Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The beef is really with Ma, not Washington

Jerome Keating

On Nov. 14, thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets of Taipei to express their growing concern at the present administration's continued mismanagement of the nation’s international affairs. In line with this, the legislature has been deadlocked on an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生法). At issue, of course, was the recent agreement by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government to ease restrictions on US beef imports.

Send irrelevant lawmakers home

Ku Chung-Hwa 顧忠華

Recent media reporting on the legislature has been focused on revelations about Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng’s (吳育昇) extramarital affair, alongside key policy issues such as the importation of US bone-in beef and the signing of a memorandum of understanding with China on cross-strait financial supervision. As a member of a civic group devoted to monitoring the legislature’s performance, I feel that these stories have a common thread — they show that the legislature is becoming more and more devoid of substance.

Trying to hide discontent

Taipei Times

Most people understand the phrase “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

Most, but not Chinese officials visiting Taiwan. How else how could one explain Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian’s (高孔廉) announcement on Wednesday that a “special zone” would be set up for protesters during next month’s cross-strait talks in Taichung?

Obama in chains

Jeffrey D. Sachs

It is hard for international observers of the US to grasp the political paralysis that grips the country, and that seriously threatens its ability to solve its domestic problems and contribute to international problem solving. The US’ governance crisis is the worst in modern history. Moreover, it is likely to worsen in the years ahead.

The difficulties that US President Barack Obama is having in passing his basic program, whether in health care, climate change or financial reform, are hard to understand at first glance. After all, he is personally popular, and his Democratic Party holds commanding majorities in both houses of Congress. Yet his agenda is stalled and the country’s ideological divisions grow deeper.

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