Beijing's strategy on July 06,2004

Kiribati fears Beijing's new strategy

UNREST: Demonstrations have been sponsored by China, hoping to oust the elected government to replace it with the Beijing-friendly opposition
AFP , AUCKLAND
 

The president of Kiribati yesterday expressed concern over the presence of Chinese officials in his South Pacific nation, saying he feared they could be trying to influence a change of government.

President Anote Tong's government switched diplomatic allegiance from Beijing to Taipei after coming to power in November last year, forcing China to close a satellite-monitoring base on the main atoll of Tarawa.

Three Chinese diplomats remain as caretakers of embassy facilities, however, which has made the government nervous.

Tong said he believed China was behind an unprecedented demonstration staged to protest against Kiribati's decision to sever diplomatic ties with Beijing.

"We are watching out at the political environment here because they did participate in the last process," Tong said. "They continue to hope there will be a reversal of the situation, a change of government I guess."

Tong said in a telephone interview he presumed the continued presence of the Chinese diplomats was based on Beijing's hope for a change of government.

"We will be reviewing the situation because we are interested to as to what their continued presence means and it would only suggest that they are hoping one day to be able to come back," he said.

Asked if the government would expel the diplomats, Tong said: "It might be a possibility, I think we have to keep an eye out on their real role, the role they are playing in staying back."

"We are a small country [compared] with a big country like that, and we are a little nervous. I think we ought to be given the opportunity of not being manipulated into any situations."

Tong said the embassy had imported "large amounts of cargo, container loads." He did not know what was in them or the quantity.

"So we ask why are three people caretaking the embassy building [requiring] that amount of goods?" he said.

The Chinese Embassy telephone number was unanswered yesterday

Kiribati, which was formerly known as the Gilbert Islands, is made up of 33 atolls and one high island with a combined land area of 811km2.

Last year its 100,000 people were drawn into a protracted political battle which saw then-president Teburoro Tito lose office after six years with Tong taking over.

During the election process then Chinese ambassador Shuxue Ma said he had donated A$5,132 (US$2,848) to a cooperative society aligned to Tito. The donation and the presence of the satellite base were election issues.

Although remote, Kiribati's position on the Equator makes it attractive for the aerospace industry.

The giant Sealaunch Boeing led consortium launch satellites from a converted oil rig near Kiribati, while Japan's National Space Development Agency planned to build a space station on an isolated atoll.

Tarawa is around 1,000km south of the US Army missile-testing base at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which is used for testing ballistic missiles fired from California and developing missile-defense systems.

Lu, seeking popularity, is making enemies: analysts

By Lin Chieh-yu
STAFF REPORTER
Vice President Annette Lu's recent performance has been criticized as overstepping President Chen-shui's authority in the hope of promoting herself as a possible candidate in the 2008 presidential election. But, critics say, she just has created needless disputes and interfered with the government's operations.

"Lu has been raising her voice more and more since the end of the presidential election," said Chin Heng-wei, editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine. "She has advocated changing the official name of the country to `Taiwan, Republic of China;' proposed moving the capital to southern Taiwan; and now she is echoing the opposition alliance's attack on the government regarding the lack of progress in `seeking the truth' of the election-eve assassination attempt."

"All those issues just display how she has been ignoring the entire administration, and reveal her ambition of succeeding Chen in the presidency," Chin said.

The issue of whether to set up a committee to replace the government's special investigation task force, which was organized by the judiciary and the police, to speed up the effort to solve the March 19 asassination attempt has now become a theatre in which Lu can take center stage.

According to the Presidential Office, Chen is going to have a tea party with the heads of the government's five branches today, during which they will discuss whether to form a special committee to investigate the shooting.

However, the president's staff is angry that Lu seems to be trying to dominate the issue, and had even gone so far as to make erroneous statements about the president's idea to form a committee, thereby misleading the public and the media.

"The vice president is trying to tell the public that the establishment of a special committee was her idea," a close aide to the president said. "But this is far from the truth."

One senior official told the Taipei Times yesterday that Chen was very irritated after Lu made a phone call last month to a live TV show attacking the investigation's performance. During the show, she claimed she was authorized by the president to make those comments.

"The vice president has taken some `unexpected' action recently," the official said, "especially when it comes to talking about the gunshot incident."

"She criticized the secretary-general of the National Security Council for not `properly organizing' the press briefing [after the assassination atempt], then she claimed that she was the real target of the shooter. Then she even made a comment completely contradicting the task force's report, saying that she believes there were two shooters, while the task force said there was only one," the aide said.

Moreover, while Chen has put all his trust in the premier for taking charge of the post-typhoon relief efforts and has stayed away from the areas affected by the typhoon in order to not interfere with the government's rescue efforts, Lu still rushed to central Taiwan to inspect the condition of the disaster area and express her concern about the victims.

However, residents and the media both gave negative comments of her performance, which they described as "showing off too much."

"The vice president has no authority to allocate any government resources and is not allowed to conduct relief operations. Wherever she visited, she promised to `give anything,' but just made government officials, who should be spending their time conducting post-typhoon relief operations, put aside their work to accompany her," said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hung Chi-chang .

"Many people said that President Chen downgraded his position from the head of state to a presidential candidate by campaigning every moment during his first term, and they said that whatever the president did was aimed at only goal: to win a second term," said political columnist Hu Wen-huei .

"Now, Chen has adjusted his role since he won the election," Hu said. "However, now we just have another would-be presidential candidate who enjoys the same official stature and security requirements as Chen."

"The controversies [Lu] has created lately are more than she has done in the entire past four years," Hu said.

Forging a democracy, one step at a time

Once a political prisoner during the Chinese Nationalist Party authoritarian era, lawyer-turned-politician Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen has personally witnessed the nation's democratic development over the years. `Taipei Times' staff reporter Ko Shu-ling recently talked with the former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party to take a closer look at his view of democracy and the challenges that lie ahead for President Chen Shui-bian in his second term

Taipei Times: In President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration speech in May, he pledged to hand to the people of Taiwan a new version of the Constitution -- one that is "timely, relevant and viable." What is your definition of a constitution that meets the president's description?

Yao Chia-wen : A country's constitution has two fundamental meanings. It's not only the organic law of the government, but also a warranty for the people's rights.

A government organization is like the structure of a car. We need different kinds of vehicles when we're driving in different road conditions. For example, when we drive on a freeway, we need an automobile. When we drive on the farm, we need a tractor. When we drive in the snow, we need a snowmobile and if we drive in the desert, we need a four-wheel drive.

A "timely" constitution has to suit the needs of the current time as well as those of the nation and the people. As we are in an era of democracy and globalization, we desperately need to update the Constitution, which was enacted 57 years ago in China, or better yet replace it. Our Constitution has gone through six amendments over the past 13 years. It's time to rewrite the whole thing, which is the political norm in democratic countries.

A "relevant" constitution has to outline a clear-cut picture of the government structure, national boundaries, national flag and national moniker. The government structure of five branches mandated in the Constitution is not only outdated, but also unsuitable for Taiwan. We need a small but efficient government because Taiwan is, after all, a small country.

TT: President Chen also said in his inauguration speech that the legislature has to pass a constitutional amendment, which is something he said during the election campaign that he wouldn't do. Do you think he has changed his stance in the constitutional reform campaign?

Yao: What President Chen aspires to do is to implement a new version of the Constitution in 2008 when his second four-year term expires. That is not only his historic responsibility but also his commitment to the people.

The crux of the constitutional reform process is not parsing terms like "amending" or "creating" the Constitution, but rather, the crux of the matter is the legal procedure that must be followed in order for a new constitution to come into effect.

President Chen has made it clear in his inauguration speech that the procedure for constitutional reform first requires the passage of the constitutional amendments by the legislature.

Members of the first and also the last ad-hoc National Assembly would then be elected and charged with the task of adopting the constitutional reform proposal as passed by the legislature. They would also abolish the National Assembly and incorporate into the constitution the people's right to referendum on constitutional revision.

Of course, it will require a lot of public discussion and debate before the procedure and context of the Constitution are finalized.

TT: While President Chen has vowed that the new constitution will not deal with changes relating to sovereignty and territory issues, nor independence and unification issues, what in the Constitution do you think desperately requires overhaul?

Yao: There are three major areas: the national moniker, national boundaries and government structure.

The restructuring of the government organizations is the most urgently needed and requires public discussions. Main issues include whether to cut the five-branch government to three, whether to revoke the semi-presidential government system and to adopt the parliamentary or presidential system, and whether to downsize the number of legislative seats from the current 225.

The definition of national boundaries in the Constitution reads: "the territory of the Republic of China according to its existing national boundaries shall not be altered except by resolution of the National Assembly." It is vaguely defined, but one thing is definite: it is unrealistic to claim that the nation's boundaries cover China, Tibet and Mongolia -- as the KMT did over the past 50 years.

The official name of the country has to be distinguished from the name the Beijing government adopts (the People's Republic of China) and the name the KMT administration used (the Republic of China).

If we continue to use Republic of China as the national moniker, Taiwan will be considered part of China, because it claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

TT: Do you think Taiwan should be called Taiwan?

Yao: Absolutely. Either the Republic of Taiwan or Taiwan is better suited than the Republic of China. The name "Taiwan" is widely used by many foreign countries and has appeared in diplomatic accords and international organizations such as the WTO and the US' Taiwan Relations Act.

TT: You talked earlier in the interview about the government system. Do you think a presidential system or a parliamentary system is better for Taiwan?

Yao: Definitely the presidential system. As the president is the highest administrator of the nation, the Executive Yuan, the highest administrative organ of the state, should be abolished, as well as the Examination Yuan. It would then leave the government with three branches: the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan and the Control Yuan.

TT: President Chen was elected to his second four-year term amid controversy. What challenges do you think lie ahead for him?

Yao: Like national leaders around the world, President Chen is duty-bound to stabilize the nation's economic and political situation. It is equally important for him to improve diplomatic ties with foreign countries, especially the US. In fact, President Chen has been spending a lot of time and effort pondering how to better relations with the US, through both the US government and non-governmental organizations.

How to ameliorate cross-strait relations is another demanding challenge. It would still be very difficult to resume talks with Beijing, because it is expected to insist on our knuckling under and accepting the "one country, two systems" premise before agreeing to hold talks.

Finally, there is constitutional reform. President Chen has to fulfill his promise to hand a new version of the Constitution to the people when his tenure expires in 2008.

TT: As a former DPP chairman, what do you think of President Chen's recent talk of relinquishing his other job as the party chairman?

Yao: I've always been opposed to the idea of having the head of state double as the party chairman.

I was one of the few party members vehemently against the idea two years ago, when the party's National Congress voted to revise the DPP Charter to have the head of state lead the party when it is in power. My reason was simple: party affairs should be separated from national affairs because they are different in the nature.

It later turned out that I was right. It's the correct decision for President Chen to step down. He took the party's helm two years ago for a particular reason, which was to act as the commander-in-chief for the party and the legislative caucus, who often clashed in their opinions and stances. Now since the problem has already been solved, it's time for him to concentrate on the nation's affairs and let party members elect the party chairman.

In addition, the position of party chairman should be made full-time, since it requires a tremendous amount of time and dedication. We've seen how political functionaries concurrently holding an additional job in the party neglect their duties. Some of them even do it to raise their political profile. It's absolutely not conducive to the interest of the party.

TT: Beijing has insisted on the "one China" principle, while Taiwan said that it can be a topic for discussion on the negotiating table, but not a precondition for cross-strait talks. How do we solve the long-standing cross-strait stalemate?

Yao: There's no way for us to accept the "one China" principle. To accept the "one China" principle is tantamount to accepting the "one China, two systems" model. It's equivalent to surrendering without putting up a fight. It's unnecessary and impossible for us to sell ourselves into slavery for China.

There's no reason whatsoever for us to concede to China's demands. Besides, not a single country in the free world has asked us to do so. While it is the consensus of the international community to maintain the "status quo" across the Taiwan Strait, it would be changing the current situation should we accept the "one China" principle.

As it will take effort on both sides to ease the tension across the Taiwan Strait, it doesn't make sense -- nor is it fair -- for Beijing to ask us to make such a unilateral concession. Although China is a big country, it has its own burdens and plights. It may be a gigantic dinosaur, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it can outrun a small mouse.