- 英語版 RED CAUTION--- evil Ma

小芭蕉部落格 - 英語版 RED CAUTION

Gmail - MyHeritage.org: President should support freedom for Iranians - hsutung5@gmail.com

Gmail - MyHeritage.org: President should support freedom for Iranians - hsutung5@gmail.com

unjust actions

Obama condemns 'unjust' violence

US President Barack Obama has strongly condemned the "unjust actions" of Iran in clamping down on election protests.

He said he respected Iran's sovereignty and it was "patently false" of Iran to say the West was fomenting the unrest.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon had called on Iran to respect the "will of its people" after the disputed presidential poll but Tehran accused him of "meddling".

Earlier, the opposition was told by Iran's Guardian Council the 12 June election would not be annulled.

Electoral fraud

But Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later agreed to extend by five days the amount of time allowed to examine complaints of electoral fraud.

ANALYSIS
Kim Ghattas BBC News, Washington DC President Barack Obama has taken it up a notch while heeding the advice of Democrats and Iran experts who have been talking to the White House: "Start using more forceful language against the violence but avoid taking sides in Iran's power struggle". So President Obama said he strongly condemned the unjust violence, that he was appalled and outraged by it, that he was struck by the courage of the demonstrators. But he added it was important to let the Iranian people know they were not alone in this process and that those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history. He didn't mention the name of a single Iranian leader and was careful to insist again that Washington respected Iran's sovereignty. And without withdrawing the offer of talks, he signalled that the violence would impact that dialogue - Mr Obama said that how Iran's leaders handle the dissent would shape Iran's future and its relations with the international community.

In the 11 days since the election result, which saw incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned with 63% of the vote, opposition supporters have clashed with police on the streets of the capital Tehran.

Mr Obama said: "The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days.

"I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost."

He said: "The United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not at all interfering in Iran's affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society."

Mr Obama said of the allegations of meddling: "This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won't work anymore in Iran.

"This is not about the United States and the West. This is about the people of Iran, and the future that they - and only they - will choose."

Referring to the recent clampdown on the foreign media in Iran, Mr Obama said: "In 2009 no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to the peaceful pursuit of justice.

"Despite the Iranian government's efforts to expel journalists and isolate itself, powerful images and poignant words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers, and so we have watched what the Iranian people are doing."

Earlier Mr Ban had urged the authorities in Iran to respect fundamental civil rights, "especially the freedom of assembly and expression", and end arrests.

However, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said: "These stances are an evident contradiction of the UN secretary general's duties, international law and are an apparent meddling in Iran's internal affairs."

He said the UN secretary general had "damaged his credibility" in the eyes of "independent" countries by "ignorantly following some domineering powers which have a long record of uncalled-for interference in other countries' internal affairs and colonisation".

On Tuesday, the country's legislative body, the Guardian Council, said there had been no major polling irregularities and the result would stand.

Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhoda'i said there had been "no major fraud or breach in the election".

Mourning call

However, opposition supporters continued to call for the elections to be re-run, amid claims of vote tampering.

Among them was opposition candidate Mehdi Karoubi, who urged Iranians to mourn for dead protesters on Thursday.

“ We want a very good relationship with the Iranians, we also respect the fact that it's for the Iranian people themselves to choose who their government is ”
Gordon Brown British leader

His call echoed an earlier one from cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri for three days of national mourning for those killed in the street protests.

The protests in the last 24 hours are smaller than they have been over the past 10 days, amid the strong security presence on the streets.

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen said the protesters were talking about finding other ways to show their opposition, including strikes or civil disobedience.

A spokesman for the US government said it "would not endorse" general strikes, but he added: "We've seen the beginnings of change in Iran."

In a fresh diplomatic move, Britain is expelling two Iranian diplomats in response to Tehran's decision to order two UK diplomats to leave Iran following allegations UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown called "absolutely without foundation".

'Good relationship'

Mr Brown told the BBC: "We want a very good relationship with the Iranians, we also respect the fact that it's for the Iranian people themselves to choose who their government is.

"But when there is a sign of repression or where there is violence that's affecting ordinary people in the streets, we have a duty to speak out and to say we want Iran to be part of the world, we don't want Iran to be isolated from the world."

The Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy commission responded to the expulsion of the diplomats in London by reconsidering ties with Britain.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki and the Iranian state broadcaster said certain decisions were made in the meeting that would be announced in due time.

On Friday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned protests, prompting street violence in which at least 10 people died.

Severe reporting restrictions placed on the BBC and other foreign media in Iran mean protest reports cannot be verified independently.

Are you in Iran? What do you think of the current situation? Are you taking part in the demonstrations?

Comment:

Photos:

Video:

Twitter:

We're following

Flickr:

YouTube:

The BBC is not responsible for external sites

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8115232.stm

Published: 2009/06/23 21:40:27 GMT

© BBC MMIX

Print Sponsor

Gmail - [I Love Taiwan] 20090619極光電子報

Gmail - [I Love Taiwan] 20090619極光電子報

台灣印象2009

台灣印象2009: "20090617自由時報　　　扁案開庭 挺扁民眾與警衝突
上一頁 向上 下一頁

20090617自由時報　　

〔記者楊國文、項程鎮、劉志原／台北報導〕台北地院昨傳訊前總統陳水扁、證人前總統府會計長馮瑞麟、前總統府辦公室前、後任主任馬永成、林德訓四人對質，扁全程坐冷板凳，未被訊問案情，但和兩位公設辯護人不斷交頭接耳，扁認為馮瑞麟之前有關國務費證詞對他有利，昨日庭訊是浪費時間。

因扁日前堅持不詰問、不傳證等「四不一沒有」原則，庭訊開始，對蔡守訓所有�"

Tears or scorn for the KMT’s ‘easy tool’?

　

Obama calls N Korea a ‘grave threat’
　

By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON, WITH AP AND AFP
Thursday, Jun 18, 2009, Page 1
　

US President Barack Obama, right, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak shake hands in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. PHOTO: REUTERS

US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday — following a White House meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak — that a nuclear-armed North Korea posed a “grave threat” to the world.

He was speaking just a day after the US House of Representatives approved a resolution condemning “hostile behavior” by Pyongyang and called on Obama to “reassure our allies such as Japan and Taiwan that the US will do all it can to prevent and stop North Korea from becoming a nuclear power.”

Sponsoring the resolution, Republican Representative Peter King said: “We should have an open debate, put partisanship aside and stand together as Americans to confront what could be a mortal danger to our allies and also causing the situation in Asia to spiral out of control.”

“I certainly think when Japan sees what North Korea is doing, as far as advancing its nuclear program, we could well see Japan considering a nuclear program. We have strong friends, such as Taiwan, who now will be in danger,” he said.

Pentagon officials told a Senate committee on Tuesday that if North Korea continues to progress at its present rate it would, within three years, develop missiles that are capable of hitting the US.

Standing beside Lee in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, Obama said: “We will pursue denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula vigorously. So we have not come to a conclusion that North Korea will or should be a nuclear power.

“Given their past behavior, given the belligerent manner in which they are constantly threatening their neighbors, I don’t think there’s any question that that would be a destabilizing situation that would be a profound threat not only to United States’ security but to world security,” he said.

“Under no circumstances are we going to allow North Korea to possess nuclear weapons,” Lee said.

The Washington Post reported Lee secured assurances from Obama that the US would extend its “nuclear umbrella” over South Korea in the face of attacks from the North.

Writing on May 31 in the Boston Globe, Martin Malin and Hui Zhang of Harvard University, said: “China is worried that the Korean nuclear and missile crisis will provide a pretext for accelerating the deployment of a joint US-Japanese missile defense shield, which undermines China’s own modest deterrent force.

“To facilitate enhanced Chinese support for North Korean denuclearization, Washington should address some of Beijing’s security concerns, including US-Japanese missile defense cooperation and sales of missile defense capabilities to Taiwan,” they wrote.

John Pike, director of the think tank GlobalSecurity.org in Washington, told the Taipei Times: “I certainly think that the North Korean nuclear situation could encourage Japan to develop its own nuclear weapons.”

“I am of the view that they have had a covert nuclear weapons program for quite some time. They could have deliverable nuclear weapons in less than a year,” he said. “Having said that, if it looks like the neighborhood is going nuclear I don’t think that Taiwan would want to be the odd man out. It would take Taiwan about five years to develop nuclear weapons.”

Meanwhile, North Korea warned yesterday of a “thousand-fold” military retaliation against the US and its allies if provoked. The warning came just hours after Obama and Lee’s press conference.

In related news, the families of two US journalists jailed for 12 years in North Korea have appealed to Pyongyang to show mercy and said the pair were only doing their job when they were detained on March 17. Relatives of Taiwanese-American Laura Ling (凌志美) and Korean-American Euna Lee spoke to CNN after Pyongyang’s official media gave its first details of their alleged crimes.

　

---

　

Family members of slain businessmen go to China
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jun 18, 2009, Page 1

Five family members of two Taiwanese businessmen murdered in China left for Hong Kong yesterday en route to Guangdong Province.

A disgruntled factory worker in Dongguan fatally stabbed the two men on Monday, leaving a third Taiwanese critically injured.

Family members have complained that they hadn’t received any assistance from the government.

However, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) spokesman Maa Shaw-chang (馬紹章) said yesterday that the foundation learned of the incident on Monday night and immediately activated the reporting mechanism with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).

Maa said the foundation empathized with the families and would continue to offer help.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the government should discuss security for Taiwanese businesspeople working in China during cross-strait talks to prevent a similar situation.

Although Taiwan and China have held three rounds of cross-strait talks, the issue of personal security for Taiwanese businesspeople and protection for Taiwanese investment were never mentioned, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.

Cheng said the government was only pretending to care about Taiwanese working in China, because the security and interest of the Taiwanese had never been its priority.

There are around 500 Taiwanese businesspeople reportedly being held in Chinese prisons and more than 400 cases of deaths or missing people, Cheng said, adding that because the Chinese judicial system is backward and not transparent, the families of those imprisoned didn’t know where their loved ones were.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the SEF offered little help to those caught in China’s legal system, he said.

Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Fu Don-cheng (傅棟成) expressed regret over the legislature’s failure to pass amendments to a cross-strait law on double taxation, saying there shouldn’t be a double standard.

The council also issued a statement noting that the government has signed bilateral tax exemption agreements with 16 countries since 1981 and taxation agreements on air and sea transportation with 13 countries and regions.

All these agreements had been approved by the executive branch and ratified by the legislature, the council said. The statement said if the cross-strait revisions failed to pass the legislature, Taipei and Beijing would not have a legal basis to negotiate on preventing double taxation. The legislature began its summer recess on Tuesday.

The statement also dismissed media reports claiming that council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) had pressured DPP lawmakers during Tuesday’s cross-party negotiation on the bill.

In other news, the SEF dismissed speculation yesterday that the fourth round of talks between foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) would be held sooner than anticipated, either next month or in August.

Maa said he had not been notified about the time and place of the fourth meeting, except he knew it would be held in Taiwan.

The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported the talks would be pushed forward so both sides could expedite the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), and that Beijing said it would agree to a meeting next month or in August if Taiwan was ready.

Fu dismissed the report as “groundless,” saying both sides have yet to launch the negotiations on the next round of talks. The three agreements signed during the last Chiang-Chen meeting have yet to take effect and financial memorandums of understanding have yet to be signed, he said.

Both sides have agreed the next round of talks — on fisheries cooperation, agricultural product testing, inspection and certification cooperation and prevention of double taxation — would be held in Taiwan this year.
　

---

　

Free Burma concert to voice support for democracy activists
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jun 18, 2009, Page 2

The Taiwan Free Burma Network — an alliance of more than 100 groups supporting the democracy movement in Myanmar — will hold a Free Burma Concert tomorrow as part of an internationally coordinated campaign calling on Myanmar's military junta to release more than 2,000 political prisoners.

“This is the first time we will be holding a public Free Burma Concert at an outdoor location,” Tsai Ya-ju (蔡雅如), an executive member of the group, told the Taipei Times. “In the past three years [since the first concert in Taiwan], we've always had the concert indoors.”

Free Burma Concerts in Taiwan are held annually on June 19, the birthday of Myanmar democracy pioneer Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The problem with holding indoor concerts was that we always attracted the same crowd — activists or people who already know about these freedom movements,” Tsai said. “This time, we want people who probably don't know much about the situation in Myanmar — students, kids, or ordinary moms and dads — to join us.”

Tsai said she believed music was the most effective way to get their message across.

Several bands — including Kou Chou Ching (拷秋勤), StreetVoice, Indulge, Chang Tieh-chih (張鐵志) and Ko Chih-hao (柯志豪) — will perform at the concert.

“Through our music, we hope to encourage more people to find out what's going on in Myanmar,” said Fan Chiang (范姜), a member of the hip hop band Kou Chou Ching.

“I think supporting the Myanmar and Tibetan causes, as well as justice for Tiananmen Square Massacre victims, are equally important. People in Taiwan know more about the Tibetan movement, but not enough about the situation in Myanmar.”

Although most of Kou Chou Ching's works are about Taiwanese history, politics, national identity and social phenomena, Fan Chiang said there was still a connection between the band's music and Myanmar.

“For example, one of our songs, Civil Revolt, tells the story of uprisings in Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty rule because the government was too corrupt and repressive,” he said. “This is the same as in Myanmar.”

Other than enjoying the music, people are also invited to write notes to political prisoners in Myanmar or write postcards to the military junta calling for their release, Tsai said.

The concert will be held from 7pm to 9pm tomorrow at Yonghe City's (永和) Park No. 4 at the intersection of Jhongan (中安路) and Yongjhen (永貞路) roads near the Yongan Market MRT station.

　

---

　

US lawmakers question Uighur ‘terrorist’ label

AFP , WASHINGTON
Thursday, Jun 18, 2009, Page 7

US lawmakers on Tuesday sought a review of the US listing of a Uighur Muslim group in northwestern China as “terrorist,” accusing US authorities of relying on intelligence from Beijing.

The call came after the US, defying China, freed four Uighurs held for years at the controversial “war on terror” camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Atlantic island of Bermuda took them in.

Thirteen more Uighurs — all cleared of wrongdoing by US authorities — are awaiting release from Guantanamo. China demands them, saying they belong to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), charges the Uighurs and US officials deny.

Congressman Bill Delahunt called a hearing to examine why the US classified ETIM as a terrorist group. He said the US official blacklisting blamed ETIM for 162 deaths in 200 incidents — the same figures given by China for an array of attacks pinned on Uighur militants.

“It appears to me that we took substantial intelligence information from the communist Chinese regime and then used that questionable evidence as our own,” said Delahunt, a member of US President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party.

He called for a review of how the US blacklists groups, saying: “We should never forget that flawed intelligence played a key role in the decision to invade Iraq.”

Uighurs are a largely Muslim ethnic group in China’s vast northwestern region of Xinjiang. The US State Department said in its latest rights report that China has intensified religious and political repression of the minority.

China said ETIM was behind an attack days before last year’s Beijing Olympics in which two men in the city of Kashgar plowed a truck into a group of jogging police officers, killing 16.

Washington announced it was listing ETIM as a terrorist group during a high-profile 2002 visit to China by then deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage.

“They did this in a pathetic attempt to appease the Chinese government,” said Representative Dana Rohrabacher, an outspoken critic of China’s human rights record.

Rohrabacher accused the administration of former US president George W. Bush, a fellow Republican, of attempting to win China’s favor ahead of the Iraq invasion and to ensure Beijing kept buying bonds to finance the giant US debt.

Randy Schriver, a top State Department official on China under Bush and a close associate of Armitage, strongly rejected the accusations.

Schriver testified that China had pressed the US unsuccessfully to blacklist other groups and that Bush rebuffed a personal request by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to give him the men in Guantanamo.

“It doesn’t look like a policy to me to ingratiate ourselves with China. If anything, they were upset with our policy toward ­Xinjiang,” he said.

While voicing sympathy for Uighurs complaining of human rights abuses, Schriver said the US had to keep an objective definition of terrorism, noting that 2.5 million Americans visit China each year.

But experts testifying before the committee questioned the nature of ETIM, accusing China of lumping together all critics under the name.

The non-partisan Congressional Research Service said ETIM was first mentioned in 2000, but China later blamed it for attacks in the 1990s.

　

---

　

　

---

　

Tears or scorn for the KMT’s ‘easy tool’?
　

By Jerome Keating
Thursday, Jun 18, 2009, Page 8

After serving as chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for some two years, Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) has decided not to run for re-election. His case is a textbook example of many of Taiwan’s politically dispossessed.

One is almost tempted to feel sorry for Wu as he steps down — or is pushed off the stage — by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). I say almost, but that is as far as it goes.

Wu is one of those strange Hakka who, like many Aborigines and Hoklo, have a rightful place as masters in their own land but have given it up for the security of being second-class citizens in the KMT.

Why? What drives such people to prefer to settle for guaranteed crumbs and lower status that are provided by the KMT machine?

Wu has held semi-influential KMT positions. He got to be mayor of Taipei, and while the recent presidents of Taiwan have all been mayors of Taipei at some point, that was never on the cards for Wu.

Wu has never been one to risk all in seeking greatness like People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜). He has never risked; he has only accepted.

Thus Wu became party chairman, but solely with the backing of Ma.

With that stopgap purpose served, Ma is now telling Wu to step aside because he wants to be not only president of Taiwan but also in control of the party.

Wu has been the typical party man: loyal, unquestioning and subservient to the hierarchical totem pole.

Such party men bend to those above them; they accept the fact that they will always receive bestowed, not earned, positions. They are the unfortunate suffering servants.

This is said not with any reference to the prophet Isaiah. Rather, these men are simply servants in what should be a democratic society, and they certainly suffer. So do they deserve our sympathy? Or do they simply get what they deserve?

Wu was born in Taiwan in the Japanese colonial period. He should understand what it means to live under a colonial regime and therefore should realize that with the KMT, he has helped to substitute one colonial master for another.

Wu’s family suffered under the KMT during the White Terror period, but instead of learning that this is the price of democracy, Wu has only learned to bow and serve his new masters.

Hakka claim a fighting spirit and their history often bears this out, but their history also bears out that many have sacrificed fighting for principles in favor of fighting for bestowed favors.

They will do this even if it means maintaining second-class citizenship.

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) is one of a few Taiwanese Hakka who played the system in an alien regime and kept his principles. Biding his time, he rose to the top.

In the 1990s, no one did more in a concrete way to develop Taiwan’s democracy than he.

But Lee eventually suffered KMT retaliation for this. Because he fostered democracy, he had to bear the brunt of the blame of the KMT losing its one-party state.

He ended up as an unwelcome Hakka guest in the KMT ranks.

In contrast, Wu is exiting the stage in Prufrockian fashion. He has been an “attendant lord” and started a scene or two.

He has been “an easy tool,” deferential and glad to be of use.

Even if he is awarded the hollow title of honorary KMT chairman, should we shed tears for him or acknowledge the simple, inevitable slap in his face?

Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.

　

basic right of protest

A serious blow to the basic right of protest
　

By Chang Wen-chen 張文貞
Friday, Jun 19, 2009, Page 8

A Taipei District Court prosecutor recently applied for a “summary judgment” on the indictment of National Taiwan University sociology professor Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), declaring that he was a “prime suspect” in an “illegal outdoor assembly” — a sit-in protest against the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) — in front of the Executive Yuan last November.

This was yet another example of juridical abuse of power that did not take into consideration the freedom of assembly, which is protected by the Constitution, international human rights law and the principle of proportionality in Article 26 of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).

By staging a peaceful sit-in in front of the Executive Yuan, Lee and his students were exercising their basic rights of assembly and freedom of speech, which are also protected by the Constitution, international human rights law and especially the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that was signed by the government into law on May 14.

NOT A THREAT

Lee’s peaceful sit-in was not an immediate threat to anyone’s freedom, safety or possessions, nor was it a clear and present danger to the national security or social order.

The plaza in front of the Executive Yuan is the best place for ordinary people to express their opinions to the government.

So why are applications needed for peaceful sit-ins there? Can protesters be labeled as criminals simply because they did not file an application?

Several years ago, a group of National Chengchi University students staged a protest against high tuition fees in front of the Ministry of Education.

Legal circles were surprised when one of the students was indicted as a “prime suspect.”

At that time, the Taipei District Court commendably insisted on the protection of the student’s freedom of assembly.

PROPORTIONALITY

It cited the principle of proportionality in Article 26 of the Assembly and Parade Act, believing that even if the protest was an illegal outdoor assembly, the police still needed to take into account the balance between the public’s basic right of assembly and other laws and regulations when ordering them to disperse.

The student was found not guilty.

Unfortunately, the prosecutor insisted on appealing the case, and the Taiwan High Court failed to protect freedom of assembly by overturning the ruling of the District Court.

Instead, the court gave the student a choice between detention and a fine on probation.

Perhaps the court believed that it was doing the student a favor by handing down such a light penalty, just like the prosecutor’s application for “summary judgment” on the indictment of Lee.

SERIOUS BLOW

However, the judges were and are possibly still unaware that by doing so they have dealt a serious blow to the basic right of staging peaceful sit-ins in Taiwan.

Reform of the Assembly and Parade Act is inevitable. We should not only abolish the “permission system” in the Act but completely decriminalize such assemblies to protect the public’s basic right to peaceful sit-ins.

I would like to urge the judiciary to act bravely and be the last line of defense for the public’s right to peaceful sit-ins and freedom of speech.

Chang Wen-chen is an associate law professor at National Taiwan University.

Picasa Web Albums - hsutung

Picasa Web Albums - hsutung