ROC centennial mascot in Taiwan

Centennial celebrations will take place in Taiwan throughout 2011 to commemorate the Republic of China's 100th year as a "country." An official mascot was chosen in a nationwide competition. The winner, shown below with the winning mascot, is a 30-year-old designer from Keelung.

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The mascot is basically a personified shining Sun (which is a feature on the ROC flag) wearing a pair of large, red glasses and a scarf patterned after the ROC flag.

"Shiny Baby," as the mascot is named, was chosen by the Council for Cultural Affairs from among more than 2,500 submissions. It should be noted that many of the entries featured Formosan animals, representing Taiwan's natural wonders. Shiny Baby seems to represent the Ma government's lack of understanding of Taiwanese culture.

"ROC (Taiwan) 100" is written on the scarf, which is extremely ironic. Taiwan has been occupied by the ROC for 65 years, making it a major part of ROC history. However, the fact that the ROC has spent the majority of its past on the island does not seem to change the Ma government's perception of what the republic is about. To the Kuomintang politicians, it seems to still be about taking back the mainland and restoring the glory of Nationalist China.

DOH to pay for fees owed by Taipei

On Friday, the Kuomintang-dominated Legislative Yuan passed a subsidy that would help out the Taipei and Kaohsiung governments pay off their National Health Insurance (NHI) debts. According to Taipei Times, the legislature "voted to unfreeze unfreeze NT$2.5 billion (US$83.8 million) earmarked by the Department of Health (DOH) in this year’s budget to pay for health insurance fees owed by the Taipei and Kaohsiung city governments to the central government."

It should be noted that Taipei City gets NT$2.41 billion annually for five years from the central government as the result of this plan, while Kaohsiung only receives NT$90 million. This unbalanced subsidy clearly gives Taipei an unfair advantage over Kaohsiung.

Moreover, Taipei has started accumulated the debt since 1999, when President Ma, then the mayor of Taipei, "refused to pay the health insurance subsidies for non-Taipei residents." Now, Taipei City owes the National Health Insurance Bureau a total of NT$44.7 billion in health fees, the highest out of all local governments. Taipei City's NHI debt almost doubles that of Kaohsiung City, which "has already proposed a 10-year plan to pay off its debt in installments."

Is it fair to have taxpayers pay for the debt incurred by Ma, who now is the president?