Taipei residents have alleged that commemorative products for the Taipei International Flora Exposition which begins on Nov. 6, dubbed by Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) as the nation’s biggest ever international exhibition, are almost all made in China.

Angry residents contacted the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) to complain about the issue saying they were shocked to find the products were made in China, with one resident saying although he originally felt proud about Taipei holding the expo, now he felt ashamed after he purchased some commemorative products to give to foreign friends and found the products were labeled “made in China.”

Curfews at dormitories, bans on demonstrations, skyrocketing tuition and gender inequalities in school regulations are among the violations of student rights’ that are still common at schools, a group of students said yesterday after investigating 65 universities across the country.

“Apparently, many schools are still under martial law, since more than 60 percent of the universities in the country still have school rules restricting students’ rights to hold assemblies and demonstrations,” Cheng Yi-chan (鄭亦展), a student at Chang Gung University’s Computer Science and Information Engineering Department and a member of the Student Rights Team, told a forum yesterday.

Despite the government’s posturing about its success in cross-strait and foreign policies, Washington is concerned about President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) linear approach, a national security expert said yesterday.

Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), a researcher at the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank and a former aide to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), said Chen’s “zigzag” strategy made him unpredictable in ­setting policy during his two terms in office.