Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Bold action on air routes urged

Taipei Times

SOURCE: CAA

Legislators across party lines yesterday said new flight routes announced by China are testing the nation’s bottom line and that peace across the Taiwan Strait will be difficult to keep if the government does not confront Beijing head on over the matter.

Time running out for Ma spin team

Jerome Keating

The flap over the Republic of China (ROC) flag-raising ceremony at the Twin Oaks Estate in Washington on Jan. 1 should have played out like Much Ado About Nothing. It should have been quickly handled and written off as a simple misunderstanding, a mere glitch in the ongoing relationship between Taiwan and the US.

That it took legs and escalated far beyond its merit into a week full of news replete with “he said, they said” accusations, denials and the inevitable posturing required by all sides, including China, indicates that it was symptomatic of the far deeper problems now facing President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.

Liberation in the name of corruption

HoonTing 雲程

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) claimed that the total proportion of Taiwanese exports going to China rose from 24 percent in 2000 to 40 percent in 2008 and, thanks to his administration’s efforts to diversify exports, dropped to 39 percent last year.

While habitually belittling former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Ma presents too flimsy an argument to counter the strong allegation that he has been trying to barter away the nation’s financial, economic — and thus — political autonomy.

Nearly 13,000 birds culled to curb avian flu outbreak

Taipei Times

Workers spray Liberty Square in Taipei yesterday as 14 more facilities around Taiwan reported the possible presence of a new bird flu strain amid an ongoing outbreak.
Photo: CNA

Local authorities have finished carrying out poultry exterminations at six farms confirmed to have been struck by avian influenza subtypes H5N2 and H5N8, with about 12,945 geese and ducks culled in total, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday, ordering farms nationwide to suspend butchering waterfowls until noon tomorrow.

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