Extracts. Taiwan's Comment on Cross-Strait Situation Groundless: Spokesman Zhang Mingqing, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Wednesday refuted the comment made recently by the leader of the Taiwan that the cross- strait relations have been stabilized or eased. Responding to a question from a Taiwanese reporter at a press conference held by the office, Zhang described the comment as being in disregard of basic facts and presenting a false picture of peace. He said the facts are the impasse over relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits has not yet been broken and the cross-strait relations is unstable, which is the basic cause of political chaos in Taiwan and the poor economic performance and decreasing public support for the leader of the Taiwan authorities. Regarding a question on whether the military exercise reportedly to be conducted by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in coastal Fujian Province has a specific target, the spokesman said there is no doubt that the exercise is purposeful. Zhang said it is the duty of the PLA to safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it is a necessary measure to hold military exercises to improve the battle effectiveness of the armed forces. No Contact With DPP Before It Accepts "One China"Principle There is no basis for the Chinese mainland to make contacts with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan, whose constitution still advocates "Independence of Taiwan", Zhang said. Explaining why the mainland refuses to make contacts with the DPP at a press conference held by the office, Zhang said the DPP still refuses to accept the "One China" principle. It is not the mainland that refuses to make contact, in fact, "we are willing to discuss ways to promote cross-strait relations with all parties in Taiwan under the principle of "One China," said the spokesman. "By refusing to embrace the principle of 'One China', the Taiwan authorities have closed the door for contact themselves," he added. Zhang reiterated the point made by Vice-Premier Qian Qichen on January 22 this year that the mainland is willing to talk with those people in Taiwan who have given up the stance of pursuing Taiwan independence. **** Taiwan Leader `Pawn' of Forces against China: Experts Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian is taking an "extremely dangerous road'' by tying the island to the war chariot of anti-China and anti-Communism forces in the United States, leading mainland experts on Taiwan affairs warned Tuesday. "Chen has actually run into a game set by anti-China and anti-Communism forces in the United States and has become a pawn in their confrontation with China," said Xu Shiquan, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "But the real danger is that Chen himself still thinks he is the man who is running the game, although he is no more than a piece on the board." The expert clearly referred to the recent successive approvals by US President George W. Bush of the biggest arms sales to Taiwan to date and Chen's unprecedented transit through the United States on his way to Latin America. "What Chen is doing greatly jeopardizes the interests of the mainstream Taiwan public and goes against their aspirations," Xu said. The researcher made the comments after Chen unveiled his so-called new "five no's" towards the mainland late Sunday night. During his visit to Guatemala, Chen reportedly said his US stopover and the US sales of the biggest ever arms package to Taiwan were by no means provocative. Chen said Taipei would by no means wrongly assess the cross-Straits ties and push for independence, and that Taiwan was not a chessman in a game but a man who plays the game, implying that the island was not being used by Washington against the Chinese mainland. The other no's were that Taipei would not give up its sincerity and efforts to improve ties with Beijing, and that cross-Straits ties should not be tantamount to a "zero-sum" game. "Maybe there is competition between the two sides of the (Taiwan) Straits, but there must not be a war," Chen said. When he took office last May, Chen said he would follow the "four no's," namely a pledge not to declare independence, not to change the "national title," not to push for "state-to-state" relations to be included in the "constitution," and not to promote a referendum to change the status quo in regard to independence. Xu, however, accused Chen of indulging in nothing more than word games and described Chen's new overture on cross-Straits ties as "empty talk." Chen has again revealed his penchant for playing with words by putting forward the so-called "new five no's," which is nothing more than putting old wine in new bottles. 'They (the new five no's) are of no real significance to the mainland at all," Xu said, implying that Chen has never been sincere about developing cross-Straits ties. Xu said Chen's move is an apparent attempt to mislead world opinion and deceive the Taiwan public and is doomed to failure. "One year after his coming to power, the leader has failed to break the stalemate facing cross-Straits. He is actually attempting to pass the buck to the mainland through his new five no's," Xu said. But Chen, who is notorious for going back on his words, will find it really hard for him to win the trust of the world media, Xu said. The best example was that Chen told American politicians and scholars during his stopover in New York that he would respect and recognize all agreements reached between the island and the mainland, but immediately qualified his statement. On the same occasion, Chen negated his own words by denying the existence of the 1992 consensus reached between Beijing and Taipei, which commits both parties to the one-China policy, Xu said. Professor Huang Jiashu of the Renmin University of China said the core question facing cross-Straits ties is for Chen to embrace the one-China principle and the 1992 consensus. "There will not be any difficulty to break the current impasse in cross-Straits relations as long as the historical facts are recognized," Huang stressed. The professor said Chen should come to realize the best interests of Taiwan people lie in stable cross-Straits ties, which will guarantee peace and economic development on both sides. **** Russian Officials Hold Talks With Arafat Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat conferred on May 29th with top Russian officials, who have signaled Moscow's desire to shift diplomatic efforts in the Middle East from shuttle diplomacy to an international conference. "Russia has always stood for a peaceful settlement and the establishment of a stable and just peace in the Middle East," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said at the beginning of his talks with Arafat. Ivanov said that shuttle diplomacy by U.S. seemed to be yielding few results. He issued a new call for an international conference to persuade Israel and the Palestinians to refrain from violence and resume peace talks. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat arrived in Moscow early Tuesday for talks with Russian officials on ways to seek a solution to months of violence between Israel and Palestinians. **** Israel Will Continue Policy of Relative Restraint: Sharon Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that the current unilateral ceasefire will continue for the time being, calling on Israelis to be patient in the face of dragging violence. Speaking at the Knesset (parliament), Sharon fought off mounting criticism from right-wing hardliners who demanded him to abandon his policy of relative restraint in the face of deadly Palestinian attacks, which killed six Israelis on Tuesday. Sharon said that the limited unilateral ceasefire which he declared last Tuesday was still in effect, and the rightist Israelis who asked "how long it will last" would not win the struggle. "The campaign is not only military. We must stand up to a complex and complicated diplomatic battle, and to win it," Sharon said. Earlier Wednesday morning, both Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told a security cabinet meeting that the current situation is extremely complicated and that Israel should not play into the hands of Palestinian National Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, who wants to internationalize the conflict. Peres also said that Israel should accept the recommendations of the international inquiry committee led by former US senator George Mitchell in its entirety. Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian security officials from the Gaza Strip are scheduled to meet Wednesday night following a round of security coordination talks in the West Bank town of Ramallah Tuesday night. The talks, the first in a month, failed to achieved tangible results as two sides were far apart on their stances. The Israeli Defense Ministry demanded in a statement that the Palestinians declare a cease-fire, while the Palestinians say Israel has to end travel restrictions against them first. **** Iraq Says US-British Draft Unacceptable Reiterating Iraq's rejection of the U.S.-British draft to renew Iraqi sanctions, a ranking Iraqi diplomat said Wednesday that the draft is nothing related to humanitarianism and is totally unacceptable. "For Iraq, this is a very bad draft, nothing positive, nothing in relation with the humanitarian situation in Iraq," Iraqi Ambassador to the U.N. Mohammed Al-Douri said in an interview with Xinhua. "That is a new sanction regime they would like to impose on Iraq because the current one is collapsing, not completely but partially," Al-Douri said, stressing that it means a failure of the U.S. policy on deterring Iraq. He noted that as the U.S-British draft is totally unacceptable, Iraq will reject it even if the Security Council adopted it as a resolution. "Iraqi people will never accept this kind of colonialism regime and we will do whatever in our best, with the help of our friends, to protect our sovereignty," he said. Commenting on reports that Iraq is decreasing its activities in cooperation with U.N. oil-for-food program, the ambassador said: " It is simply not true." "There are certain delays," Al-Douri told Xinhua, "when you have a huge amount of contracts on hold by the sanction committee, you can hardly raise the needed money. That's clearly a great difficulty for Iraq to comply with the (oil-for-food) program." According to a latest report by the U.N. Office of the Iraq Program, the value of contracts placed on hold by the U.N. totaled 3.67 billion U.S. dollars, covering 1,696 contracts or 17.4 percent of the value of all contracts circulated in the U.N. Sanction Committee. "But nowadays, we have increased our oil exports and we are coming to a normal level," he added. Britain, backed by the United States, offered on May 21 a draft resolution which proposes a lift of U.N. controls of Iraq's civilian imports, but keeps restrictions on its concept of military-related materials. Indicating intentions to block the U.S. -British proposal, Russia on the following day offered its own version of a draft resolution aimed at bringing a six-month extension to the existing oil-for-food humanitarian program. As an exemption to the current sanctions against Iraq, the U.N. oil-for-food program allows the country to export oil to buy humanitarian supplies. It is the main source of humanitarian relief for the Iraqi people. The volume of Iraqi oil exports since the beginning of the oil- for-food program in December 1996 now stands at over 2.47 billion barrels, for an estimated revenue of some 47.8 billion U.S. dollars at current prices. With the adoption of U.N. Security Council resolution 1330 on December 5, 2000, about 72 percent of oil revenues fund the humanitarian program in Iraq, 25 percent is directed to the Compensation Committee. The remainder goes to cover the costs of U. N. operations in the country. **** Vietnam Attaches Importance to Vietnam-China Trade Relation:Minister Vietnam <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/vietnam.html> always attaches importance to Vietnam-China trade relation, and hopes to further develop the trade relation between the two countries, said Vietnamese Trade Minister Vu Khoan. Khoan made the remarks here while giving an interview to Xinhua on Wednesday. The trade relation between the two countries has been smoothly developing, Khoan said, adding that the bilateral trade turnover reached two billion U.S. dollars in 2000. However, he said, the bilateral trade turnover does not match the potential of the two countries. To carry out the principle guiding the development of bilateral relationship in the 21st century, namely "long term stability, orientation towards the future, good-neighborliness and friendship and all round cooperation" set by leaders of the two countries, Khoan stressed, Vietnam hopes to further develop bilateral trade relation with China, increasing the annual two-way trade turnover to three billion U.S. dollars, or even four billion U.S. dollars. In order to reach the target, Vietnam hopes China will import more Vietnamese staples, namely crude oil, coal, rubber and aquaculture products, the Vietnamese trade minister claimed. Khoan said that the border trade played an important role in Vietnam-China trade relation and has great potential. Therefore, it should be further promoted. Khoan also noted that the two countries' tourism exchange, which has significantly increased, needs to further develop. The trade potential between Vietnam and China is great, Khoan stressed, adding that with join efforts of the two countries, the trade relation will further develop, benefiting both countries. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
