March 25:
Taiwan’s Presidential Office has denied opposition accusations it concluded a secret deal with Beijing to allow the island-nation to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) under a 'One China' framework, the Taiwan News reports. DPP lawmaker Kuan Bi-ling alleged that under the agreement Beijing would send Taiwan a letter of invitation, allowing it to attend the meeting under the name of Chinese Taipei. According to the opposition under the alleged secret agreement, Taiwan would have no right to speak and no right to vote. "If the WHA becomes a topic for direct cross-straits talks, then it amounts to Taiwan handing its right to initiate and veto its participation in the international space to China." China was also listing eight Taiwanese harbors as part of China under the International Health Regulations, Kuan said. Presidential spokesman responded that it was not certain yet whether Taiwan would be able to attend this year's WHA, and if so, it would not result from a secret agreement.
March 26:
Taiwan’s former president Chen Shui-bian was brought into a Taipei courtroom in handcuffs, becoming the island's first ex-president ever to stand trial. Chen, who faces life in prison, is being tried on bribery allegations, but is also accused of embezzlement, money laundering, influence peddling and extortion, the Agence France Presse reports. Chen took the stand after an aide of the ex-leader's wife who allegedly arranged for a businessman to pay 400 million Taiwan dollars ($11.42 million) to seal a land deal. "I never had any contact with Tsai [the aide]. There was no such thing, him reporting back to me about a so-called 'commission' or 'kickback'," Chen told the court. The former president insists he is being persecuted by the government that succeeded him in power last year, led by China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou. Some legal experts have expressed concern about the handling of the case, including the court's decision to detain Chen before his trial and to switch the presiding judge.
The annual U.S. Defense Department’s annual report on Chinese military power was presented to the U.S. Congress prompting condemnation from Beijing. The report said Beijing's rapidly growing military strength is shifting the military balance in the region and could be used to enforce its claim in disputed territories. “Much uncertainty surrounds China's future course, particularly regarding how its expanding military power might be used," the report said. China’s Foreign Ministry called the report “a gross distortion of facts and interference into China's internal affairs.” In January, China's Defense Ministry issued a policy paper saying the growth of its military was intended for defensive purposes and aimed at maintaining peace. This year, China announced a 14.9 percent rise in military spending to 480.68 billion yuan ($70.27 billion), the Associated Press reports.
March 29:
According to British intelligence China has the capability to cripple Great Britain’s (GB) new £10 billion communications network through equipment installed by Huawei, China’s telecoms giant. A confidential government document reported by the Sunday Times says that earlier this year Alex Allan, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, warned GB’s ministerial committee on national security about the threat posed by Huawei to those security services, government departments, and intelligence services linked in to the new BT network. Huawei, a massive Chinese technology company that maintains close ties with the People’s Liberation Army, is providing key components for BT’s new network. Working through Huawei, China is already equipped to make “covert modifications” or to “compromise equipment in ways that are very hard to detect” and that might later “remotely disrupt or even permanently disable the network,” Alex Allan told the meeting. The report says the potential threat from Huawei “has been demonstrated elsewhere in the world.”
[Editor’s Note: An attempt by Huawei to merge with the U.S. company 3Com, which provides computer security systems for the Pentagon, was blocked last year after U.S. intelligence officials warned that it would not be in U.S. national security interests. In 2007, Chinese hackers reportedly targeted GB intelligence, and a few months later Jonathan Evans, the MI5 director-general, wrote to 300 chief executives warning them that the Chinese were hacking into their systems and stealing confidential information.]
