Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Cross-strait security ‘worrisome’: expert

Taipei Times

A leading US academic on Taiwan said Beijing understands that it has an interest in keeping President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in power and for that reason is “not currently pushing its larger agenda.”

Richard Bush, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Northeast Asian Policy, told a Washington conference that how China deals with the Taiwan issue would be a “litmus test” on what kind of great power it would eventually be.

Former president Chen Shui-bian seeks release

Taipei Times

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday asked to be released from jail while appealing a 20-year graft sentence, saying that he had sent back most of the money that had been wired abroad.

After the Special Investigation Panel confirmed it had received almost all of the NT$662 million (US$22 million) Chen’s family had wired into Swiss bank accounts, Chen’s attorney said he was filing an application to secure the former president’s release.

November polls and US-Taiwan relations

Nat Bellocchi 白樂崎

Elections are cominG up this month both in the US and Taiwan. In the US, voters go to the polls today, while voters in Taiwan will have an opportunity to vote for the mayors of five special municipalities on Nov. 27.

In both countries the elections are likely to change the political landscape significantly: In the US, the continuing high unemployment rate and dissatisfaction with US President Barack Obama’s stimulus packages have led to the “Tea Party” revolt and a resurgence of the Republican opposition. The Republicans seem set to regain a majority in the House of Representatives and may even gain a majority in the Senate.

Weak defense, poor intelligence

Taipei Times Editorial

Recent news of a plan by the National Security Bureau, the nation’s top civilian intelligence agency, to introduce an award system to address low morale in the intelligence ranks is as a clear a demonstration of the state of affairs under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as we could get.

Amid cutbacks in the defense budget — with the Ministry of National Defense announcing last week that it had no choice but to defer payment on key defense items lined up for purchase from the US — and diminished emphasis on military exercises preparing for potential Chinese aggression, it is not surprising that Ma’s critics have pointed to his apparent lack of commitment to ensuring that Taiwan has the means and skills to defend itself.

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