Wu urges closer security cooperation with the US
　

CHALLENGES: Joseph Wu said that relations with the US may improve under the new administration, but the US' reliance on China on global issues would weigh on ties
　

By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 2

The nation's top envoy to the US stressed the need for enhanced security cooperation with the US to fend off the Chinese threat despite any efforts the future administration of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou might make to improve relations with Beijing.

"Security relations will continue to improve," Representative to Washington Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Monday.

"One of the reasons is that the United States recognizes that the rising Chinese military power doesn't seem to be a stabilizing factor in East Asia. And improving security ties between Taiwan and the United States will provide a stabilizing force," he said in an interview with the Taipei Times.

Despite this, China's military buildup, coupled with the reliance of the administration of US President George W. Bush on help from Beijing on a number of foreign policy issues, will continue to weigh on Washington's policy toward Taipei, Wu said.

"The United States is caught up in Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Darfur and various other crises. The United States will still need China's help in those crises," Wu said. "At the same time, China is still building up more and more military power against Taiwan. And there is no sign that the Chinese government is reducing that military buildup or reducing its diplomatic hostile intent against Taiwan."

"With these broader structural issues, I would say that Taiwan relations [with the US] will still face challenges in the future," he said.

But such issues do not necessarily augur major problems for Taiwan-US relations, Wu said.

"I would say that even though the United States still faces those international challenges, and China will continue to threaten Taiwan with military force and diplomatic maneuvers, the overall relations between the United States and Taiwan will still be sound and solid," he said.

Wu said that "a lot of misunderstandings" between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the White House "are going to clear up. So, by looking at that dimension alone, the relationship between Taiwan and the United States can be expected to improve somewhat."

In the area of national security, Wu said that bilateral relations had improved in recent years despite political disputes between the Chen and Bush administrations.

The Pentagon has been concerned over China's rapid military modernization and the growing number of ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan. It is particularly worried over China's recent moves to prevent the US access to the Taiwan Strait to help Taiwan defend itself if China were to launch an attack.

When the pan blue-dominated Legislative Yuan last year loosened the strings on defense expenditures, the Pentagon was quick to respond with commitments to sell high-priority arms systems to Taiwan.

In addition to security concerns, Taiwan's democracy will continue to be a bedrock of Taiwan-US relations and Saturday's democratic election will reinforce the US' commitment to Taiwan as a free and functioning democracy, Wu said.

"The United States has always had a foreign policy of expanding democracy and human rights," Wu said.

"Taiwan will continue to be an example for the current administration in Washington to cite as a beacon for democracy," Wu said, citing Bush's words in his Saturday statement of congratulations to Taiwan for its free and fair election.

Based on that, "even though Taiwan-US relations will face some structural challenges, the overall relations between the two countries will continue to be good and sound," Wu said.

On another issue, Wu said he had not heard anything about a possible visit to Washington by Chen, as some people have suggested. While "theoretically" Chen should be able to visit the US as as a private citizen after he leaves office on May 20 and "there shouldn't be any limitations on him," Wu said, "for me to think about this issue now would be premature."

Wu said he had not talked with the US State Department about the issue, but if he received instructions from Taipei, "I will proceed with a lot of effort" to get Chen a visa.

"Chen has been barred from visiting [Washington] for at least eight years and many people here in Washington DC, I'm sure, would like to have the opportunity to have direct communication with him," Wu said.

Psychiatrists offer tips on getting over post-election blues
　

DIFFICULTY ADJUSTING: Experts said that the number of people who suffer from insomnia or loss of appetite tend to rise after a big election
　

By Wei Yi-Chia
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 2

　

Following the recent presidential election, psychiatrists suggested that voters should try to get some exercise and enough sleep, in order to return to their normal schedule as soon as possible.

Psychiatrists said that the number of people who suffer from insomnia or loss of appetite always increases after an important election.

Some of them suffer from an "adjustment disorder," which may eventually trigger "melancholia," they said.

Yang Tsung-tsair (楊聰財), director of Cardinal Tien Hospital's psychiatry department, said some patients complained before the election that they had difficulty sleeping because they were worried about the prospects of their favored candidate.

When they sought outpatient services, pro-blue camp and pro-green camp outpatients automatically sat on different sides of the waiting area, they said.

Yang warned that supporters of the losing candidate may feel exhausted and depressed and think negatively, and some may even want to commit suicide.

If these symptoms last for two weeks, they should seek professional help, Yang said.

Lin Po (林博), a physician at the psychiatry department of the Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, said that campaign workers, relatives and friends of the losing candidate may suffer the most depression.

Li said that the best solution was for the losing candidate to offer an "acceptable" explanation to comfort his supporters.

He also advised his patients that although the election is over, they could monitor the new government's performance.

This could give them hope as they realize there was still something important they could do, he said.

Hsieh's son breaks service rules on attending rallies
　

By Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 2

"What he did was obviously against the rules. A serviceman has to stay neutral in terms of political orientation."

Lisa Chi, Ministry of National Defense spokeswoman
Hsieh Wei-chou (謝維洲), son of former Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), became the center of attention at a press conference held by the Ministry of National Defense yesterday because he had attended one of his father's campaign activities while on active military duty.

"What he did was obviously against the rules. A serviceman has to stay neutral in terms of political orientation. But he only showed up at the event and did not campaign for his father," ministry spokeswoman Colonel Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) said.

"We have yet to decide how to deal with the case. But when we do, we will immediately make the decision public," she said.

Chi made the remarks during a press conference at the ministry yesterday morning, when she was asked to comment on the issue.

Prior to the presidential poll, the ministry reminded all military personnel several times that servicemen and women should not show support for any specific candidate and should not get involved in any campaign activities.

Hsieh Wei-chou appeared with his father during a campaign activity in Kaohsiung one day before the election, but he did not make any election-related comments.

The question of whether Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) should publicly proclaim the military's support for the new president was also discussed at the press conference.

"The minister would only do that if there was public unrest before, during or after the election, or if there were potential foreign military threats," Chi said.

"But no such incidents were reported and the election proceeded smoothly. As a result, there is no need for the minister to do that," she said.

Chi said, however, according to the Constitution, the minister will make such a vow when the new president takes the oath of office on May 20.

China accuses foreign media of bias
　

UNREST: Chinese Web sites posted sharp critiques of foreign media and violent images of Tibetans attacking Han Chinese, fueling public condemnation of Tibetans

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, SHANGHAI
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 5

Chinese officials have sharply criticized foreign reporters over their coverage of the riots in Tibet, accusing them of biased reporting and preventing them from traveling to Tibet or neighboring provinces to report on the unrest.

The government has also begun a propaganda campaign aimed at persuading the public that the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, instigated the violence in Tibet on March 14 and that China was a victim of separatist terrorism.

The Tibetan government in exile said yesterday that the death toll from the demonstrations was about 140. Previously, it had said that 99 protesters had died. China has put the death toll at 22.

The Chinese government's effort is the clearest sign yet of its concern that the Tibet unrest, as well as anti-government protests over Darfur, could disrupt the Olympic Games this summer in Beijing.

Youtube.com was blocked after the riots began, and CNN and BBC broadcasts regularly go black after mention of riots in Tibet. The New York Times Web site appears to have been blocked or censored in recent days.

Over the weekend, the government allowed Chinese Web sites, which are usually heavily censored for political content, to post sharp critiques of foreign news media reports about Tibet and to show graphic, violent images of Tibetans looting and attacking ethnically Han Chinese in Lhasa on March 14.

The images have fueled outrage in China and led to a flurry of Web postings critical of Tibetans.

To appease foreign reporters, Beijing told several journalists on Monday that a group of about 12 journalists would be able to travel to Lhasa for a special government-guided tour of the city this week.

The government has issued no official statement criticizing the foreign news media. But in recent days state-controlled newspapers, TV stations and Internet sites have been carrying stories and commentary with a common theme: foreign media distortions. Xinhua news agency released a story over the weekend suggesting that film shown by CNN misrepresented the situation. CNN, in a statement, said its coverage was accurate.

"I used to think the Western media were fair," wrote one person online, according to China Daily. "But how could they turn a blind eye to the killing and arson by rioters?"

Gao Zhikai (高志凱), a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, said the foreign media were partly to blame and that many of the reports about Tibet had been biased.

"If you read the foreign media, the only message you can get is that China is very heavy-handed, and they are doing a lot of bad things in Tibet, and they are totally out of their minds," Gao said. "And they talk about the Dalai Lama as if he's God."

James Miles, a journalist with The Economist who was in Lhasa during the riots, was praised on Chinese television, though, after he reported in The Economist and gave an interview to CNN describing the riots and saying that Tibetans were singling out Han Chinese, burning their shops, throwing stones and assaulting them.

The point, some Chinese commentators said, was that the rioters were killing innocent Chinese rather than that the government was shooting protesters.

Kathmandu police baton-charge Tibetan protesters

AGENCIES, KATHMANDU
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 5

Police in Nepal baton-charged a protest by Tibetan refugees and monks in front of the Chinese embassy visa office and detained dozens of protesters yesterday amid warnings from the UN human rights agency that arresting protesters without any charge was illegal.

Police tried to push them away from the office in Kathmandu yesterday, but when the protesters refused, they were grabbed and put in vans and trucks and driven to detention centers.

Nepal has said it would not allow protests against any "friendly nation," including China.

Police said 71 protesters were held and sent to different detention centers.

"This is to show our solidarity with [the people] in Tibet," monk Lopsang Semten said before he was dragged away by police.

Another protester, Nima Dolma, 25, said China must "stop killing in Tibet, free all those who are arrested and hold talks with the Dalai Lama."

On Monday, authorities detained more than 400 people in separate protests.

In response, the UN human rights agency expressed deep concern and asked the Nepalese government to refrain from unlawful actions.

The Nepal unit of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said late on Monday some people had been arrested in the streets of Kathmandu on the basis of their appearance and on the assumption they hold certain political opinions and might participate in protests.

"Such arrests constitute a form of unlawful discrimination," OHCHR representative in Nepal Richard Bennett said.

More than 20,000 Tibetans have been living in Nepal since fleeing the Himalayan region after a failed uprising against Beijing in 1959.

Focus on Beijing's tactics

Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 8

If broadcasts from Tiananmen Square are prohibited, maybe it will help Western media put principle before profit and take a look at how they can help their fellow journalists languishing in gulags for daring to write the truth about what is going on in China ("Live Tiananmen Square broadcasts under threat," March 23, page 24).

Maybe they could find new ways to help the environmentalists imprisoned for trying to warn the world of environmental disasters that are threatening the planet. Or perhaps they could write about the missing human-rights lawyers who have tried to defend Chinese citizens who have lost their homes or those who have family members tortured to death for not giving up their spiritual beliefs.

Maybe they could write about how this brutal dictatorship profits from harvesting the organs of prisoners of conscience, the majority of which are Falun Gong members.

Maybe this ban will remind journalists of their true mission.

Sophia Bronwen
Vancouver, Canada

Washington celebrates, but others are fretful
　

By J. Michael Cole 寇謚將
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008, Page 8

Given the recent tensions between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and US President George W. Bush and the US State Department's vociferous opposition to Taiwan's referendums on joining the UN, it does not come as a surprise that Washington would welcome the win on Saturday by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who has been portrayed as less of a "troublemaker" than Chen or Democratic Progressive Party candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).

But no sooner had the last ballot been counted than a handful of US conservatives were raising the specter of some rapprochement between Taipei and Beijing (an "unhealthy `pro-China' stance," one called it). Among them and responsible for the above quote was Dan Blumenthal, a former Pentagon official, who questioned what the KMT win would mean to the US-Taiwan alliance. He recommended that Bush's legacy to Taiwan be ensuring that Taiwan receive the F-16 fighter aircraft it has been prevented from buying, as well as diesel submarines, among other items.

What this shows us, less than 24 hours after the vote, is that the conservatives in Washington do not see the prospect of less tension in the Taiwan Strait favorably, as this could threaten: one, the US alliance with Taiwan, in which the latter is increasingly starting to look (at least from Beijing's perspective) like it is part of the master plan to contain and encircle China to ensure that it does not reach regional, if not global, primacy; and two,those in the US defense establishment who stand to profit from continued weapons sales to Taiwan.

I have been ebullient in my criticism of that clique on the periphery of the US government, those purported "friends" of Taiwan, mostly because of their tendency to militarize developments in the Taiwan Strait and to do so under the guise of defending democracy and freedom. Their shouts of alarm at the weekend, however, show us that first on their mind isn't democracy, freedom or even the well-being of Taiwanese, but rather keeping alive the steady flow of weapons to the region, which serves the two purposes outlined above.

Blumenthal and others may not be wrong in their assessment that a Ma presidency is unlikely to change much in the Taiwan Strait conflict -- I agree with that position -- but their immediate reflex to worry about arms sales even before attempts at some form of peace talks have been made shows where their true priorities lie.

For them, there is nothing better than the "status quo" in the Taiwan Strait, one that allows them to keep selling weapons to one of the top-three recipients of US conventional weapons in the world. Anything that threatens that "status quo" -- sudden calls for democracy or, conversely, peace overtures -- is viewed with suspicion.

Meanwhile, the other two items on Blumenthal's priority list -- signing a free-trade agreement (FTA) between the US and Taiwan and "normalizing cross-strait relations" -- either do not affect the flow of weapons (the FTA) or go against its logic (if "normalization is the end goal, why sell Taiwan weapons?).

What this means is that armament/disarmament in the Taiwan Strait is becoming increasingly intertwined with the greater dynamics of the regional arms race pitting the US and its allies in Northeast Asia against China. The more Taiwan is seen to be part of the encirclement of China (much as the "new democracy" Kosovo, which, now that Washington will be selling it weapons, will be part of the encirclement of Russia), the more difficult it will be to resolve the question of Taiwan peacefully, regardless of who is in office in Taipei.

J. Michael Cole is a writer based in Taipei.