Ma urges Beijing to remove missiles
　

MISSILE MISSIVE: President Ma Ying-jeou said if there were to be a peace agreement with China then the more than 1,000 missiles pointed at the nation would have to go

REUTERS, TAIPEI
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009, Page 1

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged China to scrap the growing number of missiles aimed at Taiwan, adding that he would not exclude the possibility of meeting Chinese leaders one day.

Taiwan planned to buy more weapons from the US to protect itself, although it did not want an arms race with China as trade ties expand and with more deals expected to be signed in the coming year or so, Ma said.

“[There are] more than 1,000 [missiles] and they haven’t changed that. The number continues to go up. That is certainly a great concern for the people here,” Ma said during an interview at the Presidential Office.

“If we are to negotiate a peace agreement with the mainland, certainly we expect them to do something about those missiles, either to remove them or dismantle them,” said Ma, who has attempted to ease tensions with China since taking office in May last year.

The 59-year-old Ma, who became chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the weekend, said he would not rule out meeting Chinese leaders, such as his counterpart Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

“I won’t exclude that possibility, but there’s no timetable for that yet,” Ma said, when asked if he would meet Hu. “At the moment, we have our hands full with economic issues.”

Despite political differences, commercial ties have flourished. China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner with two-way trade of more than US$130 billion, while Taiwanese businesses have poured more than US$100 billion into China.

Ma said the nation needed to diversify its exports to stay competitive and forecast 4 percent economic growth next year. He also said Taiwan expected to sign a deal similar to a free-trade agreement with China next year that would cut tariffs.

The president hopes more of the exports that go to China would be sold to the Chinese domestic market, instead of being re-exported to advanced economies, such as the US and Europe, that have been harder hit by the steep global downturn.

“It’s not possible for us to change the economy, [which is] based on exports, but we could diversify the export market, not focusing entirely on the United States or Europe,” Ma said. “Actually, the largest export destination is mainland China, but many of the goods with mainland China are reprocessed to be re-exported to the US and Europe, so we will modify that policy so that mainland China is no longer treated only as a factory, but rather as a market.”

China to move 15,000 after lead poisoning found

REUTERS, JIYUAN COUNTY, CHINA
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009, Page 1

China plans to move 15,000 residents in its biggest lead smelting area away from the plants in order to allow them to keep operating, after tests showed more than 1,000 children had excessive lead in their blood.

Some smelters and lead production lines in Jiyuan, Henan Province, were shut down for nearly two months after the lead tests, which came amid a spate of cases of high lead in children attending school in the shadow of smelters across China.

Jiyuan Mayor Zhao Suping (趙素萍) said 15,000 people in 10 villages around the plants would move at a total cost of about 1 billion yuan (US$150 million), allowing lead plants, including China’s largest plant owned by Yuguang Gold and Lead, to keep operating, the China Daily reported over the weekend.

“The local government has been trying to stop us getting blood tests and making it public. They just want to protect the plant, which pays a great deal of tax every year,” Huang Zhengmin said.

His five-year-old grandson’s blood tests showed nearly 500 micrograms of lead per liter, about 50 times the acceptable level in the US.

“They don’t care about the life and death of us ordinary people. So the whole village has to be relocated to make way for the plant. The pollution just carries on,” he said.

Lead smelters around the world have shut because of pollution fears, allowing the industry to blossom in China. Lead prices spiked to their highest point this year early last month, when the Jiyuan plant closures were first announced.

After the people move, the smelters will rent their land and plant trees to serve as a barrier protecting nearby villages, the report said. Some people would move to a site about 4km away, it said.

“The question isn’t whether or not you plant trees, it’s whether there are people there or not,” said Lin Jingxing (林景星), who studies cancer villages at the Chinese Academy of Geological Science.

A thorough investigation of soil, water and wind patterns is needed to show how far is far enough, he said.

“Moving people is the simplest solution, especially if you can locate to another place free of pollution. The cost of mitigating pollution is very high,” he said.

He wasn’t aware of any successful cases of moving people away, mostly because of the difficulty of finding new land for them to farm and meeting the cost of building new homes.

The Jiyuan cases came to light in the late summer, when parents of children with high lead and cadmium levels protested at a smelter in Shaanxi Province owned by the Dongling Group, China’s fourth-largest zinc producer, and at a metals smelter in Hunan Province.

A child exposed to heavy concentrations of lead can develop anaemia, muscle weakness and brain damage.

“We read on the Internet that the effects of lead poisoning are irreversible. ‘Irreversible’ is a medical term I don’t quite understand, but I assume it means children affected by lead poisoning will never be as healthy as before,” said Li Lei, father of a 15-month-old boy who tested for high lead levels. “I am worried sick. I am worried about the aftereffects on my child. He is the future of our family.”

Adults, especially workers at lead plants, suffer severe fatigue, loss of appetite and pain. Chinese authorities have not tested people older than 14 years living near the smelters.

Ma will ask for leave for KMT activities: office
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009, Page 3

“If he has to do so during office hours, he will ask for leave at the personnel office and leave a record.”— Wang Yu-chi, Presidential Office spokesman

The Presidential Office yesterday said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who has taken up the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship, will take leave of absence from work when required to participate in party activities during office hours.

Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the president would try to handle party matters after working hours or on the weekends.

“If he has to do so during office hours, he will ask for leave at the personnel office and leave a record,” he said.

After taking over the party’s helm last weekend, Ma will attend the party’s weekly Zhongshan meeting each Tuesday and Central Standing Committee meeting each Wednesday.

The Zhongshan meeting was created in 2005 by Ma when he was party chairman. The meeting of KMT top officials functions as a preparatory meeting ahead of the Central Standing Committee meeting. Some pundits say the committee is left with little de facto power, becoming a rubber stamp for decisions made at the Zhongshan meetings.

Wang yesterday said that from now on, Ma’s Monday lunches with Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will include KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) as Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) is no longer KMT chairman.

The spokesman said the weekly luncheon serves as a communication platform between the government, the party and the legislature and not for decision-making.

Ma attended a campaign rally for Changhua County Commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) on Sunday, but did not visit the campaign office of Yilan County Commissioner Lu Kuo-hua (呂國華) during his visit to the county.

Wang Yu-chi yesterday said Ma wanted to visit areas affected by Tropical Storm Parma, which was more urgent than congratulating Lu on opening his campaign office. The spokesman said Lu knew of Ma’s plans and supported his decision.

Lu has been accused of performing poorly in the wake of the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot in August.

Next Magazine has also alleged that Lu pocketed NT$22 million (US$680,000) from the contractor of the Yilan Green Expo project. Next claimed that prosecutors launched an investigation in June last year.

Lu has denied the allegation and vowed to resign and withdraw from the election if found guilty.

Both Lu and Cho are seeking re-election in the Dec. 5 regional polls.

Officials flustered over report of another Chiang son
　

'GROUNDLESS RUMOR'? : A media report said Chiu Ming-shan is the illegitimate son of Chiang Ching-kuo and that his mother died one month after giving birth
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER, WITH STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009, Page 3
　

The Presidential Office yesterday declined to comment on reports that late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) had another illegitimate son, who is now 76 years old and living in Taipei County.

Asked by reporters, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) begged to be excused from answering, saying: “Oh, please.”

The Hong Kong-based Yazhou Zhoukan (亞洲週刊) reported in its latest issue that Chiu Ming-shan (邱明山) is Chiang’s son and that his mother died one month after giving birth to him.

The cover story, with the headline “The Mystery of Chiang Ching-kuo’s Illegitimate Son: The Story of Chiu Ming-shan,” was written by biographer Wang Feng (王丰).

Taiwanese online media outlet Now News picked up the Yazhou Zhoukan story, visiting Chiu’s residence on Sunday in a small nook off Yuxi Street in Yonghe City (永和).

Chiu, who has recently had a tracheotomy, spoke with difficulty.

With the aid of his wife, Chiu told Now News that he, along with one of Chiang’s legitimate sons, Chiang Hsiao-wen (蔣孝文), often called their father “A-die” (阿爹), which means father in China’s Zhejiang Province.

Now News said Chiu showed its reporter a household registration card dating from 1949 that indicated he is kin to Faina Chiang (蔣方良), the late wife of Chiang Ching-kuo.

His registration card was later changed to say that he was only living with the family, Chiu said.

Chiu took out a photo album and showed photos of himself with Chiang Ching-kuo and his wife.

Chiang Hsiao-wu (蔣孝武), another of Chiang Ching-kuo’s sons, gave the photos to Chiu and marked them as “for Brother Ming-shan,” Chiu said.

Dismissing the allegation as “a groundless rumor,” Shao Ming-huang (邵銘煌), director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) history department, said yesterday that he had never heard of such a thing and doubted the veracity of the story. He said there were discrepancies in the timing, places and people involved.

Shao said Chiang Ching-kuo and his wife set up nurseries in Jiangxi Province, China, and had adopted many orphans during the war with Japan.

He might have had many “foster sons” but it would be “far-fetched” to say they were his biological sons, Shao said.

Missiles, leaks and really odd timing

Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009, Page 8

The timing of a major missile test at Jioupeng (九鵬) base, Pingtung County, last Tuesday, could not have been more unusual, coming a little more than a week before Taipei and Beijing were to launch informal talks on a trade pact.

As it turns out, Taipei has since delayed the meeting until the end of the month, but the major artillery test — which reportedly included the highly sensitive Hsiung Feng-2E (HF-2E) surface-to-surface missile — does not appear to have been the cause. In fact, Beijing’s reaction, which one would have expected to be more strident than its opposition to a visit by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, was to say nothing whatsoever.

The military has stuck to protocol and released very little information about the missile test, only mentioning that a malfunction forced the test to be abandoned. The Presidential Office, meanwhile, said it regretted that news of the missile test had been leaked, with the Apple Daily going as far on Wednesday as to claim that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had said he was “very satisfied” with the test.

The fact that a missile test on this scale was held at all under a Ma administration that seeks, above all, better relations with China, and at a time when the two sides are on the brink of signing trade pacts, is itself striking. Failure or not, it is difficult to reconcile the timing with Ma’s “pragmatic” approach to cross-strait relations.

Though it is shrouded in secrecy, it is hard to imagine that the test would have gone unnoticed by the US and China. Despite Washington’s opposition to Taiwan’s acquiring or developing offensive weapons — which the HF-2E is — we can assume that the US military, which maintains close ties with the Taiwanese military apparatus, was informed beforehand, perhaps during the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Virginia late last month, or at the Transnational Security Cooperation course provided by the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, a US-funded think tank based in Hawaii, earlier this year.

Such a test would also have been difficult to hide from China. Despite the remoteness of the base, which is located in the southeastern part of the country, such missiles would be picked up by Chinese radar.

The plan, therefore, appears to have been to keep the test secret and to avoid publicity lest it derail the careful, albeit precarious, balancing act engineered by Taipei, Beijing and Washington.

Which brings us to the most interesting side of the story: the source of the “leak,” which the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) and the United Daily News referred to as a “reliable military source.”

While leaks are nothing new in the military, whistle-blowers usually make classified information public for a reason. In this case, given the sensitive nature and timing of the test, it is conceivable that the originator of the leak meant to put a spoke in the wheel of cross-strait negotiations, which have proceeded despite public apprehension. Had this gambit worked, Beijing could have reacted in anger and threatened to cancel the talks on a trade pact and an economic cooperation framework agreement. That it didn’t — in fact, Beijing said nothing at all about what should have been a “provocative” test — shows just how important those pacts are for China.

Many questions remain. Did the test really fail, as the military tells us, or is this information, which contradicts initial reports of a success, meant to downplay the importance of the test and ensure that cross-strait talks on economic liberalization can continue apace?

Illusions about Chinese goodwill
　

By Chu Ping-tzu 祝平次
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009, Page 8

‘Whatever the Beijing government does or does not do, Ma interprets it as a sign of China’s goodwill toward Taiwan. On the other hand, any opinion raised by the Taiwanese public in opposition to the government’s excessive reliance on China is mocked as troublemaking and rumormongering.’

While he was in office, president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) published a book entitled The Road to Democracy: Taiwan’s Pursuit of Identity (台灣的主張). It was appropriate and justified for Lee to write about democracy. In it, he laid out his intentions and concerns as a leader, as well as showing his determined character.

The political effect of the book was to give the public a clear view of where the nation was headed, and thus a sense of security. Although many people voiced their opposition to what Lee stood for, they could direct those opinions against concrete positions.

This allowed Lee — as a democratically elected president — to speak in the name of those who voted for him and expound his notions of governance. Those who held different opinions could express their views, too. The interaction between these varying opinions contributed to strengthening the nation’s democratic system.

But for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), doing things this way is outmoded. Right after Ma took office, opposition parties started accusing him of being an agent of China. At the time they could not produce much proof to back up the accusation, but since then, more evidence has come to light through Ma and his government’s policies.

As things stand, if the Ma government has any standpoint at all on Taiwan, it is that Taiwan does not dare express its standpoint. Foreign media outlets must find it hard to believe that a popularly elected president could have such an attitude.

When Ma was elected last year, no one took the opposition seriously when it called Ma an agent of China. The jibe was seen as run-of-the-mill political jousting and election rhetoric. More than a year has passed and the public has discovered that Ma talks about little other than “the mainland.” Ma’s frequent references to the “mainland” are worrying Taiwanese and the nation’s traditional allies such as the US and Japan. The foreign media have also started to view Taiwan from Ma’s political standpoint.

There is no need to go on at length about Ma’s efforts to Sinicize Taiwan. Anyone who knows anything about political developments in Taiwan over the past year can see that the Taiwanese government is looking more and more like an agent or local government of China, as evidenced in its policies on education, law and order and cross-strait aviation, as well as its lack of enthusiasm for taking part in international organizations, and many other things.

There has been a series of so-called cross-strait negotiations, but there is not much real negotiating going on. Rather, the two sides are working together to achieve a common goal. Ma likes to present the results of these talks as his political achievements, but he has no answer to the opposition’s accusation that the price paid for Beijing’s acquiescence to the various agreements has been the gradual abandonment of Taiwan’s sovereignty. Even where Beijing has not demanded anything, the Ma government is willing to serve up concessions on a plate — all for the sake of getting favorable publicity in the media.

But what kind of a China is Ma working for? Here we see something even more worrying — Ma’s illusions about Beijing’s goodwill. Whatever the Beijing government does or does not do, Ma interprets it as a sign of China’s goodwill toward Taiwan. On the other hand, any opinion raised by the Taiwanese public in opposition to the government’s excessive reliance on China is mocked as troublemaking and rumormongering.

To create this imaginary “goodwill,” Ma has not been afraid to overstep the boundaries of democracy, such as allowing the police to exceed their legal powers, leading to clashes during the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last November.

Following those events, the government punished Lin Chia-fan (林佳範) and Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), two professors at state-run universities who criticized the government’s handling of Chen’s visit, under the soon-to-be-scrapped terms of the oppressive Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).

What’s even more shocking is the government has been happy to see pro-Chinese elements in both Taiwan and China vilify and insult internationally renowned religious and political leaders — the Dalai Lama and exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer.

Comments by Taiwan’s premier and minister of the interior show that they have become mouthpieces for Beijing. What kind of identity can such a government be pursuing for Taiwan?

Before Ma took office, if there was one standpoint in Taiwan that transcended ideological boundaries between political leaders, parties and factions and which had the support of the public, it was adherence to democracy. However, this consensus is gradually becoming warped under the influence of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) cultural identity, elitism and what it considers to be Taiwan’s economic interests. KMT-alligned “pan-blue” political figures now see alignment with China as the only possible solution for Taiwan.

In pursuing this solution, they throw away the accumulated gains of Taiwan’s democracy. One must ask whether a solution for which democracy is forfeited can be called a solution at all.

Chu Ping-tzu is an associate professor in the Department of Chinese Literature at National Tsing Hua University.

Why does Ma keep on pandering to China?
　

By Jerome Keating
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009, Page 8

Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “6-3-3” campaign promise to revive the economy must haunt him. Or should we say, it would have haunted “Ma the incompetent” if he were a president who felt responsible for the truth, accuracy and sincerity of what he says.

Unfortunately, many Taiwanese don’t have that opinion of the president. Even the foreign media are starting to catch on to the two-faced facade that he and his PR team have built in the past decade. But that is not the point here; it seems that Ma has acquired a new moniker among Taiwanese: “Ma the fawner.”

“Ma the incompetent” is a well deserved title given his lackluster record as mayor of Taipei as well as the many boondoggles that happened under his watch. But why are people beginning to call him “Ma the fawner”?

This is not a recent occurrence. There were hints when he was mayor of Taipei, but it has intensified since he became president. As a result, a debate is developing. Has Ma become a fawner because he is desperate to bring the economy at least close to the level it was under former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and before it tanked under his administration? Does Ma feel that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is his only hope? Or has he always been a fawner because he ultimately believes the “one China” myth that both the PRC and the Republic of China (ROC) have jointly been trying to foist on the Taiwanese and that he needs the PRC’s help on this?

Ma claims he was elected on the promise to improve the economy; that is true, for that was the point of his exaggerated 6-3-3 promise (an annual GDP of 6 percent, per capita income of US$30,000 and an unemployment rate of below 3 percent). However, it is not true, as Ma claims, that he was elected because he promised to improve the economy through increased contact with and dependence on the PRC. That second part has been tacked on by his staff and is used as an excuse to explain his fawning ways.

Ma has countered criticism by claiming that cross-strait ties have improved. But have they? To be sure, China has been quiet, but it has no reason to speak out as Ma jumps at its slightest suggestion. If a potential problem appears on the horizon, all China has to do is hint that its feelings are hurt and Ma rolls over and plays dead.

A visit by exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer? No way; she is a terrorist in Beijing’s eyes. Should there be a national day parade? An excuse is found to cancel that. Should the nation’s flag be shown at international events held in Taiwan? Not if the PRC is there. Should the human rights of Taiwanese nationals be suppressed to avoid offending a visiting low-ranking PRC official? Why not?

However, what is more surprising is the fact that it is not just green voters that are suspicious of Ma; the true supporters of the ROC — not just its profiteers — feel he is betraying them as well. With a long history of fighting Communist control, they wonder why Ma almost appears ashamed to stand up for the ROC before the PRC. For although at times Ma will invoke the outmoded Constitution of the ROC in the strangest of circumstances, when the PRC is involved it seems Ma has never heard of it.

If Ma had a reputation for competence, there would be a potential reason to give him some benefit of the doubt in his dealings with China, but Ma’s past performance and his proclivity to never accept responsibility are his own condemnation. More and more people wonder what secret deals are being worked out in the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement with China.

All this gives rise to the question that is increasingly on the minds of many: Why is Ma being such a fawner?

Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.