Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taking the credit, leaving the scraps

Taipei Times

The US has announced it will not sell Taiwan F-16C/Ds, but will upgrade its F-16A/Bs. Taiwan’s fighter jets are old, while the capabilities of China’s jets keep improving, expanding the gap between China’s and Taiwan’s air forces. The US arms package is like a short rain after a long drought — it won’t end the drought, but it will bring short-term relief. Taiwan may be unhappy about the deal, but must accept it.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Office and the Cabinet applauded the US’ decision. A pleased President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) tried to claim credit, saying the arms purchase budget since he took office has exceeded that of former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) 12 years in office and former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) eight years in office. He also said this proves he has done more to improve the military’s war preparedness than Lee and Chen together.

Man torches himself in front of Presidential Office

Taipei Times

An elderly man doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in front of the Presidential Office early yesterday to protest what he called “judicial injustice.”

The 71-year-old man, surnamed Tseng (曾), pulled his car up to the west end of the Presidential Office plaza in Taipei at 6:58am and set himself alight as soon as he stepped out of the vehicle, Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) said.

The police, who found about 13 liters of gasoline in two containers in Tseng’s car, believe he doused himself with gasoline before getting out of the car.

Annette Lu calls on pan-green camp to help Hung Mao-kun

Taipei Times

Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called on members of the pan-green camp to raise money for Hung Mao-kun (洪茂坤), one of the founding members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who fell into financial difficulies after requiring expensive targeted therapy for liver cancer.

Hung was hospitalized in November last year to undergo Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE) surgery to treat a liver tumor, often a precursor to liver cancer.

The surgery was not successful and cancer cells were discovered during hospitalization, said Hung, who left hospital after 97 days.

Taiwan is the First Taiwanese Democracy Not the First Chinese Democracy

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Many pundits in North America and Asia often talk about Taiwan being the first Chinese democracy in the world, but this way of phrasing it is not correct. What most journalists and opinion-shapers in the West have not yet woken up to is that an important paradigm shift and change of perspective has taken place an Asia, and it is this: Taiwan is not the first Chinese democracy; Taiwan is the first Taiwanese democracy. Give credit where it is due.

This may seem like word play to American readers, but behind it lies their continuing misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Taiwanese history. In that history, Taiwan or parts of the island have been ruled by various colonial powers, including the Dutch, the Spanish, the fleeing Ming diaspora, and the Manchu Qing, among others. Japan, it should be noted, was the first colonial power to rule and control the entire island of Taiwan; that was from 1895 to 1945.

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