Events and Announcements

The DPP has opened an English blog:

Democratic Progressive Party.

Looking forward to plenty of information, pics, and event announcements!!

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May 19 the Formosa Foundation is hosting a conference on the Future of US Taiwan relations.....


The Future of U.S.-Taiwan Relations

Presented by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Formosa Foundation

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Schedule:

10:00-10:30 AM: Opening Session

10:30-11:00 AM: Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), Foreign Affairs Committee

11:00-12:30 PM: Change and Continuity in U.S.-Taiwan Relations: Tracking Trends Following the 2008 Elections

Carolyn Bartholomew, U.S. China Commission
Shih-chung Liu, Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, Brookings Institute
Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin
Julian Baum, former Taipei Bureau Chief for the Far Eastern Economic Review

12:30-1:45 PM: Luncheon Keynote: Henry R. Nau, The George Washington University

1:45-3:15 PM: Analyzing Cross-Strait Detente: Implications for Taiwan's Relations with the United States and the International Community

June Teufel Dreyer, University of Miami
Bruce Gilley, Portland State University
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, U.S.-Taiwan Business Council

3:15-3:45 PM: Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA)*, Foreign Affairs Committee

*Invited

This schedule may be subject to change.

Lindner Family Commons
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW, 6th Floor

Please RSVP with your name, organization/GW affiliation, and email to gsigur@gwu.edu by Friday, May 15, 2009. Please also note which sessions you would like to attend.

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Taiwan POW Camps society sent this around:

Dear Friends of the Society - particularly in the Kaohsiung area,

The City of Kaohsiung Department of Cultural Affairs and our POW Society would like to extend an invitation to anyone who wishes to attend the official dedication of the new War and Peace Park, located at Chijin near Kaohsiung Harbour next Wednesday May 20th at 4pm. The ceremony will last until approximately 5:30pm.

The War and Peace Park has been in development for the past couple of years. The Taiwan Hellships Memorial is located there and was dedicated on January 26, 2006, and the park has undergone extensive renovation since then. It also houses memorials dedicated to Taiwanese men and women who served in WWII, the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. The park features an exhibition center where more information may be obtained. Interestingly, the park is situated right across the road from the site of the mass grave where the 350 POWs who died when the hellship Enoura Maru was bombed were previously buried.

Everyone is invited to attend but particularly those in the Kaohsiung and southern Taiwan area are urged to come if so able. I am looking forward to meeting some of you who are new supporters of our Society and also to seeing old friends again. I hope you will be able to join us for this event.

Also, please be watching for another upcoming announcement in about a week regarding the dedication of the Society's latest POW Memorial which will take place at Gou-Ba Elementary School - near Touliou - on Saturday June 6th. We plan to charter a bus to take interested friends down from Taipei. The cost will be NT$400 for the day - including fruit drinks on the bus - lunch is on your own. We will go down in the morning and return the same day around 5pm. If interested please contact us by email. There are only 13 or 14 seats available so it's "first come first served". Further details will be announced next week.

Thank you again for your continued interest in the Taiwan POWs and our work to make sure that their story is told and that they are not forgotten.

Sincerely,
Michael Hurst MBE
Director, Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society

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