Washington blunt on arms purchase

STRONG LANGUAGE: Participants at a congressional hearing urged Taiwanese lawmakers to sort out their party squabbles and pass the special weapons budget

BY CHARLES SNYDER

STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

Participants at a hearing on Capitol Hill concerning the military balance in the Taiwan Strait slammed the Legislative Yuan for its failure to approve a special budget to buy US submarines and other weapons, warning that the action could imperil US forces in any future blow-up in the Strait and hurt the US' strategic position in the East Asian region.

The hearing before the congressionally-established US- China Economic and Security Review Commission is expected to play a key role in formulating the Taiwan section of the commission's annual report to Congress on China's military position and its impact on US security interests in East Asia.

The State Department's top expert on China affairs, James Keith, said that the administration "wants results" on legislative approval of the arms package, which has been blocked repeatedly by the opposition in the legislature.

Dismissing explanations from Taiwanese politicians about the reasons for the failure of the legislature to pass a special budget, Keith said the Bush administration is "not interested" in the "ins and outs or the intricacies of domestic politics" in Taiwan.

"From our perspective, this has become an issue that requires results, and requires whatever it takes in terms of the ruling party and the opposition parties coming together to produce positive results," he said.

"Political leadership is necessary, regardless of party, regardless of position in or out of power. It's time to get this done," said Keith, who recently took over as special advisor for East Asia in the department, after having served as consul general in Hong Kong.

Commission member Thomas Donnelly blasted the pan-blue camp.

"The precarious balance of political power in Taiwan has handicapped the island's efforts to stiffen its defenses as China's threat has escalated," he said.

"The opposition party in Taipei sometimes seems to place its own desire to rule above the nation's desire to remain free," he said.

Representative Rob Simmons painted a grim picture of China's military threat to Taiwan and US forces in the Pacific if the Legislative Yuan fails to approve the special budget for eight submarines and 12 P-3C maritime-patrol aircraft, as well as the purchase of other US weaponry.

He told the commission that Beijing has acquired Russian anti-ship cruise missiles that can travel at speeds up to 230km per hour, specifically designed to sink US aircraft carriers.

Driving the message to Taiwan home, Simmons said, "If another global war breaks out, the most powerful weapons will be submarines. The proliferation of cruise missiles and rockets aboard torpedoes make ships especially vulnerable in modern naval contests."

"The US and Taiwan must understand this reality if they're to safely deter aggression," he said.

Simmons represents Connecticut's second congressional district, which includes the Groton shipyard, which is perhaps the world's biggest manufacturer of submarines, and one of the biggest producers of US military and foreign military sales subs.

The Groton facility is likely to stand the best chance of winning the contract to build the multi-billion dollar submarine component of the special arms budget.

Turning to domestic Taiwanese politics, Simmons said, "despite the grave danger it faces, the Taiwanese may make the situation worse by failing to move forward with a much needed special budget to fund [their] critical defense requirements."

As for the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) opposition to the purchases, Simmons noted that while President Chen Shui-bian has urged passage of the arms budget, "political elements in Taiwan have obstructed the special budget."

"The people of Taiwan should know two things," he said.

"First, delay in approval of the special budget leaves Taiwan defenseless and will only encourage aggression," he said.

"Second, blocking the arms package tells the US that the Taiwan leadership is not serious about the security of its people," he said.

Uyghur organization's president attacks PRC oppression in Xinjiang

BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN

STAFF REPORTER

World Uyghur Congress (WUC) president Erkin Alptekin yesterday urged the international community to intervene and pressure the Chinese government into starting talks with the Uyghur people of Xinjiang so that disputes there can be resolved peacefully.

Alptekin, who is in Taipei attending the World Forum on Democratization in Asia, hosted by Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, made the remarks at a press conference yesterday.

The objective of the WUC is to promote the right of the Uyghur people to use peaceful, non-violent and democratic means to determine the political future of Xinjiang, which the congress prefers to call East Turkistan.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Chinese government has staged a worldwide campaign blaming Uyghurs fighting for the independence of the autonomous region as terrorists.

"The Chinese government used the world struggle against international terrorism as an excuse to massively crack down on Uyghur people," Alptekin said.

He said that China has arrested more than 3,000 Uyghurs, executed 200 and sentenced another 15 to death.

"We are afraid that the pressure the Chinese government is placing on East Turkestan will cause a major uprising in our country," he said.

"The pressure has been gradually growing since Sept. 11, and this has made our people fall into a hopeless, desperate and frustrated situation," Alptekin said.

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government attempting to portray us as terrorists, because the Uyghur people, who have played a major role in the enrichment of central Asian civilization for more than a thousand years, cannot be terrorists," he said.

Hold a referendum on the UN bid

Just like the previous 12 attempts, the General Committee of the UN's General Assembly has blocked Taiwan's thirteenth attempt to gain UN membership. For Taiwan, this result is but another temporary setback in the ongoing process toward achieving its ultimate goal. Taiwan will not stop trying to gain entry into the UN until it opens its doors.

Unlike the previous bids, the government this year also put forward a proposal aiming to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait. The proposal cautions all UN member states that China has 700-plus ballistic missiles targeted at Taiwan, and alerts it to the fact that all nations in the region are concerned about this.

It also urges the UN to demonstrate its deep concern over China's tendency to use military force, by showing solidarity with Taiwan's universal wish for peace. Although the Swedish President of the General Assembly, Jan Eliasson, concluded following the debate that Taiwan's proposals would not be included in the General Assembly's agenda due to a lack of consensus on both issues, that approach has caused the international community to take heed of the cross-strait situation and Taiwan's status. Although Taiwan yet has to succeed in its bid, this has indeed meant some progress in the matter.

China is a permanent member of the UN's Security Council, with veto powers and great influence, so it isn't very surprising that both of Taiwan's proposals were blocked. It should be noted that China's representative saw the visits to China by Taiwan's opposition leaders as helpful in furthering China's international propaganda, saying that those visits showed the international community that there is no cross-strait tension and that UN membership for Taiwan is a non-issue.

China thus used diverging opinions among Taiwan's political parties as a tool for attacking Taiwan's pursuit of UN membership. The fact that China can use Taiwan's opposition parties in its propaganda is a national tragedy.

In the past, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan served as foreign minister, premier and vice president, and People First Party Chairman James Soong served as KMT secretary-general and provincial governor of Taiwan. They both pushed hard for the nation's return to the UN.

Now, however, they are acting as the vanguard for China-friendly agents and going against the interests of the whole population of Taiwan to further their own political interest, as a result of their resentment over President Chen Shui-bian's re-election.

When China's President Hu Jintao invited Lien and Soong to Zhongnanhai, that was of course part of China's unification efforts. Nothing comes for free in this world, and the people of Taiwan now have to pay the price in the form of the nation's UN membership. The fact that China blocked Taiwan's proposals in the General Committee should not frustrate us, but it was certainly chilling to see the Taiwan's opposition leaders being used as a shield by Beijing.

The fact that Taiwan's politicians have failed to reach a basic consensus on major national goals and unite in their dealings with the international community gives China's united front approach chance after chance to attack Taiwan.

The fact is, the biggest problem with Taiwan's UN bid is Taiwan, not China. Past opinion polls showed more than 80 percent of Taiwanese support the government's UN bid, yet politicians' shortsighted actions neglect public opinion to promote their individual and their parties' interests, and this has become the biggest obstacle in making a bid for UN membership.

The government should therefore hold a referendum on the bid, together with the year-end elections. Apart from showing the people's determination, it would also restrain politicians in words and deeds. Whoever opposes the bid would then be considered a public enemy.

Let's plug into the regional economy

By Chen Hurng-yu

`While every East Asian nation expresses a wish to participate in the summit, no one mentions Taiwan. Nor do we hear government officials expressing any wish to participate in similar organizations or suggesting that participation in regional economic activities be used to increase Taiwan's economic strength.'

The East Asian Summit (EAS) will be held in Malaysia in December, thereby realizing a suggestion first made by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1990. Changes over time and the vigor of the East Asian economies have made the summit unavoidable -- and Taiwan cannot sit by idly and watch economic development in East Asia pass by without it.

When Mahathir suggested the concept of an East Asian economic group 15 years ago, he advocated a membership made up strictly of East Asian states. The suggestion was immediately opposed by Japan and the US. Japan opposed this protectionist regional economic group and stressed its preference for a global view of economic development. The US saw it as an economic organization which, by only including East Asian states, would destroy efforts to expand economic cooperation in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

The US also felt that it should be included in the summit because of its close economic ties with the region, and objected to the organization since it felt that it might develop into an economic and trade group that excluded others.

In reality, the US worried that it would be excluded as a result of racial concerns. The US' opposition displeased Mahathir, who later refused to participate in the Fifth Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial meeting in Seattle in 1993.

At last year's ASEAN summit in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, an agreement was reached that the ASEAN should support Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council in exchange for Japan's agreement to participate in the summit. This was a breakthrough that meant the beginning of the end to the deadlock surrounding the summit.

In December of last year, Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi first said that Australia and New Zealand might be invited to the summit. Singapore's Foreign Minister, George Yeo, said that Singapore supported the participation of Australia, New Zealand and India. Malaysia and other East Asian states, however, later decided that Australia should not be welcome to the summit due to its refusal to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

When hosting the Second ASEAN Leadership Forum at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that Malaysia did not approve of Australian, Japanese or Indian participation in the first summit, but that these countries could engage in dialogue on another occasion with the EAS regarding East Asia-related issues.

In order to solve the issue of what states would be allowed to participate, the foreign ministers of the ASEAN member states called a meeting in Cebu in the Philippines in April this year, at which they laid down three conditions for participation in the summit. First, the state must be a full ASEAN dialogue partner. Second, the state must have substantial relations with the ASEAN. Third, the state must approve of and have signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

These three conditions were aimed at Australia and New Zealand. Australia did not want to sign the treaty at first. But in order to be allowed to participate in the summit, the Australian parliament ratified the treaty last month, while New Zealand ratified it in July. With Australia's taking a low profile and approving the treaty, ASEAN scored yet another victory.

All along, no one has broached the issue of whether the US should be invited to participate in the EAS -- a matter of obvious concern to the US. In February this year, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Yeo that the EAS should be open to any state wishing to participate. During her visit to Asia in March, she repeated the same request in both South Korea and Japan. She also believes that India should be allowed to participate, as the US supports an important regional role for India.

Japan is the only state that has shown public concern over the fact that the US has not been invited to participate in the summit. At a June 6 press conference, Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hatsuhisa Takashima said that Japan wants the US to participate in the EAS as an observer. Takashima also stressed that the US is a Pacific nation with deep traditional and historical bonds with East Asia, adding that US participation would help promote solidarity among the East Asian states.

Japan's viewpoint, however, did not manage to solicit a positive response from the ASEAN. In August, ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said that the summit will not spoil US interests in East Asia, and offered a further explanation by saying that the goal of the EAS is not to build a formal framework, but rather to build a joint vision in the face of globalization and find answers on how to respond to terrorism and the spread of global disease. Ong did not think it possible that the US would be given observer status at the ESA.

The US has focused its efforts in East Asia in recent years on anti-terror measures and has neglected economic interaction with East Asian states. During the Asian financial crisis, the US did not offer timely assistance.

The ASEAN member states remembered this and allowed China to expand its economic activities in the region. Although the US is already alert to this situation, it seems unable to achieve what it wants.

It also had to rely on Japan to speak for it, and was unable to grasp the main points of the situation. Unless the US takes further action, it risks being sidestepped in the area of economic cooperation.

When Mahathir suggested an East Asian economic group, he specifically clarified that he wanted Taiwan to participate. The situation at the time was beneficial to Taiwan, which was getting more attention due to its economic clout. That was also the reason Taiwan managed to gain membership in APEC.

Today, Taiwan's economy has stagnated and lacks the strength to start up again. While every East Asian nation expresses a wish to participate in the summit, no one mentions Taiwan.

Nor do we hear government officials expressing any wish to participate in similar organizations or suggesting that participation in regional economic activities be used to increase Taiwan's economic strength.

We seem to have been disconnected from the surrounding world. Is economic regression the main factor that has diminished us and made us lose confidence? If that's the case, then strengthening the economy is the most urgent issue facing us today.

Chen Hurng-yu is a professor in the history department at National Chengchi University.

Pan-blue mayhem hurts democracy

By Chao Lai-wang

The first day of the latest legislative session was simply a farce orchestrated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, who occupied the legislative floor holding placards and banners demanding new legislative elections and that the president, vice president, premier and legislature step down, as well as slogans like, "Corrupt Cabinet: Premier should face investigation" and "Fight corruption, save Taiwan."

This behavior set a terrible example for the public. If the KMT intends to force a re-election of the legislature, it should call for a no-confidence vote against Premier Frank Hsieh. Once such a no-confidence vote is passed, the governing party can invoke the Constitution to ask the president to dissolve the legislature. This will necessitate a new legislative election.

Democratic politics, simply put, is about replacing breaking heads with counting heads, and replacing boycotts with the drawing up of proposals. It is certainly not about engaging in pointless political bickering.

Recently there seemed to be a chance of the legislature passing the arms procurement act, but People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong dashed people's hopes by making an outrageous statement: "The PFP does not want to squander the nation's wealth, so it blocked the rash passage of the arms procurement act in the last legislative session and will do so again in this one."

Such a remark seems inexplicable. This sudden turnabout can only appear to the public as opposition for opposition's sake, or perhaps Soong is seeking some political advantage for his party with this move.

Besides, the pan-blues have said that they would be letting the pan-green camp off the hook if they permitted the bill to be put before the legislature. They portray their majority as a fragile one, and claim to fear that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would use its administrative resources to lure pan-blue legislators into supporting the bill.

In fact, the pan-blues are attempting to cover up their wrongdoing with exaggerated rhetoric. They are doing all they can to obstruct all types of bills in the Procedure Committee, which resulted in a number of important bills -- such as the arms procurement bill and the "eight-year, NT$80 billion" flood control budget -- not being discussed in the legislature.

How can anyone believe that the pan-blue camp has Taiwan's interests at heart while it is behaving in such a manner?

Chao Lai-wang is a legislator for the DPP.