Ma apologizes for KMT crimes
　

SINS OF OUR FATHERS: After a ceremony at the former Jingmei detention center, ex-political prisoner Annette Lu walked Ma to the cell where she used to be held
　

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 1
　

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday bowed and apologized to political dissidents and their families for the abuses of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government during the White Terror era, adding that he would handle such matters more delicately after some dissidents criticized the government for embellishing the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial Park with contentious art.

Speaking at the park’s opening ceremony yesterday morning, Ma said the location, which used to house the Jingmei military detention center, witnessed the development of democracy in Taiwan.

Ma also pledged to take more action to protect human rights.

“These human rights and democracy fighters played important roles in Taiwan’s history. I am here to give my sincerest apology to those victims who were wrongly accused and persecuted,” Ma said at the ceremony.

Taipei’s Jingmei military detention center was used to hold political dissidents during the White Terror era and after the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 before they were sent to prison or to be executed.

The White Terror era covers the period when martial law was declared on May 19, 1949, and July 15, 1987, when it was lifted. The Kaohsiung Incident refers to Dec. 10, 1979, when the KMT government cracked down and imprisoned participants in an anti-government parade organized by Formosa Magazine.

Some of the dissidents and their family members, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Chen Chia-chun (陳嘉君), wife of former political prisoner Shih Ming-teh (施明德), were invited to attend the ceremony yesterday.

Chen was arrested on Thursday for trying to damage an art display to protest against what she said represented the government’s efforts to honor the old KMT regime. She criticized artist Yu Wen-fu (游文富) for commemorating Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), former head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, by displaying his work where Wang was kept under house arrest for ordering the murder of Chinese-American writer Henry Liu (劉宜良) in 1984.

Ma yesterday acknowledged the government’s lack of understanding and respect for the victims’ feelings and said he would ensure that such matters are handled more appropriately.

Chen Chia-chun left the ceremony immediately after Ma made his speech and remained critical of his administration.

“Ma says one thing and does another … The government wasted money and invited artists to commemorate a killer in the park. How is that supposed to make us, the victims and their families, feel?” she said.

Outside the ceremony, several protesters shouted “Ma Ying-jeou is not qualified to talk about human rights!” and protested against Ma’s participation at the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Lu, who was among those who were detained at the center, walked with Ma around the park and showed him the cell where she was held.

“If you have heard people praise Taiwan as a nation that protects human rights, you should feel ashamed because the regime you served failed to do that,” she told Ma.

“You were working in the Presidential Office when I was in prison … Human rights is not about lip service but countless lives,” she said.

Ma acknowledged that the then government was “inhumane” for refusing to allow Lu to attend the funeral service of her mother, adding that his administration would work harder to protect human rights and restore historical truths.

Chinese ‘curious’ about democracy in Taiwan
　

HOPES?: A US official who accompanied US President Obama on his visit to China said Chinese have shown increasing interest in what is happening across the Strait
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER , WASHINGTON
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 1

“The United States and China [do] not have much experience dealing with problem management.”— Kurt Campbell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell said the Chinese are carefully watching “the path and progress” of Taiwanese democracy and that they “probably see a few things that worry them enormously.”

Answering questions at a Webcast conference on US-China relations recently, Campbell said the Chinese also saw things in Taiwanese democracy to which they “aspire.”

He said the “wholeness” of the Taiwanese democratic experience was not lost on either the Chinese leadership or the Chinese people.

Campbell, who accompanied US President Barack Obama on a recent visit to China, said the clashes and discord accompanying the Taipei power struggle worried ordinary Chinese the most.

Friends in China, he said, were concerned by how “divisive” Taiwanese politics had become.

“They worry that if they move in such a direction that they too will have these enormous difficulties in making transitions between parties. These are hard questions that are difficult to answer,” he said.

Over the past 10 years, Campbell said, some things — such as the concept of democracy, local elections and issues associated with greater participation — have become widely talked about.

It would have been “unthinkable” to discuss them “just a short period of time ago,” he said.

Campbell added: “Now, I hear in much more common circumstances a dialogue that a few years ago would have been impossible.”

Campbell quickly added that this did not mean democracy was “right around the corner” for China.

But there is an appreciation and a recognition in China of the role that democracy has played not just in Taiwan but in Japan, South Korea and other parts of Asia, he said.

Campbell said the US welcomed the dialogue now taking place between Beijing and Taipei.

There is still a long way to go, Campbell said, and the focus is primarily on economic matters. Still, he said, there is a recognition in Washington that the cross-strait dialogue is a very hopeful sign.

Asked which of a series of tinderbox issues — including Taiwan — was the greatest threat to US-China relations, Campbell said: “Each and every one of those issues if mishandled could pose a challenge. Each of these problems has at its core the prospect of incidents and unintended actions spinning out of control.”

“The problem is not simply the issues themselves, it is also that the United States and China [do] not have much experience dealing with problem management,” Campbell said.

Thousands march globally calling for climate action

AP, COPENHAGEN
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 1
　

Environment ministers from around the world were arriving in Copenhagen yesterday to ramp up pressure on climate negotiators working on a pact to curb global warming, as protesters gathered to demand that the world’s leaders take strong action.

A mass rally was held in Copenhagen, cranking up the heat on problem-plagued talks.

The center of the Danish capital was in virtual lockdown, with thousands of police deployed or on standby ahead of a 6km march that would take green and anti-capitalist demonstrators to the UN conference venue.

“All week we have heard a string of excuses from northern countries to make adequate reparations for the ecological crisis that they have caused,” said activist Lidy Nacpil of the Philippines, from a group called the Jubilee South Coalition.

“We are taking to the streets to demand that the ecological debt is repaid to the people of the South,” Nacpil said.

Within the Bella Center congress hall, Nobel prizewinner Archbishop Desmond Tutu was to lead children in creating “a sea of candles” representing a call from generations imperiled by climate change.

From Australia to the Arctic circle, protesters readied banners and chants, urging the 12-day marathon to meet the threat posed by humans’ meddling with the climate system.

In Australia, organizers said about 50,000 people had taken to the streets nationwide, wearing sky-blue shoelaces in a call for a strong and binding agreement in Copenhagen.

In Hong Kong men, women and children marched, some dressed as pandas, while others held life rings bearing the slogan “Climate Change Kills. Act Now. Save Lives.”

Indonesians rallied in front of the US embassy in Jakarta calling for help for developing nations in reducing greenhouse gases.

A crowd chanted “US is the biggest emitter” and unfurled banners that read “US is the carbon mafia leader” and “Be a part of a legally binding agreement.”

The ministers will have nearly a week of intense public and private talks before more than 100 heads of state and government come to Copenhagen at the end of this week.

On the chilly streets outside the conference center, police assigned extra squads to watch thousands of protesters gathering for a march to demand that leaders act now to fight climate change.

Pledges made to cut heat-­trapping greenhouse emissions are far below what scientists say is needed to keep global temperatures from rising to potentially catastrophic levels.

A draft agreement was sent around Friday to the 192-nation conference, although it set no firm figures on financing or on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

It said all countries together should reduce emissions by a range of between 50 percent and 95 percent by 2050, and rich countries should cut emissions by between 25 percent and 40 percent by 2020, in both cases using 1990 as the baseline year.

So far, industrial countries’ pledges to cut emissions have amounted to far less than the minimum.

The draft also left open the form of the agreement — whether it will be a legal document or a political declaration.

Ian Fry, the representative of the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu, made an emotional appeal for the strongest format, one that would legally bind all nations to commitments to control carbon emissions.

Speaking for citizens of atolls and islands around the globe that could be swamped by rising sea levels, Fry called on US President Barack Obama to earn the Nobel Peace Prize he collected on Friday by taking up the fight against climate change, which he called “the greatest threat to humanity” and international security.

“I woke up this morning crying, and that’s not easy for a grown man to admit,” Fry said, choking as he spoke in the plenary crowded with hundreds of delegates. “The fate of my country rests in your hands.”

PRC charges activist with subversion

AFP AND REUTERS, BEIJING
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 1

Leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) has been formally indicted for subversion, his family and a rights group said yesterday, one year after he was detained in the wake of signing a pro-­democracy charter.

“His lawyer told me Friday that Liu Xiaobo has been formally charged with inciting subversion of state power,” his wife Liu Xia (劉霞) said.

“I was mentally prepared for an indictment, but I wasn’t expecting the prosecutors to move so quickly,” she said by telephone.

“This doesn’t look hopeful for him,” she said. “But he will certainly fight the charges.”

The 53-year-old writer, who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, was arrested last December after signing Charter 08, a widely circulated petition that called for greater democracy in China.

Liu’s lawyer, Shang Baojun (尚寶軍), said on Wednesday that Liu’s case had been transferred by police to prosecutors with a recommendation he be indicted.

China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) said Liu’s case would be heard by Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, though a date has yet to be set.

“After holding Liu Xiaobo over one year without a trial, officials have now sped up prosecution and we worry that they will rush the case through trial procedures during the holiday season,” said Jiang Yingying, a researcher for the rights group.

“We are seriously concerned that Liu will not get a fair and open trial, and his legal rights will not be respected,” he said.

China’s Party-controled courts rarely find in favor of defendants, especially in politically charged cases.

If convicted, the 53-year-old dissident could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Police have said the charges against Liu are “serious,” suggesting authorities will seek a long term.

The group condemned Liu’s indictment and called for his immediate and unconditional release.

“Liu Xiaobo is being punished solely for the peaceful activities of expressing his opinions and organizing fellow citizens to voice their common concerns and ideas regarding the promotion of human rights and democracy,” CHRD said.

The indictment is likely to draw fresh outcries over a case that has already become a focus for international pressure on China, which has bolstered controls on critics of Chinese Communist Party rule.

Thousands remember Incident
　

HARD-WON FREEDOM: Annette Lu and Frank Hsieh urged the public to safeguard democracy in the face of the KMT's China-friendly policies
　

By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER, KAOHSIUNG
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 2
　

Thousands of people flooded the streets of Kaohsiung City yesterday evening to mark the 30th anniversary of the Kaohsiung Incident.

Speaking to a crowd in a sealed-off area of Jhongshan Road beside the Formosa Boulevard MRT station — the same place where political dissidents calling for democratic reforms were arrested 30 years ago in what came to be known as the Kaohsiung Incident — former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) urged the public to safeguard democracy and the freedoms they now enjoy.

Lu and Hsieh played prominent roles in the incident, with Lu one of the Kaohsiung Eight, or the eight high profile leaders of the protest — and Hsieh later joining the team of attorneys for their defense.

Other members of the defense team — including Chen Chi-sen (陳繼盛), Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and You Ching (尤清) — also attended the event.

A visibly emotional Lu, who had been sentenced by a military court to 12 years in prison, told the crowd that the freedoms taken for granted today had to be sustained through continued sacrifices. She called on the public to defend democracy against “attacks” by the government, referring to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government's plan to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.

“The KMT's eagerness to conduct secret meetings and agreements with China” shows that the party does not take democratic values seriously, Lu said.

Critics say the agreement would put Taiwan’s sovereignty at risk and lay the foundation for unification with China. The government, however, insists it would be purely an economic agreement with no political strings attached.

“The KMT government seems ready to sell out Taiwan to achieve peaceful unification with China,” Lu said.

These views were echoed by Hsieh, who said that the nation's hard-earned freedoms were under constant pressure from tht KMT government. He added that the public “needs to act ... to preserve our freedoms.”

“Kaohsiung is the birthplace of our nation’s democracy, I hope that we can once again show the nation our values in next year's elections,” Hsieh said, referring to the municipal elections next December.

Jacklin Lee (李錦英), one of thousands who attended the event, told the Taipei Times: “We came out tonight because we love Taiwan ... These people have sacrificed themselves for us, of course, we need to support them.”

Lee said she lived directly across the street from where the arrests were made 30 years ago.

“At the time, we all had a feeling that arrests were going to be made, but the fact that they actually had the audacity to do so still surprised us,” she said.

Chiu Huang-chuan (邱晃泉) agreed, saying: “I find it hard to believe that the same [party] which locked up the protesters for sedition is now siding with China instead of Taiwan.”

“Society needs to come together, reach a consensus to support Taiwan [against] these moves,” Chiu said.

The organizers of the event estimated that more than 10,000 attended the commemoration last night.
　

Protest led to end of one-party rule

AFP, TAIPEI
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 2
　

Thirty years ago a group of Taiwanese opposition activists staged what was meant to be a peaceful human rights protest. Instead, it proved to be a turning point in ending one-party rule in the country.

On the evening of Dec. 10, 1979, members of the fledgling opposition gathered in Kaohsiung City.

The demonstration erupted into violence and several opposition leaders were arrested. However, far from silencing the movement, the crackdown by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government ignited support for the opposition and publicized their cause.

“The incident made big headlines in local newspapers, and an increasing number of people became aware of what we had been struggling for,” said Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), one of the main figures in the protest.

What became known as the Kaohsiung Incident marked a breakthrough in the campaign to end the stranglehold of the KMT, which had arrived from China in 1949 after losing the Chinese Civil War to the communists, he said.

“From that time on, the ruling party became more cautious in cracking down on campaigns in the streets,” said Yao, now 71.

For three decades, the KMT had managed to keep its monopoly on power, but as Taiwan became more prosperous and its citizens better educated, the party's control began to slip.

The Kaohsiung demonstration, which unofficial estimates said involved between 10,000 and 30,000 people, was intended as a peaceful call for human rights, but dozens were injured when protesters clashed with police.

In the following days, police rounded up the organizers, including Yao. Numerous reports document their maltreatment in detention. They received jail terms of 12 years to life, but the punishment only earned them public sympathy.

“It was a key event because of the lawyers who became interested and came in to help the opposition,” said Bruce Jacobs, an expert on Taiwan at Australia's Monash University, who is writing a book on the incident.

In elections in 1980, relatives of the jailed dissidents, among them Yao's wife, ran as candidates and found strong support.

The rest of the decade saw Taiwan's gradual but inexorable march toward democracy, with the founding of the Democratic Progressive Party in 1986 and the lifting of martial law in 1987.

Yao, who served seven years of his 12-year sentence, rose through the ranks and later served as Examination Yuan president.

Looking back, he is proud of the democratic system that he helped create.

“It is strong enough to prevent Taiwan from sliding back into one-party rule,” he said.

Gathering near the present day Jhongshan and Jhongjheng road intersection, witnesses said on that historic night tens of thousands of people marched to the beat of We Will Overcome — a key anthem of the US civil rights movement.

By nightfall, scores of military police had surrounded the group, dispersing tear gas. Prominent leaders of the democratic movement were arrested, charged with sedition and tried in military courts.

“Thirty years ago [today], I was arrested at five in the morning ... standing up for human rights, democracy ... and Taiwan,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) recounted yesterday.

She was sentenced to 12 years for her involvement in the incident.

“For me to be stand here today as the mayor of this city signifies that our previous sacrifices have not been in vain.”

Chen said the incident was a pivotal moment that changed the nation's course of history because the protests showed KMT authorities that the “[Taiwanese] people had enough of being told what to do instead of deciding their own fate.”

While noting that society has changed and improved for the better, she said the incident allowed the public for the first time to show their love for Taiwan after decades of being discouraged from doing so by martial law.

“Whenever I think of that moment, I am filled with pride that I participated in such a historical event and I would [do it] again if I had to,” she said.
　

Academics acknowledge sacrifice made by protesters
　

By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER, KAOHSIUNG
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 2

While the nation now enjoys freedom of the press along with one of the most liberal political systems in Asia, these accomplishments would not have been possible without the sacrifices made by protesters during the Kaohsiung Incident, panelists attending a two-day conference to commemorate the Kaohsiung Incident said yesterday.

Looking back at the incident, academics debated the reasons behind the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government's heavy-handed crackdown on the protest — including its political isolation following the rupture in relations with the US and domestic pressures for political change — and the implications of its action.

“The KMT government experienced one of the most spectacular breakdowns in foreign affairs in world history ... It used to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council that was able to veto the admission of Mongolia into the body,” Wu Chih-chung (吳志中), a political science professor at Soochow University, told the forum in Kaohsiung.

“A decade later, KMT government officials weren't even allowed to enter the UN building,” Wu said.

As a result, to cement its rule, the government turned to cracking down on domestic discontent as foreign pressure intensified, Wu said.

Wang Si-wei (王思維), an assistant professor at Nanhua University, said that losing the US as an ally was the last drop in the bucket for the government.

“The US was one of the few major allies left at the end of the 1970s ... The government lost all credibility on the international stage after relations broke off [in 1979],” he said, adding that the quick military trials of the defendants from the Kaohsiung Incident showed the government's insecurity.

The researchers said the 1970s was also a period where Taiwan's pro-democratic movement flourished, a series of changes that authorities were not yet ready to accept.

“The 1970s-era ushered in the rapid development of the nation's middle class, which was becoming increasingly interested in public affairs and change through popular movements,” said Chen Shi-hong (陳世宏), a researcher on the Kaohsiung Incident. “Some of these middle-class intellectuals formed the core of the new 'Tangwai' [黨外, or outside party] movement.”

He added that the arrests of the dissidents attracted more intellectuals, including former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who became their defense lawyers.

Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), a researcher at Academia Sinica, also drew attention to the government's inability to tell whether protesters shouting slogans such as “Long live the Taiwanese” were there in support of increased freedoms or Taiwanese independence.

“They couldn't decide if these slogans meant that the public wanted more liberties or were against the Republic of China,” Chen said, adding that in the end, “it didn't matter as they believed both to be crimes.”

The conference capped off a month of events held by the Kaohsiung City Government to commemorate the incident. A photo exhibition will continue until Dec. 23 at the city's Formosa Boulevard MRT station.

DPP plans protests during Chiang-Chen negotiations

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 3

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will step up its protests against the upcoming cross-strait talks in Taichung, with various demonstrations planned for Dec. 21 to Dec. 23 in addition to a march and rally next Sunday, DPP officials said.

The DPP reached the decision on Friday, one day after the itinerary for the fourth round of talks between Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) was made public.

The itinerary released by the Mainland Affairs Council showed that Chen will arrive in Taichung on Dec. 21 and meet with Chiang on Dec. 22 to sign four cross-strait agreements regarding fishing crew coordination, agricultural quarantine inspections, industrial product standards, inspection and certification, and the avoidance of double taxation. In anticipation of Chen’s visit, the DPP had earlier announced a march on Dec. 20 in Taichung City to protest the proposed signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.

The DPP decided on Friday that the protest campaign will be extended to cover the first three days of Chen’s stay in Taichung to highlight the “unreasonableness” of the Chiang-Chen talks, party officials said.

Among the many protest ideas raised by party members were flash mobs and having 50 model planes hovering over the venue, they said, adding that further discussions would be held to finalize the details of the planned protests.

Meanwhile, expressing concerns about the DPP’s planned action, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians in Taichung urged the DPP to ensure the protests are not violent so that the talks can proceed smoothly.

Chang Hung-nien (張宏年), speaker of the Taichung City Council, said the DPP should take the event in stride because it is intended to address economic issues and would not touch upon political subjects.

University leaders discuss opening to PRC students
　

THREE REASONS: An official said the policy could ease enrollment shortages, enhance mutual understanding across the Strait and give Chinese a good impression of Taiwan
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 3

“Chinese students work harder than Taiwanese.”— Kao Koong-lian, Straits Exchange Foundation secretary-general

The government’s policy of opening the country’s higher education system to Chinese students was welcomed by presidents of several top universities, who dwelled on the advantages more than the disadvantages at a forum on its potential impact in Taipei yesterday.

With a timetable to implement the policy for the autumn semester next year, public hearings on the subject are being held before the legislature possibly amends laws to enable the implementation of one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign pledges.

At the forum yesterday, Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) said there is still a lack of public consensus on allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, a move the government plans to implement along with a proposal to recognize educational qualifications issued in China.

“It’s not that the people who oppose the policy are not making sense in their arguments. It is just that [the policy] is good for the country in many ways,” said Kao, saying that it could ease enrollment shortages sparked by the dwindling birth rate, enhance mutual understanding between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and foster a positive impression of Taiwan.

Kao said that admitting Chinese students to Taiwan’s universities could spur Taiwanese students to study harder and help with academic research “as Chinese students work harder than Taiwanese,” adding that this was an “objective fact.”

National Taiwan University (NTU) president Lee Si-chen (李嗣涔) agreed with Kao.

“Many people have the experience, as I did, when they were in China for conferences that they were awakened at 6:30am in the morning by Chinese students reading in English out loud. What many of our students would be doing then is staying up surfing the Internet until 6:30am,” Lee said.

National Taiwan Normal University president Guo Yih-shun (郭義雄), NTU vice president Bau Tzong-ho (包宗和), National Cheng Kung University president Michael Lai (賴明詔) and National Taipei University president Hou Chung-weun (侯崇文) all agreed that the policy would increase the competitive edge of local universities and students.

“The government is taking the right direction to open its doors to Chinese students, but there are some concerns that need to be addressed,” Hou said.

One of the concerns was that admitting Chinese students might dilute the scarce resources available for the country’s higher education system, he said.

Chinese students will be recruited outside of quotas reserved for local students, he said. “[This] will increase the burden on teachers and so might negatively influence education quality and the cost of managing a university,” he said.

Currently the government is mulling setting a quota of less than 2 percent of each school’s annual enrollment for Chinese students. Also, the students would not be eligible for scholarships from the schools and would be banned from working part-time during their stay in Taiwan. Furthermore, they would be required to return to China immediately after they finish school, among others.

A Chinese student who currently studies at National Cheng Chi ­University as an exchange student from China’s Nanjing University, said at the forum that the restrictions would make it difficult for Taiwan to attract excellent Chinese students because Hong Kong offered better conditions in terms of scholarships, residence rights after school and working opportunities.

On the scholarship issue, the leaders of the universities were of the opinion that having entrepreneurs — especially businesses with operations in China — provide scholarships to Chinese students could be a solution to the problem.

Antarctic nations plan new controls
　

HOLIDAY HAZARDS: Some tourists travel to Antarctica on vessels carrying many tonnes of heavy fuel oil, chemicals and garbage that can pollute the region

AP, WELLINGTON
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 4

Countries that manage Antarctica plan to impose tough new controls on ships visiting the southern oceans and the fuels they use in order to reduce the threat of human and environmental disasters posed by increasing numbers of tourists, officials said yesterday.

The new code will reduce the number of ships carrying tourists into the region by requiring that all vessels have hulls strengthened to withstand ice. Officials and ship operators said a ban on heavy fuel oil will effectively shut out big cruise ships.

Experts from the signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, the world’s main tool for managing the continent, and the International Maritime Organization discussed plans to impose a mandatory Polar Code to control all shipping in the region at a meeting in the New Zealand capital, Wellington.

MAJOR DANGERS

The safeguards are seen as necessary to limit accidents in the region, where blinding sleet, fog, high winds and treacherous seas pose major dangers for ships and huge problems for rescuers located thousands of kilometers from remote Antarctic waters.

The code will cover vessel design — including hulls strengthened to withstand sea ice — a range of safety equipment, ship operations and crew training for ice navigation, meeting chairman and New Zealand Antarctic policy specialist Trevor Hughes said.

The nearly completed Polar Code is expected to be in place by 2013, he said.

Once approved, it would operate on a voluntary basis until it is ratified by treaty states and becomes legally binding.

While existing rules bar tourists or tour operators from leaving anything behind — like garbage or human waste — and require protection of animal breeding grounds, there are no formal codes on the kind of vessels that can use the waters or the kinds of fuel and other oil products they can carry.

In March, the International Maritime Organization, the UN’s shipping agency, is to ratify a ban on the carriage or use of heavy fuel oil in Antarctica. It is to come into effect in 2011.

WILDERNESS

The moves follow a huge growth in tourist traffic as people flock to see the world’s last great wilderness.

Annual tourist numbers have grown from about 10,000 a decade ago to 45,000 last year. Tourists can pay between US$3,000 and US$24,000 for a two-week trip. Some travel on ships carrying up to 3,000 passengers that also take many tonnes of heavy fuel oil, chemicals and garbage that can pollute the region.

Nathan Russ, operations manager of Antarctic eco-tourism company Heritage Expeditions, said the proposed heavy fuel ban “will most likely regulate the biggest cruise ships out of Antarctic operations” because of the costs involved in switching to lighter fuel.

The Antarctic Treaty, first signed in 1959, is the main tool for regulating what is the world’s only continent without a native human population.

New Zealand is one of the dozen founding members of the treaty, along with the US, Russia and Britain.

Has Ma done anything right yet?
　

By Liang Wen-Chieh 梁文傑
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 8

‘Even voters in Hualien County, who for decades have been solidly loyal to the KMT, did not help Ma save face.’

“The voters have taught President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a lesson.” The comment may seem hackneyed, but however you view the results of last Saturday’s local government elections, this is the one clear conclusion to be drawn from them.

With respect to county and city seats, the only constituency the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won back was Yilan County, and it held on to three others. It is fair to say that the DPP won where it should have won and lost where it was going to lose anyway.

When it comes to the overall number of votes, however, the DPP got nearly 46 percent, the highest it has ever received in elections for city mayors and county commissioners since it was founded. In 1997 the DPP won control of 12 cities and counties, but it only got 43 percent of the total vote.

This time the party’s vote went up in every constituency bar Hualien County, where it did not put up a candidate. The result was close even in cities and counties where the DPP was expected to lose heavily.

In Taoyuan County the DPP lost by 180,000 votes four years ago, and by 300,000 votes in last year’s presidential election. The last opinion poll published before last weekend’s elections by the United Daily News indicated that support for DPP candidate Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) was only 10 percent, but Cheng got 46 percent of the vote, less than 50,000 votes short of victory. This came as a surprise not just for the media, but even for many seasoned veterans in the pan-green camp.

In Taitung County, the DPP closed the gap from 20,000 votes in 2005 to around 5,000 this time. If we subtract the votes of the county’s Aborigines, who are mostly loyal Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) voters, the DPP would have won in Taitung. This result shows how angry people in Taitung are about the performance of outgoing county commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞), who used to enjoy Ma’s strong support.

Even voters in Hualien County, who for decades have been solidly loyal to the KMT, did not help Ma save face, giving KMT candidate Du Li-hua (杜麗華) less than half the votes of the winner, independent Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁).

Outgoing Hualien County Commissioner Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) voiced his firm support for Deputy Commissioner Zhang Zhi-ming (張志明), also standing as an independent, even though he knew Zhang would lose by a wide margin. Hsieh could be expelled from the KMT for this, but his insistence on doing so made it clear he doesn’t care.

KMT Chairman Ma did what he had to do in expelling Zhang for standing against the official KMT candidate, but he would find it hard to explain why Hsieh, a veteran who joined the party decades ago, chose to ignore his wishes and his authority.

The 2005 elections for mayors and county commissioners marked a shift of territory between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, with the DPP suffering its heaviest defeat as a result of malpractice cases involving Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), former deputy secretary-general to then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), and Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), Chen Shui-bian’s son-in-law.

It suffered another heavy defeat in the 2007 legislative election, and was beaten by 2.7 million votes in last year’s presidential contest.

This time, however, the DPP’s vote has not just stopped falling, but risen to its highest point ever. The four-year trend of dwindling votes for the pan-greens and growing support for the pan-blues has finally been reversed.

Legislative by-elections in Taoyuan, Taichung, Hualien and Taitung a month from now could prove even more interesting. Judging by the results of the Dec. 5 polls, while Hualien is still impregnable for the DPP, it has a chance of winning all the other three seats.

Where has Ma gone wrong in the year and a half since he took office to have the electorate punish him like this?

This question can’t be answered in a few words. Politicians and TV pundits from both green and blue camps may offer different explanations. DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) says it is because the public is unhappy about Ma’s China policies.

There is no doubt some truth in that, but it can’t explain the structural shift that has taken place in the originally solid pro-blue counties of Hualien, Taitung and Taoyuan, where the DPP’s electoral gains were well above its leaders’ own expectations.

It would be simpler to ask what Ma has done right. It is, perhaps, the nub of the matter, and it is where Ma should start examining his own record.

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

For water, waste not, want not is golden rule
　

By Tang Mau-tsu 湯茂竹
Sunday, Dec 13, 2009, Page 8

According to media reports, parts of Taiwan will face water shortages around the end of the year and people in southern areas are being advised not to go their home towns for Lunar New Year celebrations. But wait — didn’t Typhoon Morakot bring the worst flooding in decades to southern Taiwan just a few months ago? Now climate change is even stopping people from visiting their families at festival time. Being from the south myself, I am rather upset about this.

Because of Taiwan’s unstable environment, it often suffers water shortages despite abundant rainfall. Unfortunately, the country’s industrial development has followed a path of high water and energy use. The Hsinchu Science Park is a good example. Manufacturing has flourished here, bringing a wave of prosperity over the past couple of decades. The downside is that the area’s key semiconductor and optoelectronic panel factories have used up a great deal of Taiwan’s resources — especially water resources. The Water Resources Agency (WRA) is reportedly planning to construct a reservoir in Bilin Valley in Hsinchu County’s Jianshih Township (尖石) aimed at ensuring adequate water supplies for people living and working in Hsinchu for the next 120 years.

But everyone in Hsinchu knows that once the rain stops the water quickly drains away. In order to supply the proposed Bilin reservoir with enough water, the WRA proposes digging a tunnel to bring it underground from the Dahan River on the other side of Jianshih Mountain. Chiayi County’s Zengwun Reservoir is also fed by cross-watershed transfer, but it has had a big impact on the geology, rivers, landscape and ecology of the region. People are asking whether a reservoir and water transfer tunnel at Bilin will not do the same kind of damage.

Building a reservoir sacrifices more than just the area that is flooded. It can also wipe out local culture and be disastrous for places downstream. Besides, Hsinchu was struck by a big earthquake in 1935. Following the Typhoon Morakot flooding, who can have confidence that the dam will really stand for 100 years, the accepted minimum lifetime for civil engineering projects?

Although we are short of water, there are other, safer solutions available, such as building desalination plants to process seawater.

The storage capacity of existing reservoirs could be increased by 30 percent just by dredging them. By putting into practice existing water conservation policies, recycling waste water from industrial zones and cutting water leakage from today’s 30 percent to the less than 5 percent that is normal in developed countries, enough water could be saved each year to fill three reservoirs the size of Taipei County’s Feitsui Reservoir, or about 20 times the volume of the proposed Bilin reservoir.

The industries that dominate Taiwan’s science parks bring in low profits but use up a lot of natural resources. In estimating the cost of planned science and industrial parks, the government completely failed to take environmental costs into account. It is unacceptable that Taiwan’s water conservation planning should be based on such outmoded ideas.

If the government is serious about promoting sustainable industry, it must limit development to what the land and environment can provide. Consumption and pollution should be cut by a certain percentage each year, after which we will be in a position to plan the overall direction for industrial development over the following two or three decades. Manufacturing in Taiwan needs a structural shift away from resource-hungry industries to those based on human talent, and there is no better time than the present.

Tang Mau-tsu is head of the Experimental Facility Division at the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center.