New anti-French rallies form in China
　

VENTING ANGER: While hundreds of people protested outside outlets of a French retail chain, Mia Farrow was allowed into Hong Kong to deliver a speech on Darfur

AP AND AFP, BEIJING AND HONG KONG
Friday, May 02, 2008, Page 1

Protesters waved Chinese flags and shouted slogans outside Carrefour stores in Beijing and other cities yesterday, venting anger over the disruption of the Olympic torch relay. No violence was reported and police dispersed the gatherings.

The French retailer has borne much of the nationalistic backlash after a pro-Tibet protester in Paris tried to grab the Olympic torch from a Chinese athlete in a wheelchair. Chinese Web sites have accused Carrefour of supporting the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, but the company denied that.

In Beijing, a handful of protesters at a Carrefour in the Haidian university district were outnumbered by dozens of police who guarded the store, which was packed with shoppers. Police detained seven men and two women. One of the men carried a sign saying “Protest Carrefour, Protest CNN” as about 200 spectators cheered. US-based CNN has been a focus of complaints that foreign news coverage of China’s crackdown on Tibet is biased.

“We want to let all foreigners know that China is very angry today. We have to let Chinese people in China know that we are united,” a protester said as he was led to a police van.

Protesters also carried banners and chanted slogans at Carrefour stores in Changsha in central China, Fuzhou in the southeast, Chongqing in the southwest and Shenyang in the northeast, the government’s Xinhua news agency reported. It said hundreds of people demonstrated in Changsha and 400 were on hand in Fuzhou, but it gave no other details.

The protests occurred despite Beijing’s efforts to discourage them and to calm anti-French sentiment.

Calls for boycotts of foreign companies have been deleted from Web sites.

A top figure in the ruling Communist Party, Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), on Wednesday called for Chinese to channel their “patriotic passion” into holding a successful Beijing Olympics in August.

Carrefour outlets in a dozen cities were the target of earlier protests, with scuffles erupting between Chinese and foreigners.

Paris-based Carrefour is China’s biggest retailer, with 112 outlets in areas throughout the country.

Phone calls to Carrefour officials yesterday were not answered.

At a Carrefour on Beijing’s east side yesterday, there was no sign of protests and the store was packed with shoppers.

One woman said she came to see whether there would be protests and stayed to shop.

“I heard about it, but didn’t think it would happen,” said the woman, who would give only her surname, Liu. “And since I was here, I figured I would pick up some things.”

Meanwhile, US actress and activist Mia Farrow yesterday touched down in Hong Kong, promising not to disturb the Olympic torch relay as she campaigns over Darfur and China’s links to the Sudan government.

Amid fears over freedom of speech ahead of today’s leg of the relay — which has been dogged by protests on its worldwide journey — Farrow said she had been questioned briefly by officials on her arrival.

“They were very polite and very nice,” she told reporters at Hong Kong airport. “They wanted some assurance that we are not here to disrupt the torch relay, which of course we are not.”

Today’s relay is expected to offer a last chance for pro-Tibet protesters and critics of China’s rights record to target the torch before it passes from the relatively open former British colony to the more restrictive mainland.

Farrow has been pushing China to help stop violence in Sudan’s conflict-riven Darfur region, and is expected to deliver an address in Hong Kong today entitled “Darfur and the Olympics.”

Sorting out who should talk to Hu
　

By Lu I -Ming 呂一銘
Friday, May 02, 2008, Page 8

To a certain extent, the recent China fever has been fueled by suggestions from president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and vice-president elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) that cross-strait relations be deregulated, and the feeling that the economy will improve as soon as Ma takes office.

People see great prospects in things like the recent visit by a delegation of Chinese investors. They are also buoyed by the belief that Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) shows a pragmatism that his predecessor Jiang Zemin (江澤民) never had.

Hu has used his title of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary-general to meet Siew at the Boao forum last month and when inviting former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to Beijing for a fourth round of talks. KMT Vice Chairman and Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman-designate Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) has also traveled repeatedly to China.

Just who will be in charge of cross-strait relations? Premier-designate Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) surprised many by nominating former Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislator Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) to be chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).

Liu’s move was a warning to anyone in the KMT who wants to dictate cross-strait relations. He clearly showed that there would be but one cross-strait policy that the president will finalize through the National Security Council. Policy will then be handed down to the MAC for execution, under the supervision of the premier, who will also clarify any questions.

But this only answers half of the question. On the Taiwanese side, cross-strait relations will be completely Ma’s responsibility, but in China, the authority still lies with Hu.

In the case of conflict or dispute, there should be no talk about who oppresses or opposes whom, but negotiations are required to come to a consensus and there must be mutually beneficial conditions based on fundamental equality. This is the only way to promote exchanges that are mutually beneficial and peaceful. If the sovereignty debate is touched upon, each side will return to its original position, no matter what anyone says.

In the recent meeting between Siew and Hu, sovereignty issues seem to have been left aside. Hu used party-to-party talks, in a sort of “one China, two parties” model, to break through the impasse in the talks between Taiwan and China. Issues that are not convenient for the government to handle or resolve can be handled through parties, giving the SEF and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) the opportunity to escape the entanglements of the “one China” principle. It is a roundabout way of carrying out cross-strait relations that is reciprocal and doesn’t make anyone lose face. Maintaining relations on a party-to-party basis seems to have a lot of advantages.

The question remains whether this is a realistic approach. China is a one-party state. For Hu, it’s easy to help Ma’s new government fulfill its election promises and it seems he could easily set the direction for the next government’s China policy.

Taiwan, however, is a democracy, and there are fears and doubts about a party-led government. The KMT government will need to first define the relationship between party and state, and talks should be held between the SEF and ARATS or through the CCP-KMT platform. There has to be a separation between party and government to avoid being taken advantage of by the CCP.

Hu’s style is to take a still softer approach to China’s soft policies, while hardening his stance on already strict policies. China’s united front tactic will take a friendly approach toward Taiwan, but its military and foreign policy will remain tough. Exchanges and contacts may not be a guarantee for cross-strait peace — and imagining that direct flights and Chinese tourism is a panacea for Taiwan’s economy could lead to a nightmare.

Each side of the Taiwan Strait has its own domestic factors to deal with, and then there are external factors and variables to consider, like the positions of the US and Japan. It’s an extremely complicated issue, and merely relying on a party-to-party model for cross-strait communication could lead to more problems.

Ma and Hu are now in charge of cross-strait policy. If the KMT-CCP platform is given too much importance, there will be problems. If Hu were to decide that the CCP-KMT forum, which he helped establish, is irreplaceable, he would emphasize the status of the old KMT heavyweights and the relationship between government and industry. This could sidestep official channels, and Taiwan would then lose more than it gains.

Before turning the CCP-KMT platform into the official platform for cross-strait negotiations, the best way to build consensus would be for Ma to address the situation as soon as he assumes office. This would be the only way to open up a new era of mutual trust, understanding, aid and interests.

Lu I-ming is the former publisher and president of the Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News.