Word: bian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...last Saturday that the independence-leaning administration of President Chen Shui-bian executed the coup de grace. In an iconoclastic ceremony that took place under the protection of riot police, Chen officially changed the name of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a massive blue-and-white monument occupying a swathe of central Taipei, to the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Inside, a new exhibition to commemorate Taiwan's democracy movement, entitled "Goodbye, President Chiang," was being prepared for unveiling. Outside, scuffles took place between police and several hundred protesters loyal to Chiang's memory...
Every so often, Taiwan's laid-back ancient capital, Tainan, has a media moment. In 2004, it came when President Chen Shui-bian survived an assassination attempt while campaigning for re-election in his native county. Last fall, the island's ravenous press corps lined Tainan's streets to greet another hometown hero, New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming, when he returned to spend the off-season with his parents. But the most recent development will likely outlast the next-day news cycle: the sleek new bullet train has arrived, opening up a southward escape route from scooter-choked...
...China's prospects now are as bright as ever, the opportunities of its people improving each year. It would take a particularly stupid or evil group of leaders to put that glittering prize at risk in a war. Those in Taiwan who favor independence--including its President Chen Shui-bian--have singularly failed to win the support of the Bush Administration. "China," says Huang Jing of the Brookings Institution in Washington, "is now basically on the same page as the U.S. when it comes to Taiwan. Neither wants independence for Taiwan. Both want peace and stability." China's military buildup...
...narrow win in Saturday's mayoral election in the southern port city of Kaohsiung this week. But the greatest exultation over the result may be in the capital, Taipei. The Kaohsiung race had been viewed as a key indicator of whether the corruption scandals involving President Chen Shui-bian and his family had seriously damaged the strength of his party. The DPP's narrow victory indicates that the President, whom many opponents were expecting to step down just a month ago, still has some clout left. "I think that Chen passed a very critical political test," says Emile Sheng...
...biggest winner is Chen Shui-bian. On Nov. 3, when First Lady Wu Shu-chen and three former presidential aides were indicted on charges of forgery and embezzling $450,000, it looked like the President was all but finished politically. (Prosecutors said they also have enough evidence to charge Chen, although he is protected by presidential immunity while in office.) But in subsequent weeks Chen's supporters rallied to his side, defeating a recall motion in the legislature that would have triggered a national referendum on his ouster. They also shone the spotlight on his biggest rival, outgoing Taipei Mayor...