Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Media freedom threatened: report

Taipei Times

Taiwan’s press freedom and freedom of expression have begun to show signs of being “Hong Kong-ized” (香港化) as a result of China’s political and economic pressure, a report by a legislative agency said.

Self-censorship among Hong Kong and Macau media outlets has increased and press freedom has sharply deteriorated since the two territories signed Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements (CEPA) with Beijing, the report by the legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau said.

ICJ, Kosovo and Taiwan's future

Taiwan News Editorial

The affirmation by the International Court of Justice on July 22 of the February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence by the Republic of Kosovo is a welcome affirmation of the democratic principle of people's self-determination, but by itself does not offer a clear path for international recognition of Taiwan's own status as a democratic independent state.

Kosovo, previously an autonomous province of Serbia and formerly an autonomous province in the defunct Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, has a population of some two million people, 90 percent are of Albanian ancestry.

Referendum committee should go

Taipei Times Editorial

The latest controversy surrounding the Referendum Review Committee highlights the need to do away with the committee, whose existence has long been unnecessary.

A meeting had been scheduled for Monday to review the Taiwan Solidarity Union’s (TSU) proposal for a referendum on the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). However, the low number of committee members present at the meeting caused it to be called off, and instead an e-mail was sent to solicit opinions from the members about logistical issues and whether public hearings should be held on the TSU’s proposal.

Heavy rains cause damage in south

Taipei Times

Torrential rain that began on Monday night damaged roads and bridges in central and southern Taiwan yesterday, affecting areas hit by Typhoon Morakot last year particularly badly.

The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) said it had closed 11 highways and bridges nationwide because of dangerously high river levels or landslides.

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