Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Brandishing a double-edged sword

John Lim 林泉忠

Since the very beginning of this year, China has on several occasions taken unilateral action both at sea and in the air, effectively building up tension in the Taiwan Strait. This highlights Beijing’s power-oriented policy toward Taiwan in the era of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) following the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress.

Beijing’s strategy is most likely to increase pressure and erode the effectiveness of Taiwan’s jurisdiction bit by bit so as to gradually and substantially change the “status quo” of cross-strait relations.

Lai is more likely to win presidency than Tsai: poll

Taipei Times

Taiwan Brain Trust executive officer Chen Chih-chung, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would face considerable difficulty were she to seek re-election, while Premier William Lai (賴清德) has emerged as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) strongest candidate for the 2020 presidential election, a pan-green think tank said yesterday.

Workers need power to negotiate

Taipei Times Editorial

The government’s controversial amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) yesterday passed their third reading. It is a victory of sorts for the government, but the process has left many casualties, not least the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) credibility, employer-employee relations and workers’ rights.

After employers complained about a lack of flexibility in arranging work schedules, Premier William Lai (賴清德) decided to revisit changes made to the law only one year ago under his predecessor, then-premier Lin Chuan (林全). There are legitimate questions about whether employers’ issues with working hours impacting on costs were justified and whether the new amendments shifted the rules too much in their favor, at the expense of workers.

Academics urge measures against China

Taipei Times

Taiwan Thinktank researcher Tung Li-wen, right, speaks at a forum organized by the Cross-Strait Policy Association in Taipei yesterday in reaction to China’s unilateral changes in its use of the M503 flight route.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times

China’s move to launch northbound commercial flights on the M503 route compromises the integrity of Taiwan’s airspace, and the nation should reduce cross-strait flights to force negotiations with China while increasing its defense budget and develop asymmetric defense capabilities, academics said yesterday.

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