Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Obama lauds Taiwanese democracy

Taipei Times

US President Barack Obama acknowledged Taiwan as a “thriving” democracy for the first time on Saturday in a speech on the US’ policy in Asia that he gave at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where he was attending the G20 summit.

In the speech, Obama said that Americans believe in democratic government and “that the only real source of legitimacy is the consent of the people.”

Uni-President confirms usage of tainted oil

Taipei Times

Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) interim spokesman Tu Chung-cheng (涂忠正) yesterday confirmed that the company in 2012 used 47 tonnes of coconut oil intended for animal feed.

Tu said Uni-President bought the animal feed-grade products from its oil and fat-producing subsidiary, President Nisshin Corp (統清), and used them from Aug. 20, 2012, to Oct. 31, 2012. He said President Nisshin procured the problematic products from Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新製油實業), which in turn had imported them from Vietnam-based oil manufacturer Dai Hanh Phuc Co (大幸福).

Ma, China unite against independence

Taipei Times Editorial

It is nothing new to see Chinese media outlets producing dubious coverage of issues related to Taiwan and providing nothing to back up their claims — and the coverage of the talks between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the APEC summit last week was no exception. What is surprising is that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) rushed to back reports only run by Chinese media by saying that Obama had told Xi the US does not support Taiwanese independence, despite Washington making no mention of that in its statements about the talks.

Sensing the good within the KMT

Paul Lin 林保華

Following the debate between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) and independent candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the gap in support for the two men has grown. Apparently, the Lien family’s strategy of galvanizing its traditional core base by playing on pan-blue versus pan-green tensions has failed.

Polls have consistently placed Lien’s support rate at 30 percent or below. This is his core support base. It would make more sense for them to attract floating votes of the light-blue persuasion or the moderate swing vote. Trying to buy up voters with policy issues or instil a sense of crisis is no longer effective and could cause an even stronger counter-reaction.

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