Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

‘Sixty percent want change’ a myth

Chen Ching-kuen

The presidential candidates of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — have been repeating the mantra that more than 60 percent of the public want a new party in government.

This is an obvious ploy to help the “divide and conquer” strategy that the “blue-white alliance” is working on to incite “down with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)” sentiment.

The idea that there is desire for a transition of power seems to have been invented, because opinion polls and media reports do not support it.

TPP-KMT union raises China issues

Linus Chiou 邱士哲

With campaigns for next year’s presidential and legislative elections ramping up, the pan-green camp is waging a war on two fronts against the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taiwan’s relationship with China is at the heart of this conflict, which is exemplified by the polarizing discourse surrounding potential TPP legislator-at-large candidate Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) and KMT Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君).

With the convergence of interests between the TPP and the KMT, two sides of this conflict are merging into a unified front, albeit with trivial deviances in political ideology. On one side is the pan-green camp, which calls for a cautious approach to China, while maintaining national sovereignty. On the other side is the blue-white alliance, which sees dialogue with China as the prime means for reducing the chances of a war.

Germany eager to expand Taiwan ties: diplomat

Taipei Times

Germany has good relations with Taiwan and intends to expand them on various issues, a German Federal Foreign Office official said on Monday, calling for the cross-strait “status quo” to be preserved.

Petra Sigmund, director-general for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific at the Federal Foreign Office, made the remarks in a keynote speech at the Second Berlin Taiwan Conference.

The conference, held on Monday and yesterday at the German capital, was organized by Reinhard Butikofer, a German member of the European Parliament and chairman of the parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China.

Repatriated indigenous bones and justice

Chang Lien 張璉

Recently, four tribal warrior skulls of the indigenous Paiwan people were finally returned, having been in exile thousands of miles away for 150 years. This is yet another case of repatriation: the return of cultural property or indigenous remains to their original country that had been looted or obtained in wars through illicit means.

The return of the Paiwan warrior skulls from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland is an important page in the history of the indigenous people of Taiwan.

In May, before the coronation of King Charles III, indigenous leaders representing 12 Commonwealth nations demanded that the new king should apologize for the violence and brutality perpetrated by the British crown. They also called for the return of stolen cultural property and ancestral bones.

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