IRVINE — The Irvine City Council presented a Resolution late Tuesday night addressing the recent Xuhui District, Shanghai, People's Republic of China Sister City Agreement.
A controversial Memorandum delivered by the Chinese communist regime was part of the Agreement process and hoped to restrict actions by Irvine and Taiwanese officials in exchange for the Xuhui Sister City partnership.
The controversial Memorandum which was signed on May 30, 2006, was reported to Irvine officials on June 8 at the Irvine Sister Cities Foundation meeting. The controversy ended Tuesday after nearly three weeks of meetings, emails and phone calls. The Memorandum and Agreement attempted to make the Sister City relationship, something that is non-political, into something political.
City Council Apologizes
After repeated apologies by the City Council to the people of Taiwan and Taiwanese in Irvine, an agreement was reached at 11:29 p.m. This was after almost five hours of council discussion and testimonials from Taiwan public supporters including Taiwanese residents and cultural group officials.
"The accountability is in Xuhui's court," said Mayor Beth Krom. During a round table meeting between mayors and officials from both Sister City participants, Valerie Larenne, Irvine's Community Partnerships Administrator was taken to another room and presented a memorandum to sign just before the official Sister City signing ceremony in Xuhui on May 30, 2006.
Henry King, the Sister Cities Foundation Steering Committee Chairman along with Tina Tian, presented the Memorandum to Larenne according to a report prepared by Daniel Jung, Executive Assistant to the City Manager of Irvine. King, who is Chinese, is also the husband of councilmember Larry Agran's executive assistant.
Unacceptable Political Conditions in the Controversial Memorandum
The prepared memorandum which was in both English and Chinese stated, "…We promise that there will be no occurrence of 'two Chinas' or "one China, one Taiwan' and that on any occasions and in any forms the names of 'Republic of China' and 'Taiwan' will not be used and its so-called 'national flag' and 'national anthem' will not be hung and played. The city officials of Irvine will not visit Taiwan Province in their official capacities and will not attend the so-called 'National Day' celebrations and other activities."
According to the city manager's report, Larenne voiced her concerns about the provision that City officials would not visit Taiwan nor attend the National Day celebration. "The report also stated, "Ms. Larenne was concerned that if she did not sign the document the official ceremony would be cancelled." Larenne was assured that the language was consistent with U.S. government policy.
"It's absolutely wrong," said city councilmember Christina Shea. "I have had a lot of concern about this." Shea was apprehensive about the Agreement and its wording since the beginning of the Sister City process. She told of the revisions to remove political wording since seeing the original pamphlet from Xuhui. "This came from Beijing," Shea commented in regards to the attempt to put politics into the partnership with the controversial memorandum.
Shea also spoke of how a Chinese garden to be located in Irvine's Great Park was part of the hidden agenda of the Chinese communist regime. Shea commented that she was disappointed with the behavior of King, the Steering Committee member, who presented the Memorandum to Larenne.
"We need to stand up to the bullying of China because it is relentless," said Thomas Lee, M.D., a former Irvine resident. Lee, spoke of how the World Health Organization was stopped from helping with the SARS epidemic in Taiwan. Lee said that China's communist regime wanted to hide any reports that stated the Mainland was the source of the disease in Taiwan.
Lee also told of how a Miss Universe beauty contestant in Panama was forced to change her sash from Miss Taiwan to Miss Chinese Taipei because of pressure from Beijing.
Bruce Herschensohn Addressed the City Council
Political analyst Bruce Herschensohn (and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Pepperdine University) spoke to the council and audience about President Kennedy and his book Profiles in Courage.
Herschensohn said that council members Christina Shea and Steven Choi deserved to have a chapter in the book for their courage to speak up at the meeting.
"Stick to it," Herschensohn advised the council members. He said that the People's Republic of China and the U.S. State Department will both put pressure on the city and council.
City Council Unanimously Passed the Resolution
The city council unanimously passed the Resolution which was created from three proposals, two of which arrived during the meeting. The final results came through a process of each side making compromises and the public's wish to remove anything political from the partnership.
Many speakers, including the Taiwanese, hoped to maintain the Xuhui District Sister City relationship. They just wished to eliminate political wording from all documents and wanted respect for Taiwan's identity.
In part, the new Resolution states, "…The City of Irvine affirms its intent to honor and maintain its Sister City relationship with both Taoyuan City, Taiwan and Xuhui District, Shanghai, China." However, the wording and/or status of the official sister city agreement with Xuhui District still needs to be determined by the Chinese communist regime and City of Irvine.
The Resolution rescinded the May 30, 2006 Memorandum and also prohibits any staff member from signing "an Agreement, Memorandum or any other document specifying the terms of a Sister City relationship without the prior majority approval of the City Council…"
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