Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Justice and the sleazy coalition

Taipei Times

The Ministry of Justice’s power games continue unabated.

Yesterday, this newspaper ran a story on a proposed amendment to the Criminal Code that would allow judges and prosecutors to punish defendants, lawyers, reporters, activists and any other people who publicize evidence or case details in a manner that upsets the court. Other behavior in or out of court that “disobeys the orders” of the court in the eyes of judges would also be dealt with severely.

The main problem with these changes is that they are impossibly vague, which is sure evidence that they are a kneejerk response from prosecutorial officials who suffered professional humiliation during the debacle-ridden trials of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Taiwan people can break KMT-CCP 'black box'

Taiwan News Editorial

All Taiwan citizens concerned with the future of their livelihood and our collective future should support or participate Sunday's demonstration in Taichung City by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party to "break the black box" surrounding cross-strait negotiations and "let the people decide."

Beginning on Monday, the fourth meeting between Taipei's Strait Exchange Foundation Chairman and ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) Chiang Ping-kun and Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin, representing the Chinese Communist Party -ruled People's Republic of China, will be held in Taichung.

Control Yuan: All bark and no bite

Taipei Times

Anybody who believed the findings of the Control Yuan’s investigation into who was responsible for the infamous decision initially to refuse foreign material aid in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot will probably also be waiting up on Thursday night hoping to glimpse Santa Claus and his reindeer.

Wednesday’s report — which reads like a student’s excuse for not doing homework — censured the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for issuing the refusal while putting the blame for the decision to refuse offers of foreign disaster rescue expertise at the feet of Director-General of the National Fire Administration Huang Chi-min (黃季敏), deputy commander of the Central Emergency Operation Center when the typhoon struck.

The Peaceful Need for Japan and Taiwan to Support Each Other

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

No one has ever defined what the status quo in the Taiwan Strait actually is, was or should be though everyone talks about it. So the charade continues that there is a status quo and that everyone supports it (peace included). Despite that, China regularly adds to the number of missiles it has pointed at Taiwan; it makes military threats and anti-secession laws, and jails any and all pro-democracy dissidents within its borders. In keeping with the same mythical status quo, Taiwan under the Ma government says that it believes its 23 million people should control their destiny yet it consistently ignores their input, currently tries to ram a non-transparent ECFA down their throats and promotes pro-unification policies. And the USA, if pressed, will state that Taiwan's status is undetermined, but in its actions the USA neglects any input from the actual people of Taiwan and tries to accommodate the China market. What then really needs to be done?

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