Ma cautiously welcomes Hu comments
　

DIPLOMACY: The AIT chief told Chen Shui-bian yesterday that he would only respond in private to his questions about the Cairo Declaration and so-called `1992 consensus'
　

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTERS
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008, Page 1
　

Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) expression of willingness to resume cross-strait negotiations could be interpreted as a goodwill gesture from China and a positive sign for the development of cross-strait relations, president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said.

Nevertheless, caution was warranted, Ma told reporters yesterday after a private meeting with American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt at Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters in Taipei.

"We still need to confirm his comments and gain a better understanding of what he said," Ma said.

Hu reportedly indicated during a telephone conversation with US President George W. Bush on Wednesday that he would be willing to reopen cross-strait talks on the basis of the so-called "1992 consensus," which describes that both sides concede separate interpretations of the "one China" policy.

The "consensus" is not universally recognized as valid in Taiwan.

Ma said that since China's state-run news agency Xinhua did not make any mention of "one China, with each side having its own interpretation" in its Chinese news release, he would remain cautious about Hu's comments and continue to seek more information on the content of Hu and Bush's conversation.

"If the US and Chinese presidents both accepted the concept of `one China, with each side having its own interpretation,' it should have a positive impact on future cross-strait relations," Ma said.

In its English news release, Xinhua quoted Hu as telling Bush: "It is China's consistent stand that the Chinese mainland [sic] and Taiwan should restore consultation and talks on the basis of the 1992 consensus."

The report said Hu also expressed appreciation to the US for its "one China" policy, and "opposing" Taiwanese independence, last week's referendum on UN membership and Taiwan's bids to join international organizations that require statehood.

Xinhua only mentioned the "1992 consensus" in the Chinese version of the report.

Ma said it was important for China to accept that the "1992 consensus" stipulated separate interpretations of "one China."

He said that Taiwan interpreted "one China" to mean "the Republic of China (ROC)."

Burghardt yesterday expressed optimism about future US-Taiwan relations, saying he believed the two nations' relationship would be "excellent" under Ma's administration.

Prior to his one-hour closed meeting with Ma, Burghardt had visited President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at the Presidential Office.

Burghardt told Chen during the meeting, which was open to the media, that the US would not come between Taiwan and China in terms of dealing with cross-strait issues and preconditions for cross-strait dialogue.

"The way in which you choose to deal with the tough issues, or the preconditions set by one side or the other, are your business, not our business," Burghardt said.

"But personally I have great faith that people will find ways to talk once again, just as they found a way in the past," he said. "Americans have always respected and been impressed by the ability of huaren [Chinese] on both sides of the Strait to find a way to talk with each other."

The AIT chairman made the remarks after Chen sought his views on two questions: whether the so-called "1992 consensus" actually existed and whether the Cairo Declaration was a legitimate document on which China could base a claim for sovereignty over Taiwan.

Burghardt declined to express an opinion in the presence of the media, saying that, "I think it's perhaps best that we do those in private. I don't trust my ability as a historian to do so in public."

Chen said he wished Burghardt could give him an account of Bush's stance on the "1992 consensus" when he spoke to Hu on Wednesday.

Chen said the "consensus" had been made up by then Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) on April 28, 2000, a few weeks before Chen's inauguration, and that Su had openly admitted that he had made up the term.

The president said it would be a good thing for Taiwan and China to engage in dialogue, "which is an objective that we have worked hard for the past eight years."

Nevertheless, it would be very strange if cross-strait dialogue were to be based on the "1992 consensus," he said.

"Eight years ago, the Beijing government also asked me to accept the so-called `1992 consensus,' but we couldn't accept it because we believe it does not exist," Chen said.

"If such a consensus had truly been reached during talks in Hong Kong between China and Taiwan in 1992, why did nobody mention it at the time and why was no reference to it made between 1992 and 2000?" Chen said.

Beijing would never accept the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) definition that "each side has its own interpretation of `one China,'" he said, as that would imply "two Chinas" or "one Taiwan, one China."

"Beijing refuses to accept that Taiwan is a sovereign country and would not agree that `one China' could refer to the ROC," Chen said.

He said that the Cairo Declaration could not be used as a legal foundation for China to claim sovereignty over Taiwan.

Not only was the declaration not signed by US president Franklin Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill and dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), but there was neither a date nor any official affirmation of the document, Chen said.

"When Churchill was questioned about it in the British parliament, he said that the Cairo Declaration could not be seen as a legal foundation for China to claim it owned sovereignty over Taiwan," Chen said.

In a meeting with print media later yesterday, Burghardt reiterated the US' apparent "hands-off" approach to possible Taipei-Beijing talks, stressing that Washington's interpretation of the "1992 consensus" was "not important" and that the US would be pleased to see both sides reach a compromise on a vehicle for negotiations.

"The US interpretation is not important. How to determine a basis for negotiations was something that was decided by the mainland [sic] and Taiwan in 1992," Burghardt said.

No matter what language or which term is used to label the 1992 meeting, whether it be an "agreement" or a "consensus," it was an agreement to enable talks to be held, he said.

"If the two sides can find a formula that works for them and feel comfortable with, without betraying [their] own core interest in coming up with the formula, then what is there for the US to have an opinion about?" Burghardt said.

He said the US has long maintained that it had no intention to function as a mediator in cross-strait negotiations and that he surmised both sides might not even welcome US intervention in the process.

The "1992 consensus" also dominated much of the discussion in the legislature yesterday.

In response to a question from KMT Legislator John Wu (吳志揚), Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said he remained unsure if China had extended a gesture of goodwill by calling for cross-strait negotiation on the basis of the "1992 consensus."

Chang said the government had reservations about the content of the Bush-Hu discussion, because there seemed to be a "gap" between China's official press release after the telephone call and the "general interpretation of the consensus" in the world.

"We are not confident that China meant it" when Hu said China was willing to resume cross-strait negotiation on the basis of the "1992 consensus," Chang said.

Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said that he would not consider the result of the Bush-Hu discussion a major improvement in cross-strait relations unless Hu publicly stated that he agreed Taiwan could define "one China" as the ROC.

"Cross-strait relations are complicated. We should not cheer too soon," Chen Ming-tong said. "Over the years, we have not benefited from our ambiguity strategy. What we need now is a clear-cut strategy."

Wu, however, called the result of the Bush-Hu dialogue a "good beginning."

Wu said that it was more important that the international community dealt with issues concerning cross-strait relations based on the "1992 consensus."

He also rejected the Democratic Progressive Party caucus' previous claim that the KMT's emphasis on the consensus was part of its plan to "sell out" Taiwan.

"If the KMT's support of the 1992 consensus were a strategy to sell out Taiwan, the KMT would not have won the presidential election," Wu said.

North Korea tests missiles in angry response to South

AP, SEOUL
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008, Page 1

North Korea test-fired a barrage of short-range missiles yesterday, the country's latest apparent angry response to the new South Korean government's tougher stance on Pyongyang.

The launches came as the North issued a stern rebuke to Washington over an impasse at nuclear disarmament talks, warning that the US attitude could "gravely" affect the continuing disablement of Pyongyang's atomic facilities.

The missile tests were part of routine training, South Korean presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said, declining to give further details on the type of rockets fired.

He told reporters Seoul was "closely monitoring the situation."

"I believe North Korea would also not want a strain in inter-Korean relations," Lee said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea launched three ship-to-ship missiles at around 10:30am, citing unidentified government officials.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it would not be commenting on the launches, which came a day after Seoul withdrew officials from a joint industrial zone with North Korea at Pyongyang's request.

That move was prompted by the North's anger over South Korean statements that any expansion of the project in the border city of Kaesong would only happen if the North resolved the international standoff over its nuclear weapons.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who took office last month, had said he would take a harder policy line on the North -- a change from a decade of liberal Seoul governments who avoided confrontation to maintain a "sunshine policy" of engagement.

South Korea also voted on Thursday in favor of a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council that condemned human rights abuses in North Korea. The North rejects such allegations and argues they are part of US-led efforts to overthrow the regime.

The North showed signs earlier this week that it was preparing to test short-range missiles as part of routine training, Yonhap reported. The country declared a no-sailing zone off the coastal city of Nampo and placed a military boat equipped with anti-ship missiles on standby, the news agency said.

The North regularly test fires missiles and its long-range models are believed able to reach as far as the western coast of the US. The country conducted its first-and-only nuclear bomb test in October 2006, but it is not known to have a weapon design able to fit inside a missile warhead.

North Korea shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor and has taken steps to disable its main atomic facilities under a landmark disarmament-for-aid deal reached last year with the US and other regional powers.

However, negotiations on further disarmament have hit an impasse over the North's pledge to give a full declaration of its nuclear programs.

North Korea has claimed it gave the US a nuclear list in November, but Washington said the North never produced a "complete and correct" declaration that would address all its past atomic activity.

The North blamed Washington yesterday for the deadlocked talks and warned it would slow ongoing disablement of its atomic facilities.

Activists worry Beijing will punish monks in Lhasa
　

TENSION: While all monasteries in the Tibetan capital remained closed yesterday, protesters scaled the walls of a UN building in Nepal seeking foreign intervention

AGENCIES, BEIJING AND LHASA, CHINA AND KATHMANDU
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008, Page 1

Tibetan activists voiced concern yesterday over possible Chinese government retaliation against Buddhist monks who disrupted a stage-managed media tour of the riot-torn region's capital, Lhasa.

Dozens of red-robed monks had pushed into a briefing being given by officials at the Jokhang Temple on Thursday, complaining of a lack of religious freedom and denouncing official claims that the Dalai Lama had orchestrated the March 14 violence.

The outburst was the only spontaneous moment on Thursday in an otherwise tightly controlled government trip to the Tibetan capital. China has strenuously argued that the widespread arson and looting was a criminal act orchestrated by separatists, while refusing to discuss the root causes of the anger and alienation blamed for sparking the violence.

The protest and resulting harsh security crackdown has further focussed international attention on China's human rights record ahead of the Olympics.

"There are serious fears for the welfare and whereabouts" of the monks, the International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement.

"The monks' peaceful protest shattered the authorities' plans to convey an image that the situation in Lhasa was under control after recent demonstrations and rioting," it said.

Thursday's protest lasted for about 15 minutes before government officials ended it and told the journalists it was "time to go."

"What the government is saying is not true," one monk shouted out.

"They killed many people. They killed many people," another monk said, referring to Chinese security forces.

The reporters from foreign media outlets were escorted by Chinese authorities on a three-day visit to Lhasa that was to end yesterday. Other than the incident at the Jokhang Temple, one of Tibetan Buddhism's holiest shrines, most of the second day of the tour went according to plan, with officials sticking to the government line that the most violent anti-Chinese protests in nearly two decades were plotted by supporters of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader.

The government says at least 22 people have died in Lhasa; Tibetan rights groups say nearly 140 Tibetans were killed, including 19 in Gansu Province.

One of the monks protesting on Thursday said the death toll was far higher than the government was saying.

"The cadres and the army killed more than 100 Tibetans. They arrested more than a thousand," he said.

Fu Jun, head of the News Affairs Office of the Propaganda Department of the Tibet Communist Party, said yesterday that the monks were spreading rumors.

"We are keeping an open mind about their complaints. The rumor is misleading the media without a shred of evidence ... We will clear up facts in a few days time when appropriate," Fu said.

The Chinese-installed vice governor of Tibet, Baima Chilin, told the reporters late on Thursday that the monks would not be punished for their outburst.

"We will never do anything to them. We will never detain anyone you met on the streets of Lhasa. I don't think any government would do such a thing," he said.

Chinese state-run TV, which has widely covered the foreign journalists' tour, showed the Jokhang visit on its evening newscast, but not the monks' outburst.

All monasteries in Lhasa remained closed yesterday, a separate government official said, amid reports that monks had been held inside for two weeks.

"None of the monasteries in Lhasa are open ... it's hard to say when they will reopen. This issue is beyond our powers," an official with the Lhasa Tourism Administration, who declined to be named, said by phone.

In related news, about a dozen pro-Tibet protesters jumped the walls of a building housing the offices of the UN in Nepal yesterday, seeking UN intervention in Tibet.

Tibetans living in Nepal have been protesting almost every day since the trouble began in Lhasa and hundreds, including nuns and monks, were detained to break up their march to the UN offices.

On Friday, about a dozen Tibetan students carrying placards quietly scaled the walls of the UN complex and began protesting.

"They are sitting inside with their placards," a witness said from inside the compound in an upmarket area of Kathmandu.

Hunger strike supports Tibetans
THREE WISHES: The group has requests for the Chinese government, the International Olympic Committee and the international community
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008, Page 2

　

A group of Tibetans in Taiwan launched a 49-hour hunger strike yesterday after a nearly two-week sit-in in front of the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall in protest at China's bloody crackdown in Tibet earlier this month.

China cracked down on a peaceful demonstration by Tibetans on March 10 to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

So far, the conflicts in Tibet and Tibetan communities across China have left more than 130 dead and more than 1,000 injured, Western media and the Tibetan government-in-exile reported.

The Chinese government has said the death toll was only a little more than 20.

After closing down Lhasa for more than a week, Chinese authorities arranged a visit for foreign media to show that the situation had been brought under control in the city.

However, around 30 monks rushed out unexpectedly during the press conference in a monastery, saying the government was lying to the world and that everything they saw was arranged by the state.

"The surprise protest by Tibetan monks during a press conference arranged by Chinese authorities in Lhasa for foreign media showed that the repression is still ongoing, and that the Chinese government is trying to cover it up with lies," Chow Mei-li (周美里), president of Taiwan Friends of Tibet, told the crowd at the site of the hunger strike.

"Tibetans in Taiwan, as well as their Taiwanese supporters, will start a 49-hour hunger strike to remember those who sacrificed themselves for the freedom of Tibet over the past two weeks," she said.

The number 49 was chosen to symbolize the 49th anniversary of the 1959 uprising.

With banners listing their demands, the Tibetans have asked the Chinese government to immediately stop the crackdown. They have also asked the International Olympic Committee to halt its plan to pass the Olympic torch relay through Tibet, and they have asked the international community to intervene by sending in an independent team of investigators.

The hunger strike will continue until 4pm tomorrow.

In related news, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said he would like to visit the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile after he steps down from his presidency on May 20.

Chen made the remarks while receiving Tsegyam Ngaba, the Chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taipei, at the Presidential Office.

Chen shared Ngaba's view that the Tibet issue is not a problem between Han Chinese and Tibetans, but an issue of how to defend the universal value of human rights.

Chen condemned China for accusing the "Dalai clique" of masterminding the recent unrest in Tibet, saying that the slander was just "unacceptable for anyone."

Chen was scheduled to visit the site of the hunger strike last night to show his support.

Go West, Mr. Ma

Saturday, Mar 29, 2008, Page 8

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) wish to visit Washington and his alma mater, Harvard University, before his inauguration in May is not wishful thinking. It is pragmatic and will likely serve the mutual interests of the US and Taiwan in a diverse manner.

In view of the fact that the cross-strait relationship between China and Taiwan has been visibly improved immediately following Taiwan's presidential election, a progressive event and a source of pride to people in Chinese-speaking communities worldwide. It is advisable that Ma be welcomed to visit the US in the capacity of an academic or a common visitor.

Since China is preoccupied with the Tibetan violence as well as the forthcoming Olympics, a visit by Ma to the US would not invite fret or protest. Instead, a low-key visit would serve pragmatic functions that could shed new light on US policy in dealing with the Asia-Pacific region.

A Chinese saying is appropriate here: Bigotry should be resolved with harmony and good understanding. In this way, full-fledged harmonious multilateral relations will be ensured.

The US should give serious consideration to Ma's possible visit before May.

Li Chen-ching
Taipei

China's strike may be coming soon
　

By Richard Halloran
Saturday, Mar 29, 2008, Page 8

China has aimed far more missiles at Taiwan than previously reported, according to US officials with access to military intelligence. This disclosure comes as China enters a troubling and potentially dangerous time intensified by recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibetan areas.

The officials say China has 1,400 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan.

That is 40 percent more than earlier reports that gave an approximate figure of 1,000 missiles. The Defense Department, in its recent report on Chinese military power, said 990 to 1,070 missiles were pointed at Taiwan, including variants "with improved ranges, accuracies, and payloads."

The commander of US forces in the Pacific and Asia, Admiral Timothy Keating, told Congress earlier this month: "The threat that China poses is increasing, in my opinion, for the folks who are our friends in Taiwan."

In response to a question from a congressman, he said China's forces are developing capabilities causing "concern as it presents itself as a threat to Taiwan."

While not delving into operational plans to respond to the threat from China, Keating said his Pacific Command was "adequately resourced" to meet US requirements.

He pointed to two aircraft carrier battle groups, six B-52 and three B-2 bombers deployed to Guam in the western Pacific, and a new addition to the Pacific Fleet, the submarine Ohio, which is armed with 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Before the incidents involving Tibetans, a period of relative calm had been expected until the Olympic Games in Beijing in August since China sees that event as proclaiming its arrival as a world political, economic and military power.

After the Olympics would come a time during which China might take advantage of Taiwanese and US preoccupations to move against Taiwan.

The violence in Tibet and consequent international criticism of China's crackdown on human rights may have already opened that window of danger.

Said a longtime China watcher: "It depends on how bloody-minded the Chinese will be."

In the minds of Chinese leaders, Tibet and Taiwan are linked as they are both seen as separatists seeking to escape the rule of Beijing.

To a lesser extent, the same is true of Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang and of ethnic Koreans north of the Yalu River in northeastern China. Any move toward autonomy or independence would be crushed ruthlessly.

Wallace Gregson, a retired Marine lieutenant general and former commander of Marine forces in the Pacific, said in an e-mail message: "The Chinese regime will take whatever action is necessary to stay in power."

After president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is inaugurated on May 20, it will take him several months to organize his government, giving China a chance to move against Taiwan. Of the basic policies Ma has already set, most will displease the Chinese. While he had promised not to seek independence for Taiwan, he has also ruled out unification with China and demanded no use of military force by either side.

Ma wants China to give Taiwan "international space," meaning not to interfere with Taiwan's efforts to gain diplomatic recognition from other nations and to enter international organizations such as the UN.

"I believe the world is big enough to accommodate both Taiwan and the mainland," he said.

He has proposed a peace agreement with China, which would require Beijing to recognize the government in Taipei as legitimate.

Ma says that he will reform Taiwan's defenses, including rebuilding ties with the US that have been strained under President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Chen has defied Washington's pleas to improve their military forces and not to provoke China.

US President George W. Bush, in a message congratulating Ma on his election last Sunday, said: "Once again, Taiwan has demonstrated the strength and vitality of its democracy."

A pillar of US bipartisan foreign policy for decades has been to stand by other democracies.

Bush is a lame duck whose administration is consumed with Iraq and the war on terror, with little attention on China and Taiwan.

That will become more so with the coming US election. After the new president takes office on Jan. 20 next year he or she will need several months to organize an administration.

All told, while Taiwanese and Americans have their attention on internal politics, the Chinese, goaded by Taiwanese and Tibetan resistance, may decide they have an opportunity to strike. That could turn out to be a monumental mistake, a miscalculation that would trigger unpredictable consequences.

Richard Halloran is a writer based in Hawaii.
Editor's note: Johnny Neihu is on leave.