September\’s Happy Hour will take place at one of our favorite spots, Brass Monkey. The pub will be offering mouth watering finger foods (vegetarian and non-vegetarian), plus beer and well drink specials.

We are all feeling the sweltering heat these past few days, so you know what that means – it is time once again for our annual pool-side Summer Party!

Come celebrate Fathers Day, on August 8, with us and our VIP guests at the Taipei Country Club, where we’ve had our party the past few years. Bring family and friends, and relax by (or in) the pool with a cool drink for an enjoyable and relaxing afternoon.

We promise to have lots and lots of good food this year, both vegetarian and with meat, from our Mongolian Barbeque caterers. We are going to start serving food and eating earlier this year, but don’t worry even if you can only make it by late afternoon – we’ll make sure there’s still plenty to go around.

Taxis from Warner Village or Taipei 101 will cost about NTD100, or Blue Bus No. 5 at City Hall MRT Exit 2, travel directly to the club. For participants who drive cars or scooters, there will be ample on-site parking. Taxis can be called at the venue.

Members: NTD1,000 entrance fee. Members can also give access to one person at the member price. (Unlimited staff from Corporate Members are welcome and anyone can register as an individual member on site)

Non-members: NTD1,300
Kids: NTD700
Spouses, partners and children are all welcome.

Please RSVP for this event to info@taiwanfcc.org with “YOUR NAME will attend Summer Party + NUMBER of GUESTS”

Ambassador Talbott is a long-time Taipei-based diplomat who represents one of only 23 countries with formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan. She can take questions on the ins and outs of diplomacy, the China factor, the spectre of dollar diplomacy, development aid and trade issues such as FTAs. We have been only asked to avoid questions about the coup last year in Honduras.

Time: July 1, 2010, 2:30-4 pm

Place: Palais de Chine (Q plaza, Chengde Road at Shimin Boulevard, across from north perimeter of Taipei Railway Station), 5/F Descartes Room

Cost: T$300, open to all members

RSVP with an e-mail to info(at)taipeifccc.org with a subject line stating “(Your name) will attend the July 1 speaker event.”

What: Big Beach Party near Baishawan
When: Saturday June 26, 2010 2:00 pm – Midnight

More info: The Canadian Society in Taiwan will celebrate Canada D’eh with a large beach party near
Baishawan Beach on Saturday June 26th. The event is open to everyone and will run from 2 pm
to midnight. “Canada D’eh” will include 4 live bands, aboriginal dancers, barbecue Canadian
Roast beef, hamburgers, & hot dogs, pig roast, beach volleyball, outdoor foosball, horseshoes,
tug of war, games for kids and adults, cake, and fireworks. Everyone is welcome. You don’t need
to be Canadian to join in a fun day of outdoor activities.

Canada D’eh tickets are available now at all ERA ticket outlets ticket.com.tw, advance price NT$450 for adult and NT$150 for children 12 and under. Tickets include free transportation from MRT, 4 free food and drink coupons plus:

* Four great live bands – ABS, I/O. BoPoMoFo, & Wailin’ Soul
* DJ’s Dominik T, & Rick Kraft
* A wide range of games, from face painting to beach volleyball, foosball, tug -o-war, horseshoes
* BBQ Canadian Roast beef, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato fries, plus roast pigs
* Ice Cold Corona, Carlsberg, Guinness, Wine, Canadian Water, Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite,
Hi C juice, Nestea
* ICRT Morning Show hosts Emily David & Terry Engel
* Fireworks show!

Free shuttle buses will run between the Hong Shu Lin MRT station (red line) to the beach party
every 5 to 10 minutes. Free parking is also available.

Canada D’eh sponsors include: Manulife Asset Management, BlackBerry, McCain’s,
Canada Beef Exporters Federation, The Tavern-Premier, Capone’s, Taipei County
Government, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, Tun Huang Music Co. Lts. JIIC Jia Dah
Immigration Consultants, Costco, ICRT radio, Air Canada, Bombardier, Cargocare,
Carlsberg, Corona, and Pro Audio.

For more details visit: www.canadiansociety.org

Date: Wednesday 21 April 2010
Place: Hong’s Foundation for Education and Culture, Min-Long Lecture Hall (9 Roosevelt Rd. Sec 2, 12F, Taipei)
Time: 2:00pm – 2:30pm

Only nine days to go until the Asia Pacific Greens Network Conference, and over 40 Taiwanese NGOs have signed up to attend. Still more workers from environmental organizations want to attend, but they are struggling to pay the registration fees and the organizers’ fundraising efforts have been extremely disappointing.

Currently both the number one and two greenhouse gas emitters in Taiwan, Formosa Plastics and China Steel, have already supported the attendance of ten environmental organizations, but electronics and green energy businesses, which have been busy building up their green credentials, have completely ignored us! Even a certain high tech company that put up NT$2 million in support of the film ±2°C told us, “Our products are already very green,” and declined to offer even NT$48,000 in support of APGN.

List of companies that supported registration fees for 10 attendees (NT$48,000):

Heavy Industry Supporting Company Type of Industry For Profit Business
Petrochemicals Formosa Plastics Law Firm Winkler Partners
Steel China Steel Metals Industry SanYang Metals Industry、Great Sequoia Corp.
Finance Cathay Life Insurance Retail Business Aveda International
Electronics Green Energy

Not only will Australian Senator Bob Brown, founder of the world’s first Green Party, be in attendance at the conference, but also Dr. Vandana Shiva who helped establish several seed banks throughout India; and Copenhagen Climate Hero Apisai Ielemia, Tuvalu’s Prime Minister will attend and deliver speeches.

Australian Green Party representative Miriam Solomon arrived in Taiwan on the weekend and will be present at the press conference to explain the importance of this conference for climate change in the Asia Pacific Region.

Hosting Organizations: Green Party, The Greens, Wild at Heart Taiwan, The CP Yen Foundation

Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Time: 10:00 – 12:00
Location: Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (No 4, Alley 17, Lane 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei 106 Taiwan)
Moderator: Dr Wei Mei-Chuan 魏玫娟, Assistant Professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, National Chengchi University
Discussant: Dr Wu Yu-shan 吳玉山, Distinguished Research Fellow and Director at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica

Itinerary:

10:00 – 10:10 Opening remarks by Dr Wei Mei-Chuan
10:10 – 11:00 “Policymaking in Semi-presidential Democracies: The Case of
Budgeting in Taiwan” by Mr Hopong To
11:00 – 11:25 Comments by Dr Wu Yu-shan
11:25 – 12:00 Open discussion with the audience

Please note that this event will be conducted entirely in English.

Semi-presidentialism is where a constitution includes both a popularly elected president and a prime minister (premier) and cabinet who are responsible to the parliament. The emergence of semi-presidential democracies since the “third wave democratization” has attracted increasing scholarly attention on this form of government, but so far the academic literature has focused primarily on typological issues and its impact on democratic stability and consolidation. Much less has been done to investigate how policy is made under this form of constitutional arrangement, and whether it is distinctively different from “pure” presidential or parliamentary democracies. This research attempts to fill this gap, focusing on budget policymaking in Taiwan and Mongolia, two semi-presidential democracies in Asia.

The presentation will report initial findings from field research in these two places. It will start with an overview of the budget preparation and review process in these two countries, followed by a more detailed investigation of the role played by the president, the prime minister and the parliament in the budget process. Issues to be discussed include: does the president actually transcend partisan interests and focus on broader long-term interest of the country, as some advocates of semi-presidentialism envisage? More specifically, what (revealed) preference does the president usually hold towards budget policy? Is there any apparently conflict between the president and the prime minister on budget policy? Finally, do legislators have the tendency to focus more narrowly defined interests at the expense of ever-expanding spending and budget deficits?

RSVP

Please RSVP by Monday, April 26, 2010

Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Time: 10:00 – 12:00
Location: Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (No 4, Alley 17, Lane 147, Xinyi Rd Sec 3, Taipei 106 Taiwan)

Mr/Ms/Dr __________________ Tel. _________________
Organization ______________ Title ________________

□ Will attend
□ Unable to attend

Contact Person: Mr Ben Hlavaty 何哲明, program officer
Email: ben@taiwandemocracy.org.tw
Telephone: (02) 2708-0100 ext. 132
Fax: (02) 2708-1148

Friday 16 April 2010, 2:30 pm

“ Identity Centrality and Identity Salience

in Taiwan’s Politics ”

(in English)

Don Rodgers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor/Chair of Political Science

Austin College, Sherman, Texas

Venue: Room B-202,

Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences,

Academia Sinica, Taipei

Abstract

While extensive attention is given to the issue of national and ethnic identity in analyzing and predicting political behavior in Taiwan, the studies to date give little attention to the issue of whether national or ethnic identity is consistently salient in the voter’s minds. While Taiwanese identity is strong and rising among the voters, it is not clear that this identity strongly and consistently influences political thought and behavior. I will discuss the 2008 presidential election and current political events in this context.

Bio

Don Rodgers is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Austin College and currently Visiting Associate Professor at Soochow University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Georgia in 2000. His dissertation focused on the formation and content of political ideology in Taiwan and North Korea. He has long been working on Taiwan and Taiwanese politics, and his ongoing research focuses on issues of identity and political development in Taiwan.

The seminar will be held in English. The session will be chaired by Paul JOBIN, director of CEFC Taipei Office.

Contact: cefc@gate.sinica.edu.tw

Taipei Office – French Centre for Research on Contemporary China

Centre d’Etudes Français sur la Chine contemporaine (CEFC) – Antenne de Taipei

http://www.cefc.com.hk/taipei

Room B110, RCHSS, Academia Sinica,

128 Yanjiuyuan Road, Sec. 2, Nankang, Taipei

Tel : (886-2) 2789-0873 – Fax : (886-2) 2789-0874

In May 2010, we’ll be hosting our happy hour at MARQUEE Bistro & Bar.

About the Venue:
Taipei’s latest hotspot, Marquee, is located in the Xinyi district across from Taipei 101. Marquee’s spacious interior coupled with its ultra comfortable and luxurious décor makes it one of Taipei’s premiere lounge destinations.

Happy Hour Food & Beverage Specials from 7-9pm for TFCC members.

The TFCC is honored to have Taiwan’s president speak to the club on April 27, 2010. Ma comes to the club at a crucial time in Taiwan’s history: talks on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, the broad-based trade pact with China, are in full swing.

Not only is ECFA a contentious topic within Taiwan, but it has generated debate internationally over what it means for cross-strait relations as well as Taiwans place within the broader global economy.

Our executive tea with Ma will be held at the ballroom of the Palais de Chine hotel from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Ma will speak for the first 10 to 15 minutes, followed by Q&A open to foreign correspondents as well as club members who work for local media.

Due to security arrangements, only those who have signed up for the event beforehand will be admitted. This event is open only to TFCC members, so you must also have paid your 2010 membership dues to attend – no exceptions. Journalists are also reminded that they will not be allowed to file any stories before the end of the event.

This is one of the clubs biggest events for the year and we look forward to seeing you all on the 27th.

The Committee

HOW TO SIGN UP: Email info@taiwanfcc.org with the subject line: YOUR NAME will attend Ma Event

SIGN-UP DEADLINE: Sign up by April 15.
(please arrive by 10:15am at the very latest because of security checks)