Drought and wildfires have caused a 20 percent drop in Russia’s wheat harvest this year, prompting the Russian authorities to ban cereal exports. The export ban has sent global grain prices soaring, bringing concerns about food security to the fore once more.

It is ironic, then, that farmlands in Dapu Village (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Towship (竹南) along with the Siangsi­liao (相思寮) area of Changhua County’s Erlin Township (二林) are being expropriated for conversion to industrial use. This whittling away of fertile land is a long-term trend, but Taiwan’s government has not paid much attention to it.

Months of effort to blur the lines between Taiwan and the Republic of China (ROC) by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration finally resulted in top-level confusion on Sunday, when Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) accused the leader of the opposition of not loving “our country.”

At the heart of the war of words between the Presidential Office and Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is her criticism of the expensive plans for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ROC next year.

It has been clear for sometimes that there is a gravitational pull – from the traditional West-dominated world to a more Asia-centric geopolitics with the rise of new powers on the Asian Continent, esp. China on the Northeast part of the Continent.

However, the tilt is only relative – not the end of the liberal and progressive West with America as its leader, as many may fear. For in a closely interrelated and interdependent global society, the East and the West has something to offer and complement each other.