Wiki Leaks!

So that Julian Assange was just around the corner yesterday.

So were many of those journalists standing around near the court. The lucky ones got their little guys waiting for new movements then themselves sitting at the Starbucks.

I've checked out Guardian's website.

This is one of the leaks on Taiwan.

Taiwan




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11. (C) The Deputy Secretary asked MM Lee for his assessment of Taiwan. MM Lee said former President Chen Shui-bian had left Taiwan in a weak economic position, which had enabled President Ma Ying-Jeou to come to power with his pledge to strengthen the economy through means including expanding the three links with China. In Beijing, former President Jiang Zemin was wedded to his eight-point approach, but President Hu Jintao was more flexible. Jiang wanted to show he was a great man by solving the Taiwan issue in his lifetime, but Hu is more patient and does not have any fixed timeline. In Chinese domestic politics, Hu had wanted Vice Premier Li Keqiang from the Communist Youth League to emerge as his successor, not Vice President Xi Jinping, but Hu did his calculations and accepted Xi when it became clear that Xi had the necessary backing from the rest of the leadership. Similarly, on Taiwan, Hu will be pragmatic. It does not matter to Hu if it takes 10 years or 20 or 30. The key is building links with Taiwan. As in the case of Hong Kong, if necessary the tap could be turned off, he said.



12. (C) In this context, MM Lee said, Hu could live with Ma's positions on the '92 consensus and on not addressing the reunification issue during his term in office. What mattered to Hu was that Taiwan not seek independence. If that happened, China has 1,000 missiles and is building its capacity to hold the U.S. fleet at a distance. The implicit question for Taiwan's leaders is if that is what they want, MM Lee said.



13. (C) MM Lee stated that the alternative is Mainland investment in Taiwan stocks and property. The Mainland has already assured Hong Kong that it will help out economically. The Mainland has not said this to Taiwan, but the Mainland's Taiwan Affairs Director, Wang Yi, did urge Chinese companies to invest in Taiwan. In four years Taiwan's economy will pick up and Ma will win re-election. The DPP lacks strong potential candidates. Su Zhen-chang is promising, but seems unlikely to be able to win. Meanwhile, even the traditionally DPP-supporting farmers in Taiwan's South need China's market for vegetables and other products. Taiwan's continued participation in the World Health Assembly depends on Beijing. Beijing's calculation seems to be to prevent Taiwan independence in the near term, then bring Taiwan "back to China," even if it takes 40 or 50 years. MM Lee said he is looking forward to visiting Fujian Province, where preparations are underway for a new southern economic area linked with Taiwan.

Snowy London!

I am probably one of these very few people in the UK to be excited about snow and the coldness.

Even though the nasty old asthma has been brought back again this winter.

I cannot help myself to start feeling wonderful and romantic when all is covered in white.

I love the view so very much- am coming out of the kitchen with every excuses.

Also took some pictures while passing by ST James park.

 I love this!

Frozen river/ lake at the St James.

Ginger cake from north England:

Parkin.

Super easy!

You will need:

Wet:

200g golden syrup

1 tbsp treacle

100g salted butter, melted

1 egg

200g brown sugar

Dry:

200g oat

100g plain flour

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp baking powder

How to make this:

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Mix all wet ingredients plus the brown sugar in a bowl.

3. Mix both together. Pour into baking paper lined dish.

4. Oven pre-heated at 150 degree. In the middle shelf, bake 45 minutes.

Heaven for you if you are a ginger lover!



At last...

I still cannot believe that I can finally travel freely as the Taiwanese passport holder!

Bless the EU commissioner.

I have shopped all day and cooked all night- for my lovely Canadian client.

The menu is like this:

• Butternut squash and yellow spilit pea soup made with coconut milk
• French Provencial chicken stew
• Macaroni and cheese
• Superfood salad
• Super mixed fruit salad
• French apple tart
• French style brownie
• Homemade whole grain sour dough
• Canadian corn bread

I must be pretty fast. I started at 18:30 and it's 01:30 I am waiting for my bread to finish baking.

Well, also thanks to my regular client- I got to know almost exactly how they prefer their dishes and the quantity they would like- through their regular orderings. This- made my job a lot easier.

Great news! Visa waiver for Taiwanese passport holders approved

Visa waiver for Taiwanese passport holders approved

Today, the Commission proposal on the transfer of Taiwan to the list of third countries whose nationals do not need a visa to travel to the EU has been adopted. Taiwanese passport holders will soon be able to enter the EU Member States without a visa for stays of up to 90 days. Today's adoption by the Council was the final step in the procedure towards the visa exemption, which has been preceded by the approval of the proposal by the European Parliament on 11 November 2010.
Commissioner Malmström said: "Today is a very important day for EU-Taiwan relations and I welcome the Council's decision giving the green light to our proposal. Waiving the visa obligation for Taiwan will facilitate people to people contacts, enhance business opportunities and give the possibility for them to get to know the EU better. Today's decision is the result of intensive and hard work for the authorities and the people of Taiwan in meeting the criteria requested to lift the visa obligation. I congratulate them for the great efforts made and the important results achieved. I am sure that the full reciprocal visa waiver will give a boost to the already good relationship between Taiwan and the EU in various sectors, such as tourism or trade, for the benefit of all parties''.
The EU is an important destination for Taiwanese travelling overseas, both for tourism or business purposes. The decision also fulfils the European business community long standing wish that will contribute to deepening trade and investment relations between both sides. The EU is Taiwan's fourth largest trading partner and its first foreign direct investor. Easier travel conditions will contribute towards strengthening economic relations as well as people-to-people contacts.
For instance, last year, more than 175 000 Schengen visas were issued in Taiwan and thanks to the visa-free regime, the number of visitors to the EU is now expected to increase by at least 30%.
Taiwanese wishing to visit the 25 Member States of the Schengen area or Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus up to 90 days e.g. on business, as tourists or family visitors will no longer require a visa. The short-stay visa waiver will not apply either to "overseas" passport holders, whose travel document does not contain an identity card number. Taiwanese visiting the Schengen area will also need to make sure that they meet the entry requirements when crossing the external borders of the EU as laid down in the Schengen Borders Code.1
Taiwanese wishing to stay in the Schengen area more than three months, or to live, work, marry or study there for longer than three months will need to obtain a national visa from the Member State concerned as before.
Furthermore, also as a result of the visa waiver process for Taiwanese, based on the principle of reciprocal treatment, as from 11 November 2010 Taiwan granted visa-free travel to the nationals of Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus, who were subject to the visa obligation beforehand.
The visa waiver for Taiwanese passport holders will become effective 20 days after publication of the Regulation in the Official Journal of the EU. From that day onwards, EU citizens can stay in Taiwan for up to 90 days without requiring a visa.
Background
Today's decision is also a response to the political support expressed by Member States for Taiwan's request to grant visa-free travel and it reinforces the coherence of the EU's policy in the region by aligning Taiwan on other third countries, like Singapore, Japan or South Korea, which already enjoy visa exemption.
Currently, the Schengen area includes 22 EU Member States and three associated States (Norway, Iceland and Switzerland). Once they enter the Schengen area, third-country nationals can move freely from one Member State to another for a maximum period of three months within a half year. The visa waiver will also apply to Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus which are not yet members of the Schengen area.

1st of December!

Cannot believe that it is December already.

Time is flying by awfully fast.

I still remember getting the Christmas tree last year-just! And here I am, another December...

A time to reflect. Much has happened this year.

Fifi, my love, for one.

Much hasn't happen yet. And while I am waiting for it to come by, my life goes on. With this very sleepy cat , of course.....

Snowy day in London!

It's so pretty! The snowy London. I walked in this wet snowy weather and I was smiling secretly under my little blue hat. White flakes drifting from the sky- how romantic?

I love this weather.

It's freezing here in London.
Night falls much faster than it had been in the summer time.
I went back to work after a long weekend.

Asthma is a crazy thing. I've had it when I was a kid. I thought it had left me... until this very weekend- it left me think about death and how short a life is.

I don't want to come to this illogical conclusion that "everytime when I take an over-dued holiday I would have some kind of serious sickness!"

Though last time when I didn't take my holiday until later, much later, I had chicken pox at my tender age of almost 30...

And that was more than 3 years ago.

No point of moaning. The past is a falsified pretty picture. We all remember something that made us feel better.

Snowy days brings back the memory of Germany and Switzerland. So long ago and yet I felt that it was just like yesterday. Beautiful white flakes that reminded me about my solo travelling.