Hong Kong says democracy could cost citizens dearly
DPA , HONG KONG
Friday, Mar 24, 2006

The Hong Kong government yesterday faced a barrage of criticism for suggesting that introducing democracy would lead to a welfare state and higher public spending.

In a paper to be presented to a government committee today, the Hong Kong government warned that there could be a sharp rise in welfare spending if universal suffrage was allowed.

The paper also says Hong Kong's investment and economic environment might be adversely affected if free elections were introduced too quickly.

The discussion paper sounded the warning as it reported on views it had gathered around the city over the best way forward for constitutional development.

"There were views that as Hong Kong had a narrow tax base, if universal suffrage was implemented ... Hong Kong might become a welfare state," the paper said.

"There are also views that in other economies with full democracy, governments provide a relatively high level of welfare protection but at the same time they are also capitalist societies," it said.

The paper will be presented today to the Committee on Governance and Political Development. The government says it supports universal suffrage but only in the long term.

Pro-democracy legislators accused the government of trying to scare people away from universal suffrage by suggesting democracy would cost taxpayers more.

"It is absolutely absurd," said Civic Party Legislator Ronny Tong. "The government is trying to equate people who want democracy as people who are opposed to the capitalist system."

"Ninety nine per cent of people in Hong Kong support the capitalist system but also want democracy. It doesn't mean that if we have one-man-one-vote, we will necessarily turn into a socialist state," he said.

However, the government's secretary for constitutional development Stephen Lam defended the paper, saying democracy overseas had led to budgetary pressure.

"Overseas where there are systems of universal suffrage and direct elections, political leaders face rather serious public pressures for implementing more public services," he said. "That will have an effect on fiscal prudence and the government's budgetary process."

Trust can go a long way

Michael DeGloyer

The Standard
Thursday, January 05, 2006

Issues of trust dominated 2005. The year opened with millions of Boxing Day Tsunami victims expressing distrust in the initial outpouring of promises of aid from both foreigners and their own governments.
For example, residents of Aceh province, bitterly struggling with the Indonesian army, at first mistrusted everyone. Conservative Aceh Muslims recoiled at thousands of military personnel both foreign and Indonesian arriving shortly after the disaster. The appearance of non-Muslim, non-Indonesian outsiders sparked initial xenophobia and even attacks on aid workers, including one from Hong Kong.

But the wrecking of infrastructure was so complete that there was no choice but to accept outside help. Aceh survivors and other Indonesians learned to trust one another as well as outsiders' good intentions, both in terms of aid and as mediators in the long-running conflict between the province and Jakarta.

With the Indonesian army now reducing its numbers in Aceh after rebel arms surrenders and a negotiated settlement, prospects for peace appear bright.

Sri Lanka, the second worst tsunami-devastated nation, saw trust go in the opposite direction. Government corruption and military responses in Tamil areas destroyed the trust that had begun to bloom after years of Norwegian-led negotiations. So much did trust diminish that Tamils largely boycotted elections held at year's end, handing the presidency to an anti-Tamil hardliner who vowed to settle things by force.

Trust and distrust continued to dominate events throughout the year.

Mid-year the world looked on in dismay as the most powerful country on Earth seemed unable or unwilling to rescue thousands of increasingly desperate refugees stranded by the failure of New Orleans levees. They were not the only thing to fail New Orleanians' trust.

Elaborate evacuation plans and procedures failed. Civil society, city government, and the police failed. State-level government assistance failed. The largest government reorganization - resulting in the Homeland Security Bureau, made after the failures of September 11, 2001, and meant to guarantee rapid, comprehensive response to feared mass-casualty terrorist attacks - failed to respond effectively to the most accurately and fully predicted disaster on record.

Government at all levels failed in terms of zoning, building codes and enforcement, insurance requirements, flood prevention, disaster planning and execution, and recovery operations. Thousands across Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana were bankrupted, made homeless and displaced by predictable natural disasters and preventable damage.

If these blows to Americans' trust in government were not enough, the year also witnessed their vaunted beliefs in limited government, rule of law, freedom, and the rights of individuals all trampled by the most indiscriminate, most widespread surveillance of all forms of communication ever conducted by any government.

Corruption investigations will further test American's trust this year. The issue of trust will likely dominate the 2006 elections.

Locally, trust was also an issue all year.

In January 2005, few could believe Beijing would trust a devout Catholic and Knight of the British realm as chief executive. Fewer could imagine Beijing would trust democrats like Martin Lee and "Long-hair" Leung enough to let them enter the mainland. None believed a pro-democracy lawyer had any chance replacing Elsie Leung as Secretary for Justice or that any democrat would sit on Exco for years to come.

No one trusted Tung Chee-hwa to propose constitutional reforms that even incrementally moved toward democracy in 2007 and 2008.

Donald Tsang began to rebuild trust by doing all these things. But when he called for just enough trust from just enough democrats to pass what most people considered modest but nevertheless real steps forward in our governance, trust failed.

Beijing demanded trust that a timetable for full democracy might be forthcoming after 2008. Tsang demanded trust in his intentions and trust that his package was the best obtainable. Reform failed because no one - Beijing, Tsang, the Liberal Party, the DAB, big business, or democrats - really trusted the people.

Beijing fears majority rule and Hong Kong's democratic example. Big business fears "mob rule" and uncontrolled entitlements. Liberals and the DAB fear fully competitive elections. Tsang fears Beijing, big business and directly elected Legco members. Democrats, far from trusting the public, feared if Tsang's reforms passed the majority might then fail to continue pressing for faster and full democratization.

Last year taught us we cannot be too trusting or too distrusting. But locally, we need more, not less trust for reform to succeed, as it must for governance to improve and accountability to increase. A new attempt at constitutional reform must be made in 2006 with more trust from everyone, in everyone.

`Bull' leads charge of radio rebels
Activist is set to test officials' patience with another broadcast, write Justin Mitchell and Mimi Lau

Monday, November 07, 2005, The Standard

Eastern district councillor Tsang Kin- shing, who goes by the nickname "The Bull," seems to relish his self-appointed role as a Hong Kong radio rebel.

He's faced government inquiries since he organized a 90-minute October 3 "Citizen's Radio" broadcast on 102.8 FM, within the bandwidth used by the Metro Finance station owned by Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing.

The allegedly illegal transmission, which used content from People's Radio, a Hong Kong Internet station, reached Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and parts of Happy Valley.

A second broadcast is reportedly planned today, from 10pm-11.30pm, using a feed from People's Radio of a talkshow to be hosted by Raymond Wong, who was sacked by Commercial Radio, and legislator Emily Lau.

"I don't know our topic, yet," said Lau. "We just turn up and say whatever we want to say. I think we will talk about political reform."

Tsang, a burly, normally outspoken man, chose to keep mum October 24 when invited by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority to answer questions about the October 3 broadcast.

Just before he was questioned, he and legislator Leung Kwok-hung scuffled briefly with security guards outside the OFTA office when they called for an expansion of Hong Kong's airwaves.

"I chose the right to remain silent regarding the illegal radio broadcast accusation because the questioning was ambiguous," Tsang said.

On the same day, an OFTA official went to Tsang's house and asked his wife for information about Citizen's Radio. She refused to answer, and the visit lasted less than a minute. Tsang was furious and later blasted OFTA.

"[My wife] doesn't know anything about it and is not a public figure. They should come to me and leave my family alone," he said, adding that the government was acting like communists and creating a "red terror."

Wong was also summoned but refused to go to the OFTA office.

An OFTA spokeswoman said the government does not disclose details of an ongoing investigation. "Everything is being conducted using normal investigation procedures," she said.

It's not known how many listeners Tsang's broadcast reached.

"Maybe six or seven people, one taxi driver and others, called us during the broadcast," Tsang said. "It was also a test to see the government's ability to monitor us. We want all citizens to hear what we have to say. We have limited technology and equipment and if the government catches us they will take it. But I'm prepared to face criminal charges."

Tsang declined to give specifics about his transmitter but admitted it cost about HK$10,000. It was ordered via the Internet and can fit in a truck or van and be driven to different areas for future broadcasts.

Pointing to a chart of the FM frequencies assigned to all 13 city stations owned by three organizations, RTHK, Commercial Radio and Metro Radio, Tsang insisted 102.8 is not being used.

"When I listened to 102.8 before, I heard Guangzhou radio," he said.

But he couldn't explain that because FM channels are assigned a bandwidth of 200 kHz, and the midpoint of a channel's range - 102.5 in this case - is used for identification purposes, it means that he was likely squatting on Metro's signal.

"We don't intend to attack any particular station," he said when asked why a frequency on Metro's bandwidth was targeted. "There are 12 stations taking up a lot of space, more than they need."

Tsang said that in an earlier application for a license, he was told two AM spots were available. Why not go AM?

"No one listens to AM and not many Hong Kong radios or radios around the world have AM reception," he said, apparently not attuned to the fact that AM is the frequency of choice for talk radio - such as he is proposing - in the United States.

Eddie Leung, who organized the People's Radio Internet radio site last year, said, "I cannot speak for Tsang, but my opinion is that most people in Hong Kong listen to FM frequencies. Hong Kong people should have a wider choice of media, including more FM stations. The audience currently doesn't have too much choices."

Though Tsang denied singling out Metro Radio's frequency, Lam provided a clue. Lam and other backers had competed with Li for the FM slot. "I spent HK$3 million writing a proposal but, of course, we lost," Lam said. "However I really don't know why [Tsang used] that certain spectrum."

Tsang was a construction worker with a secondary school education who said he became politically galvanized in 1989 by the Tiananmen Square massacre, and went from pounding nails to politics as a full-time district councillor.

He was further inspired to organize Citizen's Radio - which he said has "less than 15 core members and more than 1,000 supporters" and depends on street donations - after the abrupt departure of Lam and Albert Cheng from Teacup.

In September Tsang applied for a license with the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority for a 24-hour FM station featuring public affairs talkshows and live broadcasts of open meetings of district councils and government advisory bodies.

A TELA spokesman said his application is still being reviewed. Tsang said his chances for receiving permission was "harder than winning the Mark Six."

"I know his chances are quite slim," said Lam. "But he's an action man who really tries to get what what he wants, regardless of the end result. That's why people call him The Bull."

For the Chinese government a referendum is a threat to the nation


Democratic Party protests demanding universal suffrage. According to Bishop Zen, the referendum is no threat to Hong Kong-Beijing relationship.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Gao Siren, director of the central government's liaison office, said that a referendum on universal suffrage was a “challenge to the country's political and constitutional system”.

Lawmakers from the Democratic Party are behind a push for greater democracy in the Territory; their goal is to get Beijing to agree to universal suffrage and the direct election to the post of Hong Kong Chief Executive. But the referendum they propose is not meant to be binding.

Yet, in an interview with Xinhua, Gao Siren stressed how the referendum was inconsistent with Hong Kong’s Basic Law no matter its form or packaging.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa also said that the proposed referendum was “inappropriate, inconsistent with established legal procedures, impractical and misleading to the public”. He warned that a referendum could seriously undermine the ‘cordial relationship’ with central authorities.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on April 26 had already dashed any hope for full democracy when it ruled our direct elections for the post of chief executive and universal suffrage for the Territory’s Legislative Council in 2007 and 2008.

A referendum “will not help promote [. . .] democracy in Hong Kong,” Mr Tung said, for it “departs from the Basic Law and the [Standing Committee's] decision in dealing with the electoral methods in 2007 and 2008."

The Chinese Catholic Church also weighed into the controversy in favour of the referendum. Some days ago, Mgr Joseph Zen, Bishop of Hong Kong, expressed his support for the measure to gauge public opinion on the issue of universal suffrage. According to the top prelate, finding out what people think “would not undermine the relationship between China and Hong Kong”.

Proposed Hong Kong National Anthem

Is it a great country?
Yes, it is.
Is it a great country?
Yes, it is.
Is it a great country?
Yes, it is.
Hong Kong is really great.
Is it our great country?
Yes, it is.
Is it our great country?
Yes, it is.
Is it our great country?
Yes, it is.
I love Hong Kong.
I love it forever and forever.
I love it forever for sure.
Is it our great country?
Yes, it is.
I love it forever and forever!
Why not we call ourselves a nation?
Yes, I think we should do so for sure.

NB: This proposed Hong Kong national anthem can be downloaded on http://www.geocities.com/hk_front/

A Song for Taiwanese People

Taiwan!
is an independent country
She is our homeland, how come she belongs to China?
The ROC Where? The biggest lie
Construction Taiwan, defend Taiwan, I 'm hugging Taiwan
Work hard!
Work hard!
Word hard!
Work hard to save Taiwan!
Taiwan is our nation!
Hurrah!
Taiwan is our nation!
Hurrah!
Hurrah!
Hurrah! Wow!

A Song for Chinese People

God Damn!
So unluck we are !
Scared of people's action become our deadly jail
CCP ~ fallen, and is disappearing,
We officers are escaping hurriedly
Fleeing!
Fleeing!
Fleeing!
We shall not be caught;
Grabbing people's money
Going!
Grabbing people's money
Going!
Going!
Going! Go!

Japan Is Wary of the Potential Threat from China

The contents of a new white paper by the official Japan defense Agency that devotes considerably more attention to the potential threat from China has major significance for Taiwan's own security.

Last Sunday, major Japanese media reported on the draft contents of the "defense of Japan 2005 White Paper," which will be officially presented to Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and his Cabinet in August.

The major feature of the annual white paper released this year by the Japan defense Agency is a considerable increase in discussion about the People's Republic of China and its emphasis on the close attention that Japan's Maritime Self-defense Force is paying to the actions of the PRC navy.

According to media reports, the white paper calls on Japan to heighten its alertness over the People's Republic of China's intensive efforts to promote military modernization and a rapid increase in military expenditures and adopt its own "active defense strategy" in response.

At the same time, the white paper noted that China's naval forces are adopting a strategy of outward projection to complement the exploration and development of offshore oil fields and also raises a warning to Tokyo to closely monitor the activities of PRC submarines.

Japanese concerned

The new defense report pointedly described how Tokyo reacted to last November's incursion into Japanese territorial waters in the East China Sea by a PRC nuclear submarine.

It points out that the Japanese people are concerned about Chinese activities in Japan's territorial seas and that therefore "it is important that China makes its military activities transparent."

The new white paper obviously lists China as a factor that poses a threat to the security of the East Asian waters.

It is also worth noting that the new Japanese defense white paper points out that China's growth in military expenditures has exceeded the torrid rate of increase in the PRC's gross domestic product and has displayed double-digit expansion for 17 consecutive years.

The new white paper clearly stated that "China is at present continuing to adopt a military strategy of active defense" and frequently mentioned the "theory of the Chinese threat."

Its use of language such as "alert" and "pay attention" transparently signaled Tokyo's wariness about China's military modernization drive.

Military expansion

The People's Republic of China's continuous rapid expansion of military spending and upgrading as well as Beijing's declared refusal to abandon the possible use of force against Taiwan indicates that the threat posed by China to Taiwan is considerably greater than faced by Japan.

Since the late 1940s under the then Kuomintang regime, to the present Democratic Progressive Party administration, Taiwan has always carried out its own separate assessments of threats and our reaction plans in the Taiwan Strait and has over the past half century invested considerable resources in national defense.

However, in light of current trends, even if Taiwan devotes all of its central government budget to defense, it will still be unable to catch up with China's present level of military spending. We therefore need to engage in serious and rigorous rethinking about how to develop an effective response.

Taiwan's traditional strategic concepts are already obsolete and unsuitable for use in the current situation in the Taiwan Strait, given the yawning gap in the military power of the two sides.

Tri-literal cooperation

Taiwan should cooperate with the United States and Japan to develop ways to redress the imbalance of military force in the Taiwan Strait in order to form a competent defense against the various and multi-layered threats from the PRC's misnamed "People's Liberation Army."

Such cooperative efforts can not only enhance the security guarantees for the Asia-Pacific region, but also constitute the best choice for Taiwan's own security.

Therefore, by adopting a capability-oriented comprehensive strategy, Taiwan can manifest its own self-defense capabilities and can also avoid overextending its own resources and capabilities.

In the past, the stability of the Taiwan Strait seemed to be a national security problem for Taiwan alone. It is becoming increasingly evident that Taiwan's security in fact also affects the security commitment of the United States toward the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.

Ever-rising threat

Regardless of whether China has a peaceful or non-peaceful rise, the PRC's rising military clout will pose an ever-rising threat to the positions of the United States and Japan in the western Pacific region.

Unless Washington or Tokyo is keen to see Taiwan become part of the PRC, they must establish a long-term and capability-oriented strategic planning and cooperation model together with Taiwan.

To allow Taiwan to face the pressure of the steadily expanding power of the PRC's military alone will absolutely lead to the disappearance of the "Taiwan Strait problem" and leave Beijing in the driver's seat for strategic domination in the western Pacific.

The findings of Japan's new defense white paper reinforce the conclusion that only the improvement of the imbalance in military power in the Taiwan Strait and the effective linkage and coordination of strategic and diplomatic policies among Washington, Tokyo and Taipei will be able to maintain lasting regional peace.

China Lies about Its Expansionism

China, whose military buildup alarms the Pentagon, marked Army Day on Monday with a pledge never to engage in expansionism but warned self-ruled Taiwan against formally declaring statehood.

The U.S. Department of Defense said in a report in July it was concerned about China's military modernization and economic might and feared that a changing balance of power in Asia could threaten democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own.

Making no reference to the report, General Cao Gangchuan, the defense minister, insisted that China was a peace-loving nation but warned Taiwan it would never be allowed to formally secede, said the People's Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece.

"China will resolutely pursue an independent foreign policy of peace and a defensive national defense policy," Cao told a gathering at the Great Hall of the People on Sunday, the eve of the 78th founding anniversary of the People's Liberation Army.

"We will never engage in expansionism or seek hegemony and will resolutely walk the path of peace and development," said Cao, who is a vice-chairman of the decision-making Central Military Commission, which commands the PLA.

Beijing has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since their split at the end of China's civil war in 1949. It has vowed to attack the island if it formally declares independence.

Cao toed the new line set by Communist Party and military chief Hu Jintao to show "the utmost sincerity and exert the greatest effort to seek peaceful unification" with Taiwan.

"(But) we will never allow 'Taiwan independence' splittist forces to cut off Taiwan from the motherland under any name or in any form," Cao said.

The PLA menaced Taiwan with war games and missile tests in 1995-96 ahead of the island's first presidential elections.

Political tensions continued to simmer until a mainland visit in April this year by the chairman of the Nationalist Kuomintang, the party which once ruled all of China but fled in 1949.

China, a nuclear power, has far more jet fighters, warships and submarines than Taiwan. But Western expert say Taiwan, armed to the teeth with U.S. and French jet fighters and frigates, could give China a bloody nose in any conventional conflict.

The United States has pledged to help Taiwan defend itself against any Chinese invasion.

LOYALTIES SPLIT

Hu, 62, took formal control of the military from Jiang Zemin, 78, last September, completing China's first smooth generational leadership change since the Communists took power.

But military sources say Hu, who had earlier replaced Jiang as Communist Party chief and state president, has yet to fully consolidate power in the 2.5-million-strong PLA.

Jiang promoted 79 men to full general rank during his 15 years in power, and clearly still wields some influence. Sources say PLA loyalties are split between Hu and Jiang.

In a sign of Jiang's residual influence, Cao paid tribute to Jiang's "Three Represents" political doctrine, which cracked open the party's doors to wealthy entrepreneurs.

Cao also pledged to carry out Jiang's precepts on national defense building, before stressing that the PLA would also seriously implement Hu's directives.

In Communist protocol, the names of leaders are mentioned in order of importance.

In a front-page editorial, the Liberation Army Daily urged the PLA on Monday to "obey and follow the party at all times and under any circumstances."

Hostile forces were out to "Westernise" and "divide" China and change the nature of the PLA by calling for depoliticisation, the editorial said without elaborating.

China ready to use nuclear weapons against US over Taiwan

BEIJING (AFP) - China could use nuclear weapons to retaliate against the United States if it attacked in any conflict over Taiwan, reports said citing a Chinese general.

"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," said General Zhu Chenghu.

His comments were reported by the Financial Times and the Asian Wall Street Journal, which attended a briefing with the general organised by a private Hong Kong organisation, the Better Hong Kong Foundation.

"If the Americans are determined to interfere (then) we will be determined to respond," said Zhu, a professor at China's National Defence University.

"We ... will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds ... of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese."

Analysts said the remarks were largely rhetoric but also indicated that Beijing wanted to show the United States it was serious about Taiwan.

"China's leaders, especially the military, think it is important for weaker countries like China to demonstrate their willingness to defend their core interests," Joseph Cheng, a political analyst at City University in Hong Kong, told AFP.

"It's an old-fashioned strategy that is also meant for domestic consumption.

"On the Taiwan issue, the US government tends to adopt a strategic ambiguity approach. On the part of China, it wants to show it is ready to make the sacrifices," Cheng said.

China's military spending has risen at an average double-digit rate over the past decade, hitting 24.5 billion US dollars in 2004.

Despite this, it would still not have the capability to fight a conventional war against the United States, leaving the nuclear card as the only option, analysts said.

Although China has a no first-strike nuclear policy, Zhu said he believed the policy applied to non-nuclear powers and could be changed, the reports said.