Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

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.

Intelligence treason in the making

Taipei Times Editorial

The systematic efforts by our government, uncovered by this newspaper last week, to keep secret a visit by a top Chinese security official last month raise questions that go far beyond secrecy and involve matters pertaining to the very nature of our society.

Though alarming in itself, it is not unusual for senior security officials from different countries to meet behind closed doors. In some cases, such meetings even involve cooperation with countries that have poor human rights records. In the “war” against terrorism launched after Sept. 11, for example, Western intelligence agencies began working closely — and secretly — with their counterparts in pariah states like Pakistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Japan worried over ROC interpretation

Taipei Times

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s stance that there’s no need to object to China’s territorial claim to the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) since the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution states that China is still considered a territory of the ROC on Taiwan has prompted concerns from Japanese officials over the political implications of this interpretation, sources from diplomatic circles said.

A meeting was held on Sept. 29 at the Presidential Office where discussions concentrated predominantly on the Diaoyutais issue.

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