Sarkozy set to meet with Dalai Lama in Poland

AFP, GDANSK, POLAND
Sunday, Dec 07, 2008, Page 1

“We cannot have France’s conduct dictated to, even by our friends.” — Bernard Kouchner. French foreign minister

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Gdansk yesterday for a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates during which he was to meet the Dalai Lama, a move that has China fuming.

As current holder of the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, the French leader’s decision to engage with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has so far seen Beijing retaliate by scrapping a China-EU summit in France earlier this week.

Beijing also warned that multi-billion-dollar trade deals between China and France were in jeopardy should the meeting go ahead.

“We have not noticed any kind of start of a boycott of our products,” a French presidential official said yesterday, emphasizing that France and China needed each other during a period of economic crisis.

Sarkozy was set to become the only European head of state to meet the Dalai Lama while holding the EU’s rotating presidency.

Asked on Friday in the northern Polish city whether he thought the French president might cancel the meeting with him, as has happened twice in the past, the Dalai Lama said: “Wait until tomorrow. I don’t know.”

Commenting on whether EU-China relations and trade could suffer over his planned meeting with Sarkozy, the Dalai Lama said: “China also needs Europe.”

“The original initiative of some pressure, sometimes is not followed by action,” he said.

France is digging in its heels, saying the meeting will go ahead and calling for economic ties to be spared from retribution, especially during the financial crisis.

“We cannot have France’s conduct dictated to, even by our friends,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with the Dalai Lama yesterday in Gdansk, where, as a past recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he had been invited to ceremonies marking 25 years since Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity icon Lech Walesa received the honor.

The former union leader is regarded as a key figure in the peaceful collapse of communism in Poland in 1989. The Dalai Lama, now 73, was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize the same year.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso attended yesterday’s ceremonies in Gdansk.

The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, has sought “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet since he fled his homeland following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after Chinese troops invaded the region.

China argues that he is actually seeking full independence, something he on Friday called a “totally baseless” claim.

“When China becomes more democratic, with freedom of speech, with rule of law and particularly with freedom of the press ... once China becomes an open, modern society, then the Tibet issue, I think within a few days, can be solved,” the Dalai Lama said on Friday.

Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday, he said China lacked the moral authority to be a true superpower.

The head of France’s Tibetan community, Wangpo Bashi, told radio France-Info yesterday, “The Dalai Lama will raise human rights issues and above all the very urgent situation of Tibet ... where the situation nearly resembles that of martial law,” during the afternoon meeting with Sarkozy.

The meeting is “a very strong signal” for Tibetans, he said.

Lee Teng-hui visits sit-in protest to express support

STAFF WRITER
Sunday, Dec 07, 2008, Page 3
　

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday visited members of the Wild Strawberry Student Movement staging a protest at Liberty Square and promised to help them in their campaign to have the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法) amended.

Lee urged Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), who accompanied him, to back the students as well and offered words of encouragement ahead of a rally scheduled for this afternoon. Lee said he hoped the students would not get sick from sitting outside in the cold weather.

The Wild Strawberries have run a weeks-long campaign calling for legislators to scrap regulations in the assembly law that require organizers of protests to seek a permit from police for any events. The protesters also demand that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) apologize and that National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) and National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) resign from their posts over what the students have called police brutality against protesters during a visit by a Chinese delegation last month.

Lee yesterday said he understood the students’ dissatisfaction with the law and agreed the regulations should be changed.

He said democracy and freedom were the nation’s most prized possessions and that the true meaning of democracy was that sovereignty rests with the public. The government should not require police permits to demonstrate, Lee said, and police should only intervene if a demonstration turns violent.

Asked about Ma’s comment earlier this week that a visit by the Dalai Lama would not be appropriate, Lee said there was no acceptable reason for the government’s opposition to a visit.

The public is under economic stress, forcing it to focus on money matters, Lee said.

“What is needed in this situation is religious comfort and there should be no talk of this not being an appropriate time [for a visit by the Dalai Lama],” he said.

In related news, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said yesterday he would leave for the US today on behalf of the National Security Council (NSC) to address Washington’s concerns about eroding judicial impartiality.

Hsieh said the NSC felt it was necessary to explain the matter to friends in the US as they, including Ma’s mentor during his studies at Harvard University, professor Jerome Cohen, had gotten the wrong impression about the situation in Taiwan after a visit by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮).

Chai visited the US last month and expressed concern that the government was influencing prosecutors in cases against DPP figures.

No free ride for public servants
　

By Liang Wen-chieh 梁文傑
Sunday, Dec 07, 2008, Page 8

In a bid to boost the economy, the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced in the middle of last month that it would distribute NT$3,600 in consumer vouchers to each Taiwanese citizen by raising NT$82.9 billion (US$2.5 billion) in loans.

Most people are likely to use this small amount to purchase necessities they would have bought anyway, which would not boost overall consumption. Lest this proposal be a complete waste of money, the government should consider raising the amount given to each individual. And to pay for this, it should consider canceling performance bonuses for civil servants this year.

Despite predictions in the West that Asian economies should escape the brunt of the global financial storm and fare relatively well this year, it cannot be denied that the downturn has affected Taiwan. Statistics released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed that the nation’s GDP contracted 1.02 percent in the third quarter and real wages shrank 2.95 percent in the first three quarters.

The jobless rate rose to 4.37 percent in October, bringing the total number of unemployed to a five-year high of more than 476,000. About 21,000 of them were made redundant by company closures in October, a four-year high. Unemployment benefit claims also surged to more than 36,000, up 20 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, vacancies posted on the 104 Job Bank last month dropped by 30,000, or 14 percent, from the previous month.

In contrast to a faltering employment market in the private sector, workers in the public sector have not been affected at all. DGBAS figures show that civil servants enjoy an average monthly salary of NT$63,000, which is much higher than the NT$36,000 average in the private sector. While the general public is suffering from the economic downturn, civil servants do not have to worry about their jobs. They are also entitled to an annual bonus of one-and-a-half months’ salary, plus a performance bonus of half to one month’s salary. With the bonuses, their average annual income adds up to more than NT$900,000.

Apart from high pay and job security, every civil servant enjoys a NT$16,000 subsidy annually in the form of shopping discounts using their Citizen’s Travel Cards (國民旅遊卡). Funding for this originated from an annual holiday subsidy of NT$7.6 billion for public servants, which was created through an administrative order by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and often criticized as an attempt by Lee to curry favor with the public. Unfortunately, the former Democratic Progressive Party government continued the practice and even repackaged the subsidy into a travel card for civil servants’ exclusive use at designated shops. This is just like giving them consumer vouchers every year — what’s more, they are getting consumer vouchers just like everyone else. In effect, the government is borrowing money to reward its own employees.

When the economy is down, cutting civil servants’ pay is a reasonable move to match the general decline in real wages. As private companies reduce work hours or wages as a condition for keeping them on the payroll, civil servants who are paid by taxpayers should share the burden.

Cutting civil servants’ salaries is already an international trend. Singapore’s Public Service Division announced on Nov. 24 that key officials’ salaries would be cut by between 11 percent and 19 percent next year in line with the fall in private sector wages. Japan has been cutting civil servants’ salaries every year since 2003, with an average salary drop of 1.07 percent per annum. Hong Kong cut civil servants’ salaries by 6 percent for three years starting in 2002 in an attempt to lower their salaries to 1997 levels. The UK reduced public servants’ wages and increased their taxes last year, with salary cuts of up to £15,000 (US$22,000) in line with “equal pay agreements.” The money saved was used to subsidize low-income households. Authorities in China’s biggest city, Shanghai, have cut civil servants’ salaries by 14 percent since April. China’s Central People’s Government has also called on all government agencies to reduce their personnel budgets next year.

Civil servants form a vital part of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) voting base, so a salary cut is certainly not on the government’s agenda. It would be reasonable, however, not to give them performance bonuses, because their performance should reflect the rise or fall in public welfare.

When the economy is down and public welfare suffers, civil servants’ performance should no longer be rewarded by bonuses. A good work attitude should be a matter of duty, not a reason to grant them bonuses. For example, considering the massive deficit over the past few years, the Bureau of National Health Insurance should stop its practice of granting workers performance bonuses on the ground that its total business volume is still growing.

According to the Ministry of Civil Service, the performance of 74 percent of civil servants was rated “excellent,” making them eligible for a performance bonus equal to one month’s salary. The performance of 25 percent was considered “good,” entitling them to half a month’s bonus.

Given that there are around 600,000 civil servants, their performance bonuses would add up to NT$33 billion each year. If we used this money to pay for more consumer vouchers, each citizen, including civil servants, could receive NT$5,000 in vouchers and possibly better stimulate consumption.

Liang Wen-chieh is the deputy director of New Society for Taiwan.