Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Popular resentment forces China appointed Panchen to cancel visit

Phayul Stringer

Widespread resentment from local Tibetans resulted in the cancellation of a long-planned trip by Gyaltsen (Ch. Gyaincain) Norbu, the China appointed 11th Panchen Lama to the Amdo region of Tibet this month, reports confirm.

Threats of pay-cuts and extermination from jobs failed to deter local Tibetan officials from complying with Chinese government decree to prepare a grand welcome for the 21-year old Gyaltsen Norbu.

“Fake” Panchen, a term popularly used to describe the boy handpicked by the Chinese government was scheduled to visit the Labrang monastery in Sangchu county amidst tight security. Over a thousand Chinese police and security forces, including plainclothes police, were reportedly stationed around the monastery as preparatory measures.

Ma must face historical KMT burden

Taipei Times Editorial

The latest data published by the Ministry of the Interior on political party assets showed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) made NT$3.5 billion (US$121.5 million) last year, with stock dividends accounting for almost NT$2.9 billion, making up more than four-fifths of the party’s total earnings.

The ministry’s data showed that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) promises to clean up the KMT and its assets have been nothing but a lie.

Getting rid of stolen party assets was a major goal for Ma when he first took over as KMT chairman in 2005; he pledged to dispose of all contentious assets, cease operating for-profit corporations and make the party “asset-free” by 2008.

Taiwan's "Seediq Bale" gets nod for 68th Venice International Film Festival

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

A Taiwanese film, "Seediq Bale" has been selected to show at the 68th Venice International Film Festival. This film directed by Wei Te-sheng will aid in bringing the true history, plight and identity of Taiwan into the public's eye and indirectly put to the lie the claim that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the mythic Chinese motherland.

The film relates primarily to the Wushe Incident in Taiwan's history, an uprising by one of the indigenous tribes of Taiwan against Japanese colonial rule.

Unrest in China’s Xinjiang region leaves 10 dead

Taipei Times

China’s Xinjiang region was hit by a wave of violence at the weekend that saw 10 people killed by knife-wielding assailants and another four shot dead by police, state media and authorities said yesterday.

The unrest happened in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar in two separate attacks and local residents said yesterday the city center was under lockdown, with security forces patrolling the streets.

Xinjiang has seen several outbreaks of ethnic violence in recent years as the mainly Muslim Uighur minority bridles under what it regards as oppression by the Chinese government.

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