Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

China Gives Taiwan Another Slap in the Face: Ma Ying-jeou Waits to See What Way the Wind is Blowing.

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Taiwanese Taekwondo champion, Yang Shu-chun was disqualified by judges in China in a controversial call over the type of socks she was wearing in what appears to have been a set-up to get her out of the competition.

With this second slap in the face, following that of the Tokyo Film Festival, the government of Ma Ying-jeou appears to be waiting to see what way the wind of Taiwanese protest is blowing before it comes out with an official statement.

Fixing the Asian Games

Taipei Times Editorial

To what lows would China stoop to protect its already tarnished image and save face? Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of knee-jerk reactions out of China when it comes to projecting its prowess — the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the mass roundup of Falun Gong practitioners, the “Anti-Secession” Law and shrill reactions to US arms sales to Taiwan — but Wednesday’s twist of fate in the women’s taekwondo event at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, really takes the cake.

Officials disqualified Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) for wearing electronic socks that had passed inspections prior to the event, sending her packing just as she was beating her Vietnamese opponent Vu Thi Hau 9-0.

Taiwan air defense needs a boost: US commission

Taipei Times

As the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission officially released its annual report to the US Congress on Wednesday, commissioner Dan Blumenthal said there was unanimous agreement that “something must be done” to improve Taiwan’s air defense capabilities.

Addressing a packed hearing room in the US Senate, Blumenthal said there was “no silver bullet” that could balance the military forces facing each other across the Taiwan Strait, but that Congress needed to review the situation in a comprehensive manner.

Bill Clinton missed an opportunity

Nat Bellocchi 白樂崎

It is good that former US president Bill Clinton had an opportunity to visit Taiwan. The democratic nation’s political isolation has led to the peculiar phenomenon that only future and past US presidents — and secretaries of state or defense for that matter — can visit it.

But the matter raises an important question: Why can’t a current US president visit? The obvious reason is, of course, that China would strenuously object. Still, if our purpose is to support democracy in East Asia, it behooves the US to move toward normalization of relations with Taiwan.

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