World Politics Central

Taiwan’s newly-elected President, Ma Ying-jeou, wants to improve relations with China. This seems to be a drastic change from previous Presidents wherein they wanted to establish Taiwan as a separate state from China. He won by a landslide, 58% to 42% of his rival Frank Hsieh of the Democratic Party.

He proposes the following:

• Launch direct transportation links with the mainland
• Lift restrictions on Taiwan businessmen to operate in China
• Open Taiwan to Chinese tourists and investors

Will this mean that China bites the lure? The business sector hopes that the new President’s policies will entice the Mainland to help boost the economy.

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In the examination of a British military expert, the recent missile launch of Iran means that it is developing a long-range missile.  In addition, Iran is developing a space center, which requires an identical technology to these missiles’ capability.  The report also stated that the capability and size of Iran’s arsenal has been found similar to the facilities of North Korea.

It looks like the new Hillary Clinton movie will have to wait. The US Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a conservative group, Citizens United, who wanted to show an ad painting the Senator under a bad light.

According to the said group, the ad was more akin to expose reporting like “60 minutes” or “Nova” rather a smear campaign against Clinton. This however was rejected both by the Lower and Supreme Court. According to the 2002 McFain-Feinhold law, electioneering communication broadcasting during the election or primaries is not allowed.

On the Citizen United’s side, they say that they’re freedom of speech rights are being violated and therefore the ad needs to be shown immediately. They’re now planning on making an ad regarding the other Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

Nevertheless, the ad will be shown in nine theaters and can be viewed in the internet through their site.

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The US and India are proposing that both the Dalai Lama and his supporters have a dialogue with China to resolve the continuing protests in Tibet.

According to India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, “We do hope it will be possible to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue between the parties concerned.” Condoleezza Rice commented that.” We believe that the Dalai Lama can play a very favourable role given his belief in non-violence, given his stated position that he does not seek political independence for Tibet, and given his unassailable authoritative moral stature, not just with the people of Tibet but with people from around the world,”

This was spurred on after there were reports of mass unrest after the 49^th anniversary of the uprising of Tibet against China.

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Upon conclusion of Pentagon’s review of Iraqi documents, it has been found that there are no evidence to connect Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.  There were 600,000 documents seized after the invasion of 2003 to investigate a direct operational link.  The Institute for Defense Analyses has done this study, and now it is undergoing a declassification review.

There was an official from the U.S. Defense Department who has pleaded officially guilty for an espionage charge in passing defense information to China.  Acting assistant attorney general Patrick Rowan has said that the official – Greg William Bergersen – has betrayed his own oath to serve and protect the nation.  He could receive up to 10 years of prison term when he is sentenced a few months from now.

Civilian deaths in Iraq have been rising again.  In this month alone, Washington Times reported 674 Iraqi security officials and civilians were killed.  Although there was improved security in the country ever since the troops of United States surged in 2007, the increased civilian deaths now have significantly affected the morale of their citizens.

Workers in Notre Dame Basilica (Montreal’s landmark) are getting ready for a possible strike.  These workers have been working without a contract since end of 2005, and they said that they are frustrated with slow pace of negotiations.  The group includes technicians, boutique employees, tour guides and office workers earning $19.40-$25 an hour.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been asked by U.S. Senators how Iraq was spending its income on oil.  The January 2007 GAO report says that $10 billion has been earmarked for reconstruction, but only 4.4 percent has been spent until August of last year.  The Iraqi government is being blamed in spending 24% of the money.

U.S. President George Bush has acknowledged that the country’s economy is experiencing a difficult time.  He said it has indeed slowed down, but the economic stimulus package that was signed into a law has just started.  In the package, businesses are given tax incentives to buy new equipment and 130 million households will receive rebate checks this coming May.