Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan and Hong Kong on similar pathways

Lin Thung-hong 林宗弘

A storm has been brewing in Hong Kong over the past month or so. First, 180,000 people took part in the biggest-ever candlelit commemoration of the June 4, 1989, crackdown on China’s democracy movement.

Then, on June 6, opponents of a plan to build two new towns in the northeastern New Territories briefly occupied the Legislative Council lobby.

Toward the end of last month, 780,000 people voted in an unofficial referendum initiated by supporters of the pressure group Occupy Central with Love and Peace, about how citizens should be able to nominate candidates for Hong Kong’s chief executive.

KMT has double standards

Taipei Times Editorial

In one swift move, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee on Wednesday approved a motion withdrawing its nomination of scandal-ridden Keelung Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) as its candidate for the year-end Keelung mayoral election.

According to the motion tabled by Taipei Mayor and KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and three other committee members, the party’s image and reputation have been greatly tarnished as a result of the claims that Huang took bribes from a real-estate developer, adding that several polling agencies have also released figures indicating Huang’s declining popularity among voters in the constituency.

Sunflower movement helped lift economy

Huang Tien-lin 黃天麟

Academia Sinica member and Yu Chang Biologics Co founder Chen Lan-bo (陳良博) said recently that the Sunflower movement was “the mightiest movement Taiwan has seen in several decades” and that “this student movement will kick-start the development of Taiwan’s biotech industry.”

In fact, the Sunflower movement will not only give the biotech industry a boost, it has lifted the economy in general and the stock market, and this is not a case of hindsight being 20/20.

In search of the spirit of Lu Hsiu-yi

Taipei Times Editorial

For those who are familiar with the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) history, the seven-in-one elections in November would be reminiscent of the mayoral and commissioner elections in 1997, when the party defeated the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in terms of the number of elected mayors and commissioners.

To most people’s surprise, the DPP achieved its most successful campaign in local elections to date, going from having six local government leaders to 12. The result put it ahead of the KMT’s eight and left the DPP in charge of 70 percent of the nation’s population.

More Articles...