Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

228 anniversary is window to Taiwan political purgatory under Republic of China

Michael Richardson

Once a year, for a day, the exiled Republic of China acknowledges “serious government abuses” on the February 28 anniversary of the 228 Massacre. There will be a solemn ceremony with bouquets of flowers on the podium. Ma Ying-jeou will vow that such crimes will never again happen. Elderly survivors of the bloody rampage by Kuomintang troops of Chiang Kia-shek will be recognized and given plaques or some souvenir for their suffering. And then, at day’s end, the “political purgatory” as recognized by the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals will once again envelope the island in a “strategic ambiguity” that obscures nationhood itself.

Sean Lien ‘must disclose his relations with Beijing’

Taipei Times

Former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), who is scheduled to announce his bid to run in the Taipei mayoral election today, should disclose his relations with Beijing and whether he holds foreign nationality, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.

Lu is among five DPP contenders in the party’s primary for the election, scheduled for November this year, while Lien, one of the sons of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), is seen as the frontrunner among a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hopefuls.

PRC trains for ‘war’ with Japan: official

Taipei Times

China has expanded military training aimed at Taiwan to include practice for a “short, sharp war” with Japan, a senior US naval officer has said.

Captain James Fannell, director of intelligence and information operations for the US Pacific Fleet, made the assertion at a conference in San Diego, California, on Thursday last week.

He said that all branches of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) trained for taking over the disputed Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — during a large military exercise held recently.

Meeting shows Ma wants unification, groups claim

Taipei Times

The first cross-strait government-to-government meeting has again reflected President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) pro-unification stance and could jeopardize Taiwan’s future dealings with China because it had trapped Taipei in Beijing’s political agenda, pro-localization advocates said yesterday.

Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi’s (王郁琦) failure to bring up the sovereignty issue and challenge Beijing’s anti-Taiwan independence claim in his meeting with Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) in Nanjing last week showed that Ma has always been a unification advocate who does not see the interests of the Taiwanese as his priority, Taiwan Society president Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) told a news conference in Taipei.

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