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

To: Dayuhan who wrote (9705)	6/17/2000 12:13:00 PM
From: Ron Bower	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Steven, And it begins... but how does it end? From SCMP "Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian yesterday called for an arms build-up to counter a perceived threat from the mainland, but denied he wanted to start an arms race. Mr Chen also appealed for loyalty from the armed forces, which were controlled by the Kuomintang before he became military chief last month. Making his first appearance as Taiwan's top military commander, Mr Chen saluted from an open Jeep and reviewed cadets at a ceremony marking the 76th anniversary of Kaohsiung's Whampoa Military Academy, originally based in Guangdong on the mainland. He promised to improve pay and conditions for the armed forces and surprised many when, adhering to tradition, he raised his fist and led the crowd in shouting slogans: "Long live freedom and democracy! Long live the Republic of China!" Mr Chen said that while Taipei would never seek to provoke a cross-strait conflict, Taiwan's defences still needed to be urgently boosted in the face of unrelenting mainland threats. "We have no desire to provoke a war with the Chinese communists," Mr Chen said. "But we do have a duty and responsibility to maintain our defence." He said that while Beijing paid lip service to the concept of peaceful reunification, the mainland posed more of a threat to Taiwan than ever. "The Chinese communists have repeatedly increased their military budget and issued threats to us," he said. "The national forces must maintain their readiness to protect our homes and our property. We must strengthen our national defence. We must fully modernise the armed forces." Taiwan's armed forces rely on young men performing mandatory two-year stints of service but in recent years, efforts have been made to steer them towards becoming a professional volunteer army. Observers noted that during his address, Mr Chen strictly adhered to traditional terminology and ideology, using the term "national forces" and even referring to former strongman president Chiang Kai-shek as "the late president, honoured Chiang". "We can say that without the Whampoa spirit, without our military officers' devotion to continue our forefathers' mission, today there wouldn't be the free, democratic and prosperous Republic of China that is being admired by the world," he told the cadets.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (9705)	6/24/2000 10:55:00 PM
From: hui zhou	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

US could make Xinhua give up building REUTERS in Washington -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated at 11.15am: The United States could require Xinhua (the new China News Agency) to give up an office building it has bought within sight of the Pentagon, the US State Department said overnight (HK time). The United States says Xinhua failed to apply for State Department permission to buy the building and some members of Congress say they are worried that mainland intelligence might use the agency's office to spy on the Pentagon. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Xinhua obtained title to the building on June 15, when the deed was recorded in Arlington County, Virginia, the county which also contains the headquarters of the US Defence Department. The State Department says the Chinese Embassy, which is responsible for Xinhua, did not meet a requirement under the Foreign Missions Act that all foreign missions obtain approval to buy real estate. The embassy says it did inform the State Department and never heard any objection in reply. ''At this point we are considering all the options available to us under the act, talking to the embassy and working with the Justice Department on act, talking to the embassy and working with the Justice Department on questions of violations and remedies,'' Mr Reeker said. He noted that under the 1982 act, ''the Secretary [of State] may require any foreign mission to divest itself of, or forgo the use of, any real property determined by the Secretary ... not to have been acquired in accordance with this section'' - in other words, acquired without prior approval. A conservative congressman said the building could give Xinhua a strategic view of the Pentagon. ''I'm very concerned to hear that what well could be an arm of Communist Chinese intelligence is now overlooking the Pentagon and has a bird's eye view electronically of everything we're doing,'' said Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, in the House. But the Pentagon was more relaxed about the danger. ''We are mature enough to realise, and realistic enough to realise, that this building is subject to surveillance from a number of different directions and has been for more than 50 years and we obviously have a number of countermeasures we have installed over time,'' said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. Sprawled out on the west bank of the Potomac river directly opposite Washington, the Pentagon is one of the capital area's most visible buildings and is easily accessible by public highways and underground rail.