With less than a week to go before the US presidential election, university students in Taiwan yesterday argued for their preferred candidate as the catalyst to revitalize US competitiveness in a mock debate held at National Chengchi University (NCCU).
Six non-native English-speaking students debating in fluent English provided facts to buttress their arguments.
Representing Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama, three NCCU students from the School of Diplomacy argued that the freshman senator from Illinois possessed the skill and the backing of experienced advisers, which would help him steer the US through the current financial storm by reducing healthcare costs, strengthening the labor market and setting a timetable to withdraw US troops from Iraq.
PHOTO: JENNY W. HSU, TAIPEI TIMES
Arguing US Senator John McCain under the banner of “yes we can, but with McCain,” three National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) students played the patriotism card by underlining the war veteran's decades of government service and his promise to slash capital gains taxes in order to spur investments and create new jobs.
The debate, sponsored by the American Cultural Center (ACC) of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), is part of a series of events highlighting the US presidential race and the US electoral system.
AIT officers and political science professors peppered the student debaters with questions from the war on terrorism, the prudence of the US$700 billion bailout plan, selection of future supreme justices and implementation of an effective healthcare system.
The students also sparred with one another by grilling their opponents on alternative energy, Iran and Washington's relations with corporations.
“I think it was an incredible performance by the students. Considering none of them were native-English speakers, it was pretty amazing to see them speak on tough policies,” ACC director Scott Robinson said.
The audience participated by voting for their favorite team. In a close race, NCCU was announced the winner and awarded a NT$10,000 check from AIT. All six students will meet AIT Director Stephen Young next Wednesday.
Yvonne Tyan (田依凡), a Chinese literature major from NTHU, said she had a week to prepare for the debate.
“The hardest thing [about the debate] was trying not to be nervous and overcome the stage fright,” she said.
Tyan said although she sat on the McCain team, she was an Obama fan, but believed a McCain White House could be more sympathetic toward Taiwan.
Lin Wei-sheng (林偉勝), from the winning team, called himself a fence sitter because he could see problems in both candidates' platforms and said no matter who took the Oval Office next year, Taiwan-US relations would stay relatively unchanged because the Taiwan issue was not an urgent matter for either camp.
Stanley Ho (何啟汯), a computer science major from NTHU shared Lin's view, saying the Taiwan Strait, though a major flash point, was not a big issue for the world.
“What I learned from the debate is that it takes a lot of effort and confidence to speak in public about your ideas,” said Chang Shu-hau (張書豪), an aspiring diplomat from NCCU.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and