Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Freedom fading fast in Hong Kong

Taipei Times

Hong Kong received sharp reminders this past week that it must continue to fight Beijing if it hopes to retain the freedoms enshrined in its Basic Law and the independence of its government agencies and judiciary. For years, civic groups have pointed to signs that Hong Kong’s freedoms are eroding. This week, an attack on Hong Kong journalists in China proper was the latest reminder that the rights Hong Kong residents enjoy apply only within the territory.

Ma no longer ruler of his domain

Taipei Times

No sooner had Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama left Taiwan than senior Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials were breathing a sigh of relief, as if an undesirable guest had forced himself upon an otherwise placid household.

That reaction would have been understandable if, say, it had been hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden passing through Taiwan, but the Dalai Lama, a proponent of peaceful resistance and icon for universal values of freedom and liberty?

September, as the World Turns in Taiwan: the Anti-Climax of Wu Shu-jen

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

The court finally gave its sentence in the trial of Wu Shu-jen for implied money-laundering, corruption, manipulating state funds etc. etc. all those dark insinuations and charges that Taiwan has been forced to listen to from the pan-blue media for over the past two years. In the final analysis, after the trial, after the accusations, and after all the vindictiveness, Wu's sentence proved we had gone through all of this to listen to sound and fury signifying nothing. At best this sentence was, to say the least, anti-climatic.

’Tis the season to ‘hurt the feelings’ of the Chinese

MikeinTaipei

Here’s a short bit of good news for freedom of expression, brought to you by the City of Kaohsiung: Organizer Liu Hsiu-ying of the Kaohsiung Film Festival (KFF) announced yesterday that the festival, which will be held from Oct. 16 through Oct. 29, would screen Ten Conditions of Love, the documentary about World Uighur Congress leader Rebiya Kadeer. Fresh in memory is Beijing’s childish fit over the Melbourne Film Festival’s decision to present the documentary in early August, which resulted in cyber attacks against the festival’s Web site, the removal of Chinese-made films (including a co-production with Taiwan) and Chinese officials bullying of Australian government officials.