US resolution on TRA weakened
　

WATERED DOWN: The resolution offering support on the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act was amended as a result of pressure from Beijing, sources said

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Saturday, Mar 21, 2009, Page 1

The US House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific has amended and watered down a resolution offering strong support for Taiwan on the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).

It has angered some members of the subcommittee and Congressional sources said that it came as a result of direct pressure from Beijing.

Subcommittee chairman Eni Faleomavega, a Democrat from American Samoa, who was chiefly responsible for changing the wording of the resolution, admitted later that he had experienced pressure “from both sides.”

He said that “things get very emotional” around the Taiwan issue and that the resolution as amended was more appropriate.

“It is better for the people of Taiwan,” he said.

Introducing his amended resolution, Faleomavega said that the future of Taiwan was “for people on both sides of the Strait to resolve.”

Analysts said later that there appeared to be three substantive changes to the resolution, which now goes before the Committee on Foreign Affairs before being presented for full House approval.

The original resolution, as proposed by 18 members of the House, said it was the policy of the US to provide defense articles and defense services “in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”

But the new version replaces that language with “it is the policy of the US to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character to maintain the capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion.”

The reference to quantity was removed.

The original resolution also said that the relationship between the US and Taiwan had been strengthened with “the development of Taiwan’s robust free-market economy, with Taiwan becoming the ninth largest trading partner of the US in 2007 and imports from the US in that year totaling over US$26 billion.”

Faleomavega shortened that statement to say relations had been strengthened with “the development of Taiwan’s robust free-market economy.”

The original, more detailed wording was designed to help efforts to push through a free-trade agreement with Taiwan.

Subcommittee member Edward Royce, a California Republican Representative, said: “While this resolution highlights many of the positive attributes of the US-Taiwan relationship, language detailing our important economic relationship was regrettably struck from the introduced text.”

“The truth is that trade is very important to Taiwanese security. Security isn’t based on weapons alone. It may be wishful thinking with this administration and Congress, but I’d like to see movement on a free-trade agreement with Taiwan. Certainly, if we throw up trade barriers, it would do much to destabilize Taiwan’s economy. Let’s not give trade short shrift,” he said.

Faleomavega said later that he did not think the time was right for a free-trade agreement with Taiwan.

The third point, which concerns pro-Taiwan interests in Washington, comes in the interpretation of a single word.

The original resolution said that Congress “reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act as the cornerstone of United States relations with Taiwan.”

But Faleomavega’s version reads that the TRA is simply “vital to relations between the US and Taiwan.”

Coen Blaauw, executive director of the Formosan Association for Public Relations (FAPA), said: “Replacing ‘cornerstone’ with ‘vital’ is a big step in the wrong direction.”

“The changes have certainly weakened the resolution and they benefit the Chinese position. China does not want the TRA to be seen as the cornerstone of US-Taiwan relations,” Blaauw said.

In a message to members of the full committee, Blaauw said: “Maybe there is some political thing going on in Faleomavaega’s subcommittee and hopefully in the full Committee mark-up next week someone can bring the earlier language back, but the new text is really not good.”

“The reason why we at FAPA coined the phrase ‘cornerstone of US-Taiwan relations’ is, of course, because the Chinese always insist that the Three Joint US-China communiques are the cornerstone of the US-Taiwan-PRC triangular relationship. You know why: Because in the communiques the US acknowledges the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China. The people of Taiwan had zero say in the conclusion of these three detrimental-to-Taiwan communiques,” he said.

In a press statement, TECRO in Washington put a brave face on the situation and said: “This resolution reaffirms the US’ unwavering commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act, reaffirms US support for Taiwan’s democratic institutions and supports the strong and deepening relationship between the US and Taiwan.”

“As the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the TRA draws near, the action by the US Congress today clearly demonstrates the friendly and close relationship between Taiwan and the US,” it said.

Former Chinese spy urges US to stand up to Beijing
　

CITIZENS SUPPRESSED: Representative Dana Rohrabacher said Li Fengzhi had been 'a henchman for the dictatorship, the gangsters' in Beijing, but chose to walk away

AFP, WASHINGTON
Saturday, Mar 21, 2009, Page 1
　

A man who said he was a Chinese spy appealed on Thursday to the US to stand up to Beijing, charging it was running a vast intelligence operation at home and abroad to suppress dissent.

Li Fengzhi (李鳳智) visited the US Congress to talk to lawmakers and appeal for asylum. His supporters said it was the first time a Chinese intelligence officer had defected.

A visibly nervous Li told a news conference that he served for years inside China for the Ministry of State Security, but had grown “furious” that his job entailed spying on dissidents, spiritual groups and aggrieved poor people.

“China’s government not only uses lies and violence to suppress people seeking basic human rights, but also does all it can to hide the truth from the international community,” Li said.

Li said that despite China’s rapid economic growth, “a government that disrespects and suppresses its people cannot be stable.”

“When the West engages with China, if it only focuses on temporary economic and political benefits but keeps silent on human rights issues, it is tantamount to reciting from the book of the Communist Party’s tyranny,” Li said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised a furor among advocacy groups last month when she said that US concerns on human rights would not hold back cooperation with China on other issues.

Li, a bespectacled man in his early 40s, gave few details about his own past, saying he feared for family members in China. His supporters said he slept for only one hour the night before his news conference.

China’s Ministry for State Security operated a worldwide network to steal secrets, Li said.

The Communist Party “uses huge expenditure of funds to suppress ordinary citizens and even extend their dark hands overseas,” Li said.

He said that only senior officials in Beijing knew the exact extent of China’s spy network.

Li said he defected “several” years ago to the US, but did not speak publicly until this month.

Li received a welcome in Washington from one of Beijing’s most outspoken critics in the US Congress, Dana Rohrabacher.

Li “was a henchman for the dictatorship, the gangsters,” Rohrabacher said. “No one who is in that position should think they have no alternative. We now have an example before us of someone who knew that yes, there was an alternative — and that is to walk away.”
　

Security forces detain regretful soldier

AP, BEIJING
Saturday, Mar 21, 2009, Page 1

A human rights watchdog says Chinese security forces have detained a former soldier who publicly expressed regret over his role in the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Zhang Shijun (張世軍), 40, published an open letter to Chinese Communist Party leader and President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on the Internet in which he called on the party and government to reconsider its condemnation of the student-led protests.

The Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch said Zhang was taken from his home in the northern city of Tengzhou around 2am yesterday. The China-based group was citing a member of Zhang’s family who was not identified.

Reached by mobile phone yesterday afternoon, Zhang said he was not at home and that it was “not convenient to talk.” He declined to give further details before hanging up.

Zhang accepted an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday (“Former soldier regrets role in Tiananmen,” Taipei Times, March 20, page 5) in which he related his experience during the crackdown and a later jail sentence for alleged political crimes.

On Wednesday, he said he had been called into his local police station and ordered to shun contact with foreign media.

Zhang is one of a very small number of martial law soldiers to come forward with their tales and attack the government’s refusal to offer a full accounting of the crackdown. Hundreds, possibly thousands are believed to have been killed when troops stormed into the center of Beijing on orders from top party leaders.

Authorities are believed to be especially sensitive to such testimonials ahead of this year’s 20th anniversary of the crackdown and renewed calls for political liberalization.