Tibetan protests under control, China says
　

OLYMPIC DREAM: The government let a group of foreign journalists visit Lhasa after the French president said his country might boycott the Games

AFP AND AP, BEIJING
Thursday, Mar 27, 2008, Page 5
　

China moved yesterday to show it had the situation in Tibet under control, escorting foreign journalists on a tour of the region and saying more than 660 people had surrendered over deadly unrest.

The three-day media trip came as online anger mounted over what some Chinese called biased Western reporting and with pressure on Beijing from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who warned he could boycott the Olympic opening ceremony.

A group of about a dozen Beijing-based journalists headed yesterday to the Himalayan region, where officials said they would be allowed to speak with victims of violent protests and shown properties destroyed in days of rioting.

"The organizers will arrange interviews with victims of the criminal acts and also visits to those places that were looted or burned," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said on Tuesday.

Foreign reporters have been barred from visiting Tibet and neighboring provinces with large Tibetan populations affected by the unrest, making it nearly impossible to independently verify the number of dead and arrested.

Protests against Beijing's rule of Tibet began in Lhasa on March 10 -- the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in the region.

But they quickly turned bloody and spilled over into other parts of the country, with the Chinese authorities accused of heavy-handedness in their repression of the demonstrations.

Tibet's government-in-exile has said that 140 people have been killed in the unrest, while China has reported a total of 20 deaths, 19 of them in Lhasa.

China has accused the Dalai Lama of masterminding the unrest -- a charge the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, who fled his homeland after the 1959 uprising, vehemently denies.

The Dalai Lama, who has said he is open to dialogue with Beijing, on Tuesday reiterated a pledge to resign as spokesman for the Tibetan people if there were more violent anti-Chinese protests.

Beijing has placed the emphasis on Tibetan attacks on ethnic Chinese and trumpeted the number of people who have turned themselves in to face punishment from their involvement in the unrest.

More than 280 people have surrendered in Lhasa, while 381 others have turned themselves in in Ngawa County, Sichuan Province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

"Most of those who have come forward are ordinary people and monks who were deceived or coerced," said Shu Tao, a local Communist Party chief, according to the state-run China Daily.

Lhasa prosecutors have also issued arrest warrants for 29 people allegedly involved in a protest that broke out in the Tibetan capital on March 14, while police have put 53 suspects on a "most-wanted" list, Xinhua said.

The unrest comes at a delicate time for the Chinese authorities, with the Beijing Games due to begin in less than five months on Aug. 8 and the world watching the booming Asian giant.

In France, Sarkozy said on Tuesday "all options are open" regarding a boycott of the Olympics and appealed to China's leaders to show a "sense of responsibility" over the unrest.

His aides specified that France was still considering the possibility of snubbing the opening ceremony, but ruled out boycotting the entire Summer Games.

Other countries remained firmly against any boycott, with the White House saying US President George W. Bush still planned to be present for the Olympic opening ceremony.

Against the backdrop of tight control of the foreign media's movement in and near Tibet, Chinese citizens voiced anger at what they considered unfair reporting of the unrest by overseas media.

Chinese students abroad set up a Web site, www.anti-cnn.com, to collect "evidence" of "one-sided and untrue" foreign reporting, blasting "the Western Goebbels' Nazi media," the China Daily said.

Communist forces were sent into Tibet in 1950 to "liberate" the region, but resentment and tension has simmered virtually ever since.

Meanwhile, China says a British newspaper editorial comparing the Beijing Olympics to Nazi Germany's 1936 Games is an "insult to the Chinese people."

In a statement issued late on Tuesday, Qin lashed out the Sunday Times, which published an editorial by former Conservative Cabinet minister Michael Portillo linking the two events.

"It is an insult to the Chinese People and an insult to the people of every nation of the world," Qin said in the statement, posted on the ministry's Web site.

"The Olympic torch ... illuminates the dark and despicable psychology of some people," Qin said.

Also See: Belgium's Reynders says Beijing boycott cannot be ruled out

US news not fair to Taiwan

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008, Page 8

The election news from Taiwan is disappointing. In addition, from where I live in New York City, the media coverage is far from comprehensive.

Notable omissions from articles include alleged votebuying on the part of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). While the majority of people in Taiwan are aware of these allegations, many US newspapers ignore this.

Another concern is that US newspapers seem to report primarily from Taipei or even outside of Taiwan while failing to devote equal attention to the more heavily native Taiwanese south -- especially Tainan.

I have lived in Tainan and made visits for more than 20 years and have never seen the views of Tainan's residents represented in the pages of US newspapers. Few, if any, sources from the south are quoted.

Sending reporters to places other than Taipei would be a good start for US newspapers to show that they strive to report on Taiwan objectively and comprehensively.

Readers would not tolerate the kind of incomplete reporting US papers produce on Taiwan if it concerned stories from New York City or New York State.

Readers of North American newspapers are not getting the full, true story of the Taiwanese presidential election.

Howard Sage
New York

DPP faced difficulties of a young democracy
　

By Cao Changqing 曹長青
Thursday, Mar 27, 2008, Page 8

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) loss in the presidential election was expected. Judging from the experiences of mature Western democracies and young democracies in the former Soviet bloc, it was clear from the situation facing the DPP and the campaign strategies of its candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) that the loss was inevitable.

A DPP victory would have been a miracle.

As seen in Western democracies, when a ruling party loses, it loses for a reason. After eight years in power, any party could lose an election, regardless of its performance. This is because governing entails difficulties that invite criticism from the opposition and it is hard for any government to keep the public constantly satisfied.

Therefore, after two consecutive terms in power, voters tend to look for a change of government regardless of government performance.

The DPP's election loss should also come as no surprise when compared to the experiences of the young democracies of the former Soviet Union. Many of the democratic governments that took over after the collapse of authoritarian rule lost elections after one or two terms. The main reason was that strong hatred of the dictatorship had led to high expectations for the democratic government.

But in many cases, the new government lacked experience and organization.

In addition, proximity to power makes corruption hard to avoid. As a result, voters became disappointed and were unwilling to vote for the new party again. As the DPP focused hard on fighting corruption, any corrupt behavior on the part of members of its administration drew even stronger criticism.

The DPP did face a problem that was entirely different from the challenges faced by Eastern Europe's young democracies. After the European regimes collapsed, all assets were returned to the national coffers.

Thus, in cases where the communists decided to run for election after democratization, they did not have the advantage of enormous party assets.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), however, acquired massive assets through its direct access to the national treasury, resulting in a huge asset imbalance between the KMT and the DPP; the KMT had NT$25 billion (US$832 million) against the DPP's NT$100 million.

These assets also led to an imbalanced distribution of human resources.

In addition, the DPP had to deal with a highly complex factor: the attraction and potential threat posed by the Chinese economy.

If China had not become an economic giant, it would have a limited capacity to oppress Taiwan. But China's power to influence Taiwan economically and the allure of its economy are immensely helpful to the KMT.

Burdened by eight years of public scrutiny, faced with corruption within its own administration and party, hit by the slowdown in the US and global economy, and lacking resources comparable to the KMT's, a DPP win would have been difficult to pull off.

Hsieh failed to provide a clear platform distinguishing himself from KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and proved unable to mobilize pan-green supporters and arouse their enthusiasm.

Just as with Ma's "one China market," Hsieh's "constitutional one China" drew a backlash and became a target of ridicule by the opposition.

Moreover, his call for "reconciliation and coexistence" failed to convince either pan-green or pan-blue voters. Not even the "assistance" of opposition bullies making fools of themselves ahead of the election could have saved the situation.

Cao Changqing is a political commentator based in the US.