Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Poll shows 48.9% support independence

Taipei Times

A poll released by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation yesterday showed 48.9 percent of Taiwanese support obtaining formal national independence, while 26.9 percent support maintaining the “status quo” and 11.8 percent support unification with China.

Support for Taiwanese independence topped support for maintaining the “status quo” by 22 percentage points and Chinese annexation by 37 percentage points, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.

An overwhelming majority of respondents aged 20 to 44 voiced hope that Taiwan can declare independence in the future, he added.

Hypocrisy around radioactivity

Huang Wei-ping 黃惟冰

Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) wrote a post on his Facebook page on Saturday, in which he said that trace quantities of radioactive elements are actually good for one’s health.

He gave as examples the hot springs in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) and the Tamagawa hot spring in Japan’s Akita Prefecture, which are the only places on Earth known to have a special kind of rock called hokutolite. Hokutolite, which is named after the Japanese pronunciation of the name “Beitou,” contains traces of radium, and Hsieh said that research shows this rock to be beneficial for one’s health.

Interestingly, some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians had a knee-jerk reaction to Hsieh’s post about the quality of these hot springs.

Minister touts the WHO’s approval of Medigen vaccine

Taipei Times

The WHO’s addition of Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s (高端疫苗) COVID-19 vaccine to its pool marks the first time the world body has authorized a Taiwan-made vaccine and it is an endorsement of the country’s vaccine industry, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said yesterday.

Medigen on Tuesday announced an out-licensing agreement with the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool, which makes its vaccine technology available to people in need worldwide.

US’ divided bipartisan commitment

Albert Wang 王律棋

Like West Berlin in the 20th century, Taiwan is standing on the front line of a hegemonic battle between the leader of the free world and a rising authoritarian superpower. Washington has pursued a policy of “strategic ambiguity” in the past few decades, but now it must shift toward “strategic clarity” due to political realities.

The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) suggests that any military threat to Taiwan should be of critical concern to the US. Yet incidents of Chinese military aircraft crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone have become so common that it has been normalized for Taiwanese. This indifference to the threat should signal an alarm for the US.

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