Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Ma trotting out same old cross-strait lies

James Wang 王景弘

At the opening ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Oct. 23, the head of the Chinese delegation, Jiang Ping (江平), adopted the swagger of a “communist bandit,” demanding that the Taiwanese delegation should have its title changed to “Chinese Taipei” or “Taiwan, China” and be merged with the Chinese delegation.

This was certainly not, as members of the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) have claimed, an isolated incident. Rather, it is the grave consequence of accepting the so-called “one China” principle. All China is doing is cashing the check that Ma’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) wrote.

Online censorship has no home here

Taipei Times Editorial

Is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) giving up on wooing young voters? The party would adamantly deny it, but it definitely looks that way in light of the KMT government’s latest move: Attempting to rein in college students’ freedom to participate openly in the discussion boards at the online Professional Technology Temple, or PTT as it is better known among local Internet users.

The site, managed by National Taiwan University, is the nation’s largest academic bulletin board system. Popular among college students, PTT hosts thousands of discussion boards, serving as a forum for young people to share their thoughts and take note of others’ opinions.

Whose sovereignty is Ma defending?

Liberty Times Editorial

Speaking in the legislature a little while back, National Security Council Secretary--General Hu Wei-jen (胡為真) said that China says the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) belong to “China,” not specifically the “People’s Republic of China” (PRC). Hu inferred from this that the issue could be approached according to the concept of “one China with each side having its own interpretation.” Hu said that incidents that have occurred around the Diaoyutais were matters of Japan’s relations with Taiwan and of Japan’s relations with “mainland China,” but not of relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. There was no need to connect the Diaoyutais issue with cross-strait relations, he concluded.

Ministry admits Abe took taxi while on Taiwan trip

Taipei Times

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday admitted for the first time that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe took a taxi during a late night dinner with several opposition party politicians during a recent two-day visit to Taiwan.

The admission came after ministry officials had been insistent, amid growing questions raised over the diplomatic lapse, that government-supplied courtesy cars were provided at all times during Abe’s visit.

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