CHINA – POLITICS

Surprises and disappointments of the 4^th Plenum Meeting of CCP

The 4^th Plenum Meeting of the CCP is concluded on September 18, with a mixture of surprises and disappointments. The guiding document, about which cadres have been urged to study and give suggestions, has yet to be made public. While expansion of intra-party democracy and fighting corruption are central in the guiding document and very much talked about in media and speeches of state leaders, details as to how such democracy will be promoted and implemented as well as ways in which to strengthen party building remain unknown.

A major surprise is no decision on the appointment of Xi Jinping as the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission in the meeting and has drawn speculations. The appointment is widely seen as a key stepping stone to confirm his successor status. This explains why western media refers the news as a ‘shock’. A smooth transfer of power when Hu steps down in 2012 appears to have been thrown into doubt. This may also imply that the top position remains ‘open’, hinting that a closed-door power struggle, jockeying for position and horse-trading have – predictably – been predicted.

Some analysts and China watchers said that, given the utmost secrecy surrounding the leadership succession issue, it is difficult to fathom what really happened. But the simplest explanation could well be that the party failed to reach a consensus and Xi’s appointment will be discussed at next year’s plenum. Some argued that this might reflect a new system of top positions appointment is being established. The way the party organises itself and promotes promising cadres to key positions is very different from 10 years ago when Hu was appointed vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission. The selection of rising stars to top positions is increasingly based on merit, even if political connections and lineage still count for much. Rapid social and economic changes have forced Beijing to adapt to changing times. If the party’s vow to introduce greater internal democracy is to be taken seriously, then the process of selection has to be “less certain and unpredictable”. (SCMP, Sept 20) Some observers suggested Mr Hu could be trying to maintain a position on the military commission after he retires from his other posts in 2012. It may also mean that there are some in the armed forces who believe that he may need more experience in military affairs. A professor at Beijing University of Technology said it would only become clear that there was real opposition to Mr Xi if he did not win a place on the military commission over the next year. He argued that ‘opposition is one of the possibilities but it is also possible that the party just decided to postpone announcing the decision to promote him.’ (FT, Sept 20) Yet, Open Magazine quoted insider sources that Xi did not want to take the job because he did not want to see CCP lose power under his rule. (Open Magazine, Sept Issue)

Another disappointment is that both the central committee plenum and the annual meeting of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, failed to come up with any effective measures to curb rampant official corruption. One of the few new details is that the anti-graft watchdog said it would require cadres to report the properties, investments and jobs of their spouses and children, but these reportings, it appears, will be internal – a far cry from the earlier suggestions in the state media of a sunshine law, which required officials to declare their assets publicly. (SCMP, Sept 21) Ming Paoeditorial criticized the lack of substance in the so called ‘new efforts’ in curbing corruption. It said the government is again failing its people with the rhetorical commitments – political slogans only – in corruption efforts. (Ming Pao, Sept 21)

Position reaffirmed, China go its way to democracy

While intra-party democracy is very much talked about during the meeting, President Hu called for adherence to the path of socialism with Chinese characters instead of ‘copying the Western political system and pattern’ in a meeting with CPPCC, after the CCP meeting is closed. Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), echoed that China would not have multi-party rule, or the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers. He called on NPC deputies to maintain the ‘correct political orientation’, stressing the ‘essential differences’ between China’s people’s congresses and the Western system of political power. The remarks reaffirmed state leaders’ hard-line position in promoting democracy in the country.

(China Daily, Sept 20)

Controversy book greets 60^th anniversary celebration

Lung Yingtai (龙应台), one of Taiwan’s most celebrated cultural critics, launched her new book – Wide Rivers and Seas: 1949 (大江大海 一九四九) – in early September. The book is about the tumult of 1949, when Communist rebels defeated the Nationalist government and forced the latter to retreat to Taiwan.  China Times reported that, on September 11, Lung’s writings are deleted from China’s Internet after Beijing Municipal Internet Information Administrative Bureau ordered all Beijing websites to delete all Lung’s essays and writings and not attempt any further postings of her work. The order is given out via MSN messages. Before the order is given out, the last piece about Lung Ying-tai appearing online was posted on September 3 at Xinhua Online and other sites, which is about Lung’s new book. But the Bureau said that they did not give the order.

A Hong Kong journalism professor said that the content of the book touched on the sensitive part of China’s history and embarrassed the CCP at the time CCP celebrates its 60 years in power and visions a stronger and unified China. Although the book is not available in China, the launch of the book in Taiwan and Hong Kong has created lots of noise of the book, particularly in relation to Lung’s call for KMT and CCP leaders to give public apology to the dead and victims in the civil war.  (Ming Pao, Sept 19) It is believed that the ban will be removed after the National Day is over. Long responded that ‘the fuss only highlights the lack of understanding between Taiwan and China, and that she would quietly wait for the Chinese authorities to change their attitude. There is no guarantee, however, that they will do so.’ (China Times, Sept 20)

A commentary on Apple Daily compares Long’s book and the film the Founding of Republic (建國大業), for not only both are launched around the 60^th anniversary period, but also the patriotic sentiments to China. The commentator said that the film is no doubt a propaganda movie that glorifies the CCP, who took power and won the civil war; yet, the book also glorifies the losers of the war, whose defeat contributed to the founding of Taiwan. The commentator argued, in view of the series of man-made disaster after CCP took power and the development of Taiwan, it raises doubts over what does victory mean to the people and the CCP, when one sees Taiwan evolved into a society that values freedoms and rights. It is an important question to ask when people, both in the mainland and elsewhere, to reflect as they celebrate the achievements of the founding of PRC at its 60^th anniversary (Apple Daily, Sept 19) 

Bugging devices everywhere for a ‘safe’ 60^th anniversary

It is reported that Beijing installed bugging device in taxi in a way to uphold security ahead of the 60^th anniversary. However, this totally ignores privacy and human rights of the people. Ming Pao editorial said that while it is understandable that the government puts the city on high alert as the National Day approaches, the intensity and scale of surveillance efforts are highly questionable. Bugging devices are found in subway and even taxi. It not only invades people’s privacy, but also reinforce China’s negative image in spying on its people. This will certainly hurt China’s national image and the pleasure of its citizens and visitors of celebrating the National Day. It urged the Beijing authority to suspend the move. (Ming Pao, Sept 24) The Beijing authorities deny the accusation.

5. Xinjiang syringe attack intensifies ethnic tensions

In early September, thousands of Han staged mass demonstrations in Urumqi over a spate of hundreds of mysterious syringe attacks, allegedly committed by Uighurs in the city. The Han protestors demanded better security and called for resignation of top leaders in the region, particularly pointed to the unpopular party secretary general of Xinjiang Wang Lequan. The protests brought significant domestic and overseas attention over the deteriorated ethnic tensions in the region. The incident is ended with arrest and heavy punishment of syringe attackers and the sackings of Urumqi’s party secretary Li Zhi and Xinjiang’s Chief of Police Liu Yaohua. However, Wang in Xinjiang, apparently protected by the central government, managed to secure his power in the protest.

At the beginning of the attacked broke out, Xinjiang public security officials immediately said that the attacks were terror attacks and accused separatists of orchestrating the attack in a bid to scare residents and create further unrest in the region. As tensions intensified, officials apparently turned silence on the terrorist accusation, and state media played down the coverage, in a way to avoid stir up more tensions between Han and Uighurs. Commentary on the incident is rare on media, as compare to the July 5 Xinjiang riots.

A mainland law researcher wrote in a commentary that, the punishment for the syringe attackers was far too severe (they are sentenced to 12-15 years) while the paramilitary police who beat up the Hong Kong journalists were not punished. He criticised the Xinjiang authorities of being double-standard in its rule-by-law practice. (Apple Daily, Sept 24) A Ming Pao article urged the central government to take the issue seriously and should devise policy and measures to improve the relations. For instance, it suggested the central government to appoint a Uigur as secretary general of XUAR, preferential policy for Uighur businessman, and step up efforts to ensure equal civil rights and right to employment of Uighurs. For example, equal opportunity for Uighurs and Hans to take jobs in government infrastructure projects. (Ming Pao, Sept 18)

Hong Kong journalists beaten by police, again

In Hong Kong, coverage of the incident is largely focused on the beating of three Hong Kong journalists by Xinjiang paramilitary police. The beatings prompted public condemnation of power abuses of the Xinjiang authorities. The Xinjiang government’s official response to the beatings, which accused the journalists of improper and illegal reporting of the HK journalists, fuelled public anger.   Journalists and politicians staged protests, demanding investigation and apology of the Xinjiang authorities. Hong Kong legislators, including the pro-Beijing groups, also called for investigation as well as Beijing’s intervention. Worth noting is the changing tones of the HK delegates to the NPC. After making strong statement over their displeased to the Xinjiang authorities in handling the beatings, they refused to send a letter, on behalf of the full member of the HK delegates, to show concerns and ask for Beijing responses. A commentator criticised their action, saying that it further deteriorates the image of NPC and reinforces the fact that HK NPC delegates are no more than a rubber stamp to say only ‘yes’ to the Chinese government while ignoring the interest of Hong Kong people. (Ming Pao, Sept 21)

Political analysts said that the Xinjiang authorities was over-reacted and their lies to justify their actions were neither helpful to maintain stability in the region, nor uphold the image of China in the run up to 60^th anniversary. (Ming Pao, Sept 10). Some commentary said that the beatings might not target HK journalists but all who want to report on the unrest in Xinjiang especially the protests against Wang Lequan. It is added that the paramilitary police were also under great pressures to deal with the tensions in Xinjiang, which made them easily over-reacted. (Ming Pao, Sept 10 & Sept 17)

Guangdong to set example for meaningful political consultation

In early September, Guangdong issued rules (中共廣州市委政治協商規程（試行）) to make municipal government to consult local committees of non-Communist parties on the overall rural and urban development plans, large construction projects, major problems involving the livelihood of locals or overall situation of the city and contingency plans for emergencies and their implementation. The rules have received considerable attention as it is the first time a municipal CCP committee included such details for consultation with committees of non-Communist parties. Also, it is also the first time a local CCP committee stipulated in the rules that important proposals or plans cannot be handed to local legislative bodies for deliberation and vote before seeking the opinion of non-Communist parties. It is unknown whether this is part of the reform that the CCP has spoken loud about promoting democracy with Chinese characteristics.

China Daily said that, political consultation is important to promote political democracy. The Guangzhou municipal committee of the CCP has done a signal service to make such consultation not only procedurally possible, but substantially necessary. (China Daily, Sept 8)  A Nanfang Weekend article said that political consultation should be taken further, allowing non-Communist parties to raise issues and participate in decision-making. It pointed out that CPPCC, as a political consultation body, should play a genuine role in decision-making, thus, professionalising CPPCC is crucial to make political consultation work. (Nanfang Weekend, Sept 17)

Equal representation of rural residents

Nanfang Weekend ran an article looking into the controversy of the revision of Election Law, which is due to submit to NPC Standing Committee for review. If it goes smoothly, the revised law is likely to be voted for approval in the NPC meeting next March. The controversy of the revised law centers on the unequal representation to rural and urban residents. There has long been a debate of giving equal representation of rural residents in the NPC, according to their population, rather than the current ratio of 4:1 for electing NPC representatives of urban and rural residents. It is argued that the current practice violates the spirit of equality in the constitution. The article reviewed the historical development of election arrangement in rural and urban areas. For instance, the ratio was set at 8:1 at the time the Election Law was drafted in 1952. The ratio was subsequently revised. In 1995, the ratio is revised to 4:1, i.e. one NPC representative for every 880,000 people in rural area; while one for every 220,000 people in urban areas.

There are worries that equal representation will reduce influence of provinces with small population such as Shanghai. Some also worry that NPC will be led by peasants, rather than urban elites. The Nanfang Weekend article argued, after the ratio raised to 4:1, the number of peasant NPC representative actually reduced. This reflects NPC representatives of rural areas are not necessarily rural peasants. It is also argued that equal representation in NPC election has symbolic meanings to equality in political participation and representation. Yet, it is still unknown whether the government is in favour of an immediate realisation of 1:1 representation of urban and rural residents, or a progressive realisation of the goal. Currently, academics involving in the drafting of the revised law said that two proposals are a submitted, one for an immediate realisation of 1:1 equal representation, and the other is a regional approach, i.e. for areas with conducive conditions, equal representation will be implemented, while areas lack of those conditions, 2:1 ratio of representation will be adopted. (Nanfang Weekend, Sept 17)

New regulation on organ transplants

Caijing magazine ran a cover story to look at organ transplants in China. In late August, Red Cross Society and the Ministry of Health announced the launch of a new national organ donation system. This aims at curbing the informal organ market and easing organ shortages. This is the first voluntary organ donor program in China. The system will be piloted in 10 provinces and municipal cities. The launch drew attention on the issue of organ transplants in the China, particular the link to a number of alleged murder cases of beggars and homeless people whose body was found with all of its organs removed.

The article series reviewed regulatory development in organ transplants and the gaps in laws and policy that contributes to potential abuses. While it verified cases of illegal organ removal, it implicitly points to collusion of doctors, gangsters and even police/government officials in these illegal dealings. It is argued that, the donation system certainly plays a role to address organ shortages, but its success lies with an efficient institutional framework to oversee the management of the system, as well as open information and conducive legal environment to ensure enforcement of the system. The magazine urged the government to address the issue seriously. (Caijing Magazine, Aug 31 Issue)

In brief:

• China issues a white paper on Xinjiang’s development progress (Ming Pao, Sept 22)

CHINA – ECONOMY

New policy to help SMEs

The State Council has rolled out policy to promote development of SMEs. For instance, it will deepen reforms in monopoly industries, lower the market access threshold for the SMEs and create a more open and fair competition environment for SMEs. In addition, the government will optimize its procurement mechanism, raising its purchase proportion of commodities, engineering and services from the SME and increase tax break for SMEs. It will grant a one-year reprieve on social security fund to the SMEs in operational difficulty amid the global financial crisis and give out tax break, in a bid to reduce financial burdens and protect the interests of the SMEs. Certain fees and charges would also be exempted. The move is seen as positive to help SMEs. (Caijing, Sept 22) The preferential policy will take effective in Jan 1, 2010.

China Daily’s editorial said that the measures are necessary as SMEs provide about 80% of jobs in China. Stimulus policy introduced in the past year focused primarily on big SOEs did not effectively help much. It urged the government to give in more policy efforts to help SMEs ride out the crisis would also serve to boost employment and consumption growth. (China Daily, Sept 24) Nanfang Du Shi Bao said that it is also important for local government officials to change its bias against SOEs, so that local policy environment will be conducive for SMEs to operate and compete in a level-playing ground. (Nanfang Du Shi Bao, Sept 24). A commentary said that giving tax break to SMEs may have limited impacts because taxation on SMEs has been ‘loosely enforced’, and many SMEs don’t pay much tax. The commentator hoped the taxation department wouldn’t use the policy as an excuse to check taxation records of SMS, which will do a lot of harm than goods to help them. (Caijiang, September 23)

In brief:

• ADB revised China growth to 8.2% this year (China Daily, Sept 22)
• China studies the possibility of imposing carbon tax (21^st Century Business Herald, Sept 23)

CHINA – DIPLOMACY

Trade disputes intensified but will it harm Sino-US relations?

Given strong trade union lobby at home, President Obama decided to impose new punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires coming into the U.S. from China. Beijing condemned the move as protectionism and a violation of the guidelines of WTO and the relevant commitments made by the U.S. government at the G-20 financial summit. In response, China announced dumping and subsidy probes of chicken and auto products from the U.S. The trade dispute sparks off new round of tensions between the two countries, while many worry the revival of protectionism. However, analysts said that, in spite of the disputes, the two nations would keep any disputes under control as they understand that they’re increasingly dependent as trading partners.” (Bloomberg, Sept 14; Nanfang Daily, Sept 19) There seems a general consensus that the tire dispute would not have an big impact on Sino-US relations.

Mainland press generally criticised US’s imposition of punitive tariffs, saying that it is unreasonable and political motivated. Caijiang magazine said that the tire dispute signalled more trade disputes against China to come. The trade volume, tensions in overseas investment, and external environment in the financial crisis have made Sino-US trade relations vulnerable to political pressures. However, there are also opportunities for the two countries settle the disputes because there are more channels available now, such as though Strategy and Economic Dialogue and U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). This would avoid bringing the case to WTO. In addition, the article urged China to sign the WTO Government Procurement Agreement as this will exempt China from being accused of buying domestic goods, an area that currently draws considerable concerns of US and other countries. (Caijing Magazine, Sept 8 Issue)

A commentary on Nanfang Weekend argued, Obama’s decision was to gather supports for his healthcare reform and to deliver his promise made in his campaign that it would address unfair trade practice of China by invoking Article 421. The political agenda behind the decision is obvious. The commentator added that China adopted a wrong strategy when giving defence at the US hearing. China defended its practice with economic and political justification, while ignoring the importance to justify its move with legal grounds. The commentator said that Obama knew that US did not have sufficient reasons to invoke Article 421 based only on the lobby of trade union. If China cited strong legal reasons in defense, this would help Obama to legitimize the dismissal of the lobby. But now, it is not likely that Obama would withdraw the punitive tariff, although slightly reduce the punitive tariff rate may be possible. (Nanfang Weekend, Sept 16)  Another Nanfang Weekend commentary praised China’s smart move to make use the trade remedy investigation procedure to counter US’s punitive tariff. It said that people shouldn’t see trade dispute too negative as we should learn how to play the game. Rhetorical statement of condemnation is not as meaningful as real evidence to defend our rights. Industry organisations should work with the government to advocate the rights of local producers by sharing statistics and information. It urged Chinese people should get used to the rules of market and international trade. (Nanfang Weekend, Sept 17)

It is reported that, in the first 8 months of 2009, altogether 17 countries launched trade remedy investigation against China, increased by 16.2% in the same period of 2008. This reflects trade protectionism is intensified.

China shows commitment to CO2 cut, but not enough to make the Dec meeting a successful one

As President Hu was flying to NY for a series of international meetings, Foreign Ministry officials hinted to the media that China would make a big announcement at the UN. To general surprise, Hu said in his speech at the UN, China would reduce its carbon intensity – the amount of Co2 it emits for each dollar of economic output – by a notable margin by 2020 from the 2005 level. Western and Chinese press said that the announcement is not only significant at its own right, but may just be leading the world out of the standoff of the upcoming Copenhagen talk. (FT, Sept 22)

Financial Times said that reducing carbon intensity would limit how much emissions can foreseeably rise, without stunting China’s growth. This is not only fair, but astute politics: if made legally binding, it could meet some of rich countries’ concerns. Though an intensity target does not cap emissions, but it makes it easier to do so in the future. It gives China and others following its lead an incentive to join global emissions trading at a later time (even based on absolute caps) by putting them in a good position to profit from it. It urged China to declare its willingness to negotiate a tough and binding intensity target at the Copenhagen summit in exchange for absolute cuts by rich countries. It urged all countries should seize the opportunity in the upcoming talk. (Financial Times, Sept 23) Green groups are generally welcome China’s commitment. But some pointed out that China’s announcement fell short of expectations because it omitted a specific target.  A commentator of SCMP said that US and China did not do enough to raise serious discussion and give the leadership to tackle the climate issues in the UN meeting. As the major polluters, the two countries disappoint many. (SCMP, Sept 25)

G20 Summit kick starts, but substance of the meeting in doubt

The G20 Summit kicked start in Pittsburgh on Sept 24. The summit supposes to cover a wide range of issues, from IMF reform, financial reform, climate change, and economic policy to revive the world economy. Many hold doubt over the substance of agreement or discussion came out of the Summit. China will certainly be at the center of the attention.

China made clear about its goals for the Summit: (1) strengthen macro-economic coordination for  recovery of the world economy; (2) push forward IFI’s governance reform for increasing voices of China and the developing countries; (3) promote development of developing and the least developed countries, and (4) oppose to trade protectionism. It is believe that China will strike hard on its opposition to trade protectionism, particularly with respect to the recent trade disputes with US. (China News, Sept 24) Yet, Europe and US would blame China for rampant unemployment at home. (Ming Pao, Sept 20)

In China, mainland scholars and policy researchers urged the government to discuss exit strategy with other countries. A commentary on Shanghai Business Daily, how to strike a balance on growth and an exit strategy is not an issue that the G20 Summit can solve, especially at the time when outlook of world economic recovery remains unstable. The timing and the coordination mechanism are crucial to its success. The commentator argued, it might be more meaningful for the world leaders to discuss how to revive domestic economic dynamics to spur investment to take over huge government investments in past year. (Shanghai Business News, Sept 8)

Japan push hard on East Asian Community

Japan’s new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama raise his proposal of establishing an East Asian Community for economic co-operation and national security in the region in his meeting with President Hu at the UN meeting. But Hu didn’t respond to the proposal directly, but only agreed to settle the two countries’ divergences properly so that the issues would not derail bilateral relations. Hatoyama talked about his vision to set up the East Asian Community in August, after he was elected Prime Minister. A few days later, the Foreign Ministry followed up on the issue and said that the two countries would explore further as to deepening cooperation in the East Asian region. At the same time, Global Times posted results of an opinion poll on the establishment of the East Asian Community, with 63% respondents in favour of the initiative.

A Ming Pao commentary said that the idea may be good, but it would be hard to realise in practice because Chinese still have strong sentiments to Japan. The term East Asian Community (東亞共同體) reminds the Chinese people of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (大東亞共榮圈) that was advocated by Japanese in the Sino-Japanese war in the 1930s. The similarity of the two terms certainly makes many Chinese feel uneasy and may react strongly to motivation behind the proposal. The commentator also raised questions over the technical aspects of making the initiative happen, especially how Japan will amend its China policy in the political front, as well as make China a partner rather than a competitor at the economic front. These questions need to be answered if Japan is serious about pushing the initiative forward. (Ming Pao, Sept 24)

Mainland researchers seem hold doubts over Japan’s proposal, seeing it a strategy for Japan to secure (or even compete for) its leading influence in Asia, alongside China. Yet, many pointed out that, while the initiative is complex and involves lots of technical issues for negotiation, Japan should first respect China’s policy on Tibet and Taiwan. (China Review News, Sept 18) A commentary on Nanfang Daily said that while the establishment of the East Asian Community takes time, Japan should first start working together with China on monetary and energy issues. For instance, the two countries should take leadership to build long-term cooperation in addressing financial crisis issues. Also, strengthen technical cooperation in maritime energy security in western Pacific ocean is also crucial. These efforts may serve more practical and conducive than ‘talk’ about the East Asian Community initiative. (Nanfang Daily, Sept 22)

TAIWAN – POLITICS

First shake up of Ma’s cabinet resigns

Former Premier Liu Chao-shiuan and his cabinet resigned to take responsibility for the government’s bungled response to the deadly typhoon. Ma’s close allies Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) is appointed as the new Premier. The cabinet reshuffle is seen as a down-to-earth tactic of Ma to ease public anger and more importantly, revive popularity.  Opinion poll shows that the approval rate of Ma slightly increased. ‘

In Taiwan, the media appears to be rather positive to the new premier, saying that he is a politician, not the type of stick-to-the-book technocrats that Ma picked for his administration. But there are also worries that Wu does not have sufficient economic knowledge to deal with the financial crisis. (China Times, Sept 8). A Ming Pao article said that, it may be still too early to draw a conclusion whether Ma regained popularity from the cabinet reshuffle as his popularity still lies on Taiwan’s economic situation, for which the cross-strait relations play a big roles in it (Ming Pao, Sept 11) Mainland academics also hold optimism to the new cabinet. Wu and his deputy not only work along well with Ma, but also share the same views on mainland policy; therefore, they will play an important role in develop a stable cross-straits relations. (Central News Agency, Sept 9)

New controversy of showing Kadeer documentary at Kaohisung Film Festival

Showing Rebiya Kadeer’s document at the annual Kaohsiung Film Festival no doubt drew controversy in a politically sensitive time in Mainland and Taiwan. It is reported that the documentary would be showed several times a day in the festival. DPP plans to mobilize all DPP members to see the documentary together, a move to show their discontent to the mainland. China gave a strong statement to condemn Kaohsiung government’s move, urging ‘the concerned parties of Kaohsiung city not to stir up troubles on the cross-Straits relation’. (China Daily, Sept 20). China added that ‘some forces in Kaohsiung insisted on showing this film that distorted the facts and beautified the ethnic separatists, which has sent a wrong signal to terrorism and violence.’ Apparently, the criticisms are directed to DPP and Kaohisung Mayor Chen Chu. Taiwan Executive Yuan said that they respect Kaohisung’s decision.

Earlier, a commentary on Tai Kung Pao made a similar statement on Kaohsiung’s decision to screen the controversial documentary, saying that it is no more than a plot of the DPP to harm cross-strait relations, particularly after their failure in taking political advantages in the Dalai Lama’s Taiwan visits. The commentary added that Kaohisung announced the decision at the time when syringe attack took place in Xinjiang is to show their supports to terrorism. (Tai Kung Pao, Sept 9) A China Times article said the Ma administration intended not to get involved in the controversy. The indifferent and calm response to this incident is same as the way the Ma administration dealt with Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan in early September. KMT neither wants to fall in DPP’s trap, nor want to help them to appease mainland. It wants to put Chen Chu and DPP at the forefront of mainland’s criticism and let them to bear their own consequences. (China Times, Sept 21) For instance, representatives of tourism and transport industry have reportedly staged protests against Kaohisung’s decision. (HKEJ, Sept 22)

Some recommendations to ECFA

An editorial of Taiwan Commercial Times urged the government not to slow down pace in negotiation of the ECFA in spite of hectic disaster relief work, saying that this is an important task for Ma’s new cabinet and a number of issues are needed to clarify by mainland and the Taiwan government. Particularly, it pointed to the principle issue of the relations between China and Taiwan in the ECFA. If the agreement is made on an equal-footing principle, then, preferential policy should be reciprocal. In that case, Taiwan should carefully access the preferential treatments offer to Beijing that may impact on local industries. On contrary, if the agreement is built on a subordination relationship, the preferential treatments and other offers by Beijing is unilateral; however, this may led to political controversy in Taiwan. The cost may well exceed the benefits of ECFA to Taiwan. The editorial questions the Ma government seeing the ECFA a pure economic agreement, ignoring the fact that it has political implications, particularly to Taiwan.

It urged the government to address the issue, rather than avoiding it. It added that, no matter how the two governments identify the mutual relationship, the Taiwan government should prepare for such negotiation, with the aim of minimizing the harm on Taiwan. For instance, it suggested three major provisions in the ECFA: (1) defensive provision: allow Taiwan to invoke tariff or import measures on certain China goods that harm Taiwan industry; (2) transitional provision: allow a transitional period up to 10 years for certain infant industry; and (3) remedy provision: allow Taiwan to take restrictive measures to compensate local industry and producers in case of anti-dumping of China. (Commercial Times, Sept 20)

HONG KONG – POLITICS

Close to a deal on a ‘referendum’ deal

Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats (LSD) are close to agree on a propose de facto referendum o universal suffrage. LSD apparently agreed to make a concession not to instist on 2012 demand, if it turned out to be impossible. This is seen as an important step to make a united front amongst the pan-democrats to a strategy to press the Chief Executive to discuss universal suffrage in the forthcoming reform consultation. Under plans proposed by the league and the Civic Party, a pan-democrat from each of the five geographical constituencies would resign on the day the government tables the public consultation on constitutional reform, if it fails to satisfy their demands. They call for Democratic Party to join their efforts.

The proposal was first put forwarded by the LSD but drew lots of debate. Media, academics and politicians general hold doubts to its effectiveness. Civil Party, based on the spirit of resignation en mass, proposed a 3-step strategy. They will first push for negotiations with Tsang, followed by having a pan-democrat legislator in each of the five geographical constituencies resign to force by-elections, and to promote a vote against the government’s 2012 package. If the two measures fail to get a roadmap in a year’s time, then mass resignation will follow. Civic Party said the major difference between their proposal and the LSD’s is that it stated clearly what it would do in the first two stages, and explains each move. (The Standard, Sept 9).

Major HK media still holds similar views to the new proposal. They agree that a united front of the pan-democrats will increase their chance to corner the Chief Executive to work harder in convincing Beijing on a universal suffrage road map. But it also reminds them of the big risk incurred. Given no trust between Beijing and the Pan-democrat camp, there simply doesn’t have a common basis for negotiations between the two sides. (Ming Pao, Sept 8 & 11) HKEJ suggested party leader of pan-democrat camp to resign in the en mass campaign will not only make bigger noise of the campaign, but also increase their chance to be re-elected in the by-election, easing pressures of giving opportunities to pro-Beijing group to take up their seats. (HKEJ, Sept 17)

Hong Kong Needs Political Party law

An SCMP article urged the government to consider political party law because the law would help the development of political parties in Hong Kong. It is pointed the introduction of the law would certainly increase public awareness to political parties and raise profiles and credibility of existing political parties. The law will regulate and make transparent its sources of finance. Most important of all, it is for public interest. There are enough scandals in mature democracies to remind people of the need to call to account our increasingly powerful political parties. It urged the government not shirk this responsibility and the parties should rise above their own interests.  (SCMP, Sept 23)