Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Ma doesn’t deserve a second term

Lin Terng-yaw 林騰鷂

Sept. 3 was Armed Forces Day in Taiwan. This year, with the Republic of China’s centennial approaching, the day provided an opportunity for retired senior officers to gather and show their support for a particular political party. News media showed these retirees taking the standpoint of their favored party and questioning what justification the chairman of a smaller party with no administrative resources might have to stand as a candidate in next year’s presidential election.

Their concern has something to do with the pressures created by an unreasonable electoral system, but it also demonstrates their poor grasp of democracy. It also runs contrary to the military’s mission to protect all the nation’s citizens. As soldiers in a democratic country, it might be a good idea for them to also consider what justification President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has for seeking a second term, in light of the following concerns.

Cables show US’ role in WHO-China MOU

Taipei Times

Several leaked cables from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) show that the US made “considerable effort” in negotiations leading to a secret memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between China and the WHO in 2005, in which Taiwan was referred to as “Taiwan, China,” and repeatedly urged Taiwan not to make the text public.

Among thousands of cables from the AIT published by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30, at least four cables show a US role in crafting the 2005 agreement.

It supported the use of the term “Taiwan, China” and it wished this to be kept confidential.

Taiwan deserves US’ assurances

Nat Bellocchi 白樂崎

This week, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will visit Washington and meet with US officials and members of Congress. It will be a good opportunity for Washington to hear directly from the DPP’s presidential candidate what policies she will be pursuing if she is elected in January.

Tsai has recently issued a number of policy papers outlining her plans for Taiwan’s future, both in terms of domestic policies on socioeconomic issues and international policies on how she intends to enhance Taiwan’s relations with other countries, including China. She has laid out a strategy in which she strives for a more balanced development inside Taiwan, reform of the anachronistic judicial system, and a global strategy in which Taiwan reinforces its strategic partnership with the US and strengthens cooperation with other democracies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Thoughts on the WikiLeaks furor

J. Michael Cole 寇謐將

Much has been made in the past week of the hundreds of diplomatic cables concerning Taiwan that were among those released by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30, sparking a war of sorts among newspapers and TV stations to see which one can report most on the subject. Media organizations have been busy sifting through the 80 or so pages listing the Taiwan-related diplomatic cables to identify those that have the most news value. And judging by the Web hit counts, those efforts are not unwarranted.

The diplomatic cables’ appeal with the public stems from one characteristic alone: The great majority of them are classified (standard classification levels in Western government agencies are “unclassified,” “classified,” “secret” and “top secret,” with various means of narrowing the distribution list, such as “Top Secret, NATO/ISAF” or, for example, “UMBRA/ORCON for highly sensitive signals intelligence).

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