Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Presidents and the will of the people

Jerome Keating

Call it fate, or call it chance, but it certainly has been fitting and appropriate that the evaluation period of the first 100 days of the presidency of Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would coincide with the recent visit of China’s Shanghai Municipal Committee United Front Work Department Director Sha Hailin (沙海林) at the Taipei-Shanghai Forum.

This timely coincidence provides Taiwanese not only with a chance to reflect on Tsai’s initial performance, but also on their identity and the growing differences between Taiwan’s democracy and China’s one-party state autocracy.

Tsai touts fresh direction for military

Taipei Times

President Tsai Ing-wen watches Han Kuang military exercises at the Renshou military base in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township yesterday.
Photo: CNA

President Tsai Ing-wei (蔡英文), in her role as commander-in-chief, presided over the Han Kuang live-fire drills for the first time after assuming office in May.

KMT must stop hiding the truth on party assets

James Wang 王景弘

The direct line between the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) treasury and the national treasury during the authoritarian era gave the KMT access to unlimited resources. For a long time, it used these resources to support its party employees, giving out small favors.

During elections, the KMT spent money on mobilizing supporters and vote buying. However, after its defeat in the January presidential and legislative elections, it is now just a party without the backing of the state. With the legislature’s passing of the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), it will be difficult for the party to reverse its downward spiral.

Mega bank knew of issues in 2013: DPP

Taipei Times

From left, Democratic Progressive Party legislators Wang Ding-yu, Lo Chih-cheng and Su Chen-ching yesterday hold a news conference in Taipei to discuss Mega International Commercial Bank’s branch in the US being fined for ignoring money laundering regulations.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

US authorities had warned Mega International Commercial Bank’s New York branch that it had violated US money laundering regulations as early as 2013, after the bank dramatically increased the size of loans to businesses affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said yesterday.

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