Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Trying to make sense of Ma’s AP corrections

James Wang 王景弘

During President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) time in office, he has pushed ahead with what he has called a diplomatic truce with China. This means that Ma kowtows to China in every way possible, and that interviews with foreign media no longer serve as a platform for defending Taiwan’s rights and interests as they used to under the former administration.

However, this is the way Ma likes it. When he has nothing to say, he makes up something ambiguous and the whole affair ends up with “corrections” and “clarifications.”

Taiwanese shedding ethnic identities

Taipei Times Editorial

People in Taiwan have long seemed to be tangled in a web of issues pertaining to historical origins, differentiating one another with labels such as wai-shengren (外省人) — Mainlanders who fled from China with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after 1949 — or the benshengren (本省人), those who came to Taiwan from China centuries ago. Recent reports on the outpouring of love and care for Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), however, have debunked claims that a “provincial complex” (省籍情結) divides the people in this country.

A fundraiser was held last week for Chin, a political commentator known for his outspoken pro--Taiwan independence stance. The fundraiser was initiated as a means to help Chin, who is embroiled in financial difficulties because of multiple lawsuits against him. The financial burden is expected to take a bigger toll on him following his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in August.

Chen lashes out at premier for saying Tsai, Su are corrupt

Taipei Times

Jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday lashed out at Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) over his allegations that former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were “accomplices” in Chen’s “corrupt administration.”

Chen said in the pro--democracy online magazine Neo Formosa Weekly that while President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) enjoyed talking about fighting corruption, the party that he heads, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was the most corrupt political establishment in history.

A glimpse behind the Chinese veil

Taipei Times Editorial

Sunday was the eve of Taiwan Retrocession Day, the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) claims the Japanese ceded Taiwan to the Republic of China (ROC). It was also the day the head of the Chinese delegation to the Tokyo International Film Festival, Jiang Ping (江平), caused a diplomatic incident by insisting that the Taiwanese delegation use the name “Taiwan, China.”

The whole sorry affair has left President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) with egg on his face. His “cross-strait diplomatic truce” bubble has burst. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) honeymoon is over. The mask has slipped, and Taiwanese have caught a glimpse of what lies beneath. No wonder pan-blue politicians have been more vocal in their criticism of Jiang’s words than members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

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