20040513-2
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Jailed for education on May 13, 2004 ……
Chinese pro-democracy writer jailed for `education'
AP , SHANGHAI
China has ordered a pro-democracy writer detained for two years without trial, possibly over his writings on sensitive political issues, rights groups reported yesterday.
Liu Shui was detained on May 2 and sent the next day to the Xili Detention Center in the southern city of Shenzhen, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Association of Independent Chinese Writers.
Liu was sentenced to remain at the center for two years of "custody and education," a sentence handed out for minor crimes without a trial or formal charges, the groups said.
The Sweden-based writers' association said Liu had been accused of "violating regulations on public order," but gave no details. The New York-based CPJ said Liu was picked up with a friend and accused of soliciting prostitution. It said the friend was later released.
Both groups said they believe Liu may have been detained over essays posted on overseas-based Chinese-language Web sites. Those included calls for political reforms, the release of political prisoners and a reassessment of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.
"CPJ is very concerned that authorities may have arrested Liu in retaliation for his recent writing on sensitive topics," the group said in a statement.
A woman who answered the telephone at the Xili Detention Center said Liu wasn't being held in her wing, but refused to give details or her name. Calls to the center's administrative offices rang unanswered.
Liu was earlier jailed for more than four years for taking part in the 1989 pro-democracy movement and then authoring a book challenging the Communist Party's claim that the protests were an organized plot to overthrow the government.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed when tanks and troops were sent in to clear protesters from the square in June 1989. The government has never allowed a full investigation or accounting of the victims.
Chinese dissidents say police have tightened surveillance of them in the run-up to this year's 15th anniversary of the crackdown. At least three people, including the mothers of two of those killed in the protests, have been briefly detained, possibly over fears they might organize commemorations.
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On May 13, 2004 ……
Beijing to `weed out' officials who abuse prisoners
AFP , BEIJING
China announced yesterday a campaign to weed out government officials who torture and maltreat prisoners, the latest in a string of moves apparently aimed at the US over the abuse of Iraqi inmates.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate said it would investigate and punish anyone who "commits crimes connected with infringement of human rights," the China Youth Daily, a leading government-controlled newspaper, reported.
"This special movement will last one year, and starts right now," said vice-general procurator Wang Zhenchuan.
He said the campaign would focus on five key human rights areas including illegal detention, torture and maltreatment of prisoners, and malpractices that cause serious losses of people's lives and property.
"Those criminal cases must be investigated wherever they happen," said Wang.
China's foreign ministry has twice raised the issue of prisoner abuse in Iraq, voicing shock at the images and calling for an immediate investigation.
The state-run media has been even more forthright, saying the abuses "clearly torpedo America's high-sounding words and phony righteousness."
China and the US are at loggerheads over each others human rights records and Beijing ratcheted up the pressure again yesterday with a blistering criticism of Washington through its official Xinhua news agency.
Citing Chinese human rights experts,
Xinhua said the abuse scandal exposed the US as a "hypocrite" with
"double standards" on human rights.
"The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by
US soldiers ruined mankind's dignity and ruthlessly trampled human
rights," the agency cited China Society for Human Rights Studies vice
chairman Dong Yunhu as saying.
China's own prisons are notorious for maltreatment and torture. Access for independent observers is regularly turned down.
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On May 13, 2004 ……
WHO finds new way to snub Taiwan at summit
By Joy Su, STAFF REPORTER
The World Health Organization (WHO) has banned Taiwanese journalists from its annual summit in Geneva.
Authorities overseeing press accreditation for the World Health Assembly (WHA) confirmed yesterday that journalists holding Taiwanese passports would not be permitted to enter the assembly building.
According to the UN Department of Public Information, the office in charge of accreditation, this year's regulations state that Taiwanese passport holders will not be issued press passes as Taiwan is not a UN member state.
While the regulation is not new to the UN, it is a change to WHA accreditation procedures. In past years, accreditation had been processed by the WHO Media and Communications office and Taiwanese nationality was not a barrier.
"Basically, what's happened is that there has been an increase in security threats to the UN and UN personnel in the last week ? As a result, security of the UN has been increased and made much more strict," WHO spokesman Iain Simpson told the Taipei Times yesterday.
China's role in crafting the regulations was unclear.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Richard Shih said, "What the WHO has told us is that the policy changes were prompted by a need for tighter security at the UN building. In addition, former US president Jimmy Carter and former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung will be in attendance at the WHA."
"All I can say right now is that we are trying to understand the situation," Shih added.
The policy change comes just days before the start of the health summit, which runs from Monday to May 22. While accreditation requirements previously posted on the WHO Web site had not listed a passport photocopy as a necessary item for accreditation, changes were listed online on Tuesday.
Department of Public Information officials insisted the passport regulations were long standing.
"This has always been the case here in Geneva ? these procedures have been around for more than 30 years and will stay like this for quite a while," said Katherine Segli, a department official in charge of journalist accreditation.
She attributed the issuing of press passes to Taiwanese journalists in the past to good fortune.
"You just had some luck in the past," Segli said.
The regulation does not simply bar non-UN members from entry, however.
A Department of Public Information official explained that countries not in the UN but with WHO observer status would be granted press passes. Palestine, the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta have received invitations to participate as observers to the WHA.
"This is an old problem that we've run up against in the past," said Shen Lyu-shun, director-general of the Taipei Cultural and Economic mission in Geneva.
"The same regulations have been implemented at the UN building in New York. We're currently negotiating with both the WHO and the UN," Shen said.
According to Shen, while Taiwanese journalists have been barred, a number of Taiwanese government representatives and members of non-governmental organizations will be allowed to listen in on assembly proceedings from the public gallery.
A domestic media organization commented on the issue yesterday.
"The association's stance is that you can't deny coverage of an event by saying that Taiwan is not a member state of the UN," said Tony Liu, president of the Association of Taiwan Journalists.
"This is a political move that is biased against Taiwan," Lu said.
Lin Shih-chia, left, executive director of the Medical Professionals Alliance, and DPP Legislator Chien Chao-tung show the T-shirts that members of their delegation to Geneva will wear and the brochures they will distribute.
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On May 13, 2004 ……
Amazing grace
Former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin Yi-hsiung speaks yesterday at a launch for a book by his daughter, Judy Linton, who won the Golden Melody Award for Best Religious Album on Saturday. In 1980, Linton, then nine years old, was the sole survivor of a politically inspired attack on Lin Yi-hsiung's family which resulted in the stabbing deaths of her younger twin sisters and maternal grandmother.
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On May 13, 2004 ……
WHO acts as China's accomplice
The nation got a grim reminder yesterday of just how low China, and its accomplice the World Health Organization (WHO), will go to suppress Taiwan.
The annual World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting is scheduled for next Monday to May 21 in Geneva. As Taiwan's official delegation, accompanied by the local media, were set to leave for Geneva, WHO officials informed Taiwan's journalists late Tuesday night that because Taiwan is not a member of the UN, journalists holding a Taiwanese passport will not be allowed to cover the meeting.
The WHO officials said the decision on applications by Taiwanese journalists to cover the meeting will be handled by UN departments. WHO spokesman Iain Simpson told the journalists that the UN's decision was made due to the threat of international terrorist activities. This means that UN security staff will be more strict at the WHA meeting.
We know that the decision was not made by the WHO officials responsible for contacting the Taiwanese media. They were simply the messengers. Still, the nation's media were shocked and angered when told of the WHO's decision.
The sudden decision, which deviates from past practice, leaves Taiwanese journalists at a loss. The move locks the country's media out of the WHO and Taiwan's eighth attempt to join the organization.
This decision, so denigrating to Taiwan, is obviously politically motivated. It is plain that China lies behind it, once again putting pressure on Taiwan and making the UN and the WHO its accomplices.
Simpson's explanation is obviously a lie. Taiwan has an international image of being both moderate and friendly, and has never been a part of terrorist activity. If the UN wants to carry out security controls for meeting participants, it should direct its efforts at terrorist nations, including those threatening to use military force to "liberate" Taiwan.
China has of course designed various ways to keep Taiwan out of the WHO, while Taiwan, still under the threat of a SARS outbreak from across the Strait, is in dire need of WHO resources and assistance.
Beijing not only links up with other countries to block Taiwan's accession to the WHO, it also keeps Taiwan's media standing outside the organization's door. The Chinese authorities are probably afraid Taiwan's media would expose their evil doings.
We simply don't understand the WHO's decision. It is an organization made up of countries from around the world, of which China is but one. Yet China acts as if it were the master of the UN. On the issue of Taiwan, the UN dares not pursue a direction different from China's wishes. Even the world's superpower, the US, cannot dominate the UN, but apparently China can get what it wants. Are there countries out there besides China? Or have these countries already become Chinese colonies? It seems that saying no to China makes Taiwan the world's enemy.
The media environment is an indication of a country's level of democracy. China's dictatorship oppresses its media to sustain the regime. Today, the UN, the world's human rights protector and peacekeeper, acts as an accomplice, helping China to oppress Taiwan's press freedom. Is the spirit proclaimed in the UN Charter nothing but a joke?
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On May 13, 2004 ……
China shows signs of new thinking
By Paul Lin
In an interview with the Singaporean daily the Straits Times a few days ago, Li Jiaquan, former head of the Taiwan Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, revealed that Beijing may accept as fact that Taiwan is an individual entity. In other words, Beijing would accept as fact that Taiwan is the Republic of China. After the interview was published, however, Li rushed to deny it, saying that not a single word in the article had come from him.
Such a flat denial makes it clear that political factors are at work, and that it is not a matter of "misunderstanding" by the reporter. This shows that Beijing is trying a new way of thinking about solving problems in the cross-strait relationship. Maybe this new thinking is not yet mature, maybe it is already complete, but more probably, Beijing still hasn't decided when -- ie, the most opportune time for Beijing -- to announce this new thinking.
Five years ago, when the chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, Wang Daohan, said that "one China does not mean the Republic of China, nor does it mean the People's Republic of China," China used its mouthpiece in Hong Kong, the Wenwei Po, to have "authoritative sources" deny Wang's statement.
China's main reason for denying these reports is that it does not want its bottom line to become public knowledge and use it as a bargaining chip during negotiations. Giving things away too early means not holding the upper hand in negotiations. Thus, when Li denied his statements, he wasn't denying the existence of the new thinking. Rather, it meant the announcement came at the wrong time and was made by the wrong person.
In the current situation, the PRC is doing all it can to protect the ROC. This is a funny situation because the PRC has always believed that the ROC ceased to exist a long time ago. The white paper "The One China-Principle and the Taiwan Issue" issued in February 2000 by China's Taiwan Affairs Office stated that, "On October 1, 1949, the Central People's Government of the PRC was proclaimed, replacing the government of the Republic of China to become the only legal government of the whole of China and its sole legal representative in the international arena, thereby bringing the historical status of the Republic of China to an end."
But now China hopes that the Republic of China will maintain its national title -- ie, perpetuate its historical status. The determination to maintain the ROC is as strong as the determination to terminate it.
On Nov. 19 last year, the director of research at China's Academy of Military Sciences, Luo Yuan , used strong language to declare that if Taiwan were to amend the national territory listed in the ROC Constitution such that it were to include only Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, it would become a constitution for independence, and Taiwan would thus cross China's bottom line for resorting to a military solution.
Isn't it the same thing as selling out the country when even PRC generals want the ROC to include the PRC?
When Li denied his statements, he also said that "the ROC includes China, and we are happy to let you include it," and he also said that "although an ROC that maintains the status quo by not changing national flag, national anthem, national title and national territory in a future constitutional amendment by [President] Chen Shui-bian is not acceptable to the PRC, it is something we can tolerate."
The actual situation is a little bit of refusal of the ROC, a little bit of acceptance. For example, the PRC doesn't only accept the ROC on the ROC currency, it welcomes it. If it didn't, Chinese President Hu Jintao wouldn't have received Taiwanese businessmen last year, nor would he have visited Taiwanese businesses when he recently went on an inspection tour of Kunshan.
The information revealed by Li means that though the PRC in the past never recognized "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," the "two China" principle is now loosening up. This is something that Taiwan has to recognize, Whether the "one China, one Taiwan" principle will loosen up depends on the efforts of Taiwan, the attitudes of the US and pressure from the international community. Taiwan's efforts have already had an effect -- China did not want to accept the ROC's Guidelines for National Unification in 1991, but following Taiwan's power transfer in 2000, they regretted not having done so.
China also refused to accept the "one China, with each side having its own interpretation" model in 1992, but now they are only too anxious for Taiwan to accept it. This is evidence that the PRC is a rogue nation that bullies the weak and fears the strong. Taiwan must not provoke China, but if it persists in the principle of sovereignty and moves toward the international community, it will not only be rock steady, it will also continue to develop.
Paul Lin is a commentator based in New York.
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