Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Seeing through Ma’s gimmicks

Chen Mei-chin 陳美津

On Oct. 17, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) discussed the idea of a peace treaty with China within the next decade. He said that Taiwan would consider moving in the direction of such an agreement if it had strong public backing, met the genuine needs of the country and could be carried out under the supervision of the legislature.

In another press conference on Thursday, Ma tried to make the idea of a peace treaty more palatable to the voting public by saying that a referendum on the issue could be considered.

Ambiguous Ma won’t win any votes

Taipei Times Editorial

Last year, when the government prepared to sign the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rejected the idea of a referendum on the pact.

Ma said a referendum on the ECFA would be time--consuming and a waste of money. The KMT--controlled legislature also blocked a bill calling for the referendum.

Temple hosts heavy metal band

Taipei Times

Lead vocalist Freddy Lim of the heavy metal band Chthonic burns a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) flag during a concert at Sing-ling Temple in Puli Township, Nantou County, on Saturday.

Photo: Loa Iok-sin, Taipei Times.

More than 1,000 people from across Taiwan and overseas rocked the sleepy town of Puli (埔里) in the mountains of Nantou County on Saturday night for the first heavy metal concert to be held at one of the nation’s temples.

A little after sunset, music accompanied by waves of loud shouting could be heard coming from the parking lot of the Sing-ling Temple. Unlike the traditional music one normally hears at a temple during religious festivities, this was the sound of the bass, electric guitar and keyboards, and the shouting did not come from the faithful, but from fans of the local heavy metal band Chthonic.

Ma’s peace plan pleases his masters in Beijing

Paul Lin 林保華

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) finally revealed his real plans to the public when he recently said that he would be willing to sign a peace agreement with China.

On Sept. 12, Ma’s “Siamese twin” King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive director of Ma’s re-election campaign office, said during an international press conference in the US that after winning re-election, Ma might visit China.

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