Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

We must not be fooled by the talk of a ‘peace bonus’

Lin Cheng-yi 林正義

During Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) recent state visit to the US, US President Barack Obama arranged both a state banquet and a private dinner for Hu. However, the editorials of the leading US media outlets were largely cold toward Hu.

An editorial published in the New York Times on Jan. 17 stated that: “State dinners and 21-gun salutes are ephemeral. What will earn China respect as a major power is if it behaves responsibly. That must be Mr. Obama’s fundamental message.”

Cracker may be built overseas

Taipei Times

Relocating the development project for Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co’s proposed eighth naphtha cracker overseas could be an option amid opposition to constructing the plant in Taiwan, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said yesterday.

On a visit to Academia Sinica, Shih said that from an economic point of view, major development projects such as naphtha crackers should be built in Taiwan, but added that the government would not oppose relocating such projects overseas if the environmental cost was “too heavy to bear.”

HRW accuses West of total cowardice

Taipei Times

Human Rights Watch yesterday accused Western governments of a “near universal cowardice” in dealing with China, saying that they preferred opaque talks to taking a vocal stand against enduring repression.

In its World Report 2011, the US group said while the US, the EU, Australia and others had dedicated forums to discuss human rights concerns, those meetings were proving far from fruitful.

Beans are spilled — ECFA is political

J. Michael Cole 寇謐將

It may have been inadvertent, but recent praise by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and US President Barack Obama for the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) cut through the smokescreen blown up by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration by directly pointing to its political impact.

Ever since the idea of a free-trade-like agreement between Taiwan and China was proposed, Ma and his government have emphasized time and again that the pact was purely economic in nature and had no political ramifications whatsoever. This position, stemming from necessary constraints, dovetailed with Ma’s promise not to enter political dialogue with Beijing during his term in office.

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