The reshuffle at the government-sponsored Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) reflects the current political distribution in Taiwan and it was carried out in a democratic manner, Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) has told the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
Ministry Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) told a press briefing yesterday that Ou wrote a letter to NED president Carl Gershman who, along with some members of Congress, had expressed concern over the recent reshuffle at the foundation and asked President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) not to interfere in the foundation.
In the letter dated June 29, Ou said Article 8 of the foundation’s charter stipulates that half of its board members must come from political parties that occupy 5 percent or more of the seats in the Legislative Yuan and therefore, the TFD board changes after each legislative election.
Ou appealed to the US to respect the sovereignty and the rule of law of different nations. He also said he hoped that the NED, under Gershman’s leadership, would show similar deference to Taiwan’s due process.
Gershman wrote to Ma last month to urge him not to interfere with the foundation’s structure and the policies after it was reported that under Beijing’s influence, the Ma administration planned to make major changes to the foundation’s governing board and to prevent it from offering financial support to pro-democracy movements in China, Tibet and Cuba.
“It has come to my attention through reports in the press that broad changes are being proposed for the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. I am concerned that such an overhaul could well compromise both the Foundation’s independence and the quality of its work,” Gershman wrote.
While the NED was the only organization to react so strongly, a number of other Washington-based groups — including Freedom House and the Formosan Association for Public Affairs — are known to be concerned about reports of Ma’s alleged plans to interfere with and restrict the foundation.
Several members of the US Congress are also worried about the situation, but have decided to wait until Ma officially makes his plans known before reacting.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS