Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize

Taipei Times

Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), a key participant in the “Charter 08” initiative, was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for using non--violent means to demand fundamental human rights in his homeland, igniting a furious response from China, which accused the Norwegian Nobel Committee of violating its own principles by honoring “a criminal.”

Chinese state media immediately blacked out the news and Chinese government censors blocked Nobel Prize reports from Web sites. China declared the decision would harm its relations with Norway, while the Nordic country responded that was a petty thing for a world power to do.

Diaoyutai claim not upheld by old papers

JAMES WANG 王景弘

China has been making endless claims that Taiwan has been a part of Chinese territory since ancient times and Taiwanese have been using ancient and vaguely worded Chinese documents to try and prove that the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) belong to Taiwan.

While these documents may be interesting, they are devoid of meaning in terms of international law.

Keating and Hartzell give two American viewpoints on an independent Taiwan

Michael Richardson

Two American scholars living in Taipei, Jerome Keating and Richard Hartzell, have entered the fray about Taiwan’s status and future. Keating is a retired college professor and author while Hartzell is a linguist and legal researcher. Both men care deeply about Taiwan and are sharp critics of Ma Ying-jeou’s administration of the Republic of China in-exile.

Taiwan is caught in a limbo that is six decades-old and described by the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals as “political purgatory” imposed on the island by the United States. The “strategic ambiguity” that has been the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy since World War II once protected Taiwan but now leaves the island threatened with military invasion by the People’s Republic of China.

Security experts warn on China threat

Taipei Times

An expert on cross-strait relations yesterday emphasized the need for openness and transparency, as well as for the ruling and opposition parties to reach a consensus in formulating government policy on relations with China.

“There should not be secrecy ... there should be a broad national debate, and nothing should be done until a consensus of both parties is reached about what the ultimate goals are,” said Arthur Waldron, an international relations professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

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