US Air Force Lieutenant General Bruce Wright, the commander of US forces in Japan, dropped a bombshell of sorts last week when, during an interview, he painted a disconcertingly grim portrait of US capabilities vis-a-vis China's growing military strength.

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By Kim Lee
As President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) hob-nobbed with the leaders of Taiwan's African allies last week, one could wonder what the "progressive" in last month's Taiwan-Africa Progressive Partnership Forum referred to.

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By Lin Chia-lung 林佳龍
Last Wednesday, the Cabinet passed the draft administrative division act and a draft amendment to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) and submitted these drafts to the legislature for review. If passed by the legislature, these laws would help reform land division and would substantially increase local financial resources.

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The director who represents Russia at the fund has said it is an open secret the IMF is barely alive and that its traditional modus operandi has gone
By steven R. weisman
A decade ago, the IMF helped to stabilize the world economy after markets collapsed in Latin America, Russia and Asia. Though critics often have rued its interventionism, the fund was widely hailed as a heroic guardian of the global financial system.

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The most prominent Japanese opposition figure seems willing to jeopardize the US alliance for political gain
By Richard Halloran
Searching conversations with Japanese diplomats, politicians, officials, academics, business executives and journalists in Japan and the US over the last several years have almost always led to the same conclusion: When it comes to national security, Japan has no choice but to nurture its alliance with the US.

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If the government wants to recruit skilled high-tech professionals to work in the science parks at Hsinchu and Tainan, it should upgrade the infrastructure of those two cities.

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