Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

There is no question that Taiwan will come up when US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) meet in California this week, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairman Richard Bush said.

In view of Beijing’s regular statements that Taiwan is the “most sensitive and important” issue in US-China relations, the topic will be raised at some point during meeting between the two leaders, added Bush, who is now the director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institute.

When the legislature decided in 2004 to cut the number of legislative seats from 225 to 113, it wasted a great deal of taxpayers’ money. It could have just kept the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan Solidarity Union and People First Party caucus whips, the legislative speaker and the deputy legislative speaker. That is because these six people are all you need they are the ones who participate in caucus negotiations, and they are the ones who decide what counts. All the other legislators are only there to give moral support and to pass the laws this select group has agreed should be passed.