Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan committed to self-defense: Lai

Taipei Times

President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday emphasized Taiwan’s determination to defend itself and cooperate with other democracies to handle global challenges, in a meeting with former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairman James Moriarty.

The nation is to continue strengthening its defensive capabilities and show its resolve to defend itself and democracy, he was cited as saying by the Presidential Office in a statement.

Taiwan would also maintain its cooperation with the US and other like-minded nations in dealing with global challenges posed by pandemics and climate change, he said.

Lessons leading to democracy 3.0

Lin Jui-hsia 林瑞霞

Montesquieu once noted that the full realization of a constitution demands that it is burned into the hearts and minds of every individual.

What a pity it is that due to certain historical factors of the political culture, Taiwan’s constitutional democracy bears all the markings of a representative democracy, and yet the path to its continued progress is plagued with obstacles. This is most recently evident from the blue and white camps’ aggressive pushing through of ill-thought out “reform” bills by dint of their slight legislative majority. In crisis comes opportunity, and we need only look to the Bluebird movement as an evolution of the Wild Lily and Sunflower movements.

Nvidia CEO sparks new interest in Taiwanese

Tshua Siu-ui 蔡守崴

Since Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) arrival in Taiwan on May 26, he has dominated headlines across multiple local news outlets. Rather than speaking English, he has been seen several times conversing with locals in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), a local language no longer commonly used by the public.

Due to his growing popularity and use of Hoklo, issues surrounding the preservation of native languages have resurfaced. Contrary to the stigmatizing belief that Hoklo is merely a language spoken by the uneducated, Huang’s actions have inspired many of his fans to revive their respective mother tongues.

Unfortunately, even if that momentum continues, there is still a long way to go to thoroughly protect endangered native languages.

Proper way of constitutional reform

Yao Meng-chang 姚孟昌

The constitution lays down two guiding principles for the Republic of China’s governmental structure: the “separation of powers and of checks and balances” and the “cooperation between state organs to uphold each other’s effectiveness.”

The grand justices have often reinforced these two principles through constitutional interpretations, emphasizing that all constitutional bodies have a duty of loyalty to the “constitutional order of liberal democracy.”

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) recently challenged the roles of the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan, two of the five branches of government.

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