Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Siangsiliao farmers win land reprieve

Taipei Times

Farming activists and environmentalists celebrated after the Taiwan High Administrative Court yesterday ordered the Central Taiwan Science Park to halt all expansion activities pending a ruling on two ongoing lawsuits.

The science park’s two latest expansion projects — one in Taichung County’s Houli Township (后里) and the other in Changhua County’s Erlin Township (二林) — have sparked controversy in recent years as farmers oppose government expropriation of their farmlands to make way for the science park.

Formosa plants suspended until cause of blaze found

Taipei Times

Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said operations at two Formosa Plastics Group petrochemical plants in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) would remain suspended until the cause of the fire on Sunday has been identified and rectified.

Wu made the remarks after meeting Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-feng (蘇治芬), Formosa Group representatives and residents, as part of a trip to the county yesterday — his first visit to the area since a fire broke out at the No. 6 naphtha cracker complex.

How ECFA threatens Taiwan news freedom

Taiwan News Editorial

Taiwan will face greater challenges in defending existing hard-won levels of news freedom in the wake of the signing of the controversial "Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" with the authoritarian People's Republic of China.

In stark contrast to the pollyannaish attitude of President Ma Ying-jeou's rightist Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government, a new report by the Legal Research Bureau and the Budget Center of the Legislative Yuan on the impact of ECFA on Taiwan warned that Taiwan's government and citizens cannot ignore the "contradictions" between the broadcasting and news media systems of Taiwan and the PRC especially since "news freedom is an important index in evaluating the degree of national democratization."

ANALYSIS: US to defer arms sales to next year: analysts

Taipei Times

US officials will defer any major new arms sales to Taiwan until at least next year as Beijing steps up pressure on Washington, where mending Sino-US ties is a priority, defense analysts say.

Sales of anything more than minor parts or low-end upgrades will wait until early next year, possibly much longer, letting Taiwan trail further in the balance of power against China, but advancing relations between the two superpowers, analysts say.

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