The lifting of martial law in 1987 gave rise to a virtual explosion in the number of amateur and professional performing groups in the country, which has been matched by an increasingly supportive and discerning public.

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By Lai Hsiang-Ling 賴香伶
Taiwan has one of the lowest tax burden ratios worldwide, with a large percentage of its tax revenues coming from income taxes. Wage earners are therefore the major sponsors of national development.

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By Huan Teh-jui 黃得瑞
Amid the changes in the global industrial environment, Taiwan's role as a provider of original equipment manufacturing/original design manufacturing (OEM/ODM) services for various technological sectors has gradually decreased. The nation is now moving toward an innovative, knowledge-based industry to become a production base for cutting-edge research and development, as well as high value-added products.

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While nanotechnology offers us useful ways to control the material world, more research needs to be done to discover how to use the technology safely
By Andrew Maynard
We are living -- according to some -- on the brink of a nanotechnology revolution, where matter is engineered at a scale thousands of times smaller than the eye can see, and familiar materials behave in unexpected ways. This revolution, if successful, will turn our world upside down.

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By Richard Halloran
After five years of solidifying Japan-US security relations under the leadership of former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, the alliance over the past year has lurched into a sharp decline under his successor Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda because Tokyo has reverted to the insular politics of yesteryear.

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Higher prices for oil and other fossil fuels are making other, environment-friendly energy sources an affordable alternative
By Ashley Seager
While motorists may be alarmed at the inexorable rise in the price of oil, which is setting new records almost daily, environmentalists and alert investors see a silver lining in the cloud.

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Jeremiah Norris, the author of a recent article published in your paper, works for the Hudson Institute, which is described in his bio as a think tank ("WHO: Long on agenda, but short on the facts," Nov. 4, page 8). This think tank is funded by pharmaceutical giants including Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and its output regularly reflects the views of its corporate sponsors.

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David Pendery's letter raises very good issues, but misses my point (Letters, Nov. 9, page 8). I was responding only to the specific points raised in a previous article ("Reaction to motorbike rule mixed," Nov. 4, page 2) about heavy motorcycles being allowed on the highways, not trying to address bigger social problems. Simply deploying more scooters was not advocated as the solution to traffic congestion.

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On Tuesday, Canadian Broad-casting Corp (CBC) television was scheduled to show a documentary entitled Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong ("Canadian TV pulls Falun Gong program hours before airtime," Nov. 10, page 7).

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