Friday, August 06, 2010

Xinhua wants One China FTAs


Short and Sweet, from Xinhua:
Singapore should recognize 'one China' in Taiwan accord: Xinhua

Singapore should recognize China's sovereignty over Taiwan even as the Southeast Asian country is preparing to sign an economic agreement, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said yesterday.

"We hope Singapore continues to observe the principle that there's only one China," Xinhua reported, citing the Chinese foreign ministry's spokeswoman Jiang Yu.
The "One China" requirement has long been suspect by intelligent observers as a demand Beijing would place on ECFA and post-ECFA negotiations. What else could they do? Taiwan Today posted a piece on the Singapore-Taiwan FTA that said in part:

The minister pointed out that the two nations will pursue a trade pact that includes agreements on trade, investment, intellectual property rights, electronic commerce and customs cooperation.

Though the trade accord is similar to a free trade agreement, the two sides will not refer to it as such, Shih said, “because not using such a designation actually opens up more possibilities.” He noted that Singapore has entered trade agreements with Japan and India in recent years without calling them FTAs.

It appears to be a clever trick to get around the problem of Beijing not wanting Taiwan to have FTAs...

But I wouldn't want to leave my readers on such a low note. Hence, I'm leaving you with this incredible piece of cutting edge research straight from the Taiwan Lottery, which leaves no stone unturned in its quest to provide you with the winning fate. Since phrenology is an awesomely modern science, it should come as no surprise that Taiwan lottery winners have bigger earlobes.

Taiwan Lottery has analyzed the faces of 1,414 winners of large cash prizes in the lottery, and compiled information on the characteristics of those most likely to win prizes of NT$5 million (US$157,000) or more.

Most big winners are between 40 and 59 years old, male, residents of Taipei County, Sagittarius, born in the Chinese Year of the Goat, with double-fold eyelids, an oval face, thick lips, bushy eyebrows and a high nose. Above all, almost all of the winners have large earlobes.

It's a good thing they didn't waste the taxpayers' money or anything.
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3 comments:

Richard said...

Haha I wonder why they did that study. Would it actually increase the number of lottery buys? It would seem like people who aren't in that "category" would stop buying, and those in that would maybe increase - evening out.

apple said...

I think it could well be called an "FTA of convenience". Ma needs something substantial to show to voters when he goes for re-election in 2012. Singapore has substantial politic links with both the PRC and Taiwan. Some kind of compromise would have been reached between all parties that serves their best interests. This is a third-party endorsement of the Anschluss that will give it legitimacy that both the KMT and CCP need.

Taikula said...

But who needs to win the Lottery now? Just apply for a government grant to do palm reading.