Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

While President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) are of the opinion that the legislature can only either ratify or reject the newly signed cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in its entirety and not amend it article by article, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) begged to differ yesterday, saying there have been cases in which the legislature has made revisions to international agreements signed by the government.

Citing examples, Wang said lawmakers had screened article by article the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the free-trade agreements (FTA) Taiwan has signed with its Central American allies.

“Lu who?” was the response from many Western news anchors as they reported on Tuesday that little-known Taiwanese tennis player Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) had defeated fifth-seeded Andy Roddick of the US in the fourth round of the men’s singles at Wimbledon.

Although Lu was crushed the following day by third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, his achievement was no less remarkable for that. Despite being an unseeded player with a world ranking of 82, Lu managed to defeat Roddick, the world No. 7. By reaching the quarter-finals he not only made Taiwan proud but went further than any other Asian player in a grand slam tournament since 1995.