Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

What the US president should tell Hu Jintao

Nat Bellocchi 白樂崎

On April 12 and 13, US President Barack Obama’s administration is convening a nuclear security summit in Washington. This is an important event with potential to make the world a safer place. Only days ago, it was announced that Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) would also attend the summit.

After the turnaround in China’s position — it had earlier indicated little interest in attending the summit with a high-level delegation — Obama had a lengthy telephone conversation with Hu. The call took place on April 1, when Obama’s plane had just landed at Andrews Air Force Base after a fundraising trip to New England.

Taipei Police Need to Realize They are not the Beijing Police

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Anyone who has watched the antics of the Taipei police in the past year and a half would think that they are trying to imitate and/or curry favor with Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou. In that time, Ma has of course been trying to curry favor with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Whether Ma's efforts reflect a secret desire to unify Taiwan with the PRC or whether they are driven by his trying to salvage Taiwan's economy which began to sag right after Ma was elected is a different matter. Whatever the case, let us focus for now on the antics of the police as they have repeatedly abused Taiwan's citizen's rights to freedom of expression.

Protecting our freedom of speech

Taipei Times Editorial

As growing numbers of Falun Gong practitioners flee persecution in China, they are coming to the attention of overseas Chinese. Protest activities where they hold up banners and arrange press conferences accusing China of persecution are spreading all over the world. Falun Gong activities are a common sight on the streets of Taipei, which is why it was surprising that police fined one of the movement’s adherents for distributing flyers in front of Taipei 101.

Interior designer Hsu Po-kun (許柏坤) challenged the fine, and, fortunately, the Taipei District Court decided he did not have to pay up. Had that not been the case, it would have been a dark smudge indeed on freedom of expression in Taiwan.

Victory for ECFA opponents in debate

Taipei Times Editorial

The results of the first televised debate on the proposed economic framework cooperation agreement (ECFA) came as an embarrassing defeat for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government on Monday.

Initially nine to seven in favor of the planned trade pact that the KMT government wishes to sign with China, the 16-member audience — made up of students from National Taiwan University, Soochow University and Shih Hsin University — changed their minds halfway through the debate, with only one continuing to support the ECFA and the other 15 turning against it. At the conclusion of the two-hour debate, five said they supported the proposed pact, 10 were against it and one was undecided.

More Articles...