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---"Focused Coverage Informed Perspectives"---Sun, Oct 19, 1997 edition

Sino-US understanding areas of differences; and taking the first steps to mutual understanding

Also in this edition . . . 1: US warns Beijing of protests during Jiang's visit 2: 'Two High schools in Philadelphia, Shanghai shall begin academic exchange', a translation 3: Lincoln Lecture in Shanghai 4: as probe reaches dead ends, Beijing thought to have channeled $2 million in last election 5: remarks from Evergreen's Chang trigger mixed responses from parties 6: Taiwan is welcome to join SICA 7: US tech stocks bring Taiwan's weighted shares down 8: measures announced to prop up share prices 9: proposal to raise minimum wages is approved 10: US and ROC reach agreement on inteconnection service charges 11: English-based idiom gives Japanese youth new style

SUMMIT COVERAGE

Human rights: US warns Beijing of protests during Jiang's visit ( US warns Jiang about demonstrators ) In a host note the South China Morning Post reports on US efforts to warn Jiang Zemin's team of likely demonstrations and protests during the upcoming protest. Jiang will visit a number of US universities and towns, including Harvard, where US officials expect problems to occur. Jiang will also visit Drexel University, alma mata of his son. As you will note in the piece below, Drexel ( Protestors Gear up for Jiang's U.S. Visit ) Inside China has a much more detailed report on the protestor's side of the story. ( Jiang defends rights record ) Jiang Zemin is defending China's human rights records. . . . Cross cultural exchange: 'Two High schools in Philadelphia, Shanghai shall begin academic exchange', a translation (Editor's note: Professor Feng Da-hsuan (feng@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu) has graciously translated this article which "appeared on Page A20, October 18th of World Journal, an ethnic Chinese newspaper of North America. It is in Chinese. " We have included it here because of its relevance to Sino-American cooperation and to highlight local initiatives in forging greater understanding and appreciation for each other's cultures, histories, and points of view. Readers who would like to contribute their own local perspective are encouraged to write to editor@chinainformed.com) ("A United States delegation shall soon visit Fudan Attached High school (FAHS) It is anticipated this will propel the exchanges of 100 high schools in both cities.") [Philadelphia News] With Drexel University's physics professor Da Hsuan Feng and Fudan University President Fujia Yang acting as intermediaries, a high school in the western suburb, Conestoga High School, and Fudan Attached High School shall begin academic exchanges. From October 19th until October 25th, Dr. Kaye Pollock, Principal of Conestoga High School; Dr. Ted Foot, Superintendent of Tredyffrin/Easttown School District; and three other members of the school district shall visit the Fudan Attached High School. During their visit the principal of FAHS, Mr. Cao Tienren, has arranged for the delegation to visit music and English language courses; and will have extensive discussions with the teachers. They will also introduce to the FAHS students insight on the learning process of students in the United States and how these students organize their extra curricular activities. To ensure maximum success for the trip, on this past Monday (October 13th) evening Dr. Foot organized an open meeting to solicit input from the community. The meeting began with Professor Feng giving a brief introduction on the background of how these two high schools began their relationship. He also ended his comments by saying that it is hoped by everyone involved that this relationship between these two high schools could be the catalyst to establishing academic exchanges between 100 high schools between two major metropolitans of the world, Philadelphia and Shanghai. As a parent of a Conestoga High School, Mr. Li Zhao Fong earnestly pointed out that academic and cultural interchanges must fundamentally concentrate on how to ensure the long term mutual understanding of both sides. One must avoid wishing for "instant success," so commonly practiced in business dealings. To do so would guarantee failure of such an endeavour. Dr. Pollock also mentioned that the aim of their delegation is to establish a roadmap for future exchanges of students and teachers. With their Shanghai counterpart, the delegates will discuss such details as how students from both schools could use email to carry out specific projects and how they could jointly produce videos depicting their respective regional culture and history. Julie Eisenhower, daughter of the late President Richard Nixon, is also a parent of Conestoga High School. Although her schedule prevented her from attending the Monday meeting, she did nevertheless ask the delegation to bring to FAHS a personal letter as well as a family picture signed by President Nixon. In the picture are two of her children who are current Conestoga students. All the ethnically Chinese parents at the meeting expressed great interest and willingness to assist the school district's activities, present and future, and provided useful tips on such topics as drinking water and food. Professor Feng also expressed hope that as soon as the delegation returned, there should be a "debriefing" session for those interested in the community as well as for planning the next phase of exchanges. Professor Feng also explains . . . Actually, the first discussion of FAHS having academic exchanges with a high school in our region began in March of this year when our regional Congressman Curt Weldon delivered the LINCOLN LECTURE in Fudan University. Several teachers from FAHS were invited by President Yang to attend the Congressman's lecture. After his lecture, Congressman Weldon, President Fujia Yang and I met the teachers and the subject of high school exchanges was brought up in the discussion. Curt Weldon: 'U.S.-China Relations: A Framework for the New Millennium' Professor Feng has also sent along a transcript of Congressman Weldon's lecture at Fudan University in Shanghai. We have published it here: Congressman Weldon's Lincoln Lecture. Although delivered in March, the lecture is relevant in the context of the upcoming summit, for it outlines areas of disagreement and sets a tone of cooperation often not heard in reports from congress. Topics include arms proliferation, Taiwan, environmental problems, and the Peoples Liberation Army. Mr Weldon is notable for his support for high technology and regional networks. See also Weldon Working Group Home Page for more information on that. Politics: as probe reaches dead ends, Beijing thought to have channeled $2 million in last election ( Money Trail in Probe of China Funds Turns Cold ) The LA Times has a story in today's Sunday edition reporting on how US investigations into PRC funding of US Congressional races has been foiled by an elaborate money-laundering scheme. But it is believed that Beijing channeled at least US$2 million to counteract Taipei's influence in American politics. ( Beijing set up $15m scheme to buy influence, paper claims ) Alas, in the age of pay-per-view, the LA Times article will soon be neatly hidden away in the archive from non-paying readers, but the South China Morning Post has a summary.

CROSS STRAIT RELATIONS

Cross strait relations: remarks from Evergreen's Chang trigger mixed responses from parties Business tycoon Chang Yung-fa's call for direct trade, transportation and communication links with mainland China triggered a mixed response at the legislature on Thursday. Some legislators from the opposition New Party and the ruling Kuomintang advocated the lifting of the ban, while their colleagues from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party favored maintaining it. Speaking at the national forum at the Legislative Yuan, several DPP legislators said that Chang's remarks were based solely upon commercial interests and disregarded the security of 21 million people in Taiwan. They pointed out that Taiwan's security should be given the first priority. However, some legislators from the opposition New Party and ruling Kuomintang said that the government ban has become intolerable to Taiwan businessmen. They questioned the government's "three no's" policy are an effective deterrent to mainland aggression against Taiwan. They said it was imperative to open direct trade, transportation and communication across the Taiwan Strait if Taiwan wants to develop itself into an operations hub in the Asia-Pacific region and join the World Trade Organization. An August opinion poll showed that only 13.6 percent of the public believes that the ban on the direct links should be lifted unconditionally, the China Post reported. The poll, conducted by both the Mainland Affairs Council and the a private institute, also found that 75.8 percent of the respondents believed that the direct contacts should be established under certain conditions, the China Post reported. See also http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/86101711.htm (Chinese BIG 5 encoding) (Note: Access to China Times articles are limited to subscribers. As the paper's system is currently configured, to access an article listed here you must first go to the front-page at http://www.chinatimes.com and from there locate the article) Central America: Taiwan is welcome to join SICA ( Sources: Central News Agency and the China Post ) Ernesto Leal, secretary general of the System for Integration of Central America (SICA), said Thursday that Taiwan is welcome to join SICA and such a move will benefit both sides. SICA is a regional organization comprising six Central American countries --Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Leal argued that it is important for the ROC to seize the opportunity to join SICA, especially at the present time, when SICA members are seeking to strengthen trade and commerce relations with the United States and Canada. Leal said that he had already exchanged opinions with Premier Vincent Siew and Vice Premier John Chang on issues related to Taiwan's participation in SICA. Leal is visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Asia-Pacific Public Affairs Forum, a private organization established to promote Taiwan's international image abroad.

TAIWAN BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

Stock market: US tech stocks bring Taiwan's weighted shares down As a result of several discouraging pieces of news, the weighted share price index of the local bourse fell on Thursday under the psychologically significant 8,000-point resistance level to close at 7,997.81. Market analysts said that Intel's lower-than expected earnings for the third quarter, which had pushed down the Dow Jones index Wednesday, also drove Taiwan's electronics issues downward. U.S.-based Intel is the world's biggest chip maker and a leading supplier of microprocessors. Intel's profit report was regarded as a bad sign as investors feared that results of the electronic sector, to be released at the month's end, might also be disappointing. In addition, the fact that foreign institutional investors and domestic corporate investors had rushed to unload their shareholdings also served to further erode market performance. Investor confidence was undermined further by widespread market speculation that the currencies of the Southeast Asian countries may suffer a second round of major depreciation. All these unfavorable factors combined to knock the share prices tumbling all the way through to the end of the session. See also URL: http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/86101708.htm (Chinese BIG 5 encoding) (Note: Access to China Times articles are limited to subscribers. As the paper's system is currently configured, to access an article listed here you must first go to the front-page at http://www.chinatimes.com and from there locate the article) Central Bank: measures announced to prop up share prices In order to prop up share prices of the local bourse, government financial authorities on Thursday announced a set of measures, including lowering the ratios of bank reserves against deposits and raising the ceiling limit on foreign stock investment. The Central Bank of China announced a cut of 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points on the ratios of bank reserves against deposits. This is the seventh time the Central Bank has reduced bank reserve ratios against deposits since Sheu Yuan-dong assumed his post as governor of the Central Bank on March 23, 1995. This is the largest cut of its kind ever enforced since April 1, 1989, when the bank reserves ratios reached their peak levels. After the latest cut the ratios will hit the new lows. The reduction of reserve ratios aimed to ease the tight liquidity in the money market, where the average overnight interest rate has remained over eight percent, higher than the target of 7.5 percent set by the Central Bank. The cut will prompt the Central Bank to release as much as NT$96 billion into the banking system. This will significantly ease the credit crunch of the banking system and grant a major boost to the local bourse. The bourse has declined for several consecutive sessions due partly to the tight liquidity. See also http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/economy/86101701.htm (Chinese BIG 5 encoding) (Note: Access to China Times articles are limited to subscribers. As the paper's system is currently configured, to access an article listed here you must first go to the front-page at http://www.chinatimes.com and from there locate the article) Labour: proposal to raise minimum wages is approved The Executive Yuan Thursday approved a proposal by the Council of Labor Affairs to raise minimum wages by 3.13 percent to NT$15,840 (US$555.78) per month, NT$528 per day, and NT$66 per hour. The adjustment of minimum wage is based upon decisions reached in recent meetings of labor and management representatives from various sectors of the country, as well as officials from various government agencies, including the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Council for Economic Planning and Development, and the Council of Labor affairs. An Official of the Council of Labor Affairs said Thursday that the adjustment aimed to raise the living standard of the people, and at the same time maintain the economic competitiveness and labor productivity of the nation. Telecommunications: US and ROC reach agreement on inteconnection service charges Touching on the current round of ROC and U.S. WTO talks, Chen Ruey- long, director-general of the Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT), said on Friday the two sides have reached agreement on the issue concerning Taiwan's rates for mobile phone interconnection services. American negotiators have asked Taiwan to lower the mobile phone interconnection charge, which stands at NT$1.6 (US$0.06) per minute at present. Chen said Taiwan has promised to review such service charges annually starting next year. According to a Taiwan-U.S. telecommunications service agreement reached in July 1996, Taiwan will abide by general international regulations governing telecommunications service rates. Chen said the state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co. has reached agreements with private groups which have been granted licenses to operate mobile phone services later this year concerning interconnection service charge.

REGIONAL

Japan: English-based idiom gives Japanese youth new style ( With Stateside Lingo, Valley Girl Goes Japanese ) Nicholas Kristof has a piece in today's New York Times about the use of English among Japanese teenagers. "Wonchu" . . . (Note: the New York Times on-line edition is free, but requires that users register a name and password, and therefore first-time users should first introduce themselves on the Times registration page.) Nudity: ( Talk show star weds in nude ) "Television talk show hostess Hsu Shao-tan and her fiance married in the nude in Taiwan yesterday," reports the South China Morning Post.

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