Bush said it, not Jiang
It was US President George W. Bush and not -- as has been mistakenly reported in your article ("Bush to get Jiang's help on N Korea," Oct. 27, page 1) -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) who talked about the need for more dialogue on Tibet, during their press conference in Crawford, Texas.
It would seem significant, however, that President Jiang chose not to react negatively to President Bush's call for dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
This could be encouraging. In the past, Chinese leaders have responded with lengthy discourse to any reference to Tibet by world leaders.
Also, during President Jiang's recent visit to the US, the Tibetan community either refrained from holding or scaled down the usual protest demonstrations, in deference to an appeal by the Tibetan government-in-exile.
It remains to be seen how President Jiang and the Chinese leadership will act in the coming months to respond to this Tibetan gesture.
Bhuchung K. Tsering
Washington, D.C.
We must never forget
You recently carried two articles on museums relating to Japan during the Second World War. The first was about a proposed museum for Jinguashih ("Museum complex hopes to revitalize old mining town," Oct 31, p. 4); the second was a critical assessment of the museum at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo ("New museum upholds past militarism," Oct 31, p. 16).
The second article was rightly critical of Japanese militarism, however, the first article was not.
Of course, it may seem that a Taiwanese gold mine has nothing to do with Japanese militarism but in fact this is not the case.
To most foreigners, Jinguashih is better known under its Japanese name, Kinkaseki, home to one of the most notorious POW camps of the war.
Since 1997 an annual service of remembrance has been held here. This year's service falls on Sunday, Nov. 17.
It is to be hoped that the new museum planned for Jinguashih will not ignore the terrible conditions under which mainly British and Commonwealth POWs worked as slave laborers for the Japanese war effort.
I hope you will ensure that the Taipei County museum includes a section on Kinkaseki's notorious and harrowing past.
Should it fail to do so, we in Taiwan will be guilty of the same kind of historical revisionism that plagues the Yasukuni Shrine.
Edmund Ryden SJ
Hsinchuang, Taipei County
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