Daily Links:
- Taiwan shops in the US to bolster its air defenses
- Washington assesses Taiwan's defense needs
- Taiwan's in-vitro fertilization baby count now reaches 50,000.
- Register for the Taiwan bike festival in Hualien.
- Companies bringing Chinese workers in for "professional training."
- Like chasing monkeys? K-town has a job for you.
- The Diplomat: Is China making Taiwan nervous? Do ursines excrete in woodlands?
- Is Taiwan blocking mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector? Wouldn't it be great if the post had provided some details on the issue, so readers could judge for themselves?
- Yes, it was Chen Shui-bian's fault that China passed the Anti-Secession Law, says a Canadian diplomat. *sigh*
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3 comments:
The former Canadian diplomat you refer to is Harry Sterling, who regularly writes pro-Chinese pieces. In fact you've referenced him at least once before (the "incredibly wrong" piece). Other examples of his drivel can be found here and here. Read 'em and weep. Let's hope Canada's current diplomats aren't quite as blinkered.
The Financial Times article is short on why, but given their stance, the opaque nature of the decisions is the point--it feels arbitrary and surprising--and deadly to businesses large and small.
If you insist on a reason though, remember that the Chen Shui-bian administration was attacked for allowing for so many financial mergers during its term. They were attacked to the point that financial mergers to the average Taiwanese person just seemed like a dirty thing in and of itself. There may very well have been corruption involved in some of the mergers, but it's also still true that Taiwan's financial market is still ultra-fragmented and ultra-competitive and really needs consolidation in order to be competitive internationally.
So in other words, basically Ma is sticking a knife in Taiwan's financial sector because he thinks this will make him look better and less corrupt than Chen Shui-bian, who actively encouraged mergers and consolidation.
Liu Xiaobo, a leading Chinese dissident, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
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