Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Learn from history as we build the future

Hsueh Li-kuei 薛理桂

Newspapers have reported the story of a woman named Chang Yi-jung (張旖容), who took it upon herself to search for letters written by her maternal grandfather Huang Wen-kung (黃溫恭) to his wife before he was executed in 1953, during the period of repression known as the White Terror.

Chang discovered that her grandfather had written five wills, which he wanted to be given to his wife. Sadly, this wish was not carried out and it was not until 2009, 56 years later, that Huang’s granddaughter found his last letters, by which time Huang’s wife was losing her mental faculties and was unable to understand her late husband’s final wishes.

VOA China scores small victory in battle for survival

Taipei Times

The battle to keep Voice of America’s (VOA) Mandarin and Cantonese radio and TV broadcasts to China alive continued in the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday with a unanimous vote for a proposal that would secure money for the embattled China unit.

The authorization bill, sponsored by US Representative Dana Rohrabacher during a markup hearing, reserves US$13.76 million from the total budget for government-sponsored broadcasting next year to be strictly used for Mandarin and Cantonese radio and TV broadcasts.

That amount is equal to this year’s operational budget for VOA’s China unit.

US calls for legal basis to claims in South China Sea

Taipei Times

The US yesterday called on rivals in the disputed South China Sea to back up territorial claims with legal evidence — a challenge to China’s declaration of sovereignty over vast stretches of the region.

“We also call on all parties to clarify their claims in the South China Sea in terms consistent with customary international law,” US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at Asia’s largest security conference.

“Claims to maritime space in the South China Sea should be derived solely from legitimate claims to land features,” she said.

Farmers’ bravery merits support

Hsia Hsiao-chuan 夏曉鵑

Last weekend, the Taiwan Rural Front and farmers from all over the country held an overnight protest on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. It was the second such demonstration, the first having taken place exactly one year ago.

The repeat protest is a cause for celebration and anxiety among farmers’ supporters. What is worth celebrating is that farmers are gradually growing stronger as a force in their own right. They have shown that they can sustain a vigorous movement, keep watch on the government and make their voices heard when it breaks its promises. What makes people anxious, on the other hand, is that the central government’s response to farmers’ demands consists mostly of stopgap measures and pledges made in bad faith. The government seems incapable of coming up with any effective and realistic policies.

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