Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Chinese dissident trapped in limbo

Taipei Times

A Chinese dissident seeking refuge in Taiwan accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of failing to speak up for human rights in China and said he feared he could face a lengthy prison sentence, or worse, if deported back home.

Cai Lujun (蔡陸軍), a 53 year-old former businessman who escaped China disguised as a fisherman almost three years ago, spent more than three years behind bars in a Chinese prison after he posted a series of online articles criticizing Beijing’s leadership and blasting the Chinese Communist Party for what he called “holding fake elections.”

Trade deal safety-valve shrouded in mystery

Nathan Novak 李漢聲

Last Tuesday in Chongqing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) was signed into being. Both sides touted the agreement not only as an economic deal that would bring further prosperity to Taiwan and China, but also as a sign of growing cooperation and what essentially amounts to an institutionalization of peaceful relations (although it must be added that President Ma Ying-jeou’s [馬英九] administration has repeatedly said no political issues were discussed).

The signing drew praise from other countries and members of the international community. Sources such as the Wall Street Journal praised the pact. The US welcomed the deal. Everyone seems to find the deal a huge step in a positive direction.

Protesters demand full review of ECFA

Taipei Times

Dozens of demonstrators yesterday staged a protest outside the legislature to demand that lawmakers stringently review the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) that Taiwan and China signed on Tuesday.

Wearing T-shirts with the inscription “the people are the masters” and billing themselves as a non-violent protest group, the group silently marched around the building holding placards reading “an ECFA referendum is a basic human right.”

Sovereignty upheld? Think again

J. Michael Cole 寇謐將

President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration on Tuesday was all jubilance after the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) was signed in Chongqing, China, saying that it had managed to sign the pact in a way that upheld Taiwan’s sovereignty.

While it is too soon to tell whether the breakneck pace with which the deal was negotiated (about six months) and the legislature’s likely rubberstamping of the ECFA documents will hurt Taiwan’s interests, the mechanism used to complete the process most certainly did. In that regard, the Ma administration could be accused of dishonesty.

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