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The
erosion of Taiwan's international position on Oct 10, 2004 ACTION
NEEDED: The US talks about maintaining the cross-strait status quo but does
nothing to stop the erosion of Taiwan's international position US
support for Taiwan has shown signs of weakening, several Taiwan and American
scholars said at the opening of a seminar on US-Taiwan-China relations on
Capitol Hill Friday. Addressing
the Symposium on Taiwan's Constitutional Reform and US-Taiwan-China Relations,
Larry Niksch, a US congressional Asian affairs expert, said he has noticed that
US support for Taiwan is gradually weakening. If
the US wants to maintain the Taiwan Strait status quo, Niksch said, it should
prevent Beijing from continuously eroding Taiwan's international presence or
"space", including luring away Taiwan's diplomatic allies. Chen
Wen-yen, chief executive of the US-based Formosan Association for Public
Affairs, echoed Niksch's views, saying he has detected such a trend. "Taiwan
should keep vigilant against this trend and make every possible effort to keep
the United States informed of Taiwan's latest situation in order to win more US
support for its cause," Chen said. As
to what the Taiwan Strait status quo means, John Tkacik, a Heritage Foundation
research fellow, said he once asked the US State Department about this question,
but none of the State Department officials could give a clear definition. To
the best of his understanding, Tkacik said, the Taiwan Strait status quo can be
described as "no unification, no independence and no war." Chen
Lung-chih, chairman of the New Century Culture and Education Foundation, said
the "status quo" is dynamic and cannot remain unchanged forever. James
Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said
during a congressional hearing in April this year that the US is opposed to
either side of the Taiwan Strait unilaterally changing the status quo, adding
that it's up to the US to define what the status quo means. Speaking
on the same occasion, Nat Belocchi, a former chairman of the American Institute
in Taiwan, suggested that the US government set up a special cross-strait task
force to review Taiwan-US-China relations regularly and to submit reports to the
US president periodically. These reports should also be made available to
Taiwan, he suggested. The
seminar was jointly organized by the Taipei-based Action for Constitution
Taiwan, headed by former President Lee Teng-hui and the Washington-based Center
for Taiwan International Relations. Former
President Lee delivered a speech in English via video link to the participants
in the seminar held at the US Senate Hart Building. In the speech, Lee said he
believes it is high time to "save Taiwan" by writing a new
constitution that fits the island's present situation. Tkacik
said, however, that Taiwan must acquire credible defense capabilities before
enacting a new constitution, otherwise it will be vulnerable to being
overturned. Tkacik
said constitutional reforms are necessary in Taiwan for several reasons,
including the fact that the existing ROC Constitution in Taiwan was enacted by
the Chinese Nationalist Party in 1947 without any input from the people of
Taiwan. Nevertheless,
Tkacik said, before putting a new constitution in place, the island must first
acquire credible military capabilities to defend itself against possible
mainland Chinese military attack. Otherwise, even if Taiwan succeeds in enacting
a new constitution, it will be difficult to preserve, he said.
US
officials give Koo ad covert support LOBBYING
TOUR: The presidential advisor said a number of officials and Republican Party
leaders were supportive of his pro-Taiwan theme, but dared not say so publicly By
Charles Snyder Senior
Presidential Advisor Koo Kwang-ming on Friday said that he had privately
received positive responses from Bush administration officials in Washington
over full-page ads he placed in newspapers on Monday calling on the US to
abandon its "one China" policy. A
US China expert warned, however, that the Bush administration may be shifting
its sympathies to Beijing. Koo
is in Washington lobbying for a new Taiwanese Constitution and independence. On
Friday Koo addressed a conference on constitutional reform sponsored by the
Center for Taiwan International Relations and other Taiwanese organizations. It
was held in a Senate office building. In
an interview during a break in the conference, which former president Lee
Teng-hui had earlier addressed via videoconference, Koo told the Taipei Times
that officials and Republican Party leaders he met had "personally"
supported the message in the newspaper ads, but could not say so publicly
because of pressure from China. Koo declined to say who he spoke with. "Almost
all of them said [the ad] was very good. But in consideration of the reaction
from China, they cannot accept my opinion," he said. Asked
whether the officials he spoke with agreed with the ad, Koo said, "Yes,
personally. Not all of them, but some of them." The
intent of the ads, Koo said, was to go over the heads of the administration and
communicate directly with the American people, because talking to officials was
"useless." He
told reporters that he was planning more ads to influence American public
opinion. In
the ads, Koo berated the Bush administration for opposing Taiwan's election-day
referendum and pressuring President Chen Shui-bian to not replace the
Constitution. The ads were placed in the Taipei Times, the New York
Times, the Washington Post and other publications. Koo
warned of eventual conflict between the US and Taiwan if Washington did not
change its "one China" policy. "Sooner
or later, I believe that the policy will be changed. Democracy in Taiwan is
reaching higher and higher, while the United States still keeps the same
position as 30 years ago. So there is a gap growing day by day," Koo said. "Eventually
the gap will be very clear and we will have a very serious conflict between the
United States and Taiwan [if US policy does not change]. That is a very
miserable situation that we are going to have," he said. He
said that Taiwan "must fight against the United States, because the United
States says, `you must not do this, you must not do that,' just like China tries
to exert the same pressure on Taiwan." Koo
also took heart from the fact that the State Department "criticized"
the ads, saying that this meant the "the ads have had some influence on the
department. That's good." During
the conference, a senior US Congress researcher said that the Bush
administration would never support an independent Taiwan, short of an unprovoked
Chinese military attack. The
researcher, Larry Niksch, the top China expert at the Congressional Research
Service, warned that the administration might put Taiwan under pressure to
negotiate with China and "accept some part of the one-China principle"
as Washington's relations with China improve. He said there would be more such
pressure "sooner rather than later." China's
importance to the administration is growing, Niksch said, noting that since
January the administration had softened its position on Chinese interference in
Hong Kong. He
also said that the force of the "six assurances" which former US
president Ronald Reagan gave to Taiwan in 1982, including a pledge not to
pressure Taiwan into talks with China, could be weakened by the administration. As
a counter to any attempt to impose a "one country, two systems"
solution on Taiwan, Niksch urged Taiwan to float an alternative solution
internationally as soon as possible -- based perhaps on the EU or the British
Commonwealth.
`Taiwan'
debuts in diplomat-speak By
Joy Su The
"Republic of China (Taiwan)" will be used in diplomatic documents from
now on, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen said yesterday. He
made the remark after signing the first official document to bear the new title:
a joint statement with Chadian Foreign Affairs Minister Nagoum Yamassoum. The
statement reaffirmed both parties' commitment to promoting bilateral
cooperation. "Our
country has been referred to as the `Republic of China (Taiwan)' for the first
time in a diplomatic document," Chen said. The
statement was in Chinese and French, with the French version referring to "Republique
de Chine (Taiwan)." Chen
told reporters yesterday that the Executive Yuan had already reached a consensus
on the change for all diplomatic documents, including internally circulated
paperwork. Chen
said that "Republic of China (Taiwan)" would be used to avoid
unnecessary trouble and confusion. "`Republic
of China' continues to be the nation's official title and we will continue to
use `Republic of China' on documents. We are merely adding Taiwan in parenthesis
next to the title to clarify the matter," foreign ministry spokesman Michel
Lu said, adding that the international community often confuses Taiwan with
China.
What
are we celebrating? By
Shao-Huei-lin So
let's examine a couple of facts here. First, Taiwan was under Japanese rule in
1911 and second, the ROC has no legitimate authority over Taiwan. It is time for
us to assess the transgression which hangs over Double Ten National Day.
Snotty
collaborators On
the issue of Foreign Affairs Minister Mark Chen's reference to Singapore as a
small piece of snot and embracing China's balls, the media attacks against him
that followed grossly violated basic human rights. When
his counterpart, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo made an offensive speech
at the UN which undermined the security of Taiwan, hardly a word was said about
it. We
wish to protest the following things; first, the pan-blue media's collaboration
with the Singaporean foreign minister in order to appease China's communist
regime, which seeks to suppress the democratically-elected government of Taiwan.
Second,
the fact that the pan-blue media have never denounced the Singaporean official's
remarks, which interfere with Taiwan's internal affairs. Instead, they call
Chen's words an abuse of the freedom of speech. Third,
the pan-blue media's denunciation of the Taiwanese language is tasteless and
disgraceful. We protest the legitimacy of KMT's history of colonial rule over
Taiwan. The Taiwanese language has been suppressed for half a century by the KMT-controlled
media. Fourth,
the pan-blue media have arbitrarily selected a segment of Chen's remarks to
exaggerate the issue. Attempts were made to downgrade the credibility of the
Taiwanese official and existence of Taiwan as an independent and sovereign
nation. Fifth,
the pan-blue camp and its media have no remorse over losing the ROC's UN seat in
1971. Sixth,
I denounce the pan-blue media's apparatus of appeasement of Beijing, which will
inevitably lead to the erosion of human rights in Taiwan. Patrick
Tsay
`ROC'
sham holds back the nation Today,
the country celebrates Double Ten National Day, the birthday of the Republic of
China (ROC). One cannot help but sense the irony in holding such a celebration,
since more and more people are beginning to see for themselves what the
"ROC" really is to Taiwan. Former President Lee Teng-hui's speech on
Friday evening during a videoconference with US officials and academics in
Washington, D.C. reflects the views of those here who have come to realize that
the "ROC" -- far from being a blessing to Taiwan -- has become an
obstacle. Taiwan
was not even part of the ROC when it first came into being almost 93 years ago.
At the time, Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Moreover, the ROC was then the
representative government of China. The association between China and Taiwan is
at most historical and cultural, since the two have not been under the rule of
the same government since Taiwan was ceded to Japan. In fact, for all practical
purposes China was and continues to be an enemy state after the ROC lost power
and the People's Republic of China took control of China. So it is a stretch to
say that "China" is what ties the ROC with Taiwan. The
truth of the matter is that pretending the ROC is still alive and kicking has
done nothing but hurt Taiwan. As pointed out by former president Lee, the use of
the ROC Constitution and "ROC" name is creating both serious internal
and external problems for the nation. That
Constitution, which was adopted in 1912 when Taiwan was neither under ROC rule
nor part of China, was not tailored to meet the needs of this country. Despite
repeated attempts to amend it, the Constitution's flaws are beyond repair. It
continues to create serious crises for Taiwan and keeps the Chen Shui-bian
government from engaging in needed political reforms. Not to mention the fact
that, as stated by Lee, it is against fundamental democratic principles that the
people of Taiwan must obey a Constitution adopted and written without their
participation. The
absurdity of the situation is further highlighted by the fact that this ROC
Constitution continues to declare that China and Mongolia -- two sovereign and
independent countries -- are under its rule. Lee was right in pointing out that
this encroaches on other countries' sovereignty, in violation of international
law. To
make matters worse, Taiwan has been exiled from the international community as a
result of the "ROC" name, Lee went on to say. With the exception of
some 20 countries, the majority of the world's nations do not recognize the
legitimacy of the "ROC" and therefore do not hold formal diplomatic
relations with Taiwan. The country is banned from using the "ROC" name
at most international events, even those that are non-political in nature such
as the Olympics, for which Taiwan must use the name "Chinese Taipei." It
is high time for Taiwan to have a new constitution that fits its needs. Taiwan
is also entitled to use a name that is truly representative of the country.
Pretending that the ROC still exists and that Taiwan is part of it is holding
the country back from continued growth as a democracy. But
in order to accomplish these goals, both people in Taiwan and members of the
international community must first repudiate the "one China" ideology
and policy. Lee's speech on Friday was merely the first step of a campaign to
open the eyes of the international community to what the problems are. Sooner or
latter, the world will have to accept that Lee's speech is representative of a
new majority, and of the popular will in Taiwan.
Bring
investment back to Taiwan By
the Liberty Times editorial An
incomplete understanding of globalization has caused large numbers of
businesspeople to invest in China over the past few years. The negative
long-term effects caused by this are now beginning to show. Unless Taiwanese
businesspeople change their strategies, they may not be able to survive these
problems. Since
the 1980s, large numbers of low-wage workers from developing countries have
entered into international competition. This cheap labor has enticed
manufacturers from Taiwan and other countries to invest in China and other
developing countries. Some manufacturers have even increased production and
profits as a result of this cheap labor. In
a climate of global free competition, however, someone is always prepared to
start or increase production as soon as there are profits to be had. For many
products, this will result in overproduction and falling prices. It
is this situation that, in the past few years, has led to global deflation,
falling profits and an "era of minuscule profits." Due to increased
production of many products and the great investments by some developing
countries -- either to gain market share or initiate grandiose, impressive
projects -- there has been a rapid increase in demand for many raw materials.
This in turn has led to supply falling short of demand, and rapidly increasing
prices for raw materials. If manufacturers try to pass this cost increase on to
consumers, they can be easily undercut by competitors who keep their prices low.
This would cause manufacturers with already razor-thin profit margins to be
unable to stay in operation. Simply
put, these phenomena occur because global supply of raw materials and consumer
demand cannot increase enough to keep pace with the massive increase in the
intermediary processing industries. This is one of the results of globalization.
Although
many businesses already are unable to make a profit, the situation may
deteriorate further still. Even though the businesses engaging in manufacturing
in these developing countries already are unable to turn a profit, some
investors still believe that they are able to do so by taking a greater share of
already existing markets. They therefore continue to invest regardless of
whether there is a market glut. Many
developing countries in particular are able to gain market share because of high
unemployment figures and low labor costs in many local regions. If financial
controls are unsound, cheap capital will be available in these countries,
capital that may not even have to be returned. As a result, investment continues
to increase unchecked, causing further rises in the cost of raw materials and
falling prices for many consumer goods. Entrepreneurs
should recognize this trend and refrain from doing all they can to invest in
developing countries in blind pursuit of short-term profits. An example often
used in economics textbooks says that if a person in a movie theater stands up,
he will be able to see better, but if everyone in the theater stands up, they
will not be able to see any better. The result of everyone taking advantage of
low labor costs to increase production is falling prices on consumer goods,
increased raw material prices and diminishing profits. A few manufacturers may
be able to survive and even thrive, but the numbers of losers and the magnitude
of their losses will be terrifying. In
the past, Taiwanese manufacturers have done everything they can to invest abroad
in order to gain short-term profits. The successful few were then used as
examples to conceal the losses of others and encourage more investment in China.
The difficulty and danger of going down this road is now clear for all to see.
It is to be hoped that businesspeople, politicians and academics will realize
that they should stop blindly encouraging investment in China. The
current situation of rising material costs and falling retail prices makes it
difficult for these developing nations to make a profit and continue to improve.
Although production and market share for certain products may increase
substantially, there are only a few products that will achieve substantial
profits as a result. Many
products that were previously exported from Taiwan are now manufactured and
exported from China, but the price they are fetching is not even one-third of
their former price. This shows that conditions in recent years are far less
favorable to the development of emerging nations than in the days of the
"four little dragons" (Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore). Many
people look with admiration at China's rapid growth over the last few years. But
when compared to the pace of development experienced by the "four little
dragons," we see that their growth exceeded China's by between 50 percent
and 100 percent. With
more and more developing countries entering into global competition, the
availability of materials will be restricted, making further growth for China
and other emerging economies more difficult. Those who put their faith in the
huge Chinese market and invest there are likely to suffer devastating losses. International
trends show that investing in countries like China to take advantage of low
labor costs is far from the best way to develop a company or nation. In
international economic competition marked by an overabundance of cheap labor and
an insufficient supply of materials, we need to rely on superior technology to
achieve victory. We
need to develop a knowledge economy to produce goods that cannot be made in
developing countries and avoid competition based on low wages. In
we follow this policy and focus on creating a knowledge economy, there is no
need to shift operations to developing nations to reduce production costs. We
should instead invest more domestically. Japanese companies are now following
such a strategy. Take
Canon. After many years of overseas investment, the company has decided to
manufacture its high-end products domestically, aiming to keep 80 percent of its
capital investment at home over the next three years. According to Canon's
director, the company can no longer afford to compete on prices with developing
nations. But if the competition is based on picture resolution, Japan will be
the winner. Canon
wants to put its money into research and development, to rapidly develop a range
of new products. The key is that the development team and the production team
should be geographically close to each other, to ensure maximum opportunities
for communication and exchange. Because of this, Canon has decided to repatriate
production lines back to Japan. This
is one of the reasons many push to keep the manufacturing sector alive at home,
and not send money abroad in search of cheaper labor. It is a pity that many of
our business leaders, statesmen and academics cannot appreciate the wisdom of
this long-term policy. Products
that embody new knowledge or technology have higher profit margins, because
competition is not as intense. Since these products can be sold internationally
and don't target a single national market, there is no need to move production
to a specific location. If the product is unique, then there is also little
reason to fear restrictions from other countries who want to protect their own
industry. If
we had adopted this strategy earlier, Taiwanese businesspeople in China would
not be facing their current difficulties -- nor would we have the problem of the
image and technology of Taiwanese products gradually falling behind that of
South Korea. The
situation is already clear. Taiwanese should wake up and shake off the dream of
low-cost competition and the myth of the potential offered by the China market.
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