Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Ma needs Diaoyutai history lesson

Lai Fu-shun 賴福順

In mid-September, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) originally belonged to China’s Qing Dynasty and were ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki. This meant that they should have been given back to the Republic of China (ROC) at the end of World War II. In contrast, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) says that Japan should have sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.

For serving and former presidents to have such starkly different opinions about their country’s national territory is not just a first for Taiwan, but also a rarity in world history. So, who is right?

Chen suffering from ‘severe’ depression: Veterans Hospital

Taipei Times

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is suffering from “severe” depression and requires psychiatric treatment, Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) said yesterday.

Chen, serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison term on corruption charges, was treated at Taoyuan General Hospital last month after he developed urinary problems and was later transferred to Taipei Veterans for a comprehensive check-up, authorities said.

Breaking: Tibetan man dies in self-immolation protest, Leaves message of pride and unity

Phayul.com

Tibetan writer Gudrup in an undated photo.

DHARAMSHALA, October 4: In reports coming out of Tibet, another Tibetan man has set himself of fire today in an apparent protest against China’s continued occupation of Tibet, taking Tibet’s self-immolation toll to 53.

Sources from inside Tibet, using a popular phone interface programme, have said that Gudrub, 43, torched himself in Nagchu town in central Tibet at around 10 am (local time). He is believed to have passed away at the site of his protest.

Chen suffering delusions, sleep apnea, doctor says

Taipei Times

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) suffers from sleep apnea — a disorder in which breathing completely stops or is intermittent for periods of about 10 to 30 seconds — and paranoid delusions of being persecuted, Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) Superintendent Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) said yesterday.

The imprisoned former president, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption, has been in the hospital since Sept. 21 for further examination.

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