Taiwan Today

US Advisory Body Tells Congress To Get Tougher With China

2006-11-17T09:07:00.000+08:00

Wednesday, 16 November 2006
By Elizabeth Price, DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- China isn't living up to its obligations at the World Trade Organization and is expanding its influence in ways frequently harmful to U.S. interests, a congressional advisory commission said Thursday.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission, in an annual report released Thursday, said the U.S. government needs to become tougher in insisting China carry out its promises and treaties - an area where the emerging economic and military superpower has consistently fallen short.

"China's adherence to its many WTO obligations remains spotty and halting in important areas five years after China attained membership," the commission said. "If China's willingness to honor its trade obligations is at issue, its commitment to accept its geopolitical responsibilities is even more in question, " the Commission said later in the report.

The commission, a bipartisan group appointed by Congress after it voted to grant permanent normal trade relations to China in 2000, made a list of 44 recommendations for Congress. These ranged from calls for bringing more WTO complaints against China to stronger retaliation against alleged currency manipulation, to measures to deal with what it said is a growing military threat.

The harshly worded report underscores Congress's frustration with the massive U.S. trade deficit with China and the pace of reform in China. It also reflects an exasperation that previous treaties with China on issues, like intellectual property rights enforcement and promises by Chinese leaders to rely less on exports for growth, haven't brought progress.

"In a lot of areas, China understands its obligations, and has even enacted regulations and laws recognizing those obligations...but then they ignore them," said Larry Wortzel, who was appointed by then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and now chairman of the commission.

Carolyn Bartholomew, vice-chair of the committee, speaking to reporters along with Wortzel, said China's poor compliance calls into question the utility of making any agreements with the Chinese.

"I think for a number of years, the Chinese government has gotten away with making promises and not having to abide by them," said Bartholomew.

Over the past two years, the Bush administration has worked hard to prevent Congress from passing legislation to restrict Chinese imports, notably in retaliation for China's heavily managed currency regime. U.S. exporters complain that the yuan is undervalued against the U.S. dollar and unfairly cheapens Chinese goods.

Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., agreed to drop their tariff measure, which had a majority of Senate support to give U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson a chance to talk with the Chinese. Paulson, like Treasury Secretary John Snow before him, argued that diplomacy is the only effective way to get China to reform its currency.

The commission recommended Congress pressure the Administration to file complaints before the WTO and the International Monetary Fund against currency manipulation. It also urged Congress to revise its law against currency manipulation to make it clear that currency pegs and prolonged currency market intervention are violations of fair trade.

Congress should also define currency manipulation and loan forgiveness as illegal export subsidies, subject to U.S. penalties against dumping and subsidies, the commission said.

Noting that China has recently accelerated the rate at which they allow the yuan to appreciate,"the progress that has been made has been woefully inadequate," Bartholomew said.

The shift to Democratic control of Congress following elections last week could make Capitol Hill more receptive to these measures, said Bartholomew, who was appointed to the commission by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"There's a whole new crop of elected leaders, many from districts where they have experienced first hand these changes" stemming from trade with China, Bartholomew said.

Neither Wortzel nor Bartholomew expressed much hope that Paulson's initiative for a "Strategic Dialogue" with China, meeting for the first time in December, would move Chinese leadership.

"All of these strategic dialogues can be very useful; they educate the Chinese leadership about U.S. concerns," said Wortzel. "But let's face it - at some point you need action."

The commission urged U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab to file a WTO complaint against China for its failure to protect intellectual property rights as it has promised.

The problem is no longer confined to luxury goods and films, but is now an urgent health and safety risk with a sharp rise of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and auto parts, the commission said.

Meanwhile, China is extending its influence on other developing countries in South America and Africa to secure natural resources needed to power the economy.

"Of particular concern to the commission is China's seeming posture as a potential counterweight to the U.S., and its disposition to support volatile and repressive regimes as its client states," the commission said, adding that the most striking example of the problem is in Sudan.

"The Commission recommends that Congress urge the administration to seek direct dialogue and cooperation with China with regard to securing a resolution to the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that will halt the genocide there and provide ongoing security and basic human rights for the affected population, " according to the report.

The commission also urged Congress to promote Taiwan's participation in international organizations, insist that China carry out inspections at sea of ships bound to and from North Korean ports, and toughen sanctions for nuclear proliferation by Chinese companies.

China targeting island with 900 missiles on 5 bases

2006-11-17T08:59:00.000+08:00

Thursday, November 16, 2006, Special to World Tribune.com

China continues its planning to invade Taiwan and now has more than 900 missile targeted on the island, Taiwanese officials said last week.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian (by Sam Yeh/AFP)

“Despite China's impressive economic rise, it has become more authoritarian, posing a grave threat to our sovereignty and abusing human rights like never before," Taiwanese President Chen Shuibian said.

Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu also said in Taipei that China is a threat and has supported some of the world’s most notorious violators of human rights.

Chinese missiles are located in five bases in nearby Fujian Province. Additionally, China now has 11 military satellites in orbit.

Noting calls for China to remove the missiles, Chen said it would not be enough. “If China one day removed the missiles from its east coast, they could just transport them all back the next day," he said.

China also is developing cruise missiles and other weapons. “China's acquisition of long-range bombers and mid-air refuelers from Russia means that it seeks to project its military power beyond Taiwan, because Chinese fighter jets wouldn't need to refuel mid-air in a cross-strait attack,” Chen said.

Wu said China seeks to take over Taiwan because it views the island as a "stumbling block to projecting power" throughout Asia.

Wu criticized the United States for mistaking Taiwanese efforts at further democratization as steps toward formal independence.

Taiwan is not a province of China

2006-11-15T09:00:00.000+08:00

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The Manila Times

I am grateful for The Manila Times carrying the photo on the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the “Enchanting Taiwan Photo Exhibition” and for the article accompanying it. However, I noticed that it stated that “Taiwan is a province of China with whom …” This is quite incorrect for since the “Republic of China government relocated in Taiwan in 1949 it maintains jurisdiction over Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and numerous other islets. Since 1949 the sides of the Taiwan Strait have been governed as separate territories, and their different identities and cultures have diverged ever more.”

WELLINGTON WEI
Press Division Director
Taipei Economic & Cultural Office, Taiwan

Financial Times's Interview with President Chen

2006-11-03T06:18:00.000+08:00

The following is an edited transcript of the Financial Times’ exclusive interview with Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan’s president, by Kathrin Hille, the FT’s Taipei correspondent.

Financial Times: Mr President, you recently mentioned that during the 20 remaining months of your presidency you intend to do the work of 40 months, and you also raised three policies. Could you explain in a bit more specific terms how you intend to implement these three policies: constitutional reform, joining the United Nations under the name of Taiwan, and dealing with party assets acquired under the authoritarian era?

Chen Shui-bian: This is in line with the two big policies I have mentioned before: insisting on Taiwan identity and realising social fairness and justice. Therefore we must continue to promote three big movements. These include giving birth to a new constitution that fits Taiwan’s needs, applying for UN membership under the name of Taiwan, and have the whole people go after the assets acquired by the Kuomintang during their authoritarian rule by improper means.

These are absolutely not slogans but very important issues. This is also something which we have to continue to work on to make Taiwan a normal country. Of course some call these a “mission impossible” but I think there’s nothing impossible under the sun. If only you have ideals and goals and insist and don’t give up and try your best, everything is possible in the end.

Therefore I want to use 20 months to do the work of 40 months. This also shows our will and determination. Because in the past many things were viewed as “missions impossible” but we often made them possible within the shortest possible time.

For example, we managed to rectify the name of Chiang Kai Shek International Airport to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport within one week. …

Similarly, with regard to the termination or the abolition of the National Unification Council and guidelines, I raised this on January 29 this year in my hometown of Tainan. On February 28 I officially proclaimed the measure. That was no more than one month. …

I also remember the case of the referendums. … On the Democratic Progressive Party’s anniversary on September 28, 2003, I presented the DPP’s three wishes for 2004. One of them was we wanted to complete the first country-wide referendum. Everyone thought that was an impossible mission. … [But] from the proposal to the day when we held the referendum it was no more than six months.

Another case I can explain is on May 20, 2004 at my inaugural ceremony [when] I mentioned that I hope we could complete constitutional reform by the end of my second term in 2008, abolish the National Assembly and include referenda in the constitution.

Abolishing the National Assembly and including referenda in the constitution – that was another mission impossible! Originally I thought I would need four years and would only be able to finish this before I step down in 2008. Who would have thought that we completed these constitutional reforms on June 7 2005? The National Assembly finally went into history, and we handed the right of final approval of constitutional changes over to the people.

Now any constitutional reform proposal passed by the Legislative Yuan will only take effect after approved by the people in a referendum. For this, we also didn’t use more than a year.

No matter if one year, half a year, a month or seven days, we have made the impossible possible. So the three movements I mentioned in order to pursue Taiwan identity and social fairness and justice are absolutely possible.

FT: We observe that you have started to discuss some of the possible contents of a new constitution, including the definition of the “existing national boundaries” and the concept of a “Second Republic” constitution. Will you get even deeper involved in the discussion of the constitutional contents? So far you have only raised the question of whether these two things should be discussed. Will you start giving some answers and reveal your views on these issues?

Chen: The DPP’s party platform that was passed on October 7, 1990 mentions: Our country’s de-facto sovereignty does not extend to mainland China and outer Mongolia. The future constitutional system and domestic as well as foreign policies should be based on this factual territorial scope. So no matter if factual sovereignty or factual territory, we have already said in very clear terms that these do not include mainland China and outer Mongolia.

But according to the existing constitution, the country’s territory is defined with reference to “the existing national boundaries”. But what are the existing national boundaries?

We first thought that we could solve this through a constitutional interpretation, that means to solve it by having the constitutional court deliver a constitutional interpretation rather by amending the constitution. But what we didn’t know is that on March 28, 1993, the Constitutional Court had already ruled saying the definition of the scope of the “existing national boundaries” is a major political question and should not be explained by the highest judicial body in its capacity of interpreting the constitution.

Therefore our thought of going through the judiciary in order to avoid constitutional amendments cannot be realised.

But the problem is what [are] the existing national boundaries? Does it really include mainland China and outer Mongolia? Mainland China is currently the territory of the People’s Republic of China, and outer Mongolia is another country named Republic of Mongolia. Both are UN members. If we say our existing national boundaries extend to the territory of these two countries, wouldn’t that mean to encroach on UN members’ territory and sovereignty? This is very absurd and unrealistic. The international community would of course not accept such a thing.

Further, do the “existing national boundaries” include Taiwan? This is also very controversial. Very clearly, the Republic of China constitution says the country’s name is Republic of China, it was founded in 1912. But Taiwan became a Japanese colony as early as 1895. So when the ROC was established, it did not include Taiwan.

The “existing national boundaries” at the time the predecessor of the ROC constitution, a 1936 draft, was put together, did not include Taiwan either because Taiwan was still ruled by Japan. After the war, the San Francisco Treaty did not give Taiwan to China. So that the ROC’s “existing national boundaries” do not include Taiwan is very clear. So do we want to solve this problem? It is not in line with reality and is so controversial.

So this is a very serious issue. From the DPP’s 1990 platform until recently, many people are discussing the scope of our territory and our sovereignty. This is extremely serious, complicated, sensitive, but also extremely important.

So then somebody has proposed the concept of the “Second Republic”. Actually, the Second Republic means the current constitution would be frozen and a new Taiwan constitution would be written. Freezing the ROC constitution also means keeping some kind of a link to the ROC constitution and not cutting it off completely.

This is a very interesting idea. It deserves observation, and everyone can discuss it. That is why some people say that the Second Republic constitution’s preamble should define the territorial scope this constitution applies to, whether it includes mainland China or Mongolia, or whether is it limited to the existing territorial and sovereignty scope of Taiwan, [and its outlying islands].

Also the General Provisions of the existing constitution, including article 4 with its “existing national boundaries” are not to be touched, but address the issue in the Second Republic Taiwan constitution where it talks about its application scope. Would that work and be acceptable to everyone? I think that’s a very interesting thought.

FT: You have mentioned that you have little more than a year left in office but still have so much work left, including some “missions impossible”. So what will your role be in implementing these policies? You have said there will be “movements”. But a movement that needs to be started needs a leader. You have said the Second Republic concept is worth discussing. How will you help push this discussion and these movements?

Chen: I already mentioned a few examples - the name rectification of Chiang Kai Shek International Airport, the termination of the National Unification Guidelines and Council, the referendum issue.

This depends on everyone’s common efforts. I can lead. I can direct. I can take part in promoting. But I’m still just one person. Many things require common effort, even across party lines.

There is nothing impossible under the sun. When this becomes a trend, when the people’s power rises, when society is ripe, then many missions impossible can be accomplished, and even earlier than thought.

So I think during my remaining time in office of course I must pursue these three movements’ ideal goals. It will be very difficult but we must do the right thing and take the right path.

FT: I would like to take a look at what impact these plans will have on cross-Strait relations. When you first took office, you made the pledge of the “Five Nos”. Later, the fifth no seems to have gone missing. Most recently, you tend to prefer the pledge of not changing the status quo. So does the fact that you are no longer explicitly repeat your Five Nos pledge reflect some change in your commitments?

Chen: As far as the Five Nos are concerned – the fifth No is already gone after the termination of the National Unification Council and Guidelines. Because originally there was special staff at the Presidential Office for the NUC, this staff is now gone. The NUC’s operations ceased a long time ago, and there’s not even a budget anymore. So the fifth No is gone. Now there’s only Four Nos left.

With regard to China, I think we need to preserve the status quo and need to prevent the status quo from being changed. We think actually they are already changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. They refuse to abdicate the threat of taking Taiwan by force. They have passed the so-called Anti-Secession Law. This is how they are changing the status quo. …

China wants to poach all of our diplomatic allies, take away our international space. This is changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. Originally we still had more than 60 diplomatic allies, now the number is down to little more than 20. This has been changed, destroyed, by China.

China’s united front tactics towards Taiwan, which attempt to marginalise us, localise us, take away our sovereignty, bypass our government … these are all changing the status quo, destroying the status quo.

Taiwan is already a sovereign independent country and does absolutely not belong to the People’s Republic of China, is not a part of them, and is not a province of the PRC either. We have a government. We have jurisdiction. We have sovereignty. But they intend to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

With regard to Taiwan, under the Four Nos we pledged not to declare Taiwan independence. But Taiwan is already a sovereign country, an independent country, there’s no need to declare that.

We don’t change the national moniker. But we hope to participate in the international community under the name of Taiwan, join the United Nations under the name of Taiwan.

We don’t include the view in the constitution that Taiwan and China are separate countries. But we have already put referenda in the constitution.

We don’t hold referenda on independence or unification. But in 2004 we already held a peace referendum.

We are not breaking these commitments. But Taiwan, the 23m Taiwanese, we still want to continue to walk down our own path of democracy, of freedom, of human rights and of peace.

FT: You have explained one by one how Taiwan has not broken the Four Nos commitments. But this is all referring to the past. But what about the future? If you pledge not to change the national moniker and not to put the view that Taiwan and China are two different countries into the constitution, but at the same time start discussing a Second Republic constitution, if that is realized, won’t that violate the Four Nos?

Chen: I have already mentioned freezing the ROC constitution and establishing a Taiwan constitution would provide a certain link with the ROC constitution. Actually, under the so-called temporary provisions in the past, or now the additional articles, aren’t these are also freezing large parts of the ROC constitution? Freezing part of it or all of it, it’s all freezing. Where’s the difference? It’s all the same.

So some people say that the Second Republic started long ago and we don’t know how many republics we have had since. Under that theory, the temporary provisions in the era of Chiang Kai-shek marked the Second Republic. The era of Lee Teng-hui with its additional articles would then be the Third Republic.

FT: I would like to ask another question regarding cross-Strait relations. Kuomintang chairman Ma Ying-jeou has recently proposed to pledge not to declare independence in exchange for China not using military force against Taiwan. Although this is not new, everybody seems to be paying more attention because Mr Ma is likely to run for president in 2008. What are your comments on this proposal?

Chen: In March when he came back from the US, we had a dialogue with him. Some of his positions are very problematic. On first sight, they look attractive, but if you give it thorough thought, explain it clearly, listen attentively, then it’s all different.

Now he talks about a no-independence-no-war so-called peace agreement. In fact that’s a surrender agreement, a declaration of surrender. Because everyone knows a no-independence-no-war so-called peace agreement would not keep the status quo, it would change the status quo.

Kenneth Lieberthal, then a senior National Security Council official under US president Bill Clinton, proposed in 1998 that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait could sign a 50-year interim agreement on the basis of no-independence-no-war. He promoted this to me many times. I asked him whether this had a condition and a conclusion. He said the conclusion was that we had to accept One China, and the conclusion was ultimate unification. So I said Taiwan cannot possibly accept this. …

Later he came again and again to market the concept again. I asked him: is there change? Is there still a condition? Is there still a conclusion? He said he amended it to have neither conditions nor conclusions. Then I asked him whether China accepted it, but he said no. That is the problem.

Last year in February former President Clinton visited Taipei. I asked him about Mr Lieberthal’s proposal, whether he accepted it and whether such an interim agreement would be good for Taiwan. He told me that Taiwan can absolutely not accept this. Because time is on Taiwan’s side. Once Taiwan accepts this it’s over.

So if even Lieberthal’s boss doesn’t accept it, how can we accept it?

So now chairman Ma Ying-jeou comes up with this again with slight changes under the name of “peace agreement”.

If there’s no precondition, China cannot possibly accept this. Why will there definitely be a precondition? For example the former government, when the Kuomintang was still in power, for the sake of the 1992 Hong Kong talks [with China], came up with this National Unification Council and National Unification Guidelines. Only then were the Hong Kong talks and the 1993 Koo-Wang talks in Singapore possible. And everyone knows that these had the precondition of accepting One China and the ultimate goal of unification.

So only because these were in place, Taiwan accepted the One China Principle, accepted ultimate unification, could there be the Hong Kong talks. So if you have to accept China’s precondition and ultimate goals even just for talks, so you say for signing a peace agreement China will [do that] unconditionally? This is a very simple principle.

So if you, for the sake of a peace agreement accept their condition of one China or their ultimate goal of unification, how can that be called a peace agreement? That’s a surrender agreement. Once it’s signed, it’s over for Taiwan. Then it’s waiting to die.

No independence in exchange for no war, what is that supposed to mean? No war is a matter of course. The x-strait conflict and cross-Strait disagreements should not be solved by non-peaceful means in the first place. How could the international community accept that China uses military force against Taiwan?

Japan and the US have included the Taiwan issue into their common strategic objectives and have said the Taiwan Strait issue should be solved peacefully through dialogue. …

How can the international community accept that China wants to use military force against Taiwan? That’s why the European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for China to remove the missiles it has deployed along the coast against Taiwan. It also demands the disagreements must be solved peacefully through dialogue.

So no war is a matter of course. That’s also why the European Union cannot remove the arms embargo against China yet. How can you support a non-peaceful, non-democratic China to act with military force against a democratic, peaceful Taiwan?

And no independence? Taiwan is already independent. Taiwan is already a sovereign and independent country. No matter if you use ROC or Taiwan. Already independent. We are a country, a sovereign, independent country.

We are already independent, and you still want to make us non-independent. Isn’t that very strange? … Originally we still have sovereignty and independence, and now you don’t even want that anymore. … So you have to understand clearly and know that it is not possible. This is sporting the cloak of peace while working out a declaration of surrender.

FT: If you were to remain in power for a longer time, what would be the right kind of cross-Strait policy then? I know that you have presented many proposals on improving cross-Strait relations, but there have not been many results, partly because the other side did not respond. Over the past year, there have been some non-official exchanges, and on some practical issues there seems to be some progress, but everyone still thinks this is too little, too late, also it is completely separate from political contacts. So do you see any option for how Taiwan could communicate with China on a larger, more official scale?

Chen: We still need to be firm on our principles, but move forward pragmatically. We cannot be too anxious [to move forward] but must insist on Taiwan identity. Taiwan is absolutely not China’s tributary or border region. This point is very important, this is absolutely basic. We must not for the sake of commercial profit or the convenience of contact give up Taiwan’s separate identity. We must insist on Taiwan’s own identity, Taiwan first.

The Chinese market is very big, but you cannot define it as Taiwan’s only way out, and make it Taiwan’s only market. It is only part of Taiwan’s globalisation, and not all of it. … Many people don’t want Taiwan, don’t want Taiwan this country, they are ready to give up Taiwan’s sovereignty as a country. I think this is an extremely dangerous thing.

We must not transform ourselves into Hong Kong or Fujian. Taiwan still does not belong to the PRC. We are absolutely not their special administrative region or province. We must have a correct understanding of this point when we improve and normalize cross-Strait economic and trade relations.

FT: I would like to ask a question about domestic politics. There has been a lot of noise in recent months, and we hear a lot of news about scandals and corruption. How much damage has been done to Taiwan’s democracy and to your authority as a political leader? Can this damage be undone? Many people have started harbouring deep distrust and doubts towards the system and towards you personally. What can be done about that?

Chen: Of course much of this is due to political problems. In its transformation from authoritarianism to democracy, Taiwan can be seen as a pioneering country. I have already mentioned many times the four major challenges Taiwan faces.

The first is the split in national identity. The second is the fights between political parties, the third is the dilemma of transitional justice, the fourth is the constitutional system.

Today, apart from our own domestic problems, we have also an external threat, [China]. They don’t recognise that we have a government, so they deny our government, and deny our sovereignty. And in addition to that, actually they also completely fail to recognise the president, who is a symbol of Taiwan’s sovereignty and a representative of the government. So they also deny Taiwan’s president.

And domestically, due to the competition in the presidential election, especially in 2004 there were some political parties who did not recognise that I am their president. So this is also a denial of the president. So they use every possible means to distort and smear for the purpose of dishonouring the national leader.

Of course damage has been done. But we still think Taiwan’s transformation from authoritarianism to democracy and further on to the rule of law has been very difficult, but we also start seeing results.

If you talk about democracy, we all know that Taiwan is already democratic enough. … With don’t only have 100 per cent but 200 per cent press freedom. It is not easy to find a place with such overly free media as Taiwan. …

But the quality of Taiwan’s news media is not so good. …

But we cannot restrain press freedom because the media is not reliable enough. We still want to protect and guarantee press freedom. …

Randomly publishing incorrect information about others, judging by public debate, that’s very rare in other countries. A really advanced democratic country – for example in the US some anchors had to step down because of factual errors in reports. … In Japan a Democratic lawmaker alleged that the child of an LDP politician had accepted bribes but later these allegations were found to be untrue. Not only did that lawmaker step down but even his party’s chairman stepped down. This is responsible behaviour.

So in Taiwan, there’s no problem with press freedom and freedom of speech. But with regard to citizens’ responsibility, political responsibility, responsibility of speech and media responsibility, perhaps we still have a long way to go.

FT: My last question is directed at how you define your role in history. What are your contributions and achievements for Taiwan? Do you have any plans for a political career after 2008?

Chen: Having been able to let a … party which ruled in Taiwan more than 50 years become the opposition party, complete the change of ruling party.

I don’t dare say that’s the biggest contribution towards Taiwan, but at least we have left our trace on Taiwan’s road from authoritarianism to democracy. In the process of Taiwan’s democratisation, we have never wronged the people. So completing the first change of political party in history, make Taiwan a really democratic country at least this is absolutely something we can proudly present to the Taiwan people.

But being a democratic country is not enough. Taiwan still needs to become a country with the rule of law. Although there has been a lot of pain and even unfair treatment against me and my family, but we think that being able to bring Taiwan forward from a democracy to a rule-of-law country, where everyone is equal before the law, [that is an achievement]. Even if my family members have made some mistakes, we all have to accept the scrutiny of the country’s laws.

Sometimes I feel very ashamed and feel this is a loss of face. But isn’t this also to be cherished as signs of Taiwan’s democracy and rule of law? Thus personal liabilities become everyone’s assets. This is what we want to work on and what we want to pursue.

Separately, having been able to complete the first referendum in history, first with a referendum law and then the inclusion of referenda in the constitution. (…)

[Then there’s the ] nationalisation of the military. It’s not done with having it written in the constitution. In the past more than 6 years, we have thoroughly implemented the nationalization of the military. … If there’s chaos in parliament, that’s not scary. If there’s chaos in the media, we don’t have to worry either. What we need to worry about most and consider as most frightening is failing in the nationalization of the military. …

So in some protests in front of the Presidential office after the election in March 2004, and the recent so-called red shirt army’s sit-ins and protests, we have seen the nationalisation of our military. This is the most important force of stability for our country.

[This is where we are] different from many Southeast Asian countries, from many Latin American and African countries. This is Taiwan’s big success story. This is the pride of Taiwan’s democracy. Our military is no longer the so-called party forces, no longer the so-called personal army. The military really belongs to the people, really belongs to the country, and is loyal to the constitution, loyal to the country, loyal to this piece of land. This is how it should be.

Last but not least [ I have to mention] cross-Strait peace. Ten years ago, we directly elected our president for the first time, and the Chinese Communists launched missiles. … We elected our president again in 2000 and in 2004, but over the past six years, there has been peace across the Strait. This is a fact.

When we ran for president, our opponents said don’t elect the DPP, don’t cast your vote for A-bian. Otherwise the Chinese Communists will strike. Six years have passed, the PLA has not attacked. This is the result of everyone’s common effort. We were able to retain cross-Strait peace, cross-Strait exchanges are also the closest in history. Therefore this is also an improvement in cross-Strait relations we can absolutely present to the people. Of course many people are still not satisfied, still criticise. But I think that we can keep the cross-Strait peace, especially under DPP rule ... this is our achievement.

Taiwan keeps winning at world volleyball championships

2006-11-02T10:25:00.000+08:00

by Hidenori Fukuo Wed Nov 1, 4:49 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - Taiwan have continued their excellent performance in the women's event at the world volleyball championships, beating African champions Kenya for their second straight win.

The Taiwanese squad, which posted a historic first-ever win over hosts Japan on Tuesday, moved a step forward towards the next stage of the tournament with a 25-13, 25-9, 29-27 win in the six-team Pool A round robin.

"For us, every match is a challenge in this tournament. We prepared for today's match as well. It was a good experience to play against Kenya," said Taiwan's captain Chen Shu-li Wednesday.

European champions Poland, who needed four sets to beat Kenya on Tuesday, were stretched the distance before beating
South Korea, 25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 23-25, 15-12, to post a 2-0 record.

"We were really concentrating well throughout the fight, because we know the Korean team. We played them in the Grand Prix and we lost 2-3, so we really wanted to win today's match," said Polish captain Joanna Mirek.

Coach Klos Ireneusz said: "It's a pity we couldn't finish the match in the fourth set when we had the score 21-17. Obviously my players didn't concentrate well, but all five sets were very dramatic, so I'm very, very happy."

In other action, favourites Brazil and Russia remained unbeaten, while Serbia and Montenegro, who stunned defending champions Italy on Tuesday, did it again, beating three-time world champions Cuba 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23.

"We know only Costa Rica were ranked below us in this tournament, but nevertheless we were convinced that this was not a real picture of the situation," Serbian coach Zoran Terzic said.

"We are glad that we showed our potential against such a good team like Italy and Cuba."

Team captain Vesna Citakovic added: "I don't think we can become the world champions after only two wins, but I'm glad we came into this game with huge motivation and that we managed to win it. We played well today."

The Brazilians, who have dominated South American play in the past six years and the World Grand Prix in the past three years, outgunned Asian silver medallists Kazakhstan 25-17, 25-13, 25-16 in Pool C in Kobe.

Puerto Rico notched its first win, beating Cameroon 25-17, 25-23, 25-20.

Sydney and Athens Olympic silver medallists Russia prevailed over Azerbaijan in four sets, 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 25-20, while Germany outplayed Mexico 25-18, 25-21, 25-19 in Pool B in Sapporo.

In Pool D in Nagoya with Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey defeated two-time former African champions Egypt, 25-11, 25-12, 25-8.

Brazil, Russia, Germany and Serbia and Montenegro all have 2-0 records, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the second stage.

TAIWAN'S FIRST RICE-TRADING CENTER INAUGURATED

2006-06-22T05:44:00.000+08:00

2006-06-22 by Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Taiwan's first rice-trading center was inaugurated and began its first day of operations Thursday at the Agriculture and Food Agency's (AFA) southern regional office in Tainan City.

Trading at the new facility will emphasize the quality and safety of rice, instead of the weight -- the traditional way of rice-trading on the island, AFA Director-General Huang Yu-tsai said in his address at the inauguration ceremony.

Weight has been key, or sometimes the only reference for traders to buy crops from growers, while the government guarantees the price of NT$21 per kilogram of rice as part of efforts to maintain a stable rice market, Huang explained.

However, at the new rice-trading center, more information including type of rice strain, name of grower and safety guarantees will be available for traders' reference.

Huang said he expects quality-oriented rice trading to replace that of weight-oriented trade.

A rice farmer participating in Thursday's opening expressed support for the rice center's establishment, a venue where he said he had gained a profit twice that of the production area.

The center is the first of four such planned facilities by the Council of Agriculture, with others to be constructed in Taiwan's northern, central and eastern regions, respectively.

Trading at the southern regional rice center will be conducted once every two weeks, with each grower obliged to auction at least 30 tons of rice, while the bidder has to purchase at least five tons of rice per bid, according to the Tainan center.

On the center's first day of operations, a total of 13 trading transactions were completed, with "dream beauty" rice grown in Houpi Township, Tainan County, selling at the day's highest price -- NT$160,000 per ton -- or three times that of other brands of high-quality rice on the market.

According to the AFA, "dream beauty" is a crop of rice bred under a contract of Japanese traders. The rice will be exported to Japan in July and marketed there in small packages.

It is rare to see rice exported to Japan in small packages from other rice-producing countries, AFA officials noted.

TAIWAN LEADS S. KOREA IN GDP BY PURCHASING POWER: CEPD

2006-06-18T09:15:00.000+08:00

Taipei, June 18 by Deborah Kuo, CNA

Taiwan's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) surpassed South Korea's by over US$6,000 in 2003 based on purchasing power parity (PPP) adjustments, Taiwan's top economic planner said Sunday.

Hu Sheng-cheng, chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) , said Taiwan's PPP-adjusted per capita GDP for 2003 was US$24,558, surpassing South Korea's US$17,900, indicating that Taiwanese people enjoyed a higher living standard than South Koreans.

Noting that major international economic institutions use PPP to measure a country's per capita GDP, Hu said the measure, which excludes inflation and currency fluctuation rates, more accurately gauges a country's per capita national income and general living standards.

Quoting statistics compiled by the Swiss International Institute of Management and Development, Hu said Taiwan's PPP-adjusted per capita GDP reached US$24,676 in 2004, ahead of South Korea's US$18,686.

Due to the "time lag" in compiling PPP-adjusted measures, no data is available to make a comparison for the year 2005, he said.

Hu acknowledged that South Korea is a respectable competitor judging from its robust economic development and brilliant trade performance. However, he said he disagrees with those academics who complain that Taiwan has lagged behind South Korea in economic growth in the last two years.

Chu Yun-peng, head of the National Central University's Taiwan Economic Development Research Center, said recently that "South Korea has emerged as the second largest source of Taiwan's trade deficit after Japan. I'm not surprised by its overtaking Taiwan in terms of per capita GDP in 2005. With South Korea's towering ambition, I think that country is likely to surpass Taiwan even in terms of PPP-adjusted per capita GDP in the near future."

Chu also said that Taiwan's government should not become complacent by accepting moderate growth and should map out a forward-looking economic development policy to accelerate growth.

According to recent statistics issued by the Bank of Korea, South Korea's economic growth rate was estimated at 4 percent for 2005, slightly lower than the 4.7 percent registered in 2004. Nevertheless, its per capita GDP reached US$16,291, marking an impressive 14.8 percent year-on-year increase.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's per capita GDP amounted to US$15,271 for 2005, up 7 percent from the previous year's level. By comparison, Taiwan went from leading South Korea by US$100 in per capita GDP in 2004 to trailing it by US$1,020 in 2005.

Hu attributed this mainly to the greater appreciation of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar, which rose 11.8 percent against the greenback while the new Taiwan dollar only rose 3.9 percent during the same period.

Hu said currency exchange rate changes have nothing to do with a country's competitiveness and only reflect international capital movements during a specific period. Therefore, he said, it might be too early to conclude that Taiwan has fallen behind South Korea. "It is unfair to say that the government has failed in efforts to rev up Taiwan's economy simply because one set of figures show South Korea surpassing Taiwan in per capita GDP for one single year, " Hu argued.

German Publisher Debuts Travel Guide To Taiwan

2006-06-16T09:24:00.000+08:00

BERLIN, June 16 Asia Pulse (CNA)

A leading travel publisher in Germany, Polyglott Tours & Travel AG, published a new guidebook this month that is considered the most useful and detailed German-language source of information for traveling in Taiwan.

The 106-page color travel guide contains comprehensive summaries of Taiwan's history, culture and politics, while recommending four key tours in the island's northern, central, southern, and eastern regions, and covering 12 major sightseeing attractions including the capital city of Taipei, the wood sculpture township of Sanyi and Kenting National Park.

The guide also provides detailed information about special folk traditions and cultural life in Taiwan, such as the night markets, hot springs, tea ceremony, local religion and traditional puppet shows.

The author, Guenter Whittome, also reminds his readers -- would-be travelers to Taiwan -- of the existence of many cultural differences, such as the custom of not leaving chopsticks upright in bowls or the acceptability of making lip-smacking noises while dining.

For instance, Whittome notes in his new book that most Taiwanese are not accustomed to paying the check separately while dining with friends because one of them will "fight to pay."

Whittome, who holds a degree in Sinology from Hamburg University, said in an interview with CNA Wednesday that to refresh the German media's outdated image of Taiwan, he spent more than half a year writing the guidebook hoping his compatriots would better understand modern Taiwan and how its culture differs from China's.

Whittome has resided in Taiwan for three years, and is currently working as a translator in Taipei.

Taiwan's Tourism Bureau in Frankfurt has ordered 10,000 copies of the book to send free copies to Europeans who are preparing to travel to Taiwan, office director Chan Wei-ting said.

The new Taiwan guidebook is expected to be on shelves of bookstores around Germany and German-speaking countries including Austria and Switzerland, according to Polyglott.

Ukraine Completes WTO Talks With Taiwan

2006-06-15T09:09:00.000+08:00

GENEVA, June 15, CNA

Ukraine has completed bilateral talks with Taiwan to pave the way for the Eastern European country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a Ukraine official said Thursday.

The announcement was made by Valeriy Pyatnytskiy, deputy minister of economy of Ukraine, while reporting to a WTO working group considering Ukraine's application on WTO entry.

A total of 50 WTO member nations have requested talks with Ukraine, and Taiwan is the 49th country that has completed talks with the Eastern European state.

Three rounds of bilateral talks have been held between Taiwan and Ukraine. In addition to economic and trade issues, Taiwan has expressed concern during the talks over the Ukrainian government's rejection of ROC passports printed with the word "Taiwan" on their cover. Ukraine has dealt with the problem at the request of Taiwan.

According to official statistics from Taiwan, bilateral trade between Taiwan and Ukraine was valued at US$257 million in 2005, down 41 per cent from the year-earlier level, with Taiwan posting a trade deficit of US$12 million with the country.

Imports to Taiwan from Ukraine amounted to US$135 million, down 60 per cent over the previous year, while exports to Ukraine amounted to US$123 million, up 28.41 per cent over the previous year.

During the first three months of 2006, exports from Taiwan to Ukraine increased significantly from US$15.2 million to US$31.93 million, marking an increase of 108 per cent.

Taiwan's exports to Ukraine are mainly machinery, textiles, consumer electronic products and consumer products. Major imports from Ukraine include aluminium, iron, steel, zinc and cotton.

Taiwan To Sign Free Trade Pact With Nicaragua

2006-06-14T09:30:00.000+08:00

Taipei, June 14 by Sofia Wu, CNA

Taiwan will sign a free trade agreement with Nicaragua June 16 to further boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation, government officials said Wednesday.

Minister of Economic Affairs Hwang Ing-san and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Alejandro Jose Arguello Choiseul, will sign the agreement in Taipei on behalf of their governments. Arguello will travel to Taipei for the event.

The new agreement is set to take effect at the beginning of next year, the officials said.

The two countries completed free trade pact negotiations earlier this year. Nicaragua, one of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Central America, will be the third country to sign a free trade accord with Taiwan, after Panama and Guatemala.

Two-way trade between the two countries totaled US$46.27 million in 2005, marking a 5.2 percent year-on-year growth and leaving a US$33.06 million trade surplus in Taiwan's favor.

Major Taiwan exports include textiles, kitchenware and plastic products, while imports from Nicaragua include frozen beef, coffee, timber and scrap metals.

TAIWAN TO HELP SAO TOME FIGHT EPIDEMIC: PRESIDENT

2006-06-13T09:46:00.000+08:00

Taipei, June 13 by Elisa Kao, CNA

President Chen Shui-bian said Tuesday that Taiwan will help Sao Tome and Principe fight malaria and cholera, using its successful experiences in fighting the diseases.

Chen made the remarks while meeting with Sao Tome and Principe Deputy Primer Minister and Minister of Planning and Finance Maria Torres, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Carlos Gustavo, and its Ambassador to the United States Ovidio Manuel Barbosa Pequeno.

During the meeting, Chen extended his congratulations to the coalition backed by Sao Tome and Principe President Fradique de Menezes for winning a parliamentary election held March 26, and wished the African diplomatic ally successful local and presidential elections to be held July 9 and July 30, respectively.

Hailing Torres as an outstanding financial and economic expert as well as an influential Cabinet member, Chen said both he and De Menezes have paid much attention to the rights of women and hope that women can have better career opportunities, citing the example of Taiwan, where the vice president and deputy prime minister are women.

De Menezes made his fourth visit to Taiwan last November, when his country was hit by cholera.

After discussing the situation in his country with Chen, Taiwan offered to provide US$100,000 to Sao Tome and Principe in emergency relief funds, and sent a medical team to control the epidemic.

Chen said with its epidemic-fighting experience, Taiwan is glad to help Sao Tome and Principe eliminate malaria and cholera.

Taiwan to set up its first Okinawa TECRO office

2006-05-31T20:22:00.000+08:00

UPGRADE: A private association will become the Naha branch office of the nation's de facto embassy in Japan, MOFA officials said yesterday

By Chang Yun-ping
Taipei Times, STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday confirmed that a private association in Okinawa will be inaugurated as a diplomatic branch office of Taipei's representative office in Tokyo, in a move signifying Taiwan's long-delayed formal recognition of Okinawa as a part of Japanese territory.

Lo Koon-tsan (羅坤燦), executive director of MOFA's Committee on Japanese Affairs, said the ministry is currently working with authorities in Japan to change The Sino-Ryukyuan Cultural and Economic Association, Taipei's private diplomatic representation in Okinawa, into the Naha Branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan. Naha is the capital of Okinawa prefecture.

Since Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Japan in 1972, Taipei has only maintained the private Sino-Ryukyuan Cultural and Economic Association to handle bilateral exchanges due to the disagreement over Okinawa's status.

Lo said it will be the country's first establishment of a representative office in Okinawa since 1972, when the Taiwanese government issued a statement to "express dissatisfaction and regret" over the US' unilateral decision to return the US-occupied territory of Okinawa to Japan without any prior consultation with the Taiwanese authorities.

"Thirty years after 1972, Taiwan-Okinawa relations have come into a new phase with strong bilateral personnel and business exchanges taking place, so we have decided to set up a representative office in Okinawa," Lo said yesterday at a ministry press conference.

Asked whether the presence of a representative office in Okinawa signified Taipei's recognition of Okinawa as part of Japanese territory, Lo said only that since 1972 the country "has never denied" that Okinawa belongs to Japan.

The official said that the Japanese and Taiwanese authorities are currently drafting a mutual agreement on the establishment of the representative office in Okinawa, which should be officially inaugurated by the end of the year.

Under a mutual agreement between the US and Japan in 1971, the US Armed Forces-occupied territory of Okinawa and the South-western islands, including the Diaoyutais, was returned to Japan.

The sovereignty of Okinawa and the Diaoyutais has been a sensitive issue for the governments of Taiwan, Japan and China. According to China's version of history, Japan siezed Okinawa from China by force in 1879 while the Qing Dynasty was involved in several wars with other foreign countries.

The ministry official yesterday said that while the government does not deny that Japan has sovereignty over Okinawa, it is indisputable that Taiwan has sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.

Taiwan dispatches additional help to victims

2006-05-30T21:05:00.000+08:00

Taiwan News, Staff Reporter
2006-05-30, Jenny W. Hsu

To provide immediate and comprehensive care for the victims of the Indonesia earthquake, the government-sponsored Taiwan International Health Action group dispatched three additional doctors to the affected area yesterday, a health official said.

The two orthopedists and one general practitioner were the second batch of relief workers sent from Taiwan, said Peter Chang (張武修), director-general of the Bureau of International Cooperation under the Department of Health.

They will be providing emergency medical care at the ad hoc triage centers set up by the Taiwan search and rescue team, which arrived less than 30 hours after the 6.3 magnitude earthquake, Chang added.

"Taiwan IHA and Taiwan Rescue Team were the first foreign aid groups to arrive in the area," he said, adding that a third team of workers is ready to go to Bantul at a moment's notice.

Bantul was one of the hardest-hit areas in the devastating temblor that shook Indonesia's Java Island on Saturday, leaving over 5,000 people dead and 200,000 homeless.

In addition to the 2,000 kilograms of food and rescue equipment that has already arrived in Indonesia, Taiwan's government will also be donating another 100 kilograms of medical supplies and equipment, including IV drops, saline solutions, medicines, and bags of artificial blood, Chang said.

"With the combined effort of the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China, we are also sending over 200 light blankets and 200 tents," he disclosed.

Furthermore, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pledged to donate US$100,000 to the Indonesian earthquake relief fund. It will be presented to the Indonesia government via Taiwan's representative office in Jakarta.

Health Action group convener Richard Fang said despite of lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Indonesian government wholeheartedly welcomed Taiwan's humanitarian aid.

"Not only did our donations receive priority attention, our relief workers are granted landing visas upon their arrival," he said, adding that the Taiwanese workers will stay in Indonesia for as long as is necessary.

In additional to government efforts, many Taiwanese civic groups and non-governmental organizations are also looking to contribute to the relief process.

Tzu Chi Foundation, a Buddhist-based organization, dispatched 51 volunteers, including five doctors, one nurse and one pharmacist, to the disaster area on Sunday. The foundation has also donated over 500 kilograms of goods such as tents, sarons, straw mats, powdered milk, baby food, rice, and clothes.

Both World Vision Taiwan and The Red Cross Society of the R.O.C. are both raising funds for those affected by the earthquake. Claire Yang of World Vision Taiwan said it was not suitable so far for people to donate goods since most of the infrastructure in southeastern Java where the temblor hit was flattened, making making it difficult to transport and distribute the items.

"What we are trying to do right now is to raise at least US$100,000. We will use the money to buy the supplies locally," she said.

Taiwan Sets Self-Defense Objectives

2006-05-21T04:05:00.000+08:00

Island Seeks to Preserve Autonomy With Boost in Military Spending

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, May 21, 2006

BEIJING, May 20 -- Taiwan unveiled its first formal national security policy Saturday, pledging to increase defense spending by 20 percent and urging China to cooperate in establishing a military buffer zone to lower tension in the Taiwan Strait.

The 162-page document, issued after long delays and extensive debate among President Chen Shui-bian's advisers, was designed as a guideline for this and future governments in defending the self-ruled island against any attack from China, officials said. Reflecting Chen's dream of full Taiwanese independence, it postulates that Taiwan's "overall strategic goal is to guarantee the country's sovereignty."

China had no immediate reaction. It has long insisted, however, that Taiwan is not a sovereign nation, but a province that must return to the Chinese fold. China has vowed to use force, though as a last resort, to prevent the island and its 23 million inhabitants from attaining formal independence.

In describing Taiwan's security environment, Chen's government compared the Chinese military to the Nazi war machine in World War II and asserted that China is bent on long-term military expansion that requires it to control Taiwan and the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait. In a recent interview, Chen said Taiwanese intelligence had information that China has a plan to attack the island within 10 years, but this assertion was not repeated in the strategy declaration.

Only by building up its own military and economic strength, the document declared, can Taiwan preserve its de facto independence and democratic system. To make that possible, it said, the government will boost military spending from 2.5 to 3 percent of gross domestic product.

Chen's government has been trying without success for the last several years to increase the military budget to accommodate an $18 billion purchase of U.S. weapons. The Legislative Yuan, controlled by the opposition Nationalist Party, has refused to approve the funds, saying the weapons package is too expensive and not appropriate to Taiwan's needs.

In addition, the document said, the Defense Ministry will go ahead with previously announced plans to reduce the 300,000-member military by a third over the next two years, in part by cutting back the length of required service from 18 months to one year.

The strategy declaration emphasized that overall national strength, not just weapons and soldiers, is key to Taiwan's security. It said Taiwan's position in the world should be enhanced by forging relations with more nations and international organizations, for instance, and the economy should be reinforced to avoid presenting China with new opportunities for pressure.

There was no mention of any shift away from Taiwan's fundamentally defensive military strategy and cultivation of ties with the United States, which has pledged to help in the island's defense but opposes unilateral steps toward independence. As the strategy was being debated over the months, reports in Taipei, the capital, said that some of Chen's advisers had pushed for a shift to a more offensive stance. This would be based mainly on cruise missiles, the reports said, which Taiwan can produce more cheaply than buying the PAC-3 defensive missile systems proposed by the United States.

"Any kind of countermeasures would be for defense," said Michael Tsai, deputy secretary general of Chen's National Security Council. "We're not pursuing preemptive capabilities, and we will not develop nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction."

The call for a buffer zone in the Taiwan Strait echoed earlier suggestions by Chen. He said tensions could be lowered and accidental conflicts avoided if both sides' military forces and missiles -- the strategy document specified cruise missiles -- were barred from the area around Taiwan.

When proposed earlier, the idea did not draw a response from China, which has an interest in maintaining pressure on Taiwan to prevent Chen from taking further steps toward formal independence. China's official New China News Agency announced Friday, for instance, that the Chinese military recently practiced amphibious landings, the kind that would be necessary for any invasion of Taiwan.

Stephen Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. Embassy, praised Chen's government for laying out its security thinking for the public in Taiwan and abroad. Repeating a frequent demand from Washington, he called on China to do the same.

"For a democratic society like Taiwan to try and present a comprehensive explanation of its national security policy is a welcome step," he said, "and I think it is a model China should follow and learn from, because they should be more transparent on these issues themselves."

Taiwan seeks WHO observer status for 10th time

2006-05-19T04:07:00.000+08:00

Fri May 19, 10:41 AM ET

GENEVA (AFP) - Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian sought observer status at the World Health Organization Friday for the 10th time in as many years, a request that has been systematically blocked by Beijing.

"The Taiwanese people have long been excluded from the world health system because of China's relentless and arbitrary oppression," Chen told reporters here via a video link-up from Taiwan.

Beijing considers Taiwan to be a province of China, and systematically seeks to stymie any initiative by Taiwan to gain international recognition as an independent political entity.

The WHO, which begins its week-long annual assembly on Monday, "has an obligation to provide all people with the best medical services irrespective of their nationality," Chen said. "It should not sacrifice these noble ideals on the altar of brute political force."

Due to its exclusion from the WHO, Chen said, Taiwan had become a "missing link" in the global health and medical system. The native-born Taiwanese president made specific reference to the ongoing bird flu crisis and the outbreak in 2003 of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

China was widely criticized for its initial cover-up of SARS, which then spread globally to infect more than 8,000 people and kill around 800 worldwide, including 349 in China.

During the SARS outbreak, Beijing formally authorized the WHO to send a team of experts to Taiwan, but only a month and a half after the first case appeared on the island.

"The 23 million people of Taiwan are being denied their human right to health. This is completely unfair and might even be called unethical," Chen said.

Taiwan was evicted from the WHO in 1972, a year after losing its seat in the United Nations to China.

Since 1997, Taiwan has applied every year to regain an official status at the WHO, but Beijing remains opposed.

Last year, however, Beijing signed a protocol with the WHO opening the door to a technical cooperation with Taipei that would authorize the UN organization to invite experts from Taiwan to participate in joint activities.

Under the accord, the WHO can also send experts to the island to investigate epidemics or offer medical assistance.

Gambia: Taiwan Donates Over US$ 0.5 Million for AU Summit

2006-05-18T05:07:00.000+08:00

Alieu Badara Ceesay, The Daily Observer (Banjul), May 17, 2006

Dr Patrick Chang, the Taiwanese ambassador to The Gambia, yesterday presented a cheque for five hundred and fourteen thousand US dollars to Babuocarr Jatta, the Secretary of State for the Interior, to purchase 221 motobikes for the African Union Summit next month.

The cheque constituted the second payment to Taitek Electronics Limited in respect of 221 motorbikes and spare parts meant for the African Union Summit. The package also consists of motor bike mechanics to enhance the durability of the bikes.

At a ceremony held at the office of the Secretary of State for the Interior, Dr Patrick Chang reiterated the excellent relationship existing between The Gambia and Taiwan and commended President Jammeh for the good relationship.

He described the donation as significant as it aims to provide motor bikes to the policemen to use during the AU Summit so that they can fulfil their duties to protect heads of state and VIPs in ensuring that security and safety is maintained. "These donations will equally help the police to use after the AU summit so that they can fulfil their duties in maintaining the rule of law," he said, adding that "we are glad that we have such an opportunity for cooperation between the two countries".

Baboucarr Jatta, described the donation as significant to the hosting of the AU Summit, noting that it will greatly help in the provision of security during the summit. He pointed out that the motor bikes will not only be used for the summit but will be utilised for the internal security of the country and promised that the bikes will be put into good use.

Major Ousman Sonko, Inspector-General of Police, also applauded the Taiwanese government for their support to the security of the AU and the country.

Mr Momodou S.Njie, Permanent Secretary at the Department of State for the Interior, said government policies are based on justice, human rights and international cooperation and it is in the spirit of such cooperation that the Taiwanese government came to offer assistance in this initiative.

WHO URGED NOT TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST TAIWAN JOURNALISTS

2006-05-17T05:03:00.000+08:00

2006-05-17 by P.C. Tang and Sofia Wu

Brussels, May 17 (CNA) The EP-Taiwan Friendship Group, a Taiwan-friendly panel in the European Parliament (EP), has asked the World Health Organization (WHO) not to discriminate against Taiwan journalists for political reasons, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Dr. Georg Jarzembowski, chairman of the EP-Taiwan Friendship Group, sent a letter to WHO Deputy Secretary-General Denis Aitken a day earlier urging the world health regulatory body not to ban Taiwan journalists from covering the news about the forthcoming annual conference of the World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the WHO's governing arm, the spokesman said.

The 2006 world Health Assembly is scheduled for May 22-27 in Geneva. Taiwan journalists have been barred from covering the WHA meeting since 2004 when the United Nations, under pressure from China, began to stipulate that only newsmen with passports or identification cards of U.N. member states or WHA observer states are eligible to enter the WHA conference hall for news coverage. Taiwan is neither a U.N. member nor a WHA observer simply because of Beijing's opposition.

Jarzembowski said in his letter that he aligns with the International Federation of Journalists in opposing the WHO's ban on Taiwan journalists from covering WHA news.

The International Federation of Journalists reiterated its opposition to the WHO's embargo against Taiwan journalists earlier this month.

Noting that the WHA is one of the world's most important health-related conferences, Jarzembowski said it should be open to all journalists, including those from Taiwan. At the conclusion of his letter, Jarzembowski urged Aitken to give a goodwill response to the European Parliament's stance on the issue. The EP is the European Union's legislative arm.

Does press freedom exist in UN?

2006-05-11T07:37:00.000+08:00

The following is taken from the International Federation of Journalists, 10 May 2006:

...

Finally, the IFJ has again protested over the questionable UN policy of banning Taiwanese journalists from the UN’s Geneva venue for the annual World Health Assembly which opens on May 22. The IFJ is asking Kofi Annan to review the policy which excludes health journalists from Taiwan from reporting “on one of the world’s premier news events.” The IFJ says that the policy banning Taiwan journalists is not based upon clear resolutions of the General Assembly and appears to be politically-motivated.

“It is impossible not to conclude that this policy is political discrimination against independent, professional journalists and is unworthy of a global institution that stands for free speech and independent journalism,” says the IFJ.

The IFJ says that it fully supports its member organisation in Taiwan, the Taiwan Journalists Association, in their protests over the ban. “This is a policy that should be reviewed immediately,” says the IFJ. “On all of these issues we urge that you take steps to clarify the role and responsibility of the UN; by doing so you will maintain the credibility and standing of the UN and its role in the global fight for press freedom.”

Taiwan should and must join WHO

2006-05-10T09:37:00.000+08:00

If the goal of WHO is to improve the human's health, then it should absolutely accept Taiwan as a member. Taiwan's contribution to the world's public health is undoubtedly much more than China's. Politics should not rule over the issue of safty and health of all people in the world. Let Taiwan participate. The world will be healthier.

Viruses without passports

Tuesday, May 9, 2006, The Seattle Times

Taiwan should be admitted as an observer to the World Health Organization over the objections of China. Some other issue might be a matter of concern only to the Chinese, but infectious epidemics are of concern to everyone. Viruses carry no passports.

We would have thought China learned that in 2003 with the outbreak of SARS. In the middle of that epidemic, which killed more than 750 people worldwide, China delayed the visit of medical experts to Taiwan for more than a week. It could do that because Taiwan is considered by the WHO as a province of China under the administration of Beijing. A look at the WHO's Web page, at www.who.int, shows that this fiction is still enshrined. That is not acceptable in a world that may face an epidemic of avian flu.

This Saturday, May 13, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which is really Taiwan's consulate here, is sponsoring a run around Green Lake to support Taiwan's participation in the WHO.

The run is at 3 p.m. and starts at the Green Lake Community Center at the lake's easternmost point. The public is invited.

Taiwan's April Exports Rise to Record High

2006-05-08T10:02:00.000+08:00

Monday May 8, 5:00 am ET

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan's exports rose faster than expected in April to a record high on strong demand for electronics goods from Hong Kong, China, the U.S. and South Korea, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement Monday.
The island's exports grew 15 percent to US$18.8 billion (euro15.0 billion) in April, higher than the average forecast of 8.9 percent in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of economists. The growth rate was also higher than March's growth rate of 7.1 percent.

Taiwan's export value in April surpassed the previous record of US$18.792 billion hit in October.

Taiwan's imports in April rose 5 percent from the same month last year to US$16.42 billion, the ministry said. That was in line with expectations and reversing March's 0.5 percent decline.

The trade figures resulted in a trade surplus in April of US$2.4 billion (euro1.9 billion).

Dell ups Taiwan buying to $12.5 bln to control costs

2006-05-08T09:59:00.000+08:00

By Sheena Lee (Additional reporting by Baker Li)

Mon May 8, 3:05 AM ET

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Dell Inc., the world's top personal computer maker, wants to ramp up components sourcing in Taiwan by over a fifth to US$12.5 billion in 2006, its chief executive said on Monday, as global technology firms turn increasingly to the island to trim costs.

Computer and consumer electronics vendors from Japan to the United States are increasingly buying from specialized Taiwan companies such as display maker AU Optronics Corp. to hold down costs.

Indeed, Dell -- which vies with Hewlett-Packard Co. and China's Lenovo Group in a steadily expanding global personal computer market -- spent some US$10 billion on procurement in Taiwan in 2005.

Dell's Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Rollins, is visiting the island this week to outline his company's strategy to a select group of suppliers.

"Dell is stepping up its presence in Taiwan while growth has been impressive, and Dell plans to spend US$12.5 billion purchasing products in Taiwan this year to support our global business and manufacturing," Rollins told reporters.

"Growing solid partnerships in Taiwan ... will be key to our global expansion."

Taiwan is cementing its pivotal role in the global supply chain by ruthlessly slashing costs and relocating capacity to mainland China.

Cut-to the-bone production techniques employed by personal computer makers, for instance, have won them an estimated four-fifths of global contracts.

"Dell is here at a pivotal time to discuss prices with major Taiwan OEM, ODM players," said Merrill Lynch analyst Tony Tseng, referring to contract manufacturers that make products for brand-name firms such as Dell.

But analysts warn that contract manufacturers, such as laptop makers Quanta Computer Inc. and Compal Electronics, need to adopt cutting-edge designs or risk losing contracts. And a growing number of tech giants are bypassing the island altogether by setting up their own Chinese bases.

Rollins will meet executives from AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp., Taiwan's two largest makers of liquid crystal displays, as well as major contract makers of laptops, the Commercial Times said.

Dell saw market share slipping in 2005 in crucial Asian markets such as China, where its share of the market slid to 8.2 percent in the third quarter versus the second quarter's 9.6 percent, although it ended the year with a 9.1 percent slice, according to consultants IDC.

In contrast, Taiwan's Acer Inc., the world's fourth-largest PC vendor, posted an 87 percent jump in first-quarter profit thanks to strong demand from Asia and North America.

Taiwan's China Airlines Opens Abu Dhabi Service

2006-04-26T04:58:00.000+08:00

This is a good sign of the improvement of the relationship between Taiwan and United Arab Emirates. However, China Airlines should change its name to Taiwan Airline as soon as possible in order not to confuse the passengers.

Taipei, April 25 By Elisa Kao, CNA

China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan's major air carrier, added a new stopover in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to its Taipei-Vienna route Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Huang Chih-fang, Minister of Transportaton and Communications Kuo Yao-chi and several other high-ranking officials boarded the plane to mark the opening of the service.

A CAL official said the opening of the Abu Dhabi service will be a great convenience to those from Taiwan or Europe who often travel to the Middle East for business, and will help explore other potential tourists to the region.

CAL once operated services to Abu Dhabi in its Taipei-Rome route during the period from 1995 to 2004.

Last October, then Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san signed a memorandum of understanding with the UAE for the resumption of its service to Abu Dhabi.

CAL will operate three flights on the Taipei-Abu Dhabi-Vienna route per week. With the new Abu Dhabi stopover, the arrival time from Taipei to Vienna will be one hour later than the original Taipei-Vienna flight, the official added.

NEW TAIWAN ENVOY TO E.U. VOWS TO DEVELOP STRATEGIC DIALOGUE

2006-04-25T10:58:00.000+08:00

Taipei, April 23 by Deborah Kuo, CNA

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Ying-mao Kau, who was appointed by President Chen Shui-bian last week to serve as Taiwan's representative to the European Union and Belgium, said Sunday that he will strive to develop Taiwan's strategic dialogue partnership with Europe.

Kau said the government has decided to increase interaction between Taiwan and European countries, as the region has become as strategically significant as the United States and Japan have traditionally been to Taiwan.

He said that as the development of Taiwan's relations with the United States and Japan has become stable and mature, the country should pay closer attention to and invest more resources in relations with Europe.

He added that after he assumes his new post -- probably in June or July after this year's World Health Assembly (WHA) slated for May 22-27 -- he will strive to implement strategic dialogue between Europe and Taiwan in a bid to keep Europe's governments fully abreast of what is going on in East Asia.

Kau claimed that "most European countries lack strategic perspectives" toward East Asia, except for their colonial legacy and history in this part of the world.
Kau, who has been in charge of Taiwan's efforts to join the WHA -- the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) -- over the past five years, said that all European countries respect democracy and human rights, a situation that provides a "niche" for Taiwan in terms of cementing bilateral ties.

Taiwan must let the European Union understand that after the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, China's rise is a tremendous challenge to the E.U. if the rise is not peaceful.

Kau will succeed Chen Chien-jen, who is set to retire after a long diplomatic career.

Kau, 72, holds a bachelor's degree in politics from National Taiwan University and a master's degree and doctorate in comparative politics and international relations from Cornell University.

Before joining the Foreign Ministry in 2002, he was a professor of politics at Brown University in the United States, chairman of the Association of Chinese Social Scientists in North America, an advisor of the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Security Council.

Gambia: National Assembly Reaffirms Taiwan WHO Inclusion

2006-04-24T10:55:00.000+08:00

April 24, Alieu Badara Ceesay, The Daily Observer (Banjul)

The Gambia's National Assembly has reinforced its call for the inclusion of Taiwan in the World Health Organization (WHO).

In a proclamation issued recently by the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly, the legislators insisted that the health and medical rights of the 23 million people of Taiwan are fundamental, and should not be denied for any reason.
The National Assembly had last March passed a resolution to support Taiwan to participate in the session and the work of the World Health Assembly and other meetings of the WHO with an observer status.

The lawmakers noted that the exclusion of Taiwan from the WHO is not only unjusifiable, but also in defiance of the principle of universal application for the protection of health welfare of all peoples of the world, and will create a loophole in the global health network, and thus pose a danger to the global community.

They therefore, considering the existing cordial and long-standing bilateral ties between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Republic of The Gambia, urged the WHO to invite Taiwan to be an observer of the World Health Assembly and support Taiwan's full participation in WHO Technical meetings, such as the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network(GOARN), the Global Influenza Programme (GIP), and the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza (IPAPI).

"Hu Jintao, your days are numbered"

2006-04-23T12:59:00.000+08:00

How can a dictator know the meaning of democracy? All people in Taiwan have their right to decide their future. That is exactly democracy.

Bush warns China to avoid clash over future of Taiwan
By Francis Harris in Washington, Telegraph (21/04/2006)

America and China yesterday exchanged barely veiled threats on the future of Taiwan, as President George W Bush welcomed China's leader Hu Jintao to the White House.

Greeting the first Chinese leader to come to Washington for nine years, Mr Bush laid out the red carpet, complete with a 21-gun salute.

But within minutes, the issues dividing the two nations became starkly apparent as Mr Bush pointedly referred to the Taiwan Relations Act, legislation which commits America to aid Taiwan against Chinese attack.

Casting aside the usually innocuous sentiments reserved for visiting foreign leaders, Mr Bush said the two countries must be candid. "We oppose unilateral changes in the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by either side, and we urge all parties to avoid confrontational or provocative acts," he said.

The American military has noted with concern the deployment of 700 short-range Chinese missiles close to Taiwan and of cruise missile technology which could be used against the US navy's carrier task groups.

Minutes after the Chinese president's arrival, it was announced without comment that the Americans had approved the sale of improved radars for Taiwan's fleet of US-built F-16 combat aircraft.

President Hu responded with a prepared statement in which he acknowledged the deep differences over Taiwan's future.

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory. We will continue to make every effort and endeavour with every sincerity to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification of the two sides across the Taiwan Strait," he said.

"However, we will never allow anyone to make Taiwan secede from China by any means."
China has regarded the island as a renegade province since 1949 and demands reunification. It says it would regard any move by Taiwan to declare independence formally as a cause for war.

America too opposes Taiwanese independence. But Mr Bush has stated more explicitly than any of his predecessors that he was willing to confront China in any invasion of Taiwan. "Our nation will help Taiwan defend itself," he said in 2001.

Mr Bush and Mr Hu agreed yesterday that Taiwan should remain in international limbo, but could not agree what would happen if the island tried to alter its status. It was one of a number of disputes where no progress appeared to have been made at yesterday's talks.

Although the Chinese offered some movement over irritants in their critically important trading relationship, there was no sign of progress on security issues such as the suspected attempt by Iran and North Korea to acquire nuclear weaponry.

Although trade has grown to once-unimaginable levels, Washington feels that Beijing is enjoying the economic benefits of globalisation without defusing explosive international threats.

Mr Bush focused on North Korea, the impoverished and erratic Stalinist state highly dependent on Beijing's goodwill yet seeking nuclear weapons, but he suggested that little progress had been made. At one point Mr Hu was asked when China would become a democracy with free elections. "I don't know," he said. "What do you mean by a democracy?"

The only unscripted moment came when a Chinese woman screamed at Mr Hu from a camera stand overlooking the White House lawn where the leaders met. "President Hu, your days are numbered. President Bush, make him stop persecuting Falun Gong [a persecuted Chinese sect]," she shouted before being hustled away.

TAIWAN TO BE 'EXCITING' MARKET IF CHINA TIES IMPROVE: FUND MANAGER

2006-04-22T12:49:00.000+08:00

Taipei, April 22 by Sofia Wu (CNA)

Taiwan will be an "exciting" market if relations across the Taiwan Strait improve, a legendary U.S. investment expert said in Taipei Saturday.

Jim Rogers, a co-founder of the Quantum Fund, one of the world's most successful hedge funds, made the forecast after delivering a speech to local fund managers and stock investors.

Rogers is known to bear a strong confidence in the vast Chinese market. He once famously predicted that China would emerge as the world's largest economy in 20 years. He hires a babysitter of Chinese descent to care for his 3-year old daughter to allow for her to grow in an English-Chinese bilingual environment.
If Taiwan maintains a good relationship with China, Rogers said Taiwan will definitely be an "exciting" market for investors.

Rogers also predicted that the current raw materials market boom will continue gaining momentum in the coming decade. He attributed the phenomenon in part to China's rise.

For those intending to invest in China, Rogers said farm produce, industrial raw materials and tourism-related industries could be the best bets.

Noting that Chinese people have been banned free movements for nearly a century, Rogers said the travel service sector has an amazing growth potential when their government lifts overseas travel ban.

Rogers said he plans to relocate to the greater Chinese region. In addition to Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong, he said Taipei is also a possible destination.
Meanwhile, Rogers gave a pessimistic forecast on the U.S. dollar's prospect. The astronomical U.S. trade deficit has dimmed the greenback's value, he said, adding that at least 10 to 12 other foreign currencies, such as the Chinese yuan, the Singaporean dollar and the Canadian dollar, are more valuable than the greenback.

TAIWAN NEEDS A NEW APPROACH IN LATIN AMERICA: MOFA OFFICIAL

2006-04-21T12:54:00.000+08:00

Taipei, April 21 by Chris Wang (CNA)

Taiwan needs to explore a new approach in cooperating with its Latin American allies in order to prevent China from infiltrating a region where Taiwan has enjoyed international amity, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said Friday.

China has had its sights set on Latin America since its economic boom, hoping to use financial aid and trade agreements to squeeze Taiwan's dipomatic space in the region, said Jason Ko, Director of the MOFA's Department of Central and South America Affairs, at the 2006 Taiwan-Latin America Forum.

Taiwan must hold its ground in Latin America, where 12 of its 25 diplomatic allies are located, and devise a new approach to replace the traditional way of "dollar diplomacy," Ko stressed. "Our allies in Latin America wanted a brand new cooperation format instead of simply receiving financial aid. They hope to see more investment from Taiwanese businesses," he said.

The "Jung Pang Project," an initiative President Chen Shui-bian proposed during his 2005 trip to Latin America, may be a good start. The NT$7.5 billion (US$250 million) project is aimed at encouraging Taiwanese investment in the region and represents a new diplomatic strategy.

The project was welcomed by foreign representatives who attended the annual forum: Costa Rican Ambassador Oscar Alvarez, Ambassador of the Republic of Paraguay Ramon Diaz Pereira and Guatemalan Ambassador Jorge Ricardo Putseys Uriguen. "I would describe the relationship between Taiwan and Latin America as 'both getting what they want.' Latin America needs economic assistance while Taiwan needs help in the political arena," said Elisa Wang, Dean of Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of Latin America Studies, which organized the forum. "With a brand new thinking and approach, I believe Taiwan and Latin America can create a 'win-win' situation," Wang said.

TAIWAN ORCHIDS TO BLEND INTO TULIP FESTIVAL IN CANADA'S CAPITAL

2006-04-19T13:08:00.000+08:00

Ottawa, April 19 by S.C. Chang (CNA)

Taiwan orchids will blend into this year's Canadian Tulip Festival in Canada's capital city of Ottawa May 4-22 when over three million tulips are expected to create an exotic mosaic of color and beauty in the world's largest tulip festival.

Chang Hsin-hsiung, director of the Science and Technology Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Canada, said the orchids will not only speak for Taiwan's agricultural technology but also increase Canadian and international awareness of Formosa, "the beautiful island."

Under the auspices of local Taiwanese community groups such as the Taiwanese-Canadian Association and Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation, Taiwan orchids as well as folk cultures will be featured in a Taiwan Hall, Taiwan Day activities, a flower and design show, and a flower boats parade.

The Taiwan Hall will be part of International Friendship Village activities in an Ottawa park May 12 through May 22, one of the highlights of the Canadian Tulip Festival.

Festival organizers have designated this year's Mother's Day, which falls on May 14, as "Taiwan Day" at the International Friendship Village, when the Taipei Folk Dance Theater will stage two performances in celebration of the day.

From May 16 through May 22, tourism information about Taiwan, tea-making arts, gourmet food and handicrafts, including lanterns, will be presented at the Taiwan Folk Culture Hall.

On May 21 and May 22, Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation will celebrate its 40th anniversary, an occasion to look back on its previous charity work around the world and share its visions about the future with visitors.

Well-known florists from Taiwan are invited to participate in the flower design exhibition May 19-22 to show off their flower arrangement skills. Along with an international evening gown pageant, the flower design show is another highlight of this year's Canadian Tulip Festival.

On May 21, an orchids-decorated boat will represent Taiwan in a flower boats parade on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, marking the first time Taiwan has participated in the Flotilla on Canal, the festival's ever-popular parade on water.

Taiwan Puts Six Satellites Into Orbit On US Rocket

2006-04-17T13:20:00.000+08:00

by Staff WritersTaipei, (AFP) Apr 16, 2006

A rocket carrying six Taiwanese weather satellites has been successfully launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, officials said Sunday.

The satellites were placed into initial parking orbit about 500 kilometers (300 miles) above the earth some 20 minutes after the US-made rocket blasted off over the weekend, Taiwan's National Space Organization (NSPO) said in a statement.

It will take 13 months for all the satellites, each of which weigh 62 kilograms (136 pounds), to settle in their designed orbital planes of about 700-800 kilometers. They are designed to have a lifespan of more than five years.

The aim is to "obtain the near-real time global distribution of air pressure, temperature, and water vapor of the atmosphere as well as the electron density of the ionosphere," the statement said.

"The data collected are used for weather prediction simulations, global climate-change analysis, and ionosphere and gravity research."

Taiwan, usually hit by typhoons in summer, has paid about 80 percent of the cost of the 100 million US dollar project, called FORMOSAT-3 here and COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) in the United States.
The satellites were built and tested in Taiwan, NSPO officials said.

Taiwan launched its second satellite dubbed ROCSAT-2 in May 2004 as part of a 15-year space programme lunched in October 1991 at an estimated cost of 19.6 billion dollars (603.07 million US).

Though designed for scientific research, the French-made ROCSAT-2 satellite can take high-resolution pictures which can be used in different fields including for military purposes, Chen Cheng-hsing, who oversees the ROCSAT-2 satellite programme, has said.

Military analysts said that without a fully-controlled spy satellite, Taiwan would be unable to set up an anti-missile system while rival China increases the deployment of ballistic missiles targeting the island.

China views Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Taiwan's growing economy

2006-04-07T07:15:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's economic growth is stably increasing. Who is complaining about Taiwan's economy?

Taiwan's Exports Probably Gained 14% in March, Survey Shows

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's exports, which drove a pickup in the economy in the most recent quarter, probably showed little signs of cooling in March, economists said.

Overseas sales probably rose 14 percent from a year earlier, the same pace as in the first two months, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 20 economists. The figures will be released today at 4 p.m. in Taipei.

Booming sales of semiconductors and notebook computers to China and the U.S., Taiwan's biggest markets, has kept the economy humming and the government in February raised its growth forecast for 2006. Exports powered the quickest economic expansion in 18 months in the fourth quarter.

``Demand is strong for notebook computers, cell phones and semiconductors,'' said Forest Chen, chief economist at Taiwan Securities Investment Advisory in Taipei. ``We probably will see double-digit growth in March exports, a pretty good performance considering it is now the weak export season.''

Taiwan's economy grew 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter, accelerating from the previous three months. Companies such as Benq Corp. are among those who've benefited from rising global demand for electronics. Exports account for about half of Taiwan's gross domestic product.

Economists typically combine figures for the first two months to eliminate distortions caused by the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in January this year and February in 2005.

Taiwan is piggybacking on growing consumer appetite in the U.S., Europe, China and Japan for the electronics it produces.

Booming China

Taoyuan-based Benq expects to more than triple sales of notebook computers this year to as many as 700,000 units, the Commercial Times reported March 30, citing Hung Han-ching, general manager of Benq's information technology division.

Benq aims to sell 300,000 notebook computers in China this year, more than triple last year's number, the Taipei-based paper said. Benq completed the takeover of Siemens AG's unprofitable mobile-phone unit in September.

China expanded 9.9 percent last year, overtaking the U.K. as the world's fourth-largest economy. Rising incomes among the nation's 1.3 billion citizens is spurring demand for Taiwanese electronics.

In the U.S., employers probably added 190,000 workers to their payrolls in March, bringing the number of jobs created last quarter to 603,000, according to a separate Bloomberg survey. An improved job market is pushing U.S. wages higher, bolstering consumer spending and imports. The U.S. is Taiwan's No. 2 export market.

The European Commission on March 3 forecast the economy of the dozen euro nations will grow at the fastest pace since 2000 in the first three quarters of this year.

Taiwan's export orders, indicative of actual shipments in one to three months, rose at the fastest pace in more than a year in February, surging 25 percent from a year earlier.

Taiwan's imports probably climbed 8 percent in March after jumping 47 percent in February, the Bloomberg survey showed. The trade surplus probably rose to $700 million from $603 million in February.

The following table shows economists' forecasts for the percentage changes in Taiwan's exports and imports in March from a year earlier, and for the trade balance.

Taiwan's democracy

2006-04-06T07:02:00.000+08:00

All people in Taiwan should cherish the freedom and democracy they own in Taiwan. Taiwan's democracy is not a gift from the Heaven. It is a gift from everyone who made sacrifices for it.

Henry Hyde praises Taiwan's democracy

CHAMPION'S TRIBUTE: The congressman has been a stalwart supporter of Taiwan on Capitol Hill and was awarded the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon
By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Thursday, Apr 06, 2006

Taiwan's representative to the US David Lee congratulates Representative Henry Hyde in Washington on being awarded the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Tuesday. Lee presented the award to Hyde on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian.
PHOTO: CNA

Representative Henry Hyde, the chairman of the US House of Representative's International Relations Committee, praised Taiwan on Tuesday for providing "a great example to the rest of the world about how democracy can work."

"There have been transfers of power from one political party to another. They have been smooth and uninterrupted, and it shows that democracy can work around the world," Hyde said.

"I think the [Taiwanese] people are extraordinarily brave, extraordinarily productive. They have fought Communism successfully by themselves for many years, and they defeated Communism, and are still a free and sovereign state," he said.

"Their interests are our interests, and our interests are their interests. We have a partnership, we have an abiding friendship, and it is something we should treasure," Hyde said.

He made the comments after he accepted the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon, one of Taiwan's highest presidential awards, during a ceremony in his House office.

The award is the highest that the president can convey on anyone who is not the head of state of another nation.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has praised Hyde as an "outstanding statesman" who has made a "remarkable contribution" to US-Taiwan relations.

Taiwan's Representative David Lee (李大維) presented the award, conveying "the highest regard from our president, Chen Shui-bian, and from all the 23 million people on Taiwan."

In recent years, it has been awarded only to two other Americans, Representative Tom Lantos, the ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, who has consistently supported Taiwan, and to Douglas Paal, the former director of the American Institute in Taiwan.

Hyde, 81, plans to retire at the end of this year after 32 years in Congress. During his chairmanship, the International Relations Committee has held several hearings on Taiwan in an effort to highlight the nation's cause.

He has planned a series of hearings on China and Taiwan, but these have been stymied so far, according to sources, by the refusal of Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick to appear.

The award praises Hyde as an "outstanding statesman" who has "devoted himself to promoting cordial relations and close cooperation between the US and the Republic of China [Taiwan].

"His remarkable contributions have won him profound appreciation from the people and government" of Taiwan, it said.

In presenting the award, Lee recalled that in 1979, after then US president Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing, Hyde worked "diligently" and tirelessly to enact the Taiwan Relations Act, which established the framework for "unofficial" US-Taiwan relations since then, and which committed the US to be prepared to defend Taiwan against an attack by China.

"In his service on the International Relations Committee, Chairman Hyde has helped seal our bilateral relations," Lee said.

"Chairman Hyde has been a great friend of Taiwan," he said.

Review of "Forbidden Nation"

2006-04-03T06:58:00.000+08:00

The case for a 'Forbidden Nation'

'A History of Taiwan' pretty much encapsulates what you will find in this book from Jonathan Manthorpe
By Bradley Winterton
Taipei Times
Sunday 5 February 2006

A warm welcome is due to a particularly fine book on our island home. It's subtitled A History of Taiwan, and its central chapters do indeed survey the island's paradoxical history in the accustomed manner, though with exceptional clarity. But the greatest strength of Forbidden Nation lies in its treatment of Taiwan's current situation, both internally and as seen from an international perspective.

The book opens with an account of the shooting incident in Tainan on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, and Jonathan Manthorpe's qualities are immediately apparent. He's meticulous but clear-headed, with both the wood and the trees presented in sharp focus. On the one hand Taiwan's media showed itself "scandal and rumor-obsessed," on the other, US forensic expert Henry Lee was "unable to say conclusively that the assassination attempt had not been staged." Few could fault his presentation of the facts, but at the same time he manages to offer a very balanced and fair-minded assessment of this much-analyzed affair.

Then comes the island story, and again the sanity and fairness of the account leaps at you from the page. Everywhere you find the same virtues, displayed in careful yet concise analysis of the pheno-mena, whether it's China's Taiping rebellion or the case of the 18th century impostor George Psalman-azar, who claimed to come from "Formosa."

Most readers of this news-paper will probably be familiar with much of what Manthorpe has to say, with interest inevitably centering on which side he is going to come down on when it comes to the big question of "renegade province" or "de facto independence." Here this author doesn't disappoint. It can be fairly stated that he is a firm opponent of China's claims to hegemony. But nevertheless he is also at pains to point out that Taiwan's very geographical position makes it unavoidably and inextricably vulnerable to the claims of neighboring powers.

A good example of this author's combination of detail and balance comes with the treatment of the life of Chiang Ching-kuo (½±¸g°ê). You know at once that this will be a test case because Manthorpe opens by saying some Taiwanese loathe his name whereas others fete him to the skies. This, you sense, is just the kind of situation the author relishes. So he proceeds with his account, and the result is that you see Chiang as if in a full-length portrait of some Renaissance prince -- opportunistic and Machiavellian on the one hand, but the man who nevertheless shepherded Taiwan into the democratic fold, from whatever personal motives, on the other.

When it comes to the historical basis for China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan, Manthorpe does not dodge giving his opinion. There's no question that China ever truly ruled the island, he asserts. It's true that prior to the Japanese takeover in 1895 the Qing Dynasty did operate rule of a kind, but this was sporadic, contested, and -- here Manthorpe plays one of his trump cards -- in essence only over the western coastal plain. This is undoubtedly the case. You only have to look at the main map in John Davidson's magisterial tome The Island of Formosa Past and Present, published in 1903, to see that even under Japanese rule the east coast, and the mountains that drop down to it, are labeled "Savage District," in contradis-tinction to the eastern "Territory under actual Japanese adminis-tration." That the situation before the Japanese arrived was little different can't be doubted. And this eastern no-go region on Davidson' s map constitutes some 55 percent to 60 percent of Taiwan's surface area.

The handover of Taiwan to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) by the international community in 1945 was, Manthorpe argues, in essence illegal. This is probably this book's most original point. "China's claim to own Taiwan and its citizens is based on historically frail arguments and outdated legal concepts," he writes. But this is no partisan anti-Beijing, pro-DPP account of Taiwan's history and current situation. Instead, it's a carefully researched and judicious analysis. In rejecting China's histor-ical claims, therefore, the book deserves to be attended to closely. Clarity and justice, not anti-China rhetoric, are Manthorpe's strongest suits.

The same measured approach is found in his treatment of KMT one-party rule. "It must be acknow-ledged ... that the leavening of economic and social development promoted by the [KMT] in the later years of their exclusive rule made the party's style more akin to strict Chinese paternalism than pure totalitarianism," he writes. On the other hand the Chen administration, in promoting Taiwanese consciousness, has acted "not always wisely."

Nonetheless, this book' s funda-mental position is strongly and unambiguously pro-Taiwanese. "The only people who have established sovereignty over Taiwan are the Taiwanese, no one else ... They do not see why they should be expected to give up their current well-established independence, based on democracy and a vibrant market economy, as a pre-condition for talks with a despotic and repressive regime that has little evident political legitimacy beyond the use of force on its own people ... They have only recently extricated themselves from the coils of the corrupt and dictatorial one-party [KMT] state, and see no reason to jump into the arms of another one, the Communist Party of China."

The topics covered by Manthorpe together constitute a minefield, and yet he tip-toes his way through them with great intelligence and discernment. I have by no means read all the recent English-language books analyzing Taiwan's situation. Even so, if asked to recommend a single volume to a student new to Taiwanese affairs, something that would give both a balanced and a comprehensive account of the state of play here both past and present, Forbidden Nation would be the one I would opt for

China and Taiwan pose a new problem

2006-04-02T06:45:00.000+08:00

Financial Times
By Gary Schmitt and Daniel Blumenthal
Published: 02 March 2006

The last thing America is looking for is another crisis. With its hands full in Afghanistan and Iraq, and talks with North Korea and Iran going nowhere, that is entirely understandable. But even while attention was focused this week on the more positive theme of US-India relations, a potential new crisis was brewing elsewhere in Asia, this time around Beijing and Taipei.

In early February, the Pentagon issued its Quadrennial Defence Review, a strategic review designed to guide US defence thinking over the next four years. China was the only country highlighted in the 90-plus-page report, with a warning that its decade-long, double-digit increases in military spending had “already” put “regional military balances at risk”. China, the review said, “has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States”.

At the same time, Washington has begun to adopt a “tough love” approach to China’s trade policies. When the White House released its 2006 economic report, it explicitly tied America’s record trade deficit to Beijing’s decision tightly to limit the renminbi’s appreciation on global currency markets. Putting it more bluntly, John Snow, US Treasury secretary, recently told Congress that China’s leaders “have not lived up to what they said they would do” on this front and warned that the country risked being branded a currency “manipulator” by his department if it did not change policies by mid-April.

Similarly, the Bush administration is unhappy about China’s patchy compliance with its World Trade Organisation commitments, especially in the areas of intellectual property rights, labour rights and domestic market access. As a result, the US Trade Representative’s Office is establishing a “China enforcement task force” to help prepare WTO non-compliance cases for the government.

Add to this the tiny bit of co-operation the US gets from China on Iran and North Korea, and the ample trouble China brings with its policies of support for Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan and other trouble spots, and Americans increasingly see a country that is not especially interested in becoming a responsible “stakeholder” in the current international system. China and its leaders will do the minimum required to keep the US off its back – but not more than that.

Meanwhile, there are new tensions in cross-Strait relations. This week, Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan’s president, announced that he was getting rid of the National Unification Council. The council, whose function was to set the conditions for unifying Taiwan with mainland China, was created in 1990 when Taiwan was ruled by one party, the Nationalists, and has been operationally moribund for years. Beijing’s reaction – neuralgic to any suggestion that Taiwan is anything but a province of the mainland – was to call Mr Chen’s decision “a grave provocation”. In Washington, the reaction was one of unhappy but muted acceptance.

The immediate cause of the flap was the promise made by Mr Chen in his 2000 inaugural address not to scrap the council. The promise was part of a series of pledges designed to reassure Washington that the new president would not upset America’s “one China” policy. But the underlying cause is that, as Taiwan’s democracy has taken hold and flourished over the past decade, so has the belief among Taiwanese that they are a sovereign, self- governing entity.

Even with the hyper-economic activity between mainland China and the island, fewer than 10 per cent of Taiwan’s population consider themselves simply “Chinese”, according to surveys. Getting rid of the council was one way for Mr Chen to signal that his government was tired of the way the world chose ignore that fact and allow China to squeeze Taiwan military and diplomatically.

This is by no means a partisan position. Ma Ying-jeou, the head of Taiwan’s Nationalists, recently said that his party believed “the people of Taiwan have full authority to determine their future, whether it be unification with China, declaring independence or maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait”. “As citizens of a democratic country, Taiwanese are free to choose which option to pursue,” he added.

Not only do Mr Ma’s remarks suggest that the fuss over the unification council’s fate is overblown, they also indicate that both major parties in Taiwan agree the country already is a sovereign entity with a democratic will of its own. His statement – that Taiwan’s future will be decided by its people – puts the lie to the notion that the cause of cross-Strait tensions is just the “troublemaking” of Mr Chen.

The political tectonic plates that divide the Taiwan Strait are shifting, and they are not moving closer toward each other. Understandably, the US wants to maintain a policy – what it calls the “status quo” – that has preserved the peace and allowed both states to prosper economically for some time. But how long can it do so when China’s ambitions to be a great power pull in one direction and Taiwan’s democratic identity pulls in another?

Gary Schmitt is director of strategic studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Daniel Blumenthal is AEI’s resident fellow in Asian studies.

Welcome more cooperation

2006-04-01T10:29:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's economy and business are gaining more and more influence on international trade. The world can not neglect Taiwan's market and various industries. It definitely benefits the world when more countries cooperate with Taiwan.

TAIWAN WANTS TO SIGN FTA WITH U.S. BY NEXT JUNE: DEPUTY ENVOY
2006-04-01 19:50:51, By Wennie Chi and Sofia Wu, CNA

Washington, March 31 (CNA) Taiwan looks forward to signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States before the expiration of the U.S. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) next June, Taiwan's deputy representative in Washington, D.C. said Friday.

Speaking at a seminar on Capitol Hill, Stanley Kao said a Taiwan-U.S. FTA would bring enormous benefits to both countries and that Taiwan is always ready to negotiate relevant terms with the United States.

Hopefully, Kao said, an FTA can be fleshed out before the TPA -- an act that authorizes the U.S. administration to sign bilateral and multilateral agreements with foreign governments to promote free trade without prior congressional approval -- expires in June 2007.

It marked the first time that Taiwan has ever explicitly spelled out a desired timetable for signing an FTA with the United States.

The seminar was organized by the Association on Third World Affairs, a non-governmental organization, to discuss issues regarding free and fair trade. Participants at the seminar included Angelos Pangratis, European Union deputy ambassador to the U.S., Roberto Abdenur, Brazilian ambassador to the U.S., and diplomatic mission chiefs of many other countries stationed in Washington.

Emphasizing that an FTA is critical to both sides, Kao said the United States would see a more-than 100 percent growth in its auto, rice, fish and other foodstuff exports to Taiwan after the signing of such an accord.

On the whole, Kao said, the annual U.S. exports to Taiwan would post an estimated 16 percent growth from the present level should an FTA take effect. In dollar terms, he added, annual U.S. exports to Taiwan would increase by US$6.6 billion.

For Taiwan, Kao said, the FTA would have a "locomotive effect" that might prompt other countries to follow suit. Because of China's diplomatic embargo against Taiwan, Kao went on, Taiwan is facing the threat of being marginalized in the Asia-Pacific region and having a hard time forging bilateral ties with major countries around the world.

Describing the signing of FTAs with major countries around the world as being imperative to sustain Taiwan's competitiveness, Kao said Taiwan is well-prepared for FTA talks with the United States at any time.

Hypocritical China

2006-03-31T08:41:00.000+08:00

If Chinese government really wants to show its amiability to Taiwan, why doesn't it remove the 800 missiles toward Taiwan? Does China think Taiwanese people want two pandas more than their own lives? Chinese government refues to talk to Taiwan's DPP government; China never stops threating Taiwan and always attacks Taiwan in all kinds of occasions. China impedes Taiwan's participation in WHO and told Taiwanese "who cares about you". Are these also the ways that China shows its friendship to Taiwan? It is absolutely insane to accept China's deceptive offer.

Taiwan Rejects China's Offer of Pandas

By STEPHAN GRAUWELS, Associated Press
Fri Mar 31, 11:00 AM ET

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Tuan Tuan the panda won't be following in the footsteps of his mother and grandparents as a goodwill ambassador for China. Taiwan on Friday rejected China's offer of the panda and a female mate, Yuan Yuan, in the latest sign of a hardening attitude toward its communist neighbor.

Beijing first offered the animals last May as part of an effort to woo Taiwanese support for uniting with the mainland, from which Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.
Their names come from the word "tuanyuan" which means "reunion."

Tuan Tuan comes from a long line of panda ambassadors. His mother, "Hua Mei," was the first U.S.-born panda to live longer than a few months. She was born in 1999 to a pair of pandas China lent to the San Diego zoo in California. She returned to China in 2004.

Taiwan's Council of Agriculture said the island was unable to accept the pandas because they would not receive proper care on the island as required by animal protection laws and international agreements.

"Under present circumstances, we cannot accept the pandas coming to Taiwan," Forestry Bureau vice chairman Lee Tao-sheng told reporters after final discussions by a panel of experts.

The Taipei City Zoo and the Leofoo Village Theme Park in the northern city of Kuanhsi both applied to house the pandas. But Lee said they did not offer enough details on research an education plans for pandas.

The pair was picked from 11 animals at the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern Sichuan province.

Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian and his supporters have repeatedly denounced China's offer as a propaganda ploy designed to camouflage its threats to attack Taiwan. Chen is a strong supporter of a separate identity for the island, while the opposition supports eventual unification.

In February, Chen in February angered Beijing by scrapping a body in charge of unification with the mainland. Last week, the government announced stricter supervision of trade and tourism links with China.

In a statement on the presidential Web site last week, Chen said the pandas would not be happy living in Taiwan and called on Beijing to step up conservation efforts for the animals in China.
China estimates that 1,590 pandas live in the wild in the country, with another 183 in zoos and breeding centers.

No. 2 Asian country in NRI rankings

2006-03-30T13:16:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's remians one of the top countries in IT development!

Taiwan ranks No. 7 in 'readiness' index for IT development

CNA , GENEVA
Thursday, Mar 30, 2006, Taipei Times

Taiwan moved up several spots in an annual global index of "networked readiness," ranking seventh among 115 economies, according to a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday.

According to the Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006 Networked Readiness Index (NRI) rankings, Taiwan has moved up eight notches from last year's 15th place, entering the top 10 for the first time.

The NRI measures the degree of preparedness of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from information and communication technology developments.

Augusto Lopez-Claros, director of the Global Competitiveness Network at the WEF and co-editor of the report, said Taiwan was a leader in the adoption and widespread use of information and communication technologies and in stimulating innovation.

Among the technologically advanced economies in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan outperformed Japan and Hong Kong in terms of NRI, ranking second behind Singapore.

In terms of NRI rankings, the top 10 countries are the US, Singapore, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

The NRI examines an economy's information and communication technology conditions from three aspects: the general macroeconomic, regulatory and infrastructure environment; the readiness of the three key stakeholders -- individuals, businesses and governments -- to use and benefit from the technology; and their actual use of the latest information and communication technologies.

Washington Times Op-Ed -- "Beijing's Aggression" by Joseph Wu

2006-03-29T05:11:00.000+08:00

Joseph Wu, the Minister of Mainland AffairsCouncil of Taiwan has an op-ed piece appeared in the Washington Times on March 24, 2006. In the article he gave a quick summary of the current situation of Taiwan, domestically and internationally, in a nut shell. (Emphasis mine.)

Beijing's aggression

TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Jaushieh Joseph Wu
March 24, 2006

During his visit to Japan in November 2005, President George W. Bush said that by embracing freedom at all levels, Taiwan has delivered prosperity to its people and created a free and democratic society. For Taiwanese who lived through the four decades of authoritarianism and martial law under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Mr. Bush's words were no less an official recognition of what Taiwan has fought hard to achieve over the past few decades.

We, the Taiwanese people, understand and appreciate that the U.S. government has contributed significantly to our democratization. As Taiwan has now democratized, some in Washington have shifted their attention to other authoritarian battlegrounds. We've recently seen some of these defenders of liberty challenge giant American enterprises that are helping the Chinese regime. The Taiwanese people applauded this act, just as we cheered Mr. Bush's speech in Japan.

While some writers and other advocates of freedom continue to struggle on inside China, Taiwan is quietly helping by working hard to poke small holes in the "Great Firewall" with the hope that very soon information can freely flow to the Chinese people. Taiwan's own experience tells us that as long as there is outside support, freedom fighters will continue their battle from within against that seemingly invincible enemy, state control. The Taiwanese people stand firm together with members of Congress and these Chinese champions of liberty both in word and in deed.

Ironically, Taiwan, just like any other young democracy, still bears some trappings of the authoritarian dictatorship of the past. The national anthem of Taiwan is that of the KMT, and the emblem of the national flag is the KMT emblem. In addition, corporations such as China Airlines, China Ship Building, China Petroleum, and China Steel are actually Taiwan's state-owned corporations, not China's.

For any other newly democratized country, the issues mentioned above could be easily remedied. Unfortunately for Taiwan, these issues persist because China consistently threatens Taiwan with force when these issues are publicly discussed. But just like in any other democracy, these issues will not be ignored and will be open to public deliberation. Taiwan's government understands the sensitivity of these issues and has handled them with prudence, despite public opinion strongly being in favor of the continuation of political reform. Taiwan is deeply committed to maintaining peace and stability in the region.

In Taiwan today, there is a clear sense of insecurity despite pride in her democratic achievements. China is becoming increasingly more influential internationally and cleverly uses its power to marginalize and suffocate Taiwan. Taiwan cries out for help from time to time, but the results have been extremely disappointing. While Taiwan desires a free trade agreement with the U.S. to counter China's attempt to marginalize Taiwan economically, it has not materialized. While Taiwan worries about China's aggression, its defense budget continues to stall in the legislature. While the world is vulnerable to the spread of avian flu, the World Health Organization still excludes Taiwan.

Almost a year ago, China passed the Anti-Secession Law, which claimed Taiwan to be a part of China and legalized the use of non-peaceful means against Taiwan to enforce that claim. On the advice of the U.S. government, Taiwan offered a muted response to prevent conflict from erupting in the Taiwan Strait. But China's military threat increases, its attempts to suffocate Taiwan internationally grow stronger, and Taiwan becomes increasingly divided and internally weakened in facing China. Regrettably, none of what Taiwan needs to feel secure has been forthcoming.

China again threatened Taiwan when President Chen Shui-bian recently suggested ceasing the function of the National Unification Council (NUC) and its guidelines both remnants of the past regime. The NUC and its guidelines specify that the only course open to a democratic Taiwan is unification with authoritarian China, which goes against a fundamental and guiding democratic principle that the people have the right to determine their own destiny. Ceasing the NUC and the NUG is fully in line with democratic principles.

The Taiwanese government understands the United States' very legitimate concern over whether President Chen's actions constitute a unilateral change of the status quo. he status quo in the Taiwan Strait is that the two sides, China and Taiwan, are fully separate entities, neither having jurisdiction over the other, best exemplified by the democratization of Taiwan, which occurred without regard to what the state of affairs was across the strait. Taiwan fully supports U.S. policy because it is against Taiwan's interests to change what is indeed reality.

President Bush's comments late last year were an encouragement to Taiwan. Taiwan is now refining its democracy, the better to be a beacon for democracy activists in China to follow, and in this endeavor Taiwan deserves U.S. support.

Jaushieh Joseph Wu is the Minister of Mainland Affairs Council of Taiwan.

Taiwan's future market is getting competitive

2006-03-28T12:10:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's stock market becomes more and more important and popular in the world. Many international investors keep pouring their money in Taiwan because they know Taiwan's economic environment is getting better and better. Like them, all people in Taiwan should also have faith in the government. The future is still bright, as long as we believe in Taiwan!

Taiwan to introduce dollar-denominated futures

2006-03-28 / BLOOMBERG /

The Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taiwan Futures Exchange yesterday signed contracts with Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. to jointly compile a Taiwan futures index and introduce three U.S. dollar-denominated futures products.

The three sides signed the contracts in Taipei yesterday, aiming to strengthen the competitiveness of Taiwan's futures market, they said in a joint briefing.

"The move will help bring in more foreign investors to stimulate Taiwan's futures market and make it a more internationalized market," Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng said in Taipei.

By the end of 2005, foreign investors accounted for 3.2 percent of the transactions on Taiwan's futures market, far behind the 18 percent in the Taiwan stock market, leaving room for improvement, Kong said. Foreign investors also accounted for 32 percent of business on Taiwan's stock market in terms of total value, he said.

Taiwan Futures Exchange today introduced Taiwan index futures, MSCI Taiwan index options and gold futures, all of which are U.S. dollar-denominated, it said in a statement. Gold futures will become the exchange's first commodity product.

The exchange from today will also allow trading for non-hedging purposes by foreign investors, abolishing previous rules that restricted foreign investors to futures trading only for hedging purposes, the statement said.

The Financial Supervisory Commission on August 16 denied a report that Morgan Stanley Capital International may remove the island's stock market from its global indexes.
The Economic Daily News reported that day that Morgan Stanley may remove Taiwan stocks because of disputes over the pricing of its MSCI Taiwan index futures. The newspaper refused to say where it had gotten its information.

Removal could have seen falls for some prominent Taiwanese stocks as global fund managers automatically reduced their holdings of such stocks in line with the benchmark MSCI index.

Taiwan and India

2006-03-27T22:53:00.000+08:00

India has blooming economic growth in recent years. Its prosperous software industry can be an excellent complement of Taiwan's hi-tech industry. Both are democratic countries and also regard China as a threat. The government and the people in Taiwan should do their best to imrpove the relationship with India.

Taiwan should embrace India: NSC official

GROWING FORCE: Council Deputy Secretary-General Parris Chang said that India was seeking to become a power in South Asia and had improved its relations with the US

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER, Taipei Times
Monday, Mar 27, 2006,Page 3

Former vice premier Wu Rong-i, right, points to a map while presiding over the final day of the 2006 Asia-Pacific Peace Watch conference in Taipei yesterday. He slammed China's suppression of Taiwan's diplomacy, saying that only if the arms procurement bill was passed could there be a possibility to hold cross-strait peace talks. PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMESWith India's increasing influence in the South Asian region, Taiwan might want to extend its "go south" policy to include that country and seek more economic and political cooperation with the developing economy, a top official at the National Security Council (NSC) said yesterday.

"The world is observing the warming relations between the US and India, especially the most recent US-India nuclear agreement, which US President George W. Bush hopes the US Congress will endorse despite the fact that India has not signed the UN's nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty," council Deputy Secretary-General Parris Chang (張旭成) said.

"India sees China as its biggest threat in the region and its alignment with the US reflects a change of course in its foreign policy," he said.

Chang made the remarks on the last day of the Asia-Pacific Peace Watch conference in Taipei.
The two-day symposium was organized by the Taiwan Peace Foundation. While the first day of the forum focused on the security situation in Northeast Asia, the Taiwan Strait and Southeast Asia, the second centered on South Asia and the South Pacific.

Chang, who chaired the South Asia session yesterday, said that India's ambition to become one of the dominant powers in the region hinged on its relationships with the US and China.

In addition to building closer relations with the US, India last April agreed to forge a strategic relationship with Beijing.

Chen Han-hua (陳漢華), a council member, said that he expected to see the demand for oil in South Asia increase, forcing countries in the region to seek supplies from the Middle East or to cooperate with foreign investors in oil exploration programs in the region.

What Taiwan can do to help is to provide South Asian countries with petrochemical technology, Chen said.

Chen also warned India of the dangers of dealing with the Chinese authorities, pointing out that China is very good at adopting the approach of "using warm water to cook frogs," meaning that the frog does not realize it is dying because it grows used to the warm temperature.

Senior adviser to the president and former vice premier Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), who chaired the South Pacific forum, criticized China for bullying Taiwan and suppressing the nation's presence on the international stage.

Wu also emphasized that Taiwan had to become a stronger country before conducting talks with China.

"That is why it is so important for the legislature to pass the arms procurement plan as soon as possible," he said.

Analyzing China's influence in the South Pacific, Chang Yu-chang (張裕常) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that China aspired to accomplish three things in the South Pacific region with its booming economy.

First, China wanted to buy diplomatic relations and isolate Taiwan, he said.

Chang said that China had invested US$4 million to build a stadium in Fiji and US$15.5 million to construct a swimming pool there.

China's generous contributions had won Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) a ticket to attend this year's China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum Ministerial Conference in Fiji in April, he said.

Second, China wanted to invest in natural resources in the region, he said.

Chang said that China had obtained the consent of Austria to obtain uranium from that country.
Finally, China wanted to mold the South Pacific to its own strategic requirements in order to
counter the US in the region, Chang said.

Welcome more interaction!

2006-03-26T06:49:00.000+08:00

It's a good sign that Taiwan has good relationship with its neighbors. We should understand that China is not the only neighbor in which Taiwanese can invest or travel.

Taiwan, Vietnam to expand flights as trade, tourism take off
Sat Mar 25, 12:44 PM ET

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan and Vietnam have agreed to expand flights between them on the back of booming trade and tourism, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has said.

Under the new pact pending final approval from both governments, the seat capacity of Taiwanese airlines offering regular passenger flights to Ho Chi Minh City will nearly double to 11,000 a week from 6,010, the CAA said in a statement.

And the cargo flight capacity of Taiwan air carriers would be lifted from 600 tonnes a week to 1,000 tonnes, it said.

Taiwanese airlines would also be allowed to extend their flights from Vietnam to Europe while Vietnam Airlines would be allowed to extend its flights from Taipei to San Francisco or Los Angeles, it said.

Trade between the two sides more than doubled to 4.7 billion US dollars in 2005, up from 2.1 billion dollars in 2000.

Taiwan History

2006-03-25T23:32:00.000+08:00

Taiwan did not belong to China from the beginning. If many countires in this world can declare their independence, why can't Taiwan?

Birds in Taiwan don't sing; flowers lack fragrance---Li Hung-chang

2006-03-21 / Taiwan News / Edited by Tina Li/Translated by Susanne Ganz

The comment "Birds in Taiwan don't sing, flowers lack fragrance" was made by Prime Minister Li Hung-chang of the Ching Dynasty just before the empire relinquished Taiwan to Japan after the 1894 Sino-Japanese war. The Chinese prime minister went on to say that Taiwanese men on the island were heartless, and the women had no loyalty to their lovers.

With that comment, Li's aim was to persuade the emperor that there should be no regrets in giving up an island far from the mainland in exchange for the empire's safety. As a leading negotiator, he was responsible for making the infamous Treaty of Shimonoseki to wager peace with Japan after the Ching Dynasty's military defeat.

Before his departure for Japan to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Li submitted a letter to the Chinese emperor, making the case that surrendering part of China's territory was vital to finalizing the peace treaty.

Apart from Li, there were other imperial officials calling for negotiations with Japan before the empire lost the war and was forced to cede lands near its capital to foreigners. Prime Minister Li was one of those who suggested that the emperor keep the capital at all costs. He advised that relinquishing offshore islands such as Taiwan and Penghu was the best choice since they were far enough from Beijing.

His suggestion did not upset the royal rulers, since the emperors on the mainland were already thinking that including Taiwan in the empire's territory was a mistake. This view emerged as soon after Emperor Kanghsi took over the island in 1683. The mainland regime was plagued by frequent uprisings throughout its 212-year rule of the island. The empire was forced to send its mainland forces to Taiwan every three to five years to quell revolts, big and small.

A sense of distrust existed among many officials in the royal court toward the Taiwanese, and the empire retained its policy of stationing soldiers from China on the island. From the beginning to the end of the Ching Dynasty, the Taiwanese were deprived of the right to join the military to protect their homeland.

The islanders further suffered economic hardships under Ching's governance, as they were forced to supply grain to Chinese soldiers' families on the mainland. The order placed a burden on many Taiwanese families, not only because of the huge food production demand, but also because the government forced them to pay the cost of shipping the grain.

Under Japan's colonial rule, some Taiwanese, opposed to the new rulers, sought support from the government of Republic of China founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1912. But they were disappointed for the most part.

A prominent figure and advocate of Taiwanese independence from Japan at the time, Lin Hsien-tang, was notably one of those seeking help from China to attain this goal.

Lin met with Liang Chi-chao in 1909 in Japan. He turned to Liang for advice on how the Taiwan people could get rid of the political, economic, and legal discriminations imposed by the Japanese colonialists.

Lin was however unexpectedly cold-shouldered by Liang, who could only advise the young Taiwanese to emulate the Irish people who had attained the right to political participation by enlisting the help of British opposition forces.

Liang clearly told Lin that "within 30 years, it would be impossible for the mainland to offer any assistance to help the Taiwanese people realize their goal."

One of Lin's aides held another discussion with Chinese revolutionist Tai Chi-tao in Tokyo four years later. Tai listened to the account of the Taiwan people's miserable conditions under Japanese colonial rule, but he had no substantial ideas or advice for the Taiwanese delegate.
Tai acknowledged that for next 10 years the R.O.C. government would likely be stuck fighting Yuan Shih-kai and would need to rally all the country's forces to win the battle. Therefore, any hopes of the republic assisting Taiwan were slim.

Successive Chinese governments after the Ching Dynasty also showed a marked indifference toward Taiwan.

Both the Chinese Nationalist Government and Chinese Communist Party remained apathetic toward Taiwan, but once suggested that the island should be autonomous, as was Korea, another Japanese colony at the time.

Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the R.O.C., had urged that Taiwan should establish its own parliament and independent government, said Tai Chi-tao, a revolutionist and top aide to Sun. Sun thought that the Taiwanese people should strive toward establishing an independent country, and even leaders of Communist China offered similar comments.

Mao Zedong and Zhao Englai publicly backed Taiwan's liberation and independence movement. Mao said that Communist China under his rule had supported Korea's efforts to break away from Japanese colonialism and "Taiwan should also be encouraged to do the same."

United Democracy Will Stand!

2006-03-24T12:56:00.000+08:00

Somehow the smaller the countries, the more guts they have. If all democratic countries can really work together to push China toward democracy, there will be fewer political victims in China. If people do care about the life of Chinese people, they should not be an ally of the nortorious Chinese Communist Party. Politics and economics may be very important, but human right and democracy are not negligible.

Pacific allies to shun summit with China's premier

By Chang Yun-ping
STAFF REPORTER, Taipei Times
Friday, Mar 24, 2006,Page 3

The diplomatic tussle between China and Taiwan in the South Pacific is set to escalate in April as Taiwan's six island allies have decided to boycott a meeting hosted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) when he tours the region next month, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday.

Wen is scheduled to visit countries including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Cambodia, from April 1 to April 8 and is expected to hold the China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum Ministerial Conference 2006 with the island countries during his visit.

"The six countries we have official ties with in the region will not participate in the conference. China is doing everything possible to gain their favor, but there will be no problem with our ties with these countries given our efforts," said Donald Lee, director general of the ministry's Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Taiwan's six diplomatic allies in the Pacific are Kirabati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

China's Fiji meeting

The China summit, to be held in Fiji on April 1, will be attended by six other island countries that recognize China -- the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Federated States of Micronesia.

The conference was a result of an initiative proposed by China's Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) at last October's Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting to promote China's cooperation with Pacific island countries in the areas of environmental protection, health, tourism, education, agriculture and fishing industries, according to a report in Hong Kong's Takungpao.

Lee said China originally wanted to tie in the conference with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the largest regional political club of which Taiwan is also a donor, but the PIF secretariat put the brakes on the plan to co-host the China summit after Taiwan protested.

China has been working hard to compete with Taiwan for political influence in the region. It has offered US$1.7 million to the government of Fiji to sponsor the one-day conference and Fiji has received up to US$13 million in grants from China so far this year, the official said.

"The money China spent in squeezing Taiwan's diplomatic space is actually 10 times higher than [what we've spent]," Lee said.

Import workers

Meanwhile, Lee said the government is working on a project to bring workers from the nation's six Pacific allies to Taiwan.

"Currently, Taiwan has an intake of 320,000 foreign workers from Southeast Asian countries. The Pacific island countries are relatively small and have very low populations. If we introduce, say, 500 workers from each of these countries, I think this number can easily be absorbed by Taiwan's market and in the mean time, it will significantly benefit our small Pacific allies," Lee said.

The official said the details of the proposal are still being coordinated with the Labor Affairs Council and no specific timetable is available yet on when the worker scheme might begin.

Taiwan's Unemployment Rate Stays at Five-Year Low

2006-03-23T05:20:00.000+08:00

Many opposition party political figures and scholars like to attack the current ruling party DPP for "running the economy to the ground". Some residing international media journalists like to interview certain pan-blue (opposition) scholars. As a result, they would put in their report such as "Taiwan's stagnant economy" or "rising unemployment rate".

Here's bloomberg's most recent report on Taiwan's unemployment rate -- at it's five-year low and is here to stay. (Emphasis mine.)

Taiwan's Unemployment Rate Stays at Five-Year Low

March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's unemployment rate held at a five-year low in February as companies such as Chang Hwa Commercial Bank hired more people for expansion.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 3.95 percent last month, little changed from the 3.97 percent recorded in January, the statistics bureau said today in Taipei. That was the lowest rate since February 2001.

Low unemployment may make households more inclined to spend, supporting a government forecast that expansion will accelerate this year. Taiwan's economy grew at the fastest pace in 18 months in the fourth quarter, prompting the government to lift its economic growth forecast for 2006.

Economists had expected 3.96 percent unemployment, according to the median of 16 estimates collected by Bloomberg News. The number of people unemployed on the island rose to 408,000 in February from 397,000 the previous month, today's report showed.

Taiwan's economy expanded 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, beating most economists' forecasts, as electronics exports jumped and consumer spending increased. The government on Feb. 23 boosted its forecast for expansion this year to 4.25 percent from 4.1 percent.

Chang Hwa Bank, Taiwan's seventh-biggest lender by assets, is planning to hire 100 more employees, including customer services officers and information technology specialist, the Economic Daily News reported on March 13, citing the bank.

Without adjusting for seasonal changes, Taiwan's jobless rate was 3.92 percent in February, up from 3.8 percent in January, the statement said.

Move the investment to India

2006-03-22T12:49:00.000+08:00

Taiwan should work closely with other democratic countries instead of its enemy China. Taiwanese businessmen must understand that China is a political and economic rival to Taiwan, not a partner. Taiwanese should not invest in a country that threatens force.

Taiwan Pushes India Trade Ties

March 20, 2006, 5:23AM
By STEPHAN GRAUWELS
Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's creation of a business council to promote commercial ties with India is part of the government's effort to reduce the island's growing economic dependence on rival China, experts said Monday.

Last month Taiwan announced the formation of a "Taiwan-India Cooperation Council" to push trade and investment with the booming South Asian nation.

The head of the new body is former Taiwanese Premier Yu Shyi-kun, who is now chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

The DPP seeks to distance the self-governing island of 23 million people from the communist colossus 100 miles to its west, and fears that closer economic ties will reduce its room for political maneuvering.

"China is now employing a policy of 'using business to encircle Taiwan,'" said Hung Chin-tan, executive secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Council.

Lin Wen-cheng, a China expert at Kaohsiung's National Sun Yat-sen University, says Taiwan has to find good alternatives to its commercial relations with China because of the tense political situation between the sides.

"I don't understand why Taiwan should invest in a country that threatens force," he said.

Taiwan and the mainland split amid civil war in 1949. Despite Chinese threats to attack if Taiwan moves to formalize its de facto independence, business between the two sides is booming, with Taiwanese companies having invested more than $100 billion since the early 1990s.

A report issued Saturday by the World Trade Organization said China's trade deficit with Taiwan was $58 billion _ meaning Taiwan exported to China far more than it imported _ the biggest deficit China has with any trading partner.

Taiwanese investment in India is still small _ about $200 million _ and at $2 billion its 2005 trade with the South Asian nation is only a fraction of its China commercial exchanges.

Taiwanese analysts say that Taiwan's sophisticated information technology industry has a lot to offer to India, which is developing rapidly as a major producer of high tech goods and services.

Many Taiwanese businessmen are drawn to China because of an assumption that a common culture and language will make business dealings easy.

However, that contention is not necessarily true, said political scientist Vincent Chen of Taipei's National Chengchi University.

"When Taiwanese business people invest in China, they have to deal with a communist system, and that's a far more difficult obstacle than any cultural differences with India," he said.

Taiwan stands up!

2006-03-21T12:00:00.000+08:00

"China the elephant often goes crazy and tramples upon us, but we are not allowed to struggle, or even yelp in pain," President Chen.

Thousands gather for anti-China rally in Taipei
Saturday March 18, 3:45 PM

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Taiwan's pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian gathered for an "anti-annexation" rally on Saturday to protest China's threat to use force against the self-ruled island.

Organisers say the march is expected to draw a crowd of 100,000 people to mark the first anniversary of China's passage of the Anti-Secession Law that authorises war if Taiwan declares statehood, thereby violating Beijing's "one China" policy.

China and Taiwan split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

With red ballons symbolising Chinese missiles and placards reading "Protect democracy, Oppose Annexation", Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the rally would show the world the Taiwan people's determination to defend their democratic way of life.

Chen, Vice President Annette Lu and Premier Su Tseng-chang are expected to join the marchers, many of who were bused in from all over the island.

Keen to shake off Beijing's claim of sovereignty over the island, the president scrapped a dormant but symbolic Taiwanese body called the National Unification Council, triggering condemnation by China.

Chen likened Taiwan as a rabbit bullied by a raging elephant, China, when he met a group of Taiwan businessmen on Friday.

"China the elephant often goes crazy and tramples upon us, but we are not allowed to struggle, or even yelp in pain," Chen said.

Taipei says Beijing had accumulated nearly 800 missiles targeting the island and was adding to its arsenal at a rate of between 75-100 a year.

But for Taiwan's 23 million people, the issue of reunification versus independence has always been tricky. Opinion polls consistently show more than 80 percent of Taiwan people prefer the status quo.

Last week, tens of thousands of opposition supporters, who favour closer ties with China, marched through Taipei to denounce Chen, accusing him of fanning tensions with China.

Yes, Taiwan!

2006-03-20T11:48:00.000+08:00

"We are here today to defend democracy, and to oppose annexation, (China's) authoritarian regime, and missiles. We are making a declaration to the international community that Taiwan is a sovereign nation."

MASSIVE RALLY ASSERTS TAIWAN'S SOVEREIGNTY

2006-03-18 17:33:41 CNA

Taipei, March 18 (CNA) Over 100,000 people took to the streets in Taipei Saturday to assert Taiwan's sovereignty, defend democracy and protest against China's intention to annex Taiwan.

The rally was held by the Taiwan Democracy Alliance for Peace. Present at the rally were Presidential Office Secretary-General Tan Sun Chen, Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang. "We are here today to defend democracy, and to oppose annexation, (China's) authoritarian regime, and missiles. We are making a declaration to the international community that Taiwan is a sovereign nation," rally program host DPP spokesman Tsai Huang-liang said.

Shu said that the rally was to demonstrate that the Taiwanese people are the masters of Taiwan, and Taiwan and China are two separate countries.

Meanwhile, Yu pointed out that it is important for Taiwan to speak out for itself and its sovereignty. "China is suppressing Taiwan all the time: China continues to tell the world that Taiwan is a part of China, and if we do not speak out the truth, then that means we acquiesce to the statement. We cannot allow that, so we have to stand up and speak our mind, " Yu said.

Yu said that during Taiwan's first popular presidential election in 1996, China threatened Taiwan by lobbing missiles into the sea near Taiwan, but the Taiwanese people used their votes to show that they were not intimidated.

He further pointed out that when China passed the Anti-Secession Law last year, Taiwanese people held a rally against it and won international support. "As long as China does not stop suppressing Taiwan, we will continue our rallies in democratic March in the future, " Yu said.
He said that in the past ten years, March has been a key time in deepening democracy in Taiwan, pointing out that March has always been the month for presidential elections in the country.

Yu stressed that this kind of rally is not intended to cause conflict between the "pan-green" and the "pan-blue" camps and that he is disappointed that the opposition has been making snide remarks about the rally.

He criticized the opposition for not speaking out for Taiwan in the international community. He claimed that when the opposition held a rally last week, the rally was a protest against the ceasing of the operations of the National Unification Council and that it was aimed at creating conflict within Taiwan. "Only by defending democracy can we bring domestic stability, and with domestic stability comes economic development, and then comes happiness for our future generations," Yu said.

Taiwan is doing right!

2006-03-19T11:13:00.000+08:00

Taiwan will continue to be one of the most democratic countries which make the world better. All people in Taiwan love peace and freedom. Stand with Taiwan, you can make the world better!

Taiwan not the one making waves

By KOH SE-KAI
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office Tokyo

Mar. 19, 2006
The Japan Times

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's recent decision to discontinue the National Unification Council (NUC) and to shelve National Unification Guidelines has disturbed members of the international community. This reaction is mostly a result of a misunderstanding of Chen's motives. Even some media reports in Japan appear to have misconstrued the issue.

The halt to the National Unification Council by no means represents a change in the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. As a democratically elected leader of Taiwan, Chen has made an administrative adjustment with regard to a body that had advised his office only. NUC was not empowered by the legislature and had no constitutional relevance otherwise. Thus it is rather ridiculous to view the cessation of a nonfunctioning body as a precursor to a change in the status quo.

Last March, China adopted the "anti-secession law" to give it a pseudo-legal foundation to take Taiwan by force if necessary. The People's Liberation Army subsequently built up its force, and more than 700 missiles have been deployed on China's side of the Taiwan Strait. Yet Taiwan is the one accused of trying to undermine the status quo.

Taiwan is not only Japan's neighbor but also a major trading partner. Furthermore, Taiwan's geographic position -- at the threshold of the Taiwan Strait -- provides Japan safe sea passage. Any attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait would be detrimental to both Taiwan and Japan. As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will do its best to safeguard the peace and stability of the region.

Taiwan is not part of China

2006-03-18T11:40:00.000+08:00

Taiwan is an independent country! All people in Taiwan are not afraid of China's threat.

Taiwanese rally against China's annexation threat

March 18, 2006

By DPA

Taipei, March 18 (DPA) Some 100,000 Taiwanese marched through Taipei Saturday to protest against China's threat to retake Taiwan by force if Taipei seeks independence.

The protest, called by President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), marks the first anniversary of the passing of China's 'anti-secession law' which allows China to attack if Taipei declares formal independence.Holding flags and placards, the protesters shouted 'Safeguard Taiwan's democracy!' 'Oppose China's aggression!' and 'Taiwan is not part of China!'

Some protesters held plastic models of missiles to remind the world that China has 784 missiles pointed at Taiwan.President Chen, addressing the rally at the end of the march, called on the people to unite in the fight to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty.

'Taiwan is not part of China, and we do not allow our sovereignty to be shared with anyone,' Chen stated.

Chen said the master of Taiwan's fate is not China, but the 23 million people of Taiwan. He vowed to hold a referendum to decide Taiwan's future, even at the cost of losing his position as president.

China sees self-governing Taiwan, seat of the exiled Republic of China government since 1949, as a breakaway province, but Taiwan claims it is a sovereign nation, currently recognised by 25 countries.

Chen plans to hold a referendum on revising the Taiwan constitution, which currently states that Taiwan's official title is the Republic of China and that both Taiwan and mainland China belong to one China.

China is worried that Chen might seek to achieve Taiwan's formal independence by revising the constitution through a name change or by redefining Taiwan's territory.

Beijing recently warned that if Chen amends the constitution, it would view it as 'seeking independence through legal procedures' and would not sit idly by.

Taiwan Go Go Go!

2006-03-17T12:18:00.000+08:00

Taiwan is a democratic country of freedom. People in Taiwan are going to show their courages against China's threat and to tell the world that we want peace, not war. If you believe that peace and democracy are the univeral values for all human beings, please support and join the people in Taiwan to speak out for peace and democracy!

Let the world hear Taiwan's voice

2006-03-17
Taiwan News Editorial

We urge citizens who cherish their hard-won democracy and prosperity to participate in the "Protect Democracy and Oppose Annexation" march tomorrow afternoon in Taipei City.

The purpose of the march and rally is to show the world and the People's Republic of China that many Taiwanese are opposed to Beijing's incessant and ruthless drive to undermine Taiwan's democracy and suppress our participation in international society.

The march marks the first anniversary of the PRC's "anti-secession law" last March that mandates the possible use of "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan.

It is essential for rallies such as this to have strong and vibrant turnouts to dispel any impression to the world that Taiwanese tacitly accept being considered "an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China," as claimed by PRC officials.

By our participation we can demonstrate our unified rejection of Beijing's attempt to manipulate our right to determine our own future.

This message needs to be conveyed again and again because the message that most of the world receives from the international media and, unfortunately, from the Kuomintang, is quite different, namely that a minority in Taiwan is "rocking the boat" of the status quo and endangering a secure and prosperous future in a "greater China" by a quixotic bid for "independence."

Different view

The reality is quite different.

While Taiwan is now engaging in the process of democratic consolidation and deepening, the PRC is bent on subjugating or at least reducing it to a facsimile of Hong Kong or Macau in order to both remove the threat posed to its own totalitarianism from Taiwan's democracy and to realize Beijing's own ambitions to gain a hegemony in the Western Pacific.

Taiwan poses no military threat to China, but the PRC's People's Liberation Army has amassed nearly 800 tactical missiles targeted at you and me along with forward deployments of major offensive forces and weaponry.

What is actually at stake is the defense of Taiwan's independence from the PRC and of the right of its citizens to determine our own future, a privilege we have earned through our "quiet revolution" of democratization after a half century of Japanese colonialism and another half - century of authoritarian rule by the exiled Kuomintang.

Numerous opinion polls show that the majority of our people generally grasp what is really at stake.

For example, a poll of 1,072 Taiwanese released Wednesday by the Institute for National Policy Research showed that 83.1 percent think "the government cannot decide on its own whether on unification or independence without the approval of the people," with only 5.6 percent disagreeing.

Nearly 66 percent rejected the claim by Beijing that "Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China," while 9.5 percent agreeing with it.

The fact that these majority findings cross political boundaries demonstrates the spread of the value of "democratic self-determination" among Taiwanese.

This result also offers the most salient and potent rebuttal of any arguments by either the United States or the KMT for the retention of the misbegotten National Unification Council and its undemocratic National Unification Guidelines, which were singlehandedly created by the KMT in the early 1990s.

Moreover, 62.4 percent agreed that Taiwan's economic dealings with the PRC have caused nation's capital, technology and jobs to be absorbed by China, while only 12.4 percent said the bilateral cross-strait economic ties led to the remittance of capital and investment by Taiwanese businesses back to boost the economy.

No less significant was the INPR's finding that nearly 73 percent of those surveyed do not agree with sacrificing Taiwan's democracy and freedom for the sake of economic growth.

Rebutting critics

These results, none of which were reported in Taiwan's China Times or United Daily News, rebut the hypocritical calls made by KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou and his followers that the Democratic Progressive Party government and everyone else in Taiwan should only concern themselves with "boosting the economy" and leave troubling problems of "unification or independence" or "re-engineering the Constitution" aside.

Indeed, the INPR poll, and other similar previous surveys, indicates a high sense of anxiety over whether the current nature of cross-strait economic interaction is truly beneficial to the welfare of most of the Taiwan people and our democratic way of life.

This finding shows that most citizens want Taiwan's directly elected government to more actively engage in "risk management" for the sake of all citizens and not only shape policy for the benefit of those who gain or have vested interests in cross-strait commercial ties.

However, a worrisome finding of the INPR survey indicates 39 percent of the 1,072 Taiwanese polled by the INPR stated that they "had no feelings about" the PLA's rising deployment or felt that such deployment would not have any influence on Taiwan, while 8.1 percent agreed with Beijing that such deployments "were necessary."

Although 23.9 percent acknowledged fear and 31.7 percent expressed disgust over the PLA's build-up, the fact that nearly 50 percent of Taiwanese adults were numb to this "clear and present" threat to our national security and even our lives posed by the PRC's aggressive military deployment is deeply disturbing.

The greatest danger to our autonomy lies in ignorance abroad about Taiwan's plight and apathy at home among many of our own people who do not sufficiently appreciate or cherish our hard - won right to choose our own road.

We can help to cure both ills by marching tomorrow.

Let the people in Taiwan decide the future of Taiwan

2006-03-16T12:41:00.000+08:00

No other country should interfere the interior governance of a democratic country. President Chen simply did his job according to the constitution. In fact, the National Unification Council had not been working for years. It is null and just one of the units which waste the people's money. No people in Taiwan would remember it if nobody ever mentions it. Thus, what is the big deal to cease its function? It is also not a big news that China upsets. China is the enemy of Taiwan because of its 800 missiles toward Taiwan. . Do you truly believe that China is ever friendly to Taiwan? The future of Taiwan is and should be in the hands of all people in Taiwan.

Taiwan's prerogative
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2006
International Herald Tribune

Regarding the article "Beijing upset over Chen's step in Taiwan" (March 1): President Chen Shui-bian's recent decision to cease the functioning of an anachronistic body, the National Unification Council, and shelve the National Unification Guidelines, represents no change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

It is incomprehensible how the cessation of a nonfunctioning body could result in a change to the present situation. Chen is Taiwan's elected leader, and as the national leader he has made an administrative adjustment to a body that advises only his office. The National Unifcation Council was not empowered by the legislature and has no constitutional relevance.

While China seeks to undermine the current status of Taiwan, a self-governing nation with a democratically elected leadership, Taiwan is accused of changing the status quo. One should remember that China has vowed to take Taiwan by force if necessary and is building a missile force to convince Taiwan to abandon democratic government.

While China continues to stifle freedoms in its own land, Taiwan continues to develop peacefully and democratically. As in any democracy, policy adjustments will be made, even as the central principles guiding the nation are upheld. Taiwan has no intention of roiling the waters of the Taiwan Strait, nor does it intend to give up its prerogatives as a democratic self- governing nation.

Cheng Wen-tsang, Taipei Minister for the office of government information

Embrace the demoractic Taiwan!

2006-03-15T14:49:00.000+08:00

WHO should welcome Taiwan if the purpose of its existence is to improve human's health. Taiwan is not a member of WHO at this moment, but Taiwan thoroughly follows the rules and regulations by WHO. Nevertheless, WHO keeps ignoring the healthy issue of the 23 millions people in Taiwan by obeying its worst member China. Just look at how China tries to fraudelently report the information and hide the truth. The Chinese government neither cares about the life of its people, nor other people in this world. WHO, stop insulting youself. Taiwan's participation will contribute a lot to the safety of humans' life.

Grant Taiwan WHO observer status

Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006
Taipei Times Editorial

Last week, the World Health Organization's (WHO) official Web site, which includes Taiwan as part of China, mistakenly showed Taiwan as being affected by bird flu. After protests from Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of the US Congress, the WHO on Monday distinguished between Taiwan and China, and excluded Taiwan from the infected area on its map.

That the WHO corrected the mistake immediately, pushing aside political considerations, testifies to the organization's professional attitude, and deserves praise. But the incident is yet another warning to Taiwan and the international community. To avoid similar incidents in the future, Taiwan should work to gain the right to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) in May. The WHO should stop procrastinating and allow Taiwan observer status.

If the WHO had not made the prompt corrections, Taiwan would have been listed as a bird flu-infected area, dealing a serious blow to the tourism, trade and animal foods industries -- despite the fact that not one instance of bird flu has been discovered here. It would also have damaged Taiwan's international image and intensified pressure on the nation's health authorities and the psychological pressure on the general public. This highlights the difference in interests between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Although China claims that Taiwan is part of its territory, border restrictions between the countries remain in place, and the exchange of people, air traffic and goods between the two sides is more strictly controlled than between other countries. The disease prevention measures on each side of the Taiwan Strait are separate, and there are also clear differences in the quality of these measures. Political issues should not be confused with public health issues.

With the whole world under the threat of bird flu, excluding Taiwan from the international network to prevent the spread of infectious diseases may well make it the weak link in the disease prevention chain. This violates the Taiwanese people's fundamental right to medical information. It also weakens the international health network. With Taiwan located so close to China, an area affected by bird flu, the WHO should bolster disease prevention measures by allowing Taiwan to participate in technical discussions. This would prevent a repeat of the SARS crisis, during which Taiwan stood alone.

The WHO's international contagious disease report and response mechanism still excludes Taiwan. Although we can obtain the information via a third party such as the US, direct access to such information from the WHO would be more efficient and reduce the time lag, helping Taiwan to fulfill its responsibility to put in place preventive measures.

Last year, Taiwan strongly supported the addition of the words "universal application" to the International Health Regulations. Last year China also signed a memorandum of understanding with the WHO agreeing to the principle that preventive measures against epidemics have no national boundaries. It also agreed to Taiwan's participation in an avian flu conference in Tokyo. Nevertheless, it barred Taiwan from a similar conference held in Beijing. A country that shows such enmity to Taiwan should not be allowed to become its guardian.

The WHO's basic function is to guarantee global health, and it should operate on the basis of professionalism and international cooperation. Its considerations should exclude political questions such as national sovereignty and focus on health matters. It should therefore grant Taiwan observer status.

WHO disseminates FALSE bird flu info

2006-03-14T02:35:00.000+08:00

When the deadly avian flu is spreading across the globe, what would you guess is the rule of thumb of disease reporting for WHO officials? I know not everyone in Taiwan feels the immediate threat of bird flu, as insofar Taiwan has not reported any H5N1 cases among either poultry or humans. But please, my fellow people, access to the following link and you'll be shocked by how the Communist China's diplomatic force is clouding over the reality.

WHO Public Health Mapping

Taipei Times' coverage on WHO's misleading health mapping

Although Taiwan does not have any cases of H5N1 infections, it is classified as a H5N1-affected area because the WHO regards Taiwan as a province of China, where both poultry and human bird flu cases have been reported. How sad is that? When Taiwan is fulfilling all the duties as a good global citizen to prevent the spreading of avian flu, the organization which should report ACCURATE (?!) health information to the world has succumbed its sacred mission to the CCP's political demand. One word from Jen to the WHO officials: what you have done is an outright insult to your own authority!

Apart from the sense of urgency that I felt about Taiwan's isolation in the international community, I'm also disappointed about Taiwan's diplomatic system. I know it is a damn hard job to speak up for Taiwan, when most countries in the world simply want to capitalize on both sides. The Taiwan government needs to recruit/cultivate a lot more talents who is not only intelligent enough to maneuver on a negotiation table, but also has the integrity to defend/protect Taiwan's dignity under all pressure and/or seduction of personal interests.

Chinese Communist Party is evile

2006-03-13T03:31:00.000+08:00

Not only the people in Taiwan but also all people in this world should realize the China's threat to the peace of the world.

China's threat demands vigilance

The Liberty Times Editorial
Sunday, Mar 12, 2006
[Source: Taipei Times]

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 1996 Taiwan Straits missile crisis. Ten years ago in the runup to Taiwan's first popular presidential elections in March 1996, Xinhua news agency announced that China would conduct missile tests along the coast across the Strait from March 8 to March 15. China launched four missiles targeting zones just off Taiwan's northern and southern coasts. In response to the rising tensions between China and Taiwan, the US immediately dispatched the USS Independence to take up position off Taiwan's eastern coast. The US' show of force effectively held back China's military ambitions and helped solve the crisis, which had sent shockwaves throughout the international community.

Why did China conduct ballistic missile tests? Some people believe that the reason was former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) private visit in 1995 to his alma mater, Cornell University, where he, as an alumnus, gave a speech on Taiwan's quiet democratic revolution. Lee's speech allowed the international community to learn more about and accept Taiwan's existence.

Although this sounds like a plausible explanation for China's anger, a more important reason was Lee's achievements in promoting Taiwan's democratic revolution and abolishing the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion and the National Assembly in 1991. Lee also initiated constitutional amendments to allow direct presidential elections by popular vote -- which served to build a constructive channel for Taiwanese to influence the government -- carried out reforms in step with democratic norms and helped Taiwan to become a normal state.

More importantly, Lee helped the Taiwanese throw off the shackles of a colonial mentality and transcend the perception of the tragic fate of being Taiwanese. From the broad perspectives of culture, history, society and ethnicity, Lee advocated strengthening Taiwanese consciousness and building a society of people who share a strong sense of identity.

If economic development is our flesh, democracy is our skeleton and a Taiwanese consciousness and identity our blood, our soul and our personality, then Lee succeeded in making Taiwan a more more full-fledged nation.

Taiwan's first direct presidential election in 1996 was also symbolic of the abandonment of the legitimacy of China's claim and the building of a nation which truly belongs to the Taiwanese. In this regard, China's attempts to change the direction of Taiwan's history through political intimidation and military coercion only underlined its vain and brutal nature. In effect, China's 1996 missile tests to intimidate Taiwan were doomed to fail because such a move only succeeded in hurting its relationship with the Taiwanese.

In the wake of the missile crisis, Lee won a commanding 54 percent of the vote in the 1996 election, defeating candidates from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and other opposition parties to become the first popularly elected president of Taiwan.

That was 10 years ago. While Taiwan continues on its democratic path and the development of a Taiwanese consciousness, China has shown no signs of relenting or backing off from its military threats. Taiwan's situation is clearly becoming increasingly precarious. Ten years ago, as the missiles were dropping in the waters off Taiwan, the people of Taiwan seemed more united than they are today. Despite conflicts between different political parties, their shared hatred of the Chinese enemy unified them in their approach toward China. As a result, Taiwan was able to come through the missile crisis in good shape.

Aside from reinforcing its Taiwan-related military deployments and rapidly raising the number of missiles aimed at Taiwan, China has passed an "Anti-Secession" Law and showed its determination to use military force against Taiwan. Although the Chinese leadership has further hardened its tough stance on Taiwan, it has also expanded its soft approach by cooperating with Taiwan's opposition parties, offering import tax exemptions for agricultural products from Taiwan and offering the country a couple of pandas as a gift.

Meanwhile, in Taiwan, opposition leaders are visiting China and being wined and dined by the enemy. Pro-China media outlets are quick to criticize Taiwan and laud China. The opposition is organizing a demonstration and calling on the public to take to the streets, not to launch a protest on the anniversary of China's "Anti-Secession" Law, but to protest against President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) scrapping of the National Unification Council and guidelines and handing the people of Taiwan the right to decide their own future.

Over the past 10 years, China's defense budget has seen double-digit growth every year. China now has the third-largest defense budget in the world, second only to the US and Russia. Even the world's only remaining superpower, the US, worries that China's "non-peaceful" rise will threaten global peace and stability.

Faced with China's military threat, Taiwan should hasten to pass the arms procurement budget to protect national security, the people's life and property and our democracy. Regrettably, the opposition is blocking the arms procurement budget, does not identify with the idea of Taiwan as an independent and sovereign state and rejects the popularly elected government. They oppose and block everything as if they were on China's side instead of the people of Taiwan. From this perspective, the cross-strait situation appears to be even more serious now than a decade ago when we were faced with the missile crisis.

The best strategy now is for Taiwan's 23 million citizens to ignore the issue of when they came to Taiwan, maintain their vigilance despite the apparent calm, face the Chinese threat together and protect the nation's security, while at the same time do all they can to work for economic growth.

Translated by Lin Ya-ti and Perry Svensson

Taiwan, a democratic country of freedom

2006-03-12T06:50:00.000+08:00

Everyone can tell the difference between Taiwan and China. Taiwan is definitely not a part of China. Taiwan is obviously an independent country.

NAURU PRESIDENT PRAISES TAIWAN'S FREEDOM

By Debby Wu, CNA

2006-03-10 23:49:48

Republic of Nauru President Ludwig Scotty Friday praised Taiwan for its freedom, and blamed the interruption in the Nauru-Taiwan official ties on his predecessor.

Scotty praised Taiwan's freedom by pointing out that Taiwanese people have freedom of speech and movement, and said he felt happy and comfortable coming here.

He compared the visit to his previous visit to China, and said wherever he went in China, people were always dispelled away from the streets first, while here in Taiwan children ran freely around him when he visited the Taipei 101 tower this time.

Scotty made the statement during an interview with the Central News Agency.

Scotty pointed out that it was former Nauru government which severed ties with Taiwan. "All of a sudden, when the Harris government took over, they changed the relationship. It was not agreed by the people of Nauru, " Scotty said. Scotty also accused the Harris government of corruption, and said now they are trying to correct the mistakes made by the Harris government, including renewing Nauru's friendship with Taiwan. Rene Harris was the Nauru President before Scotty took over in 2004.

Scotty pointed out that Nauru and Taiwan's friendship started from the time when Nauru was striving for its independence in 1968. He said Taiwan was still a member of the United Nations back then and supported Nauru fully to achieve independence.

Scotty admitted that China gave his government financial aid when it first came into power as it was left with no money to run the country. But he said that Nauru treasures friendship with Taiwan, and did not resume ties for the money factor.

When asked about Taiwan's assistance to Nauru, Scotty said that Nauru is only asking "a hand of friendship, " not "heaven, " out of Taiwan. He also said Nauru will support Taiwan to join global community and organizations.

Scotty arrived in Taiwan Monday to conduct his first state visit to Taiwan since two sides resumed official ties in May, 2005. He is leaving Saturday.

Politics (or maybe China) rules WHO?

2006-03-11T23:48:00.000+08:00

When will UN's organizations (including itself) start to pay more sincere cares to human life instead of playing political games? Does WHO agree and have the same attitude as China roared to Taiwan, "Who cares about you?" Is the international community complying with the autarchical communist China? Or they simply do not care about the 23 million people in Taiwan?

TAIWAN STRONGLY PROTESTS LISTING AS H5N1-AFFECTED AREA

2006-03-09 23:16:44
[Source: CNA]

The World Health Organization's (WHO's) inclusion of Taiwan on a list of countries affected by the virulent H5N1 avian flu virus is "unacceptable, " Minister of Foreign Affairs Huang Chih-fang said Thursday.

Huang said Taiwan's representative office in Geneva has lodged a written protest to the WHO Secretariat demanding that it correct the "grave mistake" immediately.

The WHO uses four maps to illustrate the situation of H5N1 infections among poultry and humans. Taiwan has not reported H5N1 cases among either poultry or humans.

However, under its rigid "one China" principle, the WHO regards Taiwan as a province of China where both poultry and human avian flu cases have been reported.

The WHO argued that it identifies the avian flu situation in terms of "nation" and that Taiwan is therefore included on the H5N1-affected area. "Such an explanation is unacceptable. We demand that the WHO correct its mistake at once," Huang said.

Stressing that the WHO's move was based on an absurd logic, the Department of Health said it has written to the WHO headquarters and the WHO's West Pacific agency demanding them to either issue a statement or add a footnote on the map to clarify that Taiwan has never reported any H5N1 case either among poultry or humans.

Taiwan remains the world's leading country in bicycle industry

2006-03-10T20:40:00.000+08:00

Not only in IT industry, Taiwan is also the world's leader in bicycle industry. Giant, the biggest brand in the world, is proudly from Taiwan. Taiwan's contributions to the world are much more than those of China. Why not be a friend of Taiwan?

Taiwan Show Highlights High-End Bicycles

Taiwan International Cycle Show Highlights High-End Bicycles, Scooters

Thursday March 9, 4:35 am ET
[Source: AP]

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- The annual Taipei International Cycle Show showcased scooters and other high-end products Thursday intended to sustain Taiwan's bicycle industry.

The March 8-11 show -- Asia's largest -- focuses on bicyles but also includes scooters and related items.

Once a world leader, the Taiwan cycle sector crashed in 2001, as exports plummeted almost 30 percent from the previous year.

A recovery began in 2004, and at $912 million, last year's foreign sales surpassed those of the previous peak year in 2000 by almost $40 million.

Jeffrey Sheu of Giant Inc., Taiwan's largest bicycle manufacturer, said the local industry was keeping competitive in the face of stern challenges from China and other low-end producers.
"Taiwan has now transformed itself into an added value industry in bikes," he said.

The Taipei show -- with 502 Taiwanese exhibitors and 148 from abroad -- featured a variety of high-end products designed to direct large amounts of foreign currency into local coffers, even if the overall number of units sold abroad declines.

One new product was Acxing Industrial's 20 kilogram (44 pound) portable motor scooter.
Officials of the Taipei-based company said the scooter folds up into a suitcase size package, making it ideal for carrying on mass transit vehicles during multiphase commutes.

They said an internal battery could sustain it for distances of 20 miles at maximum speeds of 20 kmh. They declined to stipulate a price tag, because the item has not yet been mass produced.
Foreign visitors said they were very impressed by the wares on display at the Taipei event.

"This is a very important show," said Daniel Berger of DT Swiss in Biel, Switzerland. "The development of this show is huge."

Berger added that he has been coming to the Taipei event for 10 years, and it has now evolved into one of the most important shows in its field.

Taiwan is absolutely a country

2006-03-09T20:47:00.000+08:00

When will the Chinese Communist Party understand the simple fact: Taiwan is an independent country! China should be denounced by its insane behavior.

Japan-China row turns to Taiwan

Thursday, 9 March 2006
[Source: BBC News]

China has denounced a comment by Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso after he called Taiwan "a country".

Japan's foreign ministry denied Mr Aso's remark was a change of Tokyo's official position, which recognises China's claim to Taiwan.

China also rejected a Japanese proposal to jointly develop disputed gas fields in the East China Sea.

Ties between China and Japan have deteriorated recently because of rows over energy and history.

Mr Aso made the comment about Taiwan when talking to a parliamentary committee.

"(Taiwan's) democracy is considerably matured and liberal economics is deeply ingrained, so it is a law-abiding country," he said. "In various ways it is a country that shares a sense of values with Japan."

But Tokyo's foreign ministry later denied this was meant to imply that it was changing its official stance on Taiwan, which it does not diplomatically recognise, in favour of China.

"There is no change in Japan's position on the Japan-China agreement of 1972 that stated there is one China," said Keiji Kamei, of the China division in the Foreign Ministry.

Beijing has nevertheless complained.

"China strongly protests this crude interference in its internal affairs," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, expressing "surprise that a high-ranking Japanese diplomat would make such remarks".

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since a civil war ended in 1949, but China still sees Taiwan as its territory and has threatened to use force if the island moves towards declaring independence.

China is threatening Taiwan, but the world keeps silence about it.

2006-03-08T00:58:00.000+08:00

China is expanding its military power. It is exactly a terrorist country. Now, watch carefully who is changing the status between the Strait! Can't Taiwan do something to defense against China's threat?

Missile buildup is accelerating: MND

GROWING ARSENAL: The minister said that China's missile arsenal now tops 800, giving Beijing the ability to rain terror upon Taiwan's key infrastructure

By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER WITH AGENCIES
Wednesday, Mar 08, 2006
[Source: Taipei Times]

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday that China now has more than 800 missiles targeting Taiwan, and is increasing that arsenal at a faster pace of 75 to 100 per year.
The news came as Beijing defended its recent announcement of another double-digit increase -- 14.7 percent -- in this year's military budget.

"China was producing around 50 Dong Feng [DF] series ballistic missiles annually, but ... our intelligence has found it is now increasing by 75 to 100 ballistic missiles annually," said Lieutentant Colonel Chen Chang-hwa (陳章華), an intelligence analyst specializing in the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) missile development, at a press conference held by the ministry yesterday.

Chen said if cruise missiles are included, China now has more than 800 missiles aimed at Taiwan, enabling Beijing to potentially launch a five-wave missile attack continuing for 10 hours.
The PLA's ballistic missiles are now also more precise, according to Chen. They used to have a 600m margin of error, but that has been reduced to 50m, giving China the capability to more accurately hit Taiwan's power stations, radar bases, airstrips and military, economic and political nerve centers.

China's main ballistic missiles are DF-11 missiles that have a range of 600km, and DF-15 missiles that have a range of 800km, Chen added.

Chen said the PLA deploys its ballistic missiles in five bases in southeast China, at Leping and Kanzhou cities in Jiangxi Province, Meizhou City in Guangdong Province and Yongan and Xianyou cities in Fujian Province.

"The missiles can be transported by rail at any time to [China's] coastal areas," Chen added.
The MND also revealed details about the 1996 cross-strait missile crisis on the eve of the event's 10th anniversary.

On March 8, 1996, ahead of Taiwan's first presidential election, China fired ballistic missiles into the sea near Taiwan.

MND spokesman Rear Admiral Liu Chih-chien (劉志堅) said that China had conducted drills for missile attacks on Taiwan in 1995 and 1996.

From July 21 to July 24, 1995, the PLA launched six DF-15 missiles from Jiangxi Province's Qianshan City, which traveled 481km before dropping into the sea 130km north of Taiwan, Liu said.

From March 8 to March 13, 1996, the PLA launched one DF-15 missile from Fujian Province's Nanping City, which traveled 500km and landed just 37km from Taiwan.
It also launched three DF-15 missiles from Yongan City that flew 460km before landing 55.5km from Kaohsiung City, Liu said.

"The two missile exercises proved that China's DF-series ballistic missiles, which have better accuracy, are able to effectively attack Taiwan's critical facilities and blockade the island," Liu said.

Liu said that while the 1995 missile drill was intended to bully Taiwan after former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) visit to the US, the 1996 drill was an attempt to influence that year's presidential election.

The ministry had said that the missile exercises had a profound influence on the country's defense preparations.

The military started to develop anti-missile warfare capabilities after the drills, and began developing the nation's own strategic missiles to deter China.