Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Rezoning proposals smells of vote-buying

Hsu Shih-jung 徐世榮

Election time has come around again and, as everyone knows, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is in its element when it comes to organizing support, with the local party headquarters and grassroots support working together to mobilize core votes.

The thing is, the KMT is not a reformist party: Not only does it have little time for democracy and human rights, its members also suffer from a serious lack of ideals or passion for principles and doctrine. So how does the the organization mobilize its members?

HK’s tears shame an insane regime

Joseph Lee 李榭熙

Moral action in politics prevents the spirit of justice and compassion from being extinguished among us. This is particularly true for the “umbrella revolution” in Hong Kong, where pro-democracy activists used umbrellas to protect themselves from pepper spray and tear gas last weekend. The shocking images of riot police throwing tear gas canisters at the crowd and beating up unarmed civilians tarnished the territory’s reputation as being cosmopolitan, open and tolerant of dissent within China.

The week-long strike by Hong Kong’s university students has drawn much international attention to China’s attempt to restrict electoral reforms and prescreen candidates for the first direct election of the territory’s chief executive in 2017.

Chinese nationalism poses threat

Lin Chia-cheng 林嘉誠

During a meeting with a delegation of pro-unification activists from Taiwan on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said that on major issues related to national unification and the Chinese people’s long-term development, Beijing’s stance is firm and there will be no compromise or wavering.

“Peaceful unification and ‘one country, two systems’ are our basic guidelines in solving the Taiwan issue,” Xi said, adding that policy implementation would take into consideration the actual situation in Taiwan.

Why must Ma correct media reports?

Taipei Times Editorial

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been busy meeting foreign media in recent days. At the same time he and his administration have also been busy correcting reports following the interviews. Reported misquotes and mistranslations might have been simple mistakes by reporters, but they could also be justified inferences. If the inferences were valid, the government’s corrections show that it has engaged in opportunistic and double-faced tactics, and exposes how it has helped drive the country into a corner.

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