Legality of Chu’s visit to China queried

IN WHAT CAPACITY?：If Chu travels as New Taipei City mayor to his proposed meeting with the Chinese president, the trip must meet one of four conditions

By Shih Hsiao-kuang and Hsu Sheng-lun  /  Staff reporters

Mon, Apr 27, 2015 - Page 3

The legality of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) scheduled meeting with Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing on May 4 has been called into question, as his status as New Taipei City mayor means such a visit is subject to certain legal restrictions.

According to the National Immigration Agency, the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that if the mayor of a municipality plans to visit China, the visit must be applied for in advance.

Under the Regulations Governing Public Servants and Special Status Personnel from the Taiwan Area Entering the Mainland Area (臺灣地區公務員及特定身分人員進入大陸地區許可辦法), the mayor of a municipality is only allowed to enter China when the visit is related to their official duties, or is a visit to a relative.

The agency is set to make a final decision on Wednesday over whether it is legitimate for Chu to conduct “cross-strait exchanges” in China, given that he is both the KMT chairman and New Taipei City mayor.

“The so-called Chu-Xi meeting is supposed to fall under Article 33-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, which governs visits made by organizations to China,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said.

However, Lee said that based on his understanding, Chu applied for the scheduled meeting in his capacity as New Taipei City mayor, which means the visit would fall under Article 6 of the Regulations Governing Public Servants and Special Status Personnel from the Taiwan Area Entering the Mainland Area.

Article 6 of the regulations stipulates that city mayors or county commissioners may only be allowed to visit China if any of the following four conditions apply: They have a spouse or a relative within four degrees of kinship who has household registration in China; their spouse or relative within four degrees of kinship contracted a disease or passed away in China less than a year before the visit, or they are in a critical condition that makes a personal visit necessary; their visit is to conduct exchange events or meetings related to their official duties; they are chosen by or receive consent from their supervising agency to attend a specific event or meeting.

“Since none of the four conditions apply to the pending Chu-Xi meeting, the visit should naturally be denied, unless Chu is to carry out city-to-city exchanges during the visit,” Lee said.

According to sources familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity, the application for Chu’s visit has been filed by the New Taipei City Government as a “confidential document” with the Ministry of the Interior and there is no mention of the scheduled meeting between Chu annd Xi in Chu’s itinerary or the reasons given for the visit.

Relevant government officials have also been tight-lipped in what capacity Chu would visit China, the sources said.

The sources said that municipality mayors, city mayors and county commissioners usually cited job-related reasons, such as marketing for agricultural products, tourism or city-to-city exchanges, and they all made their visits in their capacity as mayor or commissioner.

In response, KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) downplayed the matter by saying that the application for the visit has been filed and examined in accordance with the law.

Groups pan KMT ‘brainwashing’

‘TAIWAN YES, CHINA NO’:Campaigners said that the Ma administration was determined to accomplish its ‘de-Taiwanization’ mission before he leaves office

By Rachel Lin  /  Staff reporter

Members of non-governmental organizations gather outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei yesterday to protest against the changes to the high school curriculum.

Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

In the latest of a series of protests against the high-school curriculum for Chinese language and social science, dozens of civic group representatives yesterday called for Taiwanese to demand the President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration reverse the policy aimed at “brainwashing” the younger generation.

“Taiwan yes, China no,” protesters shouted outside the Ministry of Education building, which has appealed against the ruling handed down by Taipei High Administration in February that threw into doubt the legitimacy of the ministry’s revisions to the curriculum guidelines in January last year.

The protesters put on a skit to show their dissatisfaction of the weight accorded to the 228 Massacre and the White Terror era in the new version of the curriculum, waving a banner reading: “Taiwanese independence.”

“New curriculum guidelines should be able to stress Taiwan-centered values,” Alliance for Curriculum Guidelines based on Taiwan Subjectivity spokesperson Kuo Yan-lin (郭燕霖) said.

The alliance demanded that Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) push back the date of implementing new curriculum guidelines to June next year and replace “pro-unification academics” on the committee in charge of curriculum review, citing history professor and Cross-Strait Peace and Development Union member Sun Juo-yi (孫若怡).

“There are people who still consider themselves ‘Chinese’ even after living in Taiwan for so long. Less than 3 percent of the nation’s population hold great power that enable them to impose their views on the other 97 percent of Taiwanese,” Taiwan National Party Convener Ted Lau (劉重義) said.

All Taiwanese should fight against the curriculum guidelines attempting to brainwash young people, Lau said.

Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan secretary-general Lee Chuan-hsin (李川信) disputed the ministry’s statement that the revisions made to the guidelines complied with the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution.

The ROC Constitution forced upon Taiwanese by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime when it fled to Taiwan in 1949 treated Taiwan as a subordinate under the “one China” framework, Lee said.

“Only by holding a referendum to have the ROC Constitution abolished can problems be resolved,” Lee added.

Taiwan Romanization Association member Wu Li-hui (吳麗慧) said the Ma administration is determined to accomplish its “de-Taiwanization” mission by implementing the new curriculum guidelines and guidelines for other subjects before Ma leaves office in May next year.

The 13 cities and counties governed by the Democratic Progressive Party are considering refusing to adopt the revised curriculum guidelines, while the Taipei City Government, led by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), said that it plans to use the unadjusted curriculum until the ministry resolves the controversy.

Taiwan Independence Reformation Association member Lai Fang-cheng (賴芳徵) called for more students and parents to speak out against the new curriculum guidelines.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan

Pro-independence Free Taiwan Party launched

By Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Sat, Apr 18, 2015 - Page 3

Civic group leaders and members yesterday joined students and Sunflower movement activists in launching the nation’s newest political party, which its chief organizer, Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), said would be named the Free Taiwan Party (自由台灣黨).

Tsay said the party’s platform is to advocate Taiwanese independence and to establish Taiwan as a sovereign nation, by terminating the rule of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, with what Tsay called its “fraudulent Republic of China” (ROC).

“The Free Taiwan Party will consolidate the forces of pro-Taiwan groups to power the engine at the forefront of the Taiwanese liberation and independence movement,” Tsay said at the party’s launch ceremony in Taipei yesterday. “We aim to establish a sovereign nation of Taiwan, which will not be absent from the international community, and to join the UN.”

Tsay, convener for the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan, said the KMT is a colonial regime from China that exploited the peoples and resources of Taiwan through autocratic rule, while enriching its own circles of business conglomerates.

Therefore, the name of the party espouses the overthrow of the KMT regime, so people can be “free of poverty” and “free from injustice,” as well as “free from invasion” from China, he said.

Tsay outlined the party’s principal goals: to help the pan-green camp defeat the KMT in next year’s election and garner enough votes to have at least three legislators-at-large to enable the formation of a party caucus in the legislature.

“We also aim to have enough popular support by 2020 to mobilize civic organizations to besiege the Presidential Office Building to demand the abolition of the ROC Constitution through a referendum vote,” he added.

Former Taiwan Association of University Professors chairman Cheng Chin-jen (鄭欽仁) was among the academics, civic group members and campaigners who attended.

Cheng said that it has been 70 years since the end of the World War II, but Taiwan remains under colonial rule, unlike many third-world countries that overthrew their colonial overlords to become independent nations.

“It is time for action to end the seven decades of slavery under the KMT. This is also to declare to the US, Japan and other countries our aspiration for real independence, and seek their support for establishing the sovereign nation of Taiwan,” he said.

The Free Taiwan Party has a Formosan black bear as its mascot, and a mock-up character was present at the launch.

Tsay also named the classic pro-independence song Ocean Taiwan (海洋的國家) as the party’s official anthem. The song’s composer, the singer Wang Ming-jer (王明哲), was on hand with his guitar to belt out a rousing rendition, joined by the audience, to wrap up the event.

Also attending the launch to lend support were Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice (台左維新) convener Lin Yu-lun (林于倫), historian Lee Yeng-chyh (李永熾), Formoshock Society (福爾摩鯊社) head Yoshi Liu (劉敬文), political commentator Paul Lin (林保華) and law professor Huang Zong-le (黃宗樂).

Make no mistake who controls Taiwan air space: US jet landings

US jet landings ‘a beautiful surprise’: analysts

Staff writer, with CNA

A US C-130 military cargo airplane carrying maintenance personnel and spare parts for the US Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets that landed in Taiwan on Wednesday due to technical problems leaves Tainan on Friday.

Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times

Despite speculation that the emergency landing of two US Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets at a Taiwanese air force base on Wednesday was a “political message” being sent by the Pentagon to Beijing, some Taiwanese analysts found the theory far-fetched.

It was an “unintended incident,” said Alexander Huang (黃介正), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.

“As far as I know, neither the US military nor the US government would take such action to send a message to China, Taiwan or any other nation in the region,” said Huang, a specialist on US defense and foreign policy and East Asian international relations.

Huang also did not see the landing of the F/A-18s as being related to China’s deployment of H-6K aircraft — a strategic bomber capable of carrying cruise missiles — in recent western Pacific Ocean exercises, in contrast to military analysts such as Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the US-based International Assessment and Strategy Center.

Although the landings were unexpected, the incident demonstrated that “the US military sees its Taiwanese counterparts as like-minded partners” who are reliable, Huang said.

The incident — from the emergency landing to the departure of the F/A-18s after repairs were completed — also showed that the US and Taiwan have smooth communication channels that made dealing with the matter relatively easy, he said.

It did not take long for the mechanical glitch in one of the F/A-18s to be fixed and the fighters then left for their base in Japan, he added.

“If we see it as an unplanned military drill, it went quite well,” Huang said.

Echoing Huang’s remarks, military analyst Erich Shih (施孝瑋) described the incident as “a beautiful surprise.”

“It was definitely an unplanned incident,” Shih said, adding that the flight profile of the aircraft when it landed at the Tainan base showed that there was something wrong with its engine.

Although some said that the F/A-18s could have landed at a less controversial location, Shih said it is a pilot’s top priority to find a suitable location to land when experiencing an in-flight emergency.

The F/A-18 was flying over waters near southern Taiwan when it encountered the problem, which meant Japanese air bases were too far away, Shih said.

He also doubted that bases in the Philippines would have been able to meet the US military personnel’s needs, because they lack advanced infrastructure, leaving Taiwan as the best choice.

The two F/A-18s landed at Tainan Air Force Base on Wednesday afternoon. US personnel arrived late on Thursday to fix the problem in one of the fighters and completed their work on Friday morning.

The two fighters left for their base in Japan on Friday afternoon after repairs were completed. About two hours later, the C-130 transport airplane that carried the US personnel and aircraft parts from Japan to the Tainan base also departed Taiwan.

The fighters from US Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA-323) were en route from Japan to Singapore to participate in Commando Sling, an air-to-air combat exercise with Singapore’s military, when one of them had “a persistent engine oil pressure warning light,” a spokesman for the US Marine Corps said in Washington.

Units from the Republic of China Air Force’s 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing assisted the fighters with their landing and provided logistical assistance, Taiwanese military officials 

The landing of the F/A-18s was a rarity, because the US does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, nor do its military aircraft use air bases in the nation.

Meanwhile, a soldier who took a photograph of an F/A-18 in a bunker and posted it on his Facebook page has been reprimanded for using a smartphone in a restricted area, the Air Force Command said on Friday.