Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

On the eve of the first anniversary of the "August Eight Flood Disaster" triggered by Typhoon Morakot, over a thousand indigenous people from disaster areas in southern Taiwan held a dramatic "sleep-in" protest on Taipei's Ketagalan Boulevard to protest the drive of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government to force them to leave their home villages and divide their communities.

After massive floods and landslides swept away over 700 lives, a public outcry over the manifest failure of the KMT government in carrying out the essential tasks of disaster rescue and relief with speed and effectiveness led to the resignation of ex-premier Liu Chao-hsuan and a precipitous plunge in the satisfaction ratings of Ma's approval ratings from which the president has yet to recover.

During the past few weeks, China has significantly increased tension in East Asia by claiming “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea. While claims and counterclaims by China and other nations in the region — in particular Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan — have existed for several decades, China’s recent aggressiveness and belligerence have put other countries on edge.

The most significant pushback came during the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in Hanoi from July 22 to July 24, when 11 Asian nations plus the US expressed concern about China’s moves. In her statement, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called freedom of navigation on the sea a US “national interest,” and urged “a collaborative diplomatic process” by all claimants to resolve “the various territorial disputes without coercion.”