Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Tyranny undermining rule of law

Lai Chung-chiang 賴中強

The Agreement on Jointly Cracking Down on Crime and Mutual Legal Assistance Across the Strait (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議) was signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits on Apr. 6, 2009.

Later that month, on Apr. 30, it was decided at a meeting of the Cabinet that this pact did not involve making any amendments to the nation’s laws, so all the executive branch had to do was send it to the legislature and put it on record for future reference.

Antinuclear protest to continue: groups

Taipei Times

Protesters occupy part of Zhongxiao W Road in front of the Taipei Railway Station during an antinuclear demonstration in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Mandy Cheng, AFP

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Taipei yesterday afternoon in an antinuclear protest that also occupied a section of Zhongxiao W Road in front of Taipei Railway Station.

At 3pm, Ketagalan Boulevard was packed with protesters wearing yellow ribbons that read: “Stop the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. Give Power Back to the People,” as they listened to speeches and prepared to march.

Time for a meaningful rights body

Taipei Times Editorial

Taiwanese human rights advocates were joined by several foreign counterparts on Thursday in calling for an independent national human rights commission to be established, one that actually has the power to conduct investigations. However, their appeal will likely end up being just another statement in a debate about commissions that goes back decades.

There has been talk about establishing an official rights commission since January 2000, shortly before the first transfer of power from a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration. The key sticking point over the years has been whether such a commission would be an independent agency or part of the government and, if the latter, which branch of government should administer it.

The only loser in the mess is Ma Ying-jeou

James Wang 王景弘

The non-transparent way in which the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) negotiated the cross-strait service trade agreement gave rise to the student-led Sunflower movement. There is only one loser in the ensuing mess and that is Ma himself. Who came out in his defense? A bunch of criminals, a ragtag band of pro-unification yes-men bureaucrats and foreign pro-China so-called “experts.”

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