Premier defiant on alleged felon links
　

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE: The premier said that he had never criticized the DPP for visits by its members to former president Chen Shui-bian, who is a convicted criminal
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Jenny W. hsu
STAFF REPORTERS
Saturday, Nov 07, 2009, Page 1

Amid allegations over his relationship with a convicted double murderer and former Nantou County gang boss, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said he would resign if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) could provide any evidence of irregularities in their relationship.

The DPP candidate for next month’s Nantou County commissioner election, Lee Wen-chung (李文忠), has accused Wu of arranging the distribution of benefits from the local gravel trade and the election of a new Nantou County Council speaker and vice speaker during a trip to Bali, Indonesia, last December.

He alleges that Chiang Chin-liang (江欽良), a paroled convicted felon, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) also went on the trip.

“Lee said he had evidence. Please make the evidence public within three days and I will resign immediately,” Wu Den-yih said.

He added: “If not, [Lee] must apologize, otherwise I will bring a criminal action against Lee for slander and demand civil compensation to clarify the truth and defend my reputation.”

The DPP has continued to question the premier’s links to Chiang since local media on Wednesday reported Wu and his wife were caught on camera vacationing in Bali with Chiang and Lee Chao-ching.

Wu yesterday called a press conference to respond to the allegations after comments he made about not helping Chiang obtain special permission to meet Kuo Ping-hui (郭平輝), a gangster and the mastermind behind an infamous 2007 staged televised video threat, were undermined.

On Thursday, Wu Den-yih denied any involvement in the January meeting.

But Wu Cheng-po (吳正博), warden of the prison in Taichung where Kuo is incarcerated, told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Thursday, that the face-to-face meeting between Chiang and Kuo was arranged by the premier in his then capacity as a lawmaker.

Saying that helping voters meet inmates was one of the services lawmakers often provide, Wu Den-yih added that such matters are usually taken care of by legislative assistants.

“I didn’t know anything about the meeting before [Thursday] ... but now I’ve discovered my local office helped Chiang, I won’t detach myself from that,” Wu Den-yih said.

Wu Den-yih said that he had spoken to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) by telephone on Thursday night, adding that Ma had backed him over the matter.

“President Ma said that everyone makes mistakes and we should accept people who have erred as long as they know they are wrong. If they consistently fail to repent, they will be held legally responsible,” Wu Den-yih said.

He added that he had never criticized the DPP for visits by its members to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who had been sentenced over corruption charges.

In Nantou, Chiang said he had paid a huge debt for mistakes he made 20 years ago and even his wife knew nothing about his criminal record.

Chiang said he does not know Wu Den-yih very well. He said Wu was just a casual acquaintance and they occasionally ran into each other at activities in Nantou County.

Saying that he had been a supporter of the DPP, Chiang said he had helped former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in organizing activities and had met former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).

Meanwhile, the DPP continued to hammer the premier over his association with Chiang and said Wu should resign immediately because he had lost credibility.

While both the premier and Chiang have said he is a “changed man” and an upstanding citizen, the DPP said it suspected Chiang was still a local gang boss involved in the gravel industry and the night market scene.

Talking of the prison meeting, DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said: “At first Wu denied it, but later flipped to say it was his assistant. He has obviously lied and therefore he must issue a public apology.”

Rejecting Wu Den-yih’s claim that the process was handled by his staffer, Tsai said such an arrangement would require the personal appearance of a lawmaker.

“If Chiang and Wu [Den-yi] were not good buddies as they have claimed, then why go on a vacation together and why did Wu agree to arrange the meeting,” the spokesman asked, saying Wu had lost credibility.

DPP legislator William Lai (賴清德) demanded that Wu Den-yih disclose who paid for the Bali trip, adding that given his alleged ties with gangsters, Lee Chao-ching should drop out of the Nantou County commissioner race immediately.

At a press conference, Chiang said Lee Wen-chung only started accusing him of being a crime boss after he turned down his plea for support — an allegation strongly denied by the DPP nominee.

European ‘friend of Taiwan’ downplays China threat
　

By Jenny W. hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 07, 2009, Page 3

A robust economy and mature democracy are Taiwan’s top two assurances against being “sold out” in the shadow of China’s growing financial prowess, but the country should also strive to forge closer economic ties with other regions, Charles Tannock, chairman of the European Parliament Taiwan Friendship group, said in an interview with the Taipei Times last week.

The London-based Tannock was with a delegation of nine members in his first trip to Taiwan.

“Of course we would be concerned if there was any evidence of this country being sold out entirely to Chinese political and economic interests, but I don’t think there is any evidence,” he said.

“I don’t even think it is remotely possible … [because] your economy is too large and too robust,” he said. “Your people are far too independent-spirited to allow such a thing,” he said, expressing confidence in both Taiwanese voters and leaders.

Tannock has been a longstanding ally of Taiwan on the European front, supporting the country’s bid for increased participation in international organizations, including the World Health Assembly and most recently, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and International Civil Aviation Organization.

Tannock has also been an advocate for Taiwan’s inclusion in the Schengen visa-waiver program, which he said could be approved as early as the first quarter of next year.

He said that the UK and Ireland had already granted Taiwanese visa-free access, so “there should be no technical concerns” over the issue, downplaying concerns over Taiwan’s passport issuance process.

Tannock also dismissed speculation that Beijing was a factor in the delay, saying the postponement was mainly because the current European Commission was a “lame duck” as it awaits the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty early next year.

Tannock also praised recent cross-strait rapprochement and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for his “pragmatic manner” in dealing with Beijing, such as pushing for a Taiwan-China economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).

Describing a meeting with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Tannock said the delegation did not fully share the pan-green camp’s anxiety that an ECFA would “lock Taiwan exclusively into an asymmetric … relation with China.”

“If that were the case, I would be the first say that’s not appropriate and dangerous to Taiwanese independence and sovereignty,” Tannock said.

What would cause his group to worry about cross-strait relations would be “anything that results in the re-emergence of tension.”

“We don’t have a problem with Taiwan declaring independence, but we do have a problem [as] China has threatened a war over it and what it would mean in terms of escalation and perhaps even globally … We all want to see a detente, a thawing [of what] was a very tense situation two years ago,” he said.

Tannock also said that despite China’s expanding economic muscle, the EU is unlikely to lift its 20-year arms embargo against Beijing because of China’s human rights issues.

The embargo reflects the 27-nation bloc’s commitment to the security of both Taiwan and Japan, he said.

Tannock, however, encouraged a gradual development of various versions of confidence building measures or “some forms of communications” between the military on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to decrease the chance of a misunderstanding or an incident.

All this insecurity — and a toothpick
　

By Johnny Neihu 強尼內湖
Saturday, Nov 07, 2009, Page 8

I’m feeling really insecure.

I haven’t felt this insecure since leaving the warm sac of fluid that Mama Neihu kindly provided me before finding myself slowly and painfully — pelvis first — entering the world.

Compared with now, I actually felt less insecure trying to convince little Grace Chao Shu-pao, a classmate in elementary school, that young Johnny would take her to the stars and back if she let me kiss her.

“No,” she said, raising her voice so her coterie of girlfriends could hear her clearly, “you’re a silly, boring boy and smelly and I don’t want to!”

Sigh. Now she’s married to a gormless, soon-to-retire section chief at the Construction and Planning Agency, which just goes to show: A Johnny only comes around once in your life.

Easy to say all this now and laugh it off, of course, but at the time I was quite upset. “God give me Grace,” I used to say before falling asleep together with my many brothers and sisters in our humble 1950s abode.

No, these days I’m gripped by the feeling that we’re losing control of our ability to control.

At least when you’re young and stupid and suffer rejection by a sweet little girl, the pain is real and honest ... and when your mother and father eventually realize something is wrong and you unload the details, they can offer soothing words that put you back on track. You can learn from the experience and improve your chances next time.

It’s called growing up. Maturation. Gaining control of your life. Something like that.

But now that we’re grown up, there’s no one to comfort us anymore.

Have you ever noticed how we Taiwanese have no bona fide national heroes? (The Yankees just won the World Series without Wang Chien-ming (王建民) because he couldn’t run over a base without hurting himself; sorry, folks, he’s no longer on my national hero payroll).

There’s no one that youngsters can really look up to and say: “Whatever the truth of that person’s private life, in his/her achievements he/she captures the essence of what it is to be Taiwanese. I see myself in such people and my hope for the future is in part sustained by their success.”

There are such heroes, of course, but they can’t become national heroes because there’s so little space for ideological consensus between the green and blue political worlds. Even nominally non-political figures such as Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) end up stained and symbolically demoted by their dabblings in politics.

In my beloved country, national hero status must be validated by political elements to be taken seriously in the media, so we’re at an impasse.

With no one to look up to, and with our good community under perennial threat, we have to reluctantly turn to people with power to sustain our confidence.

National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) is one of those people. Su has risen to a level of considerable power. But as I have mentioned a few times over the years, this gentleman’s behavior has left a lot to be desired. On record for spreading lies and paranoia on matters trivial (the Taipei Times’ purported subservience to the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)-era Presidential Office) to profound (the Bulletgate pamphlets that hit the desks of US congressmen), this man carries the gravest of responsibilities: protecting all our asses from Chicom encroachment.

Instead, these days Su seems to be acting as a political minder for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), his increasingly embattled boss and old friend. Why else would he get caught up in — and personally issue an apology for — the debacle over the easing of US beef imports?

Come to think of it, what is an NSC boss doing getting involved in bloody beef imports anyway? This is foot-in-mouth politics, not a matter of national security ... and last time I looked, the eyes, brains and ganglia of dismembered cows weren’t able to gather intelligence for Zhongnanhai.

At first I was skeptical when I heard that Su was involved in beef negotiations. Like, dude, don’t you have more pressing matters to attend to? Such as stopping your staff from defecting, staving off invasions and hunting down the fifth column?

Then the rumors started, and Democratic Progressive Party legislators began to attack. Finally, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) this week confirmed Su’s involvement in the process. On Thursday, Su more or less admitted to skulking behind the scenes when he apologized at the legislature for miscommunications on US beef policy.

Su should know better. There may be a national security incentive to protect the president, even on a subject as stupid and disgusting as cow offal, but in so doing he has reinforced the perception that Prez Marky Mark Ma is overriding diplomatic mechanisms and bureaucratic processes to get the results he wants, buggering the process in its entirety and leaving Cabinet ministers in the cold and vulnerable to public and political attack.

It’s all straight out of an Edward Albee play. Ma and Su are academics at heart, so what better way to deflect blame in this Presidential Office Walpurgisnacht than play a childish game called Humiliate the Health Minister?

Now ... how am I supposed to deal with my growing sense of insecurity?

In the civilized world, people who make mistakes can increase mutual confidence by apologizing. This suggests that the offender is more likely to spot mistakes in advance and avoid them.

Su’s apology on this issue is therefore accepted.

But if apologies are his new thing, then I want him to say sorry for all the sinister shit he got up to after Chen was shot in 2004 on the eve of his re-election. Propaganda booklets, mailouts to the US Congress, ludicrous conspiracy theories ... all of it insulting, cynical and demeaning.

I want him to apologize for downplaying the threat from China.

I want him to apologize for inventing the term “1992 consensus.”

I want him to apologize for fraternizing with top People’s Liberation Army officers and security officials in Beijing in November 2005 — and tell us exactly what he said in his speech to them on Nov. 12.

But most of all, I want him to apologize for picking at his dentures with a toothpick in full view of photographers while the prez met foreign diplomats in April last year. Man, that was gross ... who taught you manners?

But because Su is Marky Mark Ma’s Main Man, and one of the prez’s most loyal deputies and buddies, he won’t be apologizing again anytime soon.

Instead, it is more than likely that his tenure as National Security Council head will continue to throw up these simply bizarre, confidence-sapping incidents.

Now I feel even more insecure.

The crucial place of a democracy’s referendum
　

By Yeh Chu-lan Lee Ying-yuan 葉菊蘭，李應元
Saturday, Nov 07, 2009, Page 8

The Cabinet’s Referendum Review Committee has turned down a referendum proposal relating to the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that the government wants to sign with China, citing various preposterous reasons.

It is truly shameful of the government to claim that Taiwan serves as a democratic model for the rest of Asia when Taiwanese cannot express an opinion on major policies involving national development.

Rights must be protected, and so must democracy. From tomorrow, let us show our support for the campaign entitled “The people are the masters of the country” (人民作主) initiated by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄). Let the people of Taiwan determine its destiny.

The democracy movement has ranged from social movements outside the established system to legislative reform within the establishment. The transfer of power in 2000 marked a milestone in the decades-long pursuit of Taiwanese consciousness.

Last year, the DPP suffered a crushing defeat in the presidential elections, which had an adverse impact on the independence movement.

A look at what President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has done over the past year shows he has acted under the influence of China, including allowing contaminated milk powder imports; opening the nation to Chinese tourists; refusing to let exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visit Taiwan; remaining silent on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre; banning national flags during the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林); arguing that Taiwanese should be able to read traditional Chinese characters and write simplified ones used in China; and refusing foreign aid in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot.

It is worrying that Ma has taken such a pro-China approach. No wonder a worried public has started to question whether they even will be able to elect a president in 2012.

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) two terms in office consolidated Taiwanese consciousness. In a recent survey on the political future of Taiwan, more than 70 percent of respondents supported the “status quo” or Taiwanese independence. With Ma ignoring Taiwan’s sovereignty and leaning so heavily toward China, referendums have become the only means of showing that power rests with the people.

A referendum is a form of direct democracy. Most countries put constitutional issues to a referendum, for example. Ireland held a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Denmark and Sweden rejected joining the European Monetary Union and adopting the euro through a referendum. Even former US president Bill Clinton said a cross-strait deal must secure the agreement of Taiwanese. A referendum thus displays the strength of a country’s democratic defenses at a global level.

A victory in the presidential election is not a blank check on policy. The referendum is the clearest manifestation of power resting with the people, and it makes up for faults in representative and indirect democracy.

The Referendum Act (公民投票法) is rightly ridiculed as a “bird cage referendum law” over its unreasonably high threshold for both passage and the number of signatures needed to commence the process. Even the establishment of the Referendum Review Committee was questionable.

Let us support the campaign calling on the public to be masters of their country, and in turn demand the government amend the Referendum Act. A key agreement like an ECFA must obtain public consent before it can be signed, in order to guarantee power remains with the people.

Yeh Chu-lan is a former Presidential Office secretary-general and Lee Ying-yuan is a former Cabinet secretary-general.