Tue, May 12, 2009 page8

• [LETTER]

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  Taiwan dangling in limbo

  The US State Department recognizes 194 states, including city-states such as the Holy See and Singapore and the principalities, or “micro-states,” of Liechtenstein and Monaco.

  Excluded from this list is an entity that the State Department says may or may not be considered a country, depending on who you talk to.

  The outsider is Taiwan, which meets all requirements for a sovereign country.

  That Taiwan meets all criteria of a sovereign country is absolutely indisputable and beyond contention:

  1. It has a clearly defined territory with internationally recognized boundaries.

  2. It has a permanent population who possess identity cards, passports and home residency certificates.

  3. It has a highly organized and advanced economy; it regulates both foreign and domestic trade/commerce. It issues its own currency.

  4. It maintains educational institutions at all levels, thus proving itself capable of “social engineering.”

  5. It has a highly developed transportation system for moving both people and goods.

  6. It has five branches of government (executive, legislative, judicial, oversight and examination), in addition to a police force.

  7. It has its own armed forces — army, navy, air force and marines.

  8. It has a postal and banking system.

  9. It has sovereignty over its defined territory.

  10. It is recognized (albeit limited recognition) by other countries.

  Tawan’s political problems have their sources in three main areas.

  The deluded, megalomaniacal fools who control Taiwan pathetically insist that they have sovereignty over territory that they do not control. They pathetically cling to the chimerical “Republic of China,” which was superseded decades ago by the communist government of the People’s Republic of China across the Taiwan Strait. It is the abysmally wide gap or disjunction between reality and the delusional perceptions of Taiwan’s present rulers that causes so much trouble for Taiwan.

  Taiwan’s problems are also a result of China’s incessant bullying, intimidation and meddling.

  Lastly, Taiwan’s problems come, in no small measure, from political expediency, hypocrisy and shameful cowardice on the part of other nations — especially the “Great Western Democracies.” As an American, I am forced to admit that the US can be assigned much of the blame in regard to Taiwan’s unfortunate status.

  Taiwan’s lonely “outsider” status is the result of dreadfully misguided policies by enemies of Taiwan — both external and internal.

  MICHAEL SCANLON

  East Hartford, Connecticut

  Parking needs to be green

  Park your car in downtown Hualien for more than a minute and you’re bound to find a parking ticket fluttering on your windshield.

  The city is extremely vigilant about ensuring that drivers pay to park. The city counts on this revenue, and rightly so.

  My question is: Why do the parking enforcement officers drive around on scooters while issuing these tickets rather than riding bicycles?

  There is a veritable army of enforcement officers patrolling very short “beats” of typically between one and two blocks in the downtown core.

  Each officer does nothing but drive back and forth, issuing tickets in his or her short area, covering the same piece of ground literally hundreds of times each day.

  The result, of course, is a lot of totally unnecessary pollution, not to mention unwarranted expense.

  The environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution seems obvious: Replace these scooters with bicycles.

  Selling the existing fleet of scooters could cover the cost of acquiring the bicycles, and the city would immediately realize significant savings by cutting fuel, maintenance and insurance costs.

  In addition, locals and tourists alike could breathe easier with this sizable fleet of polluting scooters taken off the roads.

  I hope the Hualien City government will recognize the merits of this course of action and do the responsible thing by making the change immediately.

  It’s high time to go green!

  JASON GRENIER

  Hualien
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