Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Botched Abe visit shows president’s mentality

Daniel Shen 沈宇軒

During former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s recent visit, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) began by addressing Abe by the wrong title and then attempted to obstruct his meeting with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Having worked in confidential government posts related to diplomacy and protocol, I feel compelled to express my feelings about these breaches of diplomatic protocol by Ma’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.

Why vote in the Nov. 27 elections?

Taipei Times Editorial

A “shellacking” is how US President Barack Obama described his party’s treatment in the US midterm elections last week. Angered by economic hardship, unprecedented in recent US history, including high unemployment, mass foreclosures and a widening gap between the rich and poor, US voters turned out in numbers high for a non--presidential election year to punish the ruling party, giving Republicans control of the House of Representatives and significantly trimming the Democratic majority in the Senate.

Ma, Obama face similar challenges

Liu Shih-chung 劉世忠

Following Halloween, US voters played trick-or-treat with US President Barrack Obama, whose Democratic Party was beaten soundly, losing its majority in the US House of Representatives, seats in the US Senate and several governorships in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Obama, the first black president elected to the White House, came into office on the back of a promise to bring change, but US voters have changed the game for Obama, proving that a political promise can make or break a politician. In Taiwan, where the special municipality elections will take place on Nov 27, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is projecting Obama’s problems onto President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) maintains that Taiwan is not the US and that the comparison is therefore invalid.

Chen found not guilty in bribery trial

Taipei Times

Citing insufficient proof, the Taiwan District Court yesterday acquitted former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), of charges that they laundered money and took bribes from bankers in exchange for help manipulating bank mergers.

Nineteen co-defendants were also cleared of charges of money laundering, breach of trust and insider trading because of a lack of proof, Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) said yesterday afternoon.

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