DATE=3/16/2000
TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=CHINA - TAIWAN ELECTION
NUMBER=6-11732
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: Voters on Taiwan will vote Saturday in only
the second presidential election since Chiang Kai-Shek
took his beaten nationalist forces and fled the
mainland in 1949.
As this democratic process unfolds across the Taiwan
Strait, the rhetoric from Beijing has heated up. And
the world press is taking note, as we hear now in this
week's sampling from ____________in our World Opinion
Roundup.
TEXT: It appears that China is trying to encourage
voters on the island of Formosa to choose the
candidate least likely to declare independence from
the mainland. In the past several weeks, Beijing has
several times suggested that if reunification talks do
not restart, or if there is any official pronouncement
after the election of independence, China might try
unification by force.
In one of the latest diatribes, Premier Zhu Rongji
lashed out during a speech to the National People's
Congress, stating: "The people of Taiwan are standing
at a very critical historical juncture, so let me give
advice ... Do not act just on impulse ... Otherwise
you will regret it very much, and it will be too late
to repent."
Foreign observers feel China is trying to steer voters
away from Mr. Chen Shui-bian, the candidate who is the
most vocal advocate of independence for the island.
We begin our sampling in China's special
administrative zone, Hong Kong, where the newspapers
have considerably more freedom of expression than in
the rest of the country. The South China Morning Post
sees the question this way.
VOICE: The risk is that belligerent statements by Mr.
Zhu may so offend the Taiwanese electorate that
they will ignore his warnings and vote for the
candidate Beijing considers most undesirable.
In his eagerness to demonstrate China's
determination to put aside all other
considerations and rein in Taiwan, Mr.Zhu even
fired a broadside against U-S President ...
Clinton. This is not going to help Mr.
Clinton's attempt to shepherd the World Trade
Organization deal through a Congress in which an
anti-China lobby already has strong support.
TEXT: Also in the former British Crown Colony, the
Hong Kong Standard cautioned:
VOICE: The new Taiwan leader should not underestimate
Beijing's resolve to achieve reunification, if
necessary, with force. If the reunification
call is ignored, the danger of a military
confrontation is real.
TEXT: Turning to the island most involved, The Taipei
Times runs this editorial.
VOICE: The emptiness of Beijing's threats reflect the
limited cards it has to play in Taiwan's
election. Beijing has little choice but verbal
complaints, because the United States has made
it clear that any rash move by China will invite
U-S military containment, like the aircraft
carrier fleets sent to the seas off Taiwan in
1996. ... ///OPT /// The Taiwanese electorate's
answer to Beijing's threats should be a vote for
the candidate who attaches the most importance
to Taiwan's independent sovereignty and
integrity. ///END OPT///
TEXT: Still in Asia, we get an Australian reaction
from Sydney and the business newspaper Australian
Financial Review, which runs this from the country's
former foreign affairs secretary Stuart Harris.
VOICE: We should tell our American friends that we do
not want them to create a crisis by stimulating
conflict or over-reacting to the current
situation... Australia adheres to the `one
China' policy and we do not share the
sinophobes' view of China. We want the United
States to reduce, not exacerbate ... potentially
dangerous misperceptions.
TEXT: From Bangkok, one Indonesian view comes from
the big daily Kompas, which writes:
VOICE: The future of Taiwan's democracy, it seems, is
determined by the shape of its relationship with
China. The unclear prospects of Taiwan-China
relations have had an adverse impact on stock
and currency exchanges ... Concerns have arisen
that if the pro-independence candidate wins the
election, tensions with China will escalate.
TEXT: In the Philippines, a veteran journalist with
Manila's Philippine Star (Teodoro Benigno) ran one of
the most pessimistic assessments to be found in any
daily.
VOICE: The U-S-Taiwan-China triangle is the world's
most threatening flashpoint today. And I have
very little doubt that if Chen [Shui-bian] wins
(the presidential election in Taiwan) and
proclaims Taiwan's independence from China, the
latter will react instantly. A rain of short-
range Chinese missiles will hurtle over the ...
Taipei Strait ... the Question again: Will
America declare war and order the Pacific Fleet
to bomb China back to the Stone Age? ...
TEXT: Turning to Europe, in Britain, the Guardian in
London put forth this view.
VOICE: The bullying of Taiwan is self-defeating.
China's conduct becomes even more mystifying
when the predictably negative impact of its
saber-rattling on U-S relations is considered.
Congress is currently debating Taiwan's request
to buy advanced weapons systems - - which
Beijing fiercely opposes - - and China's
application to join the W-T-O. Beijing's
bellicosity has increased the chances that it
will achieve, in its own eyes, the wrong outcome
on both issues.
/// BEGIN OPTIONAL ///
TEXT: Now to the far North German port of Bremerhaven
where the Nordsee Zeitung suggests:
VOICE: The People's Republic is obviously just
waiting for a reason to attack the island ...
The Taiwanese are fully aware of the danger of
an imminent war. It is an open question whether
this awareness will affect their voting behavior
and will let them choose a candidate whose
policy vis-a-vis China is moderate.
TEXT: Turning to Italy, Corriere della Sera from
Milan opines:
VOICE: Without naming the United States, Prime
Minister Zhu Rongji cited `hostile forces' in a
`certain country' that considers Taiwan `its own
aircraft carrier.' Taiwanese have confused
ideas... [which] is quite understandable because
the actors involved in Taiwan's strategic game
- - China, Taiwan and the United States - -
are building their politics on ambiguity, double
standards and uncertainty.
/// END OPT ///
TEXT: In Spain, Barcelona's big daily, La Vanguardia,
makes these points:
VOICE: Beijing has made it clear that if the
opposition candidate wins and does not disavow
his plans for independence, "war is inevitable.'
The attitude of Mao's successors is troubling
because it confirms Beijing's unwillingness to
accept the results of a democratic election and
also because their threats contradict China's
expressed desire to become a member of the
international community and observe its norms.
TEXT: For the perspective from the other side of the
Atlantic, we turn to Canada and the [Toronto] Globe
and Mail.
VOICE: The people of Taiwan are not hell-bent on
declaring their independence. They know how
dangerous that would be ... But they are not
keen on a shotgun marriage with China, either.
A sensible Western policy would recognize those
simple facts. Rather than push Taiwan toward
its giant suitor, the United States and other
Western countries should make it clear to China
that whether or not Taiwan reunifies with the
mainland is a question best decided by the
people of Taiwan.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of the
global press on Saturday's Taiwan elections, and
China's bellicose advance reaction to the voting.
NEB/ANG/gm
16-Mar-2000 16:50 PM EDT (16-Mar-2000 2150 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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