Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

KMT, TPP test limits of democracy

The Liberty Times Editorial

A bill forced through the Legislative Yuan on May 28 by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers to expand the legislature’s power is procedurally unjust. The package of amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) would prohibit government officials from counter-questioning legislators, create a “contempt of the legislature” offense and increase the body’s investigative and examination powers. The changes would even require the president to immediately answer any legislators’ questions after delivering a “state of the nation” report at the Legislative Yuan. The reforms are widely regarded as an excessive expansion of the legislature’s power and an infringement of human rights.

US clarity key in Strait: ex-commander

Taipei Times

Current and former US military leaders are increasingly urging Washington to abandon its long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity” to counter Beijing’s attempts to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday.

“Strategic ambiguity has had its day and it’s time to move to strategic clarity,” retired admiral Harry Harris, former commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told the magazine on the sidelines of the Global Energy Security Talks in Tokyo.

“The Taiwan Relations Act calls for a peaceful resolution and calls for the status quo,” Harris said. “China has changed the status quo and is acting belligerently with regard to Taiwan, so that obligates us to do certain things to help Taiwan.”

Remembering the Tiananmen spirit

Taipei Times Editorial

While the world just commemorated the 35th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre in China, it should also keep an eye out on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) escalating suppression of freedom and democracy.

From the night of June 3, 1989, to dawn of the next day, convoys of Chinese troops and tanks entered central Beijing to clear Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of thousands of students and other people had gathered to demand political reforms and freedoms. While refusing to acknowledge responsibility for the killings, the CCP government has never released an official death toll, but estimates range from several hundred to a few thousand.

Building on growing ties with Japan

Chiu Chih-wei 邱志偉

Following the inauguration of President William Lai (賴清德) on May 20, Taiwan’s representative to Japan said that a delegation of 37 Japanese legislators from across all parties attended the swearing-in ceremony. Also present was the wife of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. These attendances mark a new high in bilateral relations.

During her eight years in office, the administration of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) continued to elevate the status of Taiwan-Japan relations. Not only was Japan’s representative office renamed the “Taiwan-Japan Economic and Cultural Office,” Taiwanese-Japanese amity has expanded in all areas, ranging from tourism to the building of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) newest foundries in Kumamoto.

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