Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

AIT denies tying beef to TIFA, visa waiver

Taipei Times

Members of the National Food Safety Alliance voice their opposition to allowing US beef imports in Taiwan outside the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denied that the AIT was “menacing” Taiwan, as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) put it, by tying a resumption of trade talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to the US beef issue.

Whether Taiwan would allow imports of US beef containing residues of the leanness-enhancing animal feed additive ractopamine was an issue affecting relations between Taiwan and the US, AIT spokesperson Christopher Kavanagh said.

Changhua farmers protest science park water diversion plan

Taipei Times

Farmer Tsai Li-yueh, with microphone, and other farmers and supporters protest in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday against the diversion of irrigation water from farmland to the Central Taiwan Science Park.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

Brandishing rice stems, guavas, cucumbers and other crops, close to 100 farmers from Changhua County yesterday gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei to protest against a water diversion construction project in the fourth-phase expansion of the Central Taiwan Science Park.

“The science park is robbing us of water. Stop the construction at once,” the farmers shouted.

Taiwan’s beacon starts to flicker

Nat Bellocchi 白樂崎

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the Bo Xilai (薄熙來) dismissal in which I argued that his case was illustrative of the endemic corruption in China and that it would be good for Taiwan to build better firewalls between itself and China so that it is better protected when things go wrong in Beijing (“Leading by example is a good way to influence,” April 30, page 8).

This time I would like to focus on a very different case: that of the blind human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠), who was able to come to the US with his family last week, but only after protracted high-level negotiations between the US and China. The Chen case attracted widespread international attention because of the outrageous injustice he and his family had to suffer at the hands of the Chinese authorities.

Two Tibetans self-immolate in Lhasa, One feared dead

Phayul.com

Dorjee Tseten in an undated photo. (Photo courtesy/Sonam Gyatso)

DHARAMSHALA, May 28: Various sources in exile as well the Chinese official news agencies are now confirming earlier reports of a twin self-immolation protest in Tibet’s capital Lhasa yesterday.

According to reports received by Phayul, a 19-year-old Tibetan identified as Dorjee Tseten, along with his friend, an unidentified 25-year old male set themselves on fire in front of the historic Jokhang Temple in an apparent protest against the Chinese government.

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