Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Nepal tightens screw on Tibetans

Phayul Stringer

Kathmandu: In what appears to be another bid to please China, the Nepal Police on June 21 arrested a dozen Tibetans who had gathered to take part in the birthday celebrations of His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa.

Nepali police in full riot gear closely watching Tibetans offering prayers at the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu which has for centuries been a holy place for Tibetans. (Photo/Kevin Bubriski)

The incident occurred in Boudha, a Buddhist area of the capital on Wednesday where around 70 Tibetans had gathered to offer prayers. Witnesses say police randomly picked the dozen Tibetans-all men when they were coming out of the monastery. The 12 arrested are still held at the local police station in Boudha on charges of carrying out anti-China activities.

Taiwan is in need of real leadership

Jerome Keating

Next year’s presidential election is drawing near and Taiwanese must do some serious soul searching.

As they look back at the past four years under the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), basic questions must be asked: Is Taiwan better off now than it was in 2008? Has the economy and overall status of the nation improved significantly since Ma’s infamous “6-3-3” campaign pledge?

No president could have stepped into office with a better position and with better support than Ma. Not only did he receive about 58 percent of the vote, but also by disproportionate representation in the Legislative Yuan (the pan-blue camp had only 54 percent of the vote), Ma was able to get an unstoppable 76 percent majority of the seats.

Ratings agency says China debt was understated

Taipei Times

China’s local government debt may be 3.5 trillion yuan (US$540 billion) larger than auditors estimated, potentially putting banks on the hook for deeper losses that could threaten their credit ratings, Moody’s said yesterday.

Moody’s reviewed a report released by China’s state auditor last week, which found that local governments had chalked up 10.7 trillion yuan of debt. Moody’s said it identified more loans funded by banks after accounting for discrepancies in figures given by various Chinese authorities.

Investors worry the pile of loans, about half of which were racked up during a 2008 stimulus spending binge, could destabilize the Chinese economy in the long run. If banks have to absorb heavy losses, it could restrict lending.

Democracy is not just pretending to listen

James Wang 王景弘

In 1987, before former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) enacted a policy allowing retired soldiers to return to China to visit relatives, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) secretary-general Lee Huan (李煥) sought out Robert Lai (賴義雄), a member of the dangwai (outside the party) movement, who was in Taipei at the time, for his opinion on the proposed policy.

Lai said that based on humanitarian principles, retired soldiers should be allowed to return to China to visit their relatives. The next day, a headline in a prominent “anti-communist” newspaper reported that an overseas dissident supported the policy.

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