Our foundation wants to tell you something more sensitive than before, that we thought Beijing could ruin any international law with anytime by way of its promise. Surely, Taiwan wants to make a good deal with Beijing. The Minister of Foreign Affairs said he would welcome more extensive bilateral talks with China at the APEC meeting under way in Suzhou, China. Tien Hung-mao told an audience at Harvard University that a meeting set for Sept. 7, 2001 between finance ministers from Taiwan and China should help deepen ties. "If for instance, when our ministers attend the APEC meeting in China, and should Beijing decide that they will welcome some kind of bilateral meeting while our ministers are there, I can tell you that we would welcome that," Tien said. China has ruled out direct-trade links with Taiwan unless Taipei recognizes its "one China" principle, but Beijing has given a cautious welcome to moves by Taiwan to promote greater economic integration. "For several years now there has been a breakdown in official contact between both sides. And it is no secret that the United States, as well as Taiwan, thought that there ought to be some kind of political contact," Tien said. "And I'm sure that China also wants the resumption of dialogue to take place except that it puts on certain kinds of preconditions that so far are unacceptable to us." In his prepared remarks on Taiwan's foreign policy, Tien said Taipei's top priority "must be to step up our efforts to maintain the current balance of power in order to stabilize the region and keep the peace." Tien said that Taiwan was committed to developing friendly ties with democracies around the world, despite Beijing's campaign to deprive it of diplomatic recognition. "Like the classic examples, Finland with the Soviet Union and Israel with the Arab world, we are relatively small but a democratic and free-market country -- a David facing a Goliath." Tien pledged that Taiwan would remain "engaged in a struggle for survival in the face of the threat of force that [China] hangs over our heads." However, Beijing's move has
Taiwanese worried that China has added Taiwan's business ties to its list
of targets in a campaign to isolate Taiwan from the rest of the world. Sept. 7, 2001 in Taipei one of Taiwan's top officials responsible for China policy criticized Beijing's actions against Credit Suisse. "The Chinese communists are scheming against us more severely by the day," said Lin Chong-pin, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council. On the surface, Lin said, China has taken a soft approach by inviting Taiwanese opposition politicians and others to visit China. But in fact, he said, China has
pursued a policy of "suffocating us on the diplomatic In our view, under democratic spirit that "we should send a much clearer message to Taiwan that their regime, their type of regime, a democratically elected one, is one that the United States government should encourage and actively support." Many scholars in Taiwan expressed concern over possible Chinese military action against Taiwan, especially in a time of turmoil in China in which hardline elements of the PLA might take over the government or wield increased power. "My point is that any
government in China which poses a threat to Taiwan fundamentally poses a
threat to US interests and to the interests of the region as a
whole." Under the threat of Beijing, Taiwan could only do that way. Thousands of pro-independence politicians and supporters joined a march on Sept. 8, 2001 on Yangmingshan to express their wish that the government use a name other than the Republic of China in its bid to rejoin the UN. Under the banner "Taiwan Stands Up," thousands gathered at the visitors center of Yangmingshan National Park at 10am to march. With the year-end elections just around the corner, politicians and candidates of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, DPP and Taiwan Independence Party (TAIP) all showed up to solicit support for the upcoming polls. "We planned to have this activity today because the San Francisco Treaty was signed exactly 50 years ago on this day," said Wu Shu-ming, who organized the march and was once the president of The Independence Evening Post. The San Francisco Treaty is the document in which, among other concessions, Japan renounced its sovereignty over Taiwan. "We have used `Republic of China' or `Republic of China on Taiwan' in attempting to return to the UN eight times. This year will be our ninth. However, I don't see that there is any possibility of success if we don't try it using a name other than `Republic of China,'" Wu said. The Republic of China lost its seat in the UN in 1971 and was replaced by the People's Republic of China. In short, the goal of event
was to win over those people who are pro-unification but consider
themselves Chinese to support efforts to enter the UN under the name
"Taiwan" instead of "Republic of China." China has no intention of following game rules devised by nations fighting back their distaste for China to continue doing business there, that is, separating political issues from business interests. Recent events including the European Union's (EU) parroting of the "one China" principle at the China-EU Summit, China's blacklisting of Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), and the ban against Matsushita Communication Industrial Co in the Chinese mobile phone market indicate China is taking its "hostage-taking" diplomacy to a new height by taking foreign businesses hostage to accomplish its political ends. Why must the EU reiterate its acceptance of the "one China" principle before the PRC Prime Minister Zhu Rongji gives his nod of approval to EU's unofficial trade office in Taiwan? The fact that the EU needs such approval is strange enough, not to mention that the EU's reiteration had no legal significance, as no EU member formally recognizes Taiwan anyway. China's reason for twisting the EU's arm this way is to demean Taiwan and, in the process, the EU as well. What made the EU willing to read what is clearly a poorly written script by China? Certainly, China's promise during the summit that EU insurance firms will enjoy the same treatment as US firms in China, among other guarantees of bilateral business cooperation, was a strong influence in bending the will of the EU. On the other hand, CSFB, the multinational investment bank, incurred the wrath of China for inviting Taiwan's finance minister Yen Ching-chang to speak at a conference in Hong Kong, and co-sponsoring a European tour for Taiwan officials to promote the country's companies. For its imprudence, the CSFB was removed from the list of underwriters for a multibillion dollar stock offering planned by the China Unicom Group. The sad thing is China's bully-boy tactics are working. Two other US investment
banks, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, have scrapped similar promotional
tours for Taiwan in the US. The list of casualties goes on. Japan's Matsushita Communication is temporarily banned from China's market because mobile phones manufactured by the company displayed the name "ROC (Republic of China)" in front of Taiwan's international code for dialing Taiwan phone numbers. It is appalling to see China getting its way each time by choking foreign businesses. Without any doubt, China is adopting a new policy of taking foreign business interests hostage for its political agenda. Today, China's agenda is isolating Taiwan. Tomorrow, it may use the same tactic to accomplish other political ends. It is important that other nations sit up and take notice of this, that they resist the tendency to think that China's actions are just a result of the intractable cross-strait dispute and no real concern or worry of theirs. For what has happened is that China, on the verge of entering an organization which set international rules for trade relationships between countries, has shown that it has no intention whatever of abiding by those rules. The message is clear: China will target your trade to achieve its political objectives and it simply has no intention of honoring its international commitments. As a result, China's entry into the WTO will be an enormous challenge for that organization. How is it going to enforce its will on a persistent scofflaw? Much has been made of the challenge China faces in living up to its WTO commitments, far too little has been said about what happens if it doesn't even try. Taiwan’s condition should be concerned by stability of Asia-Pacific region. Why? Communist China forces Taiwan go into the chaos of “independence’s war”? So, Taiwan needs your help.
Yours Sincerely,
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