Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Japan loosens bonds on its military

Taipei Times

Japan yesterday loosened the bonds on its powerful military, proclaiming the right to go into battle in the defense of its allies, in a highly controversial shift in the nation’s pacifist stance.

After months of political horsetrading and browbeating of opponents, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his Cabinet had formally endorsed a reinterpretation of rules that have banned the use of armed force except in very narrowly defined circumstances.

Hong Kong marches for democracy

Taipei Times

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters march in the streets to demand universal suffrage in Hong Kong yesterday.
Photo: Reuters

Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters marched in Hong Kong yesterday, with many calling for the territory’s leader to be sacked, in what could turn out to be the biggest and most passionate challenge to Chinese Communist Party rule in more than a decade.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) said his government would do its “utmost” to move toward universal suffrage and stressed the need for stability after nearly 800,000 voted for full democracy in an unofficial referendum.

Taiwan ‘unwanted’ by Canada

Taipei Times

Taiwan has been included on a list of countries unwanted at Canada Day events, the Canadian Press news agency reported on Sunday.

The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei was not able to verify the information, which the Canadian Press obtained under the Canadian Access to Information Act, which provides access to information under the Ottawa’s control.

According to the report, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development circulates a persona non grata list in June each year, warning its embassies, consulates and other overseas missions to bar them from local events marking Canada Day, which is on July 1.

TAO visit shows fragility of democracy: symposium

Taipei Times

National Tsing Hua University student Dennis Wei speaks at a Taiwan Association of University Professors symposium in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

The recently concluded visit of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) exposed the danger of the President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration’s attempt to merge “two distinctively different civilizations and the fragility of Taiwan’s democracy and civic society,” panelists at a symposium said yesterday.

“Never think that the tragedy of the 228 Incident cannot happen in the 21st century,” retired National Taiwan University professor Kenneth Lin (林向愷) told the symposium, organized by the Taiwan Association of University Professors.

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