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Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Megacities face finance issues: experts

Taipei City and the four special municipalities that came into being on Saturday could turn into a disaster for the central and local governments if underlying financial problems are not properly addressed, experts told a forum on the financial aspects of the five megacities yesterday.

Peng Pai-hsien (彭百顯), a professor of finance at Kainan University, told a panel organized by the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank in Taipei that the five special municipalities face an immediate shortfall of NT$718.5 billion (US$24.27 billion) — which would climb to NT$803.4 billion if potential debt were counted — while the central government was faring no better, with a potential debt of NT$21 trillion.

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Draft law threatens media freedoms

Over the past year, there have been many moves to push a draft law aimed at protecting the welfare and interests of children and youths. Strong opinions both for and against this law have focused on technical issues related to how news-gathering agencies should appropriately handle reporting crimes. It should be possible to find a balance to avoid media sensationalism that the public finds unacceptable and, given journalistic self-regulation, legislation, market demands and other controls that are already in place, this shouldn’t be very difficult to achieve.

However, taking a look at the details of the draft law, it is worrying to see that it includes articles about what newspapers can print. This is tantamount to bringing the Publishing Act (出版法), which was scrapped years ago, back to life. This would deal a huge blow to Taiwan’s press freedom and its democracy.

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Chen not seeking amnesty

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said he welcomed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to rule him out of any commutation it might grant next year to mark the Republic of China’s (ROC) 100th anniversary, his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) said.

The former president began serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence at Taipei Prison on Dec. 2 after being convicted of accepting bribes in connection with a land deal and a personnel appointment.

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Japanese support helping US defend Taiwan: survey

Nearly 60 percent of Japanese agreed with the idea of their country offering logistical support to the US if the US had to assist Taiwan militarily in a showdown with China, according to the results of a Japanese poll released yesterday.

In the survey conducted by the Japanese Asahi Shimbun daily on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, 57 percent of the 3,000 respondents said Japan’s self-defense forces should provide transportation and other logistical support to the US military if war were to break out in the Taiwan Strait.

Only 30 percent of respondents opposed the idea.

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Newsflash

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s application for a passport was “old news” and Taiwan’s judicial system would be proven unjust if it abused its power and extended his detention by raking up old news as new evidence, Chen’s office said yesterday.

On Wednesday, former Presidential Office secretary Chen Hsin-yi testified in court that Chen Shui-bian had told her to file an application for a passport for him “most urgently” soon after he stepped down last July. Chen Hsin-yi added that then-first lady Wu Shu-jen told her to pay for the application fees for passports for the then-first family using the “state affairs fund.”