Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Political purging is also a disgrace

Taipei Times Editorial

It is almost certain that political infighting was involved in accusations of influence peddling against the legislative speaker and the related wiretapping scandal.

Yet, while they have been described by some as a national disgrace, they could be a good thing for Taiwan.

Protesters tear down a MOFA sign

Taipei Times

Peter Wang, center, convener of the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign, holds a Ministry of Foreign Affairs sign that was torn off the ministry building during a protest in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times

Pro-independence protesters tore down a name board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday and clashed with police on the sidelines of their protest against what they described as President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) poor governance and pro-China position.

Hundreds of supporters of the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign (908台灣國) staged a protest on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building and the ministry yesterday afternoon, raising a Taiwan national flag and throwing shoes at the Presidential Office — an annual event of the pro-independence group.

The scope of the Taiwan Policy Act

Frank Chiang 江永芳

On Aug. 1, the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill entitled the Taiwan Policy Act. Although the fate of the bill in the House and the US Senate is uncertain, the fact that it passed the committee by unanimous votes reflects the sentiment of the committee members.

In 1979, the US Congress enacted the Taiwan Relations Act. When then-US president Jimmy Carter’s administration withdrew recognition of the Republic of China (ROC) as the representative government of China in December 1979, the US also terminated the US-China (ROC) Mutual Defense Treaty.

Curing democracy of its maladies

Yen Chueh-an 顏厥安

The past few weeks saw a white T-shirt vigil protesting the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) followed by another demonstration in which protesters vowed to “tear down the government.” These two social movements were very different in their nature, but both served to demonstrate that the legitimacy of the government of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has been weakened. These events have also precipitated a debate on civil disobedience.

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