could watch on real action on black gold over human
rights and laws, that’s our confidence in Taiwan democratic system … From this, that Chen’s
government wants to do something for Taiwan and urged by Taiwanese people
to achieve higher standard of
democracy. Contrary to Beijing side that
using an old Chinese saying Tang Jiaxuan said Washington should “rein-in its wild horse right on
the edge of the precipice”. Tang, China’s foreign minister
issued one of the
strongest warnings yet over U.S. sales of advanced weapons to
Taiwan on March 6, 2001. Some analysts speculated that
Beijing wanted to sweep the issue off the table while it focused on trying
to persuade the Bush administration not to sell advanced weapons to
Taiwan. On the other hand, Beijing’s
steady increase in its defense budget by promoting its military force,
aggressively with the ambition not only to intimidate Taiwan but also to
replace the now-defunct Soviet Union as a regional power that can resist
the U.S.’ military presence in Asia. China has continued to expand its
missile capabilities. According to U.S. estimates, China
has deployed 200 to 300 short-range missiles along the coast of Fujian
province. That figure many rise to between 600 to 1,000 in the
next few years. China has 66 medium-range missiles capable of reaching
Japan and solid-fuel long-range missiles which
can strike at targets 13,000 km away. China has received a
significant boost from cash-strapped Russia. Reports that Chinese technicians
are helping Iraq install an optical-fiber communications system with
military implication. We are supporting that Beijing
has reiterated its understanding of China’s responsibilities to uphold
U.N. Security Council resolutions and to ensure that Chinese government
serves the interest of peace and security in Asia-Pacific region. We have to take a look at whether
we think it can be implemented, how to more it forward, that relating
about the promise over the issues of North Korea and China’s agreement. In Beijing, we welcomed reforms in
the way police and prosecutors’ widespread torture and abuses over
dissidents’ legal woes. 1.
Families
of detained dissidents are sometimes not informed of their arrest for
weeks or months. 2.
Dissidents
are frequently tried at bearings held behind closed doors. 3.
Dissidents
are often denied legal counsel or unable to find lawyers willing to risk
official ire by defending them. 4.
Police
and prosecutors frequently harass lawyers. 5.
The
use of torture to extract confessions is epidemic despite being
prohibited. In the worst cases, lawyers are
detained, beaten up or even convicted for doing nothing more than
vigorously representing their clients. Two mainland factories owned by Tainan-based Chi Mei
Corporation chairman Shi Wen-long, may be forced to shut down because of
Shi's affiliations with right-wing Japanese politicians and Taiwan
independence activists, local media reported on March 10, 2001. Although no relevant reports were
officially confirmed as of March 10, local media quoted mainland officials
as saying that mainland authorities had issued an administrative order to
close Shi's petrochemical plants in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. The order was triggered by Shi's
recent controversial remarks about sex slaves who worked for the Japanese
military during World War II, as the presidential adviser had allegedly
described the slaves as “voluntary workers.” Beijing has called Shi a betrayer
of all Chinese people, saying it would not rule out the possibility of
taking further steps to block Chi Mei’s investment plans in the
mainland, the China Times Express quoted mainland officials as saying. According to the newspaper, it was
not the first time for Shi to encounter political pressure in the
mainland, as
the Taiwan business tycoon has been pressured by Beijing since he openly
gave his support to the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party during the presidential election
last year. Chi Mei’s mainland plant has
reportedly come under intensified inspection by mainland environmental and
customs authorities since the May 20, 2000 inauguration of President Chen
Shui-bian, the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) quoted a Taiwan
businessman based in Shanghai as saying. MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tung
said he would need to have more understanding of the events before making
further comments, but called on the mainland not to mix economic exchanges
with political ideologies. The MOEA will raise the issue at
the trade ministers' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum slated for June in Shanghai, as Taiwan and mainland China have not
yet signed any investment guarantee agreement, said MOEA Vice Minister Lin
Yi-fu. The inking of an investment
guarantee pact will be placed high on the agenda of future cross-strait
talks, a measure aimed at providing greater protection for Taiwan
businessmen in mainland China, Lin said during a legislative
interpellation yesterday. Many business leaders in Taiwan
also expressed shock over the incident, and called on mainland authorities
to handle the matter with discretion to avoid any negative impacts on the
increasingly close trade and economic relations between the two sides of
the Taiwan Strait. While it would not be surprising
if mainland authorities were to take measures in retaliation for any
illegal activities on the part of Chi Mei in mainland China, it would be
lamentable should Beijing make any move just because of Shi's
inappropriate remarks, said representatives of the ROC General Chamber of
Commerce. Should mainland authorities fail
to provide adequate protection to Taiwan investors in the mainland, and
order Taiwan businesses to shut down at any moment without any legal
basis, it would very likely stir up a chain reaction among Taiwan
businesses with operations there, they warned. Several local business community
leaders who declined to be named urged mainland authorities not to meddle
in different kinds of disputes over investment issues, in order to avoid
causing panic among foreign investors, according to the CNA. More than 50,000 Taiwan firms have
investments in mainland China, the trade organization said. Chi Mei is one of the largest
Taiwan investors in the mainland, which considers Taiwan part of its
territory awaiting reunification. In April last year, shortly after
Chen Shui-bian won a stunning victory in the presidential polls
overturning 50 years of rule by the Kuomintang, Beijing
issued a warning that Taiwan businessmen supporting independence for the
island would not benefit from the mainland economy. All slogans like “businessmen
have no mother countries” sung by the major international corporations
are backed by powerful political powers, despite
of WTO’s game that Taiwanese businessman in China could be trampled upon
by the Chinese government. In contrast, according to the
localization movement that comes along with the globalization process will
also create a kind of “politics of identity” or political
recognition” in various parts of the world. In Asia that China advocates
regionalism and challenge modern hegemony. We concerned about Beijing’s
motivation in these business issues and isolated Taiwan with any ways of
its possibility. Taiwan needs your support.
Yours Sincerely,
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