Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Environmentalists urge protection for Changhua wetland

Taipei Times

More than 200 environmental protection activists urged the Changhua County Government yesterday not to obstruct the designation of a belt of intertidal zone along the county’s west coast as a wetland of international importance.

The environmentalists from several civic groups made the call in a protest in front of Changhua County Hall against a NT$400 billion (US$13.76 billion) investment project to build a major petrochemical complex on land close to the estuary of the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪).

AIT chairman holds talks with DPP Chairperson Tsai

Taipei Times

American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt met Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, with their talks focusing on cross-strait trade deals and Taiwan’s relationship with the US.

AIT Director William Stanton accompanied Burghardt, who is on a four-day trip to Taiwan to brief officials on US-China developments following a state visit to Washington by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) last week.

US kept Taiwan in mind during Hu trip: Burghardt

Taipei Times

The US “kept Taiwan in mind” during US President Barack Obama’s recent meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and rejected any Chinese request that would have caused harm to Taiwan in negotiating the text of the two presidents’ Joint Statement, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt said yesterday.

Saying that China came into the negotiations on the joint statement with the intention of trying to “break new ground,” Burghardt said the US managed to make it a constructive statement “that in no way violate[d] any of Taiwan’s interests.”

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.”

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