Wed, Oct 06, 1999 page3

• Lee refrains from attacking China

  NEWS CONFERENCE The president concentrated on issues connected with disaster relief as well as thanking domestic and foreign rescue workers

  • By Oliver Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  Offered two opportunities during a news conference yesterday to attack China's "scoring of political points" over 921 earthquake relief, President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) refrained from making new criticisms of China, saying he is more interested in disaster relief.

  Lee gave a news conference at the presidential office yesterday dedicated to issues related with the 921 earthquake.

  After the Sept. 21 quake that killed more than 2,000 people, China on several occasions has used the disaster to reinforce its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. China's foreign ministry, for example, thanked the world for extending assistance to Taiwan -- while the UN, before sending a rescue team to Taiwan, had to ask China's permission.

  

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Referring to such actions from Beijing, two separate but similar questions were posed to Lee.

  At first, he brushed away the question by saying that he had been too busy visiting quake-stricken areas and had not had time to read newspapers, and did not know what China was doing.

  When the question was raised again, Lee said: "That's why I said cross-Strait relations are `special state-to-state relations.'"

  "If [China] goes on in this way, [we] cannot do anything," he said.

  But he still refused to give a more specific statement.

  "I am not going to make any comment," he said. "You [reporters] write [your comments]. I'm not going to say [anything about it]."

  Lee is well-known for his candor, but when -- as yesterday -- he is not his usual straightforward self, observers are left baffled.

  "I am surprised," said Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), a political analyst with National Chengchi University, suggesting that Lee was speaking out of character.

  "People are angry with what China did to us during the quake. If he had had angry words for China, it would have been the right thing to do," Wu said.

  "It's weird. Maybe he thinks that what's been said [about China] in the newspapers is enough."

  Avoiding comment on cross-Strait issues was a way of showing the government's priorities, presidential office officials said.

  "President Lee hopes to concentrate on issues surrounding disaster relief. It is also a reflection of what people most want," said Lin Bih-jaw (林碧炤), a deputy secretary-general at the presidential office. "There is no inside story."

  Lee did, however, defend the government's actions after the earthquake and thanking both domestic and foreign rescue workers.

  "Our most important task is to leave the shadow of sadness behind us and rebuild our homes," he said.

  Lee said Taiwan had moved much faster than Japan and Turkey to rescue people and provide compensation to victims' relatives.

  The president said Japanese legislators told him that Taiwan's response was faster than Japan's was when a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Kobe in 1995, killing 6,000 people.

  Lee refuted reports that the government was inefficient enough after the quake.

  "A Japanese lawmaker who is very familiar with relief work of the Great Hanshin Earthquake told me that we were three times more efficient than the Japanese government," Lee said.

  "I know the government could not possibly make everyone happy after the great disaster, but I am confident that we will do a good job in rebuilding our homes," he said.

  Lee also dismissed suggestions that the central government was considering setting up a large-scale rescue force such as the US' Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in preparation for future disasters.

  "We are a small country, so the National Fire Administration we have now should be enough," he said. "What we need to do is to reinforce its equipment and training."

  Despite the confusion over Lee's comments, Wu said the press conference was not a time for policy pronouncements.

  The meeting was more form than substance, he said, as details of new policies are supposed to be supplied by the premier.

  "This is an occasion to narrow the gap between the government and people, especially when it is a time that people have some misunderstanding about the government," he said.
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