Talking Points, March 12 - March 26, 2008

Talking Points
March 12 - March 26, 2008

 The 2004 presidential election was expected to be close. The incumbent sought reelection, even though his 2000 election had been narrow and due largely to a divided opposition. His initial popularity had slipped a lot by 2004 because of economic troubles and because some saw his foreign policies as provocative and risky. The campaign itself was quite dirty with one side working to associate their opponent with figures such as Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Sadaam Hussein.

And then the day before the vote, the president and vice-president were shot, though not seriously wounded. Voters turned out in greater than expected numbers. 13 million votes were cast. Incumbent Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party was returned as Taiwan's president by just 29,000 votes or a margin of only 0.22%. The Kuomintang candidate Lien Chan unsuccessfully challenged the vote.

On March 22, voters in Taiwan will again go to the polls. Polls show the Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou leading Democratic Progressive Party candidate Frank Hsieh (Hsieh Ch'ang-t'ing) but with many undecided, the election is still being hard fought. Many California residents are flying back to Taiwan to cast ballots. In 2004, an estimated 10,000 Californians voted in the election.

The USC U.S.-China Institute is sending a delegation of scholars and students to Taiwan this Saturday to observe the campaign and balloting. On March 26, they and other invited scholars will present their findings at a symposium in the USC Davidson Conference Center. We hope that you'll attend to hear about and discuss what issues and population segments decided the election, the messages and methods employed by the campaigns, and what the outcome may mean for cross-strait relations and for the U.S.

Other upcoming USC events to note include a presentation on Catholicism and Confucianism, a talk by Justin Lin, the new chief economist of the World Bank, the Herbert G. Klein Lecture by America's longest-serving ambassador to China, Clark T. Randt, and a conference focusing on Chinese Cinema at 100. Details about these events are below and in the calendar section of our website: http://china.usc.edu/calendar.aspx.

Sports marketing and sports diplomacy are two of the topics examined in the current issue of our student-driven web magazine, US-China Today. Others include the views of the leading U.S. presidential candidates toward China, the vitality of punk rock, the growth of international schools, the importance of China's brands and Southern California's ports, and the marketing of Shangri-la. You can see these features, plus our daily update and collection of voices on U.S.-China matters at: http://uschina.usc.edu.

Thank you for passing Talking Points on to others and for letting us know what you think about our weekly newsletter and our website.

Best wishes,
The USC U.S.-China Institute
http://china.usc.edu

 

 

03/26/2008: Taiwan Election Symposium: Report from USCI Observation Group
USC Davidson Conference Center
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost: Free
Time: 2:00PM - 5:00PM
Phone: 213-821-4382
Email: uschina@usc.edu

California Events

03/25/2008: War Atrocities, Historical Memory, and Reconciliation in the Asia Pacific: From Nanjing to Abu Ghraib
UC Irvine
SSPB 5206 , Irvine, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 12:00PM - 1:30PM
UC Irvine's Center for Asian Studies And The Department of Sociology host a talk by Mark Selden.  

North America Events: 

03/15/2008: CCS Chinese Documentary Film Series: Two Documentaries on AIDS in China
435 South State Street
Address: Auditorium A Angell Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Time: 7:00PM - 9:00PM
The Blood of Yingzhao District(2006) and Care and Love(2006) will be screened.

Exhibitions: 

 

 

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