Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

No payoff from Ma’s China gamble

Michael Mazza

In a speech to a US think tank on Thursday last week, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) declared that his “approach to the Republic of China’s [ROC] national security is already at an optimum.” By making the pursuit of closer ties with China a central pillar of that approach, Ma made a strategic bet that Beijing would reciprocate with a more cooperative cross-strait policy of its own. Now approaching three years into his presidency, it is clear that Ma’s bet has not paid off.

Ma’s pursuit of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which was finally realized last summer, was a bold move aimed at not only improving the Taiwanese economy, but also securing Taiwan’s future. While it is certain to benefit Taiwan economically in the years ahead, it has not significantly improved cross-strait stability or expanded Taipei’s broader international engagement.

WHO NAME GAME: US secretary pans name change

Taipei Times

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said yesterday that no UN agency has the right to unilaterally determine Taiwan’s status. Sebelius’ remarks came amid ongoing controversy over Taiwan’s designation in the WHO.

“We have made it very clear to the WHO and I think the United States’ position is that no organization of the UN has a right to unilaterally determine the position of Taiwan,” Sebelius said on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva when asked by press about the matter. “It needs to be a resolution that includes China and Taiwan in a discussion and we would very much welcome that road forward.”

Dalai Lama is still outfoxing Beijing

Michael Danby

Set in the foothills of the Himalayas, Dharamsala, India, is the seat of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the headquarters for the eight Tibetan exile settlements throughout India. To establish their refugee status in India, each of the 180,000 Tibetans is given a personal audience with the Dalai Lama.

During the past decades, many young Tibetans, starved of their culture and facing repression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), have trekked across the Himalayas to India. This process was anecdotally recorded in the moving documentary The Cry of the Snow Lion.

WHO NAME GAME: WHO Web site inflames uproar

Taipei Times

The WHO has not wavered on its position that Taiwan is a part of China despite extending an invitation to the Department of Health under the designation “Chinese Taipei,” new information from the WHO reveals.

The stance, already evident from a leaked internal WHO memo released by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) last week, was strengthened by the new disclosure yesterday of the organization’s internal publishing policies that state Taiwan is “a province of China.”

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