Wed, Jul 06, 2005 page3

• Expectations grow for national security report

  ANNUAL ENDEAVOR? The government's plan to present the report this summer has been praised, but there are concerns that it may be little more than a puff piece

  • By Huang Tai-lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  In keeping with the notion that "defending the nation against its enemies is the fundamental commitment of the government," President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will deliver an unprecedented formal report on national security to the nation later this summer.

  While it remains to be seen whether or not the high-profile report will live up to the public's expectation, the very fact that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government is taking the step toward presenting the nation's first national security report deserves a kudo, political commentators said.

  "The government's undertaking of the work to present such a report shows its leadership ability as well as its determination to be a responsible government," said Thomas Hung (洪茂雄), a graduate research fellow in international relations at National Chengchi University.

  He praised the move as "constructive" and "educational."

  "The public has the right to know the various domestic and foreign threats facing the nation and what situation Taiwan is in," Hung said.

  "Through the presentation of this report, a public consensus could also be forged with regard to Taiwan's predicament in the face of foreign threats such as those from China," he said.

  The report offers not only an opportunity to provide a "security education" to the public but will allow the opposition parties as well as members of the international community to gain a better understanding of Taiwan's current situation, he said.

  According to National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), the report will encompass five topics: finance and the economy, national defense, cross-strait affairs, diplomacy and land conservation.

  Chiou has previously said that five rounds of meetings would be held before the president would deliver the report.

  Given that five meetings of senior security personnel and high-ranking officials -- each focusing on one of the topics -- have been convened by Chen in the past three weeks, observers said the report could be ready by the end of this month or early next month.

  According to a NSC official who wished to remain anonymous, one more meeting would be convened to "sum up all the points" before the NSC polishes and revises the report for the president.

  Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, said "the presentation of a report of this kind should have been done a long time ago" as is done in the US and Japan.

  The US' National Security Strategy (NSS) report was born out of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, which requires the president to submit a report each year to the Congress in which he outlines the nation's long-term foreign policy goals and the strategy for attaining them.

  Over the last 19 years, however, most US presidents have interpreted Congress's mandate rather loosely, rather than following the "requirement" of presenting the report annually.

  Japan's version of a national security report has also been presented sporadically.

  Last October, Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro presented the National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG) outlining Japan's plans for its security posture.

  NSC officials have admitted that the report which Chen plans on presenting this summer is modeled after the US report.

  Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) approves of the idea of the government issuing a national security report.

  "However, further observation is needed as to whether the content of the report will be substantive enough and its analysis thorough and comprehensive enough," Lai said.

  Lai is a former member of the NSC.

  "Now the government has decided to do it, it should present its very best," Hung said.

  Otherwise, he said, "the report would dampen the public's confidence in the government and raise more suspicions if the content turns out to be little more than academic papers or cheerleading sessions for the government's current policies."
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