Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Is the WTO to be trusted to ‘review’ the ECFA?

J. Michael Cole 寇謐將

During an e-mail interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) earlier this month, in which the expected benefits of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed by Taipei and Beijing were discussed, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy was quoted as referring to Taiwan not by its official designation at the trade organization, but rather as “Chinese Taipei.”

Wire searches returned the key two entries — one, the original interview in English, and the other a Chinese translation of that interview.

US rules out Taiwan free-trade agreement

Taipei Times

The US has ruled out a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan amid a dispute over beef imports, days after the nation signed a sweeping accord with China.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has tried to sell the landmark accord with China to voters in part by arguing that Taiwan would now be able to pursue FTAs with more countries, as Beijing would no longer object.

A ‘social defense’ strategy is needed

Wu Jieh-min 吳介民

There is nothing all that new about cross-strait political or commercial alliances, which are more often than not special interests clothed in some form of rhetoric about being in the public interest. That is surely what we have come to expect of globalization, with its emphasis on deregulation.

Dolphins might be smarter than Wu

Taipei Times Editorial

On Wednesday, several groups of environmental activists and oyster farmers from Changhua County jointly applied to the government to set up a trust fund to purchase coastal wetlands near the estuary of the Jhuoshuei River.

The trust fund for public land — the first of its kind in this country if it is approved — is aimed at protecting the endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and preserving the area’s unique ecosystem, which hosts a diversity of wildlife off Taiwan’s west coast.

More Articles...