Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan and the 2011 Centennial: 100 years of What?

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

2011 Yes 2011 has been designated a centennial year for Taiwan to celebrate; but as it celebrates 100 years, Taiwanese need to examine more closely just what it is that they are being asked to celebrate 100 years of? Certainly 1911 marked the year that the Manchu Empire (a.k.a. the Qing Dynasty) and dynastic rule in China began its final crumbling in the Xinhai Revolution. From that the Republic of China (ROC) was born and on January 1, 1912 Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated provisional president of the new republic. But that republican birth was short-lived. Call it a still birth or abortion since not all provinces agreed with the revolution. In the next month (February) the dictatorial Yuan shih-kai would be the one who forced the actual abdication of the Emperor Puyi and that was in a brokered deal.

WikiLeaks trove of secret Taiwan cables may derail Chinese visit to Washington

Michael Richardson

As preparations go forward for the formal state visit of Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China to Washington, D.C. later this month, a large cache of secret U.S. State Department memos could upset the Chinese leader’s travel plans.

WikiLeaks has previously disclosed it has obtained 3,456 memorandums and other documents generated at the United States defacto embassy in Taipei, the American Institute in Taiwan. Over a thousand of the State Department cables are marked ‘Confidential’ with another hundred-plus cables classified as ‘Secret’ by the U.S. government.

An inconsistent Presidential Office

Taipei Times Editorial

If futures were built on promises, Taiwan under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would be the envy of the international community — prosperous, dignified and safe from harm.

Sadly for Ma, running a country requires more than slogans designed to meet a moment’s requirements — statesmanship calls for vision, action and consistency, all qualities that our promise-prone president, after more than two-and-a-half years in office, has yet to show us he possesses.

DPP criticizes civil servant perk law

Taipei Times

Retired junior public servants will soon see a nice boost in their savings, as a law increasing the amount of money they can deposit into an 18 percent preferential interest rate account comes into effect this year.

The move, passed by the legislature last year, was criticized by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday as unfair and unnecessary as interest rates in public banks continue to hover below 2 percent, despite a 0.125 interest rate hike announced last week by the central bank.

More Articles...