Listen to the voice

Weeping woman disrupts Ma apology
　

PARENTS ARRESTED: Yao Mu-chi said her mother was tortured to death and her father imprisoned for 10 years on wrongful charges of spying for China’s government
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008, Page 3
　

Despite having apologized to victims of the White Terror era, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was interrupted yesterday at a memorial event marking the 21st anniversary of the lifting of martial law by a tearful protester.

A member of the audience, Yao Mu-chi (姚沐棋), drew the attention of cameras shortly after Ma began his speech addressing the memorial service at the Chiehshou Park monument commemorating political prisoners held during the Martial Law era.

Cameramen turned from Ma’s speech to Yao in the back row as she aired her grievances.

Security personnel approached the 61-year-old, who responded: “You have no right to ask me to leave.”

“This is a free country and I have an invitation. I have every right to sit here,” she said.

A man in the audience joined in, applauding and shouting: “KMT bastard!”

She challenged authorities to arrest her and put her in jail: “What do I care? My hair is already gray.”

FAMILY TRAGEDY

In tears, Yao said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government had wrongfully convicted her parents and ruined the lives of her and her entire family.

Yao said her parents, both journalists, were accused of spying for the Chinese Communist Party. Her mother, who was convicted without a trial, died of torture 85 days after being arrested, Yao said.

Her father, also convicted of spying, served 10 years in jail, Yao said.

Yao said she and her two older sisters were labeled as the “daughters of spies” and blocked from promotions at work and from taking national examinations for civil servants.

TRAUMA

Yao said she was so traumatized at the time that she was admitted to a psychiatric ward for six months.

Yao said her family received some compensation from the government later, but that the money should not have come from taxpayers but rather from the KMT’s assets.

While Yao recounted her story, Ma went on with his speech, saying freedom was more important than seeing eye to eye with him.

He ended his talk with a bow and an apology, saying that he hoped political persecution would never happen on this soil again.

CONCERNED

Ma said that although this was the first memorial he had attended in his capacity as president, it was not the first he had attended as a politician, adding that he had long been concerned with the nation’s history.

Ma said that even in today’s democratic society he had personally been targeted with wrongful allegations, citing the corruption charges brought against him over the use of his special allowance fund as Taipei mayor.

The situation was even worse 40 or 50 years ago when the rule of law was still in its infancy, Ma said.

Ma said that martial law had been imposed because of the civil war between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party and that without the civil war, there would not have been any human rights violations.

Listen to the voice

TSU leader pans plan to remove investment caps

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008, Page 3

The government’s plan to remove the current investment caps on China-bound investment projects by Taiwanese firms is only aimed at bailing out a small number of companies and will damage the economy, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday.

TSU Secretary-General Lin Chi-chia (林志嘉) said the plan to lift the caps would undermine the nation’s economic independence.

“If the barrier is removed by the government, at least NT$2 trillion [US$65.8 billion] in Taiwanese capital ... will flee to China,” Lin said.

“The TSU will lead the public to the streets if the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) insists on adopting such a measure,” he said.

Citing statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Lin said that 52 Taiwan-based companies had exceeded the investment cap, while another 110 enterprises were near the limit.

Lin said most of these companies were debt-ridden as a result of unsuccessful investments in China.

At a separate setting yesterday, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said the government was locking the country away from the rest of the world by betting too much on China.

“The government has no global outlook and has eyes for China alone, ” Lu said.

Listen to the voice

Don’t be in such a rush to destroy the economy
　

By Jason Liu 劉進興
Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008, Page 8

In an attempt to revive Taiwan’s struggling stock market, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said on July 10 that restrictions on chip investment in China would be relaxed. But this “good news” could severely hurt the economy.

Ma said Intel is building a 12-inch wafer factory in Dalian that will use 90-nanometer technology. He said the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Control for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies allows high-tech transfer into communist states such as China, which means Taiwan is falling behind the rest of the world because it only allows Taiwanese chipmakers to produce 8-inch or smaller wafers in China. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning talks with chipmakers and it may relax restrictions in September.

The problem is that Intel is just building a DRAM memory chip fab, whereas Taiwan is looking at loosening restrictions on wafer fabs, which are capable of making multiple integrated circuits with more complex technologies. We cannot just focus on the Wassenaar Arrangement. More important is the impact that the relocation of the wafer industry will have on Taiwan’s economy and society.

Taiwan has the world’s best wafer foundry industry. Including design, testing, and packing, the total production value of the industry is as high as NT$1.5 trillion (US$49.3 billion) and employs at least 150,000 people.

China used to lag far behind Taiwan in wafer technology. It began to develop 8-inch wafer foundries by launching the Tenth Five-Year Plan in 2001, which included rewards for Taiwanese businesses investing in China. Even though Taiwan tried hard to stop its businesses investing in China at the time, some went ahead without permission.

For example, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp chief executive officer Richard Chang (張汝京) is from Taiwan and is now in China competing with Taiwanese businesses. By 2004, the production value of China’s semiconductor industry surpassed 50 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) and the industry employed at least 100,000 people.

In 2002, the government debated allowing investment in 8-inch fabs in China, It decided that chipmakers could produce 8-inch wafers using 0.25-micron technology in China after they mass production of 12-inch wafers began in Taiwan. By the end of 2006, the government allowed Taiwanese chipmakers to produce 8-inch wafers in China using 0.18-micron technology after they were able to produce 12-inch fabs using 90 and 65-nanometer technology in Taiwan.

As technology matures, the export of technology is only a matter of time. However, the government has to pay close attention to the timing of such exports so the country doesn’t lose its competitive advantage.

In 2006, China launched its 11th Five-Year Plan, vowing to use 0.13-micron and even smaller technologies to develop its own 12-inch wafer foundry industry, with the goal of boosting its production value to 300 billion yuan by 2010. It is keen to replace Taiwan in the global semiconductor industry. However, the quickest way to achieve that goal is to entice Taiwan’s high-tech professionals to work in China to reproduce a copy of Taiwan’s upstream, midstream and downstream semiconductor industry.

The semiconductor industry remains crucial to Taiwan and the government must do what it can to keep the industry here. Ma cannot just loosen restrictions, thereby strengthening China’s semiconductor industry and weakening Taiwan’s national competitiveness. The government must not make a decision based solely on talks with chipmakers. It should invite all sectors of society to extensively discuss the issue.

Jason Liu is a chemical engineering professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.