Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan needs smart military think tank

Taiwan News Editorial

Taiwan's first national defense think tank will begin preliminary operations with the today's official opening of a "National Defense Think Tank Preparatory Office" under the Ministry of National Defense's Integrated Assessment Office.

First proposed by former defense minister Lee Jye under the former Democratic Progressive Party administration, the new think tank will be tasked with the functions of actively cultivating national defense research and international interchange talent and enhancing Taiwan's national defense policy and strategic analysis capabilities.

The real cause of the 228 Incident

Lee Hsiao-feng 李筱峰

The 228 Incident of 1947 has been interpreted in different ways, depending on the changing political environment and varying political standpoints.

During the martial law period, starting from the time of the 228 Incident itself, the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) offered two official explanations.

Taiwan can’t afford to be silent

Taipei Times Editorial

Amid complaints by Plurkers and concerns by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) following a tip-off from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), CNN on Sunday corrected its Web site after initially quoting the US National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center as calling Taiwan “Chinese Taipei” in its tsunami watch report.

Despite its initial inertia and lack of awareness, the ministry deserves praise for swiftly responding to Kuan’s alert and requesting that CNN make the correction on its Web site.

Why Ma and KMT must apologize for '228'

Taiwan News Editorial

President Ma Ying-jeou regretfully failed to take advantages of the opportunity to make amends to Taiwan society on behalf of his rightist ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) for the Feb. 28th Massacre of 1947, in which at least 10,000 Taiwan citizens were killed during the suppression of a spontaneous uprising against KMT rule.

In statements to commemorations in Tainan City and Taipei's 228 Peace Park Sunday, Ma displayed his lack of genuine understanding of the Feb. 28th Incident by claiming that the massacre was caused by "the graft and corruption of the government at the time, which caused loss of lives and restrictions and harm to property and liberty and that, with the addition of the poor handling, created the greatest tragedy in Taiwan's modern history."

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