We don't doubt commitment, AIT chairwoman says

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: Therese Shaheen says that despite delays and stalling, the US believes that this country is still serious about defense

By Charles Snyder

STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

Washington remains confident that Taiwan is "serious" about defending itself militarily despite its slow action in making decisions and funding the purchase of weapons systems US President George W. Bush agreed to sell Taipei in April 2001, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairwoman Therese Shaheen said.

Speaking to the Washington-based Taiwanese press corps in the AIT headquarters in Northern Virginia this week, Shaheen said the US Defense Department "doesn't doubt" that President Chen Shui-bian's government is serious about defense.

Her remarks, in a rare AIT press conference, were clearly aimed to assuage Taiwan's officials, who have been concerned about Washington's seeming impatience over the past year with the Ministry of National Defense and the Legislative Yuan's indecision over purchasing the arms promised by the US.

Her comments came as Vice Minister of National Defense Lin Chung-pin continued an intensive series of meetings with top US officials during a 10-day trip to the capital city. Lin arrived last Saturday and is scheduled to leave next Tuesday.

During the visit, Lin will meet with an array of defense and State Department officials, including Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Richard Myers; Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia James Kelly; his deputy, Richard Lawless, and Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton.

Lin's meetings will also include sessions with officials at the National Security Council.

The visit, according to Washington sources, is aimed in part at demonstrating to US policymakers Taiwan's willingness to defend itself. For several months, there have been sporadic concerns raised by American officials that Taipei is dragging its feet on arms funding and purchases because it was counting on the US to defend it against a Chinese attack.

"I think people in Taiwan are serious, and I think [US officials] respect what Taiwan is going through in terms of the transformation to civilian leadership of the MND and multiparty democracy," Shaheen told reporters.

She noted that Taiwan is "making progress" in view of the changes occuring in the military establishment.

Shaheen pointed out that the 2001 arms package was actually ordered a year or more before that, meaning that the shopping list is now more than three years old. While the list remains the same now, she said, the priorities have changed. "The list is still there. Taiwan can act on anything on that list," she said.

That list includes diesel submarines, Kidd-class destroyers, the PAC-3 anti-missile system and long-range radar systems.

The Bush administration now thinks that "missile defense is very important, all efforts at anti-submarine warfare are important," and that so-called C4ISR systems, involving control, command and high-tech electronic communications systems, are important. So, Washington is saying, "We'd like you to consider these first," Shaheen said.

The decision to purchase the submarines was at first hampered by the lack of suppliers since the US has not produced such vessels for several decades and the high cost of design, development and production.

The US is now undergoing a lengthy assessment of where the designs can be found and how the subs can be produced.

With the recent Legislative Yuan agreement on the budget for the Kidd-class destroyers, the way apparently has been cleared for procurement and outfitting of the vessels.

The PAC-3 anti-missile missiles are being produced, but Taiwan has not yet made a firm commitment to buy them.

It's a dog's life

Animal rights activists demonstrate in front of the Control Yuan yesterday, demanding that the Control Yuan investigate incidents of flagrant abuse and gross neglect at dog shelters throughout Taiwan.

China accuses Falun Gong of disrupting SARS work

AP AND AFP , BEIJING

At least 180 Falun Gong members have been detained in a northern Chinese province on charges of sabotaging anti-SARS work by distributing pamphlets promoting the banned spiritual group, the main Communist Party newspaper said yesterday.

The crackdown in Hebei Province, just outside Beijing, reportedly began in mid-April at about the time officials ordered tougher measures to control the spread of SARS.

As of Wednesday, 180 followers had been rounded up, the People's Daily reported. It didn't give any details of their identities and officials in Hebei didn't immediately respond to requests for information about them or what charges they might face.

The People's Daily report didn't give any details of SARS-prevention work that was disrupted by the activists. But it cited an incident in which a Falun Gong activist gave workers at an anti-SARS health checkpoint a booklet on Falun Gong that he said contained "the secret route to SARS prevention."

Falun Gong was banned in 1999 as a threat to public safety and communist rule. The group had attracted millions of adherents with its mix of eastern philosophy, meditation and traditional calisthenics.

Thousands of followers have been detained and activists say scores have died from police abuse. Authorities deny killing anyone, but say some have died in accidents or from hunger strikes.

Although Hebei has been aggressive in its moves against Falun Gong, the World Health Organization says the province has failed to gather adequate data on the spread of SARS.

Hebei has reported eight SARS fatalities and 192 cases, while the total death toll for China stands at 336, with more than 5,000 people infected.

Meanwhile, the SARS crisis in China has shown the need for the government to be more open toward the public, an editorial in the state-run China Daily said yesterday.

This openness, channeled through the media, will also help officials be aware of what people think, said the editorial, by Xue Baosheng, a researcher at Peking University's School of Government Administration.

"[The] facts clearly demonstrate that only by actively upholding the citizens' right to know can the government be better supervised by the public and in turn win the trust and respect of those it serves," it said.

Xue argued in the editorial that the failure to own up to the facts reflected officials' outdated convictions that unpleasant news can cause social disorder.