Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Ma’s cross-strait approach worries US: expert

Taipei Times

Despite the government’s posturing about its success in cross-strait and foreign policies, Washington is concerned about President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) linear approach, a national security expert said yesterday.

Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), a researcher at the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank and a former aide to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), said Chen’s “zigzag” strategy made him unpredictable in setting policy during his two terms in office.

US moving forward with radar sales

Taipei Times

The US State Department has notified Congress that it is going ahead with three arms sales programs to Taiwan — after holding them up for more than six months.

While the programs are not huge — they involve radar upgrades for Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF) — the move could be significant in that it shows US President Barack Obama standing up to China and supporting Taiwan despite Beijing’s protests.

Taiwan must secure its food supply

Eugene Yen 閻亢宗

Drought and wildfires have caused a 20 percent drop in Russia’s wheat harvest this year, prompting the Russian authorities to ban cereal exports. The export ban has sent global grain prices soaring, bringing concerns about food security to the fore once more.

It is ironic, then, that farmlands in Dapu Village (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Towship (竹南) along with the Siangsiliao (相思寮) area of Changhua County’s Erlin Township (二林) are being expropriated for conversion to industrial use. This whittling away of fertile land is a long-term trend, but Taiwan’s government has not paid much attention to it.

For the love of Taiwan, get it right

Taipei Times Editorial

Months of effort to blur the lines between Taiwan and the Republic of China (ROC) by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration finally resulted in top-level confusion on Sunday, when Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) accused the leader of the opposition of not loving “our country.”

At the heart of the war of words between the Presidential Office and Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is her criticism of the expensive plans for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ROC next year.

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