Extracts. Friday, November 24, 2000, updated at 14:24(GMT+8) Are Cross-Strait Relations Stabilized? Recently, the Japanese monthly, Voice, carried, in its December issue, the text of an exclusive interview with the leader of the Taiwan authorities, one section of his speech has attracted the attention of various quarters. The said section is to the effect that since he came to office on May 20, "the cross-Strait relationship remains in a stable state as it did before the general election," this shows that "the new government's method of handling the cross-Strait relationship should be seen as successful". This statement shows that the speaker was optimistic about his judgement on the current situation regarding the cross-Strait relations, and that he had no worry about the anticipated development prospect of future cross-Strait relationship and he was pleased with the way of his handling the ties between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. However, what, after all, is the truth about the cross-Strait relationship? Since the leader of the Taiwan authorities came to office, the cross-Strait relationship has always been in a tense situation, Western observers likened the relationship to the state of a "fragile balance" or a "balance of terror". The Taiwan authorities refuse to accept the one-China principle, the political deadlock between the two sides has not been broken, there is no mutual trust between the two sides, a state of hostility remains, there is a more intense trial of strength between reunification and independence hidden under the superficial stability of the cross-Strait relations. As the Taiwan authorities are standing on the crossroad of deciding where to go, so is the cross-Strait relationship. It is very dangerous to allow the present deadlock of the cross-Strait relationship and the tense situation to continue for a long time, any subjective, willful move will likely become a blasting fuse that breaks the fragile, temporary and unstable balance and plunge Taiwan into calamities. Can this be a situation for the Taiwan authorities to take pride in"?! Since the leader of the Taiwan authorities came to office, the political and economic situation in the Island has been plunged into utter chaos: endless political struggle between people in power and those not in power, crises facing the administration, a 40 percent fall in the stock price within half a year, over NT$200,000 worth of per-capita property loss; the unemployment rate has soared to a new high over the past dozen years, the number of the unemployed has exceeded 300,000 people; social security has deteriorated, the suffering index of people has climbed from 3.97 percent to 4.85 percent, 20 percent of the local people want to migrate overseas; business people lack confidence in the investment environment and their wishes to invest in the island have come to a low point, large numbers of them have left the region, etc. There are many reasons for the emergence of these phenomena, but the occurrence of such a situation is closely related with Taiwan authorities' refusal to accept the one-China principle and their unsteady mainland policy, the tense cross-Strait relations and clouds gathering over the prospect of Taiwan. "Part of the financial and economic problems are caused by the cross-Strait relations" (said former deputy director Kao Kung-lien of Taiwan "mainland affairs council"). Can the leader of Taiwan authorities flatly deny this? People can't help asking: Where is the manifestation of the "success" of the "method used in handling the cross-Strait relations" as claimed by the leader of the Taiwan authorities? What is there in the present state of the cross-Strait relations that makes him feel complacent?! In fact, far-sighted personages at home and abroad, including Lee Kuan Yew, had long before made pertinent criticisms of Taiwan authorities' mainland policy. An active advocator and promoter of the policy "adopting patience in place of impatience" of the former Taiwan authorities, after his return to the island from a recent visit to the mainland, expressed his impressions by saying that he was "shocked" by the development, construction and work efficiency in the mainland; the policy of "adopting patience instead of impatience" does not work, Taiwan businessmen have left for the mainland as far as they can, and they can make money there, too; the question relating to cross-Strait ties is, in the end, a trial of economic strength, but now, as I see it, the time does not lie on the side of Taiwan; as the mainland grows ever-stronger economically, Taiwan is losing its bargaining chips for negotiation. It is believed that the worry of this personage is quite representative and influential in the Island. We wonder if the leader of the Taiwan authorities, after hearing this, still has the feeling or delusion that he can sleep peacefully without worry about the cross-Strait relations and continue to indulge himself in self-intoxication like Ah Q. if he deceives the Taiwan people and befuddle public opinion in this way, then Taiwan is in peril! Or will he wake up suddenly, change his course as soon as possible, and return to the common understanding of the one-China principle guiding cross-Strait relations which was reached in 1992, only by so doing can the cross-Strait relations be guided to "the state of stability"! A signed article by Qin Jing carried on the Overseas Edition of People's Daily **** Friday, November 24, 2000, updated at 11:22(GMT+8) Fourth ASEAN Informal Summit Begins The Fourth ASEAN Informal Summit began for discussions of issues the leaders are concerned about and interested in on the morning of November 24. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore, as a host, was the first speaker at the roundtable meeting. The summit is expected to discuss the two reports ASEAN foreign minister agreed at their Thursday's meeting to present to this summit. One is the report presented by ASEAN's Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on steps toward achieving ASEAN's "Vision 2020". The EPG, which was tasked with recommending measures to help create a vibrant and prosperous ASEAN by 2020, met over the past 18 months and came up with a range of recommendations covering financial, trade and investment, social, education and culture, health£¬external relations and institutions. Informed sources said that EPG has urged ASEAN to take an active lead in building a regional financial architecture in East Asia towards a new global reform. The other report was presented by ASEAN - Japan Consultation Conference on the Hanoi Plan of Action endorsed by the Sixth ASEAN Summit held at Hanoi at the end of 1998. Some 45 points of recommendations in various areas were reportedly contained in the document with a view to enhance the cooperation between ASEAN and Japan. As at previous informal summits, ASEAN leaders attending the ongoing summit are believed to talk about whatever subjects they would like to touch regarding this regional grouping. Leaders Gathering Heads of state or government of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asian countries are arriving in Singapore Thursday (November 23) for summits scheduled for Friday and Saturday. Among the leaders arriving here are Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Sisavath Keobounpanth, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Myanmar Prime Minister Than Shwe, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, Philippine President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, Brunei Sultan Haji Hassnal Bolkiah and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Officials Prepare for ASEAN Summit Senior officials from members of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) and East Asian countries gathered November 23 to make preparations for later summits which will involve ASEAN and East Asian leaders. The fourth ASEAN Informal Summit, said the officials, is expected to focus on topics of strengthening the regional grouping's unity and moving its integration process forward. **** Friday, November 24, 2000, updated at 11:22(GMT+8) Israel Must Lift Siege Before Talks Can Resume: Palestinian Minister Palestinian International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath said here Thursday the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks depends on Israel's end of siege on the Palestinian territories. The official MENA news agency quoted Shaath as saying that Palestinians are ready to resume negotiations with Israel, but the Jewish state must first pull back its forces and lift its closure on the Palestinian self-rule areas. Shaath made the remarks while commenting on a statement by Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat wants to resume the peace process. Shaath said "the Palestinian side has never declared to give up the peace process," adding that it is difficult for the time being to talk about peace when Israel is attacking the Palestinians and putting them under a fatal air, land, and sea closure. He urged Israel to implement the Sharm el Sheikh agreement reached between the two sides last month, which required Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian towns they garrisoned after the eruption of the current Palestinian-Israeli clashes. During last month's multilateral summit held at Egypt's Red Sea resort Sharm el Sheikh, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arafat agreed to take measures to stop the bloody clashes between the two sides, which have kill over 260 people, mostly Palestinians, and wounded thousands since late September. The peace talks between the two sides have not resumed since the collapsed summit between Barak and Arafat hosted by United States President Bill Clinton at Camp David in July. Officials Meet at Erez Checkpoint Senior officials of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) met Thursday evening to try to bring calm to the Palestinian territories, Israel Radio reported. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh and Coordinator for the Territories Maj-Gen Ya'acov Orr met with PNA Minister of Civil Affairs Jamil Tarifi and PNA Secretary-General Tayeb Abdel-Rahim. **** Arafat to Arrive in Moscow for Talks with Putin Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is to arrive in Moscow on Friday (November 24) to discuss the situation in the Middle East with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Palestinian Embassy here said Thursday. Arafat and Putin will hold talks on "the latest dangerous developments in the Middle East and the escalation of the Israeli army's military operations against the people of Palestine," a Palestinian Embassy spokesman told reporters. "President Vladimir Putin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will meet in the Kremlin on Friday," Putin's spokesman Alexei Gromov confirmed on the same day. The meeting has been organized at the request of the Palestinian side, he said. **** China Calls for Israeli Restraint over Mideast Violence China called upon Israel to exercise restraint to prevent the further escalation of the current confrontation in the Middle East, saying that "the excessive use of force" will make the prospects for the resumption of the Middle East peace process even more remote. The statement came as Wang Yingfan, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, took the floor at an urgent Security Council meeting on the Middle East issue. "The past two days have seen a drastic escalation and spreading of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," he said. "We have seen a large increase of casualties on both sides, including many innocent children." "The casualties on the Palestinian side is more serious," he said. "The Palestinian economy has been seriously affected, and the sufferings of the civilians have been further deepened." "The Chinese side is against violence of any form," he said. "We always call on both sides to exercise restraint and take all necessary measures to prevent the situation from further deteriorating." "Under the current circumstances, we urge the Israeli side in particular to exercise restraint," he said. "The excessive use of force can only lead to a vicious cycle of uncontrollable violence and conflicts, thus making the prospects for the resumption of Middle East peace process even more remote." "Now the entire Middle East situation has entered a very dangerous moment," Wang said. "We are convinced that peace remains the option for all sides, and it remains the only option." The Chinese ambassador noted that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as mandated by the Security Council, is conducting mediations and consultations among parties concerned. "China supports the efforts by the secretary-general," he said. "We call on all parties concerned, especially the Israeli side, to actively cooperate with the secretary-general, and also support the early start of the work by the International Fact-finding Committee." Wang also called on Israel to "give serious consideration to the proposal of the deployment of international observers in the conflict area, so as to create favorable conditions for alleviating the situation and resuming the peace talks." The Security Council began the urgent meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss the escalating violence in the Palestinian territories. A seven-week-long confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians has killed nearly 300 people, mostly Palestinians, reports said. China Voices Concern over Violence in Middle East China is deeply concerned over the prolonged violent conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, and calls for an end to the conflict, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sun Yuxi said November 21. Sun said in a regular press conference here that the prolonged violence has caused great losses to people of both sides, particularly the Palestinian side. President Concerned over Mideast Violence Chinese President Jiang Zemin October 12 expressed deep concern over the ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians, urging the two sides to act immediately to prevent the situation from further escalating. In separate messages sent to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Jiang said that as the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks are in a critical stage, China urges all related parties to take measures immediately to prevent the situation from deteriorating, and stop all words and deeds not conducive to the talks. **** Commentary: Voice of Justice for Defense of Peace The "Resolution Draft on Safeguarding and Observing the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM for short)" jointly tabled by China, Russia, Belarussia and Kyrgyzstan was adopted on November 20 by the 55th UN General Assembly with an overwhelming majority of 88 votes for and five votes against. The Resolution calls on the ABM treaty contracting parties to fully and strictly abide by this treaty and refrain from deploying any anti-ballistic missile system capable of protecting the whole area of a country. The Resolution also stresses that violation of this treaty will disrupt global strategic stability and world peace and hinder the nuclear disarmament process. Last year, the 54th UN General Assembly had adopted the resolution on "Safeguarding and Observing the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty" for the first time with an overwhelming majority. The fact that the UN General Assembly this year again passed a similar resolution fully demonstrates the will and determination of the vast majority of countries around the world to oppose US development and deployment of a national missile defense system, and their unwillingness to see the vigorous efforts to be impacted, efforts made by the international community in the fields of military control, disarmament and prevention of nuclear proliferation after the conclusion of the Cold War; it reflects the common voice of all nations and people, including the Chinese people, in their expectations for the achievement of the goal for peace, security and development. The ABM treaty, reached between the United States and the former Soviet Union in 1972, is seen as a cornerstone of global strategic stability and international security as well as US-Soviet (Russian) nuclear disarmament. In recent years, however, the United States, in a bid to obtain absolute military superiority and under the pretext of preventing certain "rogue" countries from launching possible missile attack on it, vigorously pushes forward the development and deployment of theater missile defense (TMD) system and national missile defense (NMD) system in flagrant disregard of the explicit stipulations of the ABM. This move of the United States will seriously undermine the global strategic stability, trigger a new arms race, lead to the deterioration of the international security situation, and has thus naturally encountered the strong opposition from the international forces of justice. In the face of the enormous international and domestic pressure, in early September this year, US President Bill Clinton declared that his country would temporarily not deploy the national missile defense system. But it must be noted that this decision of the United States was made under the circumstance wherein the technology of the United States has not reached the set standard and its move has met with the resolute opposition of the international community, its plan for the national missile defense system has not been abolished, but instead the country continues to vigorously research and develop the system and conduct relevant tests. Regarding this, peace-loving people should maintain a sober understanding. At the turn of the century, how to promote the disarmament process and safeguard international security is a major and urgent question to the common concern of various countries around the world. The old security concept using intensification of arms race as the means does not help guarantee international security, still less construct lasting world peace, the self-interest of an individual country seeking absolute nuclear advantage will eventually suffer serious losses. For this reason, we advise the United States, which owns the world's largest nuclear arsenal and bears special responsibility on the issue of nuclear disarmament, to seize the hour and size up the situation, listen more carefully to the voice of the international community, strictly abide by and conscientiously carry out the ABM Treaty, and quickly and thoroughly abanbon its plan for the national missile defense system which harms others but does not benefit itself. _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________