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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as