Chinese attacking CEC computers: DPP's Sandy Yen
　

TARGETED: The legislator said that computers of several legislative aides automatically distributed e-mail messages with fraudulent information
By Jimmy Chuang and Wang Pei-hua
　

STAFF REPORTERS
Saturday, Jan 05, 2008, Page 1

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Sandy Yen (莊和子) said yesterday that Chinese hackers had gained access to computers belonging to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the legislature and certain legislative candidates.

"I have received tips and have reported it to the Bureau of Investigation. Their initial investigation showed that computers at these places had been hacked or implanted with viruses by unidentified Chinese hackers," Yen said in a press release.

She said that several legislative aides had discovered that their computers, which are hooked up to the legislature's network, had also been hacked.

Their computers automatically distributed e-mail messages with viruses or fraudulent information to random recipients, she said.

Yen said the bureau had found that Chinese hackers were targeting certain DPP legislative candidates, hacking into their computers and sending e-mail messages to their supporters and the press containing fake information.

The bureau found that at least 20 DPP legislative candidates were affected, she said.

Yen said that the bureau believed Chinese hackers had possibly targeted certain computers to disrupt the elections or affect the campaigns of specific DPP legislative candidates.

The identity of the hackers remains a mystery, Yen said.

Yen said computer technicians were working on computers at the legislature to patch up weak spots in the network, delete viruses and restore files.

In related news, Web log service providers including Pixnet have discovered that domestic blogs are being blocked by Chinese firewalls.

Service providers said the blockade could be related to the upcoming elections and the appearance of political campaign ads on Web sites, or because of this year's Beijing Olympics.

Taiwanese businesses in China say that they are accustomed to Web sites being blocked without explanation.

Pixnet, Taiwan's fifth-largest blogging service provider, noticed two months ago that users in China could not access its content.

After ascertaining that its own systems were functioning normally, Pixnet determined the cause to be Chinese firewalls. While unable to provide an explanation, Pixnet chairman Lee Chun-kuang (李俊廣) said Taiwanese blogs hosted by Wretch, Xuite and Yam were also being blocked.

Taiwanese blogs on Sina, a China-based company, are also blocked, with the exception of blogs that discuss Taiwanese celebrities.

Yam's Taiwanese blogs have been blocked for over a year.

Chinese authorities censor international news concerning China and subjects abroad they deem sensitive, such as the Dalai Lama.

Most Taiwanese media Web sites are blocked in China.

Some search engines and Web services, such as Yahoo, filter their search results in response to pressure from Beijing.

Pro-independence groups lend their support to the TSU
　

SOUR RELATIONS: A number of independence activists slammed the DPP for trying to squeeze out the smaller party in the competition for votes

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Jan 05, 2008, Page 3

A group of independence activists and academics yesterday publicly voiced their support for the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), two days after several pro-independence groups lent their backing to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Pro-independence groups, including Taiwan Society, Northern Taiwan Society and Southern Taiwan Society, on Wednesday called on voters to cast their second party vote for the DPP rather than the TSU, while questioning whether the latter had deviated from the path of Taiwan-centric consciousness after transforming itself into a "center-left" party.

But in a rejection of the DPP's call, another group of independence activists and academics -- including former presidential adviser Huang Tien-lin (黃天麟), former national policy adviser Hsieh Tsung-min (謝聰敏) and Tamkang University professor Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) -- came forth in support of the TSU yesterday.

Shih slammed the DPP for trying to act as a proxy for all the pro-Taiwan independence forces by pushing the TSU into a corner.

Relations between the DPP and the TSU have turned sour in recent months in part because of fierce competition ahead of the legislative elections next Saturday and to what the DPP described as the TSU's shift away from a "Taiwan-centric" stance.

In the DPP's battle to win a significant number of seats in the legislature, it fears that the TSU could split the pro-independence votes and hurt DPP candidates' chances of wrestling seats from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), observers said.

DPP Vice Secretary-General Liu Chien-hsin (劉建忻) has said that the party seeks to secure 50 seats in the new legislature, which will have a total of 113 members.

Meanwhile, the DPP yesterday urged the TSU to refrain from taking legal action against a top DPP official, who called on voters not to vote for TSU candidates, for allegedly violating the election law.

Liu said the TSU was simply trying to win voters' support ahead of the election.

"There is no need for the TSU to resort to legal means over the issue as it is normal for the public to freely express their support for a certain political party or a particular candidate in a democracy," he said.

Liu made the remarks after TSU officials said that they were considering filing a complaint against former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun and several pro-independence groups on charges of breaking the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法) by asking voters not to vote for TSU candidates.

DPP appeals to Kinmen residents with vow to use stolen assets for demining

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Jan 05, 2008, Page 3

The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) branch in Kinmen County has appealed to local residents to support a DPP-initiated referendum on retrieving the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) stolen assets, promising that the returned assets can be used for demining operations on the island group.

The islands, which lie closer to China's Fujian Province than to Taiwan, became a battlefield in 1949 during the KMT's flight to Taiwan.

The island is estimated to be covered with more than 70,000 mines laid during the period of confrontation with the communists.

Chen Tsang-chiang (陳滄江), director of the DPP's Kinmen County chapter, DPP legislative candidate Tang Huei-pei (唐惠霈) and party member Wong Ming-chih (翁明志) issued the appeal on Wednesday at a news briefing held at a mine field.

Their appeal to voters came days after the KMT urged voters to boycott the "party assets" referendum and a KMT-initiated referendum on fighting corruption to avoid confusion during the upcoming legislative election this month, in which ballots for the referendums will also be handed out to voters.

The DPP officials on Wednesday also sought to clarify accusations by Kinmen Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李炷烽), who concurrently serves as the campaign manager of KMT legislative candidate Wu Cheng-tien (吳成典), that the Ministry of National Defense plans to build a missile base on the island and that the stalling of demining operations was a DPP election ploy to appeal to voters.

Calling Lee's accusations groundless, Chen said the KMT should be held responsible for the minefields on Kinmen as it planted more than "100,000 mines" there after fleeing to Taiwan in 1949.

Dismissing Lee's assertion that clearing mines was one of Wu's achievements, Chen said that the mine-clearing operations did not begin until the DPP came to power, adding that the DPP administration has since 2006 earmarked NT$4.6 billion (US$142 million) for demining operations.

Last April, the government resolved to clear all minefields on Kinmen and Matsu within seven years.

More than 200 suspected land mine sites remain to be cleared on Kinmen, posing a threat to residents, an army official said at the time.

Wong on Wednesday also accused the KMT of fabricating accusations against the central government, while turning a blind eye to China's deployment of more than 1,000 missiles against Taiwan.

Tang said that building Kinmen into an island of peace was in line with his campaign theme, which also conforms with DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign policy of clearing land mines to attract foreign investment to the island.

Time for China to get used to the truth
　

By Lin Cho-shui 林濁水
Saturday, Jan 05, 2008, Page 8

THE US BELIEVES that China, Taiwan and itself are responsible for maintaining a "status quo" that sees Taiwan as neither legally independent nor unified -- and considers anything else to be "provocative."

Recently, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice severely criticized Taiwan's referendum on UN membership, calling it a provocation. The US Department of Defense Web site confirmed that Taiwan's referendum constitutes de jure independence. However, the US Department of Defense subsequently altered its stance.

The two statements made by the US Department of Defense were in complete contradiction.

Whether from the perspective of Taiwan's perceived motivation to join the UN, or from the purely political theory that a UN member is by definition a sovereign nation -- as opposed to an "autonomous separate customs region" as Taiwan is called in the WTO -- the first reaction of the US Department of Defense would best follow previous statements of US policy. Yet if Taiwan's pursuit of de jure independence were recognized, it would be awkward for both the US and for China -- hence the correction.

According to political theory, the referendum on UN membership constitutes an act of sovereign independence. However, it must be rhetorically defined as "provocation" rather than an act of de jure independence because of practical considerations. This results in a contradiction between the theoretical definition and political rhetoric. China and the US have refused to acknowledge prior attempts by Taiwan to exercise its independence, so the contradiction is also one between subjective wishful thinking and objective reality, almost to the point of blatant denial.

The inconsistency of the US is based on this contradiction. The same applies to China: Though the referendum is clearly an exercise of independent sovereignty, Chinese State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Deputy Director Sun Yafu (孫亞夫) insisteddthat it is merely a superficial expression of independence, despite other officials considering it a step toward de jure independence.

China tries to avoid a concrete definition of Taiwanese independence. For instance, it does not allow Taiwan to declare independence, but it turned a deaf ear on New Year's Day, 2005, when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said that the Republic of China is a sovereign independent state whose sovereignty belongs to the Taiwanese.

In the 1990s, China criticized Taiwan's various moves and statements as seeking independence and attempts to divide the country. These accusations were in accordance with reality as China saw it, but following up on them often proved problematic. The most serious form of counteraction would be military action, but that comes with considerable negative consequences. Instead, China has taken to gradually replacing political definitions with rhetoric.

Taiwan, under China's pressure, also emphasizes that acts of sovereignty are not equivalent to independence. However, this is perhaps unwise, as it is tantamount to agreeing with the US' and China's stance that Taiwanese independence is a crime.

Proclaiming that we insist upon independence at any cost is probably not a good option, though we should still tactfully and firmly assert our political stance. At most, Taiwan could choose to remain silent, but it should never give the impression that Taiwanese independence is a crime, and thus deny its own stance on independence.

Unfortunately, even those who claim to be fundamental proponents of independence have moved toward denying this stance. The strategy Taiwan should adopt is getting China used to the fact that truth cannot be altered to its preference.

Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.