Thursday, February 05, 2009

Daily Links, Feb 5, 2009


What's well-sauced on the blogs today?
  • Earthquake tests off Taiwan could harm rare dolphins

  • Stocks and Politics on the complaints against the pro-Green media.

  • There is no 'i' blogs on the death of a major Buddhist figure in Taiwan.

  • Taiwanrocks! on the Chinese economy and the US.

  • Taiwan Teacher on the receipt lottery

  • A post on Ed Friedman's excellent piece on China and democracy.

  • A Pinoy's Guide to Taiwan has Year of the Ox pics.

  • Global Voices online on hiking in Taiwan's mountains.

  • David on the Taipei Book exhibition. And don't forget, he has links on Mondays.

  • A fake news report on a China-India clash off Somalia.

  • A-gu notes that the NCC is going to tighten "fact checking" regulations on talk shows. This comes after criticism of pro-Green talk shows for "not check facts." It's a good thing that gentleman Ma was elected and the adults were put back in charge....

  • Hanjie on Lantern Festival Fireworks

  • Mutantfrog finds a 1993 piece on the China apologist Gregory Clark.

  • F VARGA on the tragedy of Orchid Island

  • Darren Melrose photos a Pingtung Street market
  • MEDIA: The evolution of Otaku culture in Taiwan. Japanese baseball star Oh says Taiwan baseball has good future. The Council on Foreign Relations on Countering China's Military Build Up. Chinese tourists visit in great numbers during Lunar New Year. More threats to pro-Green TV talk shows. Formosa Plastics to invest US$8.4 billion in plants in Taiwan. Freedom of the press has plummeted under Ma. South Korea and Taiwan execs charged with price-fixing in LCD markets. An excellent piece on Taiwan's water situation in this month's Taiwan Review. Yet another expert panel on the prospects for East Asia in the Obama regnum. The BBC on cross strait affairs. Another Chen aide pleads guilty. SEF Chief says Taiwan's dependence on China not so bad. Forbes on FDI in Taiwan.Seventy year old climber invents low-cost crampons. Latest twist in the Diane Lee case: AIT says, oh yeah, she did give up her citizenship 14 years ago (UPDATE: as Echo points out below, that's what her lawyer says AIT said). Except it is my understanding that a US citizen cannot give up citizenship just for serving on low-grade elected council. KMT to take its time in picking candidates for the year-end elections.

    PERSONAL: Today is the fourth anniversary of this blog. Sitemeter has me at 750,000 visitors since I put it on a couple of years ago, and over 1.2 million page views. Thanks, everyone.

    8 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Congratulations on your fourth anniversary! An invaluable source of news. Thanks.

    Unknown said...

    Happy 4th anniversary, Michael!

    Mu

    Tim Maddog said...

    I thought Diane Lee and her lawyer said that since she resigned, she "didn't have to" provide that evidence by January 31, as she had previously promised she would.

    It looks like it's still a thorn in her/their side. Also, that part in the article about her having committed a "potentially expatriating act" sounds rather weak as a legal argument.

    The "great numbers" of foreign tourists from China still don't match the numbers that Ma promised, do they? (13,400 ÷ 7 days = ~1,914 tourists per day) And that's during Lunar New Year!

    Reminders of what Ma said about those foreign tourists from China can be seen here:
    - - -
    President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has pledged to open Taiwan to 3,000 Chinese tourists per day in the initial stage, with the number increasing to 10,000 per day within four years.
    - - -

    ... and here:
    - - -
    Ma said he would also open Taiwan to Chinese tourists, with an initial daily quota of 3,000 people. The quota would be increased to 5,000 people the second year, 7,000 in the third, and 10,000 in the fourth.
    - - -

    "英九救我!" ;-)

    BTW, congrats on the bloggiversary!

    Tim Maddog

    Taiwan Echo said...

    Michael: "Latest twist in the Diane Lee case: AIT says, oh yeah, she did give up her citizenship 14 years ago"

    We don't know if AIT says so. The words were spread by Lee's lawyer, and he only "cut and paste" a section of AIT's response without providing any context.

    Diane Lee has repeatedly distorted the responses from US to her favor. This is a trick pan-blue has been using much too often. When they "wave pieces of paper telling you that it's the evidence" but refuse to let you exam them, you know right away that they are lying.

    Magically, they seem to get away with this trick every time.

    Lee's lawyer's claim about what AIT says cannot be confirmed until we do see the entire letter of AIT. At this moment, it's all their wishful talking.

    Taiwan Echo said...

    Btw, Michael, congrad. to you for entering the 5th years. Tremendous consistent hard work brought this informative blog to this stage. It's always a joy walking along the line with you, your blog, and all those who participated. Many thanks for this unforgettable experience in my life.

    Anonymous said...

    Re: Diane Lee, as mentioned on Jerome's blog, since she had to renew her passport at least once during her terms in office, it seems to be obvious that she had no intention of giving up her US citizenship.

    ==

    Big congrats on the 4 year milestone Michael. Thanks for all that you do!

    Tommy said...

    The comments by that SEF chief are totally mind boggling in their stupidity. His whole rationale is: Dependence is ok. Overdependence is not. The US bought 50 percent of our stuff in the past. Now China buys 40 percent, and we want them to buy more. So there is room to grow, and we are not overdependent...

    I too wish you congrats on four years.

    Anonymous said...

    Chiang Pin-kung (Grandpa Simpson?) is a conniving ignoramus. Everything in that article is KMTard sellout doublespeak. I'm glad you picked up on the article. I was going to post a link myself.

    Will post this link instead: Marc Faber's latest take on the global economy (feb6)