Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Anti-nuclear protest demands referendum on plant’s construction

Taipei Times

Upset about a NT$14 billion (US$485.5 million) budget to continue construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), that was passed by the legislature on Monday, anti--nuclear protesters yesterday rallied in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to demand a referendum on the matter.

The rally organizer, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), said the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was a patchwork design assembled by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), and could threaten the health of people living in Taiwan.

TEPU attempted to submit a petition to the legislature yesterday, asking for the decision to allow operation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to be decided by public referendum, “but they won’t let us inside,” TEPU secretary-general Lee Cho-han (李卓翰) said.

Chinese students quiz Tsai on policy

Taipei Times

After weeks of relatively tame university exchanges, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday answered cross-strait challenges posed by Chinese students in a lively debate.

Members of a 300-student audience at Shih Hsin University, about two-fifths of them from China on a study-abroad program, asked her respectful but skeptical questions about her party’s opposition to a broader opening to Chinese students.

“I support letting students learn in different places and having access to different experiences and cultures ... but there are practical considerations,” Tsai said when explaining why she favored limited student exchanges with China.

Taiwan's Tao Prepare to Hail Part of Taiwan's Past

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Taiwan is an island nation with a rich, past that most are not that aware of. For example, current research is pointing more and more to how linguistically and by DNA Taiwan is the origin of the vast Austronesian Empire that extends from Madagascar to Easter Island. Similarly, Taiwan is seen as the origin of the Lapita Culture that extends throughout the islands of the Pacific. But the natural question arises, how could Taiwanese travel from Taiwan to all those islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans in spurts beginning some 5000 years or more ago? Today's Tao people who dwell primarily on Orchid Island are preparing to demonstrate how.

The Tao, a sea-faring people, are completing the "Si Mangavang" one of the largest canoes they have ever built using only wood from their island and traditional methods. They will launch the canoe on June 24 and on June 29, it will begin a journey of some 700 km to Taiwan proper. The two teams of rowers will cross the strong Kuroshio current, a rough cross in any weather and a crossing that has left many sea-sick on completion in a regular ocean-going vessel.

Abdicating sovereignty, little by little

Taipei Times Editorial

Despite the touted economic benefits of flourishing Chinese tourism to Taiwan, it is becoming increasingly clear that the dividends are coming at a price — one that, sadly, some seem willing to pay.

With some People’s Republic of China nationals able to travel independently to Taiwan beginning later this month, the Yilan County Business and Tourism Department last week announced it wanted to open a Web site in China and, in doing so, would likely drop the “.tw” suffix to make itself more palatable to Chinese authorities.

A representative from the Yilan County Lodging Association also said that homestays and bed-and-breakfast operators in the county would probably encounter severe difficulty attracting Chinese tourists if they insist on using the “.tw” suffix, an indication that operators and officials may have little compunction in making such a sacrifice in the name of business.

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