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Saturday, March 12, 2005; Page A18


PERHAPS CHINA'S Communist leadership was worried that the world would get the wrong idea from the recent flurry of conciliatory gestures and concessions it has exchanged with the government of Taiwan -- steps that have suggested the possibility of a civilized and peaceful rapprochement between the neighbors. In any case, President Hu Jintao has now made clear that Beijing's policy of openly threatening Taiwan with a war of aggression remains intact. The centerpiece of this month's meeting of the rubber-stamp National People's Congress is "anti-secession" legislation that legally binds China to attack the island -- a move that likely would mean a military conflict with the United States -- if it fails to meet China's political demands. Chief among these is that Taiwan's democratically elected president, Chen Shui-bian, drop one of the central planks of his platform, which is reform of Taiwan's constitution.

Mr. Chen hasn't taken any steps toward the constitutional reform, which in any case would be largely cosmetic. Since suffering defeat in a legislative election in December, he has been reaching out to China; he even struck a deal with a pro-Beijing opposition leader in which he pledged to work to relax investment and transport restrictions and reiterated promises not to seek independence for Taiwan. Mr. Hu's answer is to mandate, by law, that peaceful democratic political activity on Taiwan trigger invasion by China. This extraordinary bellicosity is backed up by deeds: Last week Beijing announced a 12 percent increase in its defense budget, continuing years of double-digit growth that have made it the largest military spender in the world after the United States. In recent years the buildup has been designed to prepare for an invasion and to repel U.S. forces that might seek to intervene. Hundreds of missiles have been deployed within range of Taiwan, and new surface ships and submarines have been purchased from Russia.

In sum, a totalitarian Chinese government has openly renewed its resolve to wage war and is working hard to acquire the means to do so. Which brings us to the European Union, which is preparing to lift its embargo on arms sales to China despite appeals and warnings of the Bush administration and Congress. France and Germany -- fierce opponents of military force when used by the United States against a vicious dictator -- remain eager to sell weapons systems to a regime that has formally committed itself to aggression against a democracy. Rather than joining with the United States to help keep the peace in Asia, they would cater to the country that promises to break it. In effect, the Europeans place their own narrow commercial interests -- which they pursue in competition with U.S. companies -- above security cooperation with their NATO ally. It is a grossly irresponsible policy.

 美國華盛頓郵報今天除了發表一篇以「無恥的中國」為題的社論，譴責中國制訂反分裂法，企圖為軍事攻擊台灣建立法源之外，並配合社論，在社論版的對頁刊登一幅漫畫，諷刺中國持槍向台灣求愛。

　　這幅漫畫是描述一家餐廳裡的鏡頭。在一個餐桌上，一個口袋上畫有五星旗的男士，右手掐著坐在對面，裙子上寫有「Taiwan」字樣的女士的脖子，嘴巴猛親女士的臉頰，頭上還冒出心狀的星星，左手卻持一把手槍，邊親邊威脅：「不准動！否則我就開槍！」。

　　這幅漫畫的作者Ann Telnaes是美國著名的政治漫畫家，作品曾獲普立茲新聞獎。

　　對頁的社論以「無恥」（brazen）的強烈字眼形容中國，譴責中國使用兩面手法，一面與台灣進行修好動作，一面又制訂反分裂法，為入侵台灣建立法源。而在此同時，以法國及德國為首的歐盟卻積極運作，企圖恢復對中國軍售，無視一個獨裁政權欺凌一個民主政權的事實，實在是完全不負責任的行為。

【2005/03/13 中央社】