Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Two years on, history repeats itself

Cao Changqing 曹長青

On Wednesday last week, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Yushu County in northwestern China’s Qinghai Province. At the time of writing, the death toll had surpassed 2,000, with the number of injured exceeding 10,000. Earthquakes are natural disasters and as such are very difficult to predict. However, both this one and the major quake that devastated parts of Sichuan Province two years ago have led to a human tragedy exacerbated by the political system in China.

First of all, experts issued a warning before the earthquake hit, but China Earthquake Administration (CEA) officials did not take it seriously. The same thing happened with the Sichuan earthquake, when at least two seismologists issued a warning that was later suppressed by the authorities, who were concerned that the news would have an effect on the Olympic torch relay prior to the Games in Beijing.

Tung, Ma, Article 23 and an ECFA

J. Michael Cole 寇謐將

In its strategy for the unification of Taiwan and China, Beijing has not only been transparent about its intentions, it has also relied upon tactics that proved effective in the past.

After a lull in such efforts for the greater part of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration, Beijing reignited its drive following the election of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as Taiwanese president.

ECFA gun pointed at Taiwan’s head

Taipei Times Editorial

Let’s compare notes on two discourses, one implemented in 1979 and another that emerged soon after President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration proposed signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.

The first is the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), whose Section 2b(4) states that it is the policy of the US “to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States.”

Inside Taiwan’s Political Purgatory: Lee Teng-hui, a profile in courage (Part 11 of 20)

Michael Richardson

Lee Teng-hui is Taiwan’s elder statesman having served as President of the Republic of China in-exile from 1988 to 2000. Lee bridged the chasm between the martial law period under the dictatorship of Chiang Ching-kuo to his own elected presidential term.

Lee was a reluctant member of the Kuomintang political party and parted ways after his terms in office ended when the KMT expelled him. Still, Lee’s involvement in the KMT was difficult for his pro-democracy friends. Lee is also a former Communist Party member during his college days in Taiwan.

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