20050715

We need a new policy on China: SEF

DOMESTIC CONSENSUS: The Straits Exchange Foundation chairman was pessimistic about talks with China, and argued that China's new 'flexibility' was of some concern

By Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTER

The government must develop a new approach to governing the nation and create a public consensus on its China policy, newly appointed Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chang Chun-hsiung said yesterday.

Chang also said that a meeting between President Chen Shui-bian and Chinese President Hu Jintao would be extremely difficult to arrange in the short term.

Chang, a former premier and secretary-general of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said the new generation of Chinese leaders is adopting a more flexible strategy regarding Taiwan, and that it was crucial for the nation to build a domestic consensus on cross-strait affairs, to find a breakthrough in cross-strait interaction and to implement a new approach to governing the country.

"Before, the people of Taiwan adopted an uncompromising attitude toward China's missile threat. However, China has changed its strategy over time and is now using softer tactics toward Taiwan," he said.

Examples of this were inviting the opposition parties' leaders to China, allowing customs-duty exemptions for Taiwanese products and opening the Chinese market to Taiwanese fruit, he said.

"Many of our people are confused over whether China's actions amount to goodwill or are just part of its unification war," he said.

In this regard, Chang said he had advised the DPP to adjust its China policy and develop a new theory of governance so that a public consensus on cross-strait relations could gradually emerge.

"I think that the government is obliged to explain to the people its new discourse and direction in governing the country and make them understand the government's dilemma and limitations in Taiwan-China affairs," he said.

Speaking on a potential Chen-Hu meeting, Chang said that although Chen was quite confident about arranging a conference with Hu, such a significant meeting could not possibly be decided unilaterally.

"The world situation is also crucial to any Chen-Hu meeting," Chang said.

"The president has hopes for a meeting but he is patient and is not in a hurry," he said.

Careful preparation, proper timing and mutual trust are indispensable elements for a successful meeting between the leaders of both sides, he said.

"However, to be frank, facilitating a Chen-Hu meeting is still a task of considerable difficulty for the near future," he said.

Chang suggested that the next three years offered a golden opportunity for the two sides to build a channel for negotiations.

"From now until 2008 there will be a more stable period for both sides, which I think is the best time for resuming cross-strait dialogue. If we miss it, it will be hard to say when the next time may be," Chang said.

One week later, Britain mourns bombing victims

GRIEF: London came to a standstill for two minutes yesterday as the shocked city remembered innocent victims of what was likely a series of suicide bombings

AP , LONDON

Britons yesterday remembered the victims of the London terrorist bombings a week ago with two minutes of silent reflection. Taxis and buses pulled over to the side of the road and workers put down their tools in honor of the dead and wounded.

Police in London handed out leaflets asking for help in tracking down the bombers, and authorities in the northern city of Leeds -- where investigators believe the suspects came from -- searched another address in their hunt for evidence.

Office workers streamed outside and construction crews stood with their hard hats at their sides. Thousands were heading for Trafalgar Square for a show of unity and defiance.

At Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II emerged just before noon and stood silently in the main gateway to the palace.

British television interrupted normal broadcasting to show photos of the aftermath of the July 7 attacks: soot-faced commuters fleeing in fear and paramedics tending to the injured.

In Leeds, hundreds gathered outside the Hamara Living Center, where one of the suspects had counseled disabled youth. With heads bowed, they faced the center and marked the moment.

"We condemn these terrorists and what they have done," said Munir Shah, the imam of the Stratford Street mosque near the Leeds neighborhood that police were searching. "We refuse to call them Muslims. They are not. Islam does not agree or teach about the killing of innocent people."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair marked the two-minute silence in the garden of his official residence at 10 Downing Street, where he was hosting a reception for police officers receiving bravery awards not related to the bombings. In the House of Commons and the House of Lords, lawmakers broke off debates to join in the silence.

Trucks, cars and mounted police all paused along the busy Euston Road outside King's Cross station, where a memorial garden has been a focus of the city's grief. London Mayor Ken Livingstone laid a wreath there, and hundreds stood outside to observe the silence at the station near the worst of the attacks -- a subway bombing that killed at least 21 people.

People across Europe also paused for two minutes of silence yesterday to honor the victims.

In Paris, where Bastille Day celebrations were under way, sirens wailed across the city and French President Jacques Chirac and visiting Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula de Silva stood at attention outside the Elysee Palace.

In Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that hopes to start EU membership talks in October, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and two other ministers stood in silence for two minutes, interrupting a meeting in Ankara.

The Times newspaper, quoting unidentified police sources, said detectives were interested in locating M. Asi el-Mashar, 33, an Egyptian-born academic who recently taught chemistry at Leeds University. The Times said he was thought to have rented one of the homes being searched in Leeds.

Neighbors reported that el-Mashar had recently left Britain, saying he had a visa problem, the Times reported.

The Daily Telegraph said police were trying to identify a man seen standing near the four suspects on the platform at Luton railway station, where they apparently boarded a train for London on the morning of the bombings.

The Evening Standard reported on Wednesday that police had spotted a fifth man on a tape showing the group at King's Cross about 20 minutes before the explosions.

Late on Wednesday, Scotland Yard said anti-terror police had raided a residence northwest of London as part of their investigations into the bombings. No arrests were reported.

News reports have identified three Britons of Pakistani descent as suspects in the July 7 attacks on three underground trains and a bus in London that killed 52 and injured 700.

Britain's Press Association, citing police sources, said that police had identified a fourth suspect but no name or details were reported.

The beginning of World War II in the Pacific was marked by the announcement: "Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." US President Franklin Roosevelt's speech of Dec. 8, 1941 was immediately followed by a Congressional declaration of war.

On the following day, Dec. 9, Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China (ROC) also declared war against Japan.

Formosa and the Pescadores had been ceded to Japan in the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki.

Under international law, there is no doubt that Japan had possession of the sovereignty of these areas after 1895.

During the course of the Pacific war, the historical record shows that all military attacks against Japanese Formosa and the Pescadores, and indeed against the four main Japanese islands, were conducted by US military forces. It is very significant that the ROC military forces did not participate.

According to the precedent established in the Mexican American War, the Spanish American War and others, after the end of hostilities, the US became the principal occupying power of these areas.

In early August 1945, the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, and the Japanese surrendered on Aug. 15. US troops were in Formosa soon after, and on Sept. 1, US naval vessels arrived to arrange for the transport of 1,000 US prisoners of war to Manila.

On Sept. 2, General Douglas MacArthur directed the senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces on Formosa to surrender to Chiang (ie, the ROC military forces).

The relationship between the US and the ROC in the military occupation of Formosa and the Pescadores (hereafter called "Taiwan") is important. The US is the principal occupying power. The ROC is the subordinate occupying power. MacArthur gave orders to Chiang, and the generalissimo accepted them. This is a principal-agent relationship.

There were three mistakes made by the US. The ROC military forces accepted the surrender of Japanese troops on Oct. 25, 1945, in Taipei. The ROC officials immediately announced this occasion as Taiwan Retrocession Day; however, such an announcement was a violation of the laws of war. It is extremely regrettable that the US government made no effort to correct this error at the time. This was the first major mistake by the US in the handling of Taiwanese affairs in the post-war period.

According to the Hague Conventions of 1907, the date of Oct. 25, 1945 can only be interpreted as the beginning of the military occupation of Taiwan. Military occupation is conducted under military government, and the US has delegated the military occupation of Taiwan to the ROC. The US Military Government (USMG) in Taiwan began as of Oct. 25, 1945.

In November 1945, the ROC government announced the mass naturalization of native persons in Taiwan as "ROC citizens."

Additionally, military conscription laws regarding Taiwanese males were put into effect shortly thereafter. Such unilateral announcements regarding naturalization and military conscription over persons in occupied territory are violations of the laws of war. It is extremely regrettable that the US government made no efforts to correct these errors at the time. These were the second and third major mistakes by the US in the handling of Taiwanese affairs in the post-war period.

By late 1949, with a civil war raging in China, additional military forces and government officials of the ROC fled to Taiwan. As of early 1950, the ROC government in Taiwan was "wearing two hats" -- it was a subordinate occupying power (beginning Oct. 25, 1945), exercising effective territorial control over Taiwan, and at the same time it was a government-in-exile -- beginning in December 1949.

Decisions regarding the transfer of Taiwan's sovereignty were to be made in the post-war peace treaty. Hence, in early 1950 the ROC was clearly not in possession of the sovereignty of Taiwan. Statements made in the 1943 Cairo Declaration and 1945 Potsdam Proclamation were "expressions of intent" made before the close of the war, but the final determination of Taiwan's status would be made under the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT) signed Sept. 8, 1951.

On April 28, 1952, the SFPT came into force. Japan renounced sovereignty of Taiwan in Article 2b. However, no receiving country was specified. This is a "limbo cession." The US is confirmed as the principal occupying power in Article 23.

Final disposition of Taiwan was to be according to the directives of the USMG, as per Article 4b: Japan recognizes the validity of dispositions of property of Japan and Japanese nationals made by or pursuant to the directives of the USMG in any of the areas referred to in Articles 2 and 3.

In English, the word property includes "the right of ownership or title." With regard to territorial cessions, this includes "sovereignty."

As we know, the ROC was the legal government of China as referred to in World War II. However, the ROC failed to maintain its legal position when it fled to Taiwan in late 1949. As of late April 1952, with the coming into force of the SFPT, the ROC was not the legally recognized government of Taiwan; it was merely a subordinate occupying power and government in exile.

With this recognition, an analysis of Taiwan's position under international law and US Constitutional law from late April 1952 up to the present day can proceed in a very straightforward fashion. An examination of the situation of Puerto Rico and Cuba after the Spanish American War provides the necessary legal background, especially with regard to the doctrine of "unincorporated territory."

After the SFPT cession by Japan, Taiwan is clearly "unincorporated territory under the USMG." In other words, it is foreign territory under the dominion of the US, which is also a very close equivalent to an overseas territory of the US.

Roger Lin and Richard Hartzell are members of the Political Research Committee of the Taiwan Defense Alliance.