Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwanese Spring in the making

Peter Huang 黃文雄

Several days ago, about 30 young people went into the compound in front of the Executive Yuan, spattered the building and gold name plaque with eggs and paint and began a sit-down protest.

They were protesting the broken promise, made three years ago by then-premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and then-minister of the interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to the residents of Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County whose four homes were forcibly demolished last month.

Protesters occupy government building

Taipei Times

Protesters stage a sit-in at the entrance of the Ministry of the Interior in Taipei yesterday, voicing opposition to land seizures and forced demolitions in Miaoli County.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

Hundreds of protesters yesterday evening ended their 20-hour “occupation” of a government building in Taipei to protest against a land seizure in Miaoli County and land expropriation across the country, but vowed more occupation campaigns if the government failed to listen to their demands.

“As the protest draws to a close now, it is, at the same time, only a beginning. [The protest] serves as a warning to all government agencies, which betrayed their responsibility to the people, that they should be ready for people’s occupation at all times,” said Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧), spokesperson for the Taiwan Rural Front, the protest’s main organizer.

China puts husband of Tibetan self immolator on death row

Phayul.com

Dolma Kyab, 32, was sentenced to death by a Chinese court for allegedly killing his wife on March 11 but exile Tibetans say his wife immolated self on March 13, 2013, in protest against Chinese rule

DHARAMSHALA, AUGUST 17: An Intermediate court in Tibet’s Ngaba region has sentenced a Tibetan man to death for allegedly killing his wife who the exile Tibetans say had died five months back after setting herself on fire in protest Chinese rule.

The Chinese state run media cited a court ruling that says Dolma Kyab, 32, from Zoege County had strangled his wife, Kunchok Wangmo to death on March 11 this year following an argument over “drinking problem”. However, reports published earlier in March on this site indicate that Kunchok Wangmo, 31, set herself on fire on the eve of Xi Jinping’s formal selection as the new President of China to protest Chinese rule in Tibet and to call for the return of the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

Defense posting shows Ma’s folly

James Wang 王景弘

US academics who know Andrew Yang (楊念祖), who recently resigned as minister of national defense in the wake of plagiarism allegations after only six days in the job, all say that he is a good man. Richard Fisher, the China expert who wrote the article that Yang allegedly plagiarized, said Yang’s resignation was rash. However, even more reckless is the man who put him in the post: President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Ma’s recklessness was foolish. To appoint an expert on China, specializing in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) strategy, and with insufficient political experience or professional training to a ministerial position responsible for a huge military machine — with its particular culture and function, and its pointed emphasis on being “fully qualified” to do the job — is the height of folly.

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