Safe Democracy Foundation - Safe Democracy

Is the relationship between China and Taiwan changing? The last official economic meeting between the respective authorities removed the hypothesis of the conflict. However, even intensifying the economic changes, the unification has not been considered, and not only because of Taipei’s objections: such a geopolitical change in the zone would question the influence of Washington in the region.

• Taiwan opposite Kosovo
  por Xulio Ríos
• Post-Tiananmen China: A Case of Selective Amnesia
  por Xulio Ríos

The confrontation between Tibetan protesters and Chinese troops is simply a violent reminder of a long-established tendency towards coercive and expansionist policies of Beijing, the author argues. Is it any wonder that, given such a history, the international response to this most recent crisis has been underwhelming?

• Taiwan opposite Kosovo
  por Xulio Ríos
• Post-Tiananmen China: A Case of Selective Amnesia
  por Xulio Ríos

Pakistan, Myanmar and Thailand all exemplify how the argument that democracy is not the appropriate system or the democratically elected leaders are corrupt helps the military elites control the country. Bangladesh, with the opposing forces of Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, could be added to this list. The upcoming postponed elections and the return of civil and political liberties appear to be the only way out of this narrow alley in which the provisional government has placed Bangladesh, states the author.

The supporters of Taiwanese independence consider Kosovo to be a precedent that encourages them not to give up in their struggle. Nevertheless, the differences between the two cases are obvious, and not only due to the democratic imperative necessary to constitute a state; neither the origin of the dispute nor the regional and international context of the two cases is similar either. This is why the consequences of Kosovo’s independence will probably be felt more in the South Caucasus (Transcaucasia) or Europe rather than in the Far East, states the author.

• The Kosovan State is unviable
  por Raquel Sánchez Bujaldón
• Kosovo´s final status: another chapter of turmoil in the Balkans?
  por Borja Lasheras
• China-Taiwan: Playing with...the Torch
  por Xulio Ríos

The Philippine education system is marked by high dropout and repetition rates and low overall performance. Under a new definition of functional literacy, the rate could drop to as low as 6 percent. The author contends that the sector is afflicted with a myriad of problems, and although many government programs look promising, he points to governance as being the key.

• Philippine land reform has failed to live up to its promise
  por Joel Adriano

After years of colonial and dictatorial rule in the Philippines, the People Power Revolution of 1986 installed a new government and led to the initiation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Yet more than twenty years later, poverty remains high in rural areas and income inequality remains a serious problem. The author faults the program’s land to the tiller concept and goes on to argue that access to jobs, and not land ownership, is a better way to reduce rural poverty.

No one disputes the growing weight of the emerging Indian giant in the economic scene and global geopolitics. However, if India is to achieve a more influential position on the international level, it must strengthen its democratic system and be aware of the need to confront inequality and injustice with ambitious long-term policies. It is faced with an imbalance that cannot be resolved by its macroeconomic growth alone, regardless of how spectacular it may be.

• Southeast Asia reduces poverty, but increases inequality
  por Viviana Malvina Sosa

Xulio Rios believes that the majority of the problems that caused the manifestations in Tiananmen Square eighteen years ago are not only still present in China today, but that many of those problems have gotten worse: corruption and power abuses are on the day’s agenda.

• Southeast Asia reduces poverty, but increases inequality
  por Viviana Malvina Sosa
• China-Taiwan: Playing with...the Torch
  por Xulio Ríos

Thousands of Burmese citizens, lead by Buddhist monks, have forced a beastial dictatorship into check. Images of the protests and of their consequent repression have exposed before the international public a detestable regime, and citizens whose struggle for liberty and democracy should be a reference for the modern world.

• From Gen. Pervez Musharraf to Mr. Pervez Musharraf
  por Sohail Mahmood
• Pakistan: General Musharraf’s Election Bid, the Supreme Court Verdict and Public Protests
  por Sohail Mahmood
• Contemporary Political Developments in South Asia
  por Sohail Mahmood