Letters from Taiwan

This Week In Taiwan

• Thanks to top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Representative Howard Berman and FAPA, Taiwanese entering the US can now list (on Form I-94 entry document and in the Global Entry Program) their country of citizenship as ‘Taiwan’ instead of ‘China (Taiwan)’ as was the case previously. Great work guys.  

• President Ma insisted again that ECFA is the foundation stone of the revival of Taiwan’s slowing economy and that FTAs with Singapore and New Zealand are in the pipeline, and eventually membership of the TPP.  In other news, I’m going to have to stop blogging for a moment because I need to close the windows the guard against Porcine Airborne Attacks.

• DPP won’t cave into pressure to change the name of their internal Department of China Affairs and China Affairs Committee.  Why call it ‘Cross-Strait’ when everyone else in the world recognises and understands what we mean when we say ‘China’.  Nomenclature matters, except to DPP Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) who wants to be ‘open minded and pragmatic’.  DPP showing again how their party has always been riven by two factions: principalists and pragmatists.  

• Recently the CGA sent five boats to escort nationalists in a futile and petty declaration of sovereignty over the Japanese Senkaku Islands.  It wasn’t the first time. In 2008, they sent eight boats.  President Ma of the ultra-nationalist KMT was elected in 2008 but nothing to see here. Move along now, you’re not the wedge in Taiwan-Japanese-US relations we’re looking for.

• Prosecutor decides not to press slander charges against Homeless of Taiwan (HOT) group for accusing Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) of asking the city’s cleaning squad to spray water on homeless people in parks in December.  In other words, Ying did ask that and as a result it happened during one of the coldest periods of Taiwan’s winter. With compassion like that I’d put good money on Ying also being a member of the Tzu Chi Foundation of Compassionate Corporate Development Buddhism.