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anti-terror
laws on Sep 07, 2004 Shaken
Russia moves to toughen anti-terror laws
Politicians
in Moscow are preparing a series of new anti-terror measures that will toughen
punishment for terrorist offences and allow the government to override civil
liberties, one lawmaker said. The
Russian Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, was to meet yesterday
to discuss possible new measures, said Stanislav Vavilov, head of the council's
committee on law. Russian
citizens were prepared to lose some democratic rights if it ensured their
safety, he said, Interfax reported. "If
there will be limits to a certain freedom and the rights of citizens then I
don't see anything terrible because it is a forced measure," said Svetlana
Orlova, deputy speaker of the federation council. After
the "barbarian terrorist act" in Beslan Russian society needed to
understand that they now lived in a different country, Orlova said. Possible
measures include cracking down on movement from one part of the country to
another, similar to the system under the former Soviet Union. "Questions
of security have to come first and everything has to be subordinate to
that," Orlova said. Senators
will also discuss the creation of a vast counterterrorism center that will
oversee law enforcement agencies, the Russian security services, and the
ministry of defense's work in the North Caucasus. The
politicians were echoing President Vladimir Putin's speech to the nation on
Saturday when he said a new counter-terrorism center was needed. In
the last four years, the federation council has increasingly become a rubber
stamp for Kremlin policy. Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon yesterday for talks likely to center on the need for greater global
anti-terror efforts. An
Israeli government official said the visit was arranged long before the latest
wave of violence in Russia. In
a telephone call to Putin, Sharon called for expanded intelligence coordination
between the two countries. The
president of North Ossetia apologized for failing to avert the disaster. "I
fully understand my res-ponsibility," Alexander Dzasokhov told doctors and
relatives of the wounded children in a hospital in the regional capital
Vladikavkaz. "I
want to beg your pardon for failing to protect children, teachers and
parents," said the regional leader, who was distressed and had tears in his
eyes. The
interior minister of North Ossetia, Kazbek Dzantiyev, offered his resignation on
Sunday. "After
what has happened, I. as an officer, I don't think it is possible for me to
remain in my post," he said. Russian
TV reported that his resignation had been turned down. Russia
began two days of national mourning yesterday for Beslan's terror victims.
Changing
the law isn't as simple as it seems By
Emile Sheng He
also called on the legislature to give up its right to topple the Cabinet by a
no-confidence vote, and to hold presidential and legislative elections
simultaneously every four years, so as to complete the next stage of
constitutional reform. Let
us put aside the question of whether it has become standard procedure for
Taiwan's leaders to throw out domestic issues during state visits; the above
constitutional issues deserve the public's serious discussion. First
of all, we have to review the order of a constitutional amendment. What we
should first do is to make clear the nation's constitutional system, clarify the
rights and duties of government agencies, decide on major electoral methods and,
finally, adjust the number of legislative seats. But this time, our politicians
are doing exactly the opposite. The
ruling and opposition camps have decided to first halve the number of the
legislative seats and push forward a "single electoral district, two-vote
system," leaving discussion of both the president's right to dissolve the
legislature and the legislature's power to overthrow the Cabinet for later. This
is just like practicing "kung fu" from the opposite way, as described
in many Chinese martial arts novels. Although this may offer a us a chance to
open a new path, there is also a significant possibility that we may mess things
up and even cause harm. Therefore, if any of the political parties wants to
promote certain constitutional reforms, they should make a greater effort to
propose complete complementary measures, instead of carrying out impromptu or
fragmentary reform projects. Additionally,
these constitutional issues were issued suddenly by the president, revealing
that Taiwan's constitutional reform process still has a complex top-down nature.
Both
the ruling and opposition camps must stop using populism, so as not to be
trapped by their own muddying of the issue. In fact, opinion polls show that as
many as 81 percent of Taiwanese admit that they are unfamiliar with the recent
constitutional amendments and their consequences. Our
politicians cannot simply portray the complementary measures of the
constitutional system as some jam to go with the bread. Finally,
the president's passive power to dissolve the legislature does not really match
the legislature's active power to overthrow the Cabinet, compared to most other
countries that adopt a "cabinet system." Legislators
have never used their power to overthrow the Cabinet due to uncertainties in
facing a by-election. They'll
be more likely to use this veto power in the future, however, as the chances of
being re-elected will increase under the new single electoral district system. Abolishing
these two rights at the same time may further expand the government's
administrative power. Moreover,
if lawmakers amend the Constitution to extend lawmakers' terms by roughly one
year after the December legislative election, they will violate their
"contract" with voters and be attacked for self-aggrandizement. In
other words, by amending the Constitution to "effect a temporary solution
to the headache, rather than a permanent cure," our headache will continue.
Emile
Sheng is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at
Soochow University.
Measuring
Olympic performance By
Tu Jenn-hwa
After
16 days of intense competition, the 2004 Olympic games came to an end. Taiwan's
record of two gold and two silver medals and one bronze medal is not only a
considerable improvement on its achievement at the Sydney games in 2000 of one
silver and four bronze, It also placed Taiwan 31st in the medal tally, out of a
total of 202 countries competing in the games. This unprecedented record
delighted the nation, and has had a positive impact in promoting sport in
Taiwan. We can expect greater participation in future international sports
events. But with a population of over 23 million and a standard of living well
up in the international rankings, was our performance at Athens really that
outstanding? Or had our performance in previous Olympics simply been below par?
Now that the excitement of victory has begun to die down, this makes an
interesting question for consideration. In
the February issue of the Review of Economics and Statistics, an article
by Andrew Bernard and Meghan Busse entitled "Who Wins the Olympic Games:
Economic Resources and Medal Totals" outlines a model they created to
predict the number of medals a country would win at an Olympic Games. Athletes
and events do not figure among the variables. Instead, the variables are a
nation's GDP, its population, the number of medals previously won, whether the
country is or was ruled by a communist government and whether or not it was the
host country, covering a period of the last 30 years. Using this model, the
authors said they achieved 96 percent accuracy in predicting the medal tally at
the Sydney Games in 2000 for countries that won more than five medals in the
previous Atlanta games. Before the beginning of the Athens games, the authors
also made predictions using this model for the number of gold medals and the
total medal count for 34 counties. Although
accuracy was not as high as for the Sydney games, the margin of error for the
top 10 medal winners for total medal count was just 12 percent; for gold medals,
the error margin was just two medals. This indicates that a simple economic
model can achieve a high degree of predictive accuracy. In
Athens, Taiwan won two gold medals, ranking 31st. With a total of five medals
won, the country ranked 37th, giving it an average position of 34th. Because we
did not win five medals in Sydney, perhaps the predictive model does not apply
to Taiwan. But we can still borrow some of the variables to make a simple test
to see how outstanding Taiwan's performance actually was. Firstly
in reference to population: Taiwan's population of around 22.5 million ranks it
45th in the world, so as far as our population size is concerned, we punched
above our weight at Athens. But when we turn to per capita income, if we take
GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity as assessed in the CIA's World
Factbook 2004, Taiwan's per capita GDP for last year was US$23,400, which
ranks it 25th in the world. In this light, the Olympic rank of 34th does not
seem so impressive. And if we look at total GDP adjusted for purchasing power
parity, our economy is valued at US$530 billion, which ranks 16th in the world.
In this context, 34th in the Olympics seems even less impressive. It
is especially worthwhile to note the example of Australia. It has a population
of 19 million with an adjusted average GDP of US$25,000 and the scale of its
economy is actually smaller than Taiwan's (US$480 billion). Yet it ranked fourth
on the medal charts (with a total of 49, 17 of those being gold), leaving
countries like Britain and France in its wake. Australia's geographic and
demographic profile is probably not sufficient to explain its dominance compared
to Taiwan, for South Korea, which is densely populated but with an average per
capita income that is lower than Taiwan's managed to rank ninth at Athens (30
medals, nine of them gold), far exceeding what could be expected from its
economic profile. This is truly admirable. But
the greatest winner at the Athens Olympics was probably Japan, which ranked
fifth, winning 37 medals, 16 of them gold. This was a huge leap forward from its
performance in Sydney, where it garnered just 18 medals, only five of them gold.
We can see from this that apart from economic development, enthusiasm for sport
and a nation's support for its athletes, determination and hard training are
also necessary to achieve a good Olympic record. So while the performance of our
athletes merits praise, based on our economic strength we still have plenty of
room to improve. In a world in which Taiwan suffers political oppression, sports
opens a new window for friendship and self-improvement. To
develop an enthusiasm for sport and to create a nursery for the fostering of
sporting talent, physical education should be included within the joint entrance
examination to test students on basic athletic ability, such as running,
jumping, chin-ups and sit-ups. By adopting a system of "national
fitness," young people will train regularly to obtain good results. If
university departments demand a passing grade in physical education for
admission, Taiwan's "little fatties" will gradually disappear and
people will not only be stronger and fitter, but we will also have a steady
supply of internationally competitive athletes. These athletes will not only
have broader horizons, but we can also expect better performances at subsequent
Olympics. Tu
Jenn-hwa is an associate professor at National Taiwan University's Graduate
Institute of National Development. Translated
by Ian Bartholomew
`One
China' violates rights By
Alison Hsieh Public
acknowledgement of China's "one China" -- and no Taiwan -- principle
violates the basic human rights of the citizens of Taiwan. Here's
an example of how. My Taiwanese friend and her Greek boyfriend were going to get
married. But when they went to the municipality where the Greek man resided, the
city told them they couldn't get married. Why? Because there was a previous
court case where a Taiwanese woman and a Greek man wanted to have a civil
marriage, but his parents objected. The parents of the Greek man hired a lawyer
to block the marriage. The lawyer used the argument that Taiwan is not a
country, and therefore her identification was invalid. The Chinese embassy
didn't help either, saying they had no records of Taiwanese citizens. Ever
since then, some cities in Greece just won't marry any Greeks with Taiwanese.
All of these couples are educated women and men who met at universities in the
UK. Another
example: In the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the Taiwanese team was bound by the
International Olympic Committee's unfair and outdated rules created especially
for Taiwan, under pressure from China. Under these rules, although our athletes
came from all over Taiwan and not just from Taipei, our team is not called
"Taiwan," it is called "Chinese Taipei." Would
the US team like to be called "British Washington DC"? Would the Greek
team like to be called "Ottoman Athens?" Taiwan's national pride and
dignity was also hampered by the Chinese Taipei flag designed only for the
purpose of the Olympic flag-raising. The flag carries the symbol of the party no
longer in power in Taiwan, and the Olympic five rings. By the same analogy,
would any Greeks like to have their national flag replaced by a flag especially
designed for the Olympic Games with symbols of the Pasok party and the Olympic
five rings? Any Taiwanese spectators showing their national flag, or carrying
signs with "Taiwan" (instead of "Chinese Taipei") risked
being thrown out of the games without refunds. In
the spring of last year, SARS, which originated in southern China, killed many
in Taiwan. However, the WHO (World Health Organization) didn't send any
delegates to help contain the epidemic until the situation was almost out of
control. China claims that Taiwan is a province, and that Taiwan's healthcare
system is well taken care of by them. Since Taiwan has never been under PRC
administration, how can the health care system be taken care of by them? Yet
during their attempt to join the World Health Organization (WHO) -- a bid which
was blocked by China -- the delegates from Taiwan were greeted by the Chinese
Health Minister with remarks like "Who cares about you, Taiwan?" or
"Who pays attention to you?" Taiwan sends many medical personnel to
under-developed countries in Africa and Central and South America. But Taiwan's
contribution to the world did not help them gain membership in the WHO.
Taiwanese people have suffered greatly because of China's campaign to block them
from participating in every international organization. "The
Strait that separate us can never cut off bonds of flesh and blood," Wen
said. The US was founded by immigrants who left England. By the same analogy,
should the US have remained under the control of the British crown because of
bonds of flesh and blood? Aside
from the immigrants from China, Taiwan is more multicultural than Wen realizes.
Taiwan has 12 Aboriginal tribes whose ancestry is from the Pacific Ocean side,
not from China. More recently, there are immigrants from countries such as
Indonesia and Vietnam. Taiwan
needs to have its existence recognized in a "normal" way so that the
basic human rights of its citizens will not be sacrificed to international
politics. In the meantime, Taiwanese hope their neighbor China will soon become
a democratic country so that future generations can decide the course of the
country. Any threats from China to take Taiwan into its territory by force will
only push overseas Taiwanese extremists to become terrorists. Alison
Hsieh Athens
Time
to choose a successor President
Chen Shui-bian completed his trip to Central America with his arrival at CKS
International Airport on Sunday morning. He has continued the precedent he
established in his first term, when he traveled overseas four times in four
years. On this trip, Chen not only touched on the relations between Taiwan,
China and the US, but also spent a significant amount of time and effort on
domestic issues. Of the issues that he raised, two warrant greater attention.
The first is that Chen said that "ROC" should be replaced by
"Taiwan" in dealings with the international community. The second are
his observations on the powers of the president and the premier and also on the
distribution of power within the ruling party. During
his seven-day tour, Chen vowed to integrate and simplify the electoral calendar
and modify the powers and responsibilities of the president and legislature in
relation to each other. On the diplomatic front, Chen said that the reduced
ceremony of his transit in the US didn't indicate any alteration in the
Taiwan-US relationship. As to cross-strait affairs, in order to promote positive
cross-strait military dynamics, Chen called off a portion of the annual Han
Kuang live-fire military exercises this year in response to China's cancelation
of its Dongshan Island exercise. All these statements made headlines and created
some controversy in political circles, but they only held interest for a moment
before being forgotten. Only
the issue of rectifying the country's title still receives attention. Of Premier
Yu Shyi-kun's statement that Taiwan could be called "Taiwan, ROC,"
Chen said: "The shortened form for the nation's name is Taiwan. What does
the ROC have to do with it?" This statement gave a great boost to his
supporters, and the ruling party is more encouraged in its determination to push
forward the "Call Taiwan `Taiwan'" campaign. With
Chen's return from abroad, media and political circles are now largely concerned
with the possibility of a change in premier and a reshuffling of the power
structure within the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after the
December legislative election. As the election approaches, the furore
surrounding these issues will only increase. Battles
over political succession are often associated with authoritarian regimes
characterized by a cult of personality. Ensuring a smooth succession is regarded
as a highly sophisticated type of knowledge in Asian communities, especially
those influenced by Confucianism. Even though Chen has a grassroots background
and has dedicated his political career to improving such universal values as
human rights, equality and democracy, yet the overall political ideology is
still based on such ideas as king-making and the succession of power.
Unfortunately, Chen has consciously or unwittingly become part of game, actively
or passively manipulating the political agenda. While
in opposition, the DPP never had a succession problem. During his first term,
Chen's main concern was to win a second term. Now that he has begun his second
term, the problem of who will succeed has become all the more glaring. The goal
for the DPP in the immediate future is not to forge ahead, but to establish a
rational, objective and effective distribution and use of power. Former
president Chiang Ching-kuo implemented a policy for a collective succession, but
eventually former president Lee Teng-hui was still able to fulfill his historic
role for Taiwan. The glorious Lee period came under a shadow when Lee picked the
wrong successor. Both
Chiang and Lee were constrained by the king-making of Chinese tradition and
their hand picked successors were no match for the relentless march of time. We
hope that Chen will be able to reflect on these lessons and not be over
manipulative of the effects of media issues, missing the opportunity to
establish a good distribution of power.
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