Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Nobel prize strikes at the heart of tyranny

Chin Heng-wei 金恆煒

Although this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), who was thrown behind bars by the Chinese authorities and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), I really think the award was not aimed at rewarding Liu so much as it was aimed against Hu and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP.)

Have you ever heard of Carl von Ossietzky? Who was he? He was also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and he had something else in common with Liu. He was a prisoner of war and was locked up by Adolf Hitler. He was a reporter and his ideas opposing German military expansion angered the Nazis, in a way very similar to how Liu’s Charter 08 struck at the heart of tyrannical rule in China.

Ma's Pro-China Policy Turning Into Shambles: But He Says It is Working; Will Voters Believe Him?

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

After a slap in Taiwan's face at the Tokyo Film Festival, and another slap with the Chinese Set-up to keep Yang Shu-chun from facing off against China's gold medalist hope, Ma Ying-joke still wants Taiwanese to trust his kow-towing to China is helping not harming Taiwan. Now comes new news that must be making his staff run like chickens with their heads cut off. El Salvador appears to be on the verge of switching its recognition from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China.

Some Hard Questions About Jason Hu and the KMT Past: Taiwan Wake Up I

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Taichung is the third largest city in Taiwan. Why then does its Mayor Jason Hu rank 18th in performance in a list of the nation’s top 21 mayors and commissioners? The answer is not only simple and obvious, it is sad as well. Like many in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Hu earned his reputation when the KMT had a one-party state and they could not only bury the corpses and control the media but they could also squelch any dissenting voices or questions. Does anyone remember Vincent Siew? He's still the current Vice President, and he was allegedly the brilliant economist of the KMT one-party state. Has he solved the problems and mystery of 6-3-3 promises? Unfortunately in a democracy it's a whole new ball game and what is hidden is revealed. So too with Jason Hu.

The KMT Tries a New Way to Buy Votes and Hsu Hsin-Liang Still Looks for a Parade

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

The KMT has a long history of links to organized crime going back to its early days in Shanghai and continuing through examples of Jason Hu's police force spending their off hours (we hope they were off duty) at the offices of "alleged" and subsequently assassinated gangsters' offices. And of course many of their candidates have been convicted regularly of vote buying. But now they are trying a new way to use their state asset dollars to stay in power.

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