EAST ASIA

TAIWAN LEADER FIRST FROM NATIONALIST PARTY TO VISIT CHINA

The first leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party to set foot in mainland China since its civil war defeat by the communists 55 years ago arrived at Beijing yesterday.

Lien Chan left a minor riot in his wake as opponents accusing him of “selling out to China” fought with his supporters at Taiwan’s Chiang Kai-shek airport.

Both Mr. Lien, whose party heads the Taiwanese opposition, and the Chinese government say the visit heralds a thaw in relations that could ease one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints.

The Taiwanese government fears that it represents a treacherous alliance aimed at ending the rule of its president, Chen Shui-bian, whose previous support for independence has made him China’s most-hated international figure.

On December 10, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, the nationalist party or Kuomintang dictator who had spent two decades failing to unify China, fled Mao Tse-tung’s Red Army and flew to his last outpost across the Taiwan Straits.

For as long as Chiang maintained his iron grip on the island, his claim to be the legitimate ruler of all China made relations with Beijing all but impossible.

As Taiwan turned to democracy after his death in 1975 and China introduced reforms, quiet negotiations grew. Taiwanese were among the biggest investors in the mainland’s revived economy. Mr. Lien’s visit is a tacit recognition of what some Chinese now feel: that the Kuomintang and the modern Communist Party – business-oriented, nationalist, and corrupt – are not as different as they once were. His meeting on Friday with Hu Jintao, the communist leader, is the culmination of Beijing’s carrot-and-stick policy, which alternates threats to invade the island with offers of concessions for acceptance of ultimate reunification.

– The Daily Telegraph

WESTERN EUROPE

EUROPEAN GROUP CONDEMNS AMERICA FOR GUANTANAMO ‘TORTURE’

Europe’s human-rights body condemned America yesterday for using what it termed “torture” on terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and it called on European countries not to cooperate in interrogating Guantanamo detainees.

A Pentagon spokesman said America was running “a safe, humane, and professional detention operation at Guantanamo that is providing valuable information in the war on terror.” In a resolution, the Council of Europe also urged America to cease the practice of secret detentions and to investigate all instances of unlawful treatment of detainees at the naval base in eastern Cuba. “The circumstances surrounding detentions by the USA at Guantanamo Bay show unlawfulness on grounds including the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees,” said the resolution, adopted by the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly.

– Associated Press

PROSECUTORS ASK JUDGE TO CHARGE BERLUSCONI

ROME – Italian prosecutors asked a judge yesterday to charge Premier Berlusconi and 12 others with tax fraud and embezzlement stemming from a deal by his broadcast company to purchase television rights for American movies, a prosecutor said.

Prosecutors in Milan allege that Berlusconi-owned Mediaset purchased the TV rights for American movies before 1999 through two offshore companies and falsely declared the purchase costs to Italian tax authorities to lower the company’s taxes.

A prosecutor involved in the case told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that authorities want to try Mr. Berlusconi on charges of false accounting, tax fraud, and embezzlement. Mr. Berlusconi has denied the charges.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

ABBAS NAMES NEW SECURITY CHIEF

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian Arab leader Mahmoud Abbas appointed a new head yesterday of a powerful agency in charge of reining in Palestinian militants, his latest step in meeting American and Israeli demands to reform his security forces.

The new Preventive Security Service chief, Rashid Abu Shbak, 50, was commander of the service’s Gaza branch for two years and spent 17 years in Israeli jails. His appointment follows a pattern of clearing away the late Yasser Arafat’s top allies and installing a fresh leadership. On Saturday, Mr. Abbas consolidated the nine branches of his security service into three and signed off on the forced retirement of two leading security officials, who are among 1,150 to be eased out under a retirement plan announced this month.

– Associated Press