The Venice film festival has become the focus of the increasingly bitter row between Taiwan and China regarding the sovereignty of the Taiwanese state. Protests have been filed by Taiwan’s Government Information Office and Taiwanese production company ARS after big budget movie Seediq Bale was listed as originating from Taiwan AND China.

Seediq Bale produc r Jimmy Huang was quick to confirm that the movie is a “pure Taiwan-made film and not a film made by Taiwan and China.” The movie in question is Taiwan’s biggest budget production of all time costing around $24.3m and the subject matter, the 1930 Wushe Incident where the people rose up against the colonial Japanese forces, may have made the film makers particularly sensitive to the issue of Taiwanese Independence from China.

The issue of Taiwan’s independence is a very sensitive political issue. China’s communist government does regard the pacific island as part of their territory but Taiwan disputes this. The film festival has a history of listing Taiwanese productions as “Taiwan, China” as it did so in 2007 with Ang Lee’s Lust. It may be that the film organisers are wary of the political issue or it could also be that the inclusion of China in the film listing is because the movie’s executive producer John Woo is from Hong Kong.

Either way Taiwanese movie companies have long been sensitive to this issue. 2010 saw the cancellation of a Taipai week at the Shanghai film festival because film makers were opposed to their movies being listed as “Taiwan, China” instead of being from Taiwan
as a separate territory.

via US Air Force

Taiwan’s congressional supporters are ramping up the pressure on the Obama administration to approve the sale of new F-16 fighterjet units to the island nation. The pressure notched up a level higher when one pro-sale senator vowed to delay the confirmation of a new deputy secretary of state if there is no movement on the F-16 sale. Taiwan’s congressional allies’ actions have provoked countermaneuvers from mainland Chinese officials. Chinese dignitaries have visited senators, Obama administration officials, former officials, and personnel form other institutions to voice their opposition to the proposed F-16 sale. more…

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There is good news if you plan a trip to Hong Kong or Macao in the next months. As of July 15, Taiwan’s de facto embassies in the SAR (special administrative regions) gain new status receive the official name Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau, respectively. More than simply a new name for the same old thing, the agreement made between the SAR and the ROC last week recognizes the true status of both offices, and gives our government more possibilities in promoting Taiwan in the regions, especially in areas such as tourism, culture, education, or trade. With the recognition come new opportunities. On a very basic level, it means that ROC officials now have a status that affords them certain rights and privileges afforded to members of the diplomatic corps. Officials already speak of a “new stage” in the relationship between the SAR and the ROC. more…

The partially government owned Chunghwa Telecom Co. announced today that it planned to renew the license for New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD) amidst political pressures to reverse an earlier decision to discontinue the service in August. For those of you unfamiliar with NTD TV: In 2001, it was founded by members of Falun Gong in New York City and is heavily invested in human rights topics. Rumor has it that Chunghwa had been under pressure from the CCP because of the fact that NTDs broadcasts could be received in mainland China where Falung Gong is banned. Until now the views of the Taiwanese government to extend the license with NTD had been ignored. But the protest came from all sides of political spectrum: Tsai Ing-wen, chairman of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Wang Jin-ping, the president of Taiwan’s legislature, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang. There have even been some US and European voices protesting the ROC government’s decision to suppress freedom of speech by turning down NTD’s application. more…

photo © 2006 Tobin | more info (via: Wylio)After the Japan catastrophe, the nuclear debate has been underway in Taiwan for quite some time. Now, finally, the DPP is introducing some anti-nuclear bills into the Legislative Yuan aimed at suspending the construction of Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant, located in New Taipei City. DPP 2012 presidential candidate and party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen also wants to prohibit extending the lifespan of the country’s three existing nuclear power plants, in effect calling for a nuclear-free Taiwan by 2025. more…