Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwanese shedding ethnic identities

Taipei Times Editorial

People in Taiwan have long seemed to be tangled in a web of issues pertaining to historical origins, differentiating one another with labels such as wai-shengren (外省人) — Mainlanders who fled from China with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after 1949 — or the benshengren (本省人), those who came to Taiwan from China centuries ago. Recent reports on the outpouring of love and care for Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), however, have debunked claims that a “provincial complex” (省籍情結) divides the people in this country.

A fundraiser was held last week for Chin, a political commentator known for his outspoken pro--Taiwan independence stance. The fundraiser was initiated as a means to help Chin, who is embroiled in financial difficulties because of multiple lawsuits against him. The financial burden is expected to take a bigger toll on him following his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in August.

Chen lashes out at premier for saying Tsai, Su are corrupt

Taipei Times

Jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday lashed out at Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) over his allegations that former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were “accomplices” in Chen’s “corrupt administration.”

Chen said in the pro--democracy online magazine Neo Formosa Weekly that while President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) enjoyed talking about fighting corruption, the party that he heads, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was the most corrupt political establishment in history.

A glimpse behind the Chinese veil

Taipei Times Editorial

Sunday was the eve of Taiwan Retrocession Day, the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) claims the Japanese ceded Taiwan to the Republic of China (ROC). It was also the day the head of the Chinese delegation to the Tokyo International Film Festival, Jiang Ping (江平), caused a diplomatic incident by insisting that the Taiwanese delegation use the name “Taiwan, China.”

The whole sorry affair has left President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) with egg on his face. His “cross-strait diplomatic truce” bubble has burst. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) honeymoon is over. The mask has slipped, and Taiwanese have caught a glimpse of what lies beneath. No wonder pan-blue politicians have been more vocal in their criticism of Jiang’s words than members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Taiwanese identity in the spotlight

Taipei Times Editorial

Maybe it’s something in the water, but Chinese officials have developed the bad habit of airing their extreme nationalistic tendencies with a little more boldness when they find themselves in Japan, resulting in situations that often undermine Beijing’s objectives.

The latest such incident occurred on Saturday at the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival, when the head of the Chinese delegation, Jiang Ping (江平), accompanied by a robotic-looking Chinese actress, attempted to drill into the heads of the Taiwanese delegation that they were all Chinese. Faced with the refusal of Government Information Office Department of Motion Pictures director Chen Chih-kuan (陳志寬), who headed the Taiwanese delegation, and the organizers of the film festival to change Taiwan’s name to “Taiwan, China” or “Chinese Taipei,” an outraged Jiang announced that China was partially pulling out of the festival.

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