Taiwan Communique 144

Temple, Taiping, Taichung city.

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To: Friends in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia
From: Formosan Association for Public Affairs

We are pleased to let you know that the new issue of Taiwan Communiqué is hot off the press (attached). This issue starts with a summary of the very recent declaration by China of an Air Defense Identification Zone, covering a wide area of the East China Sea, including the Senkaku / Diaoyutai island. This increased tension and prompted immediate protests from the US, Japan and South Korea.

Then we have a section titled Taiwan’s Constitutional Crisis, about the developments surrounding the (unsuccessful) attempts by President Ma Ying-jeou to move Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng out of his position. We also present an analysis of the longer-term implications.

Then we move on to an overview of a series of relatively large-scale recent protests in Taiwan against President Ma’s policies of moving closer to China, disregarding the interests of Taiwan and its people. One increasingly popular phenomenon during these protests was the art of shoe-throwing.

Then we have an article specifically focusing on one of the policies: the attempts by the Ma administration to push a Service Trade Agreement with China through the legislature. This is meeting with stiff resistance in the streets as well as in the legislative chambers.

This is followed by a brief overview of the fact that President Ma’s “diplomatic truce” policy is taking a hit due to the breaking of relations with The Gambia. We are wondering whether this will have a domino effect.

Then a piece on Taiwan’s improving relations with its neighbor, The Philippines. The fisheries incident tension was left behind in August, while Taiwan did come through as a good neighbor when super-typhoon Haiyan hit in early November, resulting in widespread damage, destruction and loss of life.

We then present an update on the case of former President Chen Shui-bian, who has been incarcerated for five years now. US Congressman Robert Andrews (D-NJ) is urging a medical parole through a resolution introduced in the US Congress, while visitors to Chen do indicate his medical condition is worsening.

We close with an In Memoriam for David Dean, the first chairman of the Board of the American Institute in Taiwan after US broke relations in 1979. Mr. Dean passed away in Virginia in October 2013.

Below you find the table of contents. The electronic version will be uploaded to our websites www.fapa.org and http://www.taiwandc.org/twcom/index.html The hardcopy will be sent out to those who are on our mailing list next week.

Best regards,
Gerrit van der Wees
Editor, Taiwan Communiqué
Formosan Association for Public Affairs

CONTENTS Taiwan Communiqué no 144
November/ December 2013

Senkaku tensions rise again
China declares Air Defense Identification Zone ... 1
Weak response from Taipei ........................ 3

Taiwan's Constitutional crisis
The President against the Legislative Speaker .... 5
Speaker Wang Jin-pyng fights back ................ 6
Longer-term implications ......................... 6

Protests against Ma's policies continue
Black and white against Ma's blue-red policies ... 7
Ma Ying-jeou: "China not a foreign country" ...... 9
Demonstrating against KMT Congress in Taichung .. 11
Shoe-throwing as symbol of discontent ........... 12

Flawed pact with PRC in limbo
KMT government pushes Service Trade Agreement ... 14
Engineers and other groups protest PRC accord ... 15

Ma's "diplomatic truce" takes a hit
The Gambia cuts ties with Taiwan ................ 16
Will it have a domino effect? ................... 18

Taiwan - Philippines relations thaw
Closing the fisheries conflict episode .......... 19
Taiwan provides disaster relief assistance ...... 20

Former President Chen: five years in prison
Andrews urges support for medical parole ........ 21
Report: Chen's health condition getting worse ... 22
In Memoriam David Dean .......................... 22
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