Taiwan (12/14)

Three months ago, when Taiwan was last the subject of one of our IIF discussions, we had as our guest Dr. Lung-chu Chen, and almost all of our time was spent talking about whether Taiwan should be admitted to the United Nations. This meant that a large number of important issues were left on the table, including: relations between Taiwan and the Mainland and cross-strait developments in the Chen Administration; Taiwan's defense budget and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan; the EU arms embargo against the PRC; revision of Taiwan's constitution; abolition of the National Unification Council and guidelines; the PRC's Anti-Secession Law; the corruption scandals affecting the DPP; visits to the PRC by KMT party members; and Taiwan's entry into the WHO and related health issues. We decided to invite Director General R.C. Wu of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta to come at some future date and discuss some ot these issues with us.

Last weekend, in mayoral elections Taiwan's two largest cities, Kaohsiung and Taipei, "voters failed to give the stinging rebuke many expected to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of President Chen Shui-bian; although the DPP's candidate lost the mayorship of Taipei to the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), the ruling party narrowly held on to Kaohsiung." The occasion of this election seemed the perfect opportunity for Director Wu's visit, and he has graciously accepted our invitation to join us Thursday evening.

More! TECO offered to provide food for us after our meeting. We thought this was extremely generous and accepted, expecting perhaps egg rolls, dumplings, and perhaps a few other finger foods. Wrong! Nicole Denison of TECO e-mailed me about the arrangements, "the menu looks like this: green beans with garlic sauce, eggplant with black bean sauce, chinese broccoli, pot stickers, vegetable egg rolls, roast duck, veg fried rice, and red bean sesame balls for desert. I will bring all plates, cups and utensils along with a sweet aloe juice to drink." It was clear TECO is planning to provide a full meal, and quite a good one!

Here is some background information for the discussion:

The Congressional Research has done three recent reports on Taiwan. Here are the links:

Taiwan: Recent Developments and U.S. Policy Choices 10-09-06

Taiwan-U.S. Political Relations: New Strains and Changes

Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990

Here is a link to the Country Briefing on Taiwan from The Economist, which provides links to recent articles:

Country Briefing: Taiwan

And here are a few recent articles from the International Herald Tribune:

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3815777

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3829502

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3831320

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3842453

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3841517

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3844426

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=3854637