Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

 
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Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Hung case defines Taiwan

The Ministry of National Defense and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) are probably wondering why the death of late army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) has become perhaps the single most important news event in Taiwan in the past month, ruffling feathers in every part of society and showing no signs of stopping.

One reason it raised a high degree of public attention was because people imagined themselves in one of the roles in Hung’s family — the son who died from institutional injustice, the heartbroken mother whose grief over the loss of a son was almost too much to bear, or the sister who was determined to find the truth behind her brother’s death and hold people accountable.

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Repressing dissent kills democracy

The right to dissent is an important fundamental value that is universally cherished by modern democratic states. In democratic culture and under constitutional rule, the need to respect dissenting views is seen as self-evident. Truly democratic societies do not just tolerate dissent, they encourage it.

Democratic governments should use institutional means to ensure that dissidents can openly express opinions that differ from the mainstream without fear of reprisal. Authorities should also safeguard the right of dissidents to criticize the government, even provocatively.

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Trade pact stalls on confidence: poll


A protester opposing a service trade agreement between Taiwan and China is stopped by police as he tries to climb across the fence during a demonstration outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP

A public opinion poll released yesterday showed that most people support fair trade and cross-strait trade liberalization, but lack confidence in the capability of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to safeguard Taiwanese interests in its engagement with China.

The survey, conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR), asked respondents about their views on a recently signed service trade pact between Taiwan and China. It found that 58.7 of respondents supported Taiwan’s pursuit of economic partnership agreements in general; only 16.5 percent did not support the move and 24.8 percent declined to answer.

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Teach Taiwan history to Taiwanese

Pro-Chinese media have lately made a big deal over whether to use the term “Japanese rule” or “Japanese occupation” when talking about the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan.

Both terms have a lot going for them. Even from a pro-Taiwanese perspective, there is nothing wrong with saying “Japanese occupation.” What pro-unification politicians and media outlets are trying to do is to treat Taiwanese history as a part of Chinese history so that it focuses on Greater China and rejects any Taiwan-centric explanations of Taiwan’s history.

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Newsflash

Independent presidential candidate Ellen Huang (黃越綏) said yesterday that the indictment of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) over embezzlement of public funds was aimed at attacking Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

“The most pathetic thing about Lee’s indictment was political intervention through the judiciary, making it a political tool to blow away [the ruling party’s] political rivals,” Huang said during a -gathering with netizens in Taipei yesterday evening.

Huang said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) recently said the charge against Lee would point to Tsai’s involvement in an “816 project” under the secret diplomacy funds from which Lee allegedly embezzled. The 816 project was part of the Mingteh Project (明德專案) focusing on secret diplomacy with the US and Japan. Chiu alleged that Tsai received NT$2.62 million (US$91,147) from the 816 project and passed the money to Yang Chih-heng (楊志恆), who Chiu said was involved in the money-laundering charge against Lee.