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---"Focused Coverage Informed Perspectives"--- Thu, Nov 6, 1997 editionElection Coverage:
DPP hardliner accuses party's chair of colluding with communist China
Also in this edition . . .
1: (11/7) environment and dissatisfaction with local governments top list
2: (11/7) where does crime fit in the picture?
3: KMT's Wu questions the use of pension to win election
4: work progresses on details of exchanges, MAC will propose 'three link' system
5: Premier announces new regulatory agency, promise to total liberalization of capital flows by 2000
6: opponents win first hurdle in stopping nuke plant
ELECTION COVERAGE
Election issues: environment and dissatisfaction with local governments top list
(sources: Central News Agency and the China Post) (date: Nov 3, 1997 According to a November 3 article in Global Views Monthly, a recent poll shows most voters are concerned about environmental problems. The results come from a telephone survey of 12,000 people in 23 cities and counties island wide."The survey found that more than 60 percent of the respondents worry most about their living environment, with Taipei residents expressing the greatest concern, followed by those from Kaohsiung and Taoyuan, respectively. More than 80 percent of the respondents from Taichung and Tainan cities claimed to be "worried" or "very worried" by environmental problems."
Garbage collection lead the list of their concerns in 21 counties and cities, reports the magazine. The survey also reveals wide-spread dissatisfaction with city and county governments, as many said they do not pay attention to their constituents.
"Respondents from Ilan County, Taipei City and Hsinchu County ranked first, second and third in terms of those who said they are content with their city and county leadership, while those from Taichung City, Keelung City and Pingtung County are least-satisfied with their leaders," reports the China Post.
Election issues: where does crime fit in the picture?
Is the deteriorating social order posing a threat to the ruling party which faces a crucial election 23 days from now? Violent crimes spun out of control as never before in Taiwan's recent history. Ordinary people are not only worried about their own safety, they are angry at the government's inability to enforce the law and to protect them.Six months after the kidnap-murder of Pai Hsiao-yen, the two prime suspects have kept on killing, raping, and extorting innocent people at will. Police could do little to stop them. Since the Liu Pang-you mass murder case a year ago, no high-profile crime case has been resolved.
The government's "inability" to maintain law and order could make the ruling party lose strong support from voters on Nov. 29, 1997. It will be interesting how this plays out in the elections.
Will there be exit polls?
Hsu Hsin-liang of: DPP hardliner accuses party's chair of colluding with communist China
Pro-independence hard-liner Ming-min of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused party chairman Hsu Hsin-liang of colluding with communist China--including seeking financial support from Beijing when Hsu lived in exile in the United States in the 1980s.The accusation was flatly denied by Hsu, who has been harshly criticized by party members recently for proposing a lifting of bans on direct trade, transportation and communication links with mainland China.
Peng, the DPP's candidate in the 1996 presidential election and currently a senior adviser to the party, told a news conference that Hsu had allegedly asked for a monthly payment of US$500,000 from the PRC during a secret meeting with Beijing's consul-general in San Francisco, Tang Shubei, at the Santa Anita Inn in Arcadia on May 15, 1984. Peng said at the meeting Hsu also requested that mainland China help train a band of "urban guerrillas" and "assassins" and fund the foundation of a radio station.
Peng said the materials that he publicized yesterday will be included in a planned memoir, of which one chapter will be about Hsu. He claimed there were no more than 10 people who were aware of the secret meeting. Hsu lived in exile in the United States for around a decade beginning in 1979, after he was charged with sedition for engaging in the then-illegal opposition movement in Taiwan. He was also Peng's opponent in a 1995 primary election for the DPP's presidential nomination. But Peng insisted that the accusation was not issued as an act of revenge. Rather, he said, he was urging Hsu, whom he said had a "secret, profound" relationship with the PRC, to stop making public statements on cross-strait affairs, to avoid a "conflict of interest."
Peng said Hsu had publicly admitted to being a "loyal" Marxist-Leninist and expressed his intention to wage an urban guerrilla war in Taiwan during his stay in the US He demanded that Hsu cease playing with power "for the sake of the DPP and Taiwan's future," adding that Hsu's advocacy for direct contacts with the mainland was contrary to the DPP's basic platform.
Hsu denied he ever made the requests cited by Peng, though he admitted that he had met Tang in Los Angeles. He said the meeting was initiated by Tang, who intended to establish contact with the Taiwan community. He vowed to quit politics if Peng's accusation was true, and challenged Peng to make a similar commitment if Peng was unable to present credible evidence to prove the accusations.
See also http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/861106110.htm, http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/861106111.htm, http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/861106112.htm, http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/861106113.htm, http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/861106114.htm, and http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/861106115.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)
Pension promise: KMT's Wu questions the use of pension to win election
Kaohsiung Mayor Wu Den-yih yesterday questioned President Lee Teng-hui's campaign promise of a senior citizen annuity. At a weekly meeting of the ruling Kuomintang's Central Standing Committee, Wu, a KMT member, was quoted as questioning the use of the program as a major campaign issue to win next month's local elections.Wu said Democratic Progressive Party rival made a promise of a monthly NT$5,000 stipend during the 1994 Kaohsiung mayoral campaign, but he did not follow suit. He said that the Kaohsiung residents loved him and he got elected.
Wu was quoted by KMT spokesman Tsai Pi-huang as telling Lee that the annuity shouldn't be a major attraction. But Lee replied that Wu would stand little chance of being reelected next year if he did not offer a senior citizen stipend program.
Controversy over the pension fund has mounted since late last month when Lee, during an endorsement speech for KMT Taipei County commissioner candidate Hsieh Shen-shan, stated that all senior citizens in Taipei County aged 65 or over would receive an NT$5,000 monthly stipend if Hsieh is elected. The controversy has centered on the government's financial ability to support the program, and on whether it should be expanded into a nationwide policy.
Following the meeting, Wu denied that he intended to challenged Lee. He said his talk at the meeting just called for careful planning of the senior citizen annuity. He told reporters that if there is sound financial planning, and it covers the whole of Taiwan, he will agree. While KMT leaders were meeting inside party headquarters, a group of senior citizens' rights activists rallied outside, demanding that Lee keep his stipend promise.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Governor James Soong said the government must consider its capability of supporting the program, which may amount to a few hundred billion NT dollars each year if all Taiwan senior citizens are covered. Soong told the Taiwan Provincial Assembly that he could not be convinced of the need to give the stipend to some of the richest senior citizens in Taiwan.
See also http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/focus/86110609.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)
CROSS STRAIT RELATIONS
Cross strait relations work progresses on details of exchanges, MAC will propose 'three link' system
(sources: Central News Agency and the China Post)An official of the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Wednesday that the government is currently working on matters concerning the exchange of high-level official cultural and educational visits across the Taiwan Strait.
Chao Chieh-fu, director of the MAC's Department of Cultural and Educational Affairs, said the government hopes to invite ministry-level officials from mainland China to Taiwan to take part in various exchange activities, adding that it also hopes to sign a series of cultural and news exchange agreements with the mainland.
He said that as soon as both sides of the Taiwan Strait resume talks, the MAC will ask ROC negotiators to discuss these topics with their mainland counterparts.
Addressing the current imbalance in the news and information which makes its way across the Taiwan Strait, Chao also expressed his dissatisfaction. He said that newspapers and magazines in Taiwan regularly report major mainland news items in detail, while Beijing still regards the media as a tool for controlling the thoughts of its people.
He proposed a new "three links" system---referring to the exchange of information, thought and concepts between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait---to replace the more commonly known three links, which refers to trade, postal and transportation links with the mainland. Chao added that he hopes to receive a response to his proposal from mainland authorities in the near future.
TAIWAN DESK
Free trade: Premier announces new regulatory agency, promise to total liberalization of capital flows by 2000
Premier Vincent Siew on Wednesday unveil a plan to unify the island's regulation of banks, insurance companies and securities firms under a single regulatory agency.The supervision of banks, insurance companies and securities firms, currently handled by separate entities, will be brought under the auspices of a single financial regulatory body, Siew told delegates to a global conference on securities regulation in Taipei. Siew pointed out that it is one of the most important policy objectives of 1997, and he anticipates having a concrete proposal by the end of the year.
The meeting agenda places a strong focus on regulation of a proliferation of cross-border financial transactions and interaction between markets - the result of the Internet and other advances in telecommunications.
Siew reiterated Taipei's long-standing commitment to total liberalization of capital flows in and out of Taiwan by 2000. But Siew, in his remarks, did not say whether the capital-flow liberalization would extend to the renminbi, the currency of mainland China. Taiwan has embarked on an ambitious drive to open up its economy and make its huge capital resources available to the Asia-Pacific region, but has been hobbled in the plan by lingering restrictions on interaction with Beijing.
See also http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/economy/86110611.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)
Nuclear plant: opponents win first hurdle in stopping nuke plant
Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday threw a new wrench into plans to build Taiwan's fourth nuclear power station, winning preliminary approval of a bill to freeze the US$4.1 billion project's budget.The draft measure to halt the huge project's 1998 budget was approved by a 56-0 vote in a legislative committee and will be debated by the full parliament next week. The lopsided vote reflected a decision by ruling Kuomintang lawmakers not to attend the committee session.
The KMT, which enjoys only a knife-edge majority in the legislature, can be expected to pull out all the stops to thwart the measure. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party united with the New Party to mount the latest challenge to Taiwan's nuclear development.
While opponents may be able to muster the simple majority needed to freeze the plant's 1998 budget, the KMT can almost certainly restore it with a procedural appeal, which can be overturned only with a two-thirds vote.
State-owned Taiwan Power Co. vowed to ignore the move and said work was continuing on the project, whose twin light-water reactors and generators are being provided by US giant General Electric Co. under a US$1.8 billion contract. Local media said NT$15.7 billion (US$514 million) already had been spent on the 2,700-megawatt power station, which is rising in a suburb of the capital Taipei. Taiwan-China relation
See also http://www.chinatimes.com/papers/ctimes/taiwan/8611061.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)