Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Swedish MP calls for name change to Taipei office

Taipei Times

Swedish Member of Parliament Hampus Hagman is pushing for changing the name of the nation’s trade office in Taipei to signal improved relations with “Asia’s perhaps foremost democracy.”

Hagman on Wednesday last week proposed renaming the Swedish Trade and Invest Council to “Sweden’s Office in Taipei,” following similar changes by other nations.

The Swedish Trade and Invest Council, part of Business Sweden, is owned by the Swedish government and Swedish industry.

Ending oaths to portraits of Sun democratic: DPP

Taipei Times

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai raises his right hand as he takes his oath of office in front of a portrait of Sun Yat-sen during his swearing-in ceremony on Aug. 24.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times

A proposal to eliminate a requirement that public officials and military personnel take their oaths of office in front of a portrait of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) was aimed at “doing away with authoritarianism,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said yesterday.

Hard questions KMT must answer

Jerome Keating

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Sept. 6 finished its annual national congress. However, if Taiwan wants to have a viable opposition party in its democracy, the results were far from satisfying.

The KMT again seems to be caught in a time loop, like that one in the 1993 film Groundhog Day.

Yet, unlike the protagonist in that film, the KMT seems unable to learn from past experience and change for the better. Instead, it remains locked in its never-ending cycle of repeating the past.

Non-conventional defenses needed

Taipei Times Editorial

The US is reportedly preparing to sell Taiwan seven new major weapons systems, including sophisticated aerial drones, land-based anti-ship missiles, anti-tank missiles and smart mines, Reuters said on Wednesday.

The planned sales are part of the Pentagon’s “Fortress Taiwan” strategy to assist the nation in building up asymmetric warfare capabilities and turning it into a “porcupine” capable of deterring a Chinese attack.

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