Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Unravelling the truth of Ma’s latest policy gaffe

Chin Heng-wei 金恒煒

The most important duty and power of the president in Taiwan is that of nominating people to positions of responsibility. When it comes to nominating members of the Council of Grand Justices, the president nominates an individual and once the nominee is approved, he or she becomes a grand justice.

Once appointed, grand justices are free to perform their duties independently, without any interference from the president. In other words, if the president displays poor judgment in nominating grand justices, it is both a dereliction of duty and it shows incompetence.

President silenced at project protest

Taipei Times

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was shouted down in Changhua County yesterday while attending a protest he had been invited to over the planned construction of a controversial petrochemical complex.

Before Ma was ready to address the crowd over the Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化科技) project, some protesters asked him to sign a letter promising he would express opposition to the project, but the president refused to do so.

Ma’s refusal angered the protesters, who barred him from delivering the speech with repeated chants demanding that he “step down” and asked that he remain seated.

Empowering women in the world

Shirley Chang

Can a person who “wears a skirt” command the armed forces and lead the nation? That blunt question was posed by a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician in 2008, as then-vice-president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) signaled her intention to seek the DPP’s presidential nomination. The politician was roundly criticized by the public for his male chauvinism, because, to many people, fitness to be the national leader should not be judged solely by gender; subsequently he apologized to Lu for his anachronistic stance. When presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who stepped down temporarily as chairperson of the DPP, announced her bid for the DPP presidential nomination in a speech on March 11, the same politician was present on the occasion to offer his blessing.

Hsu Hsin-liang, a Man for All Junkets

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Whether one is blue or green, there is a moneyed side to Taiwan politics that few know about and maybe even fewer want to know about. As in other countries, within that moneyed side are the financers and contributors who look for and support marketers who will promote their vested interests. These contributors search out people who regardless of party, will act on their behalf in the spotlight allowing them to remain in the background. On the receiving side of these contributions are the marketers (more coarsely the shills) who like chameleons can change color depending where the money is. Taiwan has several of these chameleons but perhaps the master bar none is Hsu Hsin-liang.

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