2006 December | The View from Taiwan

Entries for December, 2006

Jamestown Foundation: China’s "Extra-military" Approach

Dec.31, 2006 in Uncategorized

The Jamestown Foundation has a new piece out on China’s drive to displace the United States as a regional and eventual world hegemon:
As the United States hedges against a potential military confrontation with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing has opted to circumvent Washington’s preparations by adopting a grand strategy that utilizes “extra-military instruments” [...]

Leave a Comment

Yu, the DPP, and the China Times

Dec.31, 2006 in Uncategorized

Feiren over at Taiwan Matters explains why ESWN’s presentation of the recent decision by DPP Chair Yu to ban communication between the DPP and the pro-Blue paper The China Times is hugely biased:
Imagine for a moment if the New York Times falsely reported in a front page story that the chairman of the Republican [...]

Comments (1)

Just Some Random Pics

Dec.31, 2006 in Uncategorized

Fiona, one of my students.
It’s the New Year. I ain’t blogging. Enjoy some pics I had lying around.

Catch the recycler pushing her cart across the yellow line.

Metal forms for construction.

Happy New Years!
[Taiwan]
Related PostsRandom Saturday PicsDogs sleeping in a storefront.Saturday I ran up to Hsinchu to see my friend Michael and hang out at …Feedback on [...]

Comments (2)

Harvard Studies on Taiwan

Dec.30, 2006 in Uncategorized

I was surfing today and ran across the Harvard Studies on Taiwan, a product of the Fairbanks Center and funded by a grant from the Benito Mussolini Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation. The Harvard Studies on Taiwan looks like it was intended to be a series but it seems to have petered out in 2000. Sadly, the [...]

Leave a Comment

Daily Links, New Years, 2006-7

Dec.30, 2006 in Uncategorized

Happy New Year! Enjoy the holiday.

Taiwan rescinds its plastic bag ban. Which really wasn’t much of a ban.
Karl makes the NRA enemies list.
Paogao and Prince Roy find an amazing temple where Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek are deities. Here’s Prince Roy’s side of the story.
Jon Benda complains about the scheduling at his [...]

Comments (3)

Nazi Kitsch

Dec.29, 2006 in Uncategorized

My country’s sick of me,I’ll go to Germany,to be a spy.I’ll eat their sauerkraut,until my eyes pop out,and then I’ll scream and shout:“Hotsie totsie I’m a Nazi!” — Children’s ditty, last line shouted out, sung to the tune of “God save the Queen/My Country Tis of Thee”
+ + + +

Taiwan Tiger recently [...]

Comments (20)

Future Government Sign

Dec.28, 2006 in Uncategorized

Out walking, my friend Sponge Bear discovers this sign….”furuton,” he explains, is a local rendering of the old Japanese name for Fengyuan…
[Taiwan] [Formosa] [Fengyuan]
Related PostsStill more from the hatemail stackI got another bit of hatemail today……consisting of three lines: This really is a warning sign…Peking Duck at Anti-US protest in TaipeiRichard of [...]

Comments (4)

Dr. Hsieh and the politicization of the prosecutors…

Dec.28, 2006 in Uncategorized

Over at Taiwan Matters I’ve blogged on the case of “corruption” in the Tainan Science Park vibration damping technology.
The recent case of “corruption” in the Tainan Science Park vibration damping technology bid isn’t what it looks like on the surface. What’s really going on? Well, the defendant is Green, and the prosecutors are Blue….
[Taiwan] [DPP] [...]

Leave a Comment

Oz, Uranium, Taiwan, and the NPT

Dec.27, 2006 in Uncategorized

Australia’s Daily Telegraph comments on controversial uranium shipments from Oz to Taiwan, through the US for processing:
CONTROVERSY surrounds Australia’s first uranium shipment to Taiwan since it may clear the way for future exports to nuclear-armed India.
BHP Billiton refused to confirm the timing of the shipment via the US but the [...]

Comments (1)

Taiwan: Designing Its Way Up the Ladder

Dec.27, 2006 in Uncategorized

eWeek discusses the burgeoning design capabilities of Taiwanese laptop firms….
As competition in the fast-paced IT world intensifies, Taiwanese firms are trying everything they can to give their clients added-value services.
Taiwan computer makers such as Quanta, Asustek and Lite-On Technology Corp. have all created their own design teams, earning reputations as new product pioneers and winning [...]

Comments (1)

Dec.27, 2006 in Uncategorized

Taiwan News has the story on President Chen’s son-in-law going down for insider trading.
President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) was sentenced to six years in prison and fined NT$30 million after being found guilty of insider trading charges.
After a five-month investigation into the Chao and his father’s alleged insider trading of Taiwan Development [...]

Comments (1)

Hsinchu Pic

Dec.27, 2006 in Uncategorized

….but no time for blogging today. Nevertheless, I couldn’t resist leaving ya’ll with this well-composed photo I saw today from a recent Taiwan News piece on Hsinchu. Enjoy, whilst I slave away at work…
UPDATE: Quake knocks out telecommmunications across Asia.
Two cables were damaged, both off Taiwan’s coast, Chunghwa said.
The company reported a 50 percent loss [...]

Leave a Comment

Technorati Bloglist: New and Improved

Dec.26, 2006 in Uncategorized

Last year I kvetched about Technorati’s blog directory for Taiwan, because its list of top blogs for Taiwan contained several blogs that weren’t about Taiwan, and several others that were repeats. Metablogging myself:
In sum, of the first twenty, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 15, 18, 19, and 20 can reasonably said to be blogs about [...]

Comments (9)

Tonight’s Quake: a doozy

Dec.26, 2006 in Uncategorized

Image courtesy of USGS by way of Schee
Schee.info, run by one of Taiwan’s best known bloggers, Schee (Yam.com’s former blog manager) has the lowdown on the quake:

南海发生7.2级地震
南海发生6.7级地震

[Taiwan] [earthquakes]
Related PostsQuake Museum in WufengAs part of my commitment to blogging on Taiwan’s museums, I blogged the other day on the National Ta…Xing Studios OpeningLooking for something to [...]

Comments (1)

NHS and Self-Pay

Dec.26, 2006 in Uncategorized

Just quick reminder…. my wife found out visiting the hospital the other day that if you have at any time in the past selected ’self-pay’ instead of National Health Insurance pay during a visit to a hospital, the entire system may revert to ’self-pay’ for all your visits, not merely to the same department but [...]

Leave a Comment

« previous entries