Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Tales of the Bandits Taiwan-style, the KMT and PFP

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Chen Shui-bian sits in jail for supposedly misusing campaign funds and supposedly accepting bribes though it seems now that the Prosecutors brow-beat the witnesses to falsify testimony against him. (One has already admitted to that via his lawyers) Not to worry, on the KMT side of the aisle James Soong who was accused of making off with US$8 million dollars of KMT campaign funds in what is called the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal is all of a sudden forgiven by the KMT, and prosecutors for misuse and pocketing of campaign funds are no where to be found. Now why is that?

Well it is election time and the KMT looks like it is angling for all the help it can get so it does not want to offend the PFP; ah yes, it is nice to see how justice is tossed out the window when the threat of Ma and the KMT losing the election looms on the horizon.

Chen says Tsai could win election by narrow margin

Taipei Times

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said that democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would win the presidential election by a slim margin and propel the DPP to a legislative majority.

“Currently, the two major parties are locked in a 50-50 split for the 2012 presidential elections. The [end] result on Jan. 14 will be very close,” the imprisoned Chen wrote in his bi-weekly statement, released by members of his office.

Citing recent opinion polls, Chen said: “The DPP will still win and Tsai will become Taiwan’s first female president, given her lead of 3 to 5 percentage points [in the polls].”

Document suggests Sun Yat-sen was born in the US

Taipei Times

American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesperson Sheila Paskman yesterday said a US government document from 1904 showed that Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and that Sun had been issued a document showing that he was a US citizen — claims the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) quickly denied.

During an interview with the Central News Agency, Paskman said that to celebrate the centenary of the ROC this year, the AIT had planned a special exhibition with Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in conjunction with US celebrations of its Independence Day.

In the process, she said, a document from 1904 was unearthed in the US National Archives stating that the US had given Sun legal status as a US citizen.

The coexistence of two Chinas

Hsiao Yatan 蕭亞譚

On May 20, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairman Richard Bush talked about the possibility of treating the two sides of the Taiwan Strait as “two Chinas” at a seminar held by the Brookings Institution in Washington to celebrate the centenary of China’s 1911 Revolution. Given the status of the speaker and the venue where the speech was made, this is a message to which the Taiwanese government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) should give further thought.

In response to the proposal, Presidential Office spokesman Fang Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) on May 22 reiterated the government’s stance that Taiwan recognizes the principle of “one China, with each side having its own interpretation,” while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) remained silent. Given the passive attitude of both political parties, we need to look at the pros and cons of Taiwan promoting the concept of “two Chinas.”

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