2007 July | The View from Taiwan

Entries for July, 2007

Taiwan Visit Bill Passes US House Unanimously

Jul.31, 2007 in China, Taiwan Relations Act, US, media

Forbes and other media outlets are reporting some good news out of Congress (IHT, longer article, same info):
The US House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for the lifting of US government curbs on visits by top Taiwanese leaders.
The House passed the measure by a unanimous voice vote, which supporters said would send a message [...]

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Shung Ye Monograph Series at SMC

Jul.30, 2007 in Taipei, aborigines, academia

For those of you into Taiwan books, the Southern Materials Center has both reprints and new stuff on Taiwan. Their bookstore is at: 羅斯福路三段 283 巷 14 弄 14 號 (14 Roosevelt Rd. Lane 283, Alley 14). It’s the lane behind McDonalds across from the side gate of National Taiwan U.).(website)
One of the series they [...]

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Taiwan Rulz in E-Gov

Jul.29, 2007 in RDEC

According to this librarian blogger….

The Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University in Rhode Island has just released its 7th annual ranking of e-government initiatives.
The findings are based on the analysis of 1,687 government websites in 198 different nations. The types of websites analysed included executive offices (president, prime minister, ruler, party leader, or [...]

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Waldron, CFR, China

Jul.29, 2007 in CFR, China, US, Waldron

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Establishment think tank that conspiracy theorists love to hate, is out with a new report on China that’s upbeat on China’s rise. Not so fast, says Arthur Waldron, longtime Taiwan friend and China watcher (commentary from this right-wing site):
The report contains much useful factual material and some worthwhile [...]

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UN 2758 says Taiwan is part of China? Nepal thinks so…

Jul.28, 2007 in China, Nepal, Taiwan independence, UN

Last week Taiwan’s application to enter the UN under the name “Taiwan” was rejected by the UN Sec-General. The reason?
Taipei - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that Taiwan cannot join the United Nations because UN members consider Taiwan part of China, the Central News Agency (CNA) said on Saturday.
CNA said that Ban [...]

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Checking out the Bells and Whistles

Jul.27, 2007 in photos

Saturday dawned bright, so I hit the trails above my house to try out the new Canon on some old subjects.

All the shots here were taken at maximum resolution, about 3264 x 2448 (giving 575 shots on a 2 gig card). Most I cut down to 750 x 562 in ACDSee, and saved at 75% [...]

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DPP Chairman calls for Plebescite should China invoke Anti-Succession Law

Jul.27, 2007 in China, Taiwan independence, UN, US

Here’s a brainy move:
Ruling Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said Friday he will ask President Chen Shui-bian to call a plebiscite on Taiwan’s destiny if China cites its anti-separation law to obstruct the island’s plan to vote on its United Nations membership bid.
Yu also faulted the United States for painting the planned UN referendum [...]

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Insider Trading and Financial Markets in Taiwan

Jul.27, 2007 in economy

Insider trading, a way of life in our business world. Recently, it seems there’s a new case every week:
Taiwan prosecutors have asked the court for permission to detain an executive of Fubon , Taiwan’s No. 5 financial holding firm, amid a probe into possible insider trading involving Standard Chartered’s acquisition of a Taiwan bank.
Fubon’s shares [...]

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Feel the Powershot

Jul.27, 2007 in photos

Say good-bye to the Olympus C-770 (above): the Powershot is in the house! It was a good camera for 2004, but it’s a generation behind now. Taken a beating too, as the dent there in the bottom of the U/V filter attests. I was so impressed with my buddy Jason’s S3 that I went out [...]

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Daily Links, Friday, July 27, 2007

Jul.26, 2007 in Uncategorized

Yummy stuff on the blogs today.
J. Michael Cole on historical revisionism in Taiwan. He publishes regularly in the Taipei Times.

Taoyuan Nights with an extensive, great discussion on how Taiwanese are screwed economically.

David with a very long post on transitional justice in Taiwan.

Scott Sommers has a good article on the politics of examinations.

Corbett discovers an academic [...]

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Hsieh’s Journey to the West

Jul.26, 2007 in China, Frank Hsieh, Taiwan independence, US foreign policy

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell met with DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, currently on a trip to the US. Hsieh described the meeting:

Hsieh, who is on a“love and trust”in the US, related Powell said he understood China has been waging psychological warfare against Taiwan for the past 50 years but his country will hold [...]

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Daily Links, July 26th, 2007

Jul.25, 2007 in Uncategorized

There we were, sitting at home watching a movie, when a snake slipped under the main door, slithered along the living room wall, and then slipped out the screen door on the side. Naturally, my Olympus, whose warm up times and shutter lags are glacial, was only able to get this shot as it slipped [...]

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Taiwan TV flap in Singapore

Jul.25, 2007 in Singapgore, democracy

Making the rounds in Singapore is this snippet from a local talk show that discusses Singapore, in the context of Ma Ying-jeou’s praises of the city-state’s government as efficient. This blog gives a synopsis.
Rough Synopsis:
1. Ma Ying Jiu made a comment comparing Singapore to Taiwan. His opinion that Singapore was more efficient, un-corrupt and economically [...]

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US angered over referendum

Jul.25, 2007 in China, Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan independence, US

Bonnie Glaser, a US Taiwan/China expert, had this to say in the CSIS. The article gives a good idea of how American establishment academics are looking at the UN referendum.
++++++++++++++++
UN Referendum Brings U.S.-Taiwan Relations to a New Low
Bonnie S. Glaser (Senior Associate, Pacific Forum CSIS)
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian is backing a plan to hold a [...]

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Why Hsieh Will Win

Jul.24, 2007 in 2008 Presidential Election, DPP, Frank Hsieh, KMT, Ma Ying-jeou

There’s a widespread perception that Ma Ying-jeou is the frontrunner in the 2008 Presidential race. This is fed by the constant flow of polls that appear in the pro-Blue media that have Ma ahead of Hsieh by light-years. Such polls exist to shape discourse, not to provide information for it.
So let’s take a moment, dust [...]

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