Dear Mr. President Clinton,
　　 Mr. Vice President Al Gore,
　　 Mrs. Madeleine Korbel Albright,
　　 Mr. Trent Lott,
　　 Mr. Denny Hastert,
　　 Mr. Prime Minister Tony Blair,
　　 Mr. President Jacques Chirac,
　　 Mr. Kofi A. Annan,
　　 Mr. Prime Minister John Howard,
　　 Mr. Secretary-General Javier Solana,

Premier Vincent Siew said that description (special state-to-state) is a denotation of reality that could help facilitate constructive talks in the future. "What do we have to withdraw?" (August 17, 1999).

Before Richard Bush left Taiwan, he said we can't do away with the one-China principle and that the meaning of one China ought to be determined by China and Taiwan.

Now, though, China only supports one China --- it won't accept more than one interpretation of one-China. It has not only boxed President Lee about the ears; it has done the same to U.S. President Clinton. If we suppose that China is nursing a grievance, how can we explain it taking such a lofty stance and nor giving the U.S. face. A country with the strength that China has will definitely take the lead, so its military will definitely be influenced by the political situation.

In fact, one of the things that disgusts Taiwanese people the most is the threat coming from the publicity and China's military power. If we want to bring this situation to a resolution, we should look at it in the same way as we look at falling in love; both sides have to be happy. We can't expect things to work out if one side is acting like a tyrant or appealing to nationalism.

I think that if China want to win the support of Taiwanese people, it should announce that it has given up on using military force to attack Taiwan, but it hasn't done this. So I think the most important thing for us now is to develop offensive weapons in order to let the Chinese know that we aren't going to be bullied.

Chinese fight with Chinese.

Three weeks after banning the Falun Gone sect, China is investigating another meditation group with 30 million members in what might be an expanded crackdown on religious activity, a human rights group said yesterday.

Xiang Gong is similar to Falun Gong, with membership dominated by older and retired people and doctrines based on meditation and exercise, the Hong Kong-base Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. "Xiang Gong could become (President) Jiang Zemin's next target for elimination," it said in a statement faxed to reporters.

China's Ministry of State Security has the group under "intensive surveillance," the Information Center said, citing members. It did not give any details, but the center is usually extremely well-informed about dissident activity.

Falun Gong was banned June 22 as a threat to political order. The government at one point estimated that it had 70 million members.

China does not allow independent religious or political groups for fear they could rally public anger at unemployment, corruption and order problems.

Communist leaders are especially eager to crush dissent before the politically charged 50th anniversary of communist rule on October 1. Scores of activities have been detained, and some sentenced to prison terms of up to 13 years.

Xiang Gong was founded in 1988 by Tian Ruisheng, a man from the central province of Henan who is now 73, the Information Center said.

It appears to be, like Falun Gong, a form of qigong --- a popular traditional Chinese exercise meant to improve the body and mind by harnessing unseen forces.

Xiang Gong is reputed to have allowed paralytics to walk, restored speech to the mute and cured other ailments, the center said. Tian is said to be able to induce in plain water the power to cure disease.

Xiang Gong has 1,200 "instruction centers" in China and followers in more than 40 countries, the Information Center said. It said 50,000 people attended a 1993 event at Capital Stadium in Beijing.

Three weeks after its ban, Falun Gong is still the target of intensive attacks by state media. Its leaders are accused of fraud and trickery, and blamed for more than 700 deaths.

State television nightly shows former members claiming they were abused or misled, and people from all walks of life criticizing it as harmful superstition.

"The propaganda campaign against Falun Gong has reached the level of ... the Cultural Revolution," the Information Center said.

Beijing is terribly suspicious of gunboat diplomacy from NATO.

The drama being played out over the Taiwan Strait isn't just about Taiwan and China.

While threatening Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui with "doom," Beijing is voicing ever louder suspicious of U.S. ambitions to contain China, in collusion with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

The message: China, the rising regional power, will stop what it claims is Washington's attempt to shift its "gunboat diplomacy" from Kosovo to East Asia.

"America and Japan are sharpening their swords," the military newspaper People's Liberation Army Daily said in a commentary this week. "They're holding war games. They're raising troop levels. ... The new U.S. interventionism is showing up in Asia."

A map accompanying the two-page report showed recent military exercises by the United States, Japan and other countries in the region.

Beijing is especially alarmed about the NATO campaign in Kosovo, afraid that it could set a precedent for intervening in Asia, particularly over Taiwan.

Communist China always sticks to its old way of doing things. So, we worried about the reports from

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 ---
The United States said on Thursday it was not concerned that mainland China will try to command the strategic Panama Canal, despite Republican fears that a Hong Kong firm's operation of key ports on the waterway could give it the authority to deny passage to U.S. ships.

Reflecting Republican fears over what they see as communist China's growing influence over the Panama Canal, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott earlier this month wrote to U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen expressing concern that Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, a Hong Kong conglomerate, has been granted the right by Panama to build port facilities on both sides of the strategic waterway, placing it in a commanding position.

Lott described Hutchison Whampoa's chairman Li Ka-shing as "an important cog in the economic machinery of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army," and said the company had been positioned" at a "strategic choke point" on the canal, from both naval and intelligence standpoints.

"U.S. naval ships will be at the mercy of Chinese-controlled pilots and could even be denied passage through the Panama Canal by Hutchison, an arm of the People's Liberation Army,' Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said in an Aug. 1 letter to Cohen. "It appears that we have given away the farm without a shot being fired."

Panama, which will be handed control over the canal on Dec. 31 this year under a 1977 treaty, two years ago awarded a 25- to 50-year contract to Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., one of the world's largest shipping and port companies, to operate the two facilities at the Atlantic and Pacific entrances of the canal.

"The United States is satisfies our interests will be protected after the canal is turned over this December," said David Leavy, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. "We have seen no capability on the part of the PRC (People's Republic of China), which is a heavy user of the canal, to disrupt this operation. So I would caution people not to get too alarmist over this issue."

President Bill Clinton has already faced harsh criticism from Republicans over allegations that the mainland Chinese stole U.S. nuclear secrets and sought to influence Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign.

But the Pentagon and State Departments both echoed the White House statement, saying American ships are guaranteed access to the canal under la law the governs Hutchison Whampoa's contract with Panama.

"The company does not have any ability to stop or impede traffic through the canal," said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon.

"In fact, the treaty that has been signed by the U.S. and Panama calling for the transfer of the canal at the end of this year provides a guarantee for security of the canal will be operated in a neutral way ... open to ships from all countries."

He said the Panama Canal treaty included a reservation that if the canal is closed or its operations interfered with, the United States and Panama each have an independent right to take any steps necessary, including military force, to reopen it.

"So the United States has a unilateral right to maintain the neutrality of the canal and to reopen if there should be any military threat," he said.

Taiwan suffers all disgrace and insults in order to accomplish a task
of survival over democratic system and prosperity. But diplomatic
isolation from Beijing's brutal blockade beyond its endurance

Taiwan made its seventh bid yesterday to be readmitted to the United Nations by emphasizing that its government is separate and distinct from mainland China, a point in line with President Lee Teng-hui's restatement of Taiwan's statehood.

Vice Foreign Minster David Lee told reporters that the U.N. proposal, the seventh in seven years, included language saying "each side of the Taiwan Strait has been ruled by a distinct and separate government since 1949."

In addition, the proposal listed together for the first time "the Republic of China on Taiwan" and "the People's Republic of China on the mainland," according to the vice minister.

"I think the meaning is equality," said Lee, referring to the wording change. This equality comes from the spirit and essence of President Lee's state-to-state comment on German radio last month.

Should Taiwan keep quiet and swallow the results?

NEW YORK ---
Beijing and Washington have recently exchanged "threats" about Taiwan, according to a New York Times report on Friday (August 13, 1999).

Mainland China told the Clinton Administration that Beijing "may be compelled" to use force against Taiwan if Taipei continue to insist on the "special state-to-state" relations. The Clinton Administration responded by saying that the U.S. will "retaliate" if Beijing should take military against Taiwan.

This message from the communist Chinese, according to the Times, "has not come from the very top of the government but from Chinese officials in meetings with Administration officials." It was not clear, U.S. officials said, whether any firm decision has been made by Beijing as to what action should be taken.

They speculated that, if military action is taken, it could range from military strikes to seizing one of Taiwan's outlying islands. But they considered military action against Taiwan "the most unlikely course for Beijing."

In view of the fact that military aircraft from both Taiwan and mainland China are flying more sorties very close to one another in the Taiwan Strait, they admitted the situation is "very delicate" and "dangerous."

The U.S. is preparing for "contingencies" in the Taiwan Strait, another official was quoted as saying. But he declined to elaborate.

Liu Xiaomin, the charge d'affairs at the communist Chinese Embassy in Washington was summoned to the office of Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Stanley Roth, recently for an important meeting.

According to the report, Chinese communist leaders are still divided on their chosen course of action regarding Taiwan. The hardliners in Beijing want to take action against Taiwan after Oct. 1, The PRC's National Day. Others, however, want to delay actions until Taiwan's presidential election next March.

Whether or not the U.S. will actually carry out its "threat" to "retaliate" against mainland China in the event of an attack on Taiwan remains to be seen. But in 1996 the Clinton Administration sent two aircraft carriers and warships to the Taiwan Strait when Taiwan's security was at stake after Beijing launched missiles close to Taiwan shores.

WASGINGTON, Aug. 14 ---
The Clinton administration on Friday repeated its warning of grave consequences if mainland China takes military action against Taiwan following high-level hints from Beijing that it may use force to resolve a half-century-old dispute.

Don't exported sensitive missile technology to Beijing, because of the security was invaded.

The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) and the National security Bureau (NSB) both scrambled to explain themselves yesterday in the wake of "leaked" documents from their bureaus published in yesterday morning's papers which claimed over 34,000 Taiwan nationals had been indoctrinated into spying on the ROC for mainland China.

"This figure indicates the number of Taiwanese who have been approached or have come into contact with the PRC's espionage forces, but currently we haven't found any concrete evidence that any of them have broken the law," an official from the MJIB was quoted by the United Evening News as clarifying.

"The MJIB is still closely monitoring all those compatriots who have come into contact with the PRC's espionage forces. If there are any violations of the law, they will be dealt with," the official added.

MJIB officials pointed out that since civil exchanges across the Taiwan Strait began in the '80s, more and more Taiwan people were traveling to mainland China. They said that mainland China particularly targeted Taiwan business executives and many of them had brushes with PRC secret agents.

The "leak" in yesterday's papers was a confidential NSB report which said the MJIB was closely investigating 34,477 Taiwan nationals who had been indoctrinated by mainland China, including 12,423 in Fujian province and 3,000 in Hainan.

Sources say that when President Lee Teng-hui redefined cross-strait relations as "state to state," he also called for a strengthening of surveillance of political activities.

The ROC is now gearing up for a huge crackdown on spies. The Defense Ministry's intelligence department has formed a special task force to monitor Taiwan people in mainland China in danger of indoctrination.

The task force will compile a list of suspects which is to be submitted to the NSB. The NSB will then delegate it to the MJIB who places the suspects under surveillance, the sources say.

The MJIB having problems honing up its surveillance techniques. They are finding it harder and harder to tap people's phones, sources say, as it's so obvious --- most targets hear the loud clicks over their lines and catch on pretty quickly.

Some suspects, sources say, use about five mobile phones to evade detection. The MJIB usually resorts to physically tailing the suspect.

Because spies catch on so quickly, the MJIB claims it's pretty hard to catch them in the act of handing information over to PRC agents and to prosecute them.

Some people describe it as a witch hunt. The United Evening News quoted the head of a Taiwan business association in Fuzhou province, Hsu Chun-ta, as saying


he had never come across any evidence that Taiwan businessmen were doubling up as spies for the mainland.

He said that the angle of the newspaper reports describing the "leaks" was "not good" and that he didn't want to comment any further as what he termed "political rumors" were very complicated.

However he noted that important Taiwan business executives often had their phones tapped.

Officials from the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) were also quoted as saying that Taiwan people in mainland China were usually there to see their relatives or for sightseeing and they were unlikely to be indoctrinated.

They said that the leaked report must be referring to Taiwan business executives but even they were usually conscious of the political sensitivity of their position and there couldn't possibly be as many as 34,477.

The peaceful Dalai-Lama's whisper has no effect upon mainland China..

NEW YORK, Aug. 16 ---
But for smatterings of applause at such suggestions that war is obsolete and some New Yorkers are greedy, more than 40,000 people listened in rapt silence as the Dalai Lama brought his message of peace and tolerance to Central Park.

He first reviewed briefly his own history: born as the 14th heir to Tibet's 600-year-old religious dynasty, but driven into exile in 1959 at age 24 following a failed uprising against communist Chinese troops that had taken over of the Himalayan nation nine years earlier. He has lived for most of the past 40 years in India, the head of a Tibetan government in exile and hoping to return someday to his homeland.

TOKYO, Aug. 16 ---
Japan and the United States signed a plan Monday for joint research on a missile defense system aimed in part at shielding Japan from North Korean attack.

The signing comes as fears are mounting that North Koran is preparing to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile. The isolated communist country test-fired a missile a year ago that sailed over Japan and into the Pacific.

Power's speaking --- the missiles found its way for blackmail.

SEOUL, Aug. 17 ---
North Korea's military Tuesday threatened to resort to a "legitimate option" over a border dispute as United Nations generals attempted to persuade the unpredictable state to ease tensions.

The warning came at talks between North Korea and the UNC at the truce village of Panmunjom amid heightened fears the Stalinist North was ready to test a ballistic missile.

Beijing issues a threat.

The weight of Chinese history is on Jiang's shoulders. No issue is more important in Chinese politics than the territorial integrity of the Chinese motherland.

Beijing announced on August 2 that it had successfully tested the Dong Feng 31, a ground-to-ground missile with a range of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles).

Some other weapons on exhibit were medium-range ground-to-ground missiles similar to the ones test-fired by the PLA off Taiwan in a show of force during the 1996 crisis.

In a further sign the mainland hopes to link its National Day parade with Taiwan, the official Xinhua news agency issued a dispatch trumpeting the PLA's ability to intervene in the Taiwan issue just as the rehearsal parade began moving down Beijing's main thoroughfare.

Taiwan's democracy not only a joke.

Though many commentators have misinterpreted Lee's comments saying this was a thin veil for the ultimate flashpoint of Taiwan independence, the reality may be less interesting. The Republic of China on Taiwan maintains the legal continuity of a state established in 1912; the PRC, after all, split that state after Mao's conquest of the mainland in 1949. Neither side has exercised sovereignty over the other for fifty years.

Lee also spoke of "special state-to-state" relations among the Chinese --- a perfectly logical sentiment reflecting the common "One China" philosophy shared on both sides of the strait. Yet even the lightning-rod rhetoric speaking about of state to state relations between Taipei and Beijing does not imply that either of the two de facto Chinese states are not part of the same cultural and historic Chinese nation.

Are there problems in the security of production line? Crash history of ROC's accident-prone F-16s.

March 20, 1998 Chiayi-based F-16B two-seater disappears into the waters near the
Penhu island group during a training flight. Flight instructor and
pilot's bodies never recovered.

Jan. 25, 1999 Chiayi-based F-16A single-seater crashes about a miles south of its
runaway while attempting to land. Operations officer and
examination officer both killed.

June 1, 1999 Chiayi-based F-16B two-seater crashes into a mountain near
Taimali, Taitung County, during an instrument-training flight.
Pilots' bodies still missing.

Aug. 8, 1999 Hualien-based F-16A single-seater disappears 22 nautical miles
southwest of Green Island during a night training flight.

Because of Beijing's threat, Taiwan needs missile defense network.

President Lee Teng-hui yesterday (Aug. 19, 1999) endorsed Taiwan's entry into the proposed U.S.-sponsored Theater Missile Defense (TMD) system as well as for the development of a low-attitude missile defense network, a Kuomintang spokesman said.

Lee said the establishment of a TMD system here is not only necessary based on the current security situation, but also fits with the country's long-term development, according to the spokesman, Huang Hwei-chen.

TMD is a state-of-the-art anti-missile umbrella currently being searched by the United States. Although Lee's comments represented the first solid endorsement for Taiwan's participation in the program, it is unclear whether Washington would allow the island's participation.

Beijing has in the past issued strong criticism against Taiwan's possible inclusion in TMD.

Lee made the statement at a meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee, during which Defense Minister Tang Fei gave a confidential report on TMD and the establishment of similar defense network against low-altitude cruise missiles.

Technology, such as TMD, now being developed to stop missiles at a greater range could be integrated later, Huang quoted Tang as saying.

Details of the system described by Tang were not released, and background information handouts given to party officials were collected at the end of the meeting to prevent the leakage of any sensitive details, according to the Central News Agency.

In a lecture last month, Tang said a system was being mulled that would detect incoming missiles with satellites and use Patriot missiles and the seaborne Aegis missile defense system to shoot them down at low altitude.

That system would cover about 70 percent of Taiwan's territory and cost about NT$30 billion (US$928 million), Tang said.

The ROC military currently possesses three batteries of some 200 Patriot missiles and is currently seeking to obtain the new Patriot III version, as well as a more advanced radar system.

In May, the U.S. agreed to sell Taiwan two Raytheon phased-array radar systems with a range of 1,5000 km (900 miles), reportedly giving the military a 10-minute warning against incoming missiles. This compares to the 600 km(370 miles) swept by Taiwan's current radar systems.

The Clinton administration had approved the deal in theory but was still mulling details.

Those who are discriminated against will complain.

Taiwan ought to maintain its position at this point because it has nowhere to retreat to. We've given way as far as we can; it's time for the other side to yield.

During the first "Koo-Wang talks" in 1993, it was greed that "each party could have its own interpretation" of one China, but Taiwan's media has been misleading on this point since Jiang Zemin's 1995 Eight Points overturned agreements made at the 1993 Koo-Wang Talks regarding a flexible interpretation of one China. Instead, Jiang maintained the one-China principle --- and this one China is the People's Republic of China.

We're very clear on the fact that China isn't giving Taiwan any room to survive internationally. We're also very clear about the fact that China wants to cause the collapse of Taiwan: it needs only to destabilize Taiwan's economic situation in order to achieve this goal. This is why China puts pressure on Taiwan internationally --- to precipitate an economic collapse.

In future cross-strait talks, China won't discuss political issues and if talks fail, it will put the blame on Taiwan. This will be effective international propaganda and will lead the U.S. to criticize Taiwan. I think Taiwan ought to hold discussions with China on the basis of state-to-state relations because this is a reflection of reality. China has already cut Taiwan down for a long time and has effectively painted Taiwan as a renegade province, and the reason the international media gave so much exposure to Lee Teng-hui's two-state theory is because this province suddenly announced it was separating from the mainland to become an independent country. No matter whether China wants to admit it or not, China and Taiwan are two separately governed nations. In fact, the U.S. policy of remaining ambiguous on one China failed in 1995 after Jiang Zemin announced his Eight Point that changed the previously agreed-upon flexible definition of one China. Jiang's Eight Points was also responsible for the 1995 and 1996 Taiwan Strait crises. The White House's proclamation of its one China policy was without a double set in motion by China, which not only threatened Taiwan, but threatened the safety of the entire Asia Pacific region. The way the U.S. should resolve the one China issue ought to be come out for "two states are equal position". This is the only way to resolve the cross-strait issue.