Word: islanders
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Strides toward détente carry a political price for Ma. Many in Taiwan don't consider the island to be part of China, and they fear closer ties will eventually lead to a loss of identity, even sovereignty. Last October, hundreds of thousands protested against Ma's China policy in a Taipei rally organized by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Another large protest is planned for May 17. Ma "sees the closer ties [with China] as an opportunity," says Cheng Wen-tsang, the DPP's spokesman. "But we see them as a threat...
...that everything he has done is in Taiwan's best interests, especially concerning the economy. The global financial crisis hit trade-dependent Taiwan especially hard. Exports in April plunged a staggering 34% from the same month in 2008 - the sixth consecutive monthly double-digit decline - as demand for the island's computer and electronic equipment shriveled in the U.S. and Europe. The government expects GDP to contract 3% in 2009; some private estimates predict worse. The severity of the crisis brought new urgency to the effort to improve ties with China in order to capitalize on one of the world...
...place to allow regulators from the two sides to cooperate, cutting off a key source of growth. Victor Kung, president of Fubon Financial Holding Co., says Taiwan's isolation from a burgeoning China has stunted the development of the entire economy. As costs at home have risen and the island's manufacturing has moved offshore, Taiwan has needed to foster new industries, especially in the service sector, to generate growth and jobs, but a lack of access to China has hindered those efforts. "The transformation from a manufacturing base to more of a services base is still experiencing labor pains...
...this seems about as far as Ma is prepared to go. He is holding off on China's offer to negotiate a peace treaty, insisting that Beijing must remove missiles pointed at his island as a precondition to talks. Relations between the two have improved so much, he believes, that the security threat has been significantly alleviated. "Taiwan is no longer a flash point in East Asia, and that's what we want," Ma says...
...billion worth of real estate projects have been suspended and canceled in Dubai, according to a report by the local branch of HSBC bank. Business journal the Middle East Economic Digest puts the figure at more than $300 billion. Postponed developments include the World, a luxury man-made island community designed to resemble a world map, and Dubailand, a theme park planned to be twice the size of Florida's Disney World. Housing prices have fallen 20%-40% from their peak in late 2008, and about 30% of the city's existing real estate space is lying empty...