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China protests Taiwan arms deal by Carolyn Skorneck Associated Press WASHINGTON — China protested to the State Department the projected sale of weapons to Taiwan. * Ambassador Yang Jiechi registered his government’s objection in a meeting Tuesday with Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman. Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman, said it could be described as a “formal protest.” Grossman, for his part, told the Chinese envoy there is a good deal of work China and the United States can do together, Reeker said. Grossman also told Y&ng the United States expects China to return the U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane that made an emergency landing in southern China April 1 and has been held since. Reacting to grumbling from Beijing, the White House said Tuesday that the new U.S. arms sales to Taiwan were spurred, in part, by the 300 Chinese missiles aimed at the disputed island across the Taiwan Straits. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush approved the sale of four Kidd-class destroyers, up to eight diesel submarines, 12 P-3 anti submarine aircraft, helicopters, assault vehicles and other arms based on “the threat that is posed to Taiwan” by the missiles. “That certainly was a factor,” Fleischer said. “The president believes very strongly that die best way to promote peace and stability is to make certain that Taiwan lias the means necessary to secure its defense needs.” Bush’s decision was delivered Tuesday to the Taiwanese by a Pentagon delegation led by a deputy assistant secretary in a meeting at the National Defense University. The president deferred sales of the item Taiwan wants most: liigli-tech U.S. destroyers equipped with the Aegis combat radar system. It’s now up to Taiwan to decide what it wants to buy, Fleischer said. He didn’t give a possible date for such purchases or say whether U.S. officials had fonnally notified China. “I think they’ve heard about it,” Fleischer said. In Beijing, Cltinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue advised the Bush administration to “exercise prudence” and warned of “new harm for relations” with the United States. Arms sales to Taiwan will “seriously undermine China’s sovereignty, interfere in China’s internal affairs and will give rise to tension across the Taiwan Straits,” she said. The sale of the Aegis to Taiwan, which China considers a rebellious province, could worsen U.S.-Chinese relations already strained by the collision between a U.S. spy plane mid a Cliinese jet that led to the 11 -day detention of 24 American military personnel. The White House took pains to assuage Beijing’s concerns about the amis package. But the Wliite House also matte clear that future stiles to Taiwan of the state-of-the-art Aegis system still are possible given China’s recent arms buildup. Reformer to become next Japanese prime minister V by Joseph Coleman Associated Press TOKYO — Dealing a blow to Japan's political elite, maverick reformer Junichiro Koizumi defeated a former premier to win the ruling party presidency Tuesday, guaranteeing his election as the next prime minister. The 293-155 vote by party members over former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto capped a stunning upset by Koizumi, wlio was hoisted to the pinnacle of the Liberal Democratic Party by an overwhelming show of support by the 2.3 million rank-and-file members in the primaries. The election reflects growing public disgust with the political establishment and the sour economy and the LDP’s i desperate attempt to revamp its stick-in the-mud image ahead of upper house Parliamentary elections this summer. “This election was held against an unprecedented headwind,” Koizumi, 59, said. “I promised to change the party and to change Japan, and, fortunately, many party members supported my call.” Koizumi, certain to be formally named prime minister later tliis week by the LDP-dominated Parliament, takes office as Japan is wallowing in a decade-long economic slowdown. Unemployment is high, a hoped-for recovery has fizzled and the financial system is riddled with bad debts. Japan’s political system is also in trouble. Koizumi is the ninth prime ministers in just 10 years. He takes over from Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, whose dismal year in office has been defined by a string of scandals, political gaffes and support ratings in the single digits. ‘This election was held against an unprecedented headwind I promised to change the party and to change Japan, and fortunately, many party members supported my call.’ Junichiro Koizumi Japanese prime-minister elect South Pole doctor waits for rescue ■ Plane takes off after 2-day delay by Kevin Gray Associated Press PUNTA ARENAS, Chile - A small propeller plane fitted with skis for an icy landing flew Tuesday to the South Pole to rescue a sick American doctor, setting out after two days of howling winds and blinding snow eased enough to attempt the liarrowing journey to the bottom of the world. Flying into the pitch black of the polar winter, the eight-seat Twin Otter began its 10-hour flight front Rothera base on the Antarctic peninsula across from Chile to the pole. Even with the improved weather, temperatures at the South Pole dipped to minus 76 degrees, or 119 degrees I-V below zero with wind chill. Forecasters said visibility had improved to five miles with gusting winds and blowing snow. It was the second dramatic rescue attempt in 24 hours: Earlier Tuesday, a New Zealand air force plane successfully evacuated 11 American staffers from a research station on the other side of the frozen continent. Flights to the South Pole are normally halted front late February until November because of the extreme cold and darkness. But health emergencies at the isolated, frigid Antarctic outposts forced rescuers in both operations to make the dangerous flights. “They’re off,” said Valerie Guroll, a spokeswoman for U.S.-based Raytheon Polar Services as the Plane seepages World Briefs ■ Peru disagrees with U.S. on facts of plane shooting WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration and Peruvian authorities are in sharp disagreement over whether Peru’s military violated established rules in shooting down an American missionary plane. Peru’s air force expressed regret Monday for the deaths of American missionary Veronica Bowers and her 7 month-old daughter, Cliarity, but it denied suggestions in Washington that it failed to follow established rules of engagement in the Friday incident. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the U.S. crew of a CIA operated surveillance aircraft tracking the missionary plane “did its best to make certain that all the rules were followed.” ■ Violence used to force resignation of Bangladesh PM DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Nine small bombs exploded in Dhaka on Monday as the opposition began a tliree day, nationwide strike aimed at forcing the resignation of Bangladesh’s prime minister, police and witnesses said. One unidentified protester was killed by police gunfire on the outskirts of Dhaka, and eight others were injured. Two police officers were wounded when opposition supporters ignited a tin pot stuffed with explosives and nails ne;ir a luxury hotel, authorities said. Eight other blasts near a closed market wounded six people, police said. The bombs were made of the kind of gunpowder used in firecrackers. Reprimand of sub commander criticized by Japanese families ■ USS Greeneville officers won't face courts-martial BY CHIKAKO MOGI Associated Press TOKYO — Relatives of the nine people killed when a U.S. Navy submarine sank a high school fisheries training vessel complained Tuesday that punishment for the captain was too lenient. But the Japanese government said it wouldn’t seek a stiffer penalty. USS Greeneville Cmdr. Scott Waddle was given a letter of reprimand Monday as punishment for the February collision that killed nine people aboard the Ehime Maru in waters off Hawaii. He w;ts also told he would have to forfeit half his pay for two months, but that punishment was suspended — meaning Waddle will receive full pay until he retires on Oct. 1. There were strong feelings in Japan that Waddle should face a court-martial for failing to detect the Eiime Maru before his submarine surfaced rapidly in a demonstration of emergency procedures for the benefit of 16 civilians aboard. All other officers of the Greeneville also escaped courts-martial. “It’s unforgivable that the matter should be settled with this sort of punishment after so many questions were left unanswered by the court of inquiry,” said Ryosuke Terata, whose 17-year-old son Yusuke was lost in the accident. Some said the reprimand only confirmed their suspicion that the U.S. Navy would protect its own. “Since the captain was being judged by his peers, I wasn’t expecting much to come out of the trial,” said Kazuhiko Segawa, son of 60-year-old HirotakaSegawa, chief of communications aboard the Eliime Maru. The Japanese government said it won’t demand tougher punishment for Waddle. “The Japanese government considers that the U.S. government has acknowledged all responsibilities regarding tliis incident,” said Kazuhiko Koshikawa, spokesman for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Court OKs arrests for minor offenses by Anne Gearan Associated Press WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police can arrest and handcuff people for minor traffic offenses, saying the authority flows naturally from the right to pull someone over. The court ruled 5-4 in the case of a Texas woman handcuffed in front of her small children iuid briefly jailed for failing to wear a scat belt. Gail Atwater said the belts were unfastened only to help the family peer out for a distraught 4 year old's lost toy. A police officer saw her as cndiuigering her children iuid ordered her to jail. “The question is whether the Fourth Amendment forbids a wamuillcss arrest for a minor criminal ollensc, such as a misdemeanor seat bell violation punishable only by a fine. We hold that it does not,’’ Justice David II. Souler wrote for the court majority. Unpersuadcd, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the minority that the ruling “cloaks the pointless indignity that Gail Atwater suffered with the mantle of reasonableness.” The decision could affect any of the nation’s 185 million licensed drivers. Texas is one of several states with laws specifically allowing this kind of arrest, and tlic Supreme Court ruling means other states could pass similar laws without fear of constitutional problems. Although Atwater is white, Steven Shapiro, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said lie was concerned that police stopping minority drivers through racial profiling would use the case to justify arrests. Tlic issue for tlic court wasn’t whcllicr Officer Bart Turek had the right to stop Atwater in the 1997 incident in Lugo Vista, Texas. He did, because with one look at 4-ycar-old Muckinlcy's liice pressed against tlic windshield of Atwater's pickup truck, Turek saw a clear violation. Atwater conceded that point, but said I’urok didn’t have the right to arrest her and place her in a cell for an hour before she posted bail. That was, in effect, a punishment worse than the maximum $50 fine the state could collect for a seat belt violation, and was therefore unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, she said. Police officers at the side of a road shouldn’t have to figure out where to draw that line, Souter wrote on behalf of himself and an unusual lineup of justices. “Tliere is no dispute that Officer Turek liad probable cause to believe that Atwater had committed a crime in his presence. She admits that neither she nor her children were wearing scat belts,” Souter wrote for the majority. “Turek was accordingly authorized (but) not required... to make a custodial arrest without balancing costs and benefits to determine whether or not Atwater's iutcsI was in some sense necessary.” Atwater's arrest was surely embarrassing and might not have been necessary, but it was nonetheless constitutional, Souter wrote. Such cases arc rare, and don’t merit “development of a new and distinct brnly of constitutional law,” lie wrote. I_T .... _ ■ It's a simple calculation: TIAA-CREF’s low expenses mean more money working for you. ra/tu/atory The equation is easy. Lower expenses in managing a fund can equal better performance. I How much? Just take a look at the chart. Then call us. Well send you a free, easy-to-use expense calculator so you can see for yourself that no matter what your investment, you'll benefit from low expenses. 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