Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Philippines and New Zealand in talks for defense pact

Taipei Times

The Philippines and New Zealand have begun negotiating an agreement that would allow them to deploy troops on each other’s soil, the two countries said yesterday, as concerns over maritime tensions with China grow.

Manila has been seeking to boost defense ties in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond in the face of China’s growing confidence in asserting its claims over the hot spot South China Sea.

A first round of talks was held in Manila on Thursday last week between the Philippines and New Zealand’s defense departments, they said in a joint statement.

Making history through recalls

Lin Chin-kuo 林進國

It is everyone’s duty to protect the country. No one is an outsider. Of course, it is the same for political parties. People should make an effort to educate themselves. The government should also support and work with people to restore normalcy in the country. Our country is ours to save.

Our country is facing external threats. Chinese warplanes have made constant incursions around Taiwan. A Chinese-owned cargo vessel allegedly damaged an undersea cable near Taiwan’s northeastern coast earlier this month. In October last year, three Taiwanese members of the I-Kuan Tao (一貫道) religious group were arrested in China.

Feckless foreign policy of the KMT

Sasha B. Chhabra

As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition.

Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening missive to its most crucial ally.

Government on a runaway train

Chang Kuo-tsai 張國財

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) are colluding in the legislature, creating a reality resembling a train racing down the tracks at full speed, with the passengers bound and gagged as ransomed hostages.

The opposition parties appear intent on upsetting the total operations of the government, demanding that everything from personnel affairs to budgeting go through them first.

They will not accept any other proposals: It is their way or nothing. They want to keep barreling forward, and they are not going to slam on the brakes anytime soon.

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