Budget, Chen, Chen Chu, and Ma

For some reason, the budget news has been utterly eclipsed and I can't find *anything* on if the legislature actually passed it today or not.

The High Court has made a decision that should affect Chen Shui-bian's wife's case: the decision is that the President does not have to disclose secrets on how he spent the money since he does have a right to do so secretly. The exact impact of this decision is not something I know enough to talk about, but it obviously works in Wu's favor. Predictably, the blues whined about the terrible state of justice in this case while greens affirmed it. The presidential office just said they "respect" the decision and are moved.

A lower court also declared Chen Chu's victory in the Kaohsiung mayoral race to be invalid, and at this time it appears there will be a new election. The reason given was that a false rumor of her opponent vote buying was spread before the election. Also predictibly, and almost hilariously because of the contrast with President Chen's case, the greens whined about the terrible decision while the blues praised the decision.

Ma Ying-jeou secretly met with the Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀), and then seemed quite surprised the Singapore government confirmed it. Ma was surprised, since he had tried to duck the question. Hsieh had a classy response, saying the meeting was a good thing but he wishes that Ma would speak up more for Taiwan.

Expect front pages tomorrow stuffed with Taiwan news instead of the normal mix of Taiwan-international news.

Also, Beijing is slamming the DPP referendum on entering the UN with the name of "Taiwan" as successionist while staying perfectly quiet on what amounts to the same referendum being pushed by the KMT to join under the name of "Republic of China" (while recognizing the PRC). My personal feeling and hope is that the DPP will support both referendums, thus increasing the chance of both of their success and demonstrating that the Taiwanese don't care so much about the name Taiwan vs. ROC, but are very interested in joining the UN.