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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Sphar who wrote (9149)	8/19/1999 2:12:00 PM
From: Bosco	Respond to of 9980

Hi Michael - the story is full of irony, especially in the backdrop of the recent tension between China and Taiwan. Please allow me to explain <G>, when President Lee first made the 2 countries statement, I hurried to see my taiwanese colleague and asked what's the scoop. After he explained to me the domestic [taiwanese] political landscape, he added jokingly another interesting sidenote - that not only President Lee was taiwanese [vs mainlander] but also there was rumor that he was really Japanese. You see, Formosa is one of those places with strong sino-japanese cross current for many centuries. And some of the natives do look Japanese in some people's eyes! Farfetched that it may sound, there could be a remote fear that Taiwan might hook up with Japan instead! So, thanks goodness, with the invasion of Hello Kitty, there is still hope <VBG> best, Bosco

To: Michael Sphar who wrote (9149)	8/19/1999 3:19:00 PM
From: Bosco	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9980

Michael - this is particular relevant to you [and your Mrs.] usatoday.com [full text below] China detains American, Australian BEIJING (AP) - Chinese authorities have detained an American and an Australian who were conducting interviews in a remote area of the Tibetan plateau that has been selected for World Bank aid, officials and experts on Tibet said Thursday. Chinese authorities said Dagamizu Meston, a leading Tibetan linguist from the United States, and Gabriel Lafitte, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, were detained in Qinghai province, said Richard Scurfield, the World Bank's acting chief of mission. He said the bank did not arrange or have advance knowledge of the trip, and did not have details about the detentions. Tibet Information Network, a London-based monitoring group, said the men were detained Aug. 15 and had tourist visas. The Australian Embassy in Beijing confirmed that Chinese authorities had detained an Australian in Xining, Qinghai's provincial capital, and that he was accompanied by an American. The embassy did not release their names or give reasons for the detention. The embassy raised the incident with China's Foreign Ministry and embassy officials in Xining, said spokesman Anthony Taylor. The U.S. Embassy said it was aware of media reports that an American had been detained and was awaiting official Chinese notification. Meston and Lafitte were thought to have gone to Qinghai's Dulan County to do research, said Robbie Barnett, a Tibet expert and researcher at Columbia University. Dulan, a sparsely inhabited county populated for centuries by Mongolian and Tibetan herders, is at the center of a controversial plan to move 58,000 poor Chinese farmers from arid, over-farmed land elsewhere in Qinghai. The World Bank approved a $40 million loan in June to help fund the project and build a dam to irrigate fields. The plan has faced opposition from the U.S. government, the Dalai Lama, Tibetan exile groups and environmental and human rights activists. Tibet lobbying groups say the project would reignite old ethnic hostilities and abet alleged Chinese government plans to anchor restive Tibetan regions with Chinese settlers. China has said that foreign diplomats, government officials, lawmakers and reporters would be able to visit the project area. The government sponsored a trip for foreign reporters earlier this month and selected Mongolian herders for them to interview. not good! best, Bosco