Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Cross-strait human rights dilemma

Taipei Times Editorial

The most intriguing part of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng’s (陳光誠) trip to Taiwan so far was his brief visit to the legislature on Tuesday. Lawmakers tangled and disagreed on the podium, but chanted in sync to welcome Chen, without leaving their positions.

When later asked, Chen said he loved it because that was what democracy is all about — there will never be only one voice.

Director questions why Ma trumpeted rectal polyps, but veiled cross-strait deal

Taipei Times

Film director Chen Yu-hsun (陳玉勳) recently joined critics in denouncing what he called President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “black-box operations” in signing a cross-strait service trade pact, questioning Ma’s motives for keeping the pact secret, while making known to the world that he has two colorectal polyps.

“Why keep the details of the cross-strait service trade agreement from the public and the Legislative Yuan, but announce to the world that two polyps had been found in the entrance of his anus?” Chen said in a message he posted on Facebook on Saturday night.

Ma’s pacts pave way to ‘one China’

Liberty Times Editorial

Despite the reservations and concerns of opposition parties and representatives of service industries in Taiwan, the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits signed a cross-strait service trade agreement in Shanghai last week. This was a prime example of the “close party-to-party negotiations” model used by the two “Chinese” parties — the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — that is currently monopolizing cross-strait relations.

Stand firm on democratic ideals: Chen Guangcheng

Taipei Times

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng laughs during a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters

Taiwan’s leaders appear to have a lack of understanding of “the essence of Beijing’s authoritarian regime,” despite Taiwan serving as a role model for democratic development in China, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠) said in Taipei yesterday.

Chen, who has been living in the US after fleeing China in May last year, told an international press conference on the first full day of his 18-day visit to Taiwan, that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) refusal to meet him “reflected the fierce competition between a democracy and an authoritarian regime.”

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