英倫翻譯社/ Trsmaster

The biotech company TaiMed Inc. was a major investment project promoted by the administration of former President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). According to a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks, Tsai Ing-wen, a former vice premier under the Chen administration, told American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young in July 2007 that she would devote herself to promoting Taiwan's biotech industry after stepping down as vice premier. She also boasted of her role in drafting the Act for the Development of the Biotech and New Pharmaceuticals Industry. With such close involvement, Tsai should not have brought her family's capital into the TaiMed project. This is a basic ethical principle to avoid a conflict of interest, even if she did not expect she would run for president in the future. Just three days before the March 22, 2008 presidential election, the Council of Economic Planning and Development approved an investment of NT$875 million in a venture capital company set up by Tsai's family for the TaiMed project, of which Tsai served as its chairwoman. The fund, however, was not appropriated after the Kuomintang regained power, or Tsai would have found herself in even greater trouble today. The TaiMed case is reminiscent of another one in which the former DPP administration planned to form a private company to handle the government's arms procurements. The DPP was forced to drop the outrageous plan amid strong doubts among the public. Both cases reflect how intolerably foolhardy the DPP was during the transitional period before the transfer of power. By complaining of being smeared in the TaiMed case, Tsai has exposed her ignorance of political ethics and social perceptions. It is most dangerous when one cannot see his or her own weak points and moral flaws. (Editorial abstract -- Dec. 15, 2011) (By Y.F. Low)

ccording to AP, it reported that activists stated, Syria">Syria’s violence caused at least 25 people on Wednesday, including eight soldiers who were gunned down by army defectors in a retaliatory ambush after government troops destroyed a civilian car. It was the second day in a row in which an attack by President Bashar Assad's forces on civilians appears to have brought a quick and deadly act of revenge by anti-regime fighters. The ambush was the latest sign that the once-peaceful protest movement is growing into an insurgency. UN has called for world powers to act "in the name of humanity" against Syria">Syria's crackdown on dissent, as innocent civilians are reportedly shot dead. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged world powers to act as a US official likened the Damascus regime to a "dead man walking". China, along with Russia two veto-wielding countries on the UN Security Council has been supportive of Damascus. Last month the two countries vetoed a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the bloodshed in Syria">Syria. “Israeli officials said that we are welcoming the prospect that Syria">Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, will be overthrown, an event Defense Minister Ehud Barak says could be weeks away,” quoted on Washington Post.

The vehicle "exploded in a ball of fire," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the British-based Syria">Syria

n Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground inside the country.

He stated for a while, gunmen ambushed a convoy of four military jeeps passing through the nearby village of al-Asharna on the northern outskirts of the city of Hama, spraying it with bullets. The gunmen are believed to be military defectors seeking revenge for the dawn attack targeting the car, he said.

"The area is a stronghold of dissent where anti-regime protests are routinely held and where there are a number of army defectors," he said.

Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) Representatives of the cultural sector were scheduled to question the three presidential candidates in a face-to-face meeting Thursday, the first such dialogue in Taiwan between presidential candidates and the cultural sector, according to the Preparatory Institute of the Foundation of the Inaugural Year for Culture, which is organizing the meeting. "We hope the event will target crucial cultural policies for good communication and open up a long-term, transparent and private sector participation in a monitoring platform and mechanism for charting the course of the nation's cultural policies," the foundation said. According to the schedule, each of the three presidential candidates will be given one hour, with Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party speaking first, followed by James Soong of the People First Party, and President Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling Kuomintang. The trio will each have 20 minutes to elaborate on their cultural policies and will then answer questions from 12 cultural representatives. The meeting will be aired live on the Public Television Service. The questions posed could include the nation's stance and values on cultural and economic development, the dearth of cultural and art exhibition halls, the brain drain of cultural talent, more positive exchanges of Taiwanese culture with world culture, and how the candidates plan to prevent the nation's cultural and artistic resources from being dominated by an oligarchy. (By Sabine Cheng and Lilian Wu)

Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday that it will hold investment exhibitions in six emerging markets in the coming year, part of its plan to combine diplomacy with economic efforts. MOFA has so far targeted Bosnia, Serbia, Papua New Guinea, Latvia, Laos and Dubai as new investment destinations, said Frank Lin, deputy director-general of MOFA's Department of Economic and Trade Affairs. "The exhibitions are aimed at making these potential markets familiar with Taiwan," said Lin at a regular press briefing. Although he did not provide details about the content of the exhibitions, Lin said that several rounds of evaluations and assessments have been undertaken to identify investment opportunities. He cited as an example the rich forestry resources in Papua New Guinea, describing them as worthy of investigation. Unlike similar exhibitions organized by Taiwan in mature markets, MOFA proposed the destinations from the combined perspectives of finance, development and diplomacy, Lin noted. Meanwhile, MOFA said it will continue to elevate Taiwan's presence through regular business shows in 18 other countries in 2012, including a computer exhibition in Saudi Arabia, a telecommunications fair in Russia and an agriculture expo in Brunei. The ministry had held 22 trade shows abroad this year as of November, involving more than 300 local companies and generating an estimated US$150 million-worth of business. (By Nancy Liu)

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday the US will continue to conduct intelligence operations from Afghanistan like the recent mission that led to the loss of a drone over Iran.

But the Pentagon chief and former CIA head left little doubt that the US finds Afghanistan a useful place from which to spy on its neighbor, and intends to keep at it. The operations benefit both the US and Afghanistan, Panetta said.

“These are operations that I will not discuss publicly, other than to say that part and parcel of our effort to defend this country, and to defend our country involves important intelligence operations that we will continue to pursue," he said.

The RQ-170 drone, known as the Sentinel, was lost over Iran two weeks ago. The Pentagon initially said only that it malfunctioned after being launched in western Afghanistan. But it later emerged that the drone had taken off from a base in Afghanistan and was flying a surveillance mission over Iran when it came down.

Iranian state television broadcast video of Iranians inspecting the aircraft, which was largely intact.