When Jiang Yi-huah was tapped to be the premier, he was widely seen as a Ma loyalist and the continuation of his will at the Cabinet. Soon after his appointment, however, Jiang proved to be politically more inventive and daring than the president ever let on.

North Korea's reported impending lawsuit against Taiwan over an allegedly unfulfilled nuclear waste disposal contract is a blindside amid the feverishly boiling public debate over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant referendum. All of a sudden, one of the world's most infamous and secluded states has thrown itself into the debate, and this raises a tangle of painful questions about Taiwan's nuclear policy.

The government recently announced a referendum to resolve the prolonged controversy over the fate of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四). The decision came amid growing domestic opposition to continued construction on the US$10 billion plant, which is nearly complete and slated to begin operation in 2015.

With barely any fanfare, Taiwan prosecutors indicted two retired top brass on Wednesday for leaking secrets to Beijing. One, a former military intelligence officer surnamed Chen Shu-lung, is charged with passing on data about anti-China activists in Taiwan. The other, retired General Chen Chu-fan, is accused of introducing the agent to his Chinese handler.

Most people would agree that cross-strait political talks are inevitable, but former Taiwan Vice President Lien Chan openly declaring so at this time, during his recent meetings with Chinese leaders, has inevitably raised some eyebrows.

For many years, ethnic Chinese filmmakers in the so-called Greater China Circle, which includes such regions as Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and, in the opinion of some, even the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, have been resigned to second-class citizen status in the motion picture industry.

Newly appointed Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday surprised the nation by announcing the Cabinet's plan to defer the decision of whether to continue Fourth Nuclear Power Plant construction to a nationwide referendum.

Even as the debate over the fate of Taiwan's No. 4 Nuclear Power Plant raged on with no conclusion in sight, news broke on the other side of the Earth that radioactive waste stored underground has been leaking at a rate of 150 to 300 gallons per year.

Nothing like a stay in China helps awaken the modern day traveler to the horrible inefficiencies of the Great Firewall of China. Navigating the Internet is like walking through a cyber minefield; when one clicks on a page that is deemed forbidden, the offender is greeted with an error message saying “the connection has been reset.”

As always, local TV personality Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) earlier this month was in the news again and, perhaps, in trouble too.