- SHENZHEN -- China should
withdraw its undertaking on no first-use of nuclear weapons should Taiwan
try to blow up the Three Gorges Dam, according to some parliamentary delegates.
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- The call was made by them - as well as some who sit on
the country's top political advisory body - in the wake of a recent US
Defence Department report which suggested that Taiwan could target the
dam in a pre-emptive strike.
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- That study sparked off a public debate in Taiwan on developing
a military offensive strategy.
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- In response, delegates to China's National People's Congress
(NPC), the de facto parliament, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC) wrote to the central government in Beijing, calling
for it to revise its no-first-use pledge on nuclear weapons.
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- Their argument is that the undertaking needs to be changed
now that the country is facing hostile forces planning attacks against
its densely populated regions and the dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric
project.
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- They feel that such strikes should be viewed as terrorist
attacks and that China should use nuclear weapons as a deterrence.
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- On their side are some American think-tank scholars who
have expressed strong objections to any Taiwanese attempt to blow up the
dam.
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- They believe such an attack will bring destruction to
Taiwan itself.
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- The NPC and CPPCC delegates also want Beijing to freeze
Taiwanese businessman Hsu Wen-long's assets in China to punish him for
his support of Taiwanese independence.
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- After China's Taiwan Affairs Office and the official
People's Daily singled him out for criticism, Chinese websites were inundated
with calls for economic sanctions against the Taiwanese tycoon.
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- The cyber-postings urged the Chinese people to boycott
the products of Mr Hsu's Chi Mei Group and not to work for his companies.
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- Such calls have been growing in intensity within China,
which explains why many NPC and CPPCC delegates scrambled to ask for his
assets in China to be frozen.
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- Some analysts in Beijing argue that the delegates' request
is totally reasonable given that Mr Hsu has committed treason and is determined
to split the country.
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- In the United States, they note, the authorities have
the right to freeze the assets of anyone guilty of instigating secession.
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- To the suggestion that the Taiwanese businessman merely
gave vocal support, the delegates' counter was that he had gone beyond
words.
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- During critical junctures in Taiwan's 2000 presidential
election, he declared openly that Mr Chen Shui-bian was the only person
who could truly carry out 'Lee Teng-hui's line' and he played a role in
helping Mr Chen win the support of Taiwanese voters.
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- The delegates also said the Taiwanese tycoon had long
been bankrolling President Chen's pro-independence Democratic Progressive
Party, something Mr Hsu himself never denied.
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- According to reliable sources in Beijing, China will
be taking a carrot-and-stick approach in its future dealings with Taiwanese
businessmen.
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- Chinese officials in charge of Taiwan affairs said that
Taiwanese investors' support for independence, or the lack of it, would
determine how China would treat them.
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- Those who back independence can expect the stick; those
who do not will be welcomed warmly.
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- In fact, for the latter group, China will soon be offering
more benefits, including tax and land-price concessions, special protection
even if cross-strait ties worsen, and appointment as advisers on Taiwan
affairs to help China keep abreast of developments there.
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- - The writer is a professor of economics at Shenzhen
University in China.
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- Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights
reserved. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,257085,00.html?
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