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---"Focused Coverage Informed Perspectives"---Tue, Sep 9, 1997 edition

Taiwan Calls for China to See Differences, Open Talks Taiwan takes hard-line while keeping channels open for discussion also: CCP ends 7th plenum; 'no mercy' in Xinjiang; and more . . .

POLITICS

Panama: Lee addresses parliament, predicts eventual unification ( Taiwan and Panama seal friendship deal ) Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui and Panamanian President Ernesto Perez Balladares issued a joint statement today. According to the South China Morning Post, "The declaration called for mutual recognition, respect of national borders, non-interference in internal matters, and a prohibition on threats and the use of force to resolve conflicts." The two also signed a series of accords, including trade agreements, in order to cement their ties, reports the China Times. (China Times)(subscription)(BIG 5 Chinese). In a speech before the Panamanian parliament Mr Lee called for China to recognize the difference between the two different governments, although he predicted an eventual unification between the PRC and ROC. The substance of the statement echoed the speech made by Premier Siew, who spoke before the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday (See next story for more details). He hoped Taiwan would regain membership to international organizations, including the United Nations, the paper reports. Mr Lee, who is on a sixteen day tour of Central and South America, said that Taiwan would boost investment with the region, and had pledged Taiwan's support in maintaining and upgrading the Panama Canal. All of this has prompted Beijing to issue a statement in which it accused Taiwan of practising dollar diplomacy and buying into alliances with these nations, reports the South China Morning Post. ( "Taiwan buys alliances, says Beijing" ) Taiwan: Premier echos president's sentiment, calls for peace accord ( New premier defends island's sovereignty ) The South China Morning Post has an article about Taiwan's new premier, Vincent Siew, who gave his first public address since his September 1 swearing in. Speaking before the legislature, Mr Siew used the opportunity to address the current impass in cross strait relations. Mr Siew also called on Beijing to acknowledge the 'split' between the two countries, reports the paper. Saying that "The Republic of China [Taiwan] is a sovereign, independent state," Mr Siew also said, "The aggressive pursuit of diplomatic space is our country's necessity for survival, and is also an important aspect of our country's safety," reports the paper. Taiwan would continue to bolster and modernize its defences, he said. But in a similar "hot & sour" manner as President Lee took today in Panama, Mr Siew tempered his government's posture and expressed his wish for Beijing and Taipei to settle their differences. "We should end the hostile situation soon and sign a peace accord in order to achieve the ideal of Chinese people helping Chinese people," reports the paper. The paper also reports, Mr Siew called on Beijing to "put aside the sovereignty issue" and resume the semi-official dialogues that Beijing suspended in reaction to President Lee's trip to the United States in 1995. CCP: seventh plenum ends with consensus on personnel, disagreement on direction of privatization ( "Plenum yields no clear-cut victor" ) The seventh plenum of the Chinese Communist Party ended yesterday after coming to a consensus on a number of issues, reports the South China Morning Post. The paper says the group, which paves the way for the National Congress this Friday, showed little factional infighting which scored "a clear-cut victory on the most sensitive issue of personnel changes," writes the paper. Members agreed to align behind the guiding theories of Deng Xiaoping as the party moves into the next century. To crystallize this, the Chinese constitution will be amended to put Deng's Thought on par with that of Mark, Lenin, and Mao, the paper reports. In Xinhua's coverage of the event there were no calls for people to rally behind the core thought of Jiang Zemin, and one source quoted by the paper attributed this to Jiang's failure to impose his own views on policy matters and personnel in the same way that Deng or Mao did. The plenum also reached agreement on turning more state-owned enterprises into cooperatives or shareholding companies, but wide disagreement erupted over the extent and nature of privatization and treatment of laid-off workers, the paper reports. The country has seen a number of labor protests and incidents in recent years, as economic reforms have stabbed into the fabric of the social welfare system. Whether for good or bad, workers have enjoyed remarkable stability in terms of employment, housing and food in the PRC; and as economic reforms would impose more profit and market-oriented rationales into the management of state-owned enterprises and government planning, these safety-nets are being cut away. Will the government have the wherewithal to put in place a viable alternative?

XINJIANG

Ethnic problems: ( "'No mercy' order against separatists" ) The South China Morning Post reports today, a high ranking official told his colleagues in Xinjiang to show no mercy and be extremely vigilant in their fight against separatists from the region, which was rocked earlier this year by a series of bombings and riots. By all accounts the government's handling of the situation was swift and decisive, with many executions reported. The paper explains: "Beijing has adopted a policy of Han Chinese migration to dilute nationalist tendencies of the Uygur majority. But hopes of Xinjiang independence were rekindled after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the Muslim states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan."

ECONOMICS

Taiwan (China Times)(subscription)(BIG 5 Chinese) Taiwan's export in August dropped 1.6 percent to US$9.55 billion from the same month last year. This was the result of working days lost due to the two typhoons that swept across the island last month, according to officials at the Ministry of Finance (MOF). Finance: (China Times)(subscription)(BIG 5 Chinese) Taiwanese fund managers were looking to cut exposure to Pacific Basin stocks amid concern about the short-term outlook for the region after sharp falls in the "Tiger" economies' exchange rates and a rise in domestic interest rates in the region, reports the China Times.

MILITARY & WEAPONS

Defense (China Times) (subscription) (BIG 5 Chinese) The ROC military has decided to build its own mini-submarines after failing in recent years to procure any more of this type from abroad. The South China Morning Post provides additional information about the submarine's configuration and notes: "The Taiwanese Navy currently operates four submarines--two Dutch-built Swordfish submarines and two obsolete US submarines used for training." Cyber arms: (China Times) (subscriptions) (BIG 5 Chinese) Minister of Justice Liao Cheng-hao yesterday instructed law enforcement officials to probe into allegations that a Chinese-language web site is openly selling firearms on the global Internet computer network and that some people had already purchased weapons from it, reports the China Times.

ART & FRIENDS

Looking for a friend: 'Asia's Mexican Mosaicist' where are you? Many months ago I had the good fortune of stumbling upon "Britt Towery's Front Page"---actually, as I reconstruct it now, I was deliberately seeking a web site for the literature of the twentieth-century writer Lao She when I found Brit's Towery Lao She Collection. Please see the "Tue, Apr 8" issue for more information. But I'd like to draw your attention to Brit's latest addition: a celebration and expose of his friends Francisco "Pancho" Borbora and Ana Liang. The web site recounts the meeting of the Mexican artist and his Cantonese wife and his art. There are images of Borbora's art. And there is an appeal, a hope, that anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of Pancho and his wife Ana Liang could contact Brit.

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