The appointment of Hau Lung-bin
His support for the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) shows he has little respect for or understanding of environmental issues. As head of the EPA how will he deal responsibly with issues related to the storage of nuclear waste? Given his unquestioning acceptance of the need for a new nuclear power plant and opposition to a referendum on the fourth plant. He has obviously given little thought to the issue.
How does Hau's appointment fit in with Chen Shui-bian's (
David Reid
Hobart, Australia
Culture matters
I read your excellent feature on culture ("Culture matters. Or does it?", Mar. 3, page 11) and would like to react. I have taught at universities in Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan for eight years and I am presently a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii.
I have read the Harrison and Huntington book Culture Matters and found it most interesting. The logic of the authors is flawed, however, because they fail to distinguish between culturally similar expectations across cultures and culturally different behaviors that are linked to those expectations in each unique culture.
Their argument implies that only "successful" cultures value success. Is there any culture or country that does not value safety, success and trust? While most, if not all, countries and cultures share similar basic expectations, they each express their expectations differently, through their own learned behaviors. Some patterns of behavior work better than others in the global context.
The problem is not in "bad" values but rather in less effective behaviors that are used to express those shared common ground values in some cultures. The good news is that we can teach new behaviors that express old and traditional cultural values. Cultures are not condemned to failure because of their values. They are condemned by their lack of access to new behaviors that can express their traditional values more effectively in the global context.
All behaviors are learned and displayed in a cultural context. Accurate assessment, meaningful understanding and appropriate intervention must recognize the importance of the consumer's cultural context or it will fail. Interpreting behaviors outside the context where those behaviors were learned and are displayed is the first step onto the slippery slope of racism. Harrison and Huntington had it right. Culture does matter. They have it wrong, however, when they evaluate every other culture's behavior from their own "self-reference criterion" of their own foreign cultural context.
Paul B. Pedersen
Honolulu, Hawaii
Seek sustainable solutions
John Diedrichs makes two excellent points (Letters, Mar. 7, page 8), namely, the absence of conservation of electricity in Taiwan and the possibility that if alternative energy were fully utilized there would be an electricity glut.
The wind generator, fuel cell and solar collector market is an arena with low barriers to entry, a place for the Taiwan economy to create a market rather than just be market driven. The technology has already been developed and designs are available off the shelf. Fuel cell technology is now being fine-tuned. Taiwan light industry could quickly become the world leader in alternative energy in a sustainable market of products and services. Diedrichs' arithmetic gets a little fuzzy, however. Shouldn't the costs of the electricity from the nuclear power plant be calculated over a 20-year period of 24 hours a day kilowatt-hours?
Also, for my home, I would have to wait 10 years to realize the savings of a fuel cell that costs the same as "an economy car." No fuel cell maintenance costs were mentioned in the letter. The power plant has become a political question on the crux between economic boom and bust. Sustainable solutions must be sought, rather than a quick buck fix.
Warren Weappa
Yung-ho City
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under