Saito to meet Ma before return home
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Dec 05, 2009, Page 3
　

Japan’s representative to Taiwan Masaki Saito, who recently resigned over remarks he made that the country’s status was undetermined, will have a final meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Dec. 14 before he is scheduled to return to Japan on Dec. 20, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) told reporters about the meeting after attending a banquet hosted by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) for a group of Japanese visitors led by Tamisuke Watanuki, the former speaker of Japan’s House of Representatives.

Saito was also present at the banquet, which was closed to the media, but refused to comment on his resignation.

Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), a senior advisor of the Presidential Office’s National Security Council, told reporters that Saito’s successor is expected to be announced on Tuesday.

The lack of official diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Japan means Tokyo is not obliged to inform the government of its new representative in advance, Lee Chia-chin said.

“Saito has made many contributions to Taiwan-Japan relationships over the past year, but there were some misunderstandings that were not clarified, which led to [Saito’s resignation],” Lee Hung-chun said.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Republic of China International Relations Association in May, Saito said Taiwan’s status was “still unresolved.”

The envoy later apologized for his remarks and Tokyo said Saito’s comments were his own views and did not represent those of the Japanese government, but Saito has been given the cold shoulder by the Ma administration since making the comments.

China sentences another eight to death in Urumqi
　

RIOTING: More suspects were condemned to death for bludgeoning people with a club, killing a police officer with a brick and other crimes in Xinjiang

AFP AND AP, BEIJING
Saturday, Dec 05, 2009, Page 6
　

A court in China’s restive Xinjiang yesterday sentenced three more people to death for their roles in July ethnic violence, Xinhua news agency reported, raising the total reported condemned to 17.

On Thursday, the court handed out death sentences to five others.

The Intermediate People’s Court of Urumqi also sentenced one person to life in prison, while three defendants were given varying jail terms for the violence that left nearly 200 dead and over 1,600 injured, the agency said.

Last month nine people previously sentenced to death were executed for their roles in the violence, the worst strife in China in decades.

Violence erupted in the streets of Urumqi on July 5, when Uighurs — a Muslim minority that has long complained of Chinese repression — reportedly attacked members of China’s Han ethnic majority.

In subsequent days, mobs of Han roamed the city’s streets seeking revenge.

Xinhua identified those sentenced to death yesterday as Heyrinisa Sawut and Ruzikhari Niyaz — both apparently Uighurs judging from their names — and Li Longfei.

Sawut was convicted of beating one man to death and injuring three others by repeatedly bludgeoning them with a wooden club, Xinhua said, while Niyaz was convicted of killing a taxi driver.

Li Longfei was convicted over the beating deaths of at least two victims, whose names suggested they were Uighurs.

So far 41 people have been tried and sentenced in the unrest.

Of the five sentenced to death on Thursday, Memeteli Islam was accused of killing a police officer by smashing him in the back of the head with a brick.

Mamattursun Elmu and Memeteli Abburakm were accused of attacking a minibus and kicking a man and woman inside until they died. Mamattursun Elmu was also charged with setting fire to a grain distribution center, killing five people.

Helil Sadir was accused of killing a bystander with a beer bottle and kicks to the face, and Kushiman Kurban was found guilty of stabbing a bystander to death.

Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, said in a statement e-mailed to journalists: “The Chinese government has brazenly ignored all standards of due process of law in a campaign to silence and intimidate the Uighur population through executions and mass detentions.”

Is bad news not so bad in China?

Saturday, Dec 05, 2009, Page 8

News that 10 journalists were charged with covering up a mining accident in China’s Hebei Province is an intriguing development in a state wary of free media.

Reporters being charged for failing to cover a story involving corruption is a far cry from the usual news of them being browbeaten after publishing embarrassing material. But the journalists not only failed to report the story — they are accused of accepting US$380,000 in bribes from officials to stay quiet.

The accident took place on July 14 last year in Yuxian County — 80km from Beijing and just three weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics. Dozens were killed, and it is likely that safety regulations were being flouted at the mine — as in most accidents in Chinese mines, the most lethal in the world.

For China, the Games were a chance to dazzle the world, but in the months leading to this moment of glory, Beijing was gripped by a fear of the foreign press “seizing on” negative news. Riots had erupted in Tibet in March, prompting Beijing to seal off the region. In the following months, everything from smog and subpar products to the deaths of enormous numbers of schoolchildren in the Sichuan Earthquake put pressure on China’s leaders — and then there was the controversy over underage Chinese gymnasts during the Olympics.

Only after the Olympics did it become clear that another scandal was covered up prior to the Games. Officials in Shijiazhuang and a company called Sanlu knew that infants were being sickened by milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.

Last week, China executed two people for selling tainted milk and protein powder. Now, it has charged journalists and officials in the Hebei accident, suggesting that the central government is trying to signal a change. The message is, at least superficially, that it is not afraid of confronting and dealing with scandals. Moreover, cover-ups are apparently no longer acceptable, no matter the circumstances. We are now led to understand that the public interest had always trumped the risk of embarrassing the government — even if, at the time, Beijing was busy preparing the best Olympics ever.

Is this message credible? Is the country that embarrassed itself again and again over its botched SARS cover-up finally appreciating the damage caused by punishment of journalists and whistleblowers?

Journalists in China are regularly intimidated into silence or punished for covering sensitive topics. Reporters without Borders has said that China has the highest number of imprisoned journalists in the world, while Xinhua’s staff are kept tightly in line to prevent unsanctioned reporting.

But there is another interesting aspect in the Hebei case. If these journalists were bribed not to report on Yuxian’s tragedy, this might indicate that no central government orders had been issued to cover up the incident. Such orders would not require bribing journalists, who defy media bans only at extreme risk to their careers and personal safety.

China has struggled for years in a globalized and wired world to contain news of its scandals. Yet, time and again, scandals are revealed. The fact that the authorities were able to contain news of the Yuxian mine accident for 85 days is a testament to the extent of their efforts. But in the end, there were too many loose ends — and too many angry victims.

Incidents that are covered up but which then become public knowledge are magnified in notoriety, damaging the reputation of every level of government. Given the new risks for those involved in hiding the truth, it will be interesting to see what extent China moves toward accountability, if only for the time being.

Let’s hope the Chinese will be nice landlords
　

By Jerome Keating
Saturday, Dec 05, 2009, Page 8

Observers of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) know him to be a man who depends on image and not consistency in his word. For this reason they watch his actions and ignore his words.

For example, Ma has tried to promote the carrot that China will save Taiwan. Forget the fact that the Chinese dumped poisoned milk and other defective products on the Taiwanese market. Forget that his discredited election promises on income, unemployment and economic growth were based on the China premise. Forget the fact that the great Chinese tourist influx failed to materialize, and that even the few tourists that have come have been stingy compared with the Japanese and the Koreans.

Let us focus instead on Ma’s ongoing cross-strait promises. China will save Taiwan, he says, and Taiwan must not be left behind. Unfortunately, reality continues to conflict with this promise.

Ma states he will not enter into political discussions with China, and that he will only discuss the economy. Can they be separated? This can be read as “Wait until I have given the nation’s economic and military strength away, then, when it is too late, I will discuss politics.”

Even so, buoyed by Ma’s smoke and mirror promises, Taiwan’s news media, unquestioning sheep that they are, are full of how Ma’s economic deals will bring wealth. In particular, they will push up the price of housing all around the island.

Economic salvation. This sounds good, right? Good if you have property to sell. But what if you don’t? Ma’s words then become a simple formula for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. And which party controls the majority of Taiwan’s assets and stands to gain from housing price grains?

In Taipei City’s Da-an District (大安), one of the wealthiest areas of the city, the peak price of housing last year was NT$828,000 per ping (3.3m²). This year, in anticipation of Ma’s promised but non-transparent ECFA, the price has increased to NT$908,000 per ping. Next year it is expected to hit NT$1 million per ping.

Prices are likely to rise all around Taiwan. All well and good if you have property to sell, but what if you don’t? What if you want to buy?

Other questions follow. For those that sell, where will they move to? A smaller city? The countryside? Or perhaps, like some of Taiwan’s ex-legislators and politicians, they plan to move to the US or Canada where more house can be bought for the dollar. If so, to whom will they sell this rich Taiwanese real estate?

Who will be able to afford this high-priced housing?

Not your average Taiwanese. No, it will be rich Chinese from across the Strait. The same scenario happened with housing in Hong Kong. Here, the rub is beginning to be felt and the shallowness of Ma’s promises of wealth is becoming evident.

Another recent item in the news was a survey of the top 10 complaints that Taiwanese have in regard to their living circumstances.

The No. 1 complaint? The high cost of housing. This is all the more a problem for a young couple wanting to buy their first home.

As Ma works deals that make Taiwan increasingly dependent on China, the benefits remain obscure. The few rich will get richer, certainly, but which political party has the most wealth?

As for the average person or the poor, well, they will only get poorer.

So what is the very best that Taiwanese can hope for under Ma?

They can hope that their new Chinese landlords will be nice and not charge them too much rent.

Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.