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Taiwan Corner |
News about from Danmark |
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Newsletter |
January 2010 | |
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Dear reader of Taiwan Corner's newsletter, |
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Taiwan Corner's newsletter is back again. We have taken a longer break than originally planned. The reason have been the local elections in Denmark and various trips including a recent visit to Taiwan. Despite this, you will hopefully discover that we have been very active in Denmark and in Taiwan. |
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Changes are required some times in order keep things appealing and in order move forward. For this reason, we are going to make minor change in the newsletter and on the website. We will start bringing comments about Taiwan from various persons who are not necessarily associated with Taiwan Corner or may not even agree with Taiwan Corner's agenda. We hope that this will allow a more lively debate and even more interesting articles on Taiwan Corner. |
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Taiwan Corner's annual meeting is around the corner and all members will be invited very soon. On the same day of the annual meeting we have an open event that will focus on the current cross strait agreements and the coming economic agreement between Taiwan and China. |
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We hope that you will enjoy the newsletter and the many articles. Remember, you are always welcome to contact us with ideas and suggestions. |
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Best wishes, |
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Michael Danielsen - chairman - Taiwan Corner. |
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Michael's Corner Comment |
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Welcome to China Welcome to China, Welcome to ROC. This is how I was greeted at the KMT's National Policy Foundation in Taipei shortly after New Year. I wondered if I had ended up in a time machine that had taken me back to the Cold War era when Taiwan represented the entire China including the People's Republic of China. I got the same feeling after my visit at Chiang Kai-shek's memorial hall in Taipei. During the previous DPP government the hall was altered significantly and included a white corner in the hall displaying names of the victims of the authoritarian past. In addition, the polished soldiers guarding the huge statue of Chiang Kai-shek had been removed. Now the soldiers are back and the Memorial Hall looks like when I first visited Taiwan in 2001. Also, the white wall with the names had been removed. Even the post office stimulated this feeling with its new name China post instead of Taiwan post. These changes were no surprise to me but meeting the changes in reality is a very different feeling. Reading articles about the government's obvious celebration of China in Taiwan is a very different matter. What I realized was that this time machine only manifested itself on very specific locations in Taipei. Outside these few locations, I figured out that a reality check revealed that the Taiwanese are becoming even more Taiwanese. More than 50% of the Taiwanese identify themselves as Taiwanese which has increased during President Ma. The number of Taiwanese who consider themselves as Chinese are down to 4-5%. One figure has not changed and that is overwhelming rejection of China. 80% of the Taiwanese continues to refuse a one country - two systems model no matter how this is formulated. Also, the KMT was considered as the loser at the local election on December 5. and the party lost 3 seats in the by-election to parliament in January. On the top of this, the coming economic agreement between Taiwan and China is undergoing a very heated debate in Taiwan in which people fear to be over flooded with the Chinese products resulting in an increased unemployment rate which now is around 6%. Some people also fear a loss of Taiwan's sovereignty. One disturbing fact is that no one seems to know much about the content of the agreement and the government has been criticised for lack of transparency. As this was not enough, Taiwan is also being criticised by Freedom house and Reporter without Borders for its current democratic development. Unfortunately, Taiwan seems more divided than ever and on the wrong track among the democratic nations. A time machine that moves Taiwan backwards is not a remedy for Taiwan's challenges. From Denmark the view is very different. The media picture in Denmark displays rosy picture of the relationship between Taiwan and China due to their many signed agreements. It appears to me that Danish media is not using a time machine. It much worse, they are not doing their job. Michael Danielsen - Chairman of Taiwan Corner | |
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Taiwan Corners' Newsletter Comment | |
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Comment: Young People Hit the Streets, Asking for a Job and Some Change In this newsletter Mr. Chieh-Ting Yeh, Former Co-President of the Harvard Asia Law Society and former Vice President of the Harvard Taiwanese Students Association has written a comment to Taiwan Corner as a guest writer. “The people in Taiwan have witnessed much change throughout the years, but they are facing times of change yet again. The relationship with China sailed into uncharted waters as President Ma Ying-jeou rushes further economic integration with China, the United States seems to have swept Taiwan under the carpet, and no one really knows when the economy will boom as it once did…” |
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Taiwan Corner in the media | ||
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Aiming for FTAs that would help Taiwan - January 22. 2010 A world of free-trade agreements (FTA) will open to Taiwan and the nation will enjoy greater international space if it just signs an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China. At least, that’s the pipe dream the government is trying to sell. Here’s a reality check: The government will only be pursuing FTAs with countries that have already inked FTAs with China. Read the article here... Interview to Liberty Times - January 18. 2010 Michael Danielsen was interviewed by journalist Zou, Jing Wen from Liberty Times about the current Cross Strait relations, FTA with other countries and how to uphold Taiwan's soverignty. Read the interview here... Conference unities Taiwan, PRC - December 11. 2009 The climate conference in Copenhagen has become a battlefield for the old controversy between Taiwan and China. Almost like a ritual, Taiwan is not invited to the climate conference despite the fact that its economy, technology and political will are fully capable of contributing to the resolution on climate change, and far better equipped than most of the participating countries. Read the article here... Opinion: Hvem spørger Taiwans befolkning? - December 11. 2009 - Danish Taiwan har ikke ansøgt om observatørstatus ved konferencen, hvor ansøgningsfristen var 7. august. Herudover bliver det statsstøttede Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) listet direkte som en del af Kina efter en symbolsk protest fra Taiwans side. Læs artiklen her... Unreliable comment about Taiwan in Danish newspaper Politiken and in Taipei Times - September 23. 2009 Taiwan Corner has decided to respond to a comment about the trial against Comment by Sin-ming Shaw can be readhere...(Taipei Times) Taiwan Corner's answer can be foundhere...(Taipei Times) Peace or submission? The Danish newspaper Information had an article on August 21 about The article can be read here ... (in Danish) Is Taiwan Corner is commenting on the troubling democratic development in Open letter to Taiwan Corner has decided to sign yet an open letter to Taiwan's President Ma again. We take this step out of anxiety of Taiwan's democracy and self-determination. The letter has been published in Taipei Times and Liberty Times on November 13. 2009. You can read the letter here... The answer from Taiwan's Goverment Information Office on November 18 can be read here... A road to unrest and subservience Published on June 18, 2009 Taiwan Corner wrote a letter in Taipei Times entitled "A road to unrest and subservience". Read the editorial here... | ||
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Blogs from Taiwan | ||
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That’s Impossible: Politics from Taiwan A-gu follows Go to the blog here... |
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